Lucifer never came back to work after he left for his date. In the evening, Chloe was sitting at her desk in the precinct, trying to finish some paperwork. She usually didn't have problems doing paperwork, but today it was hard for her to focus. Her thoughts kept wandering to Lucifer and the events of this morning.

She closed her eyes, slapped her cheeks with both hands a few times, and tried to focus on the documents in front of her. This was working for a minute, then her thoughts were back to where they were before.

Lucifer. He looked the same as when he left six months ago. His tall body, wearing one of his exclusive, hand-tailored suits. His dark hair, perfectly styled but still with a wild touch to it. His dark eyes, so lively when he talked and smiled, capable of looking at people with an intense look. His smile, beautiful and ever charming. His voice, smooth like velvet, sometimes in a teasing tone or just plain cocky, but other times soft, serious, and understanding. His strong arms, holding her close to him, making her feel safe. His lips, so soft and warm on hers when—

Someone dropped something in the office and the sound made Chloe startle out of her reverie. She looked around with an apologetic look and sighed in relief when she saw that no one paid attention to her.

Enough with this. She realized that she couldn't finish these documents in her current state and started packing her stuff. She had to go see Lucifer and finally talk to him or else she would go crazy.

Chloe left the building and drove toward Lux, Lucifer's nightclub. During the past few months, the club had still been open and managed by someone else even though its owner was gone. Tonight was no different. Loud music sounded through the big room when Chloe entered through the door and dressed up people were hanging out and dancing everywhere. The club was full and it took her some time to go through the big room, checking all the places where Lucifer could be.

In the end, she didn't find him anywhere and decided to take the elevator to go check if he was at his penthouse at the top of the building. Her heart started pounding faster while the elevator went up. She had been there several times after Lucifer left, only to find the penthouse empty each time. At one point she couldn't bear it anymore and stopped coming altogether.

"Bing." The elevator door opened and Chloe entered the penthouse.

"Lucifer?"

There was no reply. She hesitated for a few seconds, then decided to go look through the rooms.

"Lucifer, are you here?"

Still no response. Chloe stopped by the piano and let her fingers glide over the keys. The sound was soothing and painful at the same time as it reminded her of the times Lucifer was playing on it, with her or for her. She closed her eyes and thought about how much she missed him playing the piano.

After recollecting herself, she continued her search through the penthouse. She passed by the couch area, her steps leading her toward the balcony. The large windows were closed and she couldn't see anyone outside. Chloe didn't dare open the windows. The balcony was the most painful place in the penthouse as it was the last place where she saw Lucifer, the place where he left her. She couldn't bear going there anymore.

Chloe turned to her right and continued walking, trying to forget about the balcony. She hesitated when she came close to the bedroom.

"Lucifer?"

The only response was silence. Chloe took another step and peeked into the bedroom. No one was there. The bed was made and Chloe couldn't tell if someone had slept in it recently.

She slowly approached the bed and sat down. The silk bed sheets felt great under her hands. She let her hands run over the sheets tenderly, then laid her head down on one of the pillows. It smelled like Lucifer.

Chloe opened her eyes wide in surprise. Lucifer must have been here recently. For a moment she was electrified by her emotions, unable to move. Then she embraced the pillow with her hands, buried her face in it, and took in a deep breath. Her heart was beating fast and she could feel a warm sensation going through her body when she took in the familiar scent that she had missed so much. If only Lucifer would be here now. She wanted nothing more than being close to him and—

"Bing."

Chloe jumped up from the bed in panic when she heard the elevator door opening. Partly feeling embarrassed of her thoughts she just had in the bed, partly being excited to finally see and talk to Lucifer, she left the bedroom and turned toward the entrance of the penthouse.

"Lucifer? Are you—"

It was not Lucifer.

A young woman was standing in front of the elevator, dressed in a skirt and a sleeveless top, exposing more skin than there was clothing on it.

"Oh hi," the woman said when she saw Chloe. "I didn't know this was supposed to be a threesome. That's so exciting!"

"What?" Chloe wasn't sure she heard correctly. This was ridiculous.

"Aren't you also waiting for Lucifer?" continued the woman while playing with her hair.

"Yes, but…"

"I've heard so many amazing stories about him!"

"Of course you did."

"I couldn't wait to meet him… in private." The woman's smile became wide and her eyes were speaking volumes.

"Of course." Chloe started to feel nauseous.

"I was so happy when he asked me out!"

"Are you the one he met this morning?"

"This morning? No. He invited me for the night."

Chloe felt her legs getting weak. A second date.

"And who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Carrie. I started working as a new waitress at Lux last week."

"I see." Chloe wasn't interested in hearing more but Carrie seemed to love hearing herself talk about the fact that she was here.

"Yesterday he came to the bar with two girls in his arms and when I said this looks great he asked me if I was free today."

Chloe stared at Carrie. Not just two dates. There were more. God knows how many dates Lucifer had since he'd been back. Didn't he also say he was enjoying some days off? It now seemed obvious how he had spent them.

"Hey, how do you know Lucifer?" asked Carrie.

The question brought Chloe back to reality. She passed by Carrie without saying anything to her and opened the elevator door.

"You're not staying?"

"No thanks," said Chloe without looking back at Carrie. She felt sickened and humiliated, and regretted that she had ever come to the penthouse. She had to get away from this place, right now.

Chloe stopped her car in the next available parking space when she realized that she wasn't paying attention to the street while driving. She put her arms on the steering wheel and buried her face in them, trying to process what just happened.

Amenadiel was probably right. And thinking about it, it wasn't the first time something like this has happened. Lucifer had a history of behaving in weird ways and escaping into excessive activities.

