"Ah! Detective!" Lucifer announced, hearing her bare feet pad her way across the kitchen floor. "Your offspring telephoned about an hour ago. She is well and she tells me her knee has gravel in it but Daniel got it out" he reported as Chloe smiled and rested her cheek between his shoulder blades, landing her palms on his bare stomach. Something inside the Devil had been soothed by the sound of the urchin's happy voice, bubbling along about elephants and watching the lions being fed, even if it was interspersed with a rather graphic description of her bloodied limb. That said, how odd it was that now he was standing there in a pair of dark grey track pants, chopping vegetables and the other half of him was finally by his side and talking about things so normal, so domestic.
"Is she still at the zoo?" Chloe asked, her lips briefly touching where once his scars from his wings lay. The kitchen clock read nearly 3 in the afternoon and she had been out for hours since he had wrung every last orgasm her body felt it could give out of her. She saw him nod.
"They were just having a late lunch. Well she was eating ice cream. I told her to have an apple instead", Lucifer replied. He had not realised until long after what he had said.
Chloe laughed as her arms went tighter around his waist, suddenly realising she now had Mr Sensible on her hands. He didn't mention anything about the pasta bubbling on the stove nor the fact he was preparing their dinner. "And Daniel said that your mother has been trying to ring you". Dan had blanched when he saw Penny calling as he and Trixie were in the car park at the zoo, but it was best it was over and done with quick sharp so he had answered and been a reluctant messenger to his ex-wife.
"Yeah" Chloe responded with little enthusiasm, shutting her eyes again for a second. "I know. I have eight missed calls, two messages and three texts". She had put her phone on silent long ago, knowing Lucifer never did.
"Saying?" Lucifer asked, looking back at her for a second before he reached for the fresh tomatoes on the top, wondering if he could get over to the sink to wash them over with her clasped onto his back.
"Call me", she replied heavily as he moved, Chloe not bothering to let go as he made his way awkwardly to the sink with his additional cargo. "Repeatedly telling me to call her". Nobody had died; this was just her Mom's way.
He never really been curious to delve into human relationships but to be frank, hers with her mother had made him wonder. It reminded him, and comforted him to some extent that it was not just him that had family 'issues'. Least the Detective would understand the fractured relationships that family can have. "And have you?" he asked, turning off the tap.
"No", Chloe responded petulantly, still hanging on as he walked back.
"Well shouldn't you?" he asked, feeling her press a kiss between his shoulder blades again and he could not help but smile at the simple affection that the buttoned up Detective Decker would now freely show to him.
"I should" she replied, flexing her neck and cuddling closer still. "But I have no desire to".
He laughed. "Well, I think you should", Lucifer responded, knowing full well that one of these days Mama Decker might be needed by her only daughter. Her only child and yes she might not have been the best of mothers from her stories but she was still her family.
"Okay, you have turned into Mr Sensible" Chloe sighed, sliding her hands from his abdomen and over his hips, giving them a quick squeeze on the way. She spun around to go back and fetch her cell, when for a second, her vision whited out and she made a grab for the nearest solid object. "Woah", Lucifer heard suddenly seeing Chloe grasp hold of the wall at the side of the fridge.
"Are you alright Detective?" he asked, concerned, immediately dropping the knife he had been holding down onto the worktop and stepping across. He placed his palms on her shoulders as she turned to face him and watched her straighten up.
"Yeah sorry" Chloe replied, blinking quickly and feeling briefly disorientated. "Just turned too quickly..." she muttered before she wiggled out of his grasp and shot off up the ladder to speak to her mother.
Lucifer turned back to the food, not showing her his concern for the minute but when for twenty minutes she had not appeared back down stairs, his worry for her got the better of him. He had tried not to listen to the conversation, not that there was much coming from Chloe's side, but for the last few minutes all had been silent.
Upstairs she had turned the wicker chair around and was watching the snow again, sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and feet resting on the seat. She wasn't really comfortable but Chloe just wanted a touch of peace and quiet. All she wanted was a little bit of peace and quiet. Was that too much to ask for? The light flakes fell, twisting, turning towards the ground, settling silently on the already thickly covered ground and Chloe had lost track of time as she sat, seeking something that she knew was just too far out of reach for now. She heard the ladder creak as Lucifer came upstairs, even though she was so engrossed in the recesses of her own mind. He did not need to speak and she watched as Lucifer walked across, sitting on the floor below her between her and the window. "She was just her usual self. No different to the usual" she offered.
