Chapter 4: I Made a Promise
Maze had the good sense, for a change, to step back as every lean, lithe muscle in Lucifer's body coiled, ready for a fight.
But Chloe knew he wouldn't attack his former servant. Not without provocation. And she didn't think Maze had provided enough – yet.
"Don't tell me you're mad. I didn't hurt your special human."
Chloe gasped an admonishing, "Maze."
But the demon ignored her and kept her steady and unblinking gaze on Lucifer. "I want what you kept from me."
Chloe's brows crinkled with confusion.
"Michael renege on your deal?"
Maze shrugged dismissively. "Probably. Haven't seen him."
"And you won't. He'll be back home licking off his humiliation over losing to me - again."
"I heard."
"From whom, exactly? You missed the grand finale. And the intermission." Lucifer cocked his head, contemplating. "Come to think of it, you missed the entire second act, too."
Maze folded her arms and stared.
"Heaven-sent chains, misguided siblings, summoning the power of creation itself and, of course, the nauseatingly repetitive wing-ectomy." He extended his long arms. "There, all caught up."
Chloe didn't understand what was happening as her gaze shifted between the two.
"Smalltalk is beneath you, Lucifer."
While she wouldn't have put it in such blunt, unkind terms, Chloe had to agree. He was stalling. Not nervous but -
His sigh was deep and resigned. "I made a promise, Maze."
"You had no right."
Chloe could feel the sudden heat radiating off him moments before his eyes turned a deep, devilish crimson. His voice deepened to the same level he'd used when demanding the rebellious demons bent on stealing baby Charlie go home and she felt a tremor of pride slither down her spine. He was a truly impressive, dominating sight to behold.
"I had every right. I do not renege on deals." Without another word, Lucifer strode into the penthouse, waning sunlight highlighting the angry red scars on his back, his silk boxers slung low on his hips.
Maze followed at his heels as Chloe scrambled off the plush lounge chair to follow.
"So you're not going to give it to me?"
His dark eyes swept across Maze' hostile face, assessed her like they would a piece of easily subdued prey. But then, with an infinitesimal smirk, he settled smoothly into a chair across from the expensive leather couch, every bit the imperious and immovable King.
"Sit down, Mazikeen of the Lilim."
She crossed her arms and stood stubbornly rooted to the spot.
His eyes flashed red. "Sit. Down."
Chloe instantly perched on the end of the couch, eyes wide. And she'd be lying if she even tried to claim that authoritative tone didn't send a thrill of excitement skittering across her skin.
His normal voice returned and his chocolate gaze turned warm, though it was still charged with emotion. "I'm going to tell you a story."
He spread his arms atop each armrest like a King waiting for his underlings to quiet.
Silence fell and the staring contest began. Chloe wasn't sure what was happening, but she was more than a little curious.
Maze broke first.
"I don't need a story to tell me it's mine." Maze seethed as she stared at the dark ring on his finger.
Chloe's eyes narrowed as she followed the demon's gaze. He'd had that ring ever since she met him. But – it belonged to Maze?
"Yet she gifted it to me."
"This is stupid," Maze snapped as her hell forged blades slipped into her hands from an unseen sheath.
A sliver of fear raced down Chloe's spine. She wouldn't attack him. Not again.
But Lucifer simply tilted his head and continued to watch the demon, seemingly unconcerned with the brandishing of weapons that could literally kill him. And as if he could read her thoughts, one long finger rose from the armrest to encourage silence. Though his nonchalance did nothing to curb the sudden concern that this conversation was about to go pear-shaped.
Malice twisted her lipsticked mouth as Maze cocked her head toward Chloe, eyes still locked on Lucifer.
"You wouldn't make it in time."
Chloe's mouth fell open and her heart raced as she watched his jaw clench ever so minutely. And his unblinking eyes hardened to such a degree that if looks could kill, Maze would be a smoldering pile of ash by now. What the hell had happened to pull the two of them apart like this?
"Detective-" he began calmly but trailed off when she interrupted.
