Focusing on the work helped Chloe not to think about the fact that the Devil was babysitting his Goddess mother at the Lux penthouse right now. She knew just thinking such things should have felt strange, but it was feeling more and more normal every day.

Finding the maid's body didn't really gain her enough new information to have anything to report to Lucifer. All Ella could get off the waterlogged cell phone was a serial number which told them the phone had been bought by a law firm. Chloe decided to take the cell phone and shoe of the woman Lucifer's mother was inhabiting to the law firm, which she presumed was her place of work, to try and gain more information.

It was here that Chloe discovered the woman's name: Charlotte Richards. It turned out not only did she work here but she owned the law firm. Thanks to an interview with Charlotte's lover Chloe got the reason she needed to dispel Dan's theory about the murder being an affair gone wrong. Though she rather enjoyed proving him wrong, she had to admit that if given the limited evidence Dan had, she'd have come to the same conclusion.

A little more digging into this Charlotte Richards led Chloe to find out that not only did this woman have a lover but she was also married. Interviewing the husband however proved rather pointless. He hadn't left the house for days because his kids were all home with the flu. He was able to tell her that the first victim had delivered a package to Charlotte last week for some sort of work thing.

It was strange learning about the life of the woman whose body was being used by Lucifer's mom. After all, Charlotte Richards was dead, but no one would know that with the goddess walking around in her skin. Chloe couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of mental and emotional damage that would do to a human, assuming Charlotte was still in there somewhere. Then again, maybe Charlotte was already gone and her body was just an empty shell. It seemed so wrong to let all the people in her life go on believing that she was okay, but Chloe didn't have a choice. After all, what could she tell them? No one in their right mind would believe Charlotte's body had been taken over by a Goddess.

Chloe was just starting to think it was time to fill Lucifer in when - with his usually creepy timing - the Devil called her right as she was thinking of him.

"Your mother's still driving you mad, I take it?" Chloe said by way of greeting.

"Lucky guess," Lucifer replied.

"Oh alright, I'm on my way," Chloe said with a sigh. She had planned to fill Lucifer in on the case so far anyway and maybe bouncing ideas off him would help her figure out what she'd missed.

When Chloe stepped off the elevator of Lucifer's penthouse she heard raised voices. It sounded like Lucifer was refusing to give his mother a credit card. Chloe had to fight back a chuckle.

"But, son, I must find the strange gooey substance from the flatscreen," the Goddess in Charlotte Richard's body said.

"I don't even want to know what you are talking about," Lucifer's voice replied. "But you are not leaving here until I know if you are set to cause carnage or not."

Chloe decided it was time to make herself known. She walked a little farther into the door and cleared her throat.

"You have no idea how relieved I am to see you, Detective," Lucifer said as he turned to look at her. "What's the verdict? Does she go back to hell, or not?"

"Well, nothing so far leads to her being the cause of any human deaths," Chloe answered. "Charlotte Richard, the body she's in now, was killed in that hotel room along with two other people."

"See! What did I tell you?" the goddess pitched in. "I just woke up in that mess. It had nothing to do with me."

"I still haven't figured out who the killer is, but I think the need for babysitting has passed," Chloe said. "We are at a stand still with the case, and I could use a fresh pair of eyes."

"Right you are, Detective," Lucifer said with a smile. Then he turned to his mother and continued, "Don't spend it all in one place, and no killing humans! No maiming them either, mother." Lucifer handed over what could only have been a credit card.

"I'd have to care about humans to make it worth my time to harm them," the goddess replied dismissively.

"You cared enough to flood and plague them before," Lucifer called after her, but Charlotte Richard's body was already out the door.

"I take it you got confirmation about those rumors then?" Chloe asked. Lucifer just nodded, and Chloe tried not to think about who they'd just let loose on the world. It was out of her control and innocent until proven guilty applied, even to the goddesses of creation. "You don't think she'd do that again do you?"

"No," Lucifer replied. "I think she mostly did that to piss off dad, and besides at least for the moment, she seems to genuinely want to-" But he cut himself off switching topics in an instant. "Shall we go back to the precinct then? We have a murder to solve."

"Yeah sure," Chloe replied. She could tell he wasn't quite ready to talk about how his mother's new attitude made him feel, but she sensed it was more than he cared to admit to. When it came to emotions, Lucifer was often like a child, feeling a feeling for the first time. He had a tendency to become overwhelmed by emotion easily.

As Chloe drove them back to the precinct, she was treated to a detailed summary of all the annoying things his mother had said and done since her arrival. It was moments like this when Chloe remembered why it had once been so easy to accept Lucifer's devil persona as a metaphor. Despite his being the devil talking about the goddess of all creation, it really just sounded like a hurt son talking about his emotionally distant mother and the confusion of her suddenly trying to change. It was very relatable despite the celestial context.

