Finding his way back to her…. Chapter 5-
Lucifer walked back and forth, pacing in front of the piano in the club. He was nervous. He was never nervous, in all of his existence he could never remember being nervous. Yet here he was waiting for a girl. Waiting to try and impress and win a girl.
Where the bloody hell was she anyway? He looked down at his watch for the hundredth time. 7:03 pm. She said she was going to be there at 6:30.
Fuck she was probably backing out, she was probably never going to come back after what he said last night. He scared her away with all of the demanding and declarations.
He glanced at the door again mid-turn to see Maze walk through. He stopped with narrowed eyes, "Where is the detective." He growled.
Maze rolled her eyes at him, "Oh relax. She got caught up at the precinct. She asked me to tell you that she will be a little late but she will be here."
Lucifer walked over to sit at the piano, "Why do I feel like this, like my heart is being crushed and my breath is coming out all fast?" he said leaning down elbows to knees, head in hands.
Maze laughed out loud as she walked behind the bar to pore them drinks, "That my friend is called love…. And anxiety."
She walked over and handed him a glass, "Here for courage."
Lucifer gave a sharp hollow laugh, "If only my existential metabolism would actually let me feel the liquid courage."
Maze tipped her glass in a salute, "Amen brother."
Lucifer gave her a sharp look, "Not funny." He said with a frown.
Maze smirked at him, "I thought it was."
"Fuck Maze." He said after swallowing the glass in one drink, "How am I supposed to get her to see that I am not going anywhere."
Maze leaned on the piano, "I think the only way is to just stay. Not leave again. Try to be there as much as you can. And be patient because she is hurting."
She shook her head at him, "After you left she was in a really bad place, it's not going to be better in one day or even one week. It is going to take time."
Lucifer looked over at her, "But I want it better now."
Maze raised an eyebrow at him, "Well then you should not have left I guess. Actions have consequences Lucifer. Now you have to deal with them."
Lucifer paused his smart reply back to look over at the door that was opening. Chloe walked in to see the two at the piano.
"What's going on?" She asked as she walked over.
"Nothing." Maze said tipping her glass at her, "Just watching the man child until you could come and take care of him." She swallowed the rest of her drink before standing up, "Now that you are here I will pass him on to you. I have to go to work; these leather pants don't buy themselves."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at Maze, "What you need to do is pay rent. You are two months behind."
Maze narrowed her eyes at her, "I am... are you sure?"
Chloe through her hands up in the air, "Yes Maze I am sure since I had to pay it all the last two times."
"Why didn't you say something I don't know. I gave you money when we moved in." Maze said with a frown.
"Yes, but the funny thing about bills is that they come up every month." Chloe said with a growl.
"Well don't get your panties in a bunch, just let me know how much I owe you. You have to tell me these things lady." Maze said with a shrug.
"Maze you ow two months of rent and utilities." Chloe said with narrowed eyes.
"Fine, fine fine…. Just give me an amount for the next six months and I will pay you all at once." Maze said poring another drink.
Chloe narrowed her eyes, "If you have that much money laying around why did you get a roommate?"
Maze gave another shrug, "I don't like to live alone… I am used to being around people. Plus, I like your kid." Maze swallowed her drink and slammed the cup down, "Well I am off, take care of this kid." She said pointing the thumb at Lucifer who was sitting there watching the exchange silently.
Lucifer stood up with a growl, "I am not a kid, nor do I need to be watched."
"By, remember what I said." Maze said as she walked out of the door leaving Chloe and Lucifer alone together.
Lucifer turned to the detective with a grin, "Shall we be off then?"
Chloe narrowed her eyes at him, "What did she mean? What did she say to you?"
Lucifer gave smile, "Advice on how to win you back."
Chloe crossed her arms over her chest, "I thought we talked about this already. There will be no wining back."
Lucifer flashed her a smile as he placed his hand on her back to lead her out of the front door. "You did my dear, but I also told you that I was not going to listen to you. So, Maze gave me some advice on how to win you back."
Chloe walked around the car to get in the driver's side bit paused to lean against the hood, "Oh yea, and what was her advice?" she asked with a frown.
