"I just can't believe you came all the way out here, to Atlantic Beach, to spend time with me!" Penelope Decker's peal of delightful laughter came over the introduction of two mojitos and a Shirley Temple from the well-dressed waiter serving them. "We really need to spend more quality time together, dear."

"Yes, thank you for welcoming us, mom," Chloe said, trying to smile as happily as she could. Her nerves were dancing inside, and her thoughts continue to stray to the other side of the country and the situation – threatening situation – that awaited her should she return.

"And Beatrice, darling, you have to come visit me on set! This movie is set in the 1940's, and everything is post-war glamorous."

Her mom was positively gushing over the seemingly random fact that Chloe and Trixie had appeared mere hours earlier. It hadn't been by plane, as Chloe had insinuated; Amenadiel and Azrael had given them first-class treatment to angel flight – which hadn't been nearly as terrifying as she had thought it would be. In fact, there hadn't been any scary heights at all. Trixie, fresh off the charm from Michael, had been calm but quiet. In fact, she still seemed quiet even now. Chloe glanced toward her daughter, trying to seem noncommittal and not suspicious. Trixie had grabbed her Shirley Temple and given it a tentative sip before making a face and putting it back on the table. She then looked out past the railing of the condo balcony to the ocean that stretched beyond. The sun was hot, but the breeze coming off the Atlantic Ocean was cool, salty, and pleasant. It could have been another day in LA if the events that had just occurred had not happened.

"Well I appreciate you both coming, but I do have to get back to set. Please, make yourself at home. I will pick up Chinese for dinner!" Penelope let out a trill of laughter, still obviously enjoying the surprise company. Then she stood up and shooed the waiter away. "I'll call you later, Carlos," she said with a wink at Chloe before disappearing inside.

The waves crashing against the shore down below were peaceful but loud. The sun was setting on the other side of the building, casting long shadows on the sand. It gave Chloe an idea.

"Do you want to walk along the beach?" she asked Trixie. Trixie looked out at the ocean, the waves reflecting in her dark, somber eyes. She seemed to think for a moment before wordlessly nodding.

They left the condo, rode down the tiny elevator, and joined a few other people walking along the shores of the beach. The salty air was a calm reminder of home. The seagulls, screaming for their dinner and hovering like vultures above their heads, added to the peaceful ambiance. Her insides, however, were doing a soiree of their own.

"Trixie, baby, are you okay?" she finally got the nerve to ask, after an older couple had passed them and left their earshot. "You saw a lot today. You had Lucifer's brother, Michael, in your head. A lot happened. Are you okay?"

"Mommy, is daddy really dead?" Trixie asked quietly, voice calm but betraying a slight waver. Chloe's heart broke.

"I'm so sorry, monkey," she whispered, kneeling next to her daughter and gently grabbing her shoulders. "Nobody should have had to go through what you went through. That is so much to handle. But Trixie, it will be okay. Lucifer will take care of him. I know that, and so do you. We have to trust him."

Trixie's eyes gave away her emotions, and tears were rolling down her cheeks solemnly as Chloe spoke. Chloe brought her daughter in for a deep hug, wishing through the embrace that she could take all of Trixie's pain away. Too much had happened today.

The shadows in the sand grew more pronounced as they continued onto the beach, leaving the condo behind. Chloe's phone dinged as they passed some beach chairs set up on the sand, right on the edge of the soon-to-come high tide. She wordlessly gestured Trixie that way and they sat down together.

"Who is it?" Trixie asked, voice still quiet but calming down.

"Lucifer," Chloe replied. "He wants to come visit us. Can he come visit us?"

"Yes," Trixie said. "As long as Daddy is okay."

"We will ask him when he gets here," Chloe promised, before replying to Lucifer's inquiring text about where they had gone – it seemed he had showed up at the condo with neither of them to be seen and he had gotten concerned. Took a walk along the beach. Headed south, maybe a half hour out?

It was maybe twenty seconds until she blinked and suddenly Lucifer was strolling up, looking handsome as ever in a fresh suit and post-shower. The sight of him made her heart flutter, for more reasons than one.

