***
Previously in One Hell of a Sting:
"Ella comes down from her rollercoaster and her face becomes serious again. "Jet's dead."

"Bugger," Lucifer huffs, as he knows this was going to complicate their case a lot, as it would mean the LAPD - and most probably Detective Douche - would take on the case, as Chloe is currently unavailable."
***

CHAPTER 5

Chloe stops for a moment until the full blast of the news - or rather bomb - Ella shared sinks in.

"What do you mean?" she starts, more out of reflex than anything. "I mean, what happened? Are you okay?" she immediately adds as concern for her friend takes over.

"I'm fine," Ella starts. "I wasn't with him when it happened," "and maybe I could have prevented it," she adds in her mind. "I was supposed to meet him after my session near the pool to chat and check what our next steps would be. I waited for him for a couple of hours, calling and checking around, but when I couldn't find him, I decided to check his place, just in case," she pauses, gathering her thoughts. "When I arrived, the front door of his apartment was open, though I could see no sign of forced entry," she adds, her forensic reflexes kicking in now - both as a way to protect herself and give as many elements to Chloe as she could. "I announced myself a couple of times before I walked in, just to make my presence known in case anyone was still present. When I heard no sounds of a window closing or footsteps, I walked in, disrupting the place as little as I could." She looks away from Chloe, before she refocuses her attention. "I found him dead in his room, by his computer set up. I didn't touch anything to keep the crime scene as preserved as possible for the guys later. Livor mortis was not yet visible, so death happened between twenty minutes and two hours before I got there."

"Here." Chloe hands her a glass of water so the brunette can take a break and a breath.

"Thanks," Ella quickly acknowledges before she continues. "So after I found Jet, I closed the apartment door and tried to call you several times, but when you didn't pick up, I called Dan to let him know and I hurried here. I was afraid something might have happened to you as well." She seems to relax visibly now that she got it off of her chest and didn't have to bear this alone anymore. "But you guys were otherwise busy," she winks, her tone still a bit worried, but also playful. "Dan told me he should be here soon, he said he would show up to the crime scene first then, heading here to start to question potential witnesses. I've told him about the sting in a nutshell, but wasn't really at the top of my game to tell him more."

"It's okay, Ella," Chloe quickly reassures her. "Why don't you go sit down for a bit. What matters is that you didn't get hurt. We'll figure the rest out as Dan arrives," Chloe finishes, not really able to do anything without risking their cover, at least until Dan gets here.

Then she realises her clothes are still on the floor, and she'd rather avoid Dan asking questions about this. She starts to pick them up, as Ella heads for her room to rest a bit. She can't help but replay the moment as she picks her dress from the stairs and smiles. Lucifer sees it and grins, probably thinking the same. She tosses him his shirt and jacket, as well as her dress.

"Instead of smirking, take them to our room," she says, her tone light. "The last thing I need is for Dan to go all douchey about this," she adds, barely above a whisper.

"I heard that!" Lucifer says from the top of the stairs.

Chloe ignores him, but grins. She walks to Ella's room and knocks softly before she opens the door.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ella nods, but doesn't reply. "I know you didn't really know him for long, but he seemed like a nice guy."

"He was," the brunette simply says.

Chloe decides to try and focus her attention on something other than Jet for now. "How did the testing session go?"

Her distraction somehow works and Ella focuses once again. "Good I think." She grabs a pillow from her bed. "I'm not sure from where they were watching, or who watched exactly, but he - or they - seemed convinced by my backstory and demonstration. I should have the final reply tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Do you have any idea where you were led to?" Chloe asks, avoiding to mention Jet on purpose.

"Not sure. I had a blindfold for most of the way, but I remember we took some alley that I should be able to find, but I'm not entirely sure. It's all a bit fuzzy." Ella seems to think for a bit before she goes on. "They said they were very interested in my skills to read and adapt patterns, that this was exactly what they needed," she finishes.

"It's okay," Chloe reassures her. "We'll check this tomorrow once things have cooled down." She takes in Ella's worried stance. "You should rest a bit." Chloe reiterates. "We'll come to get you if anything changes." Ella nods as Chloe leaves the room.

"How is Miss Lopez?" Lucifer asks as he sees Chloe walking towards him.

"A bit shaken up, but I think she'll be alright," the Detective says. "Although this one hit very close to home so she might need some time to process it all. I told her to rest a bit. We'll see later."

He nods before he continues. "Do you know if the LAPD has already arrived?"