Lucifer took the same stance leaning on the hood and with a flashy grin said, "Persistence and patients… be there every time you turn around so you can see that I mean to stay this time." He stood back and opened the car door to get in, "Well…. shall we."
Chloe watched as he slid in the car and she took a deep breath, this was not going to be easy. At least he was saying things that frustrated her. That way she could be mad and not sad. Yep, she was going to go with anger. She counted to ten in her head reaching for the door handle.
Her anger flared as Lucifer opened his door and called out, "Well detective, are you getting in or not?"
Chloe counted to 10 again in her head before she got into the car.
-/-
Chloe dumped a pile of paper into his lap as they drove towards the five-block area they were going to be looking at. "So I talked to Maze and she said that they looked at the first 2 outer blocks but found nothing. So, I figured that we would look at the next two blocks. That way we can be going through each section. There were a few more crimes in that area today that Ella added to the pile. Why don't you look to see if we missed anything, or if you see something that Ella and I missed." Chloe kept her eyes on the road and didn't look at him once.
Lucifer set the papers down in his lap, "Nothing to say about what I said?" He asked with a frown. "It's not like you to let things go so easily."
This time she did glance at him before looking back to the road, "I am ignoring it. I already told you, that you and I are over. That there is no you and I. I am helping you so people will stay safe then we are done. Sweet and simple." She said looking straight ahead, fingers tight on the wheel.
Lucifer gave a small frown back, "NO not sweet or simple because I refuse to agree with that. We are not done Chloe we just need to move past what happened and the only way to do that is to talk about it… at least that is what the doctor said when I asked her."
Lucifer slammed forward into his seat when Chloe hit the brakes, "You have two options Lucifer. Drop it and work on this case with me. Or keep talking and I drop you off here and I go home. You choose." Chloe said looking forward the entire time, refusing to look at him.
Lucifer clenched at his jaw, "Fine, for now it will just be about the case. But this is not over Chloe. Can you even look at me?" He growled.
Chloe looked over at him, "I can look at you fine, I just don't need to… tell you to leave this subject alone. Now are you ready to go look?"
Lucifer narrowed his eyes at her, "Fine."
Chloe narrowed her eyes back, "Fine."
Lucifer crossed his arms, "FINE."
Chloe rolled her eyes, "You are so childish."
Lucifer, "And you are so closed off."
Chloe narrowed her eyes at him, "Well I wasn't always like this, you made your bed and now you have to sleep in it." She turned and started driving again.
"Now please look through the files I gave you." She said tightly.
Lucifer narrowed his eyes at her profile, "Fine."
The car was silent the rest of the drive with Lucifer looking through the new information and Chloe refusing to engage with him. When they pulled up to one of the first store Chloe had put on the list Lucifer was still reading.
"Detective look at this." He said pulling one of the arrest sheets out. "This man said that the man that attacked him said he felt like he had no choice. That if he didn't something bad was going to happen. "He handed her the sheet, "I think we need to start here, this just happened today."
Chloe took the paper and began to read the information, "This address is one street over, lets walk there and see if we can get any more information along the way." She said getting out of the car. "So this piece makes the person feel like they have to hurt people? Is it like that knife we found before."
Lucifer shook his head as they began to walk down the street, "No, the knife made a person want to hurt those around them and it created like a blood haze.,…. It used emotions they already felt would help direct them, they would and could attack anyone. Like in the yoga studio…... The piece is different, it may not nessasiry push a person to hurt another. It may push a person towards there deepest darkest desire. So, if you hate someone, you want to hurt them." Lucifer said pointing to the paper. "But if a person LOVES another it may push them to open up, talk to the other person when they might have not done that before."
"So, the knife is bad and the piece is good?" Chloe questioned.
"No, not necessarily." Lucifer said shaking his head, his arms bouncing around as he talked. "It helps you with your deepest darkest desire, and desires are tricky. There is a thin line between love and hate. So, if it pushed someone to talk to another because they loved them and that person rejected them…. The love can turn to hate and anger. Pushing them to hurt another. It's like a love spell, not real. And can often cause more harm than good. But the piece can also taking something small and multiply it in to big."
Chloe shook her head, "I am still not sure if I believe all of this, it seems so farfetched."