"I'm glad you are both safe," he began, smiling that sympathetic, truthful smile he had shared with her the night he left her to return to Hell.

"Is my Daddy okay?" Trixie asked almost shyly, as if she hadn't known Lucifer for the better part of the last few years. Lucifer gave a careful nod.

"He's with Maze now back in Hell, which is, ironically enough, the safest place for him right now," he replied with a small smile and a slight tilt of his head. "Your father will be well taken care of, I assure you."

"Will you bring him to heaven?" Trixie asked innocently, but Chloe could hear the secretive curiosity in her voice. She remembered what she had said before, when she had been under Michael's charm. Lucifer visibly flinched, looking awkward as he audibly let out a noncommittal grunt that sounded neither here nor there. He shot Chloe a desperate look, requesting her intervention. Although curious if this could indeed be arranged sooner rather than later, she obliged.

"Lucifer is trying to get everybody into heaven," she informed Trixie for him. "And of course your daddy will be on the list. And until then, Maze will take care of him and he will be safe down there. Is that okay?"

"I suppose so," she said with a quiet voice. Chloe looked back to Lucifer, who seemed to think for a moment before taking out his cell phone – a rare occurrence since the fiasco that was the months he spent with Eve. He then did something she didn't see coming – he knelt, in the sand no less, in front of her daughter. Eyes solemn and serious, he showed her his phone.

"I can help you two communicate," he said. "At least until he makes it to heaven. We can record video back and forth between you two and you can have conversations. There isn't any service in Hell, unfortunately, but this way you can see each other. Does that work for you, child?"

Trixie contemplated for a moment, but her demeanor lifted instantly.

"Okay," she replied, voice perking up. She let out the first genuine smile Chloe had seen all day. She smiled back.

Lucifer accompanied them back to the condo, not-so-subtly grabbing Chloe's hand as they did so. Trixie crowed with excitement at that, making kissy faces before running on ahead. She certainly felt better.

"Thank you, Lucifer," Chloe said meaningfully, turning her face to smile gratefully at him. He smiled back, that genuine warmth crossing his face. This was a warmth that filled her with warmth of her own, from deep in her stomach. It was a very pleasant feeling, and not one she had felt in a very long time.

"What will you do about Michael?" she asked. Lucifer's eyes darkened and he turned his face back to their path.

"I don't know," he said honestly after a moment. "I don't know, Chloe. I'm not… I've never been strong enough to face him successfully. If my final moments in the Silver City taught me anything, it was that he was stronger."

"And douchier." Chloe let the quip escape her mouth before she could catch herself, and it paid off – the corner of his mouth twitched again.

"Yes, much, much douchier," he agreed. His hand squeezed hers. "It goes beyond that, too. He should never have threatened you."

"We need to stand up to him," she told him, bringing him to a halt with her tugging arm. Trixie had distracted herself up ahead chasing some late-evening birds looking for dinner. Lucifer paused and turned to face her. "Lucifer, we have to do something. I can't hide out here with Trixie forever. And knowing how resourceful angels can be, we won't be hidden for long."

Lucifer nodded slowly, pain flashing across his face. She noticed he hadn't been wearing the sling for awhile, and she touched his left arm slowly.

"Are you okay?" she asked him then. He let out a quick nod.

"It turns out one can get used to pain after awhile," Lucifer answered her with a small smile. "I've certainly had worse, Detective."

"I remember," she surmised, thinking back to the first time he had bled in front of her, after she had shot him. Next in line was Malcolm and Lucifer's sacrifice for her. Then there was the hostage situation at Lux a few months prior. He had come very close to a human death both times. "You've definitely had worse. You've almost died a few times."

"Almost," he emphasized with a quick grin. "I've died for you twice, Detective. And both times were worth it, despite the repercussions."

"What?" Chloe's eyes widened as she stared at him. "You've died? Twice? How are you still here?"

Lucifer dropped her hand, reaching up instead to her face.

"Maybe my father likes me more than I'll care to admit," he said lowly, tenderly. His eyes gazed at hers, steady and unwavering. "He brought me back once to save you. The second time, I had to die in order to save your life. That time, I only came back because of my mother."

