The elevator smelled primarily of lemon cleaner. Chloe noted this in the back of her mind as the doors shut, sealing them in. If she smelled enough, she thought she could also pick out the faint scent of blood from the gory scene that had previously inhabited the space. Beneath that, she smelled –

"Detective?"

Lucifer's voice brought a longing to her heart, one that reared its head and reminded her of the last moment they had been together. He was tentative, uncertain. Why?

"Yes?" She asked, staring straight ahead and working on getting her eyes to quit betraying her. Her head was full of turmoil as she tried to piece together what this moment actually was. The professional inside of her reminded her there was a job to do, and now was definitely not the time to begin the waterworks.

"Are you all right?" His voice, warm and gentle, was genuinely curious. Chloe needed to see his face again. She peeked a glance to her left, to see the being she had admitted her love for many weeks ago. He was frowning and staring at her, a kind, innocent expression gracing his features.

"I don't know," she whispered back into the empty space. "I'm trying to focus."

The elevator doors opened into an empty nightclub. Lights were playing off the surfaces, setting an upbeat, sultry mood; but no sound accompanied them. Lux was at its best like this, Chloe thought to herself. She liked when it was empty. It was such a beautiful, historical building when it wasn't full of grinding people.

The pair left the lemon cleaner smell in the elevator, and Chloe beelined for one of the wraparound booths. She sat down, folding her hands in front of her on the table. Lucifer did the same on the opposite side. There were a few more moments of what Chloe gauged as uncomfortable silence. She realized internally this was quite similar to her encounter with Michael earlier, down to the table and the hands.

"How are your injuries?" She asked randomly, trying to think where to begin. How did she bring up the subject that was eating at her?

"Painful, but I've certainly had worse," Lucifer chuckled. He flashed a smile at her, eyes as warm as his voice. He seemed pleased to see her. "Now if only I could get my shoes on."

Chloe looked down at the gauze-wrapped foot, putting two and two together from the bloody footprints that had adorned the penthouse floor when she had first arrived.

"What did you do?" She asked, eyeing the bloody gauze with wide eyes.

"Well, Maze stabbed me here," he pointed to his left arm, "and I dropped an empty bottle of top shelf I had just finished off, you know – liquor is never the same in hell – and then I stepped in the glass."

Chloe couldn't help it – she laughed out loud. That was so like Lucifer to stumble into such a mess. Laughing made her head feel light. He pouted at her.

"It wasn't intentional!" He said indignantly, but she could see inside that he wasn't taking offense to her reaction. Her laughter died down and she returned to her somber mood.

"Why are you here?" she questioned then.

"Well, because you lot summoned me back here," Lucifer replied instantly. "Threatening me with Maze, of all people –"

"No, why are you back…from Hell?"

Lucifer stared at her. He looked confused.

"To make sure you were okay," he said. "Michael and I…well, we have history."

"So I've heard."

"Detective…Chloe, are you okay?"

This was the second time Lucifer had posed the question to her, and this time, Chloe was ready to answer.

"I don't know, Lucifer," she sighed. "I mean, I thought I would never see you again. And then I was writing you all those notes, and even Trixie wrote one, and then when we didn't hear from you, I just assumed…you know, but then you're here, and I don't even –"

"Detective."

Chloe stopped talking, knowing she had been trying to get everything out at once. She looked down, avoiding his gaze.

"Detective, what are you implying?" Lucifer asked gently, confusedly. Involuntarily, Chloe felt her eyes well up with tears.

"I thought you didn't want me," she whispered softly, shrugging through eyes full of tears. Lucifer was too silent. She closed her eyes, mentally trying to pull herself together. She didn't like this part.

Her eyes flew open at the all-too-familiar, annoying scoff that came out of Lucifer's lips next. He was shaking his head with a smirk.

"After all we've been through, Detective, do you really think that little of me? I am a man – well, you know what I mean – of my word. Why would you ever assume otherwise? I never lie."

