The trip was bizarrely swift, the transition from smoldering apocalypse to open floorplan terribly jarring.

Azrael released her, and she managed a few steps into her living room before collapsing to her knees.

"Chloe, you okay?!" Amenadiel asked, stepping into view.

Wings brushed her, hanging limply from Lucifer's slumped form, gathered in Amenadiel's arms.

She nodded, mute, and reached for Lucifer's arm, her eyes growing wet.

"He'll be okay," Amenadiel said with a heavy sigh. "It's been a very, very long time since he's done that."

He laid Lucifer carefully on the couch and turned to his sister. "Azrael, did you talk to Dad?"

"I tried to."

Chloe stared at Lucifer, crumpled against the soft leather. His arm was curled near his face. One wing hung limply over his body, the tip resting on the floor.

His red eyes flashed in her mind, wild with rage, and she jerked with the memory.

"What do you mean, you tried to?"

"He's not available."

"What do you mean, he's not available?!"

"Please slow time, brother."

Amenadiel made an annoyed sound and the world grew quiet.

Chloe stood. She desperately needed something to drink.

"Brother, I said slow time."

"I am," Amenadiel said, with effort.

There was a pause.

"Then why is Chloe opening the fridge?"

Chloe pulled out the water jug, grabbed a glass, and started to pour. Everything felt a little odd. Like moving through treacle.

Nothing came out of the jug.

She dropped her blank stare across the living room down to what she was holding.

The water was moving inside the jug, but glacially, sloshing up towards the spout.

She pulled the container up and stared at it, open mouthed.

"What?" she murmured, before shaking it, trying to get things to move as they should.

Wait. Hadn't Azrael said something about-

The world grew loud again and water exploded from the jug like a fountain, splattering her, the counter, and the glass.

Dripping, she plucked the glass from the counter and raised it to toast the two angels staring bug-eyed back.

"Sure, why not!"

Then she started to cry, sagging over the counter.

"I don't know what's going on," Amenadiel murmured. "Stay with her, I'll go to Dan's. Bringing Father back here might help."

The world grew quiet again.

Chloe sobbed, her hands shaking.

She reached to where she'd felt the bullet hit. Her fingers came back smudged in dark, ashen blood.

With a small sound, she moved to the sink and desperately tried to wash her hair clean. Little things came with what she was washing away. Things that weren't blood or ash. Little pink things she'd seen at lots of crime scenes with head wounds.

Her hands shook harder.

Azrael stepped beside her.

"How am I alive?" she whispered, looking at the mess twirling down the drain of the sink. "I was shot in the head."

"Yup."

"So how am I alive?"

She looked up at the silent angel of death.

"Did you bring me back to life?"

Azrael shook her head, her expression carefully neutral.

"I don't have that kind of power."

"Then how?" Chloe whispered.

"I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say."

Chloe glared at her.

"Is this that 'agreement' thing Lucifer was talking about? Does everyone have an agreement with God about me?!"

The angel of death nodded.

"Yup."

Infuriating. Chloe wanted to yell at someone, to lash out, to release the wild emotion of this insane night.

But she couldn't yell at Azrael. The angel looked like that kid in school who always knew all the answers and got teased by all of the damn bullies. Who was super sweet and nice but could never get a date and was used as everyone's personal rug.

She couldn't do it.

Azrael smirked.

Would it help if I looked like this?

In a blink, something large and dark loomed over Chloe, a ragged void devouring the entire living room, with no limbs and no features. A yawning mouth into nothingness. Her mind slid in a panic over the shape.

She stared, wide-eyed, unable to speak.

"Sister. You are blocking the drinks cabinet."

The mass shifted, sliding swiftly to the other side of the room, where it folded back into the figure of a complete dork.

Lucifer leaned against the counter, wingless, fumbling to open the cupboard. One arm was thrust against the granite counter top, and clearly held most of his weight.

He drew out a bottle of scotch, unscrewed the lid, and upended the half-empty bottle, draining the entirety in moments.

Grimacing, he pulled out another.

Chloe tore herself from the dread of seeing Azrael's other form, to the dread of watching Lucifer drain a full bottle of scotch in a minute.

"Lucifer," she whispered, stepping to him. "I'm okay. Everything is okay."

He slammed the bottle down on the counter and reached for a third.

"Go look at the skyline and tell me everything is okay," he said quietly, unscrewing the cap and drawing the bottle to his lips.

Azrael sighed. "Brother, Dad can fix this."

The angel's voice continued as a thought in Chloe's head, Do not look at the skyline.

