Chloe stirred slowly, still wrapped in the blissful, joyful aftereffects of Lucifer's light, as someone worked beside her.
Blinking slowly, she opened her eyes and smiled at the woman she'd seen before - the nurse who'd been so kind to check on her.
"Hello," she said, warmly, and she reached out to touch the woman's arm.
The nurse turned. "Oh, hello! You're awake!"
"Mmm," Chloe murmured, stretching a little with a smile. "I'm wonderful."
The lady smiled. "That's good to hear. You were upset last time I was here."
The badge the woman was wearing had 'Samantha' on it, which seemed to be her name.
"Samantha is a beautiful name," Chloe said, looking up at the lady's round face. "I always wanted the name Samantha as a kid. You can do so many things with it - Samantha... Sam... Sama... Saman... Antha... Tha..."
Chloe giggled.
"Riight," the nurse said, carefully. She lifted Chloe's hand to check the pulse and looked at her watch.
Chloe shifted her hand to hold the lady's and smiled again. "You're beautiful."
Samantha's eyes widened. "Um. Thanks?"
"No, you're beautiful. You could have any man," Chloe said, waving the hand the lady was trying to get a pulse from, "any, that you wanted."
The nurse brought the hand back and returned to the pulse check with a smirk. "Not really into guys."
"Any lady you wanted," Chloe added, without missing a beat, "any at all! You're lovely, and sweet, and kind aaaand..."
"Married."
Chloe looked at her, her eyes growing wet. "Awwwww! You have the lady you want and you're in love and that's beautiful. Everything's beautiful."
"Mmmm," Samantha said over her. "Somebody slip you something they shouldn't have?"
Chloe grinned. "The man I love."
The nurse raised an eyebrow, then pointed to the corner of the room. "That guy?"
Following the nurse's finger, Chloe looked.
Dan was sprawled in the chair, head back, mouth open, completely out.
She shook her head. "No, that's my ex. I mean, I love him, but in a friendly way. Not a love love way. He's not the devil."
Samantha pursed her lips awkwardly and nodded slowly. "Gotcha. I think I'll have to track down the man you 'love love' and have a little word with him."
Chloe snorted. "Good luck. He's dead. You can't see him." She looked around the room, hoping for a glance. "Lucifer?" She lowered her voice to a forced whisper that anyone could hear. "Lucifer!" You're in trouble!"
Then she started giggling again, before staring up at Samantha thoughtfully.
"Do you think a relationship with a dead angel can work?"
"Daaamn girl." Samantha laughed. "I really need to figure out what you're on before I set this up again." She turned to the pump, clamping down the syringe before pointing at it. "Do you know why this was on your bed?"
"Yes, yes I do," Chloe said, pointing emphatically. "I was going to kill myself with it." She frowned, staring up at the nurse, as her arm flopped back onto the bed. "That's bad, isn't it."
Samantha nodded, frowning. "Yes, Ms. Decker, that's bad." She turned and disconnected the syringe completely. "I'm going to take this with me. Not sure who left the key in your room, but I'll talk to them. We'll do a blood test to figure out what you're on, and get someone in here to talk to you about how you're feeling. That sound good?"
"That sounds great," Chloe answered, nodding. "You're really kind and lovely. Thanks for being here and taking care of me. I think you're amazing. Do people tell you you're amazing? Are the other patients nice to you? They should be. Let me know if anyone isn't and I'll go talk to them."
The nurse smirked, shaking her head. "You are so hopped up."
"My dead angel-once-devil lover let off a love bomb right where you're standing, so, yeah, I am."
"Holy crap," the woman laughed. "I have no idea what you just said, but... anything else you need?"
Chloe started to shake her head, then her eyes went wide. "Oh! Yeah! I can't reach the bag there, can you hand it to me?"
"Sure." Samantha walked around the bed, and finding the little leather bag on the side table, passed it to Chloe. "Do you need help opening that?"
Chloe fumbled with it for a moment, then nodded.
Samantha undid the leather ties and handed it back. "I wonder what these symbols mean on the side?"
Smiling, Chloe looked at it, not seeing it for what it was at first. Then the meaning opened up in her mind like a flower.
"It's celestial for 'Sister in grief'."
Samantha frowned. "Celestial?"
Chloe nodded. "I'm not sure why I know that, but that's what it means."
She reached into the little pouch with her fingers and felt something cold and hard.
Frowning, she pulled it out.
"Oh no," she whispered, as the room felt suddenly colder.
"Ooh, that's a neat ring," Samantha said. "Is that an onyx?"
Chloe shook her head, the frown deepening. "No."
The bubble of joy she'd been happily basking in burst, as she stared at Lucifer's ring.
The one he was never without.
Amenadiel must have removed it from Lucifer's lifeless hand and given to her.
"Oh no," she whispered again.
Put it on.
The thought bloomed in her mind and she stared around the room, a brief spark of hope breaking through the grief.
"Lucifer?"
No.
Her hands moved as she watched, feeling distant from the act. The ring was slipped over her thumb, being too large for anything else.
"That's better," she said, without meaning to.
"It looks good on you," Samantha said.
"Yes," Chloe said, as something else spoke in her place. "You asked what it was? It's a void stone. It holds a crystalline piece of dark matter from before the birth of this universe."
Samantha's mouth twisted. "Good to know. I'm going to go and talk to the docs, now. Be back soon."
"Certainly, Samantha." Chloe's face stretched in a smile. "Thank you for taking such good care of my mother."
"W-what?" Chloe whispered, finding a way to voice her own thoughts as her heart began to pound within her chest.
Sleep now, Mother. All is well.
She sank, aware that her body wasn't quite hers anymore, watching as her hand turned the ring back and forth in the sterile light.
She sank to a place of utter darkness, cold and directionless, and caught the muttering of the nurse before everything withdrew.
"Crazy people every damn shift..."
Thanks for the comments! Folks seemed rather shocked by that last chapter :D
I'm away for the weekend, so this is the last post for a little bit (probably Tuesday). Things get a wee bit darker ahead, though the next chapter's a tiny bit silly.
Leave a comment if you can - they really do make my day. Thanks for reading! :)
