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"Burning For You" - Blue Oyster Cult
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Stubborn to get closer to Ella, Michael waited until Chloe turned around to continue his little conversation with Ella once more. He softly whistled in her direction. As she looked up, she shot him a shy smile.
"I'm working, Michael," she voiced. Michael shrugged his shoulders because he knew she was already done taking photos. She was just pretending to be close to him.
"And I know that…"
Ella shook her head turning away from him. She could not stop smiling.
"Alright, that's fair," he chuckled.
"You really like pushing Chlo's buttons don't you?" She said with amusement.
"Oh most definitely, she's like a female version of Amenadiel… Strict and always trying to kill my fun."
Ella let out a laugh as he uttered his words. The sound of her laughter brought a smile to his face. That was the first time he made her laugh. He could feel the butterflies returning. She turned around and shot him another smile. Michael was smitten. A light blush spread across his cheeks.
Determined to keep his composure, he looked down at his feet and corrected his footing. The stupid smile on his face wouldn't subside. He tried thinking of something else to bring the edges of his mouth together, but it didn't work. He chanced looking up to find Ella shaking her head at him in amusement.
"You're something else, you know that?"
"Is that a bad thing or a good thing?" Michael asked. He looked up and watched her place evidence in a bag. She kept her eyes on the scene. She was silent for what seemed like a lifetime. The only response he got out of her was another smile from the edge of her camera.
Michael let the question go. He understood by the way she smiled in his direction that it was a good thing. He shook his head and looked off into the distance. Miss Lopez there's just something about you I can't quite pinpoint…
The butterflies were working overtime on him. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms in front of him. His sunglasses provided a perfect cover. She was none the wiser to his actions.
"You know you can sit in your car, right? You don't have to watch me work." Michael opened his eyes and found Ella looking over the top of the car. He let out a nervous chuckle. I wasn't… does she think I was watching? How does she know if she's supposed to be working?
Michael smiled, "it's really no problem... That is unless my observation is distracting you?"
"No!" She blurted out. She shook her head and corrected her volume. "No, you're totally fine. I just don't want to take the mystery away, that is me."
Michael's smile widened. He wasn't even sure her statement was even possible. He looked over in Chloe direction to see if she was distracted. He saw her talking to a couple of uniformed officers. The coast was clear. He pushed himself off his car.
Ella being the more reasonable adult at least tried to make it look like she was working. She moved her work over to the passenger side of the car and started taking samples. Michael moved himself over to the front of the palm tree and leaned against it. The two were a reasonable distance away.
"I like your flower," he said out of nowhere. He motioned to the flower tucked behind her ear held back by a bobby pin. He was happy to see she was still wearing it.
"Thanks, this really cute guy gave it to me not too long ago." She looked up from her work and shot him a smug smile.
Michael couldn't help but point to himself to seek confirmation that it was from him. She shook her head in amusement when he did that. He hummed, "cute guy you say? You wouldn't happen to have plans with this cute guy later, would you?"
"As a matter a fact, I do." She packed up her samples and turned to Michael. "So I'd watch out…" Michael inched over to hear her explanation.
"Why's that?" he whispered. Like two magnets, the pair gravitated to one another.
"He's quite the charmer. Strong," she looked at his arms. Michael followed her eyesight. "Tall…"
"Is that so, what else?" He took another step closer to her.
"Said to…"
A loud draw of a whistle echoed out into the area. The two immediately broke eye contact and took a step back. Ella looked over in Chloe's direction and found Chloe with her hands on her hips annoyed. Dan was standing besides Chloe equally annoyed and confused.
"Sorry! So sorry," she took another step away from Micahel. She needed to focus. "I'm working I promise. I'm Ms. Professional, starting now," she called out. She whispered a sorry over to Michael before leaving his side.
Michael shook his head, it was his fault not hers. He voiced an apology as well and slowly backed away from the palm tree and over to his car. He had promised to stick to the sides and not distract anyone. He leaned up against his car and got back in formation. This time keeping his eyes off of Ella as she worked.
