Author's note: I decided to release this second chapter sooner than I promised you. The reaction I received for this story has amazed me so I want to thank you, dear readers, for all the reviews, comments, and kudos. I love you all! I hope you will enjoy this chapter at least as much as the precedent one. Happy birthday again Bebec! Enjoy!

Chloe was literally panicking!

She was holding Lucifer's bloodied head with shaking hands. There was so much blood that she couldn't tell exactly where his head had been hurt. From the blood coming out from his mouth and nose, she could say for sure that he had at least a severe concussion and internal injuries. He was also bleeding from various places all over his body due to the many fragments of concrete or other material that ripped his body during the explosion. But he still had his eyes wide opened. Her sanity clang onto that simple fact.

He was still alive! He could make it. Nothing could kill her Lucifer. Right? Wasn't he supposed to be invincible? Immortal? As he fancied himself to be.

"You're gonna be ok Lucifer! Hold on! Please, just hold on!" She was crying now, barely able to keep herself together.

In spite of everything, he was smiling sweetly at her. Didn't he understand what was happening? When he tried to speak, her blood turned cold at the view of all the blood coming out of his mouth. A sob escaped her lips at seeing his pain and agony while he was coughing his life out.

She stopped breathing altogether when his eyes fluttered closed and he went completely limp.

"No, no, no, no, no! Lucifer, don't do this to me!" It couldn't be! He couldn't be dead!

Her brain would just not acknowledge that possibility. She couldn't lose him. Not now, after having just gotten him back. There was still too much she hadn't told him, too much unresolved things between them for their story to end like this. She knew he still had feelings for her, she could see it in his eyes and in all his features when he gazed at her sometimes while thinking that she was unaware of it. She thought they had time to resolve their problems. She thought they still had a chance. But if he was dead…

She was suddenly yanked away from Lucifer by a strong hand. To her complete surprise, it was an overwhelmed and teared up Charlotte who moved her out of her way to get to Lucifer.

"Will you get the Hell away from him? Haven't you hurt him enough already? If you're not going to help at least leave him be."

Chloe landed on all fours a few feet away and just remained there motionless with her mouth agape, too stunned to answer anything. She had hurt him? What did Charlotte mean by that? Did she blame her for the explosion, or for the fact that Lucifer was there with her when it blew up? She couldn't start to understand.

Charlotte tenderly cradled Lucifer's body in her arms and started rocking him slowly.

She spoke softly in a shuddering voice. "Everything's gonna be ok, Sparkle! I'm here. Just take deep breathes. That's it! Another one. There's a good boy!"

Chloe could now hear Lucifer take raspy breaths in. He was still alive! Her panic had rendered her completely blind and useless. She tried in vain to hold in her sobs of relief with both hands over her mouth. Daniel joined her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. She really had to get herself back together if she wanted to help Lucifer. She took a few deep calming breaths to regain control over herself. She could feel her wit coming back slowly as the panic partially subsided.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered why Charlotte had called him Sparkle. Maybe it was a term of endearment that she kept for their intimate moments. Despite the fact that Lucifer vehemently assured her more than once that they had never slept together, she still had her doubts about it. She believed him not to lie straight to her face, but she knew he was a master at waving his way around the truth. Still, why would he hide it? It was not as if he was usually shy of talking about his conquests. Maybe it was Charlotte who wasn't at ease with admitting to be sleeping with a playboy. She was a married woman after all. And the sweet way Charlotte was talking and holding him was way too intimate for them to be only friends. Chloe pushed aside her rising jealousy. Now was not the time for that. Lucifer might still be alive, but for how long?

She looked at her cell phone that she had been using as a flash light. Damn it! There was no signal. After checking, Dan confirmed that he hadn't any either, nor was Charlotte. It was already difficult to get a signal down here at the best of days, it was just to be expected that it would be impossible with half the building fallen on their heads.

A quick survey of what used to be the doorway told her that it would take a while to dig their way through the pile of crumbled walls and ceiling. She marvelled at Lucifer's chance to have landed right into their room after having brought the door down with him, instead of crashing against the wall. Otherwise he would certainly already be dead.

She had heard a second blast above on the main floor right after the first one. So she knew it had to be mayhem up there. They would certainly be the last ones to get rescued as a result. They had to find a way out, and fast, otherwise Lucifer was as good as dead. At least the rest of them looked fine with only minor bleedings. She knew that whatever Lucifer had done, they certainly owned him their lives.

She had a thought for their other colleagues, particularly for Ella who had already been in her lab at that hour. She prayed for her friend to still be alive. At least, Chloe hadn't seen much people in the basement while coming here. Aside from Detective Williams, who might still be alive since he was probably far enough from the explosion when it occurred, they had only encountered one agent guarding the few occupied jails at the beginning of the main corridor. Surely he had been far enough to be okay.

"Will someone take off those handcuffs please?" Complained their witness who was currently lying on his side on the floor, still attached to the now toppled table.

Chloe's anxiety turned into an incontrollable anger at the reminder of his presence with them.

"Can't you just shut up? This is all your fault in the first place." At his look of consternation, she continued impatiently. "Or do you think it's a coincidence that bombs exploded just when you were about to get transferred. If I were you I'd just make myself small and be happy to still be alive." Her tone left no place for argument. So Philips shut up and kept quiet.

Dan was already going through the few equipment he could find in their room, with the help of his cell phone's light. The first thing he did was try the phone, but it was unsurprisingly dead. His search of the room wasn't long. Aside from a table, there was only a desk and a locker. Fortunately, he found three flashlights with some batteries and a first-aid kit.

