Author's Note: Quite a cliff hanger there last chapter huh?

Chapter 4:

The ringing of Chloe's cell phone startled them both from the story Lucifer was telling. She snatched the phone up and hit the answer button, "Hey monkey… Maze got you from your Dad's... she said what?" Chloe smiled and sighed at the same time. "Ok… ok… hold on." She passed the phone over to Lucifer.

"Hello Beatrice."

"LUCIFER! You are back! We were so worried about you!"

"I appreciate the sentiment spawn, but there was no need for concern."

"Are you back for good now?"

Lucifer looked at Chloe, hope and trepidation swirled in the depths of his dark brown eyes. "I suppose so…"

"YAY! Can I come visit? I could ask Maze to bring me. Are you at Lux?"

Chloe pulled the phone from Lucifer's fingers, "Monkey, maybe not tonight. Lucifer is still feeling under the weather at the moment."

"What do you mean 'under the weather'?"

Chloe sighed, "He is a little banged up at the moment."

"You didn't shoot him again did you?"

"No I did not shoot him again!" Lucifer chuckled heartily at the small human's question. Lucifer wiggled his fingers at her and took the phone from Chloe once more.

"Beatrice, will you put Maze on the phone for me? Thank you."

"You alright there boss?" Lucifer smiled, even though he had released her from her oath, she still referred to him as boss on occasion.

"Yes, thank you Maze. Would you be a dear and watch over the spawn for the Detective tonight and then tomorrow afternoon, say after she is done school at 3 you both come to Lux?"

"I suppose, you will owe me big."

"How does one of Ares's gauntlets sound?"

"See you tomorrow at after 3."

"Lucifer?" Trixie's voice came back over the phone line.

"Yes small human?"

"I know you don't like it too much when I hug you, but can I give you one tomorrow?"

There was something warm that unfurled in his chest when the child asked something so small of him. After a moment's pause he answered in a soft voice. "I would like that very much Trix."

"Thank you!" He could hear the child's smile through the phone. "Can you put my mom back on Lucifer, please?"

"Of course. Goodnight Beatrice."

"Night Lucifer!"

Lucifer handed the phone back to Chloe and got up off the couch. He poured himself another drink and stepped out onto the balcony to enjoy some of the night air. Lucifer marveled at his reaction to Beatrice's request. He despised children, but Chloe's daughter had wormed her way into his dark heart with the same tenacity and ease that her mother had. Chloe stepped out onto the balcony with Lucifer and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you." Chloe sighed, "She missed you while you were away. Talked about you non-stop. You have made quite an impression on her."

"She has made quite an impression on me as well Chloe," his dark eyes found hers in the fading light. "Just like her mother has."

Chloe blushed a bit and smiled at him. "So, bright blinding light, then what happened?"

Lucifer sighed. It was too much to ask for her not to press further. "Are you sure that you want to hear the rest of this story Chloe? It is getting late."

"Oh no. You have been gone for almost four months. There is no way I am leaving now!" Chloe leaned up against the railing with her hip and crossed her arms over her chest.

Lucifer smiled at her gently, "Very well… Let's get something for dinner though. I need a bit of a breather and another drink."

Chloe smiled a bit, "Alright… I am a bit hungry. I brought some staples over earlier, just milk, bread, eggs and a bit of ham."

"How about some French toast? That should tide us over," Lucifer suggested.

"Mmm… sounds good… let me go…."

"Oh no Detective. You made lunch… at least allow me to make dinner. Besides, I find cooking soothing."

"Can I help at all?"

Lucifer gave her a ghost of a smile, "I'd like that."

They made their way into Lucifer's spacious kitchen and made quick work on making the French toast. Lucifer used some of the Hawaiian egg bread that Chloe had used for the sandwiches, adding a bit of cream, cinnamon and nutmeg to the eggs before dipping the bread into it. When the butter was hot enough, Lucifer set the slices in the frying pan one at a time to cook evenly as he directed Chloe to the cupboard with the plates. Once everything was cooked to perfection, literally dripping in real maple syrup (not that cheap imitation syrup) did they perch themselves on the stools at the kitchen island and tucked in.