That only made the need to do so worse, and she turned her head to see.

Her breath caught.

The lights of the city were gone. The lake of lights that usually surrounded the city were patchy puddles instead. Smaller lights circled the airspace - the flashing lights of police helicopters, and larger aircraft. A strange orange glow reflected off the underside of low lying clouds.

Sirens reached her faintly.

Chloe swallowed. Her throat was thick and dry.

"Oh shit," she whispered.

"She never listens to me!" Azrael yelled, throwing her arms up, before moving to the couch and flopping back heavily. "Dad can fix this, brother, stop pretending to get drunk."

Another bottle hit the counter, another cap was unscrewed.

"Lucifer, stop," Chloe murmured, pulling her eyes from the view. She moved to him, to soothe his pain.

But he pulled away with the bottle, tossing it back just as swiftly as the rest, before dropping the empty into the sink.

Then he faced her, his hands on both counters, his body slumped.

His gaze was dark. Exhausted.

Angry.

What are you

The words washed over her in a violent wave - clamping her hands over her ears with a cry, she stared at him in shock.

There was a rush of wind. Azrael appeared in front of her, facing Lucifer.

"Quit it."

What are you Lucifer repeated over his sister, his gaze growing molten. How did you stop me

Chloe cradled her head in her hands, her eyes wide, as she sank away from them both.

Azrael pressed her hand against her brother's chest.

With a flick of her wrist, she shoved him.

Lucifer went flying, slamming into the far wall, just shy of the windows that lined the rest of the living room.

The impact left a crater in the drywall that Lucifer spilled from, landing in a heap on the floor.

"Sorry about your wall," Azrael said under her breath as she stepped forward and pulled her brother back up.

He slumped against her, his eyes dark, his face twisted in anguish.

I do not understand

"I know," Azrael answered softly, drawing him back to the couch.

I have destroyed my home

Azrael guided him down gently. He sagged wearily back against the leather.

"Dad will fix this."

I should have stayed in Hell

"No, Lucifer, don't say that," Chloe whispered, the meaning of the words cutting to her heart. "Please don't say that. This is my fault, I shouldn't have moved. Azrael told me not to, but I did."

She speaks this tongue. She understands. She stopped me. How, sister? Who is she?

"You are exhausted, brother. Rest here."

"How many died, sister?"

Azreal leaned over to kiss him on the crown of his head.

"Rest now."

Lucifer grew quiet.

The anger he'd shown, the words he'd spoke in a language she shouldn't have understood, struck Chloe as hard as a punch. She stared at a spot on the floor, feeling raw and wrong, and desperately trying to process all of it.

Who is she

There was a heavy rush of wings and Amenadiel stood just within the sliding doors, holding Trixie in his arms.

"Monkey!" Chloe cried, running forward to take her from Amenadiel. "Oh my God... thank you for bringing her home."

She needed this. She needed normal and simple and human.

Her daughter was bleary eyed and yawning - a heavy but comforting weight in Chloe's arms. Trixie blinked a few times at Lucifer, now slumped on the couch again, before frowning up at Chloe.

"Mom? What's going on?"

Amenadiel was watching them closely. He leaned near his sister. "I had to take Fa... her after Dan had put her to bed."

Trixie snorted at him from Chloe's arms. "I'm twelve. I put myself to bed."

Her tired gaze slipped to Lucifer again. "What's he doing on the couch? Why's he naked?"

"I tried talking to hi... her." Amenadiel said to his sibling.

"I did too," Azrael answered back.

Frowning back from them both, Chloe turned away from the windows, purposely keeping her daughter from seeing the view.

"Something really bad happened, monkey," she said quietly. "But you're okay. Everything's going to be okay."

"Is Lucifer okay?"

Chloe smiled. Trixie had such a soft spot for Lucifer. It was incredibly endearing, even in the midst of chaos.

"I think he'll be okay," she said, nodding. "He's very tired."

"He doesn't look okay, mom."

"Luci burned himself out blowing up LA," Amenadiel said abruptly.

Chloe stared at him, her eyes bulging.

Why'd he say that?! That was the last thing her daughter needed!

But Trixie didn't appear to hear. She was focused entirely on Lucifer, slipping from Chloe's arms to the ground to step near.

"He's hurt," she whispered.

Chloe shook her head. "No, he's okay, baby, he's just really tir-"

"Wake up," Trixie said, her small voice oddly commanding.

"Monkey, it's probably..."

Lucifer rose, his gaze pinched, blinking at Trixie slowly.

Then he flopped back and hung his head, not meeting her eye.