"Nope. Not moving. Maze won't hurt me." She didn't know what possessed her to make such a claim but she slid closer and ignored the quickly masked look of surprise that crossed the demon's face.
"Det-"
Tired of a power struggle she couldn't even begin to understand, Chloe straightened her shoulders, put on her most stern mom face and snapped. "Maze. Sit down and listen."
Chloe set her jaw and leveled an encouraging half-smile at Lucifer, hoping he would accept her attempt to diffuse the situation. "Tell your story."
Maze huffed an amused laugh and settled onto the couch, smirking at Lucifer. "You've so got your hands full with that one."
He smiled affectionately at Chloe for a brief moment and she exhaled a relieved sigh. Death re-match delayed. For how long, she had no idea.
"Out of respect for your mother," Lucifer began, but trailed off like a patient parent whose rambunctious child interrupted out of turn.
"She's dead," Maze snarled, desperately hiding the pain of the loss behind misplaced anger. "I found her and she died."
Chloe opened her mouth to offer condolences but Lucifer pressed on before she could.
"Out of respect for your mother and at her request," he continued as if Maze hadn't interrupted him and Chloe wished he'd at least acknowledge her pain. Impossible, of course, when he was dealing with his own. Even if he wouldn't admit it. "I've not told her story to anyone."
Maze crossed her arms and waited, impatience warring with curiosity on her face.
"She was Adam's first wife. Cast out of Eden for," he huffed a sardonic laugh. "For wanting free will. For being unwilling to be subservient to him."
Chloe's mouth fell open.
"Which earned her a one way trip to Hell courtesy of dear old Dad for her betrayal." His wrists lifted skyward off the arm of the chair, as he continued. "He's nothing if not consistent in his punishments."
Chloe leaned closer, intrigued. She hadn't exactly been a Sunday School girl and her passing knowledge of religious texts was mediocre at best. Despite the research she'd done when in Rome.
"Then I was kicked out of the celestial house." His mouth twisted into a wry smile that made Chloe's heart hurt. "For the exact same reason. "
Chloe risked a glance at Maze, who simply sat immobile on the couch, pretending she wasn't as interested in the celestial tale as she was.
"We – bonded, I suppose you could say, over the shared pain of being cast out of the only home we'd ever known. She recognized a need and gifted me an army whose sole purpose was to serve the King of Hell. And then she left."
"She could do that?" Chloe found herself asking, wide-eyed. "Just - leave - hell?"
His eyes were swimming with restrained emotion and she felt small for asking, for interrupting. "She'd been cast out of Eden. She would never be welcome in Heaven. But she could go to Earth."
"You helped her abandon us." Maze intoned matter-of-factly, eyes narrowed and teeth bared.
"I owed her a debt."
"Doesn't make it right," Maze snapped, in no mood to be reasonable when she felt so wronged.
"Like in many cases, Dad knows, right and wrong is subjective."
It was a hard won battle, but Chloe bit her lip to keep herself from responding. The two of them made one hell of an emotionally deficient pair.
Maze' eyes hardened, narrowed. This wasn't what she wanted to hear and Chloe worried that Lucifer, not adept at catching emotional clues on a good day, wouldn't notice.
Unfortunately, she was right. He barreled forward with his tale, heedless of Maze' emotional spiral and his part in it.
"She wanted her perfect children to be unbreakable. Unable to be banished from their home like she had been banished from Eden. Unable to be manipulated because they had no family in Hell from whom they could be torn."
"So she left," Chloe whispered, unable to fathom any reason at all for a mother to abandon her children.
"And helped shape the greatest moments in the history of the world until she asked for my help in 1946."
"I know the rest of this story," Maze snarked under her breath.
A moment of confusion passed across Lucifer's face until he nodded slowly in recollection.
"The urchin."
Chloe pulled herself up straighter, wondering how her daughter could have any part of this story. "Trixie?"
His response was factual and suspiciously devoid of emotion when his eyes slid briefly to hers. "You skipped the last game night. She came alone. Asked me to tell her a story."
