Chloe had never been a late sleeper. As a child, her father had always made her get up early, to get ready for school or to do chores around the house. As an adult, she'd had to get up early to take care of her family. Sleeping in was a luxury she'd never had much opportunity to experience.
Until she moved in with Lucifer.
She woke slowly in the darkened bedroom. Chloe didn't know what time it was with the drapes drawn closed; she'd have to pick up her phone to check, and that just seemed like too much work at the moment. With languid movements, she slowly stretched in bed, feeling her skin glide across the smooth silk sheets. She absently wondered whether she should get up and take a shower.
Apparently not, because Lucifer was calling to her. "Come get some brekky," he said with a smile. "Pancakes await, m'lady."
Chloe put on her bathrobe and walked down the steps and into the main room of the penthouse. "Thank you, Lucifer," she said. "It looks lovely and smells uh, divine." He acknowledged her joke with a little chuckle. As she sat down, she said, "Do I still have time to call Trixie before school?"
Lucifer tilted his head and thought for a second. "No, probably not. But you can text her. Shall I bring your phone?"
She nodded and he went to get it. Lucifer was always so solicitous, so caring. It was like her slightest wish was his command. It was such a change after being a single working mom for so long! While she sent her daughter a quick text, she smiled, thinking of last night. Lucifer's focus on her happiness extended into the bedroom.
After five years of sexual tension, she had thought the love-making would be urgent, athletic, perhaps a bit rough. But their night's first love-making had been none of those things. Instead, he had been gentle, tender, caring. Everything she could have asked for in a lover. The act had truly transcended physical sex. They had merged into one, or so it had seemed.
While nothing since had ever quite equaled their first night together, Lucifer remained caring and tender. Last night, she remembered how his fingers had caressed her face, tracing the line of her jaw, while he looked into her eyes. Just that; nothing else. He had seemed content to caress her face forever, until she couldn't take it anymore and had pulled him on top of her. She had vaguely remembered that she'd had some things to discuss with him, but other things had come first. Several times.
Now in the morning, sipping orange juice and finishing fluffy pancakes, the memories of last night's moments with Lucifer were invaded and conquered by the memories of last night's conversation with Ella. Chloe organized her thoughts regarding what she and Lucifer needed to discuss. He was going to joke at first, then try to deflect. She sighed softly. Serious conversations with Lucifer required a bit of planning.
"Lucifer, can I ask you a question?" she started.
"Of course, m'dear. But if you're going to ask me how I thought up our final position last night, I'll have to confess that I referred to my collection of certain pages that didn't make it into the final copy of the Kama Sutra." He smiled, but his head bobbed toward his bookcase when he said that. Chloe vowed to do some research when time permitted.
She smiled. "No, that wasn't what I was going to ask you—though I have to admit you surprised me with that one." She paused. "No, I need to ask you a serious question—about us."
His eyes widened. "What is there to ask? We are together now, finally, after many detours and roadblocks along the way. I don't understand why you'd want to question that. In any case, I think we should save any relationship questions for sessions with Doctor Linda."
"Lucifer, you know she won't see us professionally. That's why she gave us that referral to Doctor Corden."
"Fat lot of good that woman did."
Chloe nodded. "Right. So we need to have a discussion on our own."
Lucifer sighed. "There have been many women in my life. Men, too. But only rarely has the need to discuss the relationship ever surfaced. They seemed more than satisfied without needing to overthink it. And as I recall, every time they opened their mouth to discuss our relationship …"
"Lucifer, I'm serious here. We need to talk. Now. Before another distraction comes up."
He smiled. "You mean like last night?"
"Yes. Last night was a very pleasant distraction, but now we have to discuss some things."
Lucifer sighed again. "Of course, m'dear. You have a question, and I shall listen attentively."
"Great." She held up her left hand. "This ring, the one you gave me. It's Lilith's ring, right?"
"Yes, indeed it was her ring, though I'm a bit unclear as to how you learned that fact."
Chloe shrugged. "Last night, Maze and Eve came in. I heard the story."
"Ah, then you likely did not hear the full story."
"Right. Which is why I need to hear the full story from you. Now."
"Where do I begin? Do you have an hour or two to spare?"