Chloe took the medical bag from his hands and rushed to Lucifer. Charlotte was soothing him by stroking his hair gently and talking sweet words to his ear even though he was giving no sign of regaining consciousness. Chloe averted her eyes and concentrated on his wounds. Dan handed Charlotte a flashlight to help Chloe see what she was doing, before he went working on the pile of rubbles obstructing their exit way.

The many little wounds over Lucifer's body didn't seem as urgent to be dealt with as the ones on his head. Chloe inspected his face and ran her hands through his hair to search for the sources of the bleedings. A cold shiver ran up her spine at the feel of his skull. Aside from a few shallow cuts over his forehead that were nonetheless bleeding profusely, there was a big gaping wound on the back of his head, where he probably crushed it against the door that was presently lying under him in pieces. Her hands shook more strongly at the meaning of such an injury; it could very well leave permanent damages… She felt her world start crumbling around her.

This had to be a nightmare!

Charlotte's sharp and angry accusation shook her out of her spiralling despair.

"You are the one responsible for all of this! He should have stayed away from you. But nooo, he had to come back and continue working with you."

"You are taking me responsible for the bombing?" Chloe couldn't believe this.

"Maybe not for the bombing, but you are the reason he is hurt. Without you around, he wouldn't be vulnerable. If he dies, it will be on you!" Charlotte spat at her. She didn't care anymore talking about the truth. The detective's blindness about everything was infuriating her too much at the moment.

Vulnerable…

It was the word Lucifer had spoken at the beginning of their partnership. Did this mean more than she had thought at the time? No, it was impossible. Charlotte had to be delusional, and her speaking that word had to be only a coincidence. And yet, there had been so many strange things happening around Lucifer.

"What are you talking about?" Chloe asked in a whisper.

"For my Ex's sake! You're supposed to be a detective. Figure it out yourself!"

Ex's sake… Who was she referring to? Chloe was so confused.

"This is just crazy…" She didn't know how to address such nonsense.

"Crazy? You humans are so good at keeping your heads in the sand." Charlotte said with contempt, but didn't add anything else to it.

And now the woman was speaking like Lucifer. Chloe shook her head in utter puzzlement. She pushed aside the lunatic talking and got back to the most pressing matter, which was to bandage Lucifer's head before he bled to death.

She worked in silence, the only sound in the room coming from Lucifer's difficult breathing and from Dan who was throwing aside the remnants of the walls and ceiling. Dan soon understood that he would need help if they were to get out of there quickly, so he took off their prisoner-witness' handcuffs to have him give a hand. Once Chloe finished dressing Lucifer's head wounds, she reluctantly left him in Charlotte's care to go help dig them an exit way.

After a little while, they heard noises and saw a light appear through the hole they had started to make. Someone seemed to have reached the main room behind.

"Is there someone alive in there?" Asked a worried voice.

Chloe recognized it as being Williams'. "Thank God you're alive!" She exclaimed.

"I thought you were all dead. I'm so relieved! This is a miracle! Are you all well?" asked Detective Williams with concern in his voice.

"We're all alive. But my partner is badly injured. He needs medical attention as soon as possible," explained Chloe.

"I'm afraid the main stairs were blocked by the second explosion. The back door's access is also blocked and all the phones are dead on this floor. I checked."

Another wave of despair washed over Chloe. But she was not about to give up. She would do anything to save Lucifer and for that she had to keep her head clear. First things first.

"All right… Can you give us a hand to widen a path so we can at least get out of here?"

Williams started helping them to make a big enough hole for a man to cross through. Chloe's spirit lifted a little, they were almost there. She could still hear Charlotte speaking softly to Lucifer, encouraging him to wake up.

Bright hope arose in Chloe's heart at hearing Lucifer's voice answer the lawyer. But the weak words he spoke confused her at the highest level. She had to be mistaking. She couldn't have heard what she thought she had. She immediately stopped working to stare at their barely lit forms a few meters away from her.

"Mom, is that you?"

"Yes, Sparkle! I'm right here. Don't worry my boy, everything's gonna be alright."

Chloe's jaw dropped. It was impossible! Charlotte just couldn't be his mother. It didn't make any sense. Lucifer had to be confused because of his head injury and the damn woman was just taking advantage of his confusion, for sure. What a shame! Somehow, Chloe could not convince herself completely that it was all nonsense. The intimate way Charlotte was talking to him and the way she held and stroked him was not so much like a lover would act. It reminded her more of the way she herself would behave when Beatrice was sick. Could this be true? Charlotte didn't seem that much older than Lucifer. A step mom then?

Lucifer was shaking his head with a tortured expression. "It's not alright Mom! You let me Fall! And you did nothing to stop it. How could you let Him do this to me? I'm burning! I'm burning and I'm all alone."

He sounded so scared. Whatever waking dream Lucifer was in, it sounded much real to him, and terrifying. Chloe was at a loss about what to do to reassure him or bring him back to reality, if it could even be done. She never felt so helpless. The only thing she could really do at the moment was continue digging them a path towards the outside world to get him help as soon as possible. So she got back to helping Dan and the others, while trying to keep an ear on the conversation going on a distance away.

A strange feeling came over Chloe as she listened to Charlotte's and Lucifer's quiet talking. Against all common sense, what she heard made her believe that maybe, just maybe, there could be some truth to it and that it might not be all craziness after all.

Author's note: I'm just hoping that it reached your expectations. Please let me know if you liked it. Your feedbacks always make my day. Thanks for reading!

PS: Next chapter is ready and will be posted in three days.