A/N: Thank you for the reviews - feel free to leave comments on this chapter as well. :) And kudos to my wonderful beta-reader, TempestJuvano :)
Chapter 8 – Stop this awkwardness
Lucifer arrived at the precinct somewhat before noon. The conversation with Linda had eased some of his tension, but he was still confused. Letting go of his denial about his true feelings towards the Detective was a relief, but on the other hand, he had a tough row to hoe. He was used to deciding everything so easily. But when it came to the Detective, nothing was simple.
He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, as he looked at the detective, sitting at her desk. Her hair was in a ponytail, as usual, and the pale pink lip gloss on her mouth gleamed in the dim light of the precinct's lamps. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed the same adorable white shirt on her that she had been wearing when they had kissed on the beach. The old memories flooded his mind again, and it unsettled him further.
What should I do? He hesitated – his dilemma unsolved. Time, what he needed was time, to consider the consequences. Perhaps after this case was closed, he would have decided what to say to the Detective. The thought reassured him somehow, enough for him to walk to the Detective's desk in a nonchalant manner.
"Lucifer, hi," the Detective smiled at him brightly, but her smile faltered almost immediately. "Are you okay?" she asked, frowning slightly.
"Of course, Detective. Why wouldn't I?"
"Because you left yesterday so abruptly, and you didn't show up this morning," she stated matter-of-factly.
"Oh, yes, well…there's nothing to worry about. I'm here now, aren't I? Let's get to work on the case. Any fresh leads?" he asked, diverting the conversation.
She studied him shortly but gave up with a sigh at the end. Lucifer Morningstar really was an enigma.
After coming down from the high of the unexpected, but nevertheless mind-blowing sex with Marcus in the evidence room, Chloe had made up her mind. She really would give the threesome a try – with Marcus and Lucifer.
Chloe had never been that adventurous, but she felt like this had to happen. Last night she talked with Marcus about the details of this little escapade, and they agreed that she was the one who should ask Lucifer. The fact that he didn't show up in the morning upset her plans, and by now, the courage she'd built up to broach a delicate topic like this, had somewhat evaporated.
But that was only part of her problem. His abrupt departure yesterday was strange, and his late arrival today was downright worrying for Chloe. But he seemed to be peculiarly guarded today, so Chloe decided to focus on the thing that would still keep them connected: the case.
"Yes, there is some news, actually. The entire forensic team in the central lab has become infected. Some viral gastroenteritis, they said. So, the processing of all the biological samples in the currently open cases is delayed. Including the DNA testing of the tissue that Ella found under Mr Skalbeck's fingernails."
"And couldn't Miss Lopez analyse the sample?" he asked as he sat on his swivel chair and spun around.
"Ella is on leave; she's meeting her brother."
"Right," he mumbled as he remembered his last conversation with the tiny forensic scientist. "So, what do we do now?"
"We go through the other details of the murder. Analyse the crime scene photos and the strange scratches on the murder weapon. And we also do some further background checks on the victim and his father-in-law, since he is our only suspect right now," she listed their tasks.
"Sounds boring," he sighed and took out his flask from his inner pocket.
She rolled her eyes at his very typical behaviour. Maybe there wasn't anything to worry about.
They spent the next few hours with these tasks, but they didn't get any closer to solving the murder. The scratches on the baseball bat were strange, but they hadn't been able to figure out what had caused them. It was most likely a ring, but they couldn't be sure. When they started to discuss the alleged meeting of Mr Price and Mr Skalbeck, Chloe's face lit up.
"You know, something doesn't add up about this meeting," she said.
"Oh, do tell," he encouraged her with a charming smile.
"Mr Price told us that he was supposed to meet with Vincent Skalbeck on the evening of his murder, but he cancelled it. Lawrence confirmed that Vincent wanted to meet with his father-in-law this week, but he didn't know the exact time of this meeting. We're still waiting for the warrant to have access to their computers to check their emails and calendars, but there's something that bothers me: Mrs Skalbeck said she didn't know about the meeting, remember? She said that her husband had planned a quiet night at home. But what if she did know about the meeting?"