Chloe couldn't help but also wonder if the deal Lucifer made with his father was at play here too. Lucifer had bargained for his life in exchange for returning his mother to hell. Wasn't he worried that allowing the Goddess to stay could mean God going back on that deal? Then again, maybe he hadn't thought about that yet. Best they figure out what was really going on. Then maybe Chloe would bring it up.

Arriving at the precinct, Chloe parked and went right to her desk to get the Devil's take on the case so far. To Chloe's disappointment, having Lucifer look over all the evidence didn't yield any new leads.

"I'm more the accidental shenanigans-leads-to-discovering-key-evidence type helper," Lucifer replied. "Really an on the job skill."

Chloe just rolled her eyes. She should have known. Just then, Chloe heard a couple urgent footsteps approaching and turned to see how it was.

"I got something on the missing woman," Dan said as he walked up holding a file folder.

Lucifer looked at Chloe confused, but Chloe tried to convey without words that of course, she hadn't told Dan she knew where Charlotte was. Dan, unlike Lucifer, was following protocol. Dan, unlike Lucifer, didn't know about angels, goddesses or demons.

"Looks like she used one of her credit cards," Dan explained, as he opened the case file in his hand. He then listed the name of the grocery store in question and said they should check it out.

Chloe found herself confused for a moment. Hadn't Lucifer given his mother his own credit card? Then again she hadn't actually caught most of their conversation, and given this new information from Dan it sounds like he'd simply allowed her to use one of Charlotte's cards. With Dan here she couldn't exactly ask him.

"I'm sure Charlotte is fine," Lucifer said. "Shouldn't we focus on finding whoever killed her."

Dan just stared at Lucifer with extreme exasperation. "You are making less sense than usual today, and for you that's saying something," Dan told Lucifer. Once again, Chloe had to admit, without the celestial context his sentence made no sense.

"I'm going to check this out," Dan said slowly, giving Lucifer a dubious look. Then he turned to Chloe and added, "You coming?"

It wasn't like they had any other leads to follow and it would go a long way to making Dan think she wasn't as crazy as Lucifer. Plus, Dan being alone with the Goddess of Creation might lead to some questions. As far as Chloe could see the Goddess was just about as good at keeping her identity concealed as her son was.

"Right," Chloe said, nodding in agreement.

"Well, in that case, I'm coming too," Lucifer pitched in.

"Great," Dan said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Does this mean Dan's driving?" Lucifer asked in that oddly innocent voice of his as the three of them headed out of the building.

Chloe deliberately walked to her car in answer to the Devil's question. Dan didn't argue, and moments later they were on the road.

Chloe had no idea why the Goddess had chosen the first stop of her new found freedom to be a grocery store, but apart from that she had a pretty good idea what to expect when they arrived.

To Chloe's great surprise she turned out to be very wrong about what to expect. Once they parked and got out of the car, Chloe witnessed the Goddess of all Creation pushing a grocery cart full to the brim with cheese, but that wasn't the strangest part. Standing beside her was a man holding a screwdriver. As they got closer, Chloe started to be able to hear what they were saying.

"Cause I'm a little upset?" the man was saying. "Wouldn't you be too if you got passed up by Wheeler with the big weiner?"

"Oh I know who you are now," Charlotte replied, in a happy to be in the loop totally clueless type voice. "You're the one who killed me."

"Apparently not," the man replied. "But I am now." And he raised the screwdriver in his hand.

At once all three of them acted. Lucifer ran forward, while Dan and Chloe got out their guns. Before Chloe could so much as try and line up a shot, the Devil had already snatched the weapon out of the murderer's hand.

"Sorry," Lucifer said. "You can't kill my mom." Then he bopped the guy on the head with the dull end of the screwdriver.

"Wait, did you just say mom?" Dan asked, taken aback.

Chloe hoped Dan didn't give that a second thought as she put handcuffs on the murderer. Using Charlotte as bait hadn't even occurred to her, yet somehow it had worked anyway. Of course the murderer would have wanted to finish the job if he thought he'd left one of them alive! She should have thought of this earlier.

Dan called for backup while Chloe watched over the handcuffed perp. From what she heard it sounded like his motive was professional jealousy, though since two cops had witnessed his attempt to murder Charlotte again, Chloe wasn't too worried about getting the charge to stick.

When all was said and done and the bad guy was in the back of a cop car with two officers taking him to be processed, Dan came over to talk to her.

"Do you have any idea why Lucifer thinks the missing woman is his mother?" Dan asked.

