CHAPTER 3

As soon as Ella steps into the house she looks like a kid on Christmas morning. She has worked as a forensic scientist for years now, but her job is usually limited to driving to crime scenes and then back to her lab, but never has she yet been offered to take part in a sting operation - until now. It takes all her willpower not to bounce around the place and squeal. This is her first-ever undercover operation, and as a bonus, two of her dearest friends would be with her for this new experience. She turns to face Lucifer and Chloe.

"Oh my God, Guys! Look at this kitchen. It's bigger than my condo." She walks around. The kitchen of the common area is a typical open kitchen with a counter in the middle, mixing the latest technology of domotics and designer appliances perfectly. Almost all of them can be controlled from a smartphone. She then walks into the common dining room. It consists of a huge plain wood dining table and a coffee corner with leather couches and a metal low table, all mixed in a modern/classical style. She jumps on the couch and presses the remote control. A huge flatscreen TV appears from the ceiling. "This place is just amazing!" She adds as she heads towards her own space. Her room is as big as half of the living room and contains a king-sized bed, small office space and her living room. All in all, her space is big enough to be considered a small condo. She comes back and grabs her stuff she dropped somewhere near the couch. "This is going to be SOOOO cool!" She says as she sits back on the sofa.

Chloe smiles at Ella because the situation kinda makes her feel as if Trixie has somehow taken over the brunette body. "Remember Ella, this is a sting operation, not holidays!" The Detective winks and heads to her - or rather their - quarters for the next days or weeks, depending on how it would go.

She lets her bag fall to the floor and finally opens the door. Her jaw drops as she takes in the whole suite. It's decorated with very good tastes and bears a lot of similarities to Lux. She can see the bottom of a huge bed on the other end of the ensuite living-room - to which she doesn't pay too much attention to because it looks very plain compared to the rest of the house and the bedroom. Except for the black marble desk on which she puts her stuff on, and the safe under it in which she'll be able to leave her gun and case information. She walks on and reaches the bedroom. The bed looks really comfortable and spacey, covered with black sheets and A LOT of fluffy cushions. She resists the urge to test it out and continues to walk into the ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet. It is the first time she has ever seen a bathroom that lavish, although she has no doubt Lucifer's bathroom would probably look a lot like this one. Chloe immediately looks for a secondary bed but doesn't find any, and she doesn't need to turn around to see Lucifer's grin as he also takes this new information in.

"I have to say that whoever decorated this place has very good tastes." He walks by the Detective and can see her eye-roll from the corner of his eyes. He continues, still grinning, to walk into the walk-in closet of their suite. "And it seems that all our belongings for this little sting are all here." He browses through his and her clothes. He takes out a lovely red and white summer dress and shows it to Chloe. "Did you pick them out yourself?" He asks, thrilled by the simple garment.

"For some yes." She stops herself from adding that she picked this one on purpose because she probably thought he would like it. "The precinct picked the rest after I gave them some examples of what I had in mind. We're not all control freaks when it comes to how we dress, Lucifer..." She adds as she knows he made sure to pick ALL his suits himself.

"Well, this one is positively sinful, Darling," he replies as he puts the dress back.

"I…" Chloe starts, but before she can continue, a cheerful voice interrupts them. "Wooooow!" Ella says. "This place is even sicker than mine!" She completes as she walks in. Then she smiles. "One bed though..." She winks at Chloe.

Lucifer simply smirks at the brunette's remark. Chloe turns towards Ella, her face as serious as she can make it. "We're both grown-ups, Ella, and we're NOT a bunch of horny teenagers." She says this last part looking straight at Lucifer.

"Well I'm not a teenager anymore, but I'm certainly…"

"WE can contain ourselves," Chloe interrupts Lucifer before he can follow through with his reply. She quickly walks out of the room, avoiding his eyes this time. "Now how about we start to work on our battle plan for this operation," she finishes, as part of her brain still tries to figure out how she is going to avoid doing anything stupid with her work partner if she has to share a bed and house life with him for the time of this sting - even she isn't probably that strong.

Lucifer follows her soon after, asking himself about the same question. He may have been able to fool them - himself included - for the time being and hide behind his smirk, but in truth, this sting was going to be more than what he had imagined in terms of self-control, as the promise he made her a couple of days still echoes in his head. However, part of him is also eager to start this little make-believe as he can actually get to discover Chloe from another angle, and this was going to be interesting, to say the least.