Chloe thought back along the suspected timeline of events. It didn't take long. She'd ignored his multiple attempts to help her come to terms with being a 'miracle' child gifted to God's Fallen son. She still felt shame at her – overreaction to the news.
"I thought she was with Dan."
"Why would Lilith give up her immortality?" Maze inquired, clearly unconcerned with her part in involving Trixie. They were so talking about this later. "Why would anyone give that up?"
The somber smile that twisted his lips reached his eyes and Chloe was struck at how much of an emotional toll the telling of this story was having on him.
"In the end, she felt the generations of lives that she'd lived meant nothing."
Maze snorted derisively. "That's stupid."
His shoulder lifted in a short, clipped shrug. "I thought so, too."
"That makes sense, actually," Chloe said softly, understanding.
Two sets of eyes swiveled her way and she felt instantly vulnerable, exposed. How to explain this to two immortal beings who had lived more lifetimes than she could even fathom?
"Even though our lives are short in comparison to yours," Chloe waved her hand between them, "We make connections," Her eyes locked with Lucifer's to drive home her point but she needn't have bothered. His gaze softened and the soft purse of his lips indicated he understood. "And it's those connections, those experiences, that make life worth living."
"Knowing there's an end. That's what makes the rest of it, those connections, count." Lucifer confirmed, his voice far away as if he were repeating words he'd heard long ago.
"Yeah, well I'll never get the chance. Thanks to you," Maze seethed, eyes narrowed to slits.
"That's not fair, Maze," Chloe said sharply. "He did as your mother asked."
Maze rolled her eyes. "Of course you're gonna defend him."
Lucifer stood and approached the furious demon, steps measured, almost - resigned.
And slid the ring off his finger.
"She gifted this to me." He deposited it in the palm of his hand and held it out to Maze. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Chloe watched Lucifer cup his hands together and focus, his eyes never leaving Maze. After a moment, tendrils of wispy dark smoke floated from between his clasped hands. When he parted them, he gently blew it toward Lilith's daughter.
It swirled and vanished quickly into the demon's skin and it was only when he'd replaced the ring on his finger that she noticed the gem had turned white. She was struck by how much such a small change now fit the man he had become. A dark relic of his past transformed in the wake of a brighter future.
Maze inhaled sharply and a myriad of emotions passed across her face so quickly there was no way to identify them. She stood suddenly and made for the elevator.
Chloe leapt to her feet and after a brief squeeze of Lucifer's arm, she marched straight in after the prickly demon.
"Making sure I go?" Maze crossed her arms and leaned against the wall as the doors closed.
"He gave someone his word. You know what that means to him."
"Until it doesn't."
Chloe regarded her with a patient look. "Has that ever happened?"
"You don't know him. How he used to be."
"Everyone changes. He's changed." Chloe smiled warmly. "So have you."
"Yeah, well, I – feel things now." The rage in Maze's eyes hadn't dissipated and that worried Chloe.
"You felt things before, too. Or you wouldn't be so angry with him."
"I wanna see Trixie."
Chloe took a deep, measured breath. "She saw you try to kill Lucifer in the precinct, Maze."
Maze pursed her lips and gritted, "So that's a no?"
"For now."
"That's not fair," she snarled as if she had any rights to Trixie at all.
"She's my child, Maze."
Maze stalked forward, intending to intimidate, but Chloe held her ground. "And to hell with the rest of her friends, huh?"
"Maybe lose the chip and we can reevaluate visitation," Chloe said sternly, fully aware that Maze could easily snap her in two if she were so inclined. But this was her child.
The elevator slid to a stop and the doors chimed as they swished open. Maze exited quickly. "I won't forget this, Decker."
Chloe sighed sadly, not quite understanding how their relationship had deteriorated and not at all sure how to fix it.
"Actions have consequences, Maze." She jammed her finger into the penthouse button, unable to control every protective motherly instinct and willing to compromise not at all. Not right now. "We can talk when you're ready."