"She's his.. umm... step mom," Chloe said thinking fast. "Or was. His father's ex."

"Oh," Dan said. "That actually makes sense."

"Either that or she's the goddess of creation possessing the body of a dead woman," Chloe said, throwing caution to the winds. The more time she spent in the know about everything celestial the more frustrating it got not being able to talk about it openly. She was starting to understand why Lucifer enjoyed rubbing peoples faces in it so much, though she supposed he'd call it being in on the joke.

"Right, yeah," Dan said sniggering. "Lucifer's explanation, I take it?" Chloe nodded. After all, it was true.

"That guy really doesn't make any sense, does he?" Dan sighed.

"No, he doesn't," Chloe replied. Dan turned to leave and Chloe added under her breath, "But it's not in the way you think." The Devil solves crimes and saves a human's life. An oxymoron if ever there was one.

With everything settled and Dan getting a ride home with another officer, Chloe decided it was time to drive Lucifer home. After all, if she was going to keep up this never-letting-him-drive thing, it was only fair. After a quick search, she found Lucifer and his mother arguing over the shopping cart full of cheese.

"What's with all the cheese, mother?" Lucifer's voice carried to Chloe who was still walking up to the pair.

"I'm not totally sure, but it seems to be right," the goddess replied. Lucifer made a frustrated sound, like he was so fed up he no longer cared about the cheese. "Not to worry, son. I think this money card can get us a ride home. No need to rely on your human."

"She isn't my human!" Lucifer shot back. "But sure if you wanna. Be my guest. Walk back, for all I care!" And with that he turned as if to stomp off and away from his mother, only to be suddenly eye to eye with Chloe.

"Ah, Detective," Lucifer said awkwardly. "I didn't see you there."

"I came to offer a ride," Chloe explained. "Unless you have other plans."

"Nope," Lucifer said very quickly as he walked towards her and away from his mother. Chloe couldn't help but chuckle.

They walked in rather unusual silence toward Chloe's car. Lucifer didn't often allow silence in his presence. Chloe couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. She knew it had something to do with his mother, but that was about it. Really, given the crazy situation, almost anything could be keeping him silent.

Lucifer still hadn't said anything when they got to the car. Chloe put the radio on to help ease the silence as she drove out onto the road. It wasn't until the car was off and they were parked outside Lux that the Devil finally spoke.

"What do you think I should do, Detective?" Lucifer asked.

"It's not really my place to say," Chloe replied. "But if you want my opinion-"

"I do," Lucifer interjected.

"I say sleep on it," Chloe answered. "Listen to her full side of the story and take your time. Talk to Dr. Martin about it, maybe even if it's just in the metaphorical sense." Chloe turned to smile at him. "She's your mom, and if you push her away now you might regret it for a long time."

"I just don't see how-" he faltered, clearly unsure how to finish the thought.

"Being a parent means doing what's best for your child, but it doesn't always make them happy," Chloe told him, thinking about the recent mutilation of a certain doll by her daughter to manipulate her parents into buying her a better one like her friends had. Trixie hadn't been happy, but Chloe had taught her something.

"But that doesn't make any sense," Lucifer replied. "Isn't that the most important thing, a child's happiness?"

"Overall, yes," Chloe answered. "But sometimes for someone to learn how to be happy in the future they have to understand disappointment in the now."

"And this is something parents just know?" Lucifer asked.

"I mean, I hope so," Chloe replied. "But I know that not all parents are interested in parenting."

"I know that all too well," Lucifer scoffed. Then his voice changed; it was softer as he said, "Thank you Detective. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Chloe replied as she watched the Devil get out of her car.

And another update two days later. That's more like it! Woot! ^_^ Also bit of a short chapter here. This particular episode didn't end up changing as much from Chloe in the know as I thought it would. The biggest difference actually turned out to be Lucifer babysitting mom instead of Maze since Chloe asked him to. This meant Lucifer never found the cocaine in Charlette's husband's wedding tux bag and it put more of a dent in the investigation than a thought. Despite his flaws Lucifer can be quite helpful can't he? ;D But I think I found a way to make it work anyway! Please leave me a review and let me know if you agree.

Sneak Peek Chapter 27

"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, Detective," Lucifer replied, trying to keep from showing how much the idea rattled him. "What's going on with you? Still being hard on Dan?"

"What do you mean by that?" Chloe asked.

"A cold shoulder here, a dismissive look there," Lucifer began. "While I don't condone his lying to you, I am totally on board with his shooting Malcolm to save you. I'd have done the same thing, though I wouldn't have needed the gun."

"Figures you'd take his side," Chloe grumbled. "He killed someone."

"I don't mean to point fingers, but didn't you kill Malcolm too?" Lucifer asked.