Lucifer woke up the next morning with Trixie almost on top of him. The child had begged to sleep with him and her mother last night, and neither adult would deny her anything. Not that Lucifer at all minded because he too wanted those he loved close. Unfortunately, as he looked over to see Chloe, he found her side of the bed completely empty. Panic began to set in, as he had still been terrified that Chloe would disappear on him.
Lucifer gently moved Trixie over, as not to wake her, before pulling himself out of bed and rushing out of the room as fast as he could. "Detective! Chloe, are you here?"
Lucifer turned the corner into the living room to find Chloe on the couch looking at a photograph. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Chloe turned to him. "Hey, I'm right here. It wasn't a dream, I promise."
"I'm sorry," Lucifer said as he finally began to relax again.
"Don't be. You spent six months thinking I was dead. I imagine it's going to take a lot longer than a few hours to get over it. You're waiting for me to disappear on you. I'd probably feel the same. Hell, I kind of do. It's hard to believe it's over after so long. I keep expecting to wake up and found there are still people trying to kill me.
Lucifer walked over to her and sat down. "I'm sorry. If you didn't know me, it never would've…"
"Don't! I won't let you blame yourself for this! The only ones responsible are Uriel and Cain," Chloe said.
"They came after you because of me," Lucifer argued.
"They came after me because they were selfish, awful people, or in Uriel's case, an angel. Yeah, they wanted to hurt you, or at least Uriel did, but that's not your fault. You didn't deserve what they did. Believe me, I get the urge to blame yourself. When I found out Dan and all those other people were killed just so that I would die…"
"No, that's different, darling. Of course, that wasn't your fault. You did nothing to warrant them coming after you," Lucifer immediately said.
"Neither did you. Yeah, okay, you stabbed Uriel, but he left you with no other choice," Chloe told him.
"I have regretted that night every day since it happened. I felt like a monster for it. I would've given almost anything for him to be alive again. Now he is, and I wish the bloody bastard had died," Lucifer growled.
Chloe put her hand on top of his. "I know, but at least you don't have to live with that anymore. I saw what it almost did to you. You tried to provoke a sniper into killing you."
"I wanted to be punished. You know, if Uriel had come after me, it would've been fine. I could understand him trying to attack me," Lucifer said.
"He had no business coming after anyone, including you. You stabbed Uriel to stop him from hurting me and your mother. You had no choice," Chloe said.
Lucifer looked at her in awe. "You truly do know everything, don't you?"
Chloe smiled. "Your dad likes to talk."
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Yes, he always has. The old bastard could talk your ear off forever. Unless, of course, you want to hear something from him. Then he keeps his bloody trap shut."
Chloe could hear the bitterness in his voice. God had best keep his promise to talk to his son. Lucifer needed to find some kind of closure with the issues he had with his father.
"It's hard to believe all of this. You're back. You know absolutely everything, and you're not afraid of me," Lucifer said in disbelief. He'd always feared that if he gave Chloe proof that he was the monster he said he was, she'd be terrified of him. Why shouldn't she be? But she looked at him no differently than she had six months ago.
"Why should I be afraid of you, Lucifer?"
"I'm the Devil?" Lucifer said as though it were obvious.
Chloe shook her head. "You were Hell's warden. You made sure souls were punished. The only thing that made you the Devil was a bunch of idiots putting a label on you. They said it so much that you believed it too, but you're not the Devil. What devil comes to Earth and opens a nightclub, granting people favors? What devil works as a consultant for the police? What devil feels pain so badly he wants to die, but instead pulls himself together to take care of a child that lost everything?"
Lucifer looked at her. "My father told you it was me taking care of her, huh?"
"Not exactly, but he eventually made it clear," Chloe said.
"Your mother thought the child was better off with me, and despite the fact that I was sure you wouldn't want that, I couldn't let her go, not when the chance to keep her with me was offered," Lucifer said.
Chloe was just about to tell him how wrong he was when the voice of her frightened child rang throughout the apartment.
"Mommy!" the child practically screamed. She came running into the room moments later.
