Thank you, everyone, for your patience. I didn't forget about the story. I put a lot on my plate the last couple of months, but in a good way. Wrote this chapter a couple of times but wasn't happy with it. Finally figured something out and I am pleased. Hope you are too.

Chloe sat on the edge of the bed, her head resting in her hands. The man's tossing and turning beside her kept her awake for most of the night. She hadn't spent more than one night with Lucifer in the same bed, so she didn't know if his restlessness was usual or not. Chloe guessed it wasn't. Her eyes glanced over at the alarm clock and watched the minutes turn from a six to a seven, revealing five-thirty-seven in the morning. The bed moved again. She looked over her shoulder and watched the man roll over onto his side with his back to her. Mumbling incoherent words or perhaps speaking another language.

Chloe recalled the night before. They had returned to her apartment late in the evening. They shared a hot shower; Lucifer stared silently at the wall under the water while Chole lathered the shampoo in her hair. She had to tap him on the shoulder to pull him back into the room. He graciously pivoted so she could rinse out her hair. He gave her a soft grin before he stepped out of the shower leaving the woman to finish. When Chloe was ready for bed, she stepped out of the bathroom only to see that Lucifer had already fallen asleep, or at least he pretended to sleep. She wasn't sure.

He was undoubtedly sleeping now.

"They're coming." A crazed smile formed on Lucifer's face. His back against the wall next to the opening of his cell. It was hard to hear, but there was a hint of rattling coming from the other side of the thick stone wall. He recognized the sound of them opening the door to his cell. It's been a while since they visited him, but this time he was ready. He had enough of being the kicked-down dog; he had to get out. He needed to see her again. He found the strength to break free of the short-chain keeping him in the centre of the room.

Lucifer's heart pounded against his chest with adrenaline as he waited. The Devil held his breath as he could hear the door open. The shuffling of feet cautiously entered the cell when they noticed he was gone.

"Lucifer!" The voice of Eligos was mocking him. "Come on out to play."

Lucifer waited in the shadows while dozens of demons filled his cell before he made his move. He broke off into a sprint out of the door. Eligos stood in the middle of the corridor with a wide grin. The prisoner tackled the ruler to the ground, quickly finding his feet and bolting down the hall. The demon's just on his tail.

Lucifer zigged his way through the hundreds of corridors in an attempt to lose the hordes after him. He finally stopped for a moment when he could feel anyone behind him anymore. His back rested against the uneven stone as he caught his breath. "Don't stop." He whispered to himself. "You're so close." Lucifer looked up into the sky. "Come on." He focused on making the wings appear on his back, but nothing happened. He could hear the thunders of demons getting closer. "Come on," Lucifer yelled to himself. Nothing.

The woman carefully pushed herself off the bed, don her housecoat, and retrieved her phone from the nightstand. She tipped toed out of the room closing the door slightly.

Chloe curled up in a chair with a throw blanket wrapped around her. She stared at the screen of her phone, after a few minutes she picked it up and sent a message."Hey! You up?"She put the device down, and her eyes stayed on it while she waited for a reply. The Detective's eyes lids were heavy; she started to nod off when her phone made a ding.

"Yes."

Chloe waited to watch the three tiny dots flashing, indicating typing on the other end. The dots vanished, but no message appeared. The woman let out a sigh. She was startled when her phone rang in her hand. Quickly she answered it, not wanting to wake up Lucifer.

"Hey." She whispered, her eyes looking towards the staircase.

"Sorry, I thought it would be easier to call. I wasn't expecting to hear from you at this hour." The voice of her boss sounded exhausted. "Trouble sleeping?"

"Well, there was a lot on my mind." Chloe pulled in her knees and hugged them with her free arm; she omitted that the man currently in her bed had nightmares. "It's been hard with..." She stopped herself. "Never mind. You don't want to hear about it. You have other stuff to worry about."

"I can only guess that we are up for the same reason," Ross stated. "Lucifer Morningstar."

"Hmm."

"The guy terrifies me, but what he told me..." Ross sighed before he continued. "I know he was speaking the truth; I could feel it. You know."

"Umm, what did he..." his words piqued her interest. "What did he tell you?"

"How he escaped." The answer was vague.

"Oh...umm. I see." There was uncertainty in her voice.

"He didn't tell you, did he?"

"No."

