LAPD Forensic Scientist Ella Lopez was working. She was always working these days, or so it seemed. What else was she going to do?

She bobbed to the music rocking her earbuds while she ran some prints through the computer, looking for a hit. The new replacement detective, Joe Somebody, thought they might belong to the killer of a poor girl found in an indelicate position in the bathroom of a vacant house being used for a bachelor party. There had been plenty of suspects, but Joe Whateverhisnamewas thought this print might lead to the killer.

Ella shrugged. Whatever. Working with Detective Joe Schmo just wasn't the same as working with Decker and Lucifer. Now that had been fun! Decker had an amazing ability to put a bunch of pieces together to figure out who the killer was. That was impressive. But what was really impressive was the way Lucifer treated a crime scene: like he owned the place. He had no sense of decorum. None whatsoever. Nada.

And he always cracked her up with his inappropriate comments! She loved it when he made a terrible pun and Chloe rolled her eyes or chastised him. Comedy gold! He was loco, that one.

Plus, their sexual tension had been so obvious! For years she had wanted to ram their heads together, they had been so dense about each other. She had wanted to buy them both T-shirts that said, "JUST DO IT ALREADY" but they probably wouldn't have appreciated her subtlety.

She was so happy for them that they'd finally—FINALLY—figured out they were right for each other and done the deed.

Done many deeds, if Chloe's comments were to be believed. Dirty deeds. Heroic deeds. Marathons of deeds, even.

Ella sighed, and stopped that line of thought. Thinking of the two of them just made her sad. Chloe had Lucifer and she had … nobody. It had been a long while since she'd last done some dirty deeds, and what a mistake her last boyfriend had been! At the time, she had thought she'd broken her pattern and found somebody really nice, instead of her typical macho bad boy. But that "nice guy" had turned out to be the worst bad boy in a long string of bad boys. A deadly wolf in sheep's clothing. Psycho.

Never again, she prayed. Please don't let me make that mistake again. She hoped the Big Guy in the Sky was listening, because she really wanted that prayer to be granted. Better to end up as a nun in a convent than to have to deal with another heartache like the one Pete had put her through.

Dan's ex-partner, Carol, had called her the other day. To be fair, she'd invited him to call her. She figured he must have been upset when she'd said no. But she wasn't ready yet. Plus, every time she looked at Carol's face, she was going to think of Dan. That was too heartbreaking to contemplate. So she'd said no and now she had nobody. Well one somebody, if you counted new replacement Detective Joe Blow, but she didn't count him. Not a hugger, that one.

Ella wondered how Chloe and Lucifer were enjoying their retirement in wherever it was they were moving too. Florida or Alabama. Or Georgia. They had been more than a bit evasive regarding their final destination. Almost like they didn't want her to know where they lived, just in case she wanted to come visit them. Which she totally would have, if she thought they would have welcomed her.

That was no bueno. That wasn't how friends should treat friends!

Almost at random, Ella opened a desk drawer and took out The Feather. The Feather was a mystery, and she could never resist a mystery. Her love for mysteries was why she became a forensic scientist instead of a safe cracker or bank robber, just to name two careers she had seriously considered.

But The Feather! What was it? It was huge! At first, she had thought it was an emu feather, because it had obviously come off a bird that was two meters or so in height. But a quick search had shown her that The Feather could never have come from an emu—a flightless bird. No, The Feather came from a bird that flew, very likely a bird of prey.

But there were no birds of prey that were two meters long. None. It was loco just to picture such a creature. Ella knew such might be loco, but not because she believed in a six-foot long hawk or falcon. She put The Feather back in the desk drawer, but before she could shut the drawer, The Feather was back in her hand and she was walking it over to the mass spec, to see what its molecular composition was.

"No," she said out loud. "I promised Chloe and Lucifer that I wouldn't examine it." Yet, she felt drawn to mass spec. Chloe and Lucifer were gone now, moved to somewhere with no forwarding address. They would never know …

While mass spec hummed and analyzed, her thoughts wandered back to Chloe and Lucifer. Former Homicide Detective Chloe Decker and former LAPD civilian consultant Lucifer Morningstar. She wondered how they were doing these days. What did anybody do in Florida or Alabama or Georgia?

Fishing probably. They were probably doing a lot of fishing. Though it was hard to picture either of them fishing. But what else would they be doing? She didn't know. She was definitely a city girl.

They had dropped off the grid without even a goodbye call. That wasn't right. They all needed to stay in touch! If she were being honest—and she always tried to be honest—she missed her friends. A lot.

While mass spec did its thing, she took out her earbuds, picked up her phone, and called Chloe. Calling Chloe was an impulsive thing to do, but better to call and get a message than to sit in the lab missing them and feeling lonely.

Ella was surprised when the call was answered.

"Hi Ella! How are you?"

"Wondering what's up with you and Luce," she said.

"We're still together, if that's what you're asking."

"Great! But where?"

Decker hesitated. "We're living at Lux. Well, Trixie has been spending a lot of time with my mother. But the two of us have kind of moved in together."

Ella frowned. "I thought you were moving to … some place out of state?"