After about half an hour of talking about general topics about the operation - or rather Chloe treating them as children and giving them all sorts of advice on how to not blow this up before they can get to their target - they decide to go and take a walk around the secured lot to check what their exit options could be if they ever needed some. Their lot is like a small city within the city of Los Angeles, and it is almost possible to have everything at hand without ever leaving it. It takes them about three hours to visit the whole neighbourhood and Chloe takes this chance to localise as many surveillance devices as she can. To her surprise, almost everywhere in the lot is covered by them, except a small part near the main "office" and less than a dozen alleys which run in-between buildings. As Morris explained quickly the "office" inside the lot has its specific feed to avoid any secrets being taken out or hacked.

Other than that, they count about thirty apartments, some shared between roommates of the same age, and others shared by the employees and their families. A community pool is also available for any of them to use at all hours, a fitness centre, tennis courts, baseball pitch, football/rugby/soccer field. A common movie room big enough to accommodate about fifty people at a time is also at the residents' disposal. And finally a main single-storey building - fully covered in tainted glass - that offers all types of entertainment like video games, table tennis, couch area, a small kitchen, common workspaces… From the outside, this building seems to be some sort of casual co-working space where the employees usually come to eat and have off-meetings and such, but it is so much more than just this. They even notice a bus that drives through the lot four to five times a day, to bring the employees from their place to the "office", stopping at different places along the way. In case any resident needs to get to the headquarter, a specific free shuttle runs three times a day - in the morning, midday and in the afternoon. Besides, there is a weekly delivery for their grocery shopping. All in all this place offers a lot of things and makes sure that all employees who live there have as little to worry about as possible, so they can be entirely focused on their job.

Once they walk past the main common space, Ella stops.

"Do you mind if we continue this tour a bit later on," she asks but adds as none of her colleagues reply. "I've seen there are some people in the game/meeting/kitchen area and I'd like to check it out, you know mingle a little. After all, I am here for that, and I don't think it would be very believable to have me spend my time with my guardian and his girlfriend."

"Sure," Chloe says, hesitant. "Meet you back for dinner?"

"Yes, Mom," Ella jokes.

Chloe smiles and turns around to walk back to their house. Lucifer smirks.

"What?" She asks, a bit pissed.

"You do know that she is a grown woman?"

"Of course," Chloe replies. "It's just that it's her first case undercover and I…," she stops as she realises that she indeed went all mother on her. "I just went all mama bear on her, didn't I," she asks as she recalls her earlier speech about the DOs and DONTs of a sting operation.

"A little," he admits. "But it's not as bad as when Maze went on her bounty in Canada," he jokes as he recalls their discussion at the precinct.

"Well, if I remember correctly, I wasn't the only one being protective at the time."

He simply chuckles as they continue to walk towards their house. He opens the door and lets Chloe in before he follows. He closes the front door and heads for their suite. Chloe looks at him, a bit surprised. Lucifer sees her silent question and simply smiles.

"I figured, since my favourite goddaughter decided to investigate on her own, I could use this time to enjoy the pool and swim for a while." Lucifer smiles. "Feel free to join me if you feel like it." He winks before he disappears at the top of the stairs. He comes downstairs only a couple of minutes later, dressed in black, very luxurious swim trunks, towel on the shoulder. "Reached your decision?" He asks as he sees the look Chloe gives him as he comes down the stairs. "Well, that's interesting." He thinks to himself, as he expects the blunt refusal of his partner.

"I'll…," Chloe stops mid-sentence. "Maybe later?" She finally says.

"Really?" Lucifer replies, surprised for the second time since they started the sting.

"I have to review some elements about the case and maybe call Trixie before her class starts again, but maybe later."

He gives her a smile that says plenty about how he feels at the prospect of seeing her later. "Well, you know where to find me, Darling," he casually replies, still happy she entertained the idea of joining him later, even if it was just to be nice to him.

After more than an hour reviewing the case and some possible leads they might have missed, she looks at the clock to check the time as she is prone to get lost in her world when focused on a specific task.

"Shit!" She says as she realises it's way past lunchtime. She looks at her phone, worried Ella might have run into some troubles as she said she'd be back for lunch later on. No missed calls or texts. She quickly sends a message to Ella asking where she was at and if she planned to come home soon.

