Hello! Thanks to everyone who's left comments so far - I love chatting about the story with you and hearing your thoughts! :D
If you haven't read my first Lucifer fanfic All Of My Worlds Suck btw, this chapter is going to be a bit of a jolt. ;)
Lucifer felt Chloe slip from his celestial light into a deep, untroubled slumber, and relaxed, drawing back his energies until he looked as he wished to look - perfectly groomed in Armani, with not a hair out of place.
He stared down at her, wishing for nothing more than to brush the tears from her closed eyes. To cup her cheek and place a soft kiss upon her lips.
But he couldn't. He would never do so again. Not here.
She looked... better, though her eyes were still deeply shadowed and puffy, and her skin pale. Her chest rose and fell with even breaths and she felt, at least for now, in peace.
His gaze drifted to the syringe beside her hand.
While the dose she could have delivered may not have been enough to kill her, that didn't really matter.
She had believed it would.
She would have done it, if he hadn't mentioned Trixie.
Lucifer shut his imaginary eyes and released an unnecessary sigh. Another fabrication, the mimicry of what he once was. He could not quite let go of it yet.
He truly hadn't thought her capable of doing such a thing.
But he'd felt her grief firsthand. He'd felt how devastated she was when she'd seen how separated they truly were.
She was lost. She was hurting terribly.
But she would get better.
He gazed down at her in sleep again, so deep it was dreamless.
I will make sure of that.
Voices pulled his attention outside, and he briefly touched the minds of Trixie and Dan as they approached.
He shifted to stand by the chair in the corner of the room so they would not pass through him on their way to Chloe.
It had happened a few times so far and it was unpleasant every time. An intimate sharing of someone's innermost essence, every secret laid bare, a bombardment of thoughts, feelings and desires that left him reeling.
In the words of that lobster from The Little Mermaid:
A little too close
Dan entered first, carrying a plate laden with two lemon slices and a small piece of chocolate cake.
The man was hopeful that Chloe was feeling better, and worried about the confusion and the grief that seemed to hit her out of the blue. Dan's thoughts flicked to Lucifer then, chased by a mess of emotions - irritation first and foremost, followed by a chiding reminder to himself of how much things had changed, how nice Lucifer had been to him lately.
Lucifer snorted. That hadn't been on purpose. It seemed no matter what he meant to say, no matter how biting or condescending he intended his words to be, what came out were endless affirmations of Dan's general goodness and desire to do right by people.
And this had gone on for months now. It had been excruciating at first, but he'd finally come to terms with it, thrown up his hands and let it be.
It had helped that Lucifer had started to see the truth of his words, even more so from this all-seeing angle.
He was, he had to admit, glad that Chloe had Dan by her side.
More of Dan's thoughts passed in moments - was Lucifer dead? Amenadiel's words and expression had been hard to interpret, though he'd admitted his brother had been hurt and said they were taking him home. Did they mean Lucifer's body? Was it possible that Chloe saw his ghost?
Very good, Daniel. As I've said before you are a smar-
"LUCIFER!"
Lucifer's eyes bulged at Trixie's cry - belatedly he realized that he'd felt her stirring recognition of him while dwelling in Dan's memories, but had been too engrossed to take note.
And here now the little human was grinning at him and running to tackle him in a hug, as Dan looked on in shock.
How?!
Too late he realized this would not go well for either of them, but the thought was wiped from his mind when she reached him, arms outstretched...
...and ran through him, straight into the chair he stood before.
He gasped, folding over with her passage as everything she was streamed through him, so much, much more than he had prepared for...
"What the... Trixie?! Are you okay!?"
Dan's fear reached him, that maybe there was something to this ghost business after all, and suddenly Dan was right there, standing in Lucifer as he struggled to recover from what he had felt and seen and known from Trixie's essence.
Because...
Father.. you did... not...
"Are you okay monkey? What's... what's wrong?"
