This is the second chapter I've posted this weekend. One yesterday with Samael and Linda, and this one today. Make sure you catch both!

This chapter happens concurrently with the last, taking place shortly after Chloe's last chapter. You'll get why I mention that, by the end.

Keep feeling like I have to tell people that all will be well. Here goes again: All will be well. :)

Thanks for the comments so far. Hope you'll share your thoughts if you have a moment. I love reading them. Take care everyone!

Chloe glared at the ceiling as the nurses fussed about her, setting her up with a drip, changing out her gown for a fresh robe, and making sure the cuffs on her wrists and ankles were secure.

She was really, really thrilled about that.

The private room with the lock on the door was also really, really perfect.

"I'm fine," she said, once more, to the ceiling this time, because nobody was paying any attention to her. "I just have to find my daughter. She's twelve, she's got black hair, her name is Trixie. Look, somebody find Daniel Espanoza - he's my ex. He's a cop, probably checking out the cafeteria! He'll know where she is!"

Except... except he'd also forgotten who Trixie was.

Chloe winced and stared at the window on the left wall, past the shoulder of the nurse lifting the blanket over her.

How could he forget?

Had she imagined that?

Maybe she'd imagined all of it?

Lucifer saving her? The terrible birth? The child with burning eyes?

Hi, mom.

Squeezing her eyes closed, Chloe tried very hard not to cry.

What was real?

Maybe she was losing it?

A warm hand folded over her own.

"Chlo, hey..."

Warm lips pressed gently against her forehead.

"Dan!" she cried, opening her eyes and seeing him standing over her, his eyes soft with worry, his forehead blackened by a bruise. "Oh, thank god - Dan, I'm so glad to see you! Where's Trixie?!"

And there it was again. The flicker of confusion that made her want to scream.

She hadn't imagined it.

Oh, God!

"Dan," she moaned, and the tears rushed her then. She tried to lift her hand to wipe them away, but her wrist snapped against the cuff. "Dan, please, don't do this to me. Tell me you remember our daughter."

Dan grasped her hand tightly, his brow furrowed in pain, and glanced towards the doctor standing at the end of the bed.

"Are the cuffs really necessary?"

The man gave a sympathetic smile. "I'm afraid so. She was erratic and combative in the ER. The restraints are regular procedure and protect the patient, as much as the staff."

Chloe glared at the man through her tears.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!"

The man met her gaze with warm brown eyes.

"My apologies, Ms. Decker. Please know that we have your best interests at heart."

Scowling, she squeezed Dan's hand to pull his attention back.

"Dan. Something happened after I put Lucifer's ring on - something came up out of the ring. It talked to you and that's when your memories got screwed up."

Jesus, she wasn't helping herself!

"Chloe... do you hear what you're saying?"

"You brought her to the hospital, Dan! You said she was outside the room - where is she?! What if someone's taken her! She wasn't in the cafeteria was she? Oh my god... we have to find her, right now!"

She jerked on the cuffs, desperate to free herself and keep searching, but Dan pressed her back gently.

"Chloe. Please, baby. I don't know why you're saying these things but... we don't have a daughter. We never had kids. We couldn't."

He squeezed her hand gently as she looked at him, wide-eyed.

"It's why we broke up."

Rage replaced the desperate grief, and she jerked up from the bed to scream in his face.

"I broke up with you because you were a shitty husband, Dan! You were never there for us, and you never had my back! And we got DIVORCED because you were a CORRUPT COP! How DARE YOU NOT REMEMBER HER! HOW DARE YOU!"

Dan jerked back from her, pulling her hand from his. The hurt on his face was clear, as he glanced at the doctor and back.

Chloe winced. She shouldn't have said it like that. But God, she just needed him to remember!

"What about the angel?" she whispered. "Do you remember that? In the other room? When I was bleeding like crazy and gave birth? What about that?! That happened! I know it sounds crazy, but it happened!"

Dan didn't move. His gaze dropped and he shook his head.

"They think-"

"They think what?! It happened, Dan! He hit you on the head - I can see the bruise!"

He shook his head again, looking back at the doctor before glancing up at her.

Those eyes. She'd seen that look. He'd turned off from her completely.

She'd really hurt him.