Then she decides to head outside, to relax a bit, even maybe swim a little to ease that tension she felt at the moment. She walks back to her - or rather their - room to change into her swimming suit. She wonders for a moment what the department picked for her as they did most of the shopping for this, but when she sees the bathing suit she can't help but roll her eyes as she realises it is the exact copy of the one she wore in Hot Tub Highschool. She looks in her stuff to see if there is another one, however it seems to be the only one available. She puts it on and heads outside, ready to scold Lucifer for this, but stops as she finds him asleep on a deckchair, by the pool. She can see he's almost dried off and as she sees the ice-cold bottle of water a few feet away from him, the perfect revenge plan for his choice of swimsuit falls into place. She opens the bottle and almost hesitates for a second before she empties the container in one go on him. She can't help her smile at her prank as she sees his reaction.

"Bloody Hell!" He suddenly sits up, surprised by the ice-cold water on his very hot skin. He looks around for the culprit when he sees Chloe, weapon in hands, a smirk on her face, and wearing what he chose - or rather what the department picked for her on his advice. "Did you just empty that bottle on me?" He asks, torn between anger and pride.

"Oopsy," Chloe simply says. "It was an accident?"

"An accident, right." He takes her in fully. "Although I see you found the swimsuit the department chose for you."

"The department, right." She looks straight at him and is surprised by the fire she sees in his eyes.

"Well with my artistic advice." He smiles. "And from what I see it was one very good choice."

"I swear, if you make a reference to me losing the top of this swimsuit, I WILL shoot you again."

To her surprise, he laughs but doesn't push, as per his promise. "So this was an accident?"

"Well, accidents happen all the time, Lucifer." She replies innocently. She doesn't see his next move until it's too late. Lucifer catches her before she can run away, his hands holding her by the waist set to get her back for her accident by throwing her in the pool. Out of reflex, Chloe grabs him as she falls into the water, bringing the Devil with her fall. As they both resurface from their tumble, they finally realise their very close proximity and all of their movements freeze. However, they make no move to separate, Lucifer's hands still on Chloe's hips, while she still holds him by the shoulders. They simply stare at each other, not sure what to do, or rather not daring to do anything, but not willing to get away from each other either. Lucifer does his best to let her make the first move if she so wishes, but his self-control wanes the longer he looks at her. He can see the same struggle in her eyes, and right this instant, the promise he made her a couple of days ago, seems to be one of the hardest to keep. He can finally see her face moving closer to his like a magnet is attracted to metal. She doesn't seem to be able to stop the pull towards his lips.

A loud slam suddenly brings them both back to reality and they jump away from each other - or rather Chloe pushes herself off Lucifer - as if they had received a bucket of ice on their heads. She quickly swims a couple of steps away from Lucifer, her eyes still centred on his, almost apologetic, just in time to see Ella walk outside to meet them. Chloe quickly gets out of the pool, flushed.

"I have to…," she pauses, not sure what to say next. "I have to check if Trixie called me back."

"Am I interrupting anything?" Ella asks, aware of the tension in the air. "Because if I am, I can totally come back later and…"

"Don't make anything of it Miss Lopez" Lucifer interrupts her. "Accidents happen all the time." He repeats what Chloe said before on purpose, his voice sounding a bit hurt at the thought of Choe recoiling from his touch in this way.

"Okay…," Ella says, not sure what he meant, but kinda used to his nonsense. "Meet you inside in a few?"

"Of course," he replies, his facade now back on. "Just let me get change and I'll be down in a blink." Ella smiles.

He quickly gets out of the water and dries himself off with his towel to avoid dripping water everywhere while he walks towards their apartment. He knocks on the door before he walks in. He finds Chloe almost dressed and ready to go meet Ella in the living-room. She avoids his eyes at all costs, not sure how to react after what almost happened and what could have happened if not for Ella's arrival. She decides to put the whole accident behind her and goes for a non-committal reply.

"Meet you downstairs once you're done?"

"Of course, Detective." Lucifer heads for the walk-in closet but he turns at the last minute. "Detecti…" He stops. "Chloe," The use of her name makes her turn around almost immediately. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"What do you mean?" She asks, her tone as neutral as she can make it - given how she feels in this very moment.

"The moment we had in the pool?" He asks as he takes a step closer.

"Oh," she replies. "I'm not sure, to be honest," she continues as she recalls the chills she felt when he held her or the one she feels right now as he comes closer to her even more. "Oh come on, Chloe, get a grip, this is Lucifer, what do you think it means?" She tells herself. "I guess I would call it revenge."

"Is that all it was?" He asks, not sure. When she doesn't reply, he quickly continues. "Never mind, forget I said anything. I'll meet you downstairs with Miss Lopez once I've showered and dressed," he ends as he walks towards the shower.

