A Little Less Conversation

After coming away with nothing on set with Grey Cooper and his entourage, Chloe and Lucifer returned to the Precinct. Now that all the obvious lines of questioning had dried up, it was time to start digging through her life much more thoroughly in the hopes some kind of lead might present itself.

"I'm having a hard time understanding your resistance to the idea, Detective. It's a much more liberal world than it was just a few hundred years ago. And trust me, you could use a little pick-me-up," Lucifer said, on Decker's heels as she scaled the stair stone stairs up to the Precinct's street-side entrance.

"Your measurements aren't as impressive as you think, Mr. Morningstar. It takes a bit more than that to convince me to go between the sheets with someone," Chloe replied, rolling her eyes. She turned holding the door open for him. He didn't so much as try to help her keep it open.

"And yet something about my 'measurements' still has you thinking about them. You know as well as I do, Detective, it's enough to do right by you. And as for which state my dimensions apply to, well, the only way you'll ever find out is the hard way," Lucifer said coyly, as he was forced to share the door frame with her when stepping through it.

"Still not interested, Lucifer. And look who's blushing now."

"Indeed. Colour me impressed, Detective," Lucifer said inching himself close enough it forced her to withdraw or risk being kissed.

Chloe made a conscious effort to exhale the irritation she was feeling, looking away from him to steady herself again.

Lucifer allowed himself an affectionate chuckle. "You're making that sound quite a bit. It's becoming rather endearing."

"I've never been this irritated for so long in my life. But, if it will get justice for this victim, I'll deal with it," Chloe said evenly as she released her hold on the door. It unceremoniously snapped closed behind them, smacking him in the backside.

This one does like to play, Lucifer thought to himself. Bully for me. "'Lucifer', now, is it?" he asked nonchalantly, catching up to her and hoping to get her to lower her guard.

"To save time. Yes." Even this jerk's name is a pain in the ass, Chloe mused silently.

The two walked to her desk. Lucifer picked up her name plate blowing off a touch dust. "Detective Chloe Decker. Well, since we're on a first name basis, Chloe–"

"No. Detective," Chloe corrected him sternly as she took her seat. "The Devil" pulled himself up a chair and made himself at home beside her desk.

Lucifer nodded, unphased. "All right. I happen to pride myself and never subjecting someone to something they haven't asked for or refused. 'Detective' it is," he replied, having added a suggestive undercurrent to the title.

Chloe's frown had to compete with her surprise for facial real estate. "Thank you." So... all I have to do is ask him not to pursue me anymore and I can focus on... Chloe didn't get the chance to finish the thought.

"For your information, Detective, I'm not riddled with disease. If I had anything, wouldn't there be an avalanche of aggravated assault cases coming through the Precinct? Lux is in this Precinct's jurisdiction," Lucifer offered, perfectly happy to make her comfortable with him in that regard. Especially if it served to bring her one step closer to him. He reclined comfortably in his seat, one ankle up on his knee – a pose that seemed expressly designed to put himself on display.

Her gaze now inquisitive, Chloe fixed it to his, ignoring the rest of him. "Yes. There would be." She looked back to her computer terminal unphased. She began typing purposefully.

"What are you doing?"

"Running a few database searches – local and federal – while writing an email asking for about any active cases that might involve you or your business. Just because the cases aren't on my desk, doesn't mean they're not here," Chloe stated, certain there would be something to be found.

"If I was carrying anything, Detective, I'd be up to my eyeballs in enough lawsuits to sink Lux five times over. You seeing where I'm going with this?" Lucifer asked, somewhat patronizing.

Chloe sat back folding her arms in front of her. "Sure. You keep them quiet somehow."

Lucifer sighed, feeling somewhat morose. For someone whose stock-in-trade was logic she seemed to be almost willfully ignoring the truth. "What is it, Detective? The name? That has you assuming I'm inherently evil?"

"I'm not assuming anything. I'm starting with a reasonably probable scenario. Where it goes from there, will be where the evidence I find, leads," Chloe replied, her words conveying nothing other than truth.

Lucifer put one eyebrow up quizzically. "Hmm. Well, that'd be disappointing. There's nothing to be found, thus nowhere to go. And 'this' really does need to go anywhere but nowhere. I haven't actually bothered to just talk to someone this long in... well, forever," Lucifer said, the realization taking him by surprise.

"And your interactions with other people consist of...?"

"A little less conversation and considerably more action..." Lucifer cocked his head to the side slightly when Detective Decker's only reply was a remarkably restrained, lopsided smile. "Do I detect a smile, Detective?"

It disappeared the instant he said it. "No. No you don't," she shot back, shaking her head. "Lucifer, the stories about your exploits around town are true, and unfortunately, the odds you're carrying something are high enough I think I might actually feel sorry for you."

Lucifer smiled warmly. "Your concern is touching, Detective, but I'm not. Carrying anything, that is. Do you honestly think something like a pesky human disease could even infect or survive inside someone divine?" Lucifer inquired, his lack of concern on the subject apparent in every inch of him.

Chloe shook her head impatiently. This again...? "If, for a moment, I entertained the idea that you were, in fact, the Devil, an angel, a demon, or whatever–"

Unable to help himself, he firmly corrected her. "Angel, to be precise. You really think some lowly demon could rule Hell?" Lucifer asked derisively.

"I think that's one Hell of a superiority complex," Decker shot back. Just when she'd thought the ego on him couldn't possibly get any larger. She jumped back into his original line of questioning. "To answer your question: no, I don't think an angel or devil would be vulnerable to that kind of thing..."

ó

"Who's that?" Dan asked, approaching Chloe at the vending machine and pointing toward the black-suit-clad individual seated by her desk... entertaining himself in her absence.

Dancing around the question, she replied, "A... uh... consultant. He's provided some useful information on the case."

"He's not a consultant, Chlo. That's Lucifer-fucking-Morningstar. The guy owns Lux. What are you thinking walking him in here? The only way that guy should be setting foot in this Precinct is in cuffs, headed for detention," her ex-husband asserted, leaning on the vending machine and obscuring her access to the dial pad.

Chloe answered him, irritation plain on her face. "Patronizing me, Dan? Really? Asking me who he is like you don't already know."

Sighing regretfully, Dan took a breath in and took the edge off what he said next. "I just don't want you getting yourself into another... situation like Palmetto. Don't get entangled with this guy, Chlo. He's bad news. From what I can tell, just about every low-life in this city owes the guy for some favour or another. If you get yourself indebted to him..."

"When I need my hand held, I'll ask," Chloe sniped.

Dan's expression betrayed how sharp her words had been. "Yeah... well, I just thought I'd warn you now, rather than when you're picking up the pieces again," Dan said, wearing a surprisingly tender but half-hearted smile. Doing the right thing always seemed to earn him a slap him in the face. He walked away, giving his head a shake, back to his desk and the case file sitting open on it. Chloe cast a wary gaze toward her desk where Lucifer sat distracting himself from her absence with origami and a pencil like some six-year-old. She couldn't recall Dan ever warning her about any one specific person ever before. Steeling herself, she returned to her seat.

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