Chloe wiped a stray tear from her cheek. Lucifer reached out with his hand and caught another, gently rubbing it away, smile softening. She couldn't help but smile back, fears vanishing instantly.

"So what do we do now?" He asked, dropping his hand. A bewildered expression crossed his features. "I honestly don't know about this plan of Ella's…"

"It makes sense, Lucifer," Chloe said. "Think about it – souls have the ability to forgive themselves, and yet they never do. They're not exactly placed in an environment where they're able to forgive themselves. Give them that chance…"

"…and they head upwards," he finished. Chloe beamed at him. It was just another problem to solve, that was all.

"So how do I do it?"

"Let's get back upstairs and hash it out," Chloe said. "Let's join them."

One shorter, less emotional elevator ride later (Chloe was delighted that Lucifer reached out to grab her hand), they had returned to the penthouse. Faces all turned their way and Lucifer cleared his throat awkwardly, dropping her hand. She chuckled to herself and gravitated towards Ella, who gave her an exaggerated wink.

"So…what's the plan?" Lucifer asked cautiously.

"The plan is to start the plan," Linda answered with a simple nod. "You will be safer in Hell, anyway. If you go back there, try out this theory on a soul you think would be easiest to help forgive, you can begin to gauge how difficult this will be to undertake."

"It will be difficult," Chloe heard him mutter under his breath.

"I will help you for awhile," Amenadiel said enthusiastically. "Obviously we don't want to leave earth without an angel keeping an eye on things, but we can start together."

"Maze," Lucifer turned to her. "Would you like to return home and work with the demons?"

Maze scoffed now, a short laugh just escaping her throat.

"I mean, I can give it a try, but no guarantees," she replied. "But…I want to come back."

"Of course," Lucifer said, as if that wasn't even on his mind. "You belong here now."

"What can we do?" Ella piped up. "I mean, I know everything now. I can't just…do nothing."

"You keep an eye out at the precinct," Amenadiel told her. "Michael seems to have a fascination with Lucifer's life here on earth, so he will probably try to approach you all again. If he does, don't aggravate him."

"If he comes back, I won't hesitate to give him a piece of my mind," Chloe interrupted, crossing her arms. She had been watching the conversation with fascination, mentally seeing the plan come together. "Besides, if we can change his mind, then that's one more problem we don't have to deal with."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Amenadiel said at the same time Lucifer interjected, "There's no way in hell that's going to happen." Chloe shrugged.

"It doesn't hurt to try."

"And we really can't…bring God into this?" Linda asked cautiously.

"No," Lucifer answered flatly. The psychologist nodded again.

"So…we start now?" Chloe questioned. "Like, right now?"

"It would be faster if we did," Amenadiel said gently. "It won't be forever, Chloe. We can take breaks."

"Yes, please," Lucifer said tiredly. "Time is so much faster down there, though. How do I keep track? Can I have weekends off or something?"

Amenadiel shrugged.

"We're just trying to keep you safe, Luci," he said. "It's up to you on what you do. But permanent solutions will happen more quickly the more effort you put in."

"I know," Lucifer sighed heavily. Chloe moved over to him, taking his hand again. She didn't care if they judged them or her. She wanted to spend as much time with him as possible.

The group parted shortly after that, until only Lucifer and Chloe remained in the penthouse as a cheerful Ella gave Lucifer a quick hug and nodding understandingly at Chloe before waving until the elevator doors mercifully closed. The penthouse was suddenly enveloped in silence.

Lucifer, recovering from his confused reaction to Ella's hug, limped over to his personal bar, grabbing a couple glasses and a bottle of top shelf. He filled both glasses halfway, capping the bottle and sliding one over the bar top to her. She lifted up the glass gratefully, taking a sip.

"Want me to help with your foot?" she offered then, smiling. Lucifer glanced down to his feet, seeming to have not notice his own pain.

