Chapter 6

The truth can be painful

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The truth can be painful, but what has your argument proven?

(Job 6:25, NIV)

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Now…

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Chloe was startled awake when someone's sports car roared past at seven am and seventy miles per hour.

It took her a few confused moments to gather her bearings. Why had she gone to bed in her clothes? She couldn't even remember having gone to bed at all… Chloe blanched when her jumbled memory caught up and supplied the details of yesterday's events. Trixie!

She jumped up like a scalded cat and ran downstairs into the living room, jolting Dan awake.

"Chloe…? When did you get back? What's the time?", he asked drowsily and wrestled himself up from the sofa with cracking joints.

"I don't know, I just woke up! Is Trixie okay? Is she still in bed?", she questioned him, lowering her voice, so she wouldn't accidentally wake her up as well. She was met with a few disoriented blinks from Dan until his sleep-addled brain had made sense of the question.

"I suppose so. We were watching cartoons, because she was still scared and couldn't fall asleep, but I must have at some point…", he said anxiously. Without saying another word, he hurriedly got up and they both rushed to Trixie's bedroom door. Chloe opened it slightly and they peered through the crack.

Trixie was fast asleep. She was cuddled up to Lucifer, who was lying on her bed in last night's crumpled suit. It would have been sweet, had the view not jumpstarted Chloe's memory into filling in the missing pieces between the shooting and her getting to bed.

"Lucifer? What the hell is he doing here?", whispered Dan, but Chloe ignored him.

She'd been to see Lucifer. Lucifer, the literal, actual devil, who had woken upon them opening the door and was holding a finger up to his lips. If Chloe had paid any attention she would have noted the look on his face, but she only had eyes for her daughter. Her daughter, next to the devil.

"Lucifer. Get away from Trixie. Now", said icily, every motherly instinct in her screaming to protect her child. Lucifer slowly disentangled himself and got up from the bed, slipping into the shoes he'd left next to it.

"Detective", said Lucifer, but Chloe cut him off.

"Get away from Trixie!", she yelled.

"Chloe, what's wrong?", asked Dan. He sensed that something must have happened last night. His ex-wife had gone to, as she had put it, 'get answers', but he still didn't know what those were.

And then Chloe's saw the expression on Lucifer's face and the full force of what she'd just said hit her. Yes, this was Lucifer, the Devil. This was also Lucifer, her partner and friend, who had saved her daughter's life. Trixie wouldn't even be here without him and there she was, telling him to leave because she considered him a danger to her.

There was only sorrow in Lucifers' eyes, sorrow and pain and rejection and hurt and fear and it broke her heart. Chloe deflated. The apology was on her lips before she had even consciously thought about it.

"Lucifer, no, I'm sorry. I-", she began but before she could finish the sentence Trixie stirred and sat up in her bed

"Mommy? Lucifer, are you leaving?", she asked sleepily, when she saw he wasn't next to her anymore.

"I'm afraid so, Child", said Lucifer and slipped past a bewildered Dan, who looked from one to another, not knowing what was going on.

"Lucifer, wait", said Chloe. "Please. I'm sorry, I wasn't-" She held out a hand and dropped it again. Her eyes pleaded with him in a silent apology.

"It's quite alright, Detective." His hand was already on the doorknob. "I understand", he said quietly and it was the worst he could have possibly said.

"No! No, it's not alright, Lucifer!", said Chloe desperately, but he walked out.

"Chloe! What's going on?", asked Dan, yet once again Chloe ignored him and darted after Lucifer. He was already gone when she opened the door.

"I'm sorry", whispered Chloe, tears welling up in her eyes. She sat down on the sofa and buried her head in her hands. Dan sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Mommy, are you mad at Lucifer?", asked Trixie anxiously.

Chloe shook her head.

"No, honey, no… Well, maybe a little bit. I don't know", she admitted.

"Is it because he stayed here overnight when you didn't want him to?", asked Trixie. "Please don't be mad at him. It's my fault. I asked him to stay", she explained, hugging Ms. Alien. That did get Chloe to look up.

"What? You asked him to stay, monkey?" Why had he even been here, come to think of it. The last thing she remembered was seeing his... Chloe tried not to think about it.

"He brought you home last night, after Daddy fell asleep on the couch. He carried you upstairs and then he said he was going to leave, because you wouldn't want him to stay, but I asked him to stay, because I was so scared. Please don't be mad at him", she said. She looked at her parents with big, round eyes.

"I know you're here too, Daddy" Trixie looked at her father apologetically. "But you were asleep and I didn't want to wake you. And you're not as strong as Lucifer", she said matter-of-factly and Dan snorted. "Lucifer has wings that can hold off bullets!"