"Well, I'm sure he has his reasons."

"Right." Chloe stared aimlessly; her jaw tightened with frustration.

"Hey, it was hard enough for him to tell me. It's not easy to hear. He probably wants to spare you from that." Ross attempted to make the woman feel better but failed to do so.

"So, what happens now? Now that word of his return is spreading." Chloe quickly changed the subject.

"Well, after you guys left last night, I sat down with Ella and Dan; we out hashed the details. Your right; word has been spreading about his return. The public wants answers. We have to act quickly. There will be a press release this morning."

"Oh?" Chloe bit her lower lip taking in the information. "Do you need us to do anything?"

"Yeah, sit tight. Don't go out. I think we came up with a decent story to tell the people that won't raise too many questions. Since he is healing quickly, it's suspicious. It's best if he lays low for a while. This will all blow over in a few weeks, just like your miracle healing."

"Okay." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"The press release is scheduled for nine this morning. The sooner we get our story out, the sooner we can squash people's misconception theories of his disappearance."

"Yeah, Okay." Chloe sighed. Her eyes shot up to the stairs when she heard a loud crash. She stood up from her chair. "Ross, I have to go." She hung up the phone before he could reply.

Chloe raced up the stair and into the room. She saw the man lying on the floor, still asleep. "Lucifer?"

The man hung his head in defeat, frustrated for getting this close to freedom but unable to do so. He dropped to his knees as the demons closed in on him. "I'm sorry, Chloe."

Hands reached out to grab him. Lucifer stopped it wrapping his hand around their wrist and pulling him towards the thug beside him, knocking the demon to the ground. Make his way to his feet; he dodged their attacks. One by one, he fought them off, but there was always another ready to pounce. He wasn't about to give up so easily. He was about to break away when he felt a hot blade penetrate his thigh. "AAAGGGH." He cried out as he stumbled onto his knees. Multiple strong hands gripped his arms and started to drag him.

"Lucifer." There was a faint whisper. He couldn't figure out where it was coming from; his eyes looked around.

Beads of sweat ran down his back, his backside scraping along the rough path. They turned a sharp corner, causing his leg to slam against the wall. Lucifer wailed in agony; the demon blade sticking out of his throbbing leg was ripped out, falling to the stone ground. He looked down at his leg to see that the dagger tore up his thigh, leaving a gaping wound. A trail of blood was left behind as they reached his cell.

"Lucifer, please." There it was again; he recognized the voice.

"A for effort." Eligos mocked. The self-appointed ruler stood over top of him. The demon's reinforcing the chain around his ankle to its spot in the centre of the dungeon. "Unfortunately, your efforts were wasted. What the matter? Wings didn't want to come out of play." Lucifer lay on his back, tired eyes looking up at his captor.

"Lucifer!" The voice was louder.

"Or maybe they didn't come out because you are unworthy of them." Eligos walked in a circle around him. "After all this time, you thought you could escape now, didn't you. You thought wrong." Eligos stopped in his track and placed his foot on top of the wounded leg. "You are pathetic. I don't know why I even bother to waste my time with you." He leaned in on his foot, adding weight and more pressure to the thigh.

"Lucifer!"

Lucifer's scream was caught in his throat. Slowly, his eyes closed; the pain in his leg was almost unbearable. His body began to shake.

"Lucifer! Wake up." Chloe cried, trying to wake the man from his night terrors. She was on top of him, shaking him awake. She watched as his eyes opened wide, and he sat up quickly. His head collided with the Detective knocking her backwards.

Chloe let out a little cry; her hand covered her nose as she leaned her back against the bed.

It took Lucifer a minute to realize where he was when he noticed the woman in pain, blood creeping through her fingers.

"Shit. I'm sorry." Lucifer quickly helped the woman off the floor and onto the edge of the bed. With a phantom limp in his leg, he raced to the bathroom to fetch a towel. "I'm so sorry." He repeated when he returned; he held the handtowel to her face.

"It's okay," Chloe spoke; she took the towel from him and placed it on her nose. Her head tilted backwards; her watery eyes looked up at the ceiling.