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Chloe shook her head as she returned to the conversation at hand. She couldn't keep her eyes off of Michael for one second, it was like having another child.
"I called to see if Maze brought our killer in, but the precinct said they hadn't seen her. It's been what… like forty-five minutes? With this traffic…" Dan took a minute to go over the timing. "Sounds about right."
"Highly doubt she's stuck in traffic. No doubt she's milking information out for Michael…" she looked over in the angel's direction and shot him a glare. Michael was looking up at the sky for no other reason but to soak up the sun from above.
Dan kept his conversation with Michael to himself, he didn't need Chloe going all crazy on him right now. At least not in front of other officers. For the meantime, he'd keep Michael's lead quiet.
"Who's Michael?" Officer Higgs asked. Chloe and Daniel looked back over to the other officers. They didn't feel the need to share that information, so they brushed it off.
"No one. Thank you officer…" Dan looked down at the woman's name and smiled, "Higgs and officer Brian. We got it covered from here. If you'd be so kind as to make sure no one disrupts the car until the tow truck arrives, I'd greatly appreciate it."
Both officers nodded their heads and left the detectives alone. Chloe looked over in Michael's direction once more and then back to Dan.
"Did you get anything out of him?" she asked.
"A few things…" Chloe looked over at Dan shocked. She couldn't believe Michael would be more willing to tell Dan things and not her. Dan let out a chuckle and pulled her off away so they could be alone.
"What did you do that?"
"I didn't have to do anything," he said, calming his laughter down. "The guy is obsessed with Ella right now, he practically handed me the whole case just to get close to her."
"What did he tell you?" she crossed her arms over her chest and looked in Michael's direction. The angel waved over to Chloe much like a kid did to annoy his mother.
"You were right, Maze is milking information out of our killer."
"I knew it..."
"Easy… she's bringing him in."
"Why are you so calm about this? We can't let Michael…"
"I'm keeping tabs on him Chlo. I practically put him on house arrest… there's nothing else I can do. He informed me that whatever he wants from our killer is just to see if he knows the location of whatever Mr. Harvey was going to exchange for Lucifer's favor. He lies more to you than me."
"But why me?" she said with frustration. "I'm closer to him than you." Dan tried not to take it as an insult, he knew Chloe and Michael were closer. He shrugged his shoulders when she wanted an answer.
"I think it hurts you more, because Lucifer doesn't like to lie…" he said. Chloe looked away from Michael.
"That's not…" she stopped mid-sentence and looked over to Ella. The woman was walking over with a wallet in her hand.
"What do you have Ella?" Chloe asked.
"I found a wallet that belongs to a Mr. Hank Abbott.. but I thought our possible killer was named Griff?"
"It's supposed to be…" Chloe put a glove over her hand so she could look over the contents inside. Dan stood close and looked over the license with Chloe. Right there, the man's name was Hank Abbott, but the face was of Griff Kelly. She handed the wallet back over to Ella and waved Michael over right after whispering "I'm going to kill him," under her breath. Dan motioned for Ella to stand besides him.
"You sure you still want to go on a date with Michael? Not sure if he'll still be alive when Chlo is done with him," Dan whispered. Ella looked over to Michael, scared for him.
Michael walked over with a hop in his step. He was excited to be in close proximity with Ella once more. Before he could stand besides her, Chloe grabbed his arm and pulled him close to herself. The grip of her hand forced her nails to dig into his jacket. He was oblivious to the scolding he was about to receive.
"Yes Detective? I've been following orders. I haven't disrupted Miss Lopez, I've stayed by my car as you are aware." Lies, nothing but lies. Dan and Ella couldn't help but shake their heads as Michael tried to back himself out of a corner.
Chloe motioned for Ella to show Michael the wallet she'd found. The first thing he came in contact with was the man's license. It belonged to a Mr. Hank Abbott.