"Dan, please, I'm sorry-"

"They think the guy broke into your room, from the window washing rig. They think he ran downstairs and attacked those people in the cafeteria. You probably ran off when I was down, and you stumbled over that mess, which is where the blood came from, and they think..."

Chloe's mouth fell open, and she looked between them both desperately. "They think, WHAT, Dan?! Because that's not what happened! I gave birth! You saw that!"

He looked at her, his mouth thin, his gaze cold. "They think that's what made you lose it, Chloe. Why you ran away, got lost in a park-"

"But the park's miles away, Dan - how'd I get there?!"

"And why you think we had a child. Why you're fixated on that. You probably saw the kid down there and it just... broke you."

Chloe's heart clenched.

"The kid... what kid? Was it Trixie, Dan? Oh my god, who was it?!"

"Jesus," Dan whispered, turning away.

"Mr. Espinoza," the doctor said, nodding towards her, "this could be a very temporary state. Let's give it some time. We'll keep her overnight and have an assessment done in the morning. We have an exceptional psychiatry department. They'll take very good care of her."

Dan nodded and looked as if he might leave - she snatched out to grab his arm.

"Dan, I'm not crazy, please don't leave me here. I'm not crazy! Who was the kid in the cafeteria? Was it a girl?"

Frowning he stared down at their hands.

"No, Chloe. It was a boy. Son of a family who came to visit a relative. They're all dead. I gotta go. I've gotta help find the asshole who did this."

"I shouldn't have said what I said, Dan," she whispered to him, tracking his gaze, wanting to make him see her again. "It was wrong, but I'm really freaking out and I need you to hear me."

But the shutters stayed put. Dan pulled away. "I'll come check on you in the morning."

Heart jumping in her chest, Chloe tried to grab for him again. "NO! Dan, don't do this! I'm not crazy! Please! I can help!"

"Thanks, doc. A friend wants to come in and see her, that okay?"

The doctor smiled. "As long as they come soon. We'll be giving her a mild sedative shortly, to help her relax. Best the visit be before then."

"WHAT?! I don't need to be drugged! Why are you drugging me?!"

Chloe winced inside. The yelling wasn't helping her case!

Taking a steadying breath, she tried for a calm, sane, measured tone.

"I'm not crazy," she said, her carefully measured voice cracking with the effort of maintaining calm, "Dan and Doctor whoever you are. I am not insane, I am just concerned, and-NO! DAN! DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE!"

But he did, and the doctor followed shortly afterwards, not even bothering to look back.

"Oh my god..." she whispered, sagging back against the bed.

Her heart was still pounding.

This had really happened. She was really cuffed to a goddamn hospital bed, about to be sedated, because everyone thought she was nuts!

"Oh my god..."

What the hell was she supposed to do now?

For a split second, the smallest moments, the thought came to her to pray to Lucifer.

Because he would have heard her, and he would have come running.

And she started sobbing.

Because he was dead.

He was really dead.

The tears kept coming, she had no way to wipe her face. So she just let herself cry.

For Lucifer. For Trixie.

"Heeey..."

Through the blurred mess of her tears, Chloe tracked the blob of a person approaching.

Short. Dark hair. Bright t-shirt.

Ella?

"Oh my god, Chloe, I'm so sorry..."

She blinked furiously and managed to finally see.

Ella was smiling strangely at her, in a lavender t-shirt with a resigned-looking potato on it, not quite near enough to the bed for Chloe to take her hand.

She'd hoped for that contact. She needed it.

"Ella, thank God," she said, with a rush of relief. "Please, help me - undo these cuffs."

She stretched her hand out, turning so the buckle was accessible.

But Ella only smiled more strangely, before twisting in place like she'd just remembered something.

"Oh hey! I... I brought these earlier," she said, pulling up a clump of carnations that looked a little mangled. Grimacing, she stared down at them. "Frank sat on them when we got called to the crime scene in the cafeteria, so..." Her dark eyes flicked up to Chloe again, and she looked distraught. "I'm really sorry... I kind of wish you were there to help out, because..."

Dropping her gaze, Ella began to cry.

"It's really bad. Like, the worst I've ever seen. It's really bad and you're here, and they said you..."

Quickly wiping at her eyes, she looked up and her gaze turned piercing. "What happened to you?"

