Chloe has Trixie's back pack in one hand and a poster board in the other. When her phone rings she sighs and contemplates letting it go to voicemail even while she is shuffling the poster board to lay flat on the kitchen table. "Hey, Maze." She breathes out, having answered on the last ring.
"I wanna talk to Maze!" Trixie says, excited, pushing her pack of markers into Dan's hand and moving to come to the phone. Chloe stops her by stretching her hand out in a 'wait' gesture and pressing her phone closer to her ear.
"You need to get to Lux." Maze tells her, her voice is clipped and Chloe can tell that she is distracted. "There's…he's…can you just get here?" Maze asks a little quieter. Chloe can hear Amenadiel's voice in the background (How did this happen, Maze?) and her eyebrows come together in confusion.
Chloe sets the small space themed backpack she's still holding on the table and shrugs a little at Dan's inquisitive stare. "Yeah," she sighs a little, "I'm on my way.". Just as she is about to hang up, Maze's voice, smaller than she has ever heard it comes back through the phone forcing Chloe to snap the speaker back to her ear.
"Just hurry, okay?" Chloe mumbles that she will as she hangs up and tucks her phone in her back pocket. It's lucky that she was all ready dropping Trixie off with Dan, but she laments the loss of her night to her self silently with a deep breath that she blows out silently.
"Alright, you have everything you need for your project, Monkey?" Chloe asks, walking over to the coffee table where Trixie and Dan are sitting on the floor, Trixie all ready working. Trixie mumbles under her breath about how she wanted to talk to Maze too, but Chloe raises her eyebrows and Trixie trails off just saying 'yeah' instead. Chloe rolls her eyes but smiles, leaning down to kiss the top of Trixie's head. Her and Dan share a look and she smiles, shaking her head a little.
"Okay, have a good night, guys." she says standing and gathering her purse and keys off the counter to the sound of them returning the sentiment. She locks Dan's door behind her as she leaves.
She can't help but wonder what has Maze calling her to Lux on a random Thursday as she drives. This used to happen a lot, right after Lucifer left, but it's been months and the habit had disappeared a couple of months after Lucifer did.
She remembers the way Maze's face had fallen when she told them all that Lucifer was gone. The way she'd stood stock still and shell shocked and whispered 'he promised he'd never leave me' to herself. The way she'd let Amenadiel pull her into his side and tell her that 'he didn't want to make you choose' while Linda took her hand.
It was Maze who demanded that they keep Lux up and running – partially for the income, but mostly because Chloe knows that for a long while Maze had been sure Lucifer would come back and she wanted Lux to be waiting for him, wanted his home to be waiting for him. Chloe used to let herself live in the day dream of him coming back, back to Lux and back to her, used to let Maze pull her into that fantasy. But, as days bled into weeks and weeks bled into months, even Maze had to accept Lucifer's absence in their lives.
Since Linda and Amenadiel have baby Charlie to worry about, Lux fell mostly to Maze and Chloe. Though, mostly, the club ran itself – they hired a general manager to make most of the day-to-day decisions and they just made sure that one of them dropped by once a week or so to make sure everything was okay.
They keep the penthouse up too. There is no practical reason to do so, but every time Chloe starts to say that, the words choke in the back of her throat and tears burn her eyes. Even rational, level headed, brave Amenadiel can't make himself say it, so instead they take turns stocking the kitchen and the bar, they dust off the piano and when Charlie is there, they let him bang on the keys arbitrarily and giggle at the sound it makes. They keep the place livable. They decide to use it for what Linda dubs their 'Celestial Planning Sessions' to give themselves an excuse for all of it. Chloe never goes on the balcony.
In the beginning, Maze looked for ways to force Lucifer back to LA – calling Chloe and Amenadiel to Lux in the middle of the night to tell them about some summoning she found that they could try. Or, she'd hear about someone claiming to be the devil hundreds of miles away and hunt them down like a bounty – always disappointed with the loon or charlatan she found.
