Disclaimer: Own neither the idea nor the characters.
Characters: Chloe, Lucifer
Inspired by: fanfictioneer's idea on 'Pretend'
A/N:Happy Birthday to fanfictioneer! (And all the other people out there whose birthdays are today...) - Wish you all the best and hope you enjoy this shot!
(- though there is no confronting in this chapter... sorry.)
Also, sorry for all the tipos you possibly notice. This is barely edited 'cause my day has been a mess and I've run out of time. Sigh.
I
They are on their way back from the latest crime scene, and though Chloe has seen far too many dead people by now, she can't get the girl's face out of her mind: Killed before she ever had the time to really live her life, leaving a devastated family and shocked friends behind.
She shudders when Trixie's face comes to her mind's eye unbidden.
When there's a sudden sound from her right, she startles and only barely avoids the oncoming traffic. It takes her a moment to discern where the sound has come from – Lucifer, next to her, has fallen asleep and started snoring slightly.
Her heart is still beating fast in alarm when she elbows him hard: "Wake up, Lucifer!"
"Are we home already?"
"No, we're not! I can't believe you – how can you sleep after what we've just seen?"
Lucifer only shrugs, but stays awake the rest of the way and after a while he's rambling, and Chloe, only too happy for the distraction, follows in his wake.
II
Chloe only notices Lucifer when he slumps down on the chair across her desk and asks whether they have a new case by now.
"I'm still working on the last one", she scolds him. "While you're finished working when we've arrested someone, I have to fill in all these forms and write a report."
"But I'm bored", he sighs and twiddles around restlessly.
"You don't look bored, you look tired", she observes and adds, "and I don't think it appropriate you're hoping someone has died just because you have nothing to do."
"Because that would be a bad thing", he says, and it sounds only like half a question.
Now it's Chloe's turn to sigh: "Yes, it would. And now you have to shut up, or I won't ever finish this."
"But... -"
"No."
Chloe does indeed finish off her paperwork, and only then realises that Lucifer hasn't said a word for half an hour and hasn't left, either. She looks up, curious as to what he is doing, and finds that he has fallen asleep, his head leant against the partition.
The Detective is so used to watching her partner moving around with endless energy she has actually never thought about how he would look when he is asleep – more relaxed, certainly, and a lot younger, somehow, all the little wrinkles on his face that come from too much smiling and frowning at the same time smoothed out.
She decides to give him a few more minutes rest (he looks like he needed it) and goes to get herself some coffee.
III
The hotel is quite nice and, what is even more, paid for by the seminar's operator. Sadly the participants do have to pay for drinks themselves, but as she is quite tired from the long drive here anyway, she heads for her room early, yawning tiredly.
Just as she is about to enter, the adjacent door is opened, and someone steps out who looks a tiny bit too familiar.
Chloe drops her purse in surprise: "Lucifer? What are you – you're supposed to be working that major event in Lux! You didn't talk about anything else for days, why...?"
Lucifer jumps guiltily, turns around fully and bends down to pick up her purse.
"There was a sudden change of plans... I'll be here for a few days."
She narrows her eyes: "How many days?"
"I've been thinking five."
She moans: "Please don't tell me you're in my workshop."
"I wasn't, until yesterday evening, though I had had to have a heart-to-heart talk with your chief to arrange that." He raises an eyebrow suggestively, and all Chloe is left to do is stare at him with her mouth agape.
He has even managed to get the room next to hers, goddamnit. This man really is able to accomplish anything...
IV
Chloe opens the front door and is pleased by how warm it already is, despite it being early morning. She bends down to pick up the newspaper that has fallen out of the mail slot in the door – and stops abruptly when she notices something moving in the corner of her eye. Feeling for her gun (which is, of course, still inside) on instinct, she slowly turns her head -
and is greeted by a drowsy-looking smile.
"Lucifer! What are you doing here?"
Her partner is sitting on the bench on her porch, looking like he's just crawled out of bed with his hair dishevelled and shirt half out of his trousers, grinning by now like a Cheshire cat: "Good morning to you, too, Detective. Did you sleep well?"
Chloe stares at him lost for words, shakes her head in incomprehension before re-entering her house and closing the door in his face. Its far too early to deal with the would-be Devil, and he looked perfectly all right on her bench.
While she heads for the bathroom, she earnestly ponders about why he has come here so early in the day: He usually isn't up at this hour... And there have been other, even more strange occurrences lately.
V
As usual, Lucifer is the last who leaves Lux before the cleaning crew comes in. He has prolonged his stay by playing the piano softly, not singing but humming until he ran out of songs for the night.
Now he wanders around aimlessly, trying not to think about having to go to bed soon.
Lucifer