Disclaimer: I do own the idea, but not the characters.

Characters: Linda, Chloe

Additional tags: Canon-divergence

A/N: This one's supposed to be happening before 'For Her Sake'. I spontaneously decided there needed to be more, and there are two more parts to come in this sequence.

Goner

Maze has forced her here – Maze, who, for whatever reason, is now looking after Chloe better than the Detective herself does, and Maze has insisted that Chloe needed to talk about what happened to that day, and who might be of better service than the psychiatrist who treated the Devil himself, or so Maze argued.

Chloe knows, now more than ever, that Lucifer hadn't been the Devil, or otherwise he wouldn't have... wouldn't have.

Chloe stares down at her hands in her lap, frozen to the spot. It's been three weeks now – how come she can't talk about it? Not even to Linda, who has been close to Lucifer, too; who knew him maybe even better than Chloe did?

"Chloe?", Doctor Martin repeats her question again, "what happened after Malcolm" – here she hesitates the fraction of a second, struggling to get the rest of the sentence out – "shot Lucifer?"

The Detective raises her head: Linda's face is paler than usual, and though it is is composed and business-like, Chloe suddenly knows for sure that Linda, too, is grieving Lucifer, and this knowledge is the best encouragement the doctor could have given her.

She takes a deep breath and replies, keeping her voice as steady as she can: "Lucifer sagged down to his knees while Malcolm was laughing maniacally."
A bitter smile tugs at her lips: "I knew Malcolm and Lucifer had stood less than a metre apart when Malcolm shot, and I knew he was good at shooting. There was no chance he could possibly have missed Lucifer. I began to focus on thinking about a way out of there for Trixie and me. And only us. I thought Lucifer was a goner."

Linda watched Chloe closely, and though the Detective's face is impassive, her eyes betray her – they are full of guilt.

There is no need to urge Chloe on any more.

She continues: "And then Lucifer got back up again like nothing had happened at all. I had already given up on him, so when I saw him stand up, I felt so – so –" She tries to find the word but finally gives up with a helpless shrug and a frustrated groan.

"I can't imagine where his strength could've come from. It was like a miracle or something. Malcolm stopped laughing and screamed instead, trying to get away from him."

Chloe closes her eyes momentarily and then adds: "I can still hear him scream."

When she hesitates again, Linda asks: "And what did you do?"

"While Lucifer went after Malcolm, I hurried to pick up my gun again. I grabbed it, aimed, and shot Malcolm."

Linda unknowingly raises an eyebrow at the suddenly sketchy account, but doesn't interrupt.

"I turned round after that for a moment to look for Trixie. I called her, and she came out of hiding." Relief at this memory flashes across the mother's face. When she resumes her halting narration, her voice is barely audible.

"I told Trixie to get into my car and when she was inside, I hurried over to Lucifer and Malcolm. They were both dead."

A long stretch of absolute silence follows before Chloe rather screams than says: "I'm so angry at him for following me! I told him to stay away."

She sighs and then adds, quieter, but no less emotional: "I didn't want him there, I wanted him safe and instead he left me and it's all my own fault."

Chloe's composure is gone – she bursts into tears.

Linda decides to blow her professionalism and hurries to sit down by Chloe's side, pulling her into a close embrace as she does so.

"Why weren't you at his funeral?", she asks a little while later.

"How could I? He's dead because of me. He died for my sake."

Linda pulls back and looks at Chloe earnestly: "What you really need, and what the funeral might have provided, is closure. Lucifer's death wasn't your fault – he died because he decided your safety was more important to him than his own, he died because he was brave and selfless, he died because there was no other way and because... because... because Malcolm was crazy as Hell!"

Chloe snorts through her tears at Linda's rather unprofessional outburst.

She stays until all the tears she's been holding back for weeks now have been shed. Linda, nonetheless thoughtfully providing her with more tissue paper for the way home, repeats one more time: "You need some form of closure, Chloe, but maybe even more than that, you need time to grief for Lucifer. Take that time, and whenever you feel like it, I'm here to talk. My door is always open."

"Thank you", Chloe says.

She leaves the building with a lot on her mind.