"That is not a good omen Detective", Lucifer replied. "What did she say?" He could see from her face that it had not been the happiest of conversations and her being quiet left him uneasy. It always had.
"She just wanted to know where I was because I hadn't called her back; objected that she had to get Dan to call me, so I told her where I was". Chloe hesitated but Lucifer knew what she was about to say. "I didn't tell her you were back before..." she explained as Lucifer made a sound that could have been 'ah'. "Anyway she launched into a tirade about men that can't be trusted and what was I doing running back to you after you left me".
"I rather think I ran to you, Detective", Lucifer replied, running the tip of his finger over her ankle. "In the grand scheme of things, it has been me that has been doing the running not you. You could have slammed the door in my face that night". She shook her head. How could she leave him like that? Hurt, injured and needing her.
"She likes you Luce" Chloe started, "but she doesn't think you'll stick around with me. 'Why would he?' That's what she said". Chloe rubbed hand over her face. "But that's just my mom. I should be used to it by now". She was past crying over her mother's barbs. She had done enough of that when she quit acting for the Police Academy and he just let her speak. "That's why I was so close to my Dad because he was my Mom too. He was always there she was always off shooting something on the other side of the country or dragging me to pageants because she thought it was my way of getting an agent. I've got photographs of me when I was 4 with a full face of makeup and bigger hair than Dolly Parton". She might have laughed if the memories were not so painful.
Lucifer smiled sadly. No wonder she was so self conscious about her appearance if her own mother tarted her up like a paedo's dream. "Well I happen to think you are perfect, whatever she says". He could not think of anything else to say to try and reassure her. There was so much he still needed to learn about Detective Decker.
Chloe looked out of the huge window, over the top of his head, and her hands flew to her face. "I just want...I just want you close to me too Luce but you are gonna go...and I don't want to forget a single second with you".
"Trust me you can never forget me" he smiled in some desperate attempt to make her smile again, kneeling up and taking her hands.
"I'm being serious. I can't face this Luce" Her blue-green eyes were full of tears but she felt such a fool at crying again. It was all she ever did these days and any other man would have shipped out long ago. "I can't say goodbye to you a second time". He had joked about her keeping Raphie hostage until he came back but this was far too serious and her mother's comments had just about topped it all off. I mean, just how could this work? How could she have a relationship with an angel?
Lucifer ducked his head. "I do have something else for you" he started, getting up and behind her Chloe heard a zip go on his bag. "Maybe it might help you realise what you mean to me". He hadn't intended to do this now either. He was surprised she hadn't found it already when she unpacked his bag but there didn't seem to be a better moment than this.
"You can't keep giving me things" Chloe pleaded, eyes following him as he resumed his position kneeling in front of her. She had gone nowhere near the envelope that was now sitting at the bottom of her bag and still did not want to know what was in it. His hands were behind his back and Lucifer tried to keep as straight a face as possible.
"I can and I will give you all I can. Close your eyes". She scowled at him but did just as he asked; not hearing anything as he produced his hands from behind his back with what he intended for her. "Open them now".
Chloe's eyes fluttered open to reveal a ring box but he certainly wasn't wearing that expectant, nervous look on his face that Dan had when he proposed to her all those years ago in that restaurant full of people, for which, she might add, she nearly killed him for. In fact he looked just as Lucifer normally did - confident in himself. She looked down as the thin band of black diamonds, mounted onto platinum, glinted at her and her eyes flashed from the ring to his face and back. "Is this the same?" she spluttered.
"The same stone as your urchin's pendant, yes" he responded. "I had them made together so you would both have something". Chloe smiled, not sure what to say but he carried on, still kneeling in front of her. "It's a special thing to me this is. Those diamonds, I took from one of the more remote parts of Hell, down deep in a cave. I knew the diamonds were there, but it took me decades to find exactly what I was looking for and I finally found them before I returned here." Chloe reached out and her hand hovered over the ring, hesitant. "Take it" Lucifer insisted, holding the box a little closer. "It means what it wants to mean to you. You don't have to wear it on your left hand. Maybe put it on your chain with the bullet, but please, just take it. Take it as part of me".
"I know you don't believe in marriage, Luce" Chloe responded. She had doubts about it herself to be honest, so why was he presenting her with a ring?
