Hello! Getting an early post this week because I'm busy all weekend. Plus, I know many of you have been waiting for a reunion... Enjoy!
"…and that's how I ended up here," Lucifer was saying, stretching out on the sofa with his bandaged foot sticking over the armrest. His good arm was resting comfortably on his stomach, and his injured arm lay awkwardly at his side. He had yet to find a position that worked for the painfully slow-to-heal wound.
"So you saw your brother, ran away from him, got stabbed, and you should really be in Hell?" Candy summarized.
"Exactly!" Lucifer nodded appreciatively. "You always listen so well, Candy. I appreciate your friendship."
Candy rolled her eyes and passed fresh gauze for his arm, which was leaking again. He groaned at the sight, spending precious energy to sit back up.
"Why don't you want to see Chloe again?" she asked, watching as he tugged gently at the metal clips holding the old gauze to his arm.
"Because if I do, I'm concerned I won't be able to leave her again," he replied, grimacing as he pulled the gauze away from the wound – it caught on the skin, causing him to hiss in pain. "Damn – this – vulnerability!" With the third tug, the gauze came away clean, while the wound began to bleed more openly. Candy hissed.
"Lucifer, that needs stitches," she said. "Here, let me go get my sewing kit. I may be able to do it." She looked grossed out but he smiled up at her, grateful. She left the room and he pressed the bloody gauze back to his skin, ignoring the vibrating noise that came from his phone. Part of him was wishing he hadn't grabbed his old phone before leaving the penthouse. He knew it was from Chloe. He could feel it.
"Okay, here's what I got," Candy came back, announcing and showing off her small sewing kit. She sat down next to him and Lucifer peered at the meager choice of thread: pink and yellow.
"I guess I'll go with pink," he said, amused. She laughed.
"Sorry, I don't sew much at all," she apologized as she grabbed the pink thread, a needle from an old, used pincushion, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. "I learned the basics back in home ec class, but that was a couple decades ago."
"I appreciate any assistance you can provide," Lucifer said warmly. "Will it hurt though? I am getting very tired of this pain."
"Oh! Yeah, it will, but I got you." She reached around to the end table and produced a bottle of whiskey. "This should help!"
He hummed contentedly and accepted the bottle, opening the lid and downing a good portion of the liquid. Candy laughed again, her voice breathy and nervous. He passed the bottle to her to quell her nerves as well. She accepted it and followed suit.
After that, Lucifer sat forward and gritted his teeth while Candy worked on his arm. It hurt all right, almost as badly as the initial pain. He kept his complaints down, however, just hoping to get it over with quickly.
His phone buzzed again.
"Sounds like somebody is trying to get a hold of you," she commented offhand. He looked at her, down at the wound (gross), and back straight ahead.
"I know who it is and I know what it says," he said softly. "I dare not look."
Candy didn't reply to that, for which he was thankful. He just let her work in silence, feeling the tug and the long, drawn-out sting as the needle worked its way through his skin. It was a few more agonizing minutes before he heard the snip of scissors and the triumphant exclamation from her.
"There, all good to go!" She grinned, grabbing the fresh gauze and wrapping it around his arm. Lucifer was pleased to see the wound wasn't seeping anymore.
"Thank you," he said sincerely. "I owe you a favor."
Her grin became more pronounced as she slid the metal clips into place and stared pointedly at him.
"I will accept your owing me, and I want to read your phone," she announced. Lucifer frowned.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "It may not…make a lot of sense."
"Lucifer, not much about you makes sense," she said honestly. "I've just learned to go with it."
Wordlessly, he handed her his phone, which buzzed a third time before it left his grip.
"Let's see…" Candy muttered to herself, swiping in. "No password, excellent. Here we go. Three new messages, all from…yup, Chloe."
She looked up at him.
"She seems pretty level-headed," Candy noted. "She wants you to come back. Says they have a solution. The newest one says Maze is on her way."
Lucifer groaned.