After a good twenty minutes, Lucifer finally comes down, wearing a more relaxed outfit. He sports a dark red casual shirt and some black dress jeans - of course perfectly fit for him. He also holds a light leather jacket in hand to complete his look. Chloe watches him until he reaches them. Ella doesn't seem - or pretends not to - notice Chloe's stare. Lucifer ignores the Detective on purpose and directly addresses Ella.

"So, Ellaine," he emphasizes her sting name on purpose, "what fun news did you discover while playing video games with your new friends?"

Ella looks over at Chloe, aware something definitely went down while she was away but unable to figure out what yet. She makes a mental note to ask Chloe later on. She ignores the tension for now and concentrates on her report.

"I think I may have talked to one of the members of the circle."

"Why do you say that?" Chloe enquiries, now back into her usual cop-mode.

"Well, he was very secretive and kept talking about a weekly event that is supposed to be very selective and all. He said he could try to get me in."

"Or maybe he just wanted to lure you into their weekly frat parties. And to sell it, he made up a whole bunch of secrets." Lucifer counters.

"It's still worth investigating though," Chloe says. "Given the amount of information we have, we can't leave any stones we find unturned."

"What if it's dangerous?" Lucifer counters.

"Relax, Dude," Ella replies. "At best, I get introduced to the circle or at worst, I get to enjoy a frat party."

"When is this event going to happen?" Chloe asks.

"Tonight."

"Do you have a time, or a location, or anything that could allow us to locate you at some point?"

"Not yet. But I can send you a message every half-hour. This way if I miss one, you can look for me. I'll confirm when I get there where I am and if it is indeed a party or the real thing." Ella pauses. "Do you know who our inside man is by the way?"

"Okay," Chloe agrees. "And no we don't. Morris never shared a description, just a name. Jet."

"So not my guy, then," Ella completes. "His name was Doug. I'll be keeping an eye out if I see him at some point and try to discover the identity of our mysterious Jet."

"See, I told you it was a frat party," Lucifer adds. "Any idea when our nerdy contact is meant to reach us?"

"According to what she told me, she wanted him to wait a bit before he made contact with us. So I would say we'll probably see him tomorrow or the day after."

"Nice," Ella concludes. "Let me know when he finally contacts us. In the meantime, I'll be getting ready for later and probably just review a couple of pieces of information that the precinct sent over for on-going cases I left unsolved before the sting started." Ella winks at Chloe. "After all, this isn't a vacation, right?"

The rest of the afternoon and beginning of the evening goes rather well - given what happened earlier - tension fading a bit, although both Lucifer and Chloe do their best to avoid each other. As a result, the duo doesn't talk much either, or only to exchange pleasantries. After some awkward silences, Chloe decides to go for a run to try and empty her mind, while Lucifer chooses to stay in and read a bit, drink in hand - per usual - while chatting with Ella from time to time, until the Detective comes back.

Around 8:30 pm Ella finally steps out of her room, ready to meet her new friends and see where Doug decided to bring her. She wore her usual attire with a new blue t-shirt with a quote which says "Nerd? I prefer the term more intelligent than you". Chloe can't help but smile as she sees the outfit of the forensic tech.

"Remember, a text every half hour if it's not a frat party and the location as soon as you can send it over." Chloe insists before the brunette leaves.

"Promise!" She replies. "And you guys, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Don't worry about that," Lucifer huffs, not loud enough for either of the women to hear.

Once Ella is gone, some kind of weird silence settles between them, both not sure what to do, or where to start, neither willing to talk about the elephant in the room.

"Do you fancy a drink, Detective?" Lucifer asks, just to break the silence and in an attempt to re-establish the communication between them.

"Why not," she replies.

"What's your poison? Gin, vodka, whiskey, red wine?" He asks as he reviews what their bar has to offer.

"Wine is good."

Lucifer pours her a glass and decides to take one for himself as well. They settle with a six-foot distance between them. But before neither of them can speak, a loud knock on the door interrupts them.

"I'll get it," Chloe says, taking the chance to do something. She opens the door and falls face to face with a very stylish man, around thirty-five, and clearly taking care of himself in more ways than one. "Hi," she greets him. "How can I help you?"

"Hi," he replies. "Are you Ellaine?"

"No, I'm Chloe. Ellaine is not here at the moment. Who are you?"

"I'm Jet. Miss Morris sent me, you know about the Circle."