"So... call it an eternity ring instead" he offered realising he was going to have to do the deed as it where. "Whatever happens between now and whenever, you and I...we can't break this bond we have, can we?" he asked, eyebrows raised and for the first time she saw a nervous look. "See me getting married before the sight of my own father? Knowing him and his bloody ego he would probably want to officiate!" Lucifer was not laughing and neither was she.
"No" Chloe responded. "I can't see that". He barely heard her response it was buried that far under tears that were flowing now like a river down her face.
"So wear it and tell whoever asks it is just that. A ring for eternity", Lucifer offered. It seems most fitting that it should be termed that.
"It is eternity isn't it? For you". She had still not touched the box and sighed loudly. "This is so complicated, Luce. My engagement ring with Dan I kept for Trix when she turned eighteen. I threw my wedding ring off the end of Santa Monica pier the day after the divorce came through..." Chloe laughed and shook her head. She remembered it distinctly; receiving the decree through the post, getting the two rings out of her hiding place, driving to the beach as Trix was at her friends and as the fairground sang behind her, launching the gold band into the waves. She watched it sink into the blue. Much like her heart.
"Detective" he started. "I am simply making a promise to you and your spawn will have part of my life with you at all times and that I will come back and we might have a lovely life together". He paused, squeezing her hand. "If that is what you want".
It was what she wanted but her mouth spoke too quickly. "It'll be like that until I get decrepit or you get bored of me and you are boning 21 year olds because I can't..." It slipped out before her brain could sanitise and Chloe regretted her statement the moment she said it. Her hand flew to her mouth, shaking her head in silent apology, hoping her eyes told him what she wanted to say.
"Do you doubt me that much?" Lucifer asked quietly. The Devil of two years ago might have reacted in such a different way but, even though her response had stung him, he knew full well she did not mean it. He could see her point to be truthful. He had hardly been chaste.
"Because that's what it will end up as won't it?" Chloe replied sadly. "You've lived such a life with colour, luxury, men and women on tap, that...how can you, the Devil himself, restrict yourself to just me?" she asked.
Lucifer sat back down. "These last few earth years, yes, Chloe I had all that, but before that? Hell...I can't put words to describe it but it is the opposite to everything you could think of that brings you light and joy. That's why Maze and I took 'vacations' all the time; to get away from it and just..." he sighed shaking his head. "Earth held so many delights and yes, okay, I certainly didn't behave as all good angels should". The amount of cocaine alone he and Maze had hoovered up over the last few years would have killed a human ten times over and more.
"I'm plain, insignificant but you love me..." She frowned, still confused at the enormity of it all. An angel, an actual ethereal being, loved her.
"I do. You told me long ago that I made you a better Detective, Detective but you make me a better Devil, no, you make me the angel I used to be". He took up her left hand rubbing his thumb over where a wedding band might lay. "I want this to be real. I have wanted this to be real for a long time but I needed to be different. You were made for me. Just for me when I was a better person". Chloe nodded carefully. "Don't think you will ever catch me doing laundry or keeping to the speed limit, but I don't mind cooking for you or an afternoon with your injured spawn".
Chloe sniffled, feeling the ring slide onto her finger and letting him to do it to boot. "And for the record yes, you are enough for me. Ever since that first night with you, I just don't... I don't need or want any of those women that used to hang around Lux. That desire in me, its gone". He spun the ring around on her finger, the diamonds that ran all the way around the band glinting in the lights. "Don't get me wrong Detective, I still like fulfilling people's wishes and wants, I still get pleasure from it, but just not that type of pleasure".
"Don't change too much", she smiled, one eyebrow raised. "I like a little devil in my life".
"Less of the little" he scolded, watching her roll the ring around her own finger now, settling it. "Now, before you say another word, I have a couple of bottles of vintage Cristal here that have been sitting around for too long waiting for someone special to drink them".
"It's the middle of the afternoon..." Chloe protested as he stood up and she finally moved from her foetal position on the chair.
"Detective..." he smiled, leaning down to kiss her upturned cheek.
"Okay I know" Chloe responded, trying to smile as she stood up to follow him. "Chill out. I get it. Live a little".
Somehow, once she had decided to get dressed, Chloe found herself standing by the hot tub, studiously ignoring it as it taunted her. Thankfully it had a rather large padlock on the doors and since she had mentioned it, he hadn't said another word about it. Buried back under the hood of her coat she had a fourth, maybe a fifth, glass of his incredibly expensive champagne in her hand and she was watching Lucifer trudge through the snow. She couldn't remember what he had wandered over to the trees for, but his hair and shoulders were covered with a light dusting of snow and it amused her greatly. He looked disgruntled at being cold.