"Ella," Chloe said, as calmly as she could. "I'm not crazy. It's a misunderstanding, and I need your help to get out of here. Please. Please undo these cuffs."

Her friend stared at her for a moment, then seemed to make a judgment call. Rushing forward with a nod, she grabbed for the nearest cuff.

Oh, thank god!

"I knew you weren't nuts, I mean, they said you were, but I said" she paused briefly to enact a conversation, "'Chloe is saner than all of us put together, don't you even', and they said-"

"Hurry, Ella, please," Chloe said, shaking her wrist to bring her attention back. "I've no idea where Trixie is, and everybody's acting really weird every time I mention her, and I don't understand why."

Ella frowned while she worked, caught up in trying to undo the buckle.

"That's weird. Is she in the hospital? Is she a patient?"

Chloe's heart sank, and she stared in disbelief at her friend.

"Ella, Trixie's my daughter. You've met her. Dan brought her to the hospital yesterday, but now he doesn't remember her and I've got no idea where she's gone and- no don't stop! I need to get out of here!"

"Oh, god," her friend whispered, her eyes wide and spooked.

And she stepped back, her hands dropping to her sides.

"No, Ella, listen to me! Hey, no no no, LISTEN! You have to believe me! Please! I'm not crazy! She's real! Trixie's real!"

"Chloe... I'm... so sorry," Ella mumbled, and she seemed to collapse inside, as her eyes grew wet again. Raising the flowers awkwardly, she scanned the room for a place to put them. "These... I'll put these..."

"ELLA, I'M NOT CRAZY!" Chloe shouted, jerking at the restraints, desperate to reach her friend.

But it only seemed to scare her. Ella jumped back from the bed, her eyes growing even wider. Dropping the flowers to the chair across the room, she rushed to the door, just as two nurses walked in with a tray of medication.

"No! You keep that away from me! ELLA! PLEASE!"

With a last despairing look back, Ella ran from the room.

It was all very efficiently done, as Chloe thrashed and tried to pull herself away. She couldn't, of course, and the male nurse simply held her arm steady as the other nurse injected whatever it was through the IV.

"It's a small dose of midazolam, sweetie. Just to help you relax. Try to get some rest."

Chloe bit back the stream of obscenities she wanted to scream at the woman, because this was a nurse, and nurses deserved respect. She just glared instead, and kept glaring as they left the room.

"Shit!" she cried, staring at the IV where they'd injected the dose, at the door, the window, and the mangled bouquet of flowers on the chair. "Shit."

What was the plan now?! She couldn't lie around here while her daughter was missing!

"Monkeeey," she moaned, flopping her head back into the pillow. "Where are you, baby?"

She blinked, slowly, then released a loud yawn.

There it was. She could feel it now. Her body getting heavy on the bed.

"Crraaap," she mumbled, blowing a small raspberry at nothing.

Her mouth twisted, and she started to cry. "Baby, where are you? I need you, monkey, and nobody knows who you are... Lucifer's gone... you're all I've got. Please, Trixie... please... where are you?"

Her tears slowly stopped.

Her eyes drifted closed.

And a small hand threaded through her own.

"Here, momma."

At first, she thought she was dreaming, and as she opened her eyes - and that was so hard - her heart sank as she realized that she'd imagined it.

But... she hadn't - her baby was right there at the side of the bed, dressed in a pink shirt and jeans, with adorable buns at the top of her head, smiling.

"Trrrixieee..." she moaned, reaching for her daughter. "Oh god... myyy baby!"

Some part of her knew she wouldn't be able to hold her daughter, because the cuffs were going to stop her short.

But they slipped from her wrists and ankles as she turned to gather her daughter into her arms.

Her child's small arms looped around her and squeezed her tight, and Chloe cried against her daughter's soft hair, kissing Trixie's forehead and knowing at that moment that everything was going to be alright.

"My monkey," she sighed.

When she opened her eyes, she was back home.

She wasn't wearing a hospital gown anymore either.

Sucking in a sharp breath, she pulled her daughter closer, and scanned the space, her eyes wide.

Was this a trick? Like before, with Lucifer and that horrible birth?

"No momma," Trixie whispered against her chest. "You're home."

Chloe frowned at the space.

