chapter 3:
Once in the car, they headed off. After a few minutes Chloe noticed that they were going the wrong way, "Um, Luce, this isn't the way to Lux. Where are we going?"
"I think she can use some food and some clothes that scream less 50's don't you think detective?" Lucifer smiles
"Good point. Where are we going to find clothes for her? She must like it Lucifer." Chloe asks curiously, "I don't think she going to walk around looking like some of the women you used to chase around."
"Detective, you hurt me, love. You know I am a fighter for free will, I am not going to let her wear anything she doesn't like but maybe a little bit like you?" Lucifer teased his girlfriend, faking that the words had hurt him badly
"You don't fool me for a moment, I didn't even put a dent in that armor of yours," his girlfriend responds knowing her devil all too well.
"Still, love, I know we don't need to give her super short dresses with lots of insight. I am bringing you to my tailor they do women's clothing too. Maybe Claude can help out." Lucifer says without taking his eyes off the road, "maybe something a little less dire than black."
"Okay, good idea but I will shop for undergarments with her." Chloe shot back. She was surprised that her devil took this so seriously.
"That's for the best, I think she would be more comfortable with you anyway." Lucifer countered back.
"You giving up seeing a woman in lingerie? Who are you and what did you do with my boyfriend?" Chloe chuckles.
He chuckles before saying," the only woman I need to see in lingerie is you, detective."
Susan was way too shocked to notice anything that was going on around her. She didn't even react to the flirting between the two sitting in front of her.
She was numb for all that had just happened and overwhelmed by her surroundings. Everything was so different.
"Why is she wearing all that black anyway?" Lucifer asks.
"She is mourning, it's what humans do when they lose a family member."
"It isn't that her family knows about it," Lucifer said he never understood the principle of mourning for someone's family, "I mean they are in a good place. Boring but good."
"Not everyone has the same problems with their families as you did," Chloe remarks.
She knew she may have gone too far with this remark, as soon as she made it. His family issues were a sore point in his existence.
"Well, the way she snapped at Miss Lopez and the massive guilt she is carrying she has a lot of problems than her closet," Lucifer says after a long silence.
He looks at her generally hurt this time but was trying his best to hide it, "They're in the silver city anyway, they have more important things to worry about than how she dresses. How long does the morning period last anyway?"
Chloe was shocked at his reaction she could read the man like an open book and he was bad at hiding how he felt since she bothered to see it.
"My brother would never have sent her if she was an easy fix." Lucifer snapped at her more than he liked.
Knowing she went a bit out of line, she says, "I'm sorry, Luce. I know you didn't ask for all your problems with your family."
Not knowing what else to say without making things worse.
Lucifer sighs. He knew she didn't mean it in a bad way but still, it hurt him much more than he wanted, "I just don't know where to begin in fixing this, love."
"We'll figure it out together, but first we have to start with what to tell Dan and the others," Chloe said softly this time.
"Detective, you know how I feel about lying," Lucifer says.
"I know that, but nobody is going to believe that she was sent from the past through an electrical line, and has nothing to do with the case." Chloe sighs sometimes she wanted that her devil would lie a little bit, "Why don't we stay as close to the truth as possible. Not exactly sure what that is going to be at the moment but we will figure it out."
"The problem is that Miss Lopez and Detective Douche saw her," Lucifer says.
"At the crime scene in such a way that it's going to look like she was there the whole time. they are going to think she going to be able to lead them to who did all that," says Chloe.
"Can't we say my brother dropped her there for me to find her?" Lucifer asks
"That doesn't sound at all creepy, let alone send them looking for your brother as a lead," Chloe responds sarcastically, "also it's possible she might be a missing person cold case by now."
"No offense but if the whole family is gone, who is left to report her missing?" Lucifer countered back.
"Friends maybe." Chloe sighs now this was going to be a hard one.
"I doubt the people I surrounded myself with, would care that much. Besides, there weren't that many left by this morning, that I hadn't pushed or drove away." Susan says speaking for the first time since they were in the car, "I had no real friends anymore. The ones I had were in a world far away from here and closed forever to me. Long before I gave up on it."
"It isn't closed forever if you don't want to be, Miss. My brother sent you to me because he believes that I can help you go to the land of Aslan." Lucifer looked in the back view mirror as he spoke.
"Aslan told you he would still accept me into his country? Even after I denied him for so long?" Susan was shocked but was there really a little hope left to make up for her mistake?