"You're a snow angel" she giggled when he was in hearing distance. "Can I see your wings?"
"You have had too much champagne" he stated, swallowing a mouthful of her glass that she had handed to him seconds before. "I am not getting my wings out for your amusement, Detective. The devil is not a plaything". He pressed a brief kiss to her lips.
"Please" she mewled, stepping forward and pressing her palm to his chest. "I want to see them again..."
"Detective..."
"Please" she continued, the glass passed back to her and ignoring his good hearted protest. "I know you are not a toy Luce and your wings are special, but if I promise a back massage will you do it? Just for me?"
Lucifer breathed, half a mind just taking that glass off her, flinging it into the snow and pinning her against the wall of the outhouse to distract her. He paused first. She might object to that though even in her slightly merry state so he carefully looked from left to right, making sure nobody was around but also for anything that might get a whack. What harm was there in it in her seeing his wings again? Really? He flexed his back and 'whoomph'. "Satisfied now?" he replied, wings glowing white, almost shimmering and shivering against the snowy backdrop.
"Yes thank you" she chirruped, turned tail and went back into the warmth of the lodge.
With one of her patented whiplash eye rolls coming from the Devil himself, he shifted his shoulders and wandered back inside too, hearing her cell vibrating on the dining table. "Not again" Lucifer cursed. "Can we not just bury that thing out here and leave it?" he asked, raising his voice so she would hear.
He heard Chloe laugh before she addressed the caller, putting her glass on the dining table. "Hey baby!"
"Ah, your offspring..." Lucifer muttered to himself, closing the back door.
"Oh! Hi Dan! Sorry I thought you were Trix" Chloe suddenly said, mortified that she had addressed her ex-husband like that. She heard Dan give a short laugh. "Yeah, sorry Chlo. My battery died. Did you speak your Mom? She's been on at me again"
Chloe sighed. "I did. What did she want now?" The mention of her mother cut through the haze of champagne for a second and her heart sunk. She could hear the chatter of a shopping centre in the background.
"Something about wanting to come down before Christmas or us three go up there" he replied. "I think she thinks I have some kind of authority over you to tell you what to do!"
"Yeah!" Chloe replied, feeling Lucifer's arms go around her waist, holding onto her tight. "You never had that Dan!" she replied as he lifted the glass from the table and sunk the remainder of the champagne within it.
Dan laughed. "I know I didn't and besides, we are hardly a happy little family any more going on vacation together". It was not meant with any malice. It was just the truth and Chloe was not by any means hurt by what he said. She squeaked when she felt Lucifer's lips pull on her ear lobe and she whispered a giggly 'stop it' to him, pushing her hips back in a vain attempt to get him to release her a little. She was about to answer her ex-husband when he interrupted her. "Have you been drinking?" Dan's question caused her to focus. She had forgotten he had seen her drunk many a time. He heard it in her voice.
"I am drinking now" she announced proudly. "Vintage Champagne and it's very nice". She bit her lip as Lucifer slipped his fingers underneath the hem of her coat and sweat shirt, rubbing the skin underneath and utterly determined to distract her as much as he could.
"Okay. Be careful Chlo but yeah, enjoy yourself", Dan responded as he watched for their daughter in the cafe queue, she who was insistent she could get and pay for her own food, thank you very much.
"Thanks Dan" Chloe smiled. "I love you... I mean tell Trix I love her". All she could hear was him laughing heartily. "I'll tell her. She'll call you before bedtime". Chloe was bright red the second she said it. Great. Tell your ex-husband in front of your current lover that you love him, even if it was accidental. "Okay. Thanks Dan". She spun in Lucifer's arms the second she said 'goodbye' and finished the call. "I'm sorry".
Lucifer smiled, slightly buzzed himself from the champagne he had been drinking with her in such close proximity. "I don't know whether to be annoyed or amused. It's rather a quandary I find myself in to be perfectly truthful". He was winding her up but one thing the devil was good at was poker face. He looked down to find her looking up at him, chin on his chest and employing what he might call 'doe eyes' at him. She had however, royally sobered up now after such a catalogue of dumbass comments in one conversation. Calling Dan 'baby'; telling him she loved him... "But you are forgiven and besides" he added, running his fingertips down her temple, "you made a deal and you have to maintain your side of the bargain". The back massage, of course. She was pleased he was not bothered.