"Hello, Jet. Nice to meet you." Chloe smiles. "Do you want to come in?"

"With pleasure." He smiles back at her. "You know what, Chloe, I'm very happy you're not Ellaine."

"And why is that?"

"Because you're a very charming woman, and I never mix business with pleasure, so it would have been a shame if you had been Ellaine, because…" He stops as he sees Lucifer stepping behind the Detective, hands coming to rest on her waist.

"Ah! Nerdy boy is here," he interrupts him. He takes in his appearance, 6ft, perfect outfit, tanned body, curly jet black hair, just the right amount of cockiness. "Not so nerdy after all it would appear," he adds as he extends his hand to him. "I'm Lucifer Morningstar, Chloe's boyfriend."

Jet doesn't shake it and simply winks at Chloe, completely unphased by Lucifer. "I guess I'll have to come back tomorrow then. Can you let Ellaine know I stopped by." He winks at Chloe.

Lucifer's hand tightens just slightly around Chloe's hip. "Yeah, you do that. Have a nice evening." He finishes as he shuts the door behind him.

As soon as the door closes, Chloe turns to Lucifer and removes his hand from her hips. A part of her already misses the contact, but a good part of her way too pissed at him to reflect on it yet.

"What the hell was that?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know very well what I mean, Lucifer." She rolls her eyes and looks straight at him, angry. "Need I remind you that this man is our current - and only - lead to this case?"

"Great!" He takes a step towards her and she takes a step back to keep the distance between them. Right now is not a time to get distracted by his touch. "Why don't you go sleep with him then?" He moves closer again. "You seem to be rather willing."

His last reply completely sets her off and she explodes. She stops stepping back from him and gasps, anger now fully taking control of her.

"You are UNBELIEVABLE!" She says. "Even if I wanted to sleep with him, I don't see how this would be any of your business." He opens his mouth to reply, but she doesn't give him the chance. "You don't see me get jealous each time you sleep with the first blonde that comes into the room."

"Well, clearly not every blonde." He replies, sarcastic.

She laughs, more out of nervousness as she still can't believe him and his reaction. "Right, because surely it's every girl's dream to be another notch to the mighty Lucifer Morningstar's bedpost."

"Who said it would be a notch?" He replies, now getting angry as well that she would just assume this, especially after all he did.

"Oh I don't know, how about every single one of your conquests I stumble upon at your place, or how about every time you've mentioned it in the past."

"Or maybe you just never bothered to ask me my thoughts on it, and just assume everything." He smirks, knowing he hit a spot with his reply. However, his reply has the opposite effect on Chloe and angers her even more. He takes a step closer as she doesn't reply, but simply groans. "Afraid you might like it, Detective?" He asks, hiding his discomfort at the unexpected serious turn of their conversation behind his cockiness. "You know, it might not be this bad to loosen up once in a while and have a bit of fun."

"See this is exactly what I meant," she replies. "And I take it you would be that fun part. Or maybe I should call Jet and have fun."

"Jet wouldn't offer the tenth of what I can do," he answers. "It would be the best-time-of-your-life kind of fun with me," he adds, his chest slightly puffing. "Not that you'd know what fun is anyway."

He now stands very close to her, none of them willing to move one inch from their position on this debate.

"You know what, yes I'll admit that you are charming and sexy, and attractive, but you are also so frustrating, annoying, selfish and completely unaware of the others around you. So I might not know what your definition of fun is, but I have responsibilities, not that this speaks to you anyway. And yes, I'm tempted to give in sometimes, but this," she motions between their very close bodies "reminds me exactly why it would be a bad idea and why it would never work out. My idea of fun is spending a quiet evening with Trixie, or reading a book. Your idea of fun is having orgies up in your penthouse and meaningless sex, with a touch of whiskey. So guess what, even if sometimes I want to take you up on your offer, I just can't."

"Why not?" He simply asks, ignoring her whole tirade on his so-called abnormal sex life.

"Because this is a part of growing up, and unlike you, I don't get to do what I want, when I want, no matter how tempting it sounds." "And because I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to stop or do the one-night thing if I gave in" She adds in her mind.

"Why not?" He repeats.

"Not everyone has the luxury of following all of their desires." She replies.

"How about you try and follow a single? All you think about is responsibilities and work. You're the only human who seems to be able to resist me."