"Do you think she was trying to protect her father?" he asked curiously.
"Maybe. I think we should talk to her."
She grabbed her phone and called Mrs Skalbeck. After the seventh ring, a familiar voice spoke into the phone.
"Detective Decker, hello. It's Claire. I'm sorry, but you cannot speak with Mrs Skalbeck now."
"Oh, and why's that?"
"Mrs Skalbeck instructed me to divert all her calls to this central telephone. She is still devastated, and she wanted to grieve at home."
"Right, of course, I absolutely understand. Thank you for the information," she said and ended the call. She sighed deeply. She really sympathized with the widow, but they needed to be sure.
"Come on, Lucifer." She stood up and grabbed her jacket. "We have to visit the grieving wife and find out the truth about the evening of the murder."
"Copy that," Lucifer said and followed her to her car.
They knocked on the door for the second time before they heard the rattle of keys, and Erin opened the door. Judging by her smeared makeup, Chloe was sure that she had been crying recently. And somehow, she seemed thinner than the last time they saw her. She looked at Lucifer and then at Chloe in surprise.
"Detective Decker. I didn't expect to see you here. Did you find out anything about the killer?"
"Not yet, unfortunately. But we have a further question that probably helps us to clarify some controversial points," she said in a calm and steady voice.
"Okay," Erin said hesitantly, "What would you like to know?"
"You told us last time that your husband planned to stay at home on the night of his murder, alone. However, your father told us they planned to meet that night. Didn't he mention this plan to you?"
"No, he didn't. But Brian did, today," she said, sniffing slightly.
"Brian Morris? The head of the scientific department?" Lucifer chimed in.
"Yeah. I met him when I packed Vincent's personal belongings. It was so hard," her voice broke and her chin trembled as she tried to suppress her weeping.
"When he saw that I was so upset, he brought me a chamomile tea, which calmed my nerves a bit, and we talked. Brian told me that Vincent was a good man, and he was about to bury the hatchet with my father. He told me that they wanted to meet that night, but Vincent didn't want to mention it to me, because he wanted to be sure that they reconcile." Her eyes widened in fear as she realized what Chloe insinuated. "I hope you don't accuse my father of killing my husband! He would never do that! Plus, they didn't meet in the end!"
"How do you know that?" Chloe asked.
"Because I asked him about it after I talked with Brian. And my father would never lie to me!"
The young woman was panting and trembling now, and Chloe saw that she was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
As far as she could tell, the woman probably didn't lie, and she seemed completely convinced of her father's innocence. There was no point in asking her further questions.
"Okay, thank you for your time. Goodbye, Mrs Skalbeck," Chloe said, turning around to go back to the car.
The sun had almost set, and Chloe decided she would call it a night soon. She had to go back to the precinct to gather her stuff, and Lucifer's car was at the station's parking lot as well. She thought that on the way back she might have enough time to gather the courage to ask The Question.
Lucifer glanced at the Detective occasionally while she drove back to the precinct. She was uncharacteristically silent. He hoped that he would have been closer to his decision by now but all he realized was that he still enjoyed the Detective's company very much. Their occasional banter, her subtle smiles and constant enthusiasm made even the boring background work enjoyable. What would he do if he had to give up on this?
Chloe parked the car in the underground garage of the precinct. She pulled out the key from the ignition with a barely audible sigh. Now or never. Lucifer had already unbuckled himself and reached for the handle.
"Lucifer," she said and grabbed his forearm hastily. "I…Do you have a minute?" Lucifer stilled and remained seated in the car. He eyed her with a puzzled expression.
"Why of course, Detective. What's wrong?"
When she was sure that he remained still and she had his full attention, she let go of his arm. Dammit. This was harder than she thought. But she couldn't back off at this point.
"I…I'd like to ask you…a favour," she uttered finally.
"A favour? What kind of favour?" he asked, eyeing her quizzically. "Are you sure you want a deal with the Devil? Be careful; you may not be prepared for this kind of debt," he teased and wiggled his eyebrows.
