A/N: Special thanks to Tempest_Juvano for beta reading!

Chapter 4 - Hephaestus

Chloe drummed her fingers on her desk while she looked over the report of the case. The effort to maintain the appearance of normalcy felt like it was consuming all her energy.

Something was wrong with her; she was sure about that. Her last dream was even weirder than the one before. She was so embarrassed when she woke up in the middle of the night and felt the dampness between her legs after that damn dream. She couldn't go back to sleep for at least another hour and she could barely look into Marcus's eyes in the morning because every time she looked at him the pictures of him buried deep into Lucifer evaded her mind. And the thought that it was none other than Lucifer who kept appearing in her dreams disturbed her deeply.

She closed the report and fished her phone out of her pocket. First, she just vacantly stared at the screen; then she braced herself and opened the browser to type the question she was ruminating over: 'what can cause weird dreams'. After looking at the first couple hits, she decided that she had been too shy in the choice of her keywords. She sighed and typed again: 'what can cause wet dreams?'. The results this time seemed more promising, but before she could dive into them, she heard a familiar voice.

"Good morning, Detective," Lucifer beamed at her. He strolled confidently towards her desk, his hands in the pockets of his suit pants, his usual smug grin on his face.

Chloe felt as if she was caught red-handed and quickly turned her phone over. But she wasn't quick enough. Lucifer glanced at the little device in her hand and the grin on his face stretched wider.

"Oh, did I interrupt something?" He licked his lip involuntarily. "Were you looking for something naughty?"

"N- no, Lucifer! Uh, you, you just startled me. You- you're sneaking around all the time and choose the most unexpected moments to show up," she snapped in both irritation and embarrassment

"Someone's a grumpy-pants today," he mumbled and took a step back.

The Detective had been acting strange since yesterday, thought Lucifer. At first, he thought it was because of the lustful details of the case, but then he remembered that she had been out of sorts even before that. Although the signs were small, he could recognize them. He learned to recognize them. After all, the Detective was the only human immune to his charm, so he had to pay attention.

Chloe looked at him, regarding him a little less sullenly. After all, she couldn't blame him for her dreams. Ever since she had been together with Marcus, the dynamic of her partnership with Lucifer changed. Sometimes he was clingy and got in her hair with his shenanigans. And sometimes he became distant; the tiniest remark was enough for him to sulk and brood for days. And Chloe feared it would get worse. She didn't want to risk their partnership, or in truth, their friendship, which she'd come to value so much over time. So, she tried to keep her surging emotions at bay.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, Lucifer. I just…didn't sleep well."

He furrowed his brow. "You know, Detective, I know an excellent sleep specialist who happened to owe me a favour-"

"I'm fine, Lucifer," she cut him off. "But that's very kind of you," she added softly. "I think all I need now is a good lead in this case."

Lucifer looked at her thoughtfully for a little while, but her reassuring smile eased his mood in the end.

"All right," his trademark grin appeared on his face again. "And where shall we look for this lead?"

"Well, we haven't interviewed Lawrence Harris, yet," she told him as she checked her notes.

"The last lover on the list if I remember correctly."

"Yes. He was on leave yesterday, but Claire informed me that he's in the office today. And actually, according to Mrs Skalbeck, he was their first lover and the only one they slept with several times."

As she spoke, Chloe was trying to shove the files into her bag, but some papers fluttered out of her hands and to the floor. Lucifer appeared in an instant, right as she bent down to get the pages, and as she extended a hand towards the papers, their foreheads bumped.

"Ow!" Chloe exclaimed, as she huddled back from the sudden collision. She lost her balance; she tried to keep on her feet, but failed, falling on her butt with a dull thud. Lucifer hissed, too, and jerked his hand to his head. They looked at each other in confusion for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Lucifer straightened up and held out his hand to the still giggling Detective, who grabbed it gratefully. Normally, he would have hardly noticed such a crash, but due to the Detective's presence, his head was now throbbing painfully. The odd thing though, was that he felt lighter and happier. It had been so long that the Detective laughed so heartily. And he wanted to store that moment in his mind.

