Sorry for the delay in posting! I got behind on my writing. But now I think my ChloTrixifer muse is back on track for a little bit. :) Thanks for reading! -adcg

Wrap Me in Your Wings – Chapter 18

Their dinner was pretty simple. Lucifer was quite happy Beatrix didn't drag him to some kids' eatery. Instead they ended up at a family pizzeria not far from Lux enjoying a Hawaiian special with pineapple and banana peppers – something Maze had introduced to Trixie without Chloe's blessing. The mom in the group picked the peppers off her slices as she watched her daughter and Lucifer both consume far too many for her to believe.

They had returned Lucifer's rental car on the way to dinner then parked Chloe's car at Lux and walked to the restaurant. As they walked back toward the nightclub Chloe took the chance and slid her hand into Lucifer's while they listened to Trixie recount part of her Vegas adventure.

Lucifer smiled at her and wound his fingers around hers. Never in all his years had he really thought about walking down the street holding a woman's hand because she meant something to him. It was the simplest of feelings, one that he knew most humans often over-thought. And he could understand that. He could admit that he still felt nervous about this whole situation but he wanted to accept it, accept them, no matter the nerves.

The three of them peeked into the booming club as they entered the building. The bouncer greeted Lucifer with a firm handshake and a 'Welcome back, Boss!' before glancing at Trixie.

"Haven't I seen you here before?" the muscular man didn't scowl at Trixie but his eyes looked her over curiously.

Trixie smiled at him and held out her hand. "I believe I introduced myself as Beatrix Morningstar the last time we saw each other…" the pseudonym rolled off her tongue somewhat easily and Lucifer's hired hand nodded.

"That's right," he looked at Lucifer and Chloe who now had arms crossed over her chest, staring at her daughter. "You were here a few weeks ago. Said you had business with the boss man here."

"And you let her in?" Chloe questioned.

"She's been here a couple of times. I've seen her with Maze. Never knew her name," the 30'ish year old man admitted.

Chloe scowled and Lucifer put his hand on her back. "Luis wouldn't let anything happen to her, now would you?" he looked at his employee who blushed slightly under Chloe's glare.

"No, of course not," the man answered honestly. Chloe could tell Lucifer had pulled his little schtick on his employee, even without using the word 'desire', so she continued listening. "You don't run into many people with that last name. I knew Mr. Morningstar was out on business and I knew you've been staying here a lot, Detective Decker, so I made sure she got in and got on the elevator… Like I did that night she came by a while before that."

Lucifer and Chloe both looked at Trixie who shrugged her shoulders and tried to look innocent.

"If she shows up here again, by herself," Chloe sighed and lightened her motherly look at the grown man, "send her back home, please." She then turned her focus back to her daughter. "You," she breathed in and out a couple of times.

"I told you earlier I had been here. The night I snuck out of Dad's… That's the only time you didn't already know about. And I know, you still need to figure out my punishment for all of this. I know." Trixie stopped there without any other excuses. She noted the look of concern on Lucifer's face as well as Chloe's and decided to just cut her losses knowing she was in the wrong.

Luis watched the threesome closely. He knew his boss wasn't married. He had thought Trixie just might be Lucifer's daughter and wasn't about to question anything further. It was the first time he had seen these three people together in the same place at the same time and he couldn't help but wonder if this was the other side of the nightclub owner's carefree personality. He didn't say a word. He just watched as they all walked farther into the building together.
**********

Chloe took a cleansing breath as the elevator doors opened and they walked into the penthouse. She was just there a couple of nights ago – why did it seem like years in the past?

"Can I go out on the balcony?" Trixie immediately asked, putting the entire awkwardness with the bouncer behind them.

"Yeah," Chloe nodded.

"Stay out of the hot tub, Child," Lucifer called behind her and Trixie just glanced over her shoulder at him.

Chloe pulled the cash out of her handbag and gave it to Lucifer. She also pulled out the journals and then put her bag down by the piano as she had nearly every other time she had been there in the past two months.

Lucifer watched as she put the two books back on the shelf. He noted there was still one space empty. And he noticed as she ran a finger over the last one in the line that was sitting there.

"Did you delve into that one at all?" He asked and she turned around quickly, not realizing that he was still standing there.

"Hmmm?" Chloe just looked toward him.

Lucifer grabbed a glass from the bar and poured himself a glass of scotch. He practically gulped the liquid down and poured another with a contented sigh. "The last of my journals, what'd you think of it?" He asked with curiosity.

Chloe licked her lips and gave him almost a nervous smile. "I hadn't gotten to that one yet," she didn't completely fib. She had only opened it once.