"Not from what I understood, but I've sent a text to Dan to ask him to call me before he gets to the crime scene. I'd like to fill him in on the details myself, rather than the Lieutenant." she sits down beside Lucifer, his arm going around her shoulders as she snuggles up to him - almost automatically. "I'm not sure what it is about him but I just don't trust him. Olivia might have been set on using her position to advance her career, but at least she was reliable. Him, I'm not so sure."

"You and me both, Darling."

"Right," she chuckles. "You mostly don't like him because HE doesn't like you."

"And what's not to like?" he jokes, as he looks at her, challenging her to contradict him.

She doesn't and simply rolls her eyes. "Speaking of," she starts. "About our new situation, I think it would be best if we keep it just between us for now, at least until the case is solved, and things are a bit clearer."

"Any regrets?" he can't help but ask.

"No!" She kisses his cheek. "However, until we know where we stand, I don't want people to get any ideas, and I want to talk to Dan before anyone else does," she adds.

"Speaking of the Douche…" he says as Dan's name appears on Chloe's phone on the coffee table.

As Chloe picks the smartphone, Lucifer stands up and leaves her to go outside for a while.

"Lucifer… Wait," Chloe says, but he doesn't listen. She goes to follow him but Dan calls again. She finally picks up.

"Yeah Dan," she answers, a tad more aggressive than intended.

"Hi," Dan replies. "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, I'm just tired," Chloe dismisses his concern.

"Okay," he agrees. "I'm at the gate, but I saw your text. What is it?"

"I wanted to fill you in about the sting and all. Has the Lieutenant already shared some intel?"

"Yeah," Chloe can hear the bitterness in his voice, so she guesses the Lieutenant told him about her backstory with Lucifer. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Would it change anything?" Her tone is neutral.

"No, but it would have been nice to know my recent ex-wife is going undercover as a married couple with the man who thinks himself the Devil and has been trying to sleep with her for months."

"You have no idea..." Chloe thinks before she replies to Dan. "Now is not the time, Dan," she says to cut the discussion short.

"What other info did you gather on the case?" he replies, leaving this on the side as well - for now.

Chloe recaps all she found out from the beginning, as well as the layout of the campus she already mapped in her head, and Ella's latest findings about the body. Once she's done and Dan has all the cards in his hands to start the investigation without breaking their cover she hangs up and joins Lucifer outside. He's looking at his phone as she sits beside him.

"Hey," she simply says.

He looks up at her. "So how did your call with the Douche go?"

"Good," Chloe simply states. "He was at the gate when he called so I figure he should be here in about twenty minutes. We agreed he would go to the crime scene first to get seen and then head here to start with the neighbourhood investigation. He's fully updated on our cover and our latest findings."

"Good," he answers, non committal.

Chloe hesitates for a bit to bring up their previous conversation when Lucifer left to go outside, as he seems to be set on something else for now, but she feels that, despite his current mood, if she doesn't clear the water now, this could typically be the thing that blows up in their faces at some point on a later date. She clears her throat to get his attention. He turns his head to her.

"About what I said earlier," she starts. She gives him some time to reply or stop her, so when he doesn't she continues. "I didn't mean I was regretful or having second thoughts. I just meant that this is still very much new and I just want to be sure where we're going before anyone else starts to put their nose into our private life, and believe me, they will." She pauses to gauge his reply, but his face remains unreadable. "I very much want to repeat what we did earlier today." She casts him a rather sultry look as she finishes her statement. "And I know it's not a one time thing, which is why I want to do this properly. We're not the only ones involved. If we do this, there's Trixie to think about. She'll be thrilled about it, but I don't want to give her false hopes. And I don't need Dan to be all jealous and annoying over this during this sting, or to go and see the Lieutenant." She smiles as she sees Lucifer relaxing a bit. "And given Dan's reaction to us "pretending" to be a couple, it's not going to be a fun conversation."

"Can I be here to see his face, though?" Lucifer asks, his tone playful.

"If you behave, why not." She winks at him. "Beside, to the outside world, we are supposed to be a couple anyway, and with Ella in the know, we should be safe within these walls and the neighbourhood." She reaches for his lips. "I guess I'll just have to stop pretending I'm immune to your charms."

He closes the distance between them and she automatically responds to him, deepening the kiss, tongues dancing together, but not looking to overcome one another. Soon she finds herself straddling him on the deckchair, hands roaming his body as his start to lift up her dress. It takes all the remaining lucid part of her brain to stop him before she's too far gone to care about anything else than his lips and fingers on her skin. She slightly moves away from him and stills her hands, as a whimper escapes her. She smirks as she sees him chase her lips as well.

"I should go freshen up before Dan arrives." She stands up and looks back at him, eyes dark with her desire. "But you could join me?"