"Thank you," she said, still smiling. She gestured towards the elevator, "Come on, we should go."

They took her car and spent the first minutes of the journey in comfortable silence. This little distraction in the precinct helped her to shut off the pictures of her dream into a hidden corner of her mind, and she was really glad about it. All of a sudden, Lucifer's phone beeped, and a wide smile spread on his face as he read the incoming message.

"Looks like you got some good news."

The remark slipped out of her mouth almost involuntarily and she mentally chided herself. She had no right to inquire about Lucifer's private messages. And why would she do that anyway? He's just a co-worker. A friend. It was none of her business with whom he was texting with. She kept her eyes on the road and hoped that Lucifer didn't find her comment too nosy. But Lucifer seemed absolutely oblivious.

"Ah yes, you can say that. The decoration for my thematic birthday party has just arrived."

"Oh, a thematic birthday party… I see. You uh, haven't mentioned it."

She tried to sound nonchalant, but it was quite hard to hide her disappointment. Of course, she didn't expect Lucifer to tell her about every party at LUX, but his birthday was another thing.

"Oh, this is – I've only started preparing now, so haven't really got the chance to mention it to you. Don't worry, Detective, of course I'm inviting you," he grinned, "that is, if you can find the time to attend." He added the last part with a melancholic note in his voice, fixing his gaze outside the window. It was Lucifer's turn to sound nonchalant, trying to hide his anxiety. What if the Detective would rather spend the time with the cretin, Lieutenant Pierce? Ever since he'd started planning the party, this little anxious thought kept creeping into his head from time to time. And while he dreaded to think about the possibility that the Detective would reject his invitation, this uncertainty was even worse. Maybe now he would find out her answer without asking her directly.

"Lucifer, I would never miss your birthday party," she smiled at him.

"Really?" he asked surprised. He felt as if a heavy object was removed from his chest that he hadn't noticed before.

"Really. I'm your partner, and we're friends. Of course, I want to celebrate with you."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Lucifer's posture visibly relax. Did he really think she wouldn't come to such an important event? Had they become so alienated from each other lately? To distract herself a little from this unpleasant thought, she steered the conversation in a slightly different direction.

"What's the theme of the party?" she inquired.

"Greek gods," he grinned at her, visibly returning to his previous, cheery mood.

"Hm, that sounds fun. And which Greek god would you be?"

"Which one do you think I would be?" he asked playfully.

Chloe pretended to think deeply about it but couldn't suppress a teasing smile.

"Well, it's sooo difficult to decide… I think I'd vote for Hades," she said finally.

"Hades? The king of the underworld? Well, that's a logical guess, given that he's the closest thing to the Devil. But I've retired, as you well know." With that statement, he earned an accustomed eye-roll from the Detective. "Anyway, you asked who I would be, not who I am."

"Very well. Then who you would be?"

He looked at her and the corner of his mouth quirked up mischievously, "The game is still on, Detective. You have to figure it out."

This time it took more time for her to formulate an answer. She thought back to what she had once learned about the Greek gods. If Lucifer didn't want to identify so much with this devilish persona, what else would he choose? Who would he truly want to be?

"Then my guess is Dionysus," she told him confidently.

"Dionysus, really? The fat guy? I thought you know me, Detective," he huffed and seemed truly miffed.

"I beg to differ. Well, yes. First of all, Dionysus is the god of wine. I know, you prefer scotch, but since there is no god of scotch, this is the closest equivalent. Second, he's the god of festivity – I don't think this needs any further explanation. And third, of all the gods he was identified most with freedom. Isn't that what you want?"

Lucifer opened his mouth to answer but shut it again immediately. He squirmed a little, then he said somewhat defeatedly, "Well, if you put it that way."

