Author's Note:
First off sorry for the delay, real life sucks for writers some times. It was stated in a clip I saw that the worst thing for writers when they are writing is interruptions. Well real life is a huge interruption sometimes. Bit of a short chapter, but the next portion of the story is hopefully going to be better now that I have gotten past this bit. I hope that you like it.
Thank you to BrokenAngelWings83 for guessing that the movie reference that I alluded to was the wonderfully chaotic, funny and heart wrenching Dogma by Kevin Smith. If you have not seen this movie I totally recommend that you do. You will not be sorry especially if you are a fan of "Jay and Silent Bob" and Alan Rickman (RIP Alan you are missed).
Anyone catch the reference to that TV show in the last chapter? I will give you a hint... it is near the end of the chapter… Now on with the show!
Chapter 6:
"Oh wow," Chloe breathed.
Lucifer poured himself another drink and leaned back on the couch. "You are taking all of this surprisingly well Detective. No speed dialing the loony bin then?"
Chloe shook her head. "No loony bin for you. It is a lot to take in I will admit and I will need time to think things over. For now though I think that perhaps it is time to get you into bed."
Lucifer's eyes lit with glee, "I like your thinking Detective! I am a bit sore still but…"
Chloe laughed, "No, no, to sleep. You need to rest and I have a lot to think about." At Lucifer's crestfallen look she stood, taking his glass and set it on the table before tugging him up by the wrist. "Come on, I am going to tuck you in. I am going to stay up a little longer to think about a few things, you need the rest, you are still healing."
"Does that mean you are staying the night?" A spark of hope flickered into life in is chocolate eyes.
"After 3 and a half months of you not being here, I am not letting you out of my sight or presence for the next 24 hours at least."
"So I shouldn't try not to hog the bed then, hmm?" His smile was full of mischief and promise. Chloe shook her head while tugging on his wrist to get him moving before guiding him to his bedroom. "It is a rather large bed Detective, we could share easily, but I make no promises about what my body does after I am sleeping." He wiggled his eyebrows at him as she pulled down the top sheet.
"Get some rest Lucifer, we will talk again in the morning ok?" Chloe smiled gently before heading to the bedroom door.
"If I promise to behave then will you share?" She turned back to look at him, Lucifer's eyes held something else besides mischief and desire, there was a faint hint of trepidation lurking in the depths. He was afraid that if he closed his eyes she would disappear, or run, or both.
Chloe made the three steps back to him and gently cupped his cheek, "Get some rest Lucifer, I am glad that you are home." He sucked in a small breath at the touch on his cheek. "I promise that I will be here, in this apartment, when you wake up in the morning."
They stood frozen like that, staring deep into each other's eyes for some time as Lucifer searched her gaze, for what Chloe wasn't sure, but she let him look anyways.
"Don't stay up too late Detective, you need your rest as well."
Chloe nodded and took a slow step back, her hand sliding gently from his jaw. "Sweet dreams." Lucifer watched her as she slipped around the corner of the bedroom door, he was tempted to follow her and watch where she went. He did take a step to do just that when he heard the tell-tale sounds of piano notes gently floating from his baby grand. Shaking his head as a gentle smile played upon his lips, the soothing notes she played actually calmed him enough that he followed her directive to get some rest.
After completing his nightly ablutions, Lucifer slid on a pair of sleep shorts and crawled into bed. Certain that he wouldn't be able to rest right away, the softness of the bed, the coolness of the sheets over his legs and the soft tones of whatever song his Chloe was playing on his piano lulled him into slumber easily and with little fuss.
Chloe played through the five practice lullabies that she had learned, hoping that the soft music would soothe the bruised and aching partner she had sent off to bed earlier. She allowed her mind to drift as she played, taking in everything that he had told her that happened in the time he was away.
Five months ago she would have chalked up his story to simple delusions of grandeur, but she knew better now. Granted when she told him that she knew who and what he was, she wasn't too sure how he would take it. But that was something that she could deal with tomorrow. Right now..., well..., right now her partner, who was the Devil, fallen angel, was in his bed sleeping, while she, an honest to God human miracle, whose parents were Blessed so that they could have her, was playing on the aforementioned Devil's piano.
Closing the fallboard over the keys Chloe stood and made her way over to the couch, spying Lucifer's unfinished scotch on the coffee table she scooped it up and took it with her out to the balcony. She had always been amazed at the expanse of the city that she could see from Lucifer's balcony. It was always so breathtaking, but now she stood at the railing, gazing at the sky wondering just what she had gotten herself into.