"Really?" Lucifer asked and Chloe immediately knew he wanted her to simply tell him the truth.

"Ok, I opened it once," she admitted and took a breath. She turned around and pulled the newest of the books off the shelf and held it in her hands. "It starts with the line I don't think she's ever coming back." Chloe felt the tears prick her eyes and she couldn't quite bring herself to look into Lucifer's face. "I was already living one nightmare…with you gone," she noticed he was moving and took her eyes off her hands long enough to realize he was standing in front of her. "I didn't need to relive the nightmare that I put you through," she shrugged one shoulder as she spoke.

Lucifer put a hand on hers, understanding her thought. That particular journal still had quite a few empty pages in it. He had started it the night he killed Pierce and his true self was revealed to Chloe. She was right, the majority of that particular volume talked about Lucifer's heartbreak, his loneliness.

The final thing he remembered writing in it was in the short time after Charlie's kidnapping, when he realized that he had to return to Hell to take charge once again. Lucifer remembered tears staining the page and blurring his eyes as he tried to write down his thoughts.

He knew that night that Chloe would find his journals and read them. He didn't know if she would read this one or not – if her heart could handle it.

"At some point," he took the book from her hands and placed it back on the shelf, "I want you to read it," he nodded and Chloe looked at him with a tilt of her head.

Lucifer gave a soft but solemn laugh. "You've found my other stories insightful, truthful, more about me… that one's a bit darker, but you deserve to know my thoughts during that time. I missed you when you went away. And, knowing you were terrified – of me – for even a little while… it broke my heart."

He put a hand on Chloe's cheek and felt her take a deep breath as she closed her eyes and let him cradle her face for a moment. She easily remembered his anger, seeing his disappointment in his eyes, feeling her heart break when she admitted to him that for even a moment she was trying to work against him.

"Hey," Lucifer pulled her out of that thought and she opened her eyes to look at him. "It's in the past now, right?"

Chloe nodded against his hand and was very happy when he bent down and placed his lips on hers. It didn't take a moment for both of them to lose themselves in that thought until Trixie's voice drifted through the door.

"Diablo!" was the simple word that made them pull apart and look toward the balcony.

"Lucifer!" Trixie opened the door a bit wider and stepped through with the butterfly on the back of her hand. "Look! Diablo's home!" the girl grinned widely and held her hand up for both Lucifer and Chloe to see.

"See," Lucifer nodded and stepped toward Trixie. "I told you he would get home on his own. He's a resourceful fellow."

He watched as the butterfly sat for another moment on Trixie's hand and then took off, moving toward Chloe.

"Ah, so you're familiar with her as well," Lucifer called out after the flitting insect.

Chloe watched the creature that began hovering in front of her face at eye level.

"Hold your hand out, Mom," Trixie instructed. "Diablo likes to sit on the back of your hand."

Chloe moved her eyes to look at Trixie first and then Lucifer who simply watched with interest. As soon as she held her hand out the butterfly landed, moved its wings up and down a few times just to balance itself and then sat still.

"See," Trixie moved toward her mother, reached out and lightly petted Diablo's wings.

"Diablo?" Chloe looked at Trixie again and then Lucifer. "This was you?" she questioned slowly.

Lucifer nodded slowly. "It's hard to explain," he glanced at Trixie knowing she wouldn't understand the bigger meaning, then he looked back at Chloe. "Not like he was reporting back to me, that's silly."

He shook his head with a nervous kind of chuckle. "I knew he would give you a little bit of peace. But then I also realized he wasn't with you – when Beatrix ran away, Diablo followed her."

Chloe nodded, "She sent me a picture of her at the hotel, with the butterfly, like this, on the back of her hand. It's the same butterfly?"

Trixie nodded with a smile. "Yep," same guy I saw out on the balcony. He's the one that showed me the feather. And I know this is the same butterfly that was with me in Vegas."

The girl looked back at Lucifer. "Eve said you used to have a black snake named Diablo. Did you really?"

Chloe's eyes got wider and she looked at him with a touch of fear. Lucifer chuckled.

"That was a long, long time ago," he emphasized the second 'long' for Chloe's sake. "Yes, much like our little flying friend here, that Diablo liked to wind around my arm and would rest his head on the back of my hand."

Chloe shivered. "But now you have a pet butterfly. Thank God," she rolled her eyes.

"He had nothing to do with my choice. This little guy offered me his services and I took him up on the offer," Lucifer explained and both women creased their eyebrows at him.