She sighs in frustration. "Do you really think I don't know what you look like, or that I never thought about what it would be like to sleep with you, or that you don't have any effect on me when you're close?" She doesn't notice Lucifer's stunned face after her half-hidden confession that he indeed affected her more than she let on, but again she was an actress. Instead, she continues. "But I just can't. You mean too much as a friend and as a partner for me to ruin all this over one night of sex, no matter how good it can be." She finishes, her cards now all on the table.

He doesn't reply straight after she finishes. He had expected this to go many ways, but this one was not in his plans. "What if it's not just one night," he quietly says, suddenly very calm. He gives her time to reply, but she doesn't. "What if I want more than just one night?"

"It's not just this, not just what you want, or what I want," she finally says. "We're just not… It wouldn't work out."

"Why not?" He asks for the third time, but this time, meaning it fully.

"Because you're too you!" She says, out of arguments.

She decides to mark the end of their conversation and starts to walk away from him towards their room to get away from him for a moment before she forgets why she thought it wasn't a good idea in the first place. She managed to hide so far, but all he had said, especially the last part about him wanting more than just one night hit deep within her and awakened some buried feelings she thought were under control. She closes the door, hoping Lucifer wouldn't follow her in. She puts her head on the door as she hears him coming after her, but stopping, hand on the handle.

"You're aware that this conversation isn't over, and that we actually have to share this house for the upcoming days."

Chloe takes a deep breath in an attempt to get herself under control, as she can almost feel his heat on the other side of the door. Part of her wants to give him - them - a try, but part of her also keeps on replaying all those times she saw him flirting and charming his way around, or his latest statement only a week ago that he didn't do relationship".

"You can't hide forever, Detective." He tries again.

She sighs and finally opens the door. She walks straight past him, fully set on forgetting the last five minutes, at least until she can figure herself out. However, Lucifer has other ideas and follows her down the stairs as she heads for the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Detective," he starts. "What part of this conversation isn't over didn't you get exactly?" His tone is not pissed, but more ironic.

Chloe stops in her tracks and turns to face him, almost bumping into him. "Yes, it is." She backs towards the counter until her back hits it. "What point is there to talk about it anyway, it's never gonna happen."

"At least give the real reason why."

"I have…"

"No, you haven't. All you've given me are excuses."

"I told you, you're too…"

"I know I'm too me. And yet this doesn't seem to bother you usually." He looks into her eyes. "Besides, you of all people should know there are more layers to me than just the club owner and dashing playboy." He challenges her.

"I never said that you were only that" she corrects him. "As you once said, you're a hat and I'm a shoe…"

"That was weeks ago," he interrupts her. "And maybe I want to discover what it's like to be a shoe." He pauses. "And no one said a shoe and a hat don't match, you just have to find the right combination."

Chloe feels her resolve disappear as Lucifer's words sink in. She tries to escape, but to no avail, as Lucifer blocks her way out. Not enough to stop her fully, but enough so that she would need to push him away slightly.

"You're gonna have to be more convincing than this, Detective. Now that the subject is open, and I know how you feel…"

"What about your promise to not push to sleep with me?" She interrupts him before he's able to finish.

"I promised to stop and try to sleep with you. I never said I wouldn't try and get why it was a bad idea." He smirks at her, proud of the loophole he just found.

However, this only annoys Chloe further and she drops the glass in the sink, all her frustration and annoyance coming up this moment.

"You want to know the real reason why?" She doesn't give him any time to reply. "It's because I don't want to look over my shoulder to know which guest you entertained over at your penthouse, or to whom you gave your number for later use," she adds as she recalls the receptionist when they went to see Morris the first time. "I want to be sure that I can fully trust you. And for now, it's not something I'm sure I can do." She takes a breath and continues before he can misinterpret what she said. "I trust you as a partner and as a friend because you have my back, but I'm not sure if I can trust you to be more than a friend." She finishes, out of breath.

He laughs. "Right, because you're so trustworthy yourself." He tries to counter, but soon he realises that he spoke too soon, out of frustration.

This time, it's Chloe's turn to smirk as she waits for his example that he won't find any time soon. He smiles suddenly.

"How about this time when you arrested me after the preacher got killed?"

"You mean after I was on your side and trying to help you but you misunderstood and walked away from me to deal with all this on your own, against my advice, and then I also ended helping you," she says, still angry but unable to hide the smugness in her voice as she knows she has him cornered. She relaxes slightly and crosses her arms. "Still waiting for your example."

He clears his throat. "How about this time you showed up drunk at my place and wanted to sleep with me when I rejected you?"

"How is this relevant to the topic of trust?"

