Chapter 6:
Lucifer sighed at the sight, "I guess I can't do anything other than giving him the job. Welcome to Lux Prince Charming." He said in a defeated tone, "It would explain the vibes around you. Like you're not from this world. My brother told me help was coming, but this was not what I was expecting."
"Your brother?" Caspian gasped, "Are you Aslan's fallen brother?"
"Yes, that would be me, in all my glory!" Lucifer grinned.
"Did Aslan send you?" Susan asked shocked.
"Yes, he told me that you would need help finding your way back, that you were under his brother's protection." Caspian smiled, "He also said not to fear his brother that he had a bad reputation but wouldn't harm me."
Lucifer rolled his eyes at this, "That is true, but I worked hard for that reputation."
At this point, Susan's shock wore off, and she headed towards him, and he smiled and quickly hurried from behind the bar to meet her.
They fell in each other's arms, happy to see each other again.
They held on to each other tightly, not wanting to let go, afraid that this might be a dream.
"Okay, I don't want to be a spoilsport here, but we have some paperwork to fill in. By the way, why did you need me, darling?"
"Oh, I needed you to take me to the store to get food for my apartment." Susan smiled, she wasn't confident enough yet to go to the store alone, that was how she had ended up here in the first place. Lucifer had promised her that she could ask him to take her anywhere she wanted to go. If he had time he would take her anywhere she wanted in LA.
Caspian looks from her to him confused at the term of endearment.
"No need to be jealous young prince, even though I understand why you would be, just have a look at me. I have my own queen who is working at the precinct of the LAPD for the moment." Lucifer grinned.
The relief of Caspain's face is instantaneous. They all head back upstairs to do just that. Caspian and Susan didn't want to let go of each other, after so long apart, for fear the other might disappear if they did. For the first time since he met her, Lucifer only felt joy radiating from the young woman.
The paperwork was easily done, "Welcome aboard." Lucifer smiled, "you can start tonight. Until then, I'm sure you both have a lot to catch up on." Just then Lucifer's phone rings.
"Hello, love," Lucifer answered the phone with a smile.
"The new Lieutenant is arriving today. He's going to want to meet you." Chloe said on the other side of the phone, "you need to make a good impression".
"Don't I always?" he said amused.
"I am serious, Lucifer. Try to be not too much you." Chloe said nervously
"That's a tall ask love," he responded.
"I know, babe. Do it for me please?" Chloe asked. Lucifer could hear how nervous she was, "I don't want to lose you as my partner."
"Very well I'll try my best. I can be charming." Lucifer grinned.
"I know you can, babe, that's all I ask," Chloe said.
"I will be there as soon as I can, love," Lucifer said before hanging up the phone.
He looked at the two love birds, "It seems I have to go help my fair lady at the station." He reached into his pocket and withdraws some money and handed it to Susan, "This should cover whatever you need. Can you get her to the store?" Lucifer asked Caspian. He didn't want Susan to go alone.
Caspian nodded, "Sure I would love to help her. My car is right outside, it isn't much but it takes me everywhere I need to go."
"Well, that's all that matters." The devil smiled, "She has the codes to get back into the building."
Caspian nodded that he understood what the devil had told him. Maybe someday he would trust him enough to get the code himself.
"I have to pop off now," Lucifer said before he headed towards the elevator.
A short time later, Lucifer showed up at the station, "Am I on time?" Lucifer asked Chloe in a whisper.
"Yes, he'll be here any moment," Chloe whispered back.
"Good," Lucifer said while pulling the sleeves of his shirt.
"Did I pull you from anything important?" Chloe asked curiously hoping that it wasn't the case.
"I will explain it all later love, but the help my brother had promised us has finally arrived," Lucifer whispered.
She nodded in understanding as a tall dark-haired man walked down the steps, his posture exuded authority.
"Thank you all for gathering here today, I know you all have busy jobs, but we will have to work closely together, so I wanted to take the opportunity right now to meet you all."
The man said, "my name is Lt. Glonzelle King. I hope that we can all work well together."
Everyone applauded lightly and from where Lucifer was he could see Dan starting to sweat.
Something about this Lt. made Dan nervous. He didn't want to screw this up. Not like he did with Pierce.
"I am detective Chloe Decker and this is my partner Lucifer Morningstar." Chloe smiled at the Lt.
"Nice to meet you," said the Lt. to Chloe. He then looked at Lucifer, "you must be the civilian consultant I heard so much about."
"I am," Lucifer said, "It's nice to meet you. Are you by any chance related to Caspian King?" The devil asked curiously
"Why yes, that's my son." the Lt, said, but there was something in the way he said that line, that sounded a little off, but Lucifer let it go for now.
"Why do you ask?" the Lt. asked confused and Lucifer responded, " I just hired him at my club as a bartender."
"You are the famous club owner he had wanted to try and get a job interview with?" Lt. King asked
"Yes, I am," Lucifer said short but with respect.
"I am detective Dan Espinosa." Dan introduced himself nervously, not realizing he was interrupting. The three of them turn to look at him, as he sticks his hand out to shake.
