Lucifer didn't know how to tell The Detective what it meant to him that she'd tracked him down and brought him back. There was still a pain deep inside trying to make itself heard, but Lucifer was doing his best to avoid it. Despite the fact that he'd told Chloe everything, she still wanted him around. Lucifer took comfort in that and tried very hard to ignore the feeling that he needed to be punished for what he did.

Lucifer had never killed anyone before. Being invulnerable made self defense rather unnecessary, and before the Detective he'd never had anyone he had to protect. Lucifer had been alive since the beginning of time, but it was like he hadn't lived before Chloe Decker.

He'd never say it out loud. Lucifer felt unbelievably guilty even just thinking it, but it had been an easier decision to kill Uriel to save the Detective than it should have been. Making himself stay away from her because it was what he'd thought she'd wanted at the time had been harder by far than plunging Azrael's blade into his brother's chest.

The thought hurt. Lucifer didn't like this kind of pain. When a bullet pierced his skin there was pain but it didn't cut as deep as the wounds to his heart did. Bullets wounds healed faster and left battle scars, but wounds to his heart bled out endlessly without leaving a trace on his skin.

Lucifer did his best to push the pain down. He didn't want to feel it anymore. He didn't want to think about it. Instead he focused on helping the Detective with her zombie case. With a little desire power, Lucifer was able to find out what the bridesmaid had been hiding. Lucifer always enjoyed it when his desire trick got some information out of a witness or suspect that Chloe, on her own, would otherwise have failed to retrieve. It made him feel needed, and he wanted Chloe to need him. Lucifer didn't really understand why, but being needed by Chloe was important to him.

Lucifer tried very hard not to think about his brother as he tagged along with the Detective on the case. They interrogated the head zombie bride's ex boyfriend. Lucifer let Chloe take the lead. He couldn't help but still be worried that she would get over this whole forgiving him thing and yell him out of her life again. Lucifer couldn't allow that to happen.

"It's Jason right?" the Detective askedsaid as she sat down across from the suspect in the interrogation room. Jason nodded.

"What's this all about?" Jason asked, defensively. "I haven't done nothin' wrong! You can't keep me here without charging me, so get on with it!"

"That's not why you are here," Chloe continued calmly. "There was an incident at the wedding you attended this morning. We just need to ask you a few questions."

Lucifer didn't like this guy. He was looking all together too smug and full of himself for the devil's liking. Lucifer didn't like the way this Jason guy looked at him.

"I got rights," Jason said with a huff. "I don't have to answer your questions." And with that he crossed his arms over his chest and slumped down in his chair as if determined to remain there.

"He certainly doesn't seem all that upset that his ex-girlfriend is dead," Lucifer piped up. "Maybe he is the shooter."

Chloe raised her hand to silence him, but before she could ask the perp another question he spoke in a small voice.

"Peggy's dead?" he asked, mentioning the name of the slain zombie bride. Lucifer almost couldn't believe this was the same man who had been giving him the evil eye just moments ago. He looked suddenly devastated.

"Yes," Chloe said. "It's my job to catch her killer."

"But she can't be gone," Jason said.

"Were you and Peggy still close?" the Detective asked.

"She never should have left me!" Jason exclaimed, already half crying before he broke down sobbing.

"If you were at the wedding how did you not know she'd been shot?" Lucifer asked incredulously.

"I left early, okay?" Jason sniffed. "I just couldn't bear to see her so happy with- with- HIM." Jason's hands came up to cover his face as his sobbing intensified.

"Can anyone confirm your alibi?" Chloe asked.

It took Jason a moment to get his crying under control enough to speak. When he did, Jason explained that he'd left the wedding via a service road and ran into a musician with a buzz cut and a guitar case.

"Thank you for your cooperation," the Detective told him, too kindly in Lucifer's opinion. "Someone will see you home."

"Spineless cretin," Lucifer muttered once Jason had left the interrogation room. "And useless to boot."

"Not useless," Chloe said with a smile. "The wedding booked a DJ, not a live band. I'm thinking it wasn't a guitar in that case."

"Oh you are good," Lucifer said grinning. He so loved watching her do her detective thing.

"Let's go check out that service road," Chloe said. "I'm driving."

"I would expect nothing less," Lucifer replied.

Once they reached the start of the service road, the Detective stopped the car and they got out. It only took getting one foot out of the car for Lucifer to remember why he hated going to places like this.

"These shoes were Gucci," Lucifer whined. "But I doubt I'll ever get the muck off them now." He picked up one foot and shook it a bit to flick some of the mud off.

"I've told you before to stop wearing expensive clothes out in the field," Chloe commented, without a hint of sympathy for his blight.

"I don't own other clothes," Lucifer reminded her. "Or would you rather I show up to crime scenes in my birthday suit? Hmm?"