The sounds of forks and knives scraping on plates was only interrupted by the sounds of enjoyment coming the Detective's throat involuntarily.

"Chloe…" Lucifer murmured while looking at her beside him.

"Hmm?" Chloe closed her lips around another forkful of their breakfast for dinner and moaned again.

"If you don't stop making those glorious sounds darling, I am not going to be able to resist accosting you right here on the island."

Chloe's eyes widened for a moment as she stopped chewing her forkful. Her gaze swung to his heated gaze before taking on a wicked glint of her own. She finished chewing and swallowed before giving him a decidedly devious smile, "I can't help it… you are a very good cook… this French toast is positively sinful."

Lucifer drew in a sharp breath as she scooped up the last of her toast and while staring directly at him, groaned her enjoyment as she closed her lips around the bite.

Lucifer's fingers tightened on the countertop edge, "Detective…" he groaned, his voice dropping an octave or two lower than normal, "It isn't nice to tease the Devil darling, unless he asks for it, of course."

"The Devil seems to be enjoying himself all the same," Chloe smirked as she took a sip of her glass of milk. "Now I believe you promised me more of the story."

He sighed and nodded as they gathered the dishes, rinsing them off and putting them in the dishwasher for a later cycle. Lucifer padded back into the living room and poured himself another helping from the bottle on the table. He settled himself once more on the couch and when his Detective came to sit down, he tugged her so that she was leaning against him and wrapped an arm around her shoulders holding her close.

"After my eyes adjusted to the sheer brightness that was around me, I came face to face with someone I never thought that I would see again…"

Lucifer's eyes had clamped shut when the light hit his corneas and he just tried to control his breathing. After a few moments of lying in the same position he was in when he pulled the plug on the ventilator, he slowly blinked opened his eyes to be greeted with a landscape in shades of grey. Limbo. He was in Limbo. It had been in many eons since he had seen the bleak and nondescript waiting room of the Silver City. The light wasn't as intense as the ethereal light of the Silver City but it was bright enough, causing his eyes to water heavily.

Lucifer slowly got to his feet and took a faltering step towards the bench nearby. His ribs protested the movement but by wrapping his arms around them, after shoving Ares' gauntlet in his suit pocket, he was able to sink his tall frame onto the bench and rest. Lucifer focused on breathing as easily as he could while cradling is aching and bruised ribs. Time seemed to slip away as he concentrated on passing air into and out of his lungs with as little pain as possible.

A presence sat down next to Lucifer, one he hadn't felt in a year. "You know we never did get to find out who was the better piano player."

Lucifer huffed out a small laugh that was more a sob than laugh, "Yes, well, you had to be a bloody idiot and jump in front of a bullet didn't you?" Lucifer turned his gaze to the man sitting beside him. "Why did you do it Frank?"

Father Frank tugged at his black shirt straightening it. "You know why Lucifer, you have come to understand why I did it."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Lucifer huffed, "Not that it isn't great to see you Padre, but why are you visiting me in Limbo?"

Frank leaned back against the bench and smiled at him, "I wanted to apologize for leaving the way I did. I was not expecting to go out like that. I think that we could have been great friends if things had played out differently."

"A Preacher friends with the Devil? I don't think so."

"No… Frank Lawrence friends with Lucifer Morningstar." Lucifer looked up at Frank in surprise as the former priest stood up and brushed off non-existent dirt off his pants. "Have to go, someone else wants a word with you." Frank grinned at the man on the bench. "Don't take this the wrong way Lucifer, but I hope I don't see you for a long time but, I will be here when you do. We can finish our piano duel, it has been a bit boring up here."

Frank smiled and began walking away into the perpetual mist that floated around in Limbo. "I did warn you about it being boring!" Lucifer called after him once he got over his surprise about seeing his friend. Lucifer laughed a bit, which turned into a groan as his ribs protested.

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