"Ah yes, detective Espinosa, I heard a lot about you too." Lt. King grinned and shook the man's hand, "I believe in second chances since we all have pasts. Don't you agree?"
Dan instantly started to stammer, "Ye...Yes... sir."
"Good, now if you don't mind us detective we are having a conversation. So have a good day." The Lt. said with authority in his voice.
Dan looks dumbfounded but goes away, not wanting a bad impression to be made. Chloe and Lucifer looked at each other and back to the Lt. surprised to see as respectful as he was at it, he treated Dan like a little kid bothering his dad while he was talking to adults.
Lucifer's jaw tightened, he didn't like Dan much either but still was this really how he was going to treat them? Like children?
"With all due respect, sir but was that really necessary?" Chloe asked
"What was?" he asked, "I believe in treating everyone with respect but will not tolerate disrespect from anyone I serve with. He was disrespecting the two of you. I wouldn't stand for that. When I was coming up, I was in a time and place where I was greatly disrespected, I swore I would not do that to others or let it happen under my watch."
"I didn't think of it as disrespectful, sir. We know where he is coming from," Chloe answered.
"Daniel can be a douche but he is a good detective." Lucifer responded, "He is just very excitable and eager to make a good impression."
"Alright, I just wanted to know what was your first impression of my son, Mr. Morningstar?" Lt. King asked
"He is quite a decent young man. Someone with great determination. He should do quite well." Lucifer smiled, "You must be proud of him."
"I am." Lt. King said.
"Well, detective, I think we still have a murder to solve." Lucifer smiled at her.
"You are right, Lucifer." Chloe smiled at her partner.
"If you will excuse us, Lt., we need to catch a killer before he strikes again. He needs to be punished." Lucifer said.
"Okay, go ahead. I'm going to meet some of the others." The Lt. nodded at them.
"Oh just so you know, Miss Lopez is a hugger." Lucifer gave his new boss a fair warning, "She is our bright light in the precinct always cheerful. You'll love her", he added.
Ella chose that moment to walk up to them, "Hi, I am Ella Lopez, the forensic scientist." She hugged him just as Lucifer predicted she would do.
Lucifer shook his head and followed Chloe to her desk to see if they had a lead to the murder at the Zoo.
"So anything new to look into? and leads unearthed for us to run down?" he asked his partner.
"Not yet, but Dan has been nosing around about Susan." Chloe sighed worriedly. They had nothing yet on either the murderer or a story to convince Dan Susan didn't have anything to do with it.
"We need a convincing story and quick because if we don't we will have to tell him the truth." Lucifer said, "And we all know how that usually works out."
"I know" she sighs. She still regretted her own reaction when she saw Lucifer's devil face. Lucifer was worried about the guilt she was feeling about it though.
"Love, are you still feeling guilty about that? You shouldn't be." Lucifer tried to comfort her. Lucifer was afraid that she would end up in Hell if she didn't work on it.
"It's not that I can snap my fingers and not feel guilty and miserable about it, Lucifer. That is not how it works." Chloe snapped, "I hurt you by doing it. I hurt the person I love the most."
"I just don't want you to end up down there because of me." Lucifer said softly, "Chloe, love, you have to understand there are limited things I can do if you end up in my kingdom. I can't be the good person you know up here, not in public anyway. Unless you were my queen. Maybe we can work through it together, while we are still here on earth, and maybe helping Susan can help you as well."
"What if I wanted to be your queen?" Chloe asked a bit shyly.
He looked at her with a smile, "I could never ask you to be the queen of the one place I hate so much, love." He said
"Well, you seem to be here long enough, is it possible for us to stay here and be happy? Lucifer, I have been thinking. You are all about free will, right? What if I want forever with you? Is that possible?" Chloe asked
He looked surprised, happy but surprised, "Maybe my brother is helping the both of us as much as Susan and her prince. That would mean that you need to marry me with full acceptance of who I am."
"Maybe we could be getting closer to that." Chloe smiled.
"Do you really think you could accept my dark side one day?" Lucifer asked with a bit of hope in his voice.
"Yes, I think I could. It gets a little easier each day." She looked up at him, "I love you, Lucifer. Never ever doubt that. I was just so stupid to almost throw that away. I will look forward to the day I say yes to all of you." Chloe smiled brightly, "I just reacted poorly but I want to make up for it."
"That's in the past, detective. I forgave you for that. All you have to do is forgive yourself." Lucifer said softly while he caressed her cheek.
She smiled, "Maybe I'll find a way to do that while helping Susan do the same."
Lucifer smiled, "Come on now. We will make it together because we are incredible."
"Yeah, we are." Chloe smiled at him.
She just wanted to kiss him so badly but she knew that would give a wrong impression to the new boss.
Lucifer seemed to read her mind, for while checking to see that the new boss was indeed looking the other way and couldn't see them, he leaned in and kissed her quickly, "There is more where that came from. Do we have the Urchin tonight?"
"No, it's Dan's weekend with her," Chloe answered.
"Excellent." Lucifer grinned devilishly
She actually blushed slightly, "until then let's get back to the case."
"After you, my darling detective." Lucifer smiled.
Lt. King was having a conversation with Ella when he noticed the change between Lucifer and Chloe. Maybe he could learn about it from this talkative young woman.