She ignored him as he expected her to, and continued walking down the road, looking around as she went. After a moment she seemed to spot something and moved off to her right. All Lucifer could see was the muddy road and low hanging trees.

"See there?" the Detective pointed. "The ground has been disturbed, and from here I bet the shooter had a clear view of the wedding."

"Perfect," Lucifer said. "We know where he shot from. Too bad those trees don't have cameras."

"We don't need a camera," Chloe said, moving closer to pick something up off the ground. "It's still warm. This is the spot alright."

Lucifer had to admit the 'still warm' comment had him curious. He moved forward to see what she'd put into the evidence bag. To his surprise he recognized the business name printed on the receipt: Fred's Dutch Oven.

"Oh I know that place," he said. "Unfortunate name but best stroopwafel in hollywood."

"And likely the last thing our shooter ate before killing Peggy," Chloe commented. Then she turned to Lucifer and added, "So, you know where it is?"

"I know where it was last," Lucifer answered. "It's a food truck. It moves around."

"Okay," the Detective said, clearly in problem solving mode. "Then we track down where it was last and go from there."

"Or we could use the app," Lucifer replied, pulling out his phone. "It always has their current location on it."

"Well why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Chloe grumbled.

"You didn't ask," Lucifer responded defensively. The Detective made an annoyed sound like she usually did when she had decided it wasn't worth replying to the Devil. Even so, this little bit of irritation in her didn't worry Lucifer. Quite the contrary. It felt more like their normal, like he hadn't just killed his brother to save her. It was nice. Chloe acting normally made it easier for Lucifer to pretend that whole thing hadn't happened.

Arriving at the food truck proved to be an even bigger distraction. No sooner had Chloe began asking questions when they heard a gunshot. Everyone ducked, even Lucifer. This being a mortal business really was a pain in the ass. When Lucifer looked up Freddy, the owner of the food truck, was dead.

When they headed up to the roof on the opposite building, Chloe found a bullet casing. Genius that she was, the Detective managed to put it all together rather quickly. The shooter had been at the food truck that morning looking for Freddy, who wasn't yet on shift. So he'd headed to the wedding and killed the bride only to follow up and kill Freddy.

"This guy's got a list," Chloe explained. "God, who's next?"

"He's not going to tell you," Lucifer replied.

"It's a figure of speech," Chloe reminded him.

"A stupid figure of speech," Lucifer scoffed.

"That isn't the point," Chloe said. "We are dealing with a hit man here. This changes everything."

"Where to next oh driver one?" Lucifer asked.

"Back to the station," Chloe said. "We need to run ballistics."

"Ladies first," Lucifer said as he gestured to the door leading back down from the roof. Chloe rolled her eyes at him but started walking all the same.

When they got back to the police station Chloe was her usual serious work self. Lucifer hovered around, absently scraping dried dirt off his shoes with the office stapler while Chloe fact checked. When he got bored of that he went to the vending machine, but it wouldn't take hundred dollar bills. He hadn't had time to order snacks at the food truck earlier. The Devil needed a snack, but when he went to see if the Detective would give him change, she started to tell him about the case instead. The hit man had paid cash at the food truck and ballistics confirmed her conclusion that the same rifle was used for both killings. There were no prints at the scenes. This guy was a pro.

Lucifer was more interested in getting the snacks out of the vending machine than listening to their lack of leads on this case. While Chloe stared at a board covered in crime scene photos looking for a connection between the two victims, the Devil continued his battle with the snack machine. Just a little bit of super strength at the right angle and…

Presto! An open vending machine. Now did he want the teeny tiny donuts or the cool ranch puffs? Choices, choices. Donuts or puffs? Brother or mother? Choices, choices. How to choose?

"Lucifer you can't just steal food in the middle of the precinct!" Chloe scolded him.

"It's cool. I'll leave the hundred," Lucifer said. "Stupid machine wouldn't take it."

After rolling her eyes at him, she gave him the strangest look, like she was trying to see through him. Lucifer suddenly felt more naked while in a 3-piece suit than he ever had before with his clothes off.

"You know if you want to talk about it," Chloe began. "I'm here."

"I didn't know you were so worried about vending machine food," Lucifer replied.

"You know what I'm talking about," Chloe reminded him. Her tone of voice had made it clear what she meant, but Lucifer was trying very hard not to think about that so why was she bringing it up?

"Best not to dwell on such things, Detective," Lucifer said with as much fake cheer as he could muster.

"I'm worried what it will do to you to push all those feelings down," Chloe continued. "You can't just ignore them."

"Says who?" Lucifer scoffed. "God? Is that who? Well he doesn't get a say in my life anymore!" Lucifer flung his arms around wildly in his anger and hit something. He wasn't sure what but the physical pain it caused seemed to help for a moment.