Chloe grimaced. "No, not really. We have a couple of things to discuss, and this is just one of them." She looked at him, cop face in place as if she were interrogating a subject. "Okay, let's cut to the chase. What does this ring mean? To us?"
"I'm afraid that I'm not following you." Ah, just like a suspect would answer. I don't know what you're talking about. She was having none of that, thank you very much.
"See the finger on which I'm wearing this ring? You know, the finger upon which you placed the ring when you came to get me in Heaven?"
"Indeed, I do. My eyesight is perfectly … well, perfect."
Chloe nodded. "Great. So why did you put the ring on that particular finger?"
Lucifer looked confused. She decided to push the issue, just as she would have done in any interrogation. "Lucifer, look at me." He looked. "Did you put the ring on that particular finger because it was the most convenient finger at the time, or does it mean that we are going to be married?"
"Ahh. Now I see where you're going."
"Well, which is it?"
"Yes."
Chloe worked on being patient with him. It wasn't easy. "Lucifer, are we going to get married? That's a yes or no question. Answer it."
"It's not, really."
"Yes, it is."
"Chloe, I will be with you for the rest of your life. If you want a marriage ceremony, then a marriage ceremony we shall have. But … the issue is that I'm not sure we can be married."
Chloe tried to remain calm. Never let the suspect see your emotions, unless you want him to. "What does that mean? Does this have to do with your marriage to Candy?"
"What? No!" Lucifer was getting frustrated, now. Chloe smiled inside, where he couldn't see it. Good. Maybe he'll let something slip. "I'm an angel. You're … well, you. Human. And I'm going to be God very soon. How does God marry a human? How does that work?" He paused. "Honestly, I have no idea how that even works."
She tried to think it through without letting her emotions get in the way. "Okay. This is not about a fear of commitment. It's about … what? I can't describe it. But you're willing, you just don't know how. Is that right?"
He looked relieved. "Yes. Exactly, Det—Chloe. I will be with you forever, but I don't know if a marriage ceremony will have anything to do with it." He looked at her with sincerity. "If you want a ceremony, then we'll have one. But I'm afraid it will be a bit of a sham."
"Because you're a celestial."
"Yes, and because I'm Me."
"Okay. Let me think about that. And you still owe me the full story of Lilith's ring."
"Understood."
Chloe started to get up and walk to the shower, but Lucifer put his hand on her arm. He asked, "Why the sudden interest in marriage?"
"It was something that Ella said last night," she replied. "She wanted to know if we were getting married. In fact, she kind of told us to get married. And I didn't have a good answer for her." She paused. "And I still don't, not really. The whole thing seems to be up to me: location, date, time. We're not even going to have a ceremony unless I decide I want one." She frowned. "This doesn't feel especially romantic at the moment."
"Please excuse me," she said, more shortly than she'd intended. She got up and headed to the shower.
#
After she'd left, Lucifer sipped his espresso and enjoyed the taste of bitter coffee mixed with sweet Irish whiskey. He closed his eyes and thought about the conversation he'd just had with his beloved. It hadn't ended as well as he might have hoped.
After a minute of contemplation, he opened his eyes. Chloe was still in the shower. Action being the appropriate natural daughter of thought, he picked up his phone and made a call.
"Hello, Auguste," he said. "Yes, I know it's early. … Please, I'm really not in the mood for a litany of your petty grievances at the moment. … Yes, you owe me a favor and I'm calling it in. … No, I'm not asking for anything illegal. Or not too illegal. … Yes, here's what I want you to do …"
#
Chloe turned the shower water to the highest temperature she could stand and tried to think about something—anything—other than her conversation with Lucifer. Their relationship could be so frustrating at times! What are we now? What will we become? She still had the same questions running through her head as she'd had the other day. Well, maybe the question about the ring had been answered—sort of. She was pretty sure now that it wasn't an engagement ring. But the ring still meant something important. The full story of Lilith's ring was going to be the subject of another, longer conversation with him.
Forcing her thoughts to a topic other than Lucifer and marriage, she thought about Ella's case. No, not Ella's case; it was the new detective's case. What was his name? Joe Somebody. Ella had been vague about his last name. Chloe had gotten the distinct impression that Ella didn't care for the new detective very much.