"Want to tell me why our killer has a different name than the one you gave me?"
"I…" Michael swung his head over to Chloe confused. "In all honestly… I didn't give you a name."
That was a wrong thing to say.
"But you knew Griff Kelly wasn't the name we were looking for? So this whole time you knew that the killer's name was Hank Abbott." She had her mom and Detective voice on. This was serious. Michael dropped his act and cooperated with the detectives.
"I…" he wasn't sure what to say. He looked down at Ella when she pulled the wallet away. She was waiting to hear what he had to say. Chloe looked up at him waiting for his answer. He left back up into a corner. He didn't want to talk about this in front of Ella. "I…" he cleared his throat to compose himself. "Charles gave me the name of a man stalking him while we were talking." They were smart enough to deduce that talking meant torturing. "He voiced he couldn't fulfill his favor without this guy off his back." He pointed to the wallet. "So, I had Mazikeen go after him… He managed to slip away from her. My guess, he heard Charles was meeting with me and took his opening when Mazikeen was disposed… I didn't know until she informed me up in the penthouse. Once I knew, I sent her after Hank." He motioned towards the wrecked car. "Seems she wasn't happy with their last interactment."
"Why were you keeping this all from us?" Ella asked. She was more curious than upset.
"I wasn't Miss Lopez… I admit some of the details were kept from the Detectives, but I did try correcting the situation well before it got out of hand. Hank Abbott has proved to be a tricky catch, hence why I sent Mazikeen after him. Detective Decker and Espinoza mean a great deal to me, I don't wish for them to get hurt."
Chloe appreciated the sentiment but it still didn't make up for the fact he was keeping information from the case. Dan didn't seem to have a problem, afterall Michael had told him all the information before they left the precinct. Ella understood where Michael was coming from, she just wished he hadn't gotten in the middle.
"Maze hasn't brought Hank Abbott back to the precinct yet, can I expect him to be delivered in one piece?" Chloe asked.
Michael shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not Mazikeen's keeper Chloe… she's a big girl. She knows to work within the system. I'm sure once she's ready, she'll bring him in."
Before things could turn into a verbal fight, Dan stepped in. After all, this was his case.
"Maze has had enough time to extract your information from Abbott. Call her in now, Michael. I expect him back at the precinct before noon."
Michael looked at the watch on his wrist, he had forty minutes. He clenched his jaw while the time started tickling. That wasn't enough time to get anything out of Hank. Michael clenched his fist to prevent himself from saying anything he'd regret. He hated being ordered around by humans. In the end, Michael nodded his head and walked over to his car to talk to Maze in private.
"He's acting like Lucifer and I can't take it," Chloe said.
"Maybe this case has more meaning to him than we know… personal reasoning." Ella pointed out. Both Detectives looked over at her. She shrugged her shoulders, "maybe Michael has a tie to the favor Mr. Harvey promised Lucifer. You have to admit, if Lucifer didn't go after Mr. Harvey for the favor, what makes this one so important to Michael?"
There was truth behind Ella's words. Chloe shook her head and left the two behind to go talk to Michael. Dan moved over to Ella and nudged her shoulder with his.
"Thanks for pointing that out to her. He told me what was so important about the favor, but it's not my place to say. Did he mention it to you?" he looked at her surprised. She shook her head.
"No… but I can see he's playing both angles to help. He's not a bad guy."
"He's not…"
"I can see that," she said looking over at Michael. "Something tells me I'm not getting my date…"
Dan turned to Ella and saw the frown on her face.
"Michael is pretty taken by you. I'm sure he'll work something out."
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"The detectives want Hank brought back to the precinct…" he pulled the phone away from his ear. "No this is your fault. Not mine." He rolled his eyes and listened to Maze yell at him over the phone. "It doesn't matter anymore, bring him in before Chloe rings my balls out… yeah yeah yeah. You'll get your money." Michael hung up his phone and let out a frustrated growl. Chloe treeded closely as she caught the end of his little break down. "What do you want?" he said out of spite.