Chloe tries to be supportive, tries to let her friend grieve in the way that she needs. Tries to remember that for as devastated as she is, she only knew Lucifer a few years – nothing compared to the millennia that Maze had been by his side. But, one day, about five weeks after Lucifer left, Chloe has slammed her hand against the top of the piano and shouted that 'no one made Lucifer leave, Maze, he made a choice,' her voice was stripped raw and started to mix with sobs she couldn't stop 'I loved him and he left.'. It was Maze who sunk to the floor, who gathered Chloe up and pillowed her head on her thighs, who pulled her hair from her face and let her cry, who whispered 'he loved you too, so much.'.
When she pulls up to Lux, its only six, but people are already starting to pile in. They're in short skirts and skinny ties, sparkly jewelry everywhere. She glances down at her converse sneakers, jeans, and oversized LAPD sweatshirt and shakes her head a little – wondering, not for the first time, how she ever ended up a part of Lucifer's world. She says hi to bouncer as she dunks under the rope and slips behind him as he smiles warmly at her.
The elevator is quite and she spends the ride wondering if she might still have time to get some paperwork done tonight or if this is going to be an all-night sort of affair. The doors slide open smoothly and she steps into the penthouse. She's about to call out for Maze but then she hears her voice "I think he's cold?" but it sounds more like a question.
"Maybe. I'll turn the heat up in case." Amenadiel's voice answers her, distracted. Chloe's first thought is the baby, but she can't think of a reason they would bring Charlie here if he were sick, and there is no way Linda wouldn't be here. So, when Amenadiel passes her, she's sure her confusion is evident. He puts his hand on her shoulder as he passes and mumbles about being right back before he disappears down the hall.
She hears the heat kick on and thinks to herself that it is about to be miserably hot in here. Amenadiel reappears not even a minute later and Chloe could swear it all ready feels warmer, he must have cranked it as high as it would go. He stops in front of her, looking more out of sorts than she has ever seen him. He reaches out and touches her elbow, "It's good you're here. What has Maze told you?".
She shakes her head, starts to say 'nothing' but Maze come out of the bedroom, "You're finally here.".
Chloe rolls her eyes a little, it's not as if they called her hours ago, "Okay, you guys are starting to freak me out, what is -" she's cut off by a low grunt coming from the bedroom, "What the hell was that?". Maze and Amenadiel exchange a look, but neither says anything, so Chloe starts to move towards the bedroom.
Her foot is on the first stair when Maze grabs her arm, stopping her, "Chloe, wait. It's not…he's not…I don't know what is wrong with him…". Chloe glances between Maze who is trying to say something she can't find the words for and Amenadiel who is watching her closely before she slips her arm out of Maze's grasp and finishes the stairs to the bedroom. She pulls in a deep breath before she slides the door open.
There had to have been some part of her that knew this was a possibility, that knew there was really no other reason for Maze and Amenadiel to be acting this way. But, in Chloe's mind, Lucifer was gone and never coming back – it was the way she had to think, lest she be pulled under by her grief completely. So, the sight of him, in his bed at Lux, after all this time, pulls a sound from the back of her throat that sounds forging even in her own ears. It seems to summon Maze and Amenadiel to her side as well.
"What? How?" she stumbles over her words, taking a half step towards the bed and wrapping her arms around herself. Lucifer is in full devil form, unconscious, and Chloe is finding the whole thing incredibly difficult to process.
"We don't know," Amenadiel says next to her, quiet "I just found him," he gestures vaguely "on my way home, like this."
"Is he…is he in pain?" Chloe asks. She hates how small she knows she sounds – she is an LAPD detective, if anyone should be able to hold their shit together, it's her, but she is having some trouble organizing her thoughts. Lucifer is shaking a little – not obviously, but little spasms every so often. She remembers the heat then, remembers Maze talking about 'him' maybe being cold when she came in.
Amenadiel opens and closes his mouth a few times, shakes his head a little and then just shrugs, it's a small movement. Maze is the one to speak, "He's got scars, ones he didn't before."