Who knew that celestial beings lives were as complicated and drama filled as humans were. Granted things like proper behaviour and emotions were not as widely known, no… that wasn't right, understood was more like it, to angels and demons. What if other things besides angels and demons existed, what if…? Chloe downed the remaining scotch in one go, allowing the burn of it to chase away those thoughts for now. Her head might just explode if she started thinking too hard about all the other supernatural stuff that humans had once thought was out there. Who knows what legends and fairytales could be true.
Setting the glass down on a small table nearby, she folded her arms over the railing. Ok, time to get down to brass tacks as it were. Did knowing everything that happened to Lucifer, minus the details about the randy geriatrics, change how she viewed him? How she felt about him?
Not really. It didn't change the fundamentals of their relationship. They worked well together, her solve rate had been on the steady increase since they started working together, and he got to see justice served for those who were in the wrong. Chloe sighed, and they had started to become very good friends. Probably something more than friends if she was truly honest with herself, but would that change when she told him that she knew? Chloe hoped not.
"I wish I could ask you for clarification on a few things," She sighed looking up into the cloudless sky. The stars seemed to be winking at her over the light pollution from the city, stars that her partner, the Devil, had actually hung in the sky before he had 'fallen'. "What has my life actually become?" she whispered to herself in the dark of the night.
There was a soft chirp off to her left. Chloe turned and saw a tiny sparrow sitting on the chair near the table she had placed the glass on. The tiny bird was watching her with surprising accurate awareness. "What are you doing up here so late in the night?" She murmured to the bird.
"He is a distraction for me." Chloe turned around so quickly, reaching for a gun on her hip that wasn't there that she almost stumbled. Strong hands curled around her elbows to help steady her on her feet bringing her face to face with a man dressed in a smoke grey outfit that seemed to flow around his figure like clouds in the wind. "I mean you no harm mortal, be at peace."
Surprising herself she did just that. Chloe took calming breath but remained wary. "Who are you?"
The man smiled gently before releasing her and stepped closer to the light coming from inside the penthouse, his golden hair catching the light just so, making it appear as though there were feathers, or wings woven into the soft strands. His eyes, a cool calm grey were set in a face that looked carved from the finest marble. "I am but a humble messenger for Him."
The inflection of the last word struck a nerve in Chloe, "Are you the Metatron?"
Light laughter like bells tinkling in a summer breeze reached her ears as the man smiled easily once more while he sat down in one of the chairs like he owned the place. "No, no, Metatron is busy at the moment. Much to catch up on, you see, now that Father is back home." The messenger waved his hand at the adjoining seat indicating that Chloe should sit with him.
Chloe eased herself into the chair still wary of the obvious celestial before her. Deciding to take a more formal approach she tried again, "May I know to whom I am speaking?"
"I can see why he is so taken with you. Very well mortal, my name is Mercury, but others might know me as…"
"Hermes…" Chloe breathed out.
"Ah, so you are aware then. No matter, I have come to deliver a message, it is my job after all."
Chloe looked hard at Hermes, he didn't seem like he was there to do any kind of harm, but one never knew what might be going through the mind of a being as old as time itself. "What kind of message?" she asked cautiously.
"I suspect one that you believe is not thorough enough for that detective's mind of yours. However, once you hear the message, perhaps you will take it on with a little blind faith hmmm?" Tilting her head to the side just a little before nodding briefly that she at least understood what he meant. "The message is simply thus: Be who you have always been. No more, no less."
Chloe waited for the span of a few even breaths before furrowing her brow and looking hard at the man sitting so casually across from her. "That's it?! Be who I have always been?! What is that even supposed to mean?"
She got up from her chair and started to pace getting more and more agitated as she began to think out loud, "What exactly am I supposed to do with that? I am a police Detective..., a mother..., a mortal..., Blessed by God Himself, just to be partners with the most infuriating..., adolescent..., lecherous…, sweet…, generous..., caring person on the face of the earth who just happens to be a Fallen ANGEL..., who is the DEVIL! The one being in all of creation who has a reputation for being the worst kind of evil in the world, but really isn't in the slightest. And I should be afraid of him..., of what he represents... but I am not. I should just take my child and run as far and as fast as I can to get away from all of this craziness and I haven't because what exactly? I was created to bring out the best in him? My entire existence was to be his Redemption?! How I am supposed to somehow magically make him better?! I don't even know how to handle him sometimes. I just treat him like the child he acts like…" Chloe stopped and looked hard at Hermes again.