They sat in silence for a while, but finally, her curiosity got the better of her.

"Okay, then what would be your choice?"

This was the question he kept asking himself as well, ever since they began this conversation. In fact, he didn't know the answer either when he initiated this little game. Then he remembered a book he had read not so long ago. Recently, he'd begun spending his spare time in the loneliness of his library when he didn't have the mood for going down to the parties at his club. And this occurred more and more often. On one such occasion, he came across a book on male archetypes associated with Greek gods, which piqued his interest*. He tried to recall what he had read about these archetypes, and what caught his attention the most. Before he could realize it, his answer fell from his lips, "Hephaestus."

"Hephaestus," she echoed. "The god of craftsmen and fire with a deformed foot?" she asked incredulously.

"Or Apollo," he tossed in flippantly. "The god of music and light. Also, he was thought to be the most beautiful of all and he had a bunch of male and female lovers. It would fit me, don't you think?" he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.

When she snorted and shook her head at his comment, he let out a small sigh of relief. The whole tirade about Apollo was just a desperate attempt to distract her. When the name of Hephaestus slipped out of his mouth, he knew at once that he had inadvertently revealed his vulnerable side. He remembered immediately why he had chosen this god. He was the one who was pushed off the Olympus, the imperfect god.

And as he thought back to the time when his Father cast him out of Heaven, and the appearance of his devil-face right after his fall, it seemed easy for him to identify with this character. But there was something more into it. This archetype is drawn to strong, beautiful, assertive, and intelligent women, who inspire him, care about him, understand his true depths. Such a woman can completely take over his power, and he surrenders willingly. Lucifer stole a glance at the Detective and his chest tightened. Did she evoke these dangerous thoughts and unbidden desires in him? Wasn't he over that? Wasn't he over her?

Before he could follow this trail of thoughts, the car came to a halt. He cleared his throat to regain his composure and focus on the here and now again.

"Let's find out what this Lawrence chap knows," he said as he got out from the car.

They found him in the canteen of the company with a huge mug of coffee in his hand. He was a tall, brown-haired handsome man, despite the big dark circles under his eyes today. He indeed looked quite exhausted, sitting by himself at a table.

"Mr Harris, I'm Detective Decker from LAPD, and this is my partner, Mr. Morningstar. We would like to ask you about Vincent Skalbeck."

The man in front of them looked from Chloe to Lucifer and nodded slowly.

"Claire told me that you had some questions. Please, call me Lawrence," he motioned to the chairs at the other side of the table and they sat down. "Look, uh, Detective, I will gladly be at your service, but I really can't see how I can help this investigation."

"We wanted to meet you because you're on the list that Mrs Skalbeck gave me," she clarified and hoped that this information will be enough for Lawrence to understand what she meant by that, but the man just looked at her expectantly. She sighed deeply before she continued, "She gave me a list of those people she and Mr Skalbeck...well…you know…"

"A list of their salacious encounters, or hook-ups, if you will, as the kids call it these days," Lucifer chimed in with a lascivious grin.

Chloe glared at him because of his choice of words, but she was secretly thankful that he spared her the awkward explanation. Even so, she felt the tip of her ears turn red.

"Oh, I see," Lawrence chuckled lightly, blushing a little too. He took a sip of coffee and straightened in his chair. "What would you like to know?"

The grin on Lucifer's face grew even wider. He poked the corner of his lip with his tongue in anticipation and bent forward, "Well-"

"We want you to describe your relationship with Erin and Vincent Skalbeck," she interrupted Lucifer before he could ask anything inappropriate. "How do you know them?"

Lawrence sighed, "I got to know Erin at the university. We became friends. Well, sort of," he smiled sadly. "I liked her. Really liked her – if you know what I mean. And as it turned out later, she liked me, too. But somehow, we never had the chance to get together. After university, we started to work at different companies. When I quit my previous job and came here to work, Erin and Vincent had already been married. I was hanging around a lot with Erin again, like in old times. I got to know Vincent, too and the three of us became friends, but that's it. You can imagine how surprised I was when they asked me to spend a night with them."