Chloe glances over at Maze and then back to Lucifer, "How can you tell?" the words are out of her mouth before she's really thought them through. But, like this, Lucifer's skin is a patchwork of burns and exposed muscle – it all looks like scaring to her. She can hear Maze behind her, pointing out still healing cuts that she can't see, but blood is pounding in her ears and all she can hear is a steady rhythm: Lucifer is back, Lucifer is back.
She steps closer and reaches for him without thinking about it at all. Right as her fingers are about to close over his wrist, she flinches back, "Wait," she says, interrupting Maze who is still showing her scaring flesh, "if he's hurt…if he's healing, then I shouldn't," she takes a deep breath, "I have to go. Me being close to him will hurt him." She's backing up a little as she talks, feeling guilt mix in with all the other emotions swirling around in her mind. Maze and Amenadiel are both telling her to hold on, but that isn't what makes her stop abruptly, right before she reaches the stairs, and sway on her feet a little.
She stares at Lucifer, tears making her vision start to swim, not quite steady on her feet. He's unconscious, probably delirious. Maybe her voice registered somewhere in his mind. Or, maybe, she's hearing what she wants to hear, maybe his low desperate groan wasn't her name at all. But, then, Maze and Amenadiel are looking at her with sad eyes, and why else would that be? She closes her eyes and pulls in a long breath.
It's been quiet for a long moment when Amenadiel asks "What do we do?" quietly, looking at Lucifer. "Why hasn't he changed forms?"
"I don't think he has the energy for the glamour" Maze says quietly. "I think we let him sleep, see how he is in the morning."
Chloe hears herself scoff, even though she has no idea what to do either. "I don't know what else to do, we can't exactly take him to a hospital." Maze snaps and Chloe nods, whispering 'I know'. Maze swallows, "After the fall, he was in a lot of pain, the only thing that helped was sleep." She almost whispers. Chloe nods a little. He doesn't look like he is in excruciating pain, more he looks uncomfortable. So, maybe giving his body some time is the right call. Chloe can't pretend to know.
Even though it feels like there are still a million questions, that seems to decide something. Maze and Amenadiel leave the bedroom, Amenadiel squeezing her shoulder as he passes disappearing down the hall while Maze goes to the bar, pacing and twirling a set of knives that Chloe wonders idly where they came from.
Chloe pulls in a deep breath and blows it out slowly, closing her eyes and trying to will herself calm. She is a cop, she can handle this – if she thinks it enough, she will believe it, or at least that is what she hopes to convince herself of. She blinks her eyes open slowly and nods to herself a little. She toes off her sneakers and pulls her sweat shirt over her head, folding it over her shoes in the corner, leaving her in a tank top and jeans.
Lucifer's bedroom, like the penthouse itself, is huge – there are a million places she could sit and still keep an eye on him, which it feels important for her to do for some reason (part of her feels like this is some fucked up dream and if she takes her eyes off of him, he'll never have been here at all). She moves towards the bed slowly and perches lightly on the side. Lucifer's forehead creases and he makes a small pained noise from the back of his throat, readjusting himself slightly.
Chloe reaches out and it occurs to her that she'd never touched him in his devil form. She wishes she had, wonders how much different things could have turned out had she never went to Europe. Tears sting her eyes as her finger tips slide over his shoulder. It feels like it should hurt – flesh burned exposed and muscles raw, but she feels him shift towards her, leaning into her touch the slightest bit and a small sob escapes her throat as she slides her hand up to cup his cheek. He turns his face into her hand and her chest pulls tight.
Amenadiel comes in and she starts to move away from the bed, but he holds out his hand in a 'stay' gesture and smiles at her sadly, so she pulls her free hand under her eyes to pull away her tears and smiles at him, the expression unstable and watery. He hands her a bottled water and she takes it with a small nod of thanks. "There's food…" he trails off, gesturing vaguely to the lobby where he has brought a tray of something out to the bar.
