Title: Unchanged
Episode tag (s): 5x03 Diablo
Characters/Pairings: Chloe/Lucifer
Word count: 191
~o~
"It's really you.
How?"
"It's a funny story actually. So there I was, in Hell—"
Chloe was throwing her arms around him before she had even thought to move. A burst of air escaped her lungs and her eyes began to water.
Because there it was.
All of it.
All of what should be and none of what shouldn't.
All of it.
Familiar and precious and unchanged.
First, the customary few beats of non-reaction, of his stilted surprise at the physical display not tied to another meaningless sexual encounter. Then his tentativeness at such a recognition—the kind that never failed to scrape tiny pieces from Chloe's heart each and every time—maybe more so this time. And lastly, the painstaking attention and intensity with which he finally reciprocated, enclosing her securely between his arms and large frame.
There was a pulsing, aching rawness filling Chloe's chest so rapidly that she felt shaky with it.
This was her Lucifer.
The effortless charm. The incongruous uncertainty in the wake of emotional intimacy. The artfully concealed but deep rooted compassion.
It was there. It was all there.
Chloe pressed her face into his warmth, into the clean scent of him.
There was no comparison. None at all.