She let out an annoyed huff then chuckled bitterly. "You're right, this was a stupid idea. Forget it." She unbuckled herself to flee as fast as she could. She felt embarrassed. This time Lucifer was the one who stopped her by gently grabbing her wrist, which still loomed over the belt buckle. Her gaze flickered from his hand to his eyes. Now it was Lucifer's turn to look embarrassed. He let go of her hand as if he thought he'd have done something inappropriate.
"Detective, sorry! I was joking. I would never want you to feel that you owe me. We're partners and friends. And friends help each other out, right?" he smiled at her reassuringly.
"Right," she sighed. She held his gaze for a moment, then lowered her eyes. His last words hit a long-forgotten button in her heart. He said the exact same thing before he invited her to a date, then didn't show up. And not long after that, he went to Las Vegas and came back married. Anger bubbled up in her chest at this memory. He made it clear back then that he didn't want a serious, romantic relationship with her. And his current words just strengthened this previous declaration. Maybe it would really be the best if she got him out of her system. His innuendos barely decreased since she'd been together with Pierce, so she was quite sure that he still found her attractive. But she wasn't so sure if Lucifer wanted to do the actual deeds if he had the opportunity, and she didn't want to push him.
"Lucifer, I want you to know that it's okay if you say 'no'. I'm asking you to do this…thing because I trust you. And because you have extended experience in this field. But I understand if you don't want to do this. The last thing I want is to make you uncomfortable. Just please…If you decide that you don't want to be a part of this…I have to know that you will be discreet about it."
Lucifer seemed to be more and more confused. "Detective, you know I would never betray your trust. So yes, you can be sure that I'll be discreet about your request, whatever it is. And I'm quite confident that I can be at your service; I doubt you could ask anything that would make me uncomfortable," he flashed a charming smile.
She considered his words for a moment, then nodded. She straightened in her seat and looked into his eyes.
"I want to try a threesome. With Marcus and you," she said it out loud, finally, her heart thundering. For a moment, there was only her heartbeat in her ears, as she waited for his reaction.
He stared at her with a blank expression for a while, then frowned and shook his head.
"I apologize, Detective, but I think my attention wandered for a bit and I misheard what you told me," he said, and she couldn't decide whether he was joking or not. After he kept staring at her expectantly, she decided that he really didn't believe what she told him.
"I know, it's an unusual request, but after we started to investigate this case…I became curious. And Marcus is okay with it." She stopped for a minute and bit her lower lip. "We agreed that you would be a good choice for this; I mean who would fit more in a Devil's Threesome than the man who claims he's the Devil," she joked but felt immediately that she made this conversation even more awkward.
Lucifer's blank expression was replaced by incredulity, but he still hadn't uttered a word, so she continued, "And you told me earlier that you're always up for this kind of fun, so I thought, why not? And…" She stopped her rambling and huffed. His lack of reactions started to frustrate her, and it certainly also contributed to her sudden sincerity. "And we could finally stop this awkwardness. You can get me out of your system, and I can do the same," she blurted out.
Oh, shoot. Why did she have to tell him this?
Although she didn't like to show so openly what she thought or felt, her last sentence finally elicited some reaction from Lucifer. She could swear she saw resentment and pain in his eyes for a short moment, but he put on the mask of indifference almost immediately. He turned slightly to face her completely, and spoke in a low, measured voice, "If that's what you really want, Detective, I'd be happy to fulfil your desire."
They looked at each other intently for a while. It seemed that Lucifer was looking for something in her eyes, but Chloe never found out whether he could find it or not. He cleared his throat, leaned back in his seat, and stared out of the windshield.
"When do you want it to happen?" he asked finally.
His question caught her off-guard. She hadn't thought about the exact details, yet.
"Well, I…I think we should do it after we closed this case. If that's okay for you," she added.
"Then it's settled. Good night, Detective. See you tomorrow." He didn't look at her again and left the car before she could say another word.