Sure, it looked like home, but there was something different about it.

The same furniture, but... the colors weren't as bright. Things were much more ordered and clean.

And... her photos? What happened to her photos?

Trixie wasn't in any of them.

Horrified, she looked back at her baby.

Oh god, what if I am mad?

Trixie gave her a sad smile, and shook her head. "You're not, mom."

Sucking in a sharp breath, Chloe leaned back from the daughter who'd apparently just read her mind.

Don't be afraid, momma.

Trixie took her hand, opened her palm, and dropped something into it.

Lucifer's ring?

"Everything is going to be okay."

"Trixie..." Chloe whispered, staring at her child. "What's happening?"

Her daughter's face crumpled and Trixie began to cry.

"I'm... I'm saying goodbye."

"What?!" Chloe cradled her daughter's face. "Why would you say that?"

Trixie took in a hitched breath, tilted her head and looked at Chloe in a way that unlocked something hidden.

And suddenly, Chloe remembered.

Everything.

Every moment from that time her daughter had gone to Hell and brought Lucifer back.

And the conversations they'd had when he'd returned.

Because Trixie...

"Oh my G-"

"Yes," her daughter said softly. Then she looked down at the ring in Chloe's hand. "You'll remember him. Lucifer deserves that much." She broke into tears again, and would not look up. "I never meant for that to happen."

"Jesus," Chloe whispered.

"Yes, that too. Momma," she looked up earnestly, and clasped her small hands over Chloe's. "Thank you for being my mom. It has been a beautifully human existence. Much kinder than the last." The tears came again, and she wiped them away with small fingers. "I love you, momma. I... I have to go."

"No," Chloe mumbled, still in shock, still obliterated by this revelation, but still very much needing her daughter to be home, to be here and okay. She squeezed her child's hands - God's hands?! - and pulled her into a hug. "No, no. You're not leaving. You're my daughter, Trixie, you're my daughter!"

"Yes," her baby girl sighed against her. "But you won't remember that. And that will be okay. The Third gave me the idea, playing with dad's memory. It's better this way."

Trixie tried to pull away, but Chloe held her tight. "Don't, don't you dare do this to me. You're my heart, Trixie. You're my reason to live... you can't... Don't take that away from me. God, no, please..."

And she started sobbing, as Trixie pulled away anyway, and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"You have been the most beautiful mother to me, Chloe Jane Decker. Incredibly strong and kind. I will always be thankful for this. Another child will come to you soon. They will be simply human, and simply beautiful, just like you. Be at blessed peace."

And her daughter kissed her.

Trixie pulled away, as the tears spilled down her cheeks.

There.

It was done. It had hurt, but it was done.

Chloe's eyes had closed, and her face had grown soft and peaceful.

And Trixie had to go, because she'd been here too long already. She was risking everything.

But... she didn't really want to go.

"No..."

God blinked while still the young child, and found himself as her, staring into his human mother's blue eyes as they opened, shimmering with tears.

"No," Chloe said again, and she reached out to pull God as Trixie into an enormous hug. "I won't let you go."

"Wait," Trixie said as God, and tried to pull away again. "That should have worked?"

Chloe just held her tighter. "You can't make me forget!"

Incredibly, omnisciently confused, Trixie patted her human mother on the head. "Be at blessed peace, mom. Peace."

"No!" Chloe cried, and she pressed her hand against the back of Trixie's head and pressed her closer. "I will not let you go. You are my monkey and you are everything to me! I WON'T LET YOU GO!"

"What's happening?!" Trixie squeaked, squashed by her mother. It felt lovely, but that wasn't the point! It was dangerous for her to be here!

Her small hand flailed out and smacked Chloe on the forehead. "Be at peace, already! PEACE! FORGET!"

Chloe pulled back and stared at her with narrowed, red-lined eyes, and Trixie's insides twisted. She knew that look.

"You're grounded, monkey!" Chloe snapped through desperate sobs. "I don't care who you are! You can't leave, because you're grounded!"

"What's the Hell's HAPPENING?!" Trixie shrieked.

Someone laughed.

God's human skin grew cold.

Oh, no

Oh, yes the thought purred in her mind.

"I found you, Second."

A young man's hand touched her temple.

"And I think it's time for you to forget."