"Yes please," he sighed. "I forgot about it, honestly." He grabbed his drink and hobbled over to one of the chairs, frowning disapprovingly at the large brown stain on the couch. "I'm going to have to replace that. Do you know how much this furniture costs? Maze should be more careful with her knives."

Chloe laughed and rolled her eyes, grabbing the recently used first aid kit from on top of the piano. "At least it wasn't her demon knives."

"Very true," Lucifer agreed. "Very true."

Chloe knelt next to him, chuckling again as she began unwrapping the gauze that encased his foot. For what it was worth, she was impressed as she worked – he barely made a sound. She wondered inwardly if he wasn't wanting to alarm her with the pain. She knew this continual pain was not something he suffered with regularly, and for once it wasn't her fault. This gave her a bit of relief, knowing she could be by his side and help instead of having to step away to help him heal.

"So will you go back after you're patched up then?" she asked impassively, doing her best to hide her emotions. This job needed to get done, after all.

"I suppose so," he sighed again. "But not for too long. I don't want to be there too long. It's…draining. I start to forget things."

"How so?" she questioned curiously. "I mean…what is Hell like, anyway? We never really had that conversation."

Lucifer took a long swallow from this whiskey, frowning at the empty glass when he was done.

"It's hot, of course," he said slowly, seeming to choose his words carefully. "Dark. It isn't all hellfire and brimstone, but it certainly is ashy and barren. Hell makes reality glitch, and it's hard to focus on anything that isn't right in front of you. The individual Hells the souls are in are easier to handle." He set his glass down. "When I was down there this last time…it was practically unbearable." He smiled darkly, before composing his emotions. "The Hell rooms were easier to handle."

Chloe carefully bandaged the different cuts, thinking carefully.

"Who did you visit?"

Lucifer chuckled darkly.

"If I'm honest with myself…I visited Father Kinley's Hell the most."

"What?" Chloe was shocked. "Father Kinley? Why?"

"I don't know, I…" he looked over at the balcony. "I suppose I wanted to torment him myself after all the harm he caused. After all, if he hadn't interfered in the first place, none of this would have happened."

"Definitely," she agreed. "If he hadn't done his best to convince me of something impossible – you not being who you really are – then none of this would have happened. I can understand why you did that."

Lucifer hummed, cutting off with a light hiss as she bandaged him up. His foot was pretty bad, that was for sure. The cuts were plenty and some were deep enough to potentially need stitches. She did her best with what she had, though.

Wrapping the foot in a thin layer of fresh gauze and placing a piece of tape with a sense of finality, Chloe cleared her throat and stood up. It was time. She set the first aid kit on the piano again while Lucifer cautiously stood. He tested putting a bit of weight on his foot before carefully setting it down.

"Much better," he said gratefully. "Thank you, Chloe. You are indispensable, as always."

She felt warmed by his praise and moved closer to him. They were right in front of each other now. She could reach out and touch him if she wanted to.

"I'm glad you came back, Lucifer," she whispered. "Seeing you again… I just missed you so much."

Lucifer did reach out then, carefully tucking a piece of hair behind her shoulder as he gazed at her face. She stared back, feeling her heart pound. She had never felt this way about anybody, even Dan. With Lucifer, everything felt so much more real. She felt so alive.

And then he leaned forward and she welcomed the warm kiss that he planted on her lips, light but conveying everything he felt. And Chloe realized in that moment that it had been silly to assume he could ever forget about her. She kissed back, heart thundering in her ears and her fingers warming as she reached up and ran them through his hair, tousling it. They broke apart and she laughed, breathing heavily as she admired the curls she had freed from his usual slick-back hairstyle.

"What?" He asked, frowning and feeling his head. "Did you mess up my hair?"

"Yes." She giggled, placing a hand on his heart. She kissed him one more time, keeping her eyes open and smiling at him.

"We can do this," she said.

"We can do this," he echoed in agreement, voice full of wonder.

They could do this.