"I… I was just making sure you called Maze. What did she say?"
"Other than a mess of curse words both in Lilium and English… nothing. She'll bring him in within the hour." He shoved his phone into his jacket pocket and walked past Chloe.
"Michael," she called out. When he didn't stop she pulled his arm back to stop him. "I'm sorry, but he might have killed a man…"
"He admitted to killing Charles. So there you go Detective…" he pulled his arm out of her grasp. "Now, I'd like to leave. I just need to say goodbye to Miss Lopez." He walked off.
Michael caught Ella putting away her forensic bags when he walked over towards her. He made sure to announce his presence so he didn't scare her. He knew how quiet he could be sometimes. Ella looked up with a smile.
"I was wondering if we could talk in private, Miss Lopez?" He motioned over to her bags. It was a joke which she appreciated. She nodded her and followed Michael away from her work. "I uh…" he was nervous, he was starting to ring out his fingers. "I'm sorry for keeping information about the case from you. Please know I was not using you in any form other than to get to know you. I know this looks…"
Ella stopped his rambling, "I wasn't for one second thinking you were using me. I invited you here, remember?" She touched his arm to get him to settle his nerves. "You're fine."
"Oh," he let out a nervous chuckle, "well. I uh… I believe our lunch date is going to have to wait once more…" They both frown.
"That's alright... Your persistence hasn't stopped, has it?" he shook his head. "Then I'm not sad anymore. We can reschedule for tomorrow? Or.." She made fast work to correct it. She didn't want to seem eager about the date, so she picked her frown upside down and tried to play it cool. "Or another day… we could totally reschedule and plan it another time…"
Michael let a smile spread across his face. This woman was already planning their next encounter. He loved that.
"How about we reschedule our date for tomorrow… but make it a fun date. Lux reopens tomorrow. Could be a nice evening…"
"You trying to liquor me up, Michael?" She shot him a look that showed she was teasing him.
He let out a nervous chuckle, "of course not. Just thought you'd enjoy some dancing."
"I love to dance, but don't think I won't say no to a few drinks." Her finger pressed against his chest. Michael smiled down at the two's shared connection.
"It's a date then," he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. He placed a kiss on the top. "I should probably be letting you get back to your day job. It was nice getting to spend the morning with you Miss Lopez." He surrendered her hand back to her and backed away.
Before Michael could leave, she placed her hand on his arm. "Ella... Call me Ella from now on Michael." She shot him a smile.
"Ella…" he let it roll off his tongue. "I look forward to our date Miss… I mean Ella." He shot her a smile and walked away.
When he turned away, Ella let a gust of wind leave her mouth. She wasn't sure when she even inhaled. That quick second he took to give her hand a kiss sent butterflies in her stomach. She could vaguely feel the press on his lips still on her skin. She brought it up to her chest and thought of him.
Dan walked up to her and nudged her back to life. "You okay there?" he said, laughing.
She pushed him away because she knew he could see the blush on her face.
"Ruidoso!" she exclaimed.
"What? I'm just checking in. What did he say?"
"Nothing and everything good. He canceled our date… but we're meeting up at Lux tomorrow. I need to find something nice to wear!" She moved over to her bags and picked them up off the floor.
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Chloe was propped up against Michael's car when he returned from talking to Ella. He rolled his eyes as she blocked his way into his vehicle. He stood before her with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Can I help you Detective?"
"I know you're upset about not getting to question Hank Abbott…"
"Understatement…"
"What I'm saying is that…" she sighed. "Come down to the precinct and I'll let you question him. I'll ask Dan to give you privileges, not like anyone knows you're not Lucifer down at the precinct. I'll let you interrogate him."
Michael dropped his arms, surprised Chloe would allow him to interrogate anyone. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I know this is important to you…"
"It is… what do you want out of it?" He was sceptical about the offer.