"No, you're not." Lucifer sighed; he knelt in front of her, his hand cupping her head. "Let me look." Slowly, she removed the towel but kept it under her chin. Blood dripped out of her nose and down her chin. Lucifer gently touched the bridge of her nose. The Detective winced in pain. "Good news is it's not broken." He let out a sigh of relief. "Chloe, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Lucifer." The towel went back to her nose, and she looked at the man in front of her. "Are you okay?" Lucifer was confused by her question since she was the one that was hurt. "You fell off the bed. You were flailing around fighting something off. I..." She paused for a moment to wipe her nose. The bleeding had slowed down. "I was worried." Lucifer pushed himself off the floor and sat down beside her. His body leaned forward, head in his hand, and elbows found a home on his knees. His long fingers rubbed his cheekbones. "Where were you?" The woman asked, her eyes on him.

"I'm right here." The answer was hollow.

"No. You were somewhere else." Chloe retorted; she wiped her nose with the clean part of the towel. "In the dream, and when you stare off into the distance, you are not here." She glances down quickly at the towel to see it had turned a slight pink. "You're there, aren't you?"

Lucifer stayed silent; his focus was on the wall in front of him. Gingerly, his hand makes contact with the side of his leg.

"I know you are trying to shelter me from what happened down there. And from what is happening inside your head, you don't have to." She wrapped her arm around his waist and her head perched on his shoulder. "I'm here for you."

Silence.

"I still have nightmares," Chloe admitted, her fingers started making figure eights along his back. "The explosion, flying backwards. The heat on my face." She paused for a moment. "The fire at LUX. Losing you. They replay in my head all the time, and I know it's not the same as what you... Just please don't keep it all to yourself. If you don't want to talk to me, please tell someone. Linda. Anybody" Chloe started to get choked up. "Don't let this consume you. I can't lose you again."

Lucifer took her hand in his and brought it up to his lips. His mouth trailed down her arm. Her finger slid into his hair as he made his way down. Slowly his head looked up at her. There was a pained look in his eyes.

"I..." The man started. "Just now...The dream. It was about was my escape attempt; to come back to you. The memory is muddled; I don't think I made it far before I was caught, but sometimes I feel like I was running forever. Anyway, it always ends the same." Lucifer let out a heavy sigh. "They stab me in the leg before dragging me back." His hand rudded the side of his leg. Chloe recalled the bruise that covered it; she didn't remember seeing a wound. "I was laying there helpless when you woke me up."

Chloe's arms tightened around his body as she listened intently. Her heart was breaking as he spoke.

"The isolation to follow was the worst of it. Cut off from everything." Lucifer continued; she could see that it was hard for him to talk about it. "Physical torture was nothing to me. I've been in pain before; it was nothing new. The torment when they teased you in front of me was unbearable; it truly was, but," the man paused, his jaw tightened. "But the isolation was on a whole other level. Left in silence, with nothing but my mind for company. It wasn't long before I started hallucinating, unable to differentiate fact from fiction. Memories of my time on earth intermingled with my exaggerated hell loops. It was replaying over and over in my head. The silence drove me mad. They just left me there. Forgotten for hundred of years." Chloe's hand started to rub his back to comfort him. "With nothing but my distorted memories on repeat. You always the star in my imagination, but never a happy ending." He paused for a moment. "Even now, it is hard to comprehend where I am. Sometimes I still feel the iron around my leg, and I'm still sitting in the middle of that dark room and this, right now, is just a memory." Lucifer looked at the woman. "I don't want to be in there anymore."

"Look at this." She holds up the necklace; his fingers find it as he holds it in his hands. "This is real. Okay. You are safe." She gives him a weak smile, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry you had to endure that, I can't imagine. But we are going to make new memories. Happy ones. Maybe one day, the horrible nightmares will be forgotten." Chloe's hand combed through his hair while she stood, and then she kissed his forehead.

Lucifer looked up at her with soft eyes; he noticed her red nose. "I'm sorry about your nose." His hand caressed her cheek.

"It's forgotten." Chloe smiled; she didn't want to admit that it hurt like crazy after telling her what he's been through in Hell. "How about we try to get some more sleep?" Lucifer nodded his head.

Chloe tossed away the bloody towel and crawled into bed; Lucifer followed suit. His arm wrapped around her waist; her front was facing his.

"You too good for me." Lucifer sighed with a weak smile.

"Nope." Chloe shook her head. "I don't believe that. I want to be with you because you're amazing; that's all I care about."

"Chloe, I..." He started.

"Shh, let gets some rest."