"But you accepted their offer, right?" Chloe asked.

"This whole thing seemed absolutely weird, but yes, I was in. I think it was their honesty that won me over in the end. There were no secrets and it was quite liberating." Lawrence seemed to be glad for the chance to speak, opening up quite frankly to Chloe and Lucifer.

"But Erin and you, you'd liked each other earlier. I assume this caused some conflicts between you and Mr Skalbeck?" Chloe said, glancing shortly at Lucifer. She couldn't help but notice the connection between the case and her own situation with Lucifer and Marcus.

"Maybe that would have been the case with someone else. I mean, who would be happy if his wife wanted to sleep with her previous crush? But Vincent and Erin were the embodiment of devotion. And maybe he saw these things differently because of his past."

"What do you mean by that?" Lucifer asked curiously.

"He once told me about his childhood. He grew up in a commune. His mother and father were like, real hippies. They loved each other, according to Vincent, but freedom was more important to them than fidelity. In his teenage years, Vincent decided that he wanted a different life. He went to university and he wanted to really belong to somebody. But I guess he retained some elements of his parents' values."

He took a short pause and drank some coffee. Chloe watched the man's every move intently. As a Detective, she had learned that people often lie, but their non-verbal signs usually betrayed them. She saw nothing suspicious in Lawrence's behaviour.

"You would probably think that it was Erin's idea, but it wasn't. Of course, she was the first who fantasized about it, but it took some time for her to admit it. Have you met her father? She was raised in a quite conservative family where these things were totally unacceptable. But Vincent could see that she was attracted to me and she told him about our years at the university. So, in the end, it was him who formulated the idea, and I don't think that it had caused any conflicts between them. There weren't any hard feelings between us either after we slept together. And I accepted that it was a casual thing."

"What do you mean by casual? How many times were you together?" she asked.

"We were together three times, although we planned just one occasion at first. This was the first time they invited somebody to their bed, and this was the first threesome for me as well, so we all were quite…clumsy. A week later I went on a fishing trip with Vincent and he asked me if I would like to try it again. They still didn't want it to be anything serious, but we agreed that with a little more experience behind us, we can get a lot more out of it."

"And why did you arrange a third encounter?" Chloe asked him.

For the first time, Lawrence looked ill at ease.

"Well… There are things that the female partner may want to try, but…it requires some practice," he finished hesitantly. So far, he spoke quite unperturbed about his relationship with the couple, but Chloe noticed that his behaviour changed visibly after her last question. His choice of words seemed more clinical; as if he suddenly felt that the information that he was about to share was too intimate. His next words verified her suspicion, "But I don't think this is important for your investigation. If you need to know other details, you should ask Erin."

"All right," Chloe assured him. "I have only two more questions. Where were you last night between 10 and 12 PM?"

Lawrence's tired smile faded.

"I was at the hospital, with my mother. She had a heart attack, the day before yesterday, and she was in a critical condition. That's why I took the day off yesterday. I was with her all day and in the evening as well. I wanted to be close to the hospital, to visit her in the morning as well, so I booked a room at the hotel next to the hospital last night."

"Okay. The last question. You told us that you and Mr Skalbeck were friends. Did he mention that he wanted to meet his father-in-law last night?"

"He told me that he planned to meet Mr Price this week, but he didn't specify when exactly he intended to meet him."

"Thank you for your time, Lawrence," Chloe told him and closed her little notepad. She really hoped that this last lover would tell them something useful, but they didn't learn anything particularly new about Vincent or Erin, or their relationship. She wished that at least Ella would find something by the time they got back.

*If anyone is interested, I was referring to this book: Jean Shinoda Bolen - Gods in Everyman: Archetypes That Shape Men's Lives. (It's a great read, as the Goddesses in Everywoman, too.)