A/N: The beginning of the chapter is kind of a recap of the last few minutes of the previous events from Chloe's POV.

Chapter 19 – Just a bad dream

It was true. Everything he had told her since they had known each other was true. He is the Devil. The unbearable weight of the revelation—in addition to the trauma from just a few minutes ago—paralyzed her mind for a few seconds. Her brain overloaded and all coherent thoughts disappeared. Her body, on the other hand, started to react to this new knowledge quite visibly. It was as if an ancient instinct had been activated in her. The instinct that urges the prey to escape even when the predator is already clutching it between its claws. Her whole body trembled, and she stared at Lucifer in utter horror.

Lucifer turned his head towards her, and their eyes met for a moment. Although he seemed to be in pain, his expression changed as soon as he saw that her eyes were open. For a moment, he seemed as terrified as she felt, and then the terror was replaced by despair. She heard a strange rustling noise as the feathers shuddered and the upper half of the wings jerked, and Lucifer's face contorted in pain. Chloe shifted her gaze back and forth between Lucifer's face and the huge white wings that dimmed the sharp neon light of the room. Her lips moved, but she wasn't sure that she could form a sensible word. The feathers quivered slightly, and she spotted some red patches on them. Blood.

Her brain started to function again as another instinct took the place of the previous one. Lucifer was injured. Lucifer was her partner. She had to protect him. He was clearly in pain and his moves were oddly uncoordinated. The drones, she remembered suddenly. The wings had parried the injections. Before she had been able to form another thought, she heard a loud thud. Lucifer whimpered softly again, and his wings unfolded somewhat. They reached the door.

Lucifer started swaying dangerously, and Chloe's police routine kicked in. She released his lapels and grabbed his arm instead, trying to keep him upright. Lucifer leaned into her, all the while muttering things like 's okay Detective'.

She wanted to believe him so badly. To believe that this was just a bad dream. Or maybe a hallucination. But this wasn't the time for wishful thinking. She had to focus. As soon as she secured her grip on Lucifer, she reached for the handle, slammed the door open and trudged through the doorway, holding a stumbling Lucifer close to her body. The air was fresh and cool outside, and, for the first time since Brian had fired his gun, she could breathe.

Her car was only thirty feet away from the entrance, but they were barely halfway when Lucifer collapsed. Chloe tried to hold him, but his body was too heavy; much heavier than she expected. She managed to keep his torso straight, but his wings hung helplessly, sweeping the ground on both sides. About half a dozen drones and several needles were still tangled among the feathers. His pupils were alarmingly dilated.

"Lucifer, we have to go!" She tugged his jacket, but all she achieved was tipping him out of his fragile balance, and his body slumped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. "Lucifer, please!" she shouted desperately.

"Go, Detective," he smiled at her weakly. "Save yourself."

He closed his eyes and his muscles relaxed. Chloe couldn't hold him anymore. Her eyes flooded with tears as she remembered the end of her last dream. It all became true in the end. She would lose both of them.

Before panic prevailed over her, she became aware of some movement not so far away from them. Brian had appeared in the doorway. He stared in shock at Lucifer's wings and the edge of his mouth twitched nervously. He slowly raised his hand holding the pistol and aimed it at Lucifer. But Chloe was faster. She pulled out her own gun, aimed, and fired. Brian screamed at the sudden, sharp pain, and his hand jerked to his shoulder, dropping the pistol.

Chloe's police reflex set in motion. She ran to Brian, kicked the pistol away, and twisted the scientist's arms back to handcuff him. Brian continued to scream in pain, but Chloe didn't really care about his wellbeing right now. She could see that his wound wasn't serious anyway. She read him his rights as she pulled him to a nearby lamppost and fastened his handcuffed hands to it. Finally, she pulled latex gloves out of the inside pocket of her jacket, took off Brian's glasses, and placed them and the pistol on a nearby windowsill. She was very careful not to contaminate the evidence. This bastard couldn't get away this time.

She glanced at Lucifer again. Years of routine had helped her so far, but now she didn't know what to do. She had to call for backup and an ambulance, sooner or later. But Lucifer – she couldn't let anyone else see him like this. But she didn't know how to help him, either. Fear bubbled up in her throat again. She wanted to run away, but she couldn't. Whatever happened later, whatever this meant – she knew, in her heart, she couldn't leave lucifer to die. She had to pull herself together and help him, somehow.

She was back at Lucifer's side and tried to pull him towards her car. She had no idea how she was going to move him with his enormous wings out, but she had to try.

She kneeled by Lucifer's head. His wings lay by his sides, rumpled and dirty, blood and dirt on them, and yet the white of them was the brightest thing around them. She wondered if she could pull him—wings, and all—somehow to the car, then she could –

A soft whimper emanated from Lucifer's body. He'd regained his consciousness and looked at her wearily.

Chloe watched, unable to form a sentence. Lucifer blinked, mouthing something, but it was so soft she couldn't hear it. She slowly leaned closer.

"Amenadiel," he whispered, then he lost consciousness again.

Of course – Amenadiel! Lucifer would call out for his brother. His BROTHER. So – an ANGEL.