Hermes regarded her with a cool aloofness now that his message had been given. He could have easily spirited away once his task was complete, but he waited to see her reaction. He had tried not to take sides when things took a turn back in the day. He was able to visit the underworld with messages from a few of their siblings at first, but the longer that Lucifer stayed in Hell the less welcoming he became, even to the messenger of the gods, and he missed his older brother. Her voiced train of thought was fascinating. If only more humans thought like she did, he might be able to visit more often.
"That's it isn't it?! That is why he acts the way that he does…" Chloe breathed out a sigh. "He was still just a teenager, relatively speaking of course." Hermes decided not to answer her in any form as he watched her take that step of faith. "He rebelled in true teenage fashion and got grounded for it. But didn't get a chance to talk it out with the parent until now… for heaven's sake is that it? Is that the meaning behind that message?"
Hermes stood, smoothing out his top. "I am just the messenger Chloe Decker. There is no more that I can tell you. And now that my job is complete I must be going." Hermes stepped away from the chairs, aiming for the shadows once more.
"Wait! That is it? You are just going to go without telling me anything more?"
Turning back around and taking steps to close the gap between them, he stopped just shy of being too close for comfort, a slight air of intimidation swirling about his form. "Do not question me mortal. I am but a messenger. I have completed my task and now I am to leave." Chloe was doing everything in her power to control the slight tremble of fear threatening her bones as she stared him down. For a few brief moments, it was like waiting for the pin to drop. Hermes smirked at her briefly, the only indication that he was impressed she stood her ground. "I cannot tell you more mortal. But can offer my opinion…"
"Please."
"I find your thought process compelling. Perhaps there is room for, not necessarily blind, but some form of faith in your thinking." He then reached up and plucked an actual feather from his hair. It almost shimmered in the moonlight as he pressed it into her hand, curling her fingers around it. "Set this feather to the wind at any time, I will come to you and take a message from you to whomever, wherever you wish it." Hermes took a step back from her, then another, "Fare thee well Chloe Decker. Take good care of my brother."
With a blink of an eye and a rustling of feathers, he was gone. Chloe continued to stare at the place Hermes had just been trying to come to terms with what she had been told that night. Taking the glass off the table and padding back inside, she didn't notice that her hand was still clutched gently to her chest until she placed the glass in the dishwasher. The harsh lights of the kitchen allowed her to see the soft golds and blondes in the vanes, it shimmered a bit when she twisted it in the light. Taking the feather with her, she tucked it into a spare spot of her purse and padded back to Lucifer's bedroom.
Stopping just inside the door, Chloe gazed upon the sleeping form of her friend, her partner, the Fallen Angel known to the planet as the Devil. It was comforting to see the lines of his smooth back rising and falling as he breathed in sleep. He had been through so much, and if she looked at his behaviour, his track record, she noted that it was on par with what she knew of the publicized actions of any spoiled rich kid. A overindulged teenager who had access to power and money and usually got his or her way when it came to every desire and whim. He was essentially kicked out of the house when he was younger and never had a chance to mature like Amenadiel. Amenadiel… his brother… an Angel… who came down to bless her parents. Ugh… that was just too much to think about.
Before her thoughts could take her further down his dysfunctional family tree, Lucifer rolled over facing the door. The arm he was laying on stretched out to the door, almost as if he was reaching out to her. His face was smooth of worry lines, a soft deep breath passed easily between his parted lips, he seemed at peace until his eyebrow twitched. "Chloe…"
For a moment she thought that perhaps that he was awake, but his eyes stayed closed even as is eyebrows furrowed in discontent. Putting aside any more thoughts for the night, Chloe slipped out of her boots and pants placing them over one of the chairs in the corner so they wouldn't be tripped over later. Thankfully her shirt was long enough to be sleepwear so she didn't have to go hunting for something to wear to bed. After a moment's hesitation, she pulled her bra off from under her shirt and dropped it on the chair with her pants.
Carefully, so as not to wake him, Chloe slipped under the sheet and tucked in close, using his bicep as a convenient pillow. Reaching out she gently brushed a lock of hair from his forehead. "Chloe…" came the soft whisper again, the discontent in his voice melting away with ease. She smiled gently and placed her hand on the small space on the bed between them before closing her eyes to sleep.
Reviews are appreciated, they help keep my muse occupied enough to stay still long enough for me to write! More soon I hope!
Ooo! I have question… Should I throw our dynamic duo a case, an antagonist to cause Lucifer some family troubles or just sort of sort things out and have them come to a new normal? Please let me know what you would like to see… I have options to go for all three.