As the doors closed, Chloe could swear she'd seen tears glistening in Maze's eyes as she turned away.
When Chloe got back upstairs, Lucifer was buzzing through the room like he was high, his eyes bright and expressive.
She stopped beside the piano to watch his long, nimble fingers finish buttoning a crisply pressed white shirt. He'd left the top two buttons open, exposing a tantalizing vee of pale skin that she very much wanted to lick. Maybe lighten the heavy weight of the last day's events.
He swooped closer, a predatory smile on his lips. "Let's go for a drive." His head tilted as he took in her glazed expression and she recognized the instant he caught on. "Or – something far more pleasurably horizontal?" His eyes skimmed appreciatively down her body and back up again. "Or vertical. You know I'm not picky."
The energy sparking around him seemed to glow with an ethereal light. Caught up momentarily in his charming magnetism, she went easily when his hands slipped low around her hips. He didn't pull her forward and demand, but instead left the choice to her, as always.
She circled his healed wrists and stroked the soft skin with her thumbs for a moment. His eyes darkened and his fingers spread across her lower back. But she only leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Getting him out of the penthouse and the tempting privacy it afforded would be a good way to encourage conversation. "A drive. Yes. Let's."
His lips twitched and he quickly masked the disappointment behind a disarming grin. Instead, clasped his hands together. "Good. Brilliant. Get dressed. Light's a wasting. Chop chop."
He shuffled her off to the bedroom and beelined for the bar. Before she turned to grab some clothes out of the overnight bag she'd left on the floor, she watched him down an entire glass of scotch.
Something was wrong. Other than the obvious. She wondered if he'd taken something while she was downstairs with Maze. He had drawers full of illegal substances, after all.
She sighed and pulled on her clothes, determined to encourage a conversation long overdue.
The sleek black corvette, with a still oddly chipper Lucifer at the wheel and curiously observant Chloe in the passenger seat, sped along the tranquil Pacific Coast Highway.
With the clear, expansive ocean on the left and the Malibu mountains on the right, the middle of the day was bright and the breeze was a welcome relief as the sun beat coolly down on them from above.
They drove in silence for a while so Chloe simply reached across the space between them and placed a reassuring hand over his where it rested on his thigh.
His gaze slid smoothly across her and his lips twitched with into a half smile. When his hand turned palm up and his long fingers engulfed hers, her heart fluttered with so much love for this stupidly complicated man.
"Are you okay?"
His eyes crinkled like he was surprised by the question and it hurt her heart to think he was so unaccustomed to anyone actually asking after him, caring about him. Other than what desires he could fulfill. She would make it her mission to tell him and show him. Regularly.
"Quite well."
"It's been an emotional few days," Chloe prodded, keeping her tone light but leading, hoping he'd take the bait.
She wasn't disappointed.
His hand rose dismissively off the steering wheel as he huffed, "Nonsense. It's just another normal day in my Dad forsaken life."
"Your siblings try to kill you regularly?"
He scoffed. "They weren't trying to kill me."
"Just send you back to hell with no way to leave again," Chloe said more matter-of-factly than she intended and felt awful when he winced.
"Michael clearly had his own agenda," he snarled, lip curling in distaste.
"But they-"
"Seriously," his ire rose with each word, definitely done with this discussion." What's the point of this?"
He could turn hot and cold on a dime but he was always brimming with emotion. Always. But dealing with unaccustomed feelings had never been his strong point. He was the oldest, most immature person in the world who self-sabotaged everything good in his life, Linda had said. Well, she wouldn't let him. Not this time. So, she steamrolled ahead confident that he wouldn't drive them off the road if he got really angry.
"Because it hurts and you're just moving on like it didn't."
"It's not as if I can do anything about it, Detective. Might as well move on." The resignation behind the words sliced effortlessly like a hot knife through butter. Damn his family for doing this to him.
"Do you ever see them?"
The wry twist of his lips answered the question before the word did. "No."
