Nolan just braced himself for what was about to happen, he was out and about on girls night, he didn't stand a chance and he knew it!
The doors of the elevator opened and the pair's senses were assaulted by the noise, lights and gyrating bodies of LA's young and sexy crowd. John felt extremely out of place but he liked the company of people and when in Rome and all that. He allowed a few moments for his eyes to sweep over the expansive space, it seemed that the simple fact that it was a Monday night hadn't dampened the crowd's spirits in anyway. John could feel the energy of the partygoers and it was intoxicating, the club had the look and smell of class and money, maybe he would bring Chen or Ben here, probably better get to know the owner a bit better first though he thought to himself.
Chloe gave him a little nudge and nodded in the direction of one of the booths, he could see Ella waving at the pair and a petite blonde smiling over happily, John could see she had a tired look about her, one which John recognised as "New Mom," this must be Dr Linda.
"Ladies." He simply greeted as they approached the table, giving both woman a charming smile,
"Hey," Chloe said as Ella hugged her and then moved onto John,
"Linda, this is ruggedly handsome John, Linda giggled slightly and adjusted her glasses, giving Nolan a good once over,
"I can see that Ella," she gave her young friend a wink, "lovely to meet you John, I'm Linda," she held out her hand which John shook.
"Can I get any of you ladies a drink?"
"I think I have that covered!" A voice suddenly cut in making John jump slightly, he turned to face Lucifer wearing a million dollar smile,
"Looks like the boss has it covered," John returned the smile and could hear the ladies chuckling,
"Ooooo Boss, I like that, Detective, maybe you should take a leaf out of our young friends book hmmmm,"
"Never gonna happen!" Chloe smirked and threw a napkin at Lucifer, who playfully swotted it straight back at her, "just glad you are in a better mood!"
"Ah yes, my earlier outburst,"
"Tantrum!" Ella wordlessly mouthed to Linda who simply nodded,
"Thank you Miss Lopez, the Devil does not throw tantrums," he gave his adopted sister a mock serious glare, Ella waved it off,
"If you say so buddy!" John could hear Linda laughing and chuckled himself,
To John's mind, it seemed like he had entered a funny little family interaction, the harmless ribbing and affection clearly evident between the group and he was seemingly being welcomed, it was a strange feeling but a pleasant one, he hadn't done anything to deserve this but maybe being brought here by Detective Decker suggested to the group that he was "one of them" maybe he should focus on the rest of the night before starting to analyse the situation too much. Somehow John had missed the "Devil" remark.
"Anyway!" Linda decided it was time to take charge, "I believe it is time for more drinks!" It wasn't a question,
"Of course," Lucifer turned a waved a waitress over to take the drinks orders, "now I will leave you ladies to it, Officer Nolan, come find me if the ladies become too much to bare!" The night club owner smirked and strolled off into the hordes of revellers,
"I'm in trouble aint I?"
"YEP!" Came the simple response from the three woman,
"Don't worry buddy, we'll look after you!" Ella gave him an evil grin and patted him on the arm in mock sympathy,
"Thanks?!" More giggles met his confused face.
As the night progressed, John realised he was in the company of three amazing woman, Dr Linda, was an amazingly insightful person and was like the mother of the group, wise and capable of dealing with anything life threw at the ladies and herself, as he guessed correctly she had recently become a mom and both he and Chloe had given her some useful advice, which she had accepted gratefully.
Then there was Chloe, as she had told him to stop calling her ma'am early in the evening, she was an intelligent and fiercely dedicated Detective and mom, spending as much time with her daughter as possible, whilst still making the time to see her friends and work some brutal cases, she never lost her desire to find the truth and closure to her victims' families, he could see now why Bishop had make such a strong argument for him to get to know this woman, she was the embodiment of what an outstanding officer should be and he hoped to meet that standard too. Nolan had also learned that in the past few years, Chloe had allowed herself to let her hair down a bit more, both the Tribe and Lucifer were a big part of this change. The Tribe had been formed out of a simple bet made by Lucifer and had turned out to be the best thing for all of the them, John was yet to meet Maze, but she sounded like one 'hell' of an interesting character, one he couldn't wait to meet.
Ella used to steal cars!
This was not the first time the Tribe had heard that little tale, so John went with it but that simple statement was not the be all and end all of who Ella was, the young woman was fun, kind and caring, had a mischievous streak a mile wide and virtually no shame when it came to expressing herself. Ella had an amazing outlook on life and the possibly one of the greatest scientific minds he had ever come across. She was also a big nerd, they had talked about some obscure science fiction series about space cowboys much to the rest of the group's blank stares. John felt at home.
The only person he hadn't got to talk to was the allusive Lucifer Morningstar, not that he was complaining about his current company, the stories, the laughter the comradery was refreshing but he felt like he was missing a big part of it. From what he had learned, Lucifer had turned up in the Tribes lives one day and everything had changed, he had brought this group together, apparently helped to turn Chloe's career around because no one else wanted to work with her and didn't seem to care about how anyone else thought of them as a partnership, backed her fully and shouted down any other officer who tried it, even punched a fellow detective for making some rude comment, a simple act but John was impressed.
Through Lucifer, Linda had a group of friends, no, that isn't right, family, now had a child, Lucifer's brother apparently being the farther and seemed exceptionally happy.
Because of Lucifer, Ella too had found her place in the world, she was confident and assured of her role in the whole funny 'family' dynamic, she was the little sister, one that everyone loved, John wondered what she had been like before coming to LA, he genuinely hoped that she had found that missing part to her life, the one that had shunned her and made her feel small previously.
The only person he was yet to really speak to was Lucifer himself, he needed to rectify this, not for personal gain but one of shear curiosity, he needed to actually talk to the man who had changed so many lives, John needed to have a chat with the so called Devil.