Decker sighed. "Yes, that's still the plan. But we have to … tie up some loose ends first."

"You know, it's been weeks since we've talked. Spill the deets, girl!"

"Well … it's kind of hard to say. We're going through lots of changes. Together, as I said. We're very happy! But …"

"But what? You say you're happy but then you say you're going through some changes. What does that mean?"

She heard Decker sigh again. "Ella, it's complicated."

"Fine. It's complicated. When is it ever not complicated with you two?"

"Yes, I supposed that's true."

Ella tried a different tack. "It's been ages since we've seen each other! When can we get together? Maybe for a drink? Let's have some tequila, girl! I know you like your tequila!"

She heard Lucifer's voice in the background.

Decker said, "It's Ella. She wants to get together for a drink. And put a towel on, please."

Lucifer's voice was clear this time. "You should. You really should, Chloe. Have some fun, for My sake!"

Decker said, "Okay, let's do this. Tomorrow night at Lux, if you can get away from your lab. And you can crash here if things get too out of hand."

"No problem; it's a date." Ella smiled and clicked off the call. It was going to be great to see her amiga again!

She suddenly remembered that the new guy, Detective Joe Blank, was expecting her to match the prints he had found. Whatever. He was boring. His policework was as straight-forward and as boring as he was.

When she looked over to see how the computer was doing, Rae-Rae was watching her.

"Hi Ella," Rae-Rae said in her usual, tentative, voice. Ella thought that Rae-Rae intended the tone to be soothing, maybe reassuring. But seeing her ghost-friend was never soothing or reassuring.

"Rae-Rae! I thought we had a deal. No more haunting me."

"Right. We did. But you know, things change."

"What does that mean?"

"Just that, you know, things change. Everything changes, eventually. You think a mountain is forever, but just give it a couple hundred million years. Then it's gone. Turned into an ocean. Like that, is what I mean. Things change so I thought maybe you would have changed."

Ella was puzzled. "Me? Change? How would I have changed?"

"It's just that I thought you might want to see a friend. You know, after your friends Chloe and Lucifer left you. I thought you want to see a familiar face again."

"That's very nice, Rae-Rae. But I'm going to see Lucifer and Chloe tomorrow night. I just made the date."

"Yes, I heard you. And I think that's great. And …"

"And what?"

"I want to know how come you never hug me, Ella? You hug everybody else, but you never hug me."

"Oh, I don't know. Because you're a ghost?"

"Ghosts need hugs too."

Ella suddenly got it. "Oh, I see now. You came to see me because you needed a friend, is that right?"

Rae-Rae nodded shyly.

"Well, get over here sister! You may be a ghost, but let's hug it out!"

After the hug, Ella felt better, for some inexplicable reason. She could tell Rae-Rae did as well.

"That was nice, Ella," Rae-Rae said. "Before I go, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure, why not?"

"You're going to see Lucifer and Chloe tomorrow night, right?"

"Yep. Well, I'm not sure about Lucifer. But Chloe for sure."

"Would you please find out when they're going to be married? You know, date and location?"

"What?"

"Married. When and where."

"They're engaged? I mean, Chloe said they were going through some changes, but she didn't mention anything about marriage!"

Rae-Rae nodded. "They've been through a lot. Chloe's been through a lot, let me tell you."

"You know her?"

"Of course I do! Everybody in … where I'm from … knows Chloe."

"Well, that's about the weirdest thing I've ever heard you say. And you've said some weird things before."

"Why should it be weird? You know, you're not the only person I visit."

"I guess I've never thought about it." Ella tried to understand. Was Rae-Rae saying that she had visited with Chloe?

Rae-Rae sighed. "All I'm asking is that when you visit with Chloe, try to find out about the marriage."

"I'll do my best."

Rae-Rae smiled. "I know you will," she said. "And one more thing …"

"What?"

"If she says that she and Lucifer haven't set a date yet, then I need you to push her. They need to set a date. It needs to be soon."

"Why is setting a date so important?"

"Because it just is."

"Thanks. That's real helpful."

"But you'll do it for me?"

Ella sighed. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do."

Rae-Rae smiled. "That's great. Thanks so much!"

"Anything else you need?"

"No. I got my hug and you agreed to talk to Chloe about setting a wedding date. I'm good."

"Okay then. See you next time, I guess."

"Sure! Smell ya later!"

Ella looked up at the ceiling of her lab. "Hey Big Guy. I don't know what your plan is here, but I'm kinda confused at the moment." She sighed again. She was sure there was a plan for her, even if she didn't understand what it was.

When she looked back down, Rae-Rae was gone.

Mass spec was still running, analyzing The Feather. Ella felt a little guilty about that. She didn't think Decker would appreciate her breaking her word like that. Ella shrugged. If Decker didn't want her thinking about The Feather, then she should have taken it with her when she cleaned out her things on the way out the door. At this point, The Feather was like a gift, right? So it was hers. To do with what she wanted.

And she wanted to analyze it.

The computer beeped. She had a match on the prints. Now to let Joe Dontcare know that his hunch had paid off.