Chloe remembered the time he ran off to Las Vegas for two weeks to come back married to a blonde bimbo. She thought this was the lowest point he'd ever reached, but it seemed that this time it was much worse. Not only had he gone back to behaving like in the past, completely disregarding that she told him she loved him. He also seemed to avoid her, which made the whole thing even more unbearable.

After several minutes of brooding over the situation, Chloe started feeling a bit better and ready to continue driving home. She had to stop thinking about it. The only way to resolve it was to finally get a chance and talk to Lucifer without him running away from the conversation again.

A few minutes later, Chloe arrived at her apartment and opened the door. "I'm back!" she said while taking off her shoes and jacket.

"Mom!" Trixie came running to the door, with a big smile on her face. Chloe's daughter seemed super happy this evening.

"Hey, little monkey. How was your day?"

"I made two new friends today!" Trixie grinned all over her face when she told her mother the happy news. "We have a new girl in our class, Anna, she just moved here with her parents, and she's so funny! She said she had cute pet rabbits and that I could come visit her!"

"That sounds great, Trix, I'm so happy for you," Chloe replied. The past few months were also not easy for Trixie. This was mostly Chloe's fault for being absent-minded a lot. But she knew that Trixie was also sad that her friend Maze was not visiting her anymore. After Maze found out that Lucifer went back to hell she disappeared without telling anyone, not even Trixie. Chloe was relieved to see that her little girl found a new friend.

"And just now," Trixie continued, "I had so much fun with Ms. Williams. We played some games and I always won!" Chloe could see how proud Trixie was about her achievement and gave her a hug.

At this instant, Ms. Williams appeared behind Trixie.

"Okay Trix, I want you to get ready for bed while I talk a bit to Ms. Williams." Chloe gave Trixie a kiss on the forehead and her daughter smiled and ran to the bathroom.

"Thank you, Ms. Williams," Chloe said. "Trixie really seems to like you."

"She's a wonderful little girl, very intelligent and curious," Ms. Williams replied. "She reminds me a lot of my little niece."

Chloe smiled. She was so proud of her daughter and hearing other people making compliments made her even more proud. She was happy that she finally found a babysitter who made Trixie happy and also enjoyed her time with her.

"Thank you," Chloe said. "Then you'll be back tomorrow?"

"It's my pleasure," Ms. Williams replied and smiled back at Chloe. "I'm gonna pick up Trixie after school again. Good night."

"Thanks and good night."

Ms. Williams took her bag and left the apartment. Chloe let out a sigh of relief when she closed the door behind her.

"I'm done, Mom," Trixie said, now in her pajamas.

Chloe followed Trixie into her room and kissed her goodnight. Trixie snuggled into her covers and fell asleep immediately. Chloe stayed for a little longer, watching her daughter sleep before she finally got up and closed the door to Trixie's room behind her.

Even though she felt incredibly exhausted, Chloe was sure that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep anytime soon. She went into the kitchen, grabbed a glass and some wine, and sat down on her couch, wrapping herself into a blanket. She poured herself some of the wine and started to drink it in small sips, her thoughts going back to Lucifer.

Maybe she should have stayed and confronted him in his apartment. But she couldn't stand the sight of the woman waiting for him. And then she realized that there was an even deeper reason for her not staying. She was afraid of the possibility of him choosing the other woman and sending her away. And with how he avoided her in the morning, this possibility seemed just too real.

"What the hell is wrong with him," she muttered to herself and emptied the rest of her glass in one go. The bottle of wine was so tempting that she grabbed it again, refilled the glass, and drank all of it in one go. She could already feel the alcohol going to her head but she didn't care. It was a welcome feeling after the misery she went through today.

Chloe closed her eyes and an image of Lucifer appeared in her mind. He was close to her, reaching out his arms, his eyes looking at her with affection. She imagined getting closer to him, sinking into his embrace. She remembered his scent when being close to him, the scent she had just found again at the penthouse, and her longing grew stronger. She wanted to embrace him, touch him, kiss him, and feel like everything was finally alright between them.

I didn't know this was supposed to be a threesome.

Chloe opened her eyes when she remembered what Carrie said and the nice image was gone immediately. Lucifer was probably at the penthouse now, enjoying his date. Not with Chloe, but with some random stranger.

No, no, no. This was just wrong.

She took out her phone and scrolled through her contact list until she reached the L section. Her finger was hovering over Lucifer's name for several seconds, hesitating to press it. She had tried to call him several times in the first few months after he left to hell but obviously he had never picked it up and at one point she had given up.

Chloe took a deep breath before she finally pressed the name. She could hear the phone calling the number and finally a voice at the end of the line.

"We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service."

Chloe let the phone sink down and stared into nowhere, the voice still repeating the sentence over and over. This was the first time she got this message when she tried to call him. Maybe the phone company canceled the contract during his absence. Or maybe he did it himself. Either way, he was back with a new number and didn't think it was necessary to update her on it.

For a second she considered going back to the penthouse. She got up, but her vision blurred and she sank back into the couch. She had had too much alcohol to drive. Probably also too much alcohol for any productive conversation without turning into an emotional mess. And the last thing Chloe wanted to do was making herself look like an idiot in front of this Carrie chick.

Chloe sighed. There was nothing she could do right now. She picked up the phone that had fallen to the ground when she tried to get up, the voice still repeating the same message. She hung up and tossed the phone on the table. The silence felt great, at least for a few seconds before Chloe's thoughts went back to today's events. And then she couldn't stop the tears anymore. This was going to be a long night.