Lucifer looked over at her with a grin, "The world is bigger than you know with more going on than ever before. I am not even 100% sure of what this piece is capable of. Where I come from, we have heard of it but we've never directly dealt with it. So, we are working off information that is more rumor then knowledge. Also, this is called the piece because it is a literal piece of something else, so only a fraction of the power."
Chloe stopped for a moment, "So what you are saying is that people are causing this much pain and suffering for a single piece of this. Put together would be even worse?"
Lucifer paused his steps to look back, "Exactly."
Chloe began to walk again, "I am still not sure how much I believe. I do believe that people want this thing and will fight for it. But the item actually making people hurt other people I am not so sure of."
Lucifer shrugged his shoulders, "You may believe what you wish as long as you are helping me."
They came to the door of the Mexican restaurant, "This is it. The altercation was between two servers."
Chloe and Lucifer walked through the door to see a dark and dingy room filled with large men covered in tattoos. The room turned quiet when they saw Chloe and Lucifer in the doorway.
"Not sure this would be a great place to eat, looks rather filthy, doesn't it?" Lucifer said as he leaned over to whisper into her ear.
Chloe narrowed her eyes at him and whispered back, "Shut up, will you." She smiled at the lady who came up to them, "Hi we were wondering if we could talk to the wait staff about the incident that happened this morning?"
"I am the boss here and we already talked to the police about what happened. We told them it was a private matter and no one was going to press charges." She said back nastily.
Chloe gave a quick smile, "I understand that, and we are not here to get anyone in trouble, in fact we think something else provoked the incident. So we are trying to get as much information as possible."
"Look bitch I already told you, we don't want you here and we are not talking to you." The lady snarled.
Lucifer took a step forward, "Hello beautiful, how are you today." He gave her a grin as he leaned closer. After she gave him a smile he moved in for the kill, "What is it you desire, more than anything else?"
Chloe rolled her eyes as the lady also leaned in with a dazed smile, "To get away from this place, I hate working here. I just want to start fresh somewhere." She leaned closer, "I would do anything to be able to tell everyone here to fuck off." She blinked a few times then stood back in shook. "I mean I love it here."
Lucifer gave her a grin, "We are looking for new waitress in my club down town, we pay very well. I am sure much more than you are paid here. Help us and I can help you."
The lady looked at him through narrow eyes, "How do I know that you are telling the truth?"
Lucifer stood up looking offended, "I never lie. Ever, thank you."
She looked at him for a moment, "Fine, you can come to the back kitchen and talk to the staff there. Not out here. Follow me."
Lucifer leaned over to Chloe with a grin, "See." He whispered, "We make great partners. You find the place and I get us in."
Chloe rolled her eyes and pushed him away slightly, "We are not partners, I am just helping you out right now."
Lucifer leaned over to say something else, but Chloe just pushed him away with her shoulder and walked ahead to enter the kitchen first.
Lucifer frowned at her back and followed her into the kitchen, she was not opening up at all.
As Lucifer entered the kitchen he saw 4 men cooking and arguing in quick Spanish. The one closest to them was black and blue and moving like each step was the hardest thing he had ever done. Lucifer and Chloe shared a look before walking over to him.
"Hello my friend, may I ask who gave you the colorful bruises?" Lucifer said with a grin shoving his hands into his pockets.
The guy looked around before shaking his head in a quick no. Chloe looked over at him and gave a small soft smile, "Look we are not trying to get you in trouble, we think that whoever did this to you might not have been themselves. We are just trying to help." She said pointing at his face.
The man looked over at the hostess agine who gave him a small nod, "My name is Juan, my friend did this." He said pointing to his face.
Chloe gave him a nod, "That's why you didn't want to press charges."
Juan gave a small nod at her, "He didn't mean it, we were just joking around while we were walking to work. I pushed him and he just went crazy tackled me to the ground. He was screaming at me ….. but it didn't make any sense. I didn't understand what he was saying, the guys here pulled him off of me and dragged him into the restaurant. They had to call an ambulance for me. I woke up in the hospital."
Chloe gave him a nod and small smile, "Can you tell me where it happened? Exactly? We think maybe a chemical made him go a little crazy" Chloe looked over at Lucifer who gave her smile. "So if we can find right where he started to attack you we might be able to figure what caused it."