"It's okay, baby," Chloe said just in time to have her daughter run into her arms.
"I was scared when you weren't in bed! I thought you were gone!" Trixie cried.
"No, Trixie, I'm right here," Chloe promised.
"Your mother isn't going anywhere, child. I believe that is something that is going to take us both time to believe," Lucifer said.
Trixie pulled away after a minute. "I don't have to go to school today, do I? I don't want to."
"No, Monkey," Chloe said.
"Certainly not," Lucifer said at the same time.
"Good," Trixie said in relief before sitting in between her mother and Lucifer.
Chloe hugged her daughter tightly. "I'm so happy to be home with you."
"Me too. I missed you, Mommy. I would talk to you in Heaven sometimes, even though Lucifer said you couldn't hear me. It made me feel better just to talk sometimes. You couldn't hear me, could you? You were in Heaven, right?" Trixie asked.
"Yes, I was, and no, I couldn't hear you. I saw you once though," Chloe said.
"How?" Lucifer asked in disbelief. It shouldn't be possible for her to see anything going on with them from the Silver City. Humans, nor human souls had that ability.
"Your dad showed me," Chloe told him.
"You saw us? What were we doing?" Trixie asked.
"You were buying camping gear. Did you actually get Lucifer to take you camping?" Chloe asked. If it was true, she was going to be so mad she missed that. She would love to see Lucifer in one of his designer suits out in the woods for days at a clip.
"Certainly not. I would never lower myself to such an activity," Lucifer said immediately.
Chloe laughed, because she had a feeling that if Trixie pleaded well enough, Lucifer would do it. They just might have to test that one of these days.
"It was for Clair's birthday. We went for the weekend. It was really fun, but I got poison ivy. Then Lucifer yelled at Clair's mommy and daddy," Trixie explained.
"Lucifer," Chloe admonished just a little. She was laughing, so it wasn't much of a reprimand.
"I was very clear. They were to return her in the condition that they took her in," Lucifer said simply.
"Mommy, why did you have to be in Heaven for so long? Was it because you were hurt so bad in the accident?" Trixie asked.
Chloe quickly shared a look with Lucifer, where both of them seemed to realize they had to tell Trixie at least something close to the truth. "Not exactly. I was better a long time ago."
"Why couldn't you come home then?" she asked.
"Because people were afraid of me getting hurt again," Chloe said.
"But why would you? It was just an accident," Trixie said.
"Trixie, look at me," Lucifer said. It needed to come from him. It was his fault. He didn't want to tell her this, but he did not lie, not even by keeping silent. At least he tried not to. He was already pretty close to that by letting Trixie think her father was in Heaven when he was pretty sure he wasn't. But that was as close as he would come.
Trixie did as he asked.
"I told you that your mother and father were killed in an accident. I thought that was what had happened, but it wasn't an accident," Lucifer told her.
"Then what happened?" Trixie asked confused.
"Some bad people came after us," Chloe said.
"You and Daddy were hurt on purpose?"
Chloe nodded.
"Why?" she asked, with pain and anger in her young voice. That meant someone took her daddy away forever and tried to take her mommy too. That wasn't fair.
"Because of me," Lucifer said sadly.
"No, not because of you," Chloe said firmly before turning back to her daughter. "It was because they wanted to hurt Lucifer. They don't like him, and they decided it was okay to hurt him by trying to hurt me, because they knew it would make him really sad."
Lucifer watched as the child turned back to him. He braced himself for the loving look she usually gave him to turn into one of hate. He was responsible for her father's death. Trixie was going to realize that and hate him for it. And that was going to break him. He loved this child as though she was his. He couldn't handle her hating him.
Trixie hugged Lucifer tightly. "I won't let anyone hurt you anymore, Lucifer. They can't take you away, like they took Daddy."
Lucifer was shocked by the child's reaction. He expected her to start blaming him for Daniel's death, but she didn't. If anything, she was upset that anyone wanted to hurt him.
Chloe smiled. "There you go. Stop blaming yourself. No one else does."
Lucifer simple held the child in his arms tightly in response.