She ran through the story in her head. Seven bachelor party attendees downstairs, one suspect and the vic upstairs, unseen by the seven. A bevy of empty Jack Daniels bottles and a soiled downstairs bathroom; evidence that they'd been there a long time and had a lot to drink. Not really evidence that they hadn't visited the upstairs floor.
Well, there was an absence of evidence, wasn't there? None of their fingerprints were found upstairs. So that helped to corroborate their stories.
What did she know about the vic? Young woman, aspiring actress, found face-down and rear-up in the bathtub. Some clothes on, otherwise there'd be no print on her belt. Ella had mentioned that they knew who the print belonged to, so that was the prime suspect, unless he could alibi out.
But they needed more than a single print. The print linked the suspect to the victim, but it wasn't enough, on its own, to secure a conviction. A single print was circumstantial and any decent defense attorney would get a jury to see that.
One print on the tub, smeared and of no use.
Think, Decker!
She didn't know enough. By now, Detective Joe would have the final Medical Examiner's report. He'd have the Cause of Death, and report on her blood and stomach contents. He might even have the suspect in custody and in interrogation. All she had was a second-hand story to go on. Not enough.
She frowned. It was frustrating to be so distant from a case. She wondered if she'd made a mistake when she'd decided to quit the Force. She remembered that Lucifer had tried to slow her down. But she'd wanted to support him and so it had seemed like the correct decision to make.
At the time.
No. That thought was a symptom of fear, fear of the future. She wasn't going backward; she was going forward. With Lucifer. Married or not married, she was going to be with him for as long as she lived.
Or maybe just for as long as possible. Could she be with him if he was God and lived in the Silver City? Sigh. Another question that needed to be answered. She doubted that he could answer such a question, even if she could get him to discuss it with her. He'd made it pretty clear this morning that he was almost as much in the dark about their future as she was. As was always the case, though, the lack of knowledge didn't seem to faze him. She felt as if he almost enjoyed the not-knowing part. But that wasn't her …
Stop it, Decker! Obsessing about the relationship doesn't help anything.
She needed to call Ella. She wanted to think about the homicide investigation and not about her future with Lucifer. To do that, she needed more details. Ella would have them.
She got out of the shower, toweled dry in one of their Egyptian cotton bath sheets, and got ready for the day. She didn't feel like dressing up right now, so she put on pants, a blouse, and her old leather jacket. It felt like old times.
When she came back out, Lucifer had gone. She hoped that their conversation hadn't upset him too much. It had ended a bit more abruptly than she'd wanted. She'd apologize to him when he returned.
She looked down at her phone. Her mom had called. She felt a pang of guilt. She had all but dumped Trixie on her mom and, even though her mom had accepted the burden, Chloe knew it wasn't fair. Nor was it right. Trixie was her daughter and she needed to take care of her. She'd hoped that she and Lucifer would have sorted out their new relationship in a few days, but weeks had passed and things were still not sorted.
Sigh. Another conversation with Lucifer. She loved living with him in the penthouse. She loved the silk sheets and the cotton towels. She loved how all meals were catered and how dishes were done by somebody else. She loved how a cleaning team came in every single day to take care of everything. And she loved running Lux, too. That had been a surprise! But to be honest, this was no life for a woman with a daughter to raise. A single mom, she reminded herself. No, this set-up would not work for a family, or group, or whatever it was, of three.
Something needed to change—very, very soon.
She picked up the phone and returned the call. "Hi, Mom," she said. "How are you and Trixie doing?"
She listened for a second, which stretched into minutes. She tried to get a few words into the pauses, but there weren't very many pauses. "What? … Where? … When? … And Trixie, too? … Okay; at least it's not a school night. … What did he say? … Well, what do you think it's about? … No, me either. … No, I don't, Mom. No clue. … Well, dress-up then, if that's what he said. Trixie, too, I guess. … Shopping? Who has time for shopping? … Okay, okay. … Yes, you can use my card. … Okay. Okay. Okay. … Okay, bye now."
She put down the phone, and her eyes narrowed and a furrow appeared between them. What was Lucifer up to?
Another mystery to solve. But first, she wanted to talk to Ella. She picked her phone back up and pushed the button under Ella's picture.