In turn he rolled his eyes at them and just pointed at the butterfly. "He reminded you of me, didn't he? While I was gone. He helped you know I was alright. Didn't you both think he was some kind of a sign – a good one – about me?" Lucifer asked.

Trixie grinned widely, put her hand up beside Chloe's and was happy when Diablo moved onto her finger. She didn't say a word as she began walking back toward the balcony.

Chloe stepped toward Lucifer and smiled as well. "You're cute when you're flustered."

"I'm not…flustered," Lucifer realized quickly that she was using his own words against him. He did his best not to smile as he turned around, picked up Trixie's stack of cash and headed toward the safe in his bedroom.

Chloe laughed at him, followed him for a few steps but then stayed at the bottom of the two stairs that led up to his bed. She wasn't sure why she suddenly felt self conscious about going in there, with him, except that he was opening his safe.

"Which side of my bed did you sleep on?" Lucifer wondered. He turned around to find Chloe not behind him and backed up until he saw her.

Chloe nibbled a little nervously on her bottom lip causing Lucifer to reach his hand out to her until she took it and he led her into the room with him.

"What's wrong?" he wondered.

"Nothing," Chloe shook her head and then sat down on the side of the bed as he went to the safe and punched in the numbers of her birthdate.

He put the cash in without glancing at anything else and then shut the door once again and turned back around to look at Chloe.

"So, which side?" he asked again.

She glanced toward the right side of the bed. "Your side," she admitted quietly.

"You didn't sleep well that first night that I left. I came back to leave the letter and I knew you had cried yourself to sleep. I'm sorry, Detective." Lucifer sat down beside her.

"You don't need to apologize," Chloe smiled at him. "I know why you had to go," she blew a breath out through her lips and ran her hand over the now-familiar comforter. "I really did feel closer to you when I stayed here. I guess it helped me learn more about you and sleeping on your side of the bed," she shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know," she stopped there, not knowing exactly how to describe her feelings.

Lucifer smiled at her. She didn't need to say anything more. "I'm happy you felt comfortable staying here," he nodded at her. "It gave me hope and courage to know that you were here. It may be bad of me, but to know that you missed me enough to stay here, to explore my home, to get to know me better…it helped me know that you did - you do - love me."

Chloe smiled at him.

"You realize this is all knew territory for me, Detective. This whole love thing," he admitted as he stood from the bed and headed toward his closet.

"I know," Chloe nodded and watched him. "I'm here to help you learn about it you know," she was happy to hear him chuckle as he started shuffling hangers around the rack. "Are you sure you don't want to stay here tonight? I mean, your finally back home," she changed the subject slightly.

Lucifer stepped out of the closet momentarily and looked at her. "You don't want me to stay at yours now?" He asked.

"Oh, I didn't say that. I just… I want you to be where you're most comfortable. I mean, you can ask Maze, living with a pre-teen girl in the house can be challenging." She worked to give him an excuse, in case he needed one.

Lucifer came back out with a couple of suits in hand and laid them on the bed beside her. He then took Chloe's hands, made her stand up and put his arms over her shoulders. "I don't want to be away from you. I don't want to let you out of my sight. Unless you don't want me to –"

"I didn't say that," Chloe interrupted with a smile.

"So I'll deal with the pre-teen girl. I'll abide by whatever punishment for her that you and the douche decide. And… well, I hadn't thought about this but do you think there will be a problem with me sharing your bed – I mean, for Beatrix – will that be an issue?" he looked seriously into Chloe's eyes.

Chloe pressed her lips together. "We can ask her, if you'd like," she offered and Lucifer's eyes widened.

"Well, no," he stuttered slightly, "I just – as her mother, you know best and well, I know last night was… new… to all of us… but if I'm to be more than a sleepover guest…"

Chloe laughed. "This is fun, seeing you flustered instead of me!"

Lucifer took a breath and then pouted at her.

Chloe patted him on the cheek then kissed his lips quickly. "It's fine. Trixie's a smart girl and she knows what's going on. She knows we are more than partners and a lot has happened over the past few months. If she had a problem with us being together – sleeping together – I don't think she would've set out to find you."

Lucifer knew she was right. He really just didn't want to have this sort of discussion with his urchin. That would truly make him flustered.
**********

"Can we have a camp out, out here?" Trixie watched as Diablo fluttered toward Chloe and Lucifer when they stepped out onto the balcony.

"What? You want to put a tent up out here? Might get you in touch with some kind of nature, but probably not the kind you need to see," Lucifer commented.

"I saw Vegas nightlife from the penthouse balcony," Trixie responded which led Lucifer to pull out his phone.