"Wait, what?", interjected Dan, but Trixie kept talking.

"He saved me, Mommy. When Lucifer is here, I know that nothing bad can happen to me because he'll protect me", she said confidently and broke into the first smile Chloe had seen on her since they had come back from the school yesterday.

Chloe held a hand up to her mouth, biting into a knuckle to fight back the mixture of sob and laugh trying to escape her. Her daughter felt safe with the devil.

"It's okay, monkey. I'm not mad at you or Lucifer. I was just surprised. He… he showed me something yesterday that he should have shown me a long time ago and it was a big shock for me. So I needed some space, but I'm not mad anymore", she said, emphasizing the last part. Then she smiled at Trixie. "Now, why don't you go wash up and get dressed and we can all go out for breakfast. How does that sound?"

"Even Lucifer?", asked Trixie.

Chloe hesitated.

"Lucifer has to take care of some business", she said firmly, but added: "But I'm sure we can go out with him some other time, okay honey?"

Nodding happily, Trixie ran off to get ready and Chloe turned to Dan, who looked at her with questioningly raised eyebrows, hoping to finally get the rundown from yesterday, which he did.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that Lucifer is the real, actual Devil? With a capital D", he asked, after Chloe had finished her account of what had transpired last night. "You're… you're messing with me" He laughed nervously.

Chloe shook her head.

"No, Dan, I'm not, I… Look, you werethere. You saw the bullet holes in his shirt, didn't you?"

Dan looked away and didn't answer.

"He knew about the shooting as soon as it happened!", said Chloe.

"He could have seen it on the news", mumbled Dan.

"No, he couldn't", objected Chloe. "Dan, I watched him. He didn't have his phone out or earphones in or anything. He said he needed to take a call and then he just stood there with his eyes closed and a second later he comes running and tells me about Trixie being in danger! So unless you think he had some kind of, I don't know, radio implant or what do I know-"

"Stuff like that exists", said Dan weakly, thinking of a case he'd heard about where people had had little receivers implanted in their ears, so they could cheat on their driver's license tests.

"And he is really committed to his charade."

"Come on, Dan!", said Chloe angrily. "Even if that were true, then why didn't he tell us to check the news, unless he had reason to believe it wasn't even on there yet? And how did he get to Trixie's school so fast? It's a forty minute drive and he left maybe five minutes before we did! The cops said he'd been there for at least half an hour when we came to the school. How likely do you think this is in LA traffic?"

"Well, how likely is it that Lucifer is the Devil?", Dan hissed back.

"I know it sounds nuts, Dan! But" Chloe wrung her hands helplessly. "You… you do believe me, Dan, don't you?", she asked. Uncertainty had crept into her voice "You know I wouldn't just make up stuff like this" Dan still looked skeptical, so Chloe pressed on. "You've seen some the things he has done, Dan. It was there all along, we were just too… too blind to see it!" She looked at him imploringly and Dan threw his hands up in defeat.

"I know! Chloe. I know! I'm not stupid! I've seen the same evidence you have. And I believe you. It's just… the devil. I mean. Wow." Dan looked at her dumbstruck. "And he was here!", he exclaimed, the blood draining from his face. Only now did he fully understand the implications. "With Trixie."

"Whose life he saved", said Chloe. "And I yelled at him. He saved her life and I yelled at him to leave her alone because I thought she was in danger." She choked back another sob. "He looked so hurt", she said. "Dan, I have to go and apologize to him."

"What?! Chloe, you just told me he's the devil!", Dan blurted out, remembering to keep his voice down just in time.

"Yes!", said Chloe. "Yes, he is and I'm not going to pretend I'm not shocked Dan, I am! And his face… it was terrible. But that doesn't mean heis. He's a good man, Dan, and you know it!"

"Technically he's not even a man - sorry." He ducked down when she glowered at him. "All right! All I'm saying is – I don't want him around our daughter. And yes, I know he saved her life!" Dan had to admit that if you put it like that, it didn't exactly sound fair to Lucifer.

"Twice", Chloe pointed out, referring to the Malcolm Graham debacle.

"Chloe, he's literally the Devil! Evil incarnate", insisted Dan, although wasn't as convinced anymore.

"No. No, he's not", said Chloe. "He said it himself: The Devil isn't evil, he punishes evil. Lucifer would never harm Trixie, nor would… Maze", she trailed off, her expression going blank. If everything Lucifer had said was true, if he was indeed the devil, that meant that Maze…

Dan immediately caught up with her train of thought.

"Maze is a demon, isn't she", he said slowly.

"I think I need to call Linda", said Chloe faintly.

"I'm ready! Can we go have breakfast now?", squealed Trixie, running towards her parents, Ms. Alien in her arms.