"Well you had just gotten back with the Douche, so technically you were about to cheat on him. Not that I mind…" He says, pleased with himself.

"First we agreed to never mention this again. As I said, it was a fluke," she replies, annoyed at how he uses this against her. "And second, I was drunk and Dan had just dumped me, so technically I wasn't involved with him anymore, so your argument doesn't stick." She answers, daring him to find another example.

For the first, Lucifer doesn't know what to say. Chloe puts her hand on his chest to push him away so she can finally have a bit of space to stop her mind from going crazy. "This proves my point exactly."

Her hand on his body breaks his trance and he looks at her, the only feeling shown on his face now being a disappointment or hurt at both himself and the fact she admitted she couldn't trust him.

"Or maybe this just proves that you don't trust me enough to believe that I can change and be a different person with you." He finally admits. "I'm the Devil after all."

As she witnesses the display of emotions pass through his face, Chloe realises for the first time that they've known each other, he finally lets the tiniest crack in this giant wall happen, which he built around him because of his twisted family history. As if erased by some magic markers, all her doubts and anger disappears as all she sees is her partner's doubt. His eyes remind her of this time after he claimed to have lost his brother. Except this time, she was determined to not give up. She moves her hand from his shoulder to his cheek. She turns his face so she can see his eyes.

"I trust you fully, Lucifer." She says, her tone soft, trying to find a way to prove she meant what she said, and she saw him for who he really was. She keeps eye contact with him and decides to drop a kiss on his cheek.

However, the moment her lips touch his skin, she realises that she made a big mistake as she feels as if a small fire had been lit up within her. She slowly moves away from his cheek until she stands mere inches from his lips, not sure what she should do.

"Detective…" Lucifer whispers as he feels her breath on his soft lips, not sure if he can trust his senses right now, after the emotional rollercoaster that just happened. How they went from being at each other's throat to this heart to heart talk is lost by him. When she doesn't pull back but closes the distance, he pushes her fully against the counter, hands finding her hips like earlier, only this time in a less innocent way, but as easily as if they had done this a thousand times. However, despite both their desires, they remain tentative, both enjoying the new contact and discovery. Chloe can't help the small moan to leave her lips as the Devil deepens their kiss and lifts her so she now sits on the counter. She opens her legs to let him step in between them, and he doesn't need to be told twice. He takes a step closer to her until she's flushed against him. Her hands move around his body, following the taut muscles under his shirt. She lingers around his nipples, following down his stomach, feels his abs underneath, until she finally reaches his belt and untucks his shirt. She slides her fingers to rest on his ass for a bit until the shirt is out of his pants all the way. She comes back up, her fingers ghosting over his scars on the way. He hisses as he feels the light pain. She stops immediately.

"I'm so sorry,' she apologizes quickly, her hands resting on his shoulders instead.

"It's alright." He smiles at her. "Just avoid the area." He finishes as his lips find hers again to close the topic for now before it ruins their moment.

She smiles and trails her hands down his body again, following his sides to stay on the safe side as the kiss heats up quickly. She soon finds her way to the buttons of his shirt and opens them one by one, slowly, purposefully as she notices every flix of his chest as her hands go lower towards his belt. Once all buttons are done, she pushes the shirt off his shoulders and Lucifer lets it slide to the floor. He follows her initiative and slides the top off her body, leaving both of them almost fully naked from the waist up. As her fingers fumble with his belt, his movements grow rasher and he feels a tug inside of his head. It takes him a second to identify the feeling and once he realises what it is he closes his eyes, in an attempt to get himself under control. However, as soon as he opens them again and feels Chloe's touch on his inner thighs, then over the now too tight front of his trousers he lets out a growl and his eyes turn red for a moment. He stops immediately as he feels his Devil face trying to push through. Chloe registers the change in his mood through her clouded mind. She freezes.

"Are you okay?" She whispers, worried about what she could have done to make him stop. She freezes, trying to figure what she did wrong? Did she touch his scars again when one of her hands was on his back?

"I…" Lucifer starts, not sure how to continue as almost his capacities are currently used to suppress his devil face from showing unannounced. He takes a breath and a step back. Once he has everything back under control he finally speaks. "I think this is going a bit too fast." He pauses. "I think I need some air." He adds.