"That reminds me," he touched the screen a few times. "I need to see what kind of damage you did to my credit card balance." He lowered his chin and gave Trixie an almost fatherly look.

The urchin's eyes became wide and a bit worried. Chloe decided to keep her mouth shut and just watched the two of them look back and forth at each other.

"Son of a…" Lucifer started then stopped himself before finishing the curse word.

"What?" Trixie stepped toward him as though she wanted to see what he was looking at but Lucifer quickly tapped the screen again and put the device back in his pocket.

Trixie looked up at him with a truly concerned look on her face. Chloe stepped toward them with concern for Trixie until Lucifer looked at them both.

"You got a damn good deal on that hotel. How'd you book that rate?" He looked down at Trixie who slowly let a smile creep onto her face again.

"I used some of your points from your credit card," she grinned proudly and Lucifer shook his head.

"I don't know if I should've chanced taking my wallet with me to Hell, or if this little hellion did more damage than my demons," he expressed only halfway seriously.

"Wait, you have other kids?" Trixie wondered with another look of concern.

"Oh, no," Lucifer looked at her and creased his eyebrows until he understood what she had just heard. "No. I just mean that most of the beings I was dealing with are like demonic children. No, Urchin, you're quite enough."

"And Charlie," Trixie added.

"My nephew…yes…well, Linda and Amenadiel are to blame for that little…bundle of…pure joy…" Lucifer's mouth twisted in a distasteful fashion as he thought about the few seconds he held the baby and tried to find kind words to use.

Chloe chuckled at him. "Trix, are you about ready to go? I think Lucifer's got his bag packed," Chloe looked at her watch to make sure they weren't pushing back Trixie's bedtime again tonight.

"What about camping out?" Trixie looked at her mom.

Chloe huffed. "Certainly not tonight. You've got school again tomorrow, we've still gotta write your letter and you still have a bit of homework to finish, don't you?"

"Oh, camping," Lucifer snapped his fingers together. "Wait for me at the elevator, there's something else I need to grab from the safe."

"About camping?" Chloe looked at him and shook her head. He hadn't changed much at all. Still thinking about random ideas and just being his own Lucifer-ness.

She ushered Trixie toward the living room while Lucifer headed back to the bedroom. Trixie went to the bookshelf again and looked back at Chloe. "Can't I take one of Lucifer's journals too, please? You still have one at home to read. I want one as well."

Chloe thought for a moment. She stepped toward the bedroom to ask Lucifer's permission when she heard him call for her as well.

"Chloe? Did you take the folder of real estate information back to your apartment?" He fumbled through the safe contents.

"I think so," she answered as she stepped around the corner and saw his face hidden behind the safe door.

"Alright," he responded and then continued fumbling with something. "Wait, what's this?" He said to himself.

"Hmmm?" Chloe went toward him until Lucifer popped his head above the door and looked at her.

"It's fine, I'll be right there," he said.

Again Chloe shook her head at his bit of weirdness. "Do you mind if Trixie takes one of the journals home to read?" she continued looking at him as Lucifer's attention moved back to the items in front of him.

"Yes," he said at first and then glanced back at her. "I mean, no, I don't mind. Yes, she can take them all if she'd like."

Trixie had followed Chloe into the room. "Yes!" she started to skip away to actually grab all of his personally written books.

"Trix, stop!" Chloe called to her then looked at Lucifer. "Hey, are you okay?"

He tried to relax his creased eyebrows as he spoke to her. "Yes, I'm fine. There's just something I need to look at here first. Just wait for me by the elevator, I'll be right there," he nodded at her and forced a smile.

"Okay," Chloe answered then turned to make sure Trixie didn't take any more than two journals with them.

Lucifer pulled a small box from the safe that he hadn't noticed before. When he opened it up he found a most beautiful ring with a truly sparkling diamond. It wasn't overly big or gaudy. There were two rubies set in the band on either side of the diamond. He stared at it several seconds before pulling the folded piece of paper from the top of the box.

"Father has a message for you. At death will you part. I'll see you here tomorrow. –Azrael"

Lucifer's stomach flipped. His sister was the angel of death. And yet he knew that wasn't all his younger sibling offered. He looked at the ring again and then heard Chloe and Trixie arguing slightly in the other room.

While his mind wanted to go in a million different directions, his heart was only focused on one. He took a deep breath and put the note and the ring in the box and put them back into the safe.

No matter what tomorrow held, he had at least one more night with the woman he loved.

***WMiYW-Chapter 18-WMiYW***