"I know", she replied, feeling relieved that he didn't take on as she took his hand and they wandered up the ladder to a more comfortable spot. That deal was easy. How she wished she could make a deal with someone that he could stay.
The rest of their weekend, Chloe had tried to forget. Saturday evening she had christened that bath, lazing in steaming hot water as he sat on the floor, arm propped up on the ceramic rim as they drank red wine. They just talked and talked about anything and everything but her invitation to join her had to be turned down. "Detective, look at that bath and look at me. Do you think these frankly spectacular limbs would even fit into it?" It had left her slightly confused as to why it was there as yes, he was clearly too tall for it, unless it was for his endless supply of...shut up Decker!
They had watched television, listened to the radio, made love by the fire like the hero and heroine in some trite romance novel and retired to bed. Sunday had been much the same until the moment came that they had to leave. It ran around too quickly and, having arrived back that late afternoon, they had gone straight to Lux. This time, on the flight back she was determined to keep her eyes open and just look at the world below her and she did, breathing in the air and the peace and the beauty of it all. She would be forever grateful for that.
As soon as they landed on the balcony they found Maze, pacing, stomping, arms folded and furious. Carefully Lucifer placed Chloe down onto her feet. "I'll deal with it" he whispered quietly, gently pushing Chloe by the hips into the sitting room.
"Maze isn't an 'it', Luce" she whispered back as the demon spun around to face them.
"Thank you Decker" Maze replied as Chloe slunk off to speak to Trix, Linda, anyone she could find whilst Lucifer dealt with whatever he needed to deal with.
"What is it?" Lucifer asked.
"Your brothers are downstairs. I put them in the bar. They waltzed in here hours ago and wouldn't leave" Maze offered and Lucifer tutted in response. Seems it was now or never. "And your therapist is down there with them!" she exclaimed. Linda had come to Lux to bring Charlie to see Maze, and hopefully see Lucifer too before he went.
"What?!" he asked.
"She's trying to get them tell her about Amenediel and what's happened to him. I told her she was wasting her breath" Maze replied. She had told her several times to be truthful as Gabriel in particular threw her contemptuous looks. He clearly had no time for this and to be frank, neither had the demon. It was enough Lucifer was going and leaving her behind again. Mind you, Heaven and Mazikeen Smith were guaranteed to end up on a collision course.
"For...bloody Hell!" Lucifer began, hands on his hips and joining Maze in her trek around the penthouse, hoping Chloe was out of earshot. "Get them up here!" he exclaimed. It was now or never after all.
Chloe had been here before, but this time she was trying to be strong. Well stronger, than last time. One thing that Chloe could not escape though was the constant feeling as though her head was full of fluff, disconnected and separated. It was getting worse by the day and this morning, waking up in the lodge, wrapped up in his arms she had realised the day had come and the twisting, tight knot in her throat had threatened to spill over.
Once retrieved from the bar by an angry demon the three Angels, Lucifer, Gabriel and Raphael stood side by side on the balcony. They looked magnificent standing strong, together and Chloe smiled painfully, stepping up to them. "I didn't think I would be here again". Her voice was quiet and resigned as Lucifer welcomed her into his arms, holding tight and imprinting in his mind the curve of her hip, the feel of her breathing.
Raphael felt the sadness pervade from them and stepped across placing a gentle hand on his sibling's shoulder, watching Chloe who was buried face first in her love's waistcoat. "I promise brother. I will keep her and Miss Beatrice safe and sound. I will do all I can to ensure her health and wellbeing whilst you are gone". Lucifer nodded. "I will even assist the demon if she wishes". Raphael's eyes tracked to Maze who was smiling slyly at him from where she was leaning against the open balcony doors. Linda was running around inside after an overactive child.
"Samael, we must leave" Gabriel began. He was sick of these humans and their hold over his brother.
"I will follow you Gabe, bugger off while I speak to the Detective", Lucifer responded as he pressed his lips to Chloe's forehead, feeling her breathing picking up as each second passed. He could see Linda picking Charlie up in the sitting room and settling him on her hip.
"No, Samael" Gabriel replied sternly. "Father wishes me to deliver you to him and perhaps brother remember how it came to pass with Amenediel. Do you really want this to happen that way in front of the humans?"
Before Lucifer could reply he felt Chloe release him a little and he saw her eyes move towards his brother. "Go and throw yourself off the balcony or something, Gabe", she spat at him before she reached up, pulling Lucifer towards her and indulging in a kiss that was not decent for company, particularly not the kind of company they had now. The devil knew what she was doing and was smiling inside, hearing Maze cackling in the background.