"Trixie, I think we sh-"

"It was a shock," Trixie said quietly. "One you were not equipped to deal with."

Chloe blinked.

That didn't sound like Trixie.

Lucifer shook his head the slightest bit.

Her daughter sighed. "Chaos is perhaps not as beneficial as I had hoped."

"Monkey?"

"Mom," her daughter said quietly, not looking up, "maybe you should go to bed."

Chloe frowned.

"I'm fine, Trixie. I think you should go to bed. Lucifer just needs some re-"

"Go to sleep, mom."

Shoving her hands on her hips, Chloe stared down at her daughter, who'd reached out to take Lucifer's hand.

His hand was limp in her small grasp.

"Trixie, I'm not tired. But you are. Say your goodnights and go clean your teeth."

Her daughter turned to her with wide eyes.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

Chloe narrowed her eyes at her daughter. "Okay, Beatrice. I've had enough of that. Off to bed, right now."

Her daughter's eyes grew wider.

"But... I don't want to go to bed! I don't have to! I'm omnipotent!"

A small noise came from Lucifer.

A snort or a laugh. A little ugly and half-hearted.

Chloe took a step back. "What did you just say?"

"Go to sleep, mom!" Trixie yelled, facing her.

Father Lucifer said in the chiming language of angels, with no change of expression at all, how did she stop me

Chloe grimaced, grabbing at her ears again in pain.

Then it hit.

The meaning of the strange tones that had hit her with such force.

Father

Her eyes grew enormous as she looked down at her child.

"W-what?"

Trixie's eyes closed with a sigh.

And Chloe was suddenly in her room, facing her bed, where the covers were folded back invitingly.

She jerked around with a gasp to find the door to the hallway closed.

"Hey!"

Rushing to it, she grabbed the handle to twist it open.

But it didn't budge.

"HEY!"

Chloe slapped the door, rattling the handle, her mind spinning.

Her daughter was God?!

TRIXIE WAS GOD?!

That was the agreement?!

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

With an aggravated growl, she reared back and slammed her boot against the lock until the frame shattered, throwing the door wide open.

Then she stormed down the hall, back to the group standing there watching her in shock.

At the sight of her, Trixie stomped her feet as her hand curled into little fists.

"CHAOS SUCKS!" she yelled into the air.

"HEY!" Chloe yelled, pointing at her daughter.

Her daughter who was God.

Every subsequent thought fled her mind, and she found herself stuck, just pointing at Trixie, as everyone waited expectantly.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" she finally yelled, unable to think, and acting in the only way she knew as the mother of a child who was misbehaving.

Trixie vanished.

Amenadiel and Azrael stepped back, their mouths falling open.

Lucifer stared at the spot Trixie had been, his bleary gaze sharpening.

Then he laughed.

Chloe's hand went to her mouth in horror.

"Trixie?" she cried, and turned, racing back down the hall to Trixie's room.

The door was closed. She pushed it open slowly.

And Trixie was on her bed, her arms crossed tightly, scowling.

"Monkey, I..."

The words failed.

Because this wasn't really her monkey...

"I'm still your child," Trixie said, slowly, her teeth clenched. "Even if I am God."

Chloe felt dizzy.

"But... why?"

"To live a human life. To be close to my son. To show him a simple love and affection, after keeping it from him for so long. We've talked about this before."

A terrible ache built up between her temples.

"But... why me?"

"You were always going to cross Samael's path. I designed you to have me and keep me human. Again, we had a chat about this but I erased it from your mind."

Chloe held onto the doorframe as her insides roiled.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she whispered.

"I'm not surprised," Trixie said, looking at her pointedly. "It takes a lot of energy to keep a god in their room."

The pounding in Chloe's temples worsened as she chewed through words that didn't make any sense.

"W-what?"

"I can't leave this room. I've been trying and you've been stopping me. That's why you feel like that."

Chloe shook her head sloppily, swallowing as the room lurched. She stared up at Trixie with eyes pinched in pain and disbelief.

"I'm not keeping..." she whispered, sagging against the doorjamb. "I didn't put you..."

"You are. You did," Trixie answered, staring at her with the perfect expression of tween irritation. "Can I leave my room, mom? I have a city to fix, and a few billion lifeforms to resurrect. Maybe I'll skip the cockroaches, everyone hates those things."

Chloe stared back, her mind stuttering. The normal she had needed, the center of her life, had flipped completely. Everything hurt, even her skin. The pounding of her heart was thunderous.

And its drumbeat followed her into the dark as she collapsed to the floor.