"Of course. If anybody can find me, it would be Maze," he complained. "Why won't anybody listen to me?"
"Maybe they care about you?" She offered with a raised eyebrow. She glanced back down at the phone as it buzzed again. "This one is a call."
She showed him the phone. Maze. Lucifer took a deep breath.
"Oh, all right," he huffed, grabbing the phone back and jabbing the green button on the screen. "Maze, can't I just have five minutes –"
"Are you with your ex-wife?" Maze snapped back. Lucifer looked at Candy. That was impressive timing, even for her.
"Yes," he answered slowly. "How did you…"
"Ella," Maze said shortly. "Look, are you going to ignore us all day or come back?"
"I need…time, Maze," he reminded desperately. "Plus, I'm still injured, and Candy here has been very helpful in tending to me." He smiled appreciatively at her again.
"Well, Amenadiel wants you back here now or he's going to come fly and get you."
"…oh, brother," Lucifer sighed. Amenadiel knew he was back. Now he was in for it. Today was just not going his way. He was beginning to regret coming back to earth at all.
"Uh, yep. So get back here now."
"Give me a few minutes."
He hung up and set the phone down, closing his eyes. The ibuprofen from earlier wasn't doing what it was supposed to.
"Do you have any medicine?" he asked sweetly. "If I'm going to make it back to LA, I'm hoping to not be in pain."
Candy shot him a grin and grabbed the already-waiting bottle off the end table. She opened the cap and poured out two tablets, before he gestured for more. After a bit of back and forth, they silently agreed on four, which wasn't nearly enough but with the earlier dose and his strange bout of vulnerability ad inifnitum miles from the detective, maybe it would be enough.
"How in the world are you getting back to LA in a few minutes?" she asked.
"Flying." He grinned back at her. That would have to do as an answer for now. She rolled her eyes again but hugged him quickly.
"Come back anytime, but Lucifer? Maybe not injured next time."
He laughed.
"I'll try my best," he promised, placing a kiss on her hand before heading out the door, inwardly cursing his limp from his untended injured foot.
Flying was one term for the angel method of transportation, but Lucifer liked to compare his mode of travel more to teleportation. With his wings out, he could enter into a side 'dimension,' as it were, and navigate based on where he wanted to go. As the wind caressed on his face, he felt the tingling sensation of home arrive at his fingertips, rather than by sight alone, and he left the dimension to hover high above his penthouse. From here, Lucifer could see how crowded his penthouse looked. He could spot the heads of each of his friends and family and pick them out by their subtle differences. It was obvious they were waiting for his return, some (Amenadiel) rather impatiently.
Everybody except Chloe.
Lucifer frowned, flying in a bit closer. She wasn't in the main room with the rest. He cautiously drifted over to the south side of the building, spotting her almost instantly. There she was, hair sensibly pulled back from her face in a tight low pony. She was leaning against the railing, arms crossed. This part of the balcony was the most private, best accessible through his bedroom. He stared at her, trying to decipher his feelings.
Of course, he had been right. Leaving her had been impossible the first time, but now – now, she was in his sights again. And she was just so perfect. If there was one thing he could forgive his father for, it would be for placing her in his path – he would never admit this to anyone. She just made sense to him, as difficult as she could be. He knew that trying to leave again would be very much against his best wishes, even with a moody Michael on the loose.
As not to startle her, Lucifer snuck around and landed behind her. The wind picked up tendrils of her hair for a moment as his feet touched the ground, and he saw her noticeably stiffen. It was quiet for one long moment.
"Is that you?"
Chloe had whispered the words out into the air, still facing away from him. Her voice was wistful, nervous, and full of emotion. Hearing it after all this time caused his heart to stutter.
"Yes," he breathed back. He saw her shoulders relax, and she turned around to face him.