"But why would-"
His exasperated, "Chloe," stopped her instantly. He used her name so rarely and only, only during emotionally charged circumstances. And there was nothing that could strip him emotionally raw than discussion about his twisted, dysfunctional family.
"I'm the bad boy who got thrown out of the house and into hell for inciting a rebellion against the Almighty Dad. They're good little sycophants. I'm - not. No grey area. There never will be. No need to beat that very dead horse."
She gently squeezed his hand, thumb brushing reassuringly over his long, elegant fingers.
"Seems a bit extreme."
He shrugged. "You've met Michael."
She offered a disapproving huff and didn't miss the smile that crossed his face at her reaction. Someone was finally on his side. Supported him. Of their own free will.
"It's their loss." Chloe began, reaching over to add her other hand to their clasped one still resting between them. "And while you can't choose your blood family, you do have another one. One that chose you. That you chose. And they won't abandon you. Ever."
His eyes brightened for the first time since she'd brought up the painfully emotional topic and the fuckstruck smile that spread across his face made her insides turn to jelly.
"Well then, that's all that matters, isn't it?"
Maze stood awkwardly in the middle of the empty penthouse, swirls of unwelcome emotion in her glittering eyes. She bit down hard on her lip, enough to draw blood, and licked it away with an angry sweep of her tongue.
She marched to the bar and poured herself a full glass of Lucifer's finest. Downed it with one swig. Enjoyed the burn. Out of the corner of her eyes she noticed a familiar Armani jacket – covered in blood and small bits of downy feathers.
The jacket he'd been wearing when she'd attacked him. When she'd sided with Michael, the twin who had bound him, dragged him through the streets of the Silver City, and literally tossed him out. She knew better. And she'd done it anyway. Betrayed her former King. Her - friend.
A sudden overwhelming guilt swept through her veins but she tamped it down with a loud, annoyed grunt.
"Well this just - sucks," she grit between clenched teeth. Whirled away from the reminder of her betrayal and stalked to the piano.
She'd destroyed his property once before and she resisted the urge to let the overwhelming, unwanted emotion drive her to rage. She was here to apologize, or, at least thank him for giving up the birthright her mother never wanted her to have.
Chloe had been right as much as she hated to even consider admitting it. He'd made a promise to her mother and that integrity was everything to him. Always has been. With as much as they'd both changed since leaving hell that was one part about him that hadn't wavered. Ever.
She wandered out to the balcony and tilted her head to the cloudless sky. Taking solace in how the warmth of the sun beat down on her face and burned away some of her sharp, rough edges.
Things had changed since she'd been here. Lucifer had changed. There would be no going back. No way to change the past. And if she wanted to move forward, she would have to repair the relationships she'd damaged.
And maybe. Just maybe she could carve out a place with the unbelievably eccentric family made up of demons, angels and humans that she'd chosen, instead of chasing the fallible one she'd been born into.
It would be hard. But nothing worth having was ever easy.
As Chloe and Lucifer walked hand in hand into Linda's house, a jubilant Trixie launched herself into his arms.
Where once there had been a distasteful hesitation, his hands now lay gently on the girl's shoulders and lingered a little longer than they used to.
When Trixie moved to embrace her mother, a bright-eyed Ella pushed forward and wrapped herself around her angelic friend.
Chloe watched him scan the room with real, incredulous warmth in his deeply emotional eyes and clutched his hand tightly.
Linda bounced a happily cooing Charlie and waited for them to make their way off the doorstep.
Amenadiel's wide, accepting smile stood, behind them, ever the protector. Even Dan's grudging acceptance was offered in the form of a short nod. Every expression of Will given freely.
Something Lucifer had led an entire rebellion over. And lost.
But he'd won something far greater in the end.
He'd learned that the strongest bonds didn't have to be the ones that you were born into. They were the ones that you scraped and fought and bled and cried to build.
They were your chosen family. The family would be with you through thick and thin.
Until the very end.
END
"Knowing there's an end. That's what makes the rest of it count." - Dialogue from Lucifer episode 5x04
There will be a little epilogue to tie up a few loose ends.