He doesn't give Chloe the chance to reply anything and simply picks up his shirt and heads outside by the pool before he risks to lose control again. Chloe doesn't know to react to any of this and simply stares at him walking from her, just when things were moving forward. He surely seemed more than into it a few seconds ago. She rewinds the last fifteen minutes, trying to understand what she could have said or done that could have made him get away from her this fast, but she can't find anything. She doesn't want to join him outside because he requested some space, but at the same, she's worried for him and wants to know he's at least okay. She redresses quickly and silently walks towards the glass door and hears him talking, apparently on the phone. She takes a step closer, part of her wanting to respect his privacy, but a bigger part of her willing to know what phone call would be so important to make him leave her like this, without much explaining. Her curiosity wins the battle and she gets closer, just far enough to not be seen, but still close enough to hear him nonetheless.

"Come on, Doctor, pick up," he starts. He hangs up and dials the same number once more. The person finally picks up right before voicemail. "Finally, Doctor!" Lucifer says.

"And a good evening to you too, Lucifer," Linda sighs. "You do know how appointments work right?" She adds, a bit harsher than intended, but she was in the middle of a very relaxing bubble bath, and the fact that he would assume she doesn't have a life annoyed her as well. She expects him to dismiss her comment as usual when he calls her out of her office hours, but his tone takes her by surprise.

"I am sorry to have disturbed you, Linda."

"Don't hang up," she quickly replies as she hears the panic in his voice. "Tell me what happened. Is Chloe okay," she inquires, knowing him enough by now to be almost positive that only Chloe could get him in such a distressed state.

"She is," he answers. He can hear Linda's relieved sigh on the other end of the phone. He looks around and starts to walk, which forces Chloe to concentrate more and get a bit closer to still hear the conversation he seemed to have with Linda. "However, something happened."

"Okay. Tell me more."

"Well first she - I mean we - almost kissed in the pool, but Miss Lopez interrupted us, and then the Detective got all weird with me." Lucifer takes a breath. "And then we were both in the living-room when some fashion geek knocked and Chloe decided to seduce him."

Linda holds her chuckle back. "Are you sure Chloe hit on him?"

"Well, she didn't push him away either." He replies.

"Go on," Linda says, aware this wasn't a battle she'd be winning today.

"And per YOUR advice I told her before the sting that I would not try to get her to sleep with me anymore, so I didn't push, but then somehow we ended up arguing about why sleeping with me would be sooo bad and why she couldn't let it happen." He adds.

Chloe looks at his back, surprised he would be so open about this, coming more into view as she tries to hear the conversation.

"Lucifer…" Linda interrupts, trying to move things along.

"Alright, so in a nutshell, we went from arguing to making out on the kitchen counter."

"And why is that an issue exactly?" She asks. "It seemed something you both wanted if what happened at the pool earlier was any indication."

"Well because, she's her, and I'm me." He pauses. "My other face almost broke through, and I could barely control it." He sits on one of the deckchairs, his back to Chloe. "I mean I've had many partners, as you very well know, and this has never happened before." He gives her time to reply, but when she doesn't, he continues. "Doctor? Are you still here?"

"Yes," Linda quickly says. "Remember this talk about intimacy and feelings that we had a couple of weeks ago?"

"Yes, but this only concerned my mortality sitch when she's around. I've never had this issue so far."

"It was, but it can also be applied here."

"How so? She wasn't hurting me, far from it actually."

"Well Chloe makes you feel new things, and maybe your other half has troubles dealing with it."

"My other half?" He repeats. "I'm not schizophrenic, Doctor."

"What I meant is that maybe, your subconscious is sending you a message that because of what Chloe makes you feel, you want her to accept you - all of you - and not just the glamoured part of your life and your appearance."

"Are you sure about this?"

"As much as a human psychiatrist with a celestial friend can be."

Lucifer completely misses the irony in her answer, too caught up in his thoughts. "So what do I do? She can't see who I truly am."

"You have to trust that she'll accept you for all that you are, just like she trusts you to give this a chance. Just like you did when you showed me."

"Like that ended up well," he mutters. "What if she doesn't? What if she doesn't have a Maze to pull her out of it?"

"It's a possibility and it's a lot to take in," she admits. "But just like Schrödinger's cat, the only way to find out is to open the box."

"But…"

"Just talk to her and trust her," she says. "And let me know how it went."

"Very well." He gives in. "Thank you, Linda." He finishes, sincere before he hangs up.

He turns around to get back inside to start what will probably be the most difficult conversation of his immortal life. He catches Chloe's silhouette disappearing behind the curtain. "Detective…" He whispers.

Well I guess that is a bummer ^^.

Thank you again so much for all your comments, reviews, likes and shares! They make my day each time!