"He is worried about you, Miss Pevensie. The road will be hard and difficult as we work through your massive guilt complex but he wouldn't have sent you if he didn't care about you. This is a big step for Aslan you know." Lucifer smiled charmingly, "I mean sending someone to your banished brother is a sign that you are really important."
she looks at him a little puzzled, "in that I guess we have something in common then, for he was the one who told me I was never going to return to Narnia again. After being a queen, fighting for it in two wars, after finding love there, just to be told I had to leave and I would be unable to return. Part of me didn't make it back, it stayed there and the rest of me languished in this world. The only way to survive was to convince myself it was all a dream, but to keep that illusion I sacrificed everything else that mattered. I became something even I didn't recognize but only because what I did recognize hurt me, it endangered the illusion I worked so hard on. So I got good at fooling myself into the idea I was happy being a social butterfly. I did such a good job I convinced everyone around me because I saw that the way they looked at me, it changed... and that was a new wound to add to the collection."
Chloe looked at Lucifer not knowing what to say to all Susan just told them.
Before Lucifer came into her life this would have seemed strange but since then she learned to roll with such things.
Her partner and boyfriend was the actual devil so anything was possible.
"Aslan doesn't hold grudges, Miss Pevensie. That's why he sent you to me. I mean he doesn't even seem to hate me and if I were to believe everyone I am evil incarnate." Lucifer suddenly says.
"Which he is not." Chloe added before Susan could react or be scared of the man driving the car, "he just got a bad rap."
Susan only sighs, "I would have understood if he would have brought me to you to be punished. I betrayed him and my family. I denied them for so long. I should have been there that day with them but the last thing I said to Peter was when was he going to grow up and stop playing make-believe? 4 hours later I got the call they were all dead, killed in a train crash. I was alone from then on."
Whatever Susan was going to say next was lost when Lucifer drove next to the beach line. She was shocked seeing all scarcely dressed men and women, "is that a nude beach?"
This made Lucifer chuckle.
"No, honey, this is a normal beach." Chloe smiles softly.
"bathing attire has changed a bit over the last few decades," Lucifer added, "in fact, clothes, in general, have changed since your time. why don't we take you to get something new?"
Susan looks up at him, "6 months ago I would have jumped at the chance to have someone buying me clothes, but honestly now I couldn't care less."
The devil sighed this was going to be harder than he ever expected it to be. He needed to talk to his brother as soon as possible but didn't know how to contact him or if he would respond to him.
Chloe sensed the worries of her devil though, "We will do this together, babe."
He nods and says, "while I can't say I understand how you feel at the moment, let's try to make the best of things, shall we?"
"I guess so." Susan sighs deeply. She didn't care at all at the moment.
"Why don't you tell us about this Narnia. you said you were a queen?" Chloe asked, hoping to get her talking. She also wanted to understand the girl and this seemed to be at the root of it all.
"You're going to think I'm crazy but it was a magical land my younger sister found in an old wardrobe." Susan answers
"Honey, my boyfriend is a fallen angel. I don't think you are crazy." Chloe smiles.
Susan tells them the story of how they found Narnia and how they became kings and queens. It seemed that talking about her family was easier was for Susan when she spoke of this place.
Chloe was in awe at the story she was hearing. she looked over at Lucifer.
At the end of her story she tells how they ended up back up in their time back at the age they were when they left. It was strange after that being old souls in young bodies, to go from leading a kingdom to nobody listening to you cause of your age.
"You mentioned two wars... what was the other one?" Lucifer asks curiously.
She goes into another story, this one seemed a little harder to tell. They could tell from the way she spoke of the young prince that this was the love she had found. The love story reminded Lucifer when he had to go back to Hell to save his friends and the woman he loved so much. Saying goodbye without knowing if they would ever see each other again.
But hearing that Susan knew when she left that she never be returning and that she would have to let him go, somehow hurt even worse.
Susan says, "Since I came back that second time I've been in survival mode, not really living, but pretending and doing a good job at it I fooled everyone including myself."
"I understand how you must feel, Miss Pevensie but look at me, I never thought I would see the love of my life again, I spend thousands of years in Hell thinking of the love I have lost but miracles do happen my dear." Lucifer tried to comfort her.
she looked at him, "You might be right, but he is most likely in Aslan's country by now. From what I heard from my siblings and my cousin he moved on, found a queen that could give him an heir. that hurt all the more. They are all together in a place I'm not likely to ever reach."
He looked at her he could see something regal about her as she told her stories but now he could see just how far it had faded, like a fine garment worn down to bare threads.
"Bloody hell, Aslan." Lucifer groaned silently, "Where do I even begin to start with this girl."
"Susan, we want to help you, but what would desire help with most?" hoping that maybe this would give him a place to start.
Susan says, "Can I get back to you on that, my head is spinning too much from all that has happened to think straight."
Chloe looks shocked at her answer while Lucifer grips the wheel tighter, "bloody hell!" he responds in a groan.
TBC