Juan looked around before he nodded, "You are not trying to find my friend?"
Chloe gave him another small smile, "I just want to help. If you say this friend would never normally hurt you I believe you. I just want to find out where it happened, that way I can try to find the cause."
Juan looked over at Lucifer who also gave him a small smile and nod, "It happened just one block from here. The corner of 4th street and palm street." He said softly.
Chloe nodded and handed him one of her cards, "Thank you so much, I hope that you feel better soon. If you remember anything else please call me and let me know."
Chloe and Lucifer looked at each other quickly and said goodbye before walking out the back door.
They started walking in the direction that Juan gave them not saying a word. Chloe refusing to look at him and Lucifer only having eyes for her. After a little bit Chloe sighed and looked at Lucifer, "Do you think that the piece is in that area?"
Lucifer gave a small grin, his patients had one out and she had spoken first, "I think that it might have been there at some point. Now sure if it is there now. It would be bloody good luck if it was." He said softly.
She gave a small nod as they continued to walk, "I hope it's there."
"To get away from me?" Lucifer asked with a small frown.
Chloe looked up startled, "No, well that would be a great addition. But more because then no more people will get hurt. There have been so many in the last few months to end up in the hospital or dead."
Lucifer looked over at her, "I wonder how after everything you have been through that you still are so good at heart?"
Chloe gave a harsh laugh, "Ohh I am not good. I thought of many, many horrible things about you. You died many different ways in my dreams." She said with a grin.
Lucifer gave a barking laugh that echoed in the ally way, "Well that it good to know. I will watch my neck around you."
Chloe gave him a smirk, "Your neck was fine, it was other appendages that didn't survive my dreams."
Lucifer stopped to give her a look, "Well that is not very sporting my dear. And not very nice. I am quite offended right now." But his stern tone was broken by a laugh that made her grin up at him.
Chloe stopped to look at him tilting her head to the side just a little, "But despite all of that, all you did… I still missed you…. Missed this." She whispered, smile sliding into a frown.
Lucifer went to reach for her hand to tell her he missed her to but a voice intruded him and halted all thoughts.
"Well aren't you two cozy?" sneered Charlotte.
Lucifer sucked in a breath and turned to face his mother, Chloe on the other hand crossed her arms and gave a glare.
"How not nice to see you." Lucifer said in a clipped voice, "I thought you understood I wanted nothing to do with you anymore."
Charlotte looked at Chloe with a nasty glare, "Looks like you brought the trash out to play again."
Lucifer stepped in front of Chloe before she could attack Charlotte, "Watch your mouth, she is more then you will ever be. Now why are you here?" Lucifer growled.
"Why for the same reason you are, I will take the piece and I am going home… then she will never exist." Charlotte gave a grin, "Quite frankly she has worn out her welcome."
Chloe looked to Lucifer, "What is she talking about?"
Lucifer shook his head, "They are the ramblings of a crazy old…. very old lady." He said to mess with his mother.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow, "Still haven't told her the truth yet…SON." She emphasized the last word.
Lucifer clenched his jaw, "I have not lied to her."
Charlotte gave a throaty chuckle, "I lie by omission is still a lie. You don't tell her the full truth…. And I don't think you ever will." Charlotte turned to walkaway still laughing, "It was here and now it's gone, so I will leave you two to figure out all …" she waved her hand her back to them, "your mess."
Chloe turned to Lucifer, "You are still lying to me?" Her voice soft, but Lucifer was not sure if it was soft in hurt or anger…. or a mixture of both.
"NO." He said firmly, "I have told you the truth about everything, but you still don't believe all of it…." he trailed of and shoved his hands in his pockets jaw clenching. "I don't push you or show you to make you believe so she calls it lying. But I have always told you the entire truth about everything." He said softly
Chloe looked at him with narrowed eyes and crossed arms, "So what don't I believe that you are telling the truth about…. And why did she call you son."
Lucifer tilted his head down, "I …... please let's not do this, not now." He asked softly.
"Lucifer tell me the truth… now." She said firmly.
"Fine." He whispered.