"It was an impossible situation with no good choices," Chloe told him.

"Ah yes choices," Lucifer said sharply. "Such choices. Puff or nuts? Brother or mother? Murderer or victim?"

"Stop it!" Chloe snapped at him and Lucifer fell silent. "It wasn't your fault. You don't need to punish yourself for it."

"Wrong!" Lucifer replied and just like that he knew with perfect clarity what he needed to do. Turning around Lucifer punished the wall with all his might, shattering the concentrate and busting up his hand in the process. Once again he welcomed the physical pain. It was just so much more manageable than the other kind and it proved the perfect distraction. If his hand hurt this bad then Lucifer couldn't feel his other hurts anymore.

"Lucifer!" Chloe exclaimed. "STOP!"

"Why?" Lucifer said in a small voice. He was looking down at his hand. The skin was broken in several places and small drops of blood were dripping onto the floor. Lucifer blinked as if that would change what he was looking at. Should he punch the wall again? The injuries on his hand were nothing. He was good for another round.

"Because you'll hurt yourself," Chloe told him. That hardly seemed important. She didn't have a reason why he should stop. Lucifer pulled back his arm again and was about to do his best to shatter his own bones when he felt the Detective's touch. Lucifer froze. He turned. Chloe had reached out and put both her hands on the arm he'd been about to swing with. Lucifer didn't understand it, but somehow he could feel a calmness emanating from where Chloe's hands held him back.

He wasn't sure how long they stood like that. Lucifer could feel his breathing and heart rate coming back down. He didn't understand how she did it but he could feel the power of her influence with every fiber of his being.

"There," Chloe said in a soft voice. "Now why don't we get that hand looked at."

Lucifer allowed her to lead him to the medic. He didn't listen to what she said to the medic. He supposed she'd have to come up with some reason why the wall was broken. He'd likely caused her trouble. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to dwell on it. All Lucifer could focus on was the fact that her hand was still holding his shoulder; it's calming influence still in effect.

Did this mean Chloe didn't hate him for what he'd done? Did that mean he shouldn't hate himself?

"If you won't talk to me then at least talk to someone." Chloe's quiet voice broke through the fog.

Lucifer couldn't help but chuckle. "Like who?" he scoffed. People weren't exactly lining up to be friends with the Devil.

"Like Linda," Chloe answered.

Lucifer laughed again. "Great idea," he said sarcastically. "She'll tell me it's all a bunch of metaphors. Really helpful."

"Well maybe it's time you changed that," the Detective suggested. "Why did you tell me and not her anyway?"

"I- I- don't know," Lucifer replied.

He could remember so perfectly how badly he'd wanted Chloe to really see him and how it had driven him to reveal his true identity to her. Overall it had gone better than he could have hoped it would, but that didn't mean Dr. Martin would react the same way the Detective had.

Chloe chuckled. "What do you know?" she laughed. "Honestly, for being as old as the universe itself you are impressively unaware."

Lucifer ignored her. Instead he thought about what she'd said. Should he show Dr. Martin his real face?

Last update... over five months ago. Oops! Well I have a good excuse. I had a baby. He is three months old now and so freakin' cute it's kinda hard to handle. lol. He does nap those and I've been trying to get back into writing during naptime. So far so good. I hope you like this chapter. I has some change though it isn't too major. We are getting closer to the major change though. Guess who is gonna find out they are a gift? ;)

Guest Review:
Before I say anything, I'd just like to say that I have been thoroughly enjoying this story. Just read 21 chapters all at once. But I wanted to mention my following thoughts because it was bothering me.
There is no way that Chloe would believe that a mother's love is unconditional. She is a cop that deals with homicides, so she of all people should know about parents that murder their own children.
Hell, last year there was a news report about a woman who killed her kid and then herself. I don't usually watch news (a handful amount of times a year), so who knows if there were more cases after that.
Same applies to fathers. Yesterday, there was a report about a man who killed his wife, his three kids, and even the dog.

My Reply:
Chole has very likely seen strangers at work be horrible parents it's true, but in the show she herself is a very dedicated mother. From what I know of her character from watching the show she always seemed to be good at her job but it isn't her own life. Chloe is also a mother. I just can't imagine Chloe understanding how any mother would be horrible even if she's seen it with her own eyes. Hence why I wrote it that way.
I too have heard things on the news of people being horrible parents. I have heard stories of people I know describing their horrible parents, but I myself could never imagine being such a mother. I guess what I'm trying to say is that seeing and understanding are not the same thing. Also in the show they never solve cases that dark. I don't remember a single episode where a child is killed by a parent.

Sneak Peek Chapter 34

... when I write it...