He gave her his word, he gave her his word and there was no going back now. He promised that he wouldn't change a thing about Rory's life, it felt like the right thing to do, yet it hurt so bad; how could something be the right choice and hurt so excruciatingly much at the same time? He was leaving Chloe alone, alone and pregnant.
He was leaving Trixie. Trixie, who had already suffered so much that year.
He was leaving Ella, his unofficial little sister who he loved as much as he did Azrael.
He was leaving Linda, the best therapist anyone could ever wish for.
He was leaving Maze and Eve, his best friend and her wife, unable to share their joy.
He was leaving Charlie, his dear nephew.
He was leaving Rory, the best thing that had ever happened to him in all the years he's been alive, his little daughter. He'd miss her first laugh, her first tooth, her first steps and her first words. He'd miss her first hug, her first day of school, her first fall and her first flight. All because she'd asked him to. Was it worth it? Was there really no other way?
These are the thoughts that haunt him as he lays in bed embracing his detective probably for the last time in many, many, way too many years. He'd forget her smile, and her touch and the sound of her laugh, as much as he'd try not to. Was it really worth all the pain?
Chloe's soft breathing caressed his arms, and the feeling traveled all the way to his heart. That woman and the little life she was carrying were the most important things in his life, and he wished for a way to get out of leaving them, leaving the only thing he'd let past his barriers since the fall.
With the softest kiss ever, barely a stroke of his lips against her hair, he got up from the bed and gave a sleeping Chloe a last look filled with sorrow and despair before extending his wings and flying straight into hell.
The next morning the detective awoke in a cold bed, not daring to open her eyes in hopes that she'd still be able to feel as if he had never left one last time. His scent impregnated the pillows she had her head on and, for a second, it was almost easy to pretend that everything was ok, for a moment it was almost easy to forget all that they were giving up. That moment went away as quickly as it came, and with that the realization that everything was over started to overwhelm her, but she had no time to weep, Trixie needed to be picked up from her mother's place and taken to camp.
She took a quick shower and gave a parting look to the penthouse that held so many memories between its walls and, for the last time, she made her way to the elevator.
Things had a beginning and an end, everyone knows that, even Lucifer understands that despite his immortality not even his life is endless. Even God almighty had an end, which meant that he had also had a beginning. He left Chloe and Rory because there was no other way, but time, too, had a start, and there must have been a first time when Rory got so mad at her father for abandoning her in a timeline in which the abandonment happened when there was no future Rory that could travel back. Maybe that timeline had a Lucifer that felt unworthy of being a father and left willingly. Maybe not everything was written in stone. He knew that alternate timelines were a thing, how could he not when he was God's son? That was the only explanation he could come up with, but in lack of proof of his discovery, not wanting to risk anything he spent years and years in hell.
It had been exactly 20 years since he last saw his detective when Amenadiel, or AmenaGod as he liked to call him, paid his dear brother a visit.
"Brother, your return to Earth has been requested" spoke Amenadiel, startling an unaware of his surroundings Lucifer.
"Brother! Look at you, being God really does suit you!" Replied the Devil before his brain understood what had been said "Wait… what? What do you mean?"
"You were wrong, brother, we all were, now that I'm all knowing I know that. You were stuck in a time loop, but you don't have to be. A new branch will be formed and you'll continue your life in a different timeline. You can go back to Earth, brother."
Lucifer could barely hear Amenadiel over the sound of his beating heart, so ready to be with his Detective again, so ready to see her belly grow and so ready to live so many firsts in Rory's life.
20 years in Hell meant 20 days on Earth, so he had barely missed anything. Amenadiel still hadn't told Chloe, wanting Lucifer to be able to tell her himself. On his way to Chloe's apartment, he went to the store and bought her some chocolates and some flowers, as it was still too early for Chloe to be back from work. Then, he made his way into her bedroom and proceeded to wait for the detective to return. The flowers had been set on the counter next to the chocolates and a note that read: "Meet me in your room, L."
Not too long after, the front door was opened, which Lucifer heard thanks to his superhuman hearing. "Go wash your hands and come help me make dinner, monkey" said the detective to her daughter before noticing the flowers on the counter.
"Ooo, flowers! Where did you get these mommy?" asked Trixie "I don't know, baby, go wait outside for a minute and I'll call you in later, don't worry" replied her mother with a whisper trying not to make a possible intruder aware of her intentions. Of course, Lucifer heard it, and he cursed himself for being stupid enough as to sneak into a cop's house.
But, what was done was done, so he waited patiently for Chloe to appear into the room.
Firmly holding the gun, the detective walked into the room, only to drop it and run into the arms of the devil. Lucifer told Chloe that he was back, offering to give further explanations after dinner. Trixie, Chloe and Lucifer had dinner and Trixie went to her room to do her homework, though she was eavesdropping.
"Not that I'm not glad that you're back, but why are you back?"
"Amenadiel became AmenaGod, which makes him allknowing. He told me that me staying isn't going to change a thing because a new timeline will be created and we will finally be able to escape the time loop in which we were trapped that made me leave every time. I will go to Hell for two hours every day, which will be a month down there, and we can spend the rest of the day together, like a family." And so they did.
Lucifer rose at dawn and spent two hours in Hell, and the rest of the day they were together as partners. When Chloe became lieutenant the devil threw her a huge party. Two months later on a rainy day, Chloe Jane Decker went into labour and after 8 hours the couple welcomed their daughter Aurora Decker-Morningstar.
The first time she cried, Lucifer thought that it was the sweetest sound in the world (he didn't think that for too long.). Rory got her first tooth when she was 5 months old and they celebrated her first Christmas with many gifts and happiness. Her first birthday was celebrated with a huge party and Trixie wrote her a poem.
The years passed and their little family grew with an unexpected new addition. Three years after Rory's birth, Estela Decker-Morningstar was born, reminding Chloe and Lucifer that they should maybe take more seriously the use of birth control.
When Trixie turned 16, she cashed in the favour Lucifer still owed her and he taught her how to drive.
He didn't miss Rory's first day of school or her first recital or her first Christmas, and neither did he miss Estela's. He taught them both how to fly and also how to drive.
When the time came for Chloe's death, they promised each other to meet on the other side and Lucifer made being Hell's therapist his full-time job, spending almost all of his time down there with Chloe. They lived a happy life, together, as they'd always be.