She blinked, fighting the tears that threatened to appear in her eyelids.

"You had to die?" she echoed. "What does that mean?"

He dropped his hand again, resuming holding hers. He pointed to Trixie, who had gone on a bit farther ahead than Chloe would have liked her to. She followed his lead and resumed walking, awash in attempts to fill in those ignorant blanks she'd had before finding out his not-so-secret identity.

"You were dying, Chloe," he said simply. "The formula for the cure was in the head of that deranged man who was giving those university students ultimatums. So I had to die in order to get the cure from him to save your life."

Chloe remembered little of that time, but she did remember just how horrible she had felt in that hospital bed, knowing that there wasn't anything that could be done but also having faith that Lucifer would find a way. Even back then, he hadn't operated completely on the same plane of existence as them, and she had subconsciously believed he would produce a miracle, which indeed he had done.

"Why couldn't you fly down there?" she asked. "Or was this when you didn't have your wings?"

"Precisely. My wings reappeared later," he answered.

"So you've died for me twice." Her voice was low, thoughtful. She was lost in thought, digesting the information she now had to plug a few holes in her pre-knowledge days. He had done all of that for her… "You've done all of these good deeds, Lucifer. What's stopping you from returning to heaven?"

Lucifer looked shocked for a moment. He scoffed, a usual deflection from the idea that she had come to know was only because he didn't want to think of it.

"My father made his stance very clear," he retorted, voice just barely biting back the scorn as he shot an angry glance upwards. "He punished me and cast me out, the only of his children he'd ever done that to."

"Every child, after awhile, needs to reconcile with their parent," Chloe reasoned. "It's the mature thing to do. Perhaps…perhaps that's why Michael is down here. It's time for you to reconcile."

"That's if my father could be mature," he snapped quickly, before letting out a sigh and releasing tension in his shoulders. "I'm sorry, Chloe. I should not be taking my familial frustrations out on you."

"You have millennia of anger, it's okay. What about your siblings, Lucifer? Do you have any other ones in heaven that may side with you against Michael?"

Lucifer thought for a moment, eyes looking upwards again, this time much less angrily.

"Nobody likes Michael," he finally told her, eyes sliding back to glance at her. "He's always thought he was entitled. He's always been more entitled than the rest of us. Where most of my siblings do their duties diligently, he's always craved power and approval from my father. Dear old Dad keeps his hands out of things, meaning Michael is always on the righteous warpath."

"So perhaps they would side with us?" she asked hopefully, not containing that hope from creeping into her town. "If we were able to get word to them, they could help contain Michael? Help him see reason?"

Lucifer sighed. The condo was in sight now, shining in its towering beauty. Trixie was waiting at the gate for them. Chloe admired its warm light bathing the sand and the ocean in an otherworldly glow.

"That's the problem," he said heavily. "I'm not sure if my siblings' dislike of my brother would go far enough to help me after my exile."

"Well, it can't hurt to try," she said. "The more the merrier. It's time for you to be forgiven for your sins. If the humans get a break, then so do the angels. I want you to make a list and I want us to contact as many as you think would help us." The authority that filtered through her voice masked the awe and wonder she felt internally at leading a potential fight between angels. How had her simple detective life led to this?

"Lucifer, are you going to stay with us?" Trixie asked excitedly, grabbing onto his other hand. Chloe noticed he didn't immediately pull his hand away, and felt a leap of excitement of her own. He deserved better than Hell. He had turned into a good man. Lucifer smiled quickly down at Trixie.

"It sounds like your mother is putting me on duty," he said honestly. "I may have to run a few errands before that can happen. But eventually…I wouldn't mind that." He smiled at Chloe and she felt her heart ache. This was going to happen, damn it!

"Let's get that list going," she whispered to him as they walked back into the condo building and meandered over to the elevator. "I'll call Amenadiel and Azrael."

Before he could protest at the speed at which she was moving, Chloe folded her hands, winked at Trixie, and prayed.

No time like the present.