"Go get it Decker!" the demon shouted, before she was told off with a 'shush' from Linda, who, just behind her, had not yet seen what was going on. The doctor looked up and saw Chloe and Lucifer attached to each other, Gabriel looking appalled and Raphael embarrassed.
"I retract that" Linda began, coming to stand beside the demon. "Maze, I apologise that was inappropriate of me to admonish you. Go get it Chloe!"
"S'cool. Apology accepted" Maze replied, throwing an arm around the other woman. "Girls been stuck out in the mountains with him all weekend surprised she's still able to think straight! Or walk straight..." she added quickly with another provoking laugh and deliberately, in an over-exaggerated manner, licked her lips whilst staring at Gabriel in particular. The angel shifted on his feet. He was about to drag the human off when Linda snorted in response to the statement and was pulled along by Maze more onto the balcony; one either side of Chloe as she was released from his clutches. Chloe felt Maze's arms go around her from one side and Linda, who still had the toddler on her hip, from the other. She was shaking but no more than the therapist beside her.
"I am not saying goodbye" Lucifer began, gently brushing away a tear that was making its way down her cheekbone. "Not this time".
"Brother..."
"As Decker said Gabe", Maze interrupted, her face moulded into a hateful stare. "I'd suggest you follow her advice and go fu..."
"Mazikeen..." Lucifer warned, pulling the demon towards him in a hug. Maze froze until she realised he was passing her something and she felt a small object pushed into the back pocket of the trousers she was wearing. Maze nodded indicating to him that whatever it was, she knew it was there. He released her with a pained smile. "Behave and don't smash up all of my liquor or I'll make you pay for every last drop". She just nodded at him, wanting to just tell him not to go but realised she could not.
"Dr Martin", he started enveloping the therapist and Charlie in is arms too. "I will find out what I can about Amenediel. You have my promise and I will do my best".
"Thank you Lucifer" Linda replied before he turned to the woman in the middle again who had her eyes closed, feeling the breeze of a cooling evening caressing her skin. It was like before and it was only the other two holding her up, otherwise her knees would have given way. Too many thoughts, not enough memories and these last seconds were running out too fast. She had so much to say to him but it was all too late.
A moment later, Gabriel and Lucifer were gone.
"Chloe..." Linda started, half stunned at the sight of two angels taking flight, but so, so concerned for her friend too. For the moment she put aside the racing of her own heart and that feeling of dread at Lucifer going. She loved him, but not like the woman to her side. "Remember what we talked about..."
"No. I can't...I can't do this again..." Chloe stammered, huge fat tears rolling down her cheeks as she grabbed onto her friends arms that were around her waist. "I can't do this again, Linda, not again! Bring him back, get him back!" Her eyes settled on Raphie, who had his head bowed.
"Chloe breathe please", Linda pressed, tightening her grip on the Detective, but Chloe was panicking, ears closed to any kind of reason. "Come on Chloe, just follow me and Maze". Linda glanced at the demon and with Maze catching on and catching up, the two tried to calm the other woman's breathing with enhancing their own before she hyperventilated. Realising they were failing as Chloe simply was not listening, Raphael knelt down in front of all three and took up both of Chloe's hands, kneeling almost in reverence to the Miracle Child and pressing his lips to her knuckles. Chloe did not see the significance of it or the glance that passed between the demon and the therapist, but immediately Chloe felt that warmth infuse her as it passed up her fingers, arms and into her shoulders. The knot in her chest dissipated almost immediately and the relief of the tension on her body was almost overwhelming.
"Raphie?" she asked, snuffling away tears, but feeling calm again. "Thank you". She had frightened herself this time.
He stood up. "Miss Decker, perhaps we should return you home. It will do you no good to be standing here all night".
"For once angel-boy" Maze replied. "I agree with you". She looked at Chloe, whose eyes were raised to the sky again. The demon had too many memories of that first night he went, picking the crying, virtually unconscious Detective up from the lounger and frantically calling Daniel for help. She recalled wrapping her in every blanket she could find trying to warm her up on his instructions down the phone, filling her with hot tea and refusing to leave her shaking form even when her ex-husband was there. It was then the rage inside the demon had started and it had not lessened since.
"Come on Decker" Maze repeated, determined she would stay with her now too. "Angel-boy here is right. Let's get you home".