"Nothing… but if you can get more out of him about why he killed Charles Harvey it'd appreciate it."
"You'd let me beat up this man in a police station?"
Chloe's eyes nearly bugged out, "God no! Don't you have easier ways to extract information out of people." She leaned in and whispered, "like Lucifer's Devil mojo."
Michael let out a hearty laugh, "Devil mojo? You want me to sleep with Hank Abbott?"
"No! You know," she pointed to her eyes, "his crazy desire thing he does."
"Oh… Desire is more my brother schtick."
"Don't you have a superpower?"
"It's not a superpowers, it's a gift... "
"What's your then? You and Lucifer are twins, shouldn't you have something similar?"
Michael sighed, "yes. I may not have the ability to draw forth people's desires, but I do have the ability to draw out people's fear… I don't like using it though."
"Well you can't go beating people up in the interrogation room, so you have to figure something out…"
Michael nodded his head, "fine. I'll think of something," he looked over towards Ella and Dan. "I just told her we had to reschedule our lunch date…"
"Then pick something up and bring it over to the station, the two of you could still have your date."
"Maybe…" he titled his head off to the side. "How about I bring food for the four of us so it doesn't look like I'm clingy. I'll interrogate Hank while you guys are eating."
"Sounds good to me." Free lunch, she was not going to turn that down. "I'll meet you at the precinct?"
"Yeah, any preferences on lunch?" he asked.
"Nope, surprise us."
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Michael walked into the precinct with two full bags of food. Some of the food was for the officers in the bullpen, he got extra for the hell of it. He found Ella in her office going over samples. He knocked on the door frame to announce his presence.
"I'll be there in a second, just need to get these samples into the system," she replied, not looking up from her microscope. Michael let out a cough to draw her attention from her work.
"I'm sorry if I caught you at a wrong time Mis… Ella. I just popped by to give you some lunch." He showed his big bag of food. As soon as she heard Michael's voice, her head shot up from his microscope and smiled at him. She motioned for him to enter immediately.
"No no! Come in, I'm sorry…" he placed the bag on the table away from any paperwork. "Wait… you got me lunch?" he nodded his head and started to pull the contents out. "Michael… you didn't have to. I thought we agreed…"
"And we have, this is just a bonus. I got chinese… I hope that's alright."
"I… yes chinese is perfect," she shook her head at the amount of food he ordered. "I hope we're sharing, this is a lot of food even for me."
Michael let out a chuckle, "we are. Along with Chloe and Dan, I hope that's okay?"
"Aw a little group hang out, I love it."
Dan came bouncing into the room looking at the food Michael brought it. He drug in right away making himself a plate. Chloe followed soon after. She pulled Michael off to the side.
"Hank is in the interrogation room if you'd like to have your talk with him while we eat. It'd give you enough time with no one observing you."
Michael looked behind them and over to Ella, she was slapping Dan's hand away from the food and serving him herself.
"I think I'll let him wait it out," he looked at the watch around his wrist. "It's lunch time. He's already ruined my morning for the day, let's leave him with his thoughts a little while longer."
Chloe nodded her head to that. There was no rush, Maze had gotten a confession out of the man. She was only doing this for Michael. He pulled her over to the table so they could eat. Ella had already prepared a plate for everyone. When the two came over to join Ella and Dan, Ella made sure to motion Michael over to her side.
The four of them took their time eating and talking amongst one another. It was nice to have two buffers that knew Michael and Ella to a degree. They got helpful insight on the other without having to talk about themselves for minutes on end.
About an hour had passed before Michael caught himself looking at his watch. He didn't want to leave but he also didn't want to give Hank enough time to recover from Maze's little torture session. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and looked over at Chloe. She knew what he wanted right away.
"I'm sorry to cut our lunch short, but I believe I've kept Mr. Abbott waiting long enough…"
"Do you need any help?" Dan asked.
"No, I believe I have it covered."
"No funny business alright? The Lieutenant is in his office, we don't need you drawing attention to yourself."