Chloe reeled a bit, again, the implications of Lucifer's true form now seeming to her to be far vaster than even just a few minutes before.

She took a deep breath and focused on the situation at hand. Amenadiel was an angel. So of course, he could help Lucifer out at a time like this.

Chloe reached into Lucifer's pocket and fished out his phone. She managed to unlock it in an instant. She let out a small smile, despite the stressful situation, at Lucifer and his lack of caution. She dialled Amenadiel, and he picked up after the third ring.

"Hey, Lucy."

"Amenadiel, it's me, Chloe," she spoke hurriedly.

His calm but cheerful voice turned worried in an instant, "Chloe, what's wrong? Did something happen to Lucifer?"

„Lucifer… He – he has wings! He's – he got hurt, we were – his wings are damaged and I –"

„Breathe, Chloe. You need to tell me where you are," Amenadiel spoke calmly, but his head was in turmoil too.

"SkyFly-Tech Solutions," she forced the words out. "Amenadiel, I – I don't know what to do. Please," she stammered and her voice broke.

"I'm on my way. Just breathe," Amenadiel said, and he ended the call.

oOo

A few seconds later she heard a loud whoosh, and Amenadiel stepped forward from behind the building. She wanted to ask how he arrived so fast but stopped herself. Although she didn't see his wings, she was sure he flew here. He must have tucked them away. How did the wings work? An errant side-line of thought popped into her head, but she pushed it back. This wasn't the right time.

Amenadiel's worried gaze flickered from Lucifer to her, and then back to his brother. She was still kneeling beside Lucifer's limp body. She glanced back at Lucifer and her heart stopped for a moment when she realized that she was caressing his cheek absent-mindedly. For how long had she been doing that? Chloe regarded this contradiction for a moment: she had wanted to flee, just a few minutes ago, but now she was embracing the Devil.

Amenadiel knelt on the other side of Lucifer, careful not to step on his wing. First, he felt Lucifer's pulse and his face softened somewhat. Then he studied the condition of the wings and a drone that was stuck between the feathers.

He looked back at Chloe, his forehead creased again.

"Chloe, I can imagine, just how difficult and frightening this situation is for you. But – you don't have to worry. I will handle this." He averted his gaze and added, hesitantly, "And if you need further help with – well – processing this…you can always contact me. Or Lucifer. He's…Chloe, he's still him." he looked up at her again, with a sudden calm determination.

Chloe nodded tentatively, but she didn't have the strength to answer.

Amenadiel reached under Lucifer's knees and shoulders and lifted him so easily, as if he weighed nothing.

"Is he going to be okay? Shouldn't I go with him too?" The words stumbled out of Chloe's mouth, stopping Amenadiel in his tracks.

Amenadiel's smile was all kindness, his eyes though – they were worried. "He's going to be fine. But he needs – he needs time and space to heal. To be away from you for the time being. But you can check on him tomorrow."

Chloe stared as Amenadiel walked towards Lucifer's corvette, gleaming in the harsh light. Amenadiel's well-built body hid most of Lucifer, but one of his wings, glowing soft and white, protruded from under Amenadiel's arm, swinging helplessly at each step. She kept watching as Amenadiel laid his body lightly into the passenger seat, tucking the wings around him the best he could. He proceeded to raise the hood of the car, hiding Lucifer from prying eyes – and her eyes as well. Chloe felt an eerie calm – almost a blankness settled over her as Amenadiel drove away.

Chloe took a deep breath and switched into cop mode again. In her world that had just turned upside-down, this seemed the only thing that still made sense. Her work—even the always so boring police procedures that waited for her now that she had closed this case—was the only fixed point in her life right now.

Soon, the parking lot was full of uniforms bustling around the building. The forensics took photos and bagged the evidence—including the glasses and the pistol—carefully. After a paramedic had taken care of Brian's injury, her colleagues arrested him. He was visibly confused: sometimes he laughed hysterically, other times he just stared into space for long minutes, and then all of a sudden, he started talking about an angel breaking into the lab.

Chloe also testified: she told the chief officer how Brian had lured them to the lab and how he had shot Marcus. She mentioned that Lucifer had been able to break into the lab and had helped her escape, but she carefully left out any details about how they had avoided the attack of the drones. It would be best if her colleagues thought they had been fast and lucky.

She told the officer that Brian had got into a state of shock after he'd killed Marcus, and the angelic vision was probably just the result of that temporary shock. Chloe was very careful to emphasize that Brian had become confused only after he shot the lieutenant. By no means she wanted to give him the chance of an insanity defence.

Just when she finished her testimony, she saw two paramedics push a trolley bed out of the building with a body wrapped in a black nylon bag, and her eyes became glossy again.

Marcus.

Marcus's last words reverberated in her mind. Some of the things he said didn't make any sense. I've been longing to die for so long. But why on earth did he want it? And how was it possible that she didn't notice that her boyfriend had had suicidal tendencies? Look at the drawer in my office. That's it! She had to go to his office and see what was in the drawer. Maybe she could find some answers. Answers that she desperately needed right now.