"No thanks," she shakes her head a little, "I think I'm just gonna…" she glances back at Lucifer and Amenadiel nods a little before backing out of the bedroom and going to meet Maze at the bar.
After a little while, Chloe swings her legs on to the bed and stretches them out in front of her, leaning back against the pillows. She has one hand on Lucifer's forearm, her thumb soothing circles on marred skin while her other hand taps a nervous rhythm against her own thigh.
What if he doesn't get better? What if he didn't mean to come here and he leaves again? What if he came back become something awful is on its way? What if he did want to come back to LA, but not to her – after all, he never said he loved her too on that balcony. What if he hasn't forgiven her for everything that happened after she saw his face, this face, for the first time…for almost killing him? How could he forgive that? How could she expect him to? She wonders, not for the first time, why her reaction had been so extreme. Looking at Lucifer now, it's so easy to see him beneath the initial fear this appearance inspires and she wishes she'd tried harder to do that then, or talked to him before leaving for Europe.
As her thoughts spiral and the events of the day catch up with her, she feels her head start to lull to the side, but she fights it – taking drinks of the water Amenadiel brought her and blinking rapidly. When Lucifer does wake up, she wants to be there and able to talk to him – in case he is in pain, in case he wants to leave immediately, in case he hates her…in case he doesn't. But as the night goes on, against her will, her eyes slip closed and her breathing evens out. In her sleep, her body searches for comfort and she slides down the pillows until she is laying down, curled on the bed next to Lucifer, her hand on his chest.
Lucifer blinks a few times and reaches up to push his sleep-wild hair out of his eyes. The movement has Chloe adjusting against his chest to snuggle in closer, drawing his attention to her as she sighs a little in her sleep. He smiles and fits his arm around her body, his other hand going to play in her hair. He glances around the room, blinking his dry eyes – he's at Lux, in the penthouse. He's had this dream before and it is lovely, however dreadful to leave.
He's wearing pants, but no shirt, and Chloe is snuggled close to his side, draped across his chest so he can feel her skin against his. The room is exactly as he remembers it, but he doesn't have an actual memory of holding the Detective like this to compare the feeling to. He imagines that it is close enough to this as he draws nonsensical patterns on her bare shoulder with his index finger.
He's not sure how long he's been in Hell in Earth time – the passage of time is so different and it is difficult to keep track of both. And he can't afford to entertain the fantasy that he will be back on Earth this century. Instead, he lets his head lull to the side enough to kiss the top of the Detective's head, her hair tickling his nose while he lets himself linger.
He's not sure how long he lays on his back, Chloe covering his chest, one hand playing through her har while the other draws feather light shapes on her shoulder, but when he feels her start to stir, it still feels lightyears too soon. Her movement normally signals the end of this particular escape and his return to Hell. He's not ready to leave her yet. He never is.
The first thing Chloe registers in the feeling of his hand in her hair, and it's so pleasant that she almost allows it to lull her back to sleep. But then, the events of last night come back to her and she gasps lightly, pushing against the bed to prop herself up. "Lucifer." She breathes out his name. He looks just as surprised to see her as she feels to see him. Her hand goes to his cheek without thought and her thumb is tracing his cheekbone lightly when she whispers "You're you.".
His forehead crinkles a little as his eye narrow in question, head cocking just slightly to the side. He lifts a hand to brush the hair from her eyes and it reveals a still healing cut over her eyebrow, a souvenir from last weeks case, and his finger tips ghost over it. Her eyes slip closed and she leans into his touch with a little sigh. "I don't understand," he mumbles, more to himself than to her, "you're always just as I remember you.". She shakes her head a little, confused.
She starts to push herself into a sitting position, "I should get Maze and Amenadiel." She explains, pushing her hair out of her face. She settles in a sitting position and he follows, sitting and watching her carefully. She knows she should go get the others, but she is having a hard time leaving him – some part of her sure that he will disappear the moment he is out of her sight.
"Detective," he starts, his voice low and hoarse, "is this…" he trails off to glance around a little, "is this real?". She's confused, but she nods. "How long?" he asks, still glancing around.