Michael threw his hands in the air, "I'm not an idiot Daniel. I know how to behave…" he turned over to Ella and shot her a smile. "Until tomorrow."
He left the room with Chloe and headed over to the interrogation room. Chloe walked him over into the private room where they could see the man first. There was a one way mirror so the party in this room could observe the party in the interrogation room. Michael walked up to the window and looked over Hank Abbotts face. The man had a busted nose along with a black eye. There was blood covering his whole face, of course it was dry now. Michael's fists tightened as he looked over the man.
"Can I trust you not to attack this man?" Chloe asked from the side.
"Yes. You have my word… Do you want me to use my gift on him?" he asked as if she was the keeper of them.
"If it can get us more information out of him, then yes. But it is up to you. I don't want to make you do something you don't want to do…"
He turned his back to the window and left the room, no other words exchanged between the two. Chloe had mentioned she'd give him some privacy, but something told her to stick around and keep an eye on him. Seconds later, Michael opened the door and shed his jacket off of his shoulders. He threw it over the back of a chair as he came to stand before Hank. The man had his head down when Michael came to sit down.
Chloe watched as Michael stared at the man. She looked over to the intercom and turned on the audio so she could hear.
"Mr. Abbott… if you'd be so kind as to look at me." The man kept his head down.
"I know who you are and I'm not complying with your stupid little games…"
Michael leaned back into his chair and smiled at the man. He thought he was his brother. Michael crossed his arms over his chest and just stared at the man. When the silence was too much, Hank looked up to see Michael smiling at him. He quickly looked back down to avoid his gaze.
"I'm not Lucifer… no no, I'm much worse than the Devil. You see my brother has boundaries when it comes to the law now. Thanks to his new partner, she's really whipped him into shape. No you Hank, you get me."
"If you're not Lucifer, then who are you?" he shifted his eyes up and down trying to get a look at Michael.
"His other half…" Michael dropped his arms and leaned forward into his seat. Hank lifted his eyes from the table and looked up at Michael. The room went dark and filled with a scream. A bloodcurdling scream cried out. Chloe's heart dropped. She ran out of the room and over to the interrogation room. She swung the door open and found Hank under the table shaking with Michael in his seat on his phone.
Chloe looked over into the bullpen and found no one coming their way. She was confused. She could have sworn she heard screaming. She looked over to Michael confused. He looked up and smiled at her.
"I'm wrapped up here. I texted everything I got out of him to Daniel… you're welcome."
"I… I…" she felt like she was missing time. So much seemed to happen in such a short amount of time. "What the hell just happened? I saw you lean forward and the lights went out. What happened?"
"I scared him. Now he's on the floor crying like an infant." He lifted himself up off the chair and collected his jacket. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business with my brother." He made his way over to the door.
"Amenadiel? What does Amenadiel…"
"Not Amenadiel… Lucifer." Chloe stopped Michael right away and looked at him shocked.
"What?" She thought she heard him wrong.
"No… I know what you're going to ask and no."
"I… I wasn't…"
"I know you. I know you want to see him and I said no. Now if you'll excuse me…" she stopped him again. This time by her desk. "Chloe."
"How… How are you going to talk to him? Are you going to Hell? Is he coming to you? Do the two of you do this often? I…"
"Calm down before you short a circuit," he gave her a second to collect herself. "Now, I have to go…"
"Michael…" it was her turn to give the puppy dog eyes. He stared down at her for a minute trying to not fold.
In the end she won.
"Notify Daniel you'll be leaving with me. Hurry."
Chloe pulled out her phone and shot Dan a quick text. When she was ready she put it in her back pocket and looked up at Michael.
"You good?" He asked. She nodded her head. "Do you need your car?" She shook her head. She couldn't form words, her heart was practically trying to jump out of her mouth. He offered his elbow. "You're going to want to hold onto it…"
Chloe immediately latched onto his arm. He smiled down at her as they took off in a blink of the eye.