"Is that so, Love?" Lucifer chuckles as she nods. "As much as I want to take you up on your offer," he continues, eyeing his erection. "I think you and I both know that if I join you in there, we will never be ready in twenty minutes." He stands up and walks past her, but not before he stops to whisper in her ear, his voice dripping with lust, "but we will revisit this idea very soon, I give you my word." He kisses her deeply one last time before he walks back into the house. "Look at me being the responsible one," he jokes. "I'll take the guest bathroom," he finishes.

As agreed they both meet downstairs after they've freshened up. Lucifer took a detour to their room, lingering for a moment as he heard the shower running, almost giving into temptation, but finally settled for his usual three-pieces suit and the shirt he picked when Ella interrupted them. Chloe hesitated for a bit between keeping the dress she had on, but decided to take some light grey jeans, coupled with a red and blue check shirt and low boots.

Lucifer smiles as he sees her walking towards him. "So how do we proceed?" he asks.

Chloe can feel his eyes linger on her. "Well you could start by stopping to imagine me naked," she scolds him, but her voice remains playful.

"No need to use my imagination now," he counters, not the slightest bit ashamed to have ogled her.

"Then we wait for Dan to show up and treat us as he would any other suspect."

Lucifer nods and looks towards Ella's room. "Shall we wake Miss Lopez up?"

"I would let her rest for now," Chloe says, a hint of worry in her voice. "I told her we would tell her if we needed her help, but for now we're good I think."

"Miss Lopez is stronger than she looks," Lucifer adds, in an attempt to ease Chloe's worry.

"I know, and she seemed okay, but I know from experience that this kind of case can hit hard, and with a delay. Under normal circumstances, she'd probably have been asked to step away from the case, but given the sting, it's not possible yet."

"She'll be okay, in time," Lucifer repeats, as he recalls how he felt as Delilah died by his side and how much he wanted revenge for her. "She has you to help her," he finishes, sincere.

Chloe smiles, still unsure. Ella solves her dilemma and steps out of her room, still a bit sleepy. She joins them in the living room.

"Hey guys," she greets them. "Has Dan arrived yet?"

"Not yet. Slept well?"

Ella nods as the doorbell rings. "I'll get it," Lucifer quickly says.

Ella takes this opportunity to come closer to Chloe. "Once you and I are alone, we need to have a talk. And you'll better spill the beans," Ella winks and looks towards Lucifer as he steps aside to let Dan in.

Chloe doesn't reply but Ella knows she won when she sees Chloe's grin. Once the door closes, Chloe greets her ex-husband.

"Hey," she starts. "So how does it look out there?"

"Hey," Dan replies. "It's a mayhem near the guy's apartment," he says, unaware of Ella's relation to Jet. "Are you both okay?" he finishes as he looks towards Chloe and Ella.

Lucifer steps beside Chloe, the urge to reach for her almost irresistible. He keeps his hands in his pocket but still stands only a hair away from her. Chloe slightly leans into him, struggling as well to remain neutral.

"Yes, we are ALL fine," she answers. "So what are the preliminary results from the M.E?"

"He said it looks accidental, but something doesn't add up," Dan starts. "He said cause of death was a cardiac arrest but he showed no sign of any heart disease."

"That's not possible," Ella jumps in. "Jet was a semi-professional runner and did a complete check-up every six months. If he had any heart condition, it would have been impossible to practice running at such a high level."

"How do you know this?" Dan asks. "Have you already done the background check on him after you found him?"

"No," the brunette's eyes drop to the floor for a second. "I spent an evening with him yesterday and we talked a lot. It seemed we had a lot of common interests."

Dan realises his mistake from before and his lack of tact. "I'm sorry, Ella, I didn't know…"

"It's okay," Ella reassures him. "What else did the M.E say?"

"He confirmed your first analysis regarding the time of death and given the first elements and the apparent heart failure, he thinks it might be electrocution. He said he would keep me updated once the autopsy is done, tox screen report included. I'll let you know."

"Maybe his computer setup was tempered with?" Ella offers.

"Maybe," Dan agrees. "In any case, the Lieutenant and I agreed that given the latest developments, you should have reinforced security." He takes out a black box from his satchel and shows it to Chloe.

"What's this?" Lucifer asks. "You do know Pandora's box has already been opened, right?" he teases Dan.

"These," Dan answers, "are the latest devices in terms of audio surveillance," he opens the case. "These tech babies are to be placed in every room of this place to make sure you're safe."

Lucifer looks outraged at the thought of having microphones inside, and not just only in the private apartment. However, he remains rather calm, his huff the only sign of his mood.

"In every room?" Chloe repeats.