Memories that had been taken from him were returned in a rush. Overwhelmed by them, by what they meant, and struggling to find himself amidst his entanglement with Dan, Lucifer fled the only way he could.
Down through the floor into another person's room.
The room was dimly lit. A lady of great age lay on the bed, her hand held by a woman in tears - her daughter. Lucifer watched the scene dumbly for a moment as his mind roiled over what he'd just learned.
His Father had come to Earth again... as Trixie.
His Father as Trixie had pulled him out of Hell...
... and they'd had a real talk, and Lucifer had finally felt something he'd been missing - his Father's love and approval.
And then dear old fucking dad had yanked the entire thing away from him.
The daughter jumped up with a cry and started shaking her mother.
And the old woman's soul appeared beside the bed and looked around the room in wonder.
Are you an angel? she said softly. Are you here to take me to Heaven?
Lucifer finally registered that she was talking to him.
I'm sorry, he answered, with a small bow of the head, I believe you're waiting on my-
The door burst open and in ran Trixie, her face wide with shock and fear.
"LUCIFER?!"
Dan followed, trying to pull her back from the door, his face flushed, and wincing at the view of the woman bent over her dead mother on the bed.
"I'm so sorry, I don't know what's got into her," Dan mumbled, trying to draw Trixie back out of the room.
Lucifer moved quickly to the woman's soul and nodded. Yes, I'm your angel, absolutely, no time to waste!
And the woman let out a bubbly giggle as he circled his arm around her waist and sank them both down another level, glaring at Trixie as they went.
"STOP RUNNING FROM ME!" she yelled after him, darting back out the door.
The old woman looked up at him as the age in her frame leeched away, and he was soon holding a young woman in her 20s, her dark hair beautifully coiffed, her impeccable dress and makeup straight from the 50s.
You're a handsome angel, she said with a bright smile.
Smiling himself, he took her hand in his own and turned their little trip into a dance, twirling her around as they continued to sink through another floor.
She raised an eyebrow playfully. Aren't we going the wrong way?
He grinned at her. I'm not sure, have you been bad?
With a grand sweep of his arm, he twirled her out, then swept her back, and she pressed against his chest with a sultry smile.
If you're what's waiting for me, then absolutely.
Lucifer laughed, finding the woman's advances a lovely antidote to the mix of confusion and anger the recent revelation had brought him.
Sadly, my dear, you're a little too late.
She made a sound of disappointment, that wasn't reflected in her smile, and together they landed on the firm floor of a corridor leading to the main lobby of the hospital.
The dance continued, because it turned out the woman - Barbara - had won quite a few dance competitions in her youth, and wasted no time getting back into the swing of things, now she'd shed her old self.
It was delightful, and for a moment he forgot he was dead. Forgot his Father was currently chasing after him in the body of a young girl, and forgot that the woman he loved had almost killed herself out of grief.
For a moment anyway, because as soon as they reached the doors to the outside, Azrael was there, standing in their way.
"Lucifer, what are you doing?"
Smiling, he gave his sister a little nod, and raised a hand to his partner, who was positively giddy at this point.
Azrael, this is Barbara. Barbara, Azrael.
His sister rolled her eyes. "I know who she is, silly. I'm here for her. Barbara, I'm sorry I'm late."
Oh, that's okay, I had fun.
Azrael nodded, fixed her gaze upon the woman, and Lucifer's partner was gone.
He sighed, feeling her absence rather keenly. The moment truly had been lovely.
I could have taken her there.
His sister laughed. "Another few minutes of that and she'd never want to leave your side."
Her head tilted then, as she looked around him. "Besides, I think someone else wants to have a word with you."
Lucifer glanced back.
He scowled.
Trixie was storming through the lobby, her face a tiny storm of anger.
He turned back, realizing running was pointless.
Sister, did you kno-
But Azrael was gone.
With a heavy sigh, Lucifer turned to face his Father.