"So you seem to be the one to ask, what can you tell me about everyone?" Especially Detective Decker and Mr. Morningstar?" Lt. King asked the bright young woman.
"What do you want to know about them? You will notice they are your best team." Ella started to ramble as only she could.
"Is their partnership a work thing? Or is it more?" Lt. King asked curiously.
"You mean is there more to Deckerstar?" Ella started, "Yeah they are living together but they keep work and private mostly separated. You can't split them; they are the team with the highest closing rate." Ella said, "They work best together. They are quite the pair."
"So there won't be a problem with them working together?" Lt. King asked.
"No, not at all, in fact, you have worse problems trying to make them work apart." Ella smiled.
"Thank you, Ella." Lt. King smiled, "And don't worry you won't be in trouble by saying this."
"Good, let me know if you need anything else." Ella smiled brightly, "Oh, and just accept them like they are. Lucifer can be a little confusing sometimes but their methods work. There's a lot of method to their methods." She said before heading off to her lab.
That last comment left him a bit confused.
A couple of hours later Susan and Caspian carried several shopping bags into her apartment. "So how did you get here? How long have you been here?" Susan asked Caspian as they set the bags down in her kitchen area.
"Aslan asked for my help. He said that you were under the protection of his brother, but even his brother needed some help. I just didn't know when and where to find you. So I have been here for 2 months now." Caspian said, "He told me you were lost and needed help finding your way home. This place is bigger than our entire kingdom. I was starting to worry about how I was ever going to find you. I think Aslan himself must have led me here. How did you find yourself here?"
"I don't really know, I was walking the street and suddenly I found myself in a zoo, surrounded by people I didn't know." Susan explained, "There was a lot of noise and chaos, something happened around me to move me from my time to here and now. It's been all very confusing but I'm finally starting to think it was worth it."
"That I can agree with, thankfully I've had help to adjust," Caspian says.
"Who's been helping you?" she asked, confused.
"General Gonzelle. Remember him?" Caspian asked.
"Vaguely, I saw him a few times during the war but never talked to him," Susan answered.
"Well, it turns out this is where he arrived when he took Aslan's offer and left Narnia. Several years before now, but he had an established life when I arrived. We are pretending to be father and son in this time and place," he tells Susan.
"What job is he doing?" Susan asked curiously.
"I believe he said it was law enforcement. He said it was the closest to the life he knew." Caspian said.
"Is he Chloe's and Lucifer's new boss?" Susan asked.
"I am not sure, there's a possibility. It could make things awkward, or it could help." Caspian said.
"Why would that be awkward?" Susan asked.
"Well from the short time that I have known Mr. Morningstar, he doesn't seem the type to do well under another's authority. Besides, the general told me that after the way he was treated by my uncle he would not allow anyone to treat him that way again," he answered.
"You haven't met Chloe." Susan grinned, "She will make sure that Lucifer behaves himself. He doesn't like to be ordered around in an unrespectful way." Susan explained
"The general told me he learned enough about respect to know that men react better when you treat them with it, but also that it has to be earned. It's good to see that the time and the treatment he suffered at my uncle's hands for so long, didn't damage him too much." Caspian replied
"I hope that it isn't going to clash with Lucifer because I am sure that Chloe has kept him from being too much Lucifer but that isn't going to stay that way. Especially if he is disrespectful towards Chloe. In that case, the general could have a problem." Susan said
"It shouldn't be a problem. He's been here long enough, to know how to treat people. Besides, he wouldn't have gotten to where he is now by doing otherwise," said Caspian.
"Does he know about Lucifer?" Susan asked curiously
"I told him what I knew when I showed up on his doorstep, so he knows what I knew before I arrived here, but not who Mr. Morningstar is. Just that I was coming here to apply for a job." Caspian responded.
"It's best that it stays that way. It's not for us to tell that he is Aslan's half-brother." Susan explained.
"Fair enough, but I think he'll figure it out for himself when I tell him I found you," Caspian said Susan knew he was right.
They finished putting the food away while they talked, then went and sat on the couch.
"Were you afraid when you found out?" Caspian asked Susan curiously.
"A little bit more confused than anything, it was right after they found me, and the overwhelming nature of everything, and knowing with him being who he was, then that means I was wrong about a great many things. There wasn't a lot of room for fear." Susan said honestly, "I got to know him and my fear disappeared. Lucifer is a good man. He is nothing like the stories." Susan added, "Aslan trusts him, he never led us wrong before... so I took the chance."
"That is true, Aslan never led me astray, in all the times he showed up in my kingdom, which was fewer as time went on but he helped me through a great many tough issues," Caspian said.
Taking her hands in his he tells her, "I don't know what he has planned for us, or how long he will let us remain here, but knowing you are here, and that I get to be with you this time, however long as it maybe I will be forever grateful. You will always be the queen of my heart, no matter where we are, my wish has finally been granted."
She looked at him and said, "and what was that?"
"That we could have more time together," he answered.
She smiles remembering that and then said, "even if I am 1300 years older than you?"
"Even that can not sway me," he answered with a smile.
TBC