"Yeah," Dan confirms. "I mean I have five of them, and there are basically five distinct spaces. The apartment upstairs, the one downstairs, the kitchen, the living-room and the back of the house."

Lucifer can't keep his laugh this time. "And how do you think that microphones all over the place - and in our bedrooms - will guarantee our safety exactly?"

"You never know what might happen or who could break in," Dan replies, not knowing what was going on, but not the least distrubed by Lucifer's reaction. After all he once used a professional hitwoman to simply find a man who impersonated him a couple of times. Ever since this incident, he'd given up on trying to figure him out.

Chloe on her side, not in the least pleased by this new change in their sting, tries to find a reason to justify a refusal, but can't find any. Lucifer replies to Dan.

"Are you insinuating that the Detective isn't safe with me?"

"One can never know," Dan answers, fully aware he now pushes Lucifer's buttons, and not in a good way.

"This is preposterous!" Lucifer immediately replies.

Chloe puts her hand on his arm to bring him down. Her touch almost instantly calms him and she lingers longer than necessary, both enjoying the touch. This small gesture doesn't go unnoticed by Dan, nor Ella. The forensic speaks before her colleague can say anything.

"I know the perfect place to hide the microphone." She decidedly walks towards the stairs to move Dan's mind away from Lucifer and Chloe.

Ella opens the door as they all follow her. She smiles slightly as she sees clothes scattered around the room. Apparently they picked them from downstairs, but didn't think to pick them up here. She stops at the desk, before the bedroom. She shows the corner closest to the door.

"If you place it here, you'll get to hear what's happening on the outside of the door, and avoid any parasite noises coming from the bedroom and/or the bathroom, like snoring for example."

Dan frowns as he sees the only bed on the other side, but chooses to say nothing for now. Lucifer smiles, both at Dan's silent question, and Ella's suggestion.

"This is very smart from you, Miss Lopez," Lucifer says, as Dan places the device up the wall.

Chloe doesn't say anything, but her smile says plenty. Ella is indeed a very good wing-woman. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea, one person knew about their relationship. Once Dan is done he makes a couple of tests.

"I guess this could work," he says. "The equipment is very sensitive, and we'll hear anything louder than snoring," he finishes as he exits the room, Ella on his heels.

Chloe and Lucifer remain a bit behind. Lucifer takes the opportunity to grab Chloe's waist and bring her back flush against his chest. He brings his lips to the shell of her ear.

"I guess we'll have to be very quiet," he starts. "Think you can manage, Detective?"

Chloe leans into his touch. "Can you?" she challenges him back, as she recalls his growls that were far from below a snore.

"We'll see, Love," Lucifer simply replies as he lets her go and walks past her to join Ella and Dan downstairs.

The three of them remain in the living-room as Dan finishes to set up the device in Ella's room. As he closes the door, a letter slips under the door. Ella grabs it and looks at it, impressed by the design. It's almost as if the letter had been taken out of the Harry Potter book. She carefully opens it and reads it aloud.

"Estimated Contestant,

A new spot just opened up in our Circle and we're happy to confirm your new position amongst us. You've already met Zeta and you've successfully passed your test. Zeta being now bested - and not of any use to the Circle anymore - we decided to have him replaced by a better element.

Zeta is dead, long live Zeta.

Epsilon will contact you within twenty-four hour to have you settled in your new duties in regards to the Circle, and to inform you of our newest meeting place."

Ella slowly closes the letter and looks at Lucifer and Chloe worried. She searches for her words.

"You don't actually think Jet is dead because I got in, do you?" she asks, more to try to reassure herself, but already knowing the answer to her question.

Lucifer and Chloe remain silent, not sure what to say, both shocked because of the content of the letter. Finally Chloe speaks.

"Ella, if you want out of this, we can manage to catch them otherwise," she says, feeling the ping of guilt as she feels responsible for bringing her into all this.

The brunette considers for a moment the way out Chloe offered her, but finally decides to refuse it as the truth finally sinks in.

"No," Ella hardens her face, resolve clear. "They need to pay for what they did to Jet, and they need to be stopped, whoever they are. I owe it to him," she adds in a breath.

Dan finally comes back after the installation of the microphones is finished outside and in Ella's room. He immediately feels the change in the room.

"What did I miss?" he asks, humour absent from his tone.

NOTES:
Huge thanks to ManuHerz79 for the betaing :)
I'll try a new format in the coming chapters, aka shorter chapters, but hopefully more frequent updates (about half the size) ;).

Let me know what you think about it :).
I feel like I'm repeating myself, but thank you for all of your comment, feeback, kudos and all! They do make my day!
Hope you enjoyed it as the plot thickens a bit ;).