"Three years."
"What, I - " he cuts himself off at the sight of her small smile. His 'I can't believe I fell for that' expression has her letting out what was meant to be a laugh but sounds more like a choked sob, even to her own ears. He swallows hard, "Chloe," he whispers, reaching out for her hand.
She shakes her head a little, "About seven months." She amends, holding his hand in both of hers.
"That is not as long as I expected," he tilts his head to the side a little, "or maybe it is longer.". He shakes his head a little, pulling himself out of a memory and focuses on her, "I am sorry that I had to leave you, Chloe."
She nods, tears falling from the corner of her eyes as she blinks, "Are you staying now?" she asks, quiet.
He sighs, "I'm not sure how I got here." He admits. Chloe nods, her glance askance, "I want to stay, Detective, I always wanted to stay.".
Chloe opens and closes her mouth a few times, trying to find the words to respond, when a quick knock pulls their attention to the bedroom door a moment before Maze and Amenadiel enter. Chloe turns her head and wipes her eyes, adding guilt for not getting them as soon as Lucifer woke up to the emotions swirling inside her.
"Brother," Amenadiel's voice is booming and loud in the stillness of the room, happy, "you look better."
"The scars aren't showing in this form." Maze adds. She's trying to sound aloof, but there is no mistaking the relief in her voice.
"Scars?" Lucifer asks, looking down at his own skin, holding his free hand up in front of his face to inspect it.
Maze clears her throat a little before she speaks, "When you showed up, you were in your other form," Lucifer's eyes snap to Chloe's face at the words, "and you had all kinds of new scars…just like after the fall," she hesitates for a moment, "and like after the fall, they aren't showing in this form.".
Lucifer nods absently, "I don't…I don't remember." He says verging on nervous.
Amenadiel puts his hand out, an odd but comforting gesture, "Why don't we let you get changed," he says to Lucifer, "we'll find some breakfast…celebrate you being back in whatever capacity that is.".
"If I've been gone months, I doubt you'll find the pantry well stocked."
The three of them exchange a look, "We'll find something" Maze says with a small smile.
Maze and Amenadiel file out, whispering to each other, but Chloe takes a deep breath, her bottom lip pulling between her teeth. He smiles at her sadly and reaches out to lay his hand on her elbow. She nods a little and stands, "Just…please don't disappear." She whispers so low that he hardly hears.
His breath hitches, "Detective, I -" he cuts himself off when she wraps her arms around herself, "I promise" he says, firm. She nods and offers him a watery smile before she backs out of the room, sliding the door shut behind her.
Amenadiel puts his hand between her shoulder blades and rubs a soft circle there, "Maze and I will find something to eat, and I'll call Linda – see if she can find someone to watch Charlie and come check Lucifer out."
"She's not that kind of doctor." Maze taunts and Amenadiel rolls his eyes good naturedly.
Chloe nods and watches them disappear down the hallway. She pulls in a deep breath and blows it out slowly, trying to steady herself. She forces her breathing to normalize and sinks down to sit on the sofa. She pulls out her phone and calls Dan – he's understanding when she asks him to pick Trixie up from school in the afternoon (even when she hears Trixie in the background, 'But I wanted to show mom my project'. Dan assures their daughter that Chloe will see it soon and laughs into the phone). He asks her if everything is alright and doesn't press when she says she just has a lot going on. Chloe is grateful for the millionth time that she and Dan didn't turn on each other when their relationship fell apart.
She slides her phone onto the coffee table after she hangs up and settles her elbows on her knees, trying to process the last twelve hours. She glances up when she hears the bedroom door slide open, Lucifer giving her an almost shy smile as he come out with still damp hair. She returns his smile and he sits next to her on the couch, both of the pulling in deep breaths.
So, honestly, I am not sure yet if this will be a one shot or a WIP. I am marking it as a one shot for now since I do like it on its own and don't have concrete plans to continue it. I hope you enjoyed! Please review!