There they were – the eyes he had been dreaming of since he'd left. He had begun to forget how they shared every emotion she had, how they shone. Her eyes now held a mix of emotions that he tried to comprehend. She looked relieved, absolutely; loving, yes; nervous, too; and the one expression that never sat well with her – she was on guard. As she should be.
The small moment where they stared at each other was broken much too quickly for Lucifer's liking.
"Luci!" Amenadiel bellowed, and Lucifer spotted his brother practically charging at him from inside the main room. He took a step back and put his arms up (ouch, forgot about the injured one) in defense.
"Yes, hello, Amenadiel," he replied, eyes searching for Chloe again. But she was walking away, back indoors. Amenadiel grabbed Lucifer's good arm and dragged him back in, which was very humiliating and painful.
"Please, Amenadiel, be careful," he gasped as his feet stumbled behind the other. "My foot!"
Amenadiel let him go once at his destination, crossing his arms and glaring. Lucifer returned the glare with one of his own, rubbing his injured arm and balancing on his good foot.
"You have the audacity to come back after everything we talked about?" he shouted. "What were you thinking, Luci?"
"I…wasn't," he finished lamely, still watching Chloe's back as she leaned on the bar.
"Well, you need to go back."
"I can't."
He said it too quickly, he knew as soon as the words had left his mouth. He felt his face get warm as everybody stared at him.
"Well, he shouldn't, either," piped a voice, and Lucifer turned his attention to Ella Lopez, who was sitting at his piano and staring at him. He couldn't understand her expression.
"Ms. Lopez…" he said slowly. "Are you all right? I am sorry you got dragged into this. I hold Azrael completely responsible."
"Hey now!" Azrael said indignantly. Ella waved her off, however, and stood up with a smile.
"That's ridiculous," she said. "Besides, I'm the genius who figured out how we're going to solve your Hell problem, so give me some credit here!"
She still seemed like the same old Ella. There wasn't any caution in her eyes that he could see. Lucifer beamed at her. She truly was an amazing friend.
"Which brings us back to that," Linda interjected then, waving his attention to her. "Look, Lucifer. You will need to go back, but not necessarily forever. We have a plan."
"A plan," he repeated slowly and suspiciously. "What kind of plan?"
"My plan!" Ella reminded him with a grin.
"They want you to help the souls of Hell forgive themselves," Maze said with little excitement or interest.
"Forgive…I'm sorry, what?" Lucifer asked incredulously. "Forgive… I mean, have you met the demons of Hell lately? Perhaps rather recently? What makes you think they would be on board with this?"
"That's what I said." Maze sighed and stood up from where she was leaning on the back of one of his chairs. "These humans seem to think demons have the ability to…change."
"Well you did, didn't you?" Linda asked with a smile. Maze scoffed, but Lucifer caught her hiding a smile of her own. Linda did have a point.
"And Michael? How does this solve the problem with him?" Michael was certainly the bigger problem here. "I don't see him chumming up to this idea. His idea of paradise is me back in Hell." He pointed down for emphasis. Azrael nodded solemnly.
"Maybe…I can go talk to our father," Amenadiel offered. Lucifer whipped around at him.
"That won't be necessary," he snapped. "I don't need Dad to come to the rescue every time something goes wrong."
"We know, Lucifer," Linda said gently, putting a hand on his good arm. He stepped back and looked over at Chloe again. She had been very, very quiet.
"What do you want?" He asked, not saying her name but very obviously directing his question her way. She didn't react in any way that he could see.
"Can I talk to you?" She asked, still not looking. Her voice betrayed her – she must have been crying. Lucifer, forgetting everybody else there, stepped around them.
"Of course," he replied softly. "Let's go down to the bar."
"Luci, be careful," Amenadiel warned as they got into the elevator. "We don't know where Michael is or what he's doing."
"I can help with that." Lucifer heard wings unfurl at his sister's words. "I'll be back in a bit."
The audible awed gasp from Ella made Lucifer smile ever so slightly. It was nice to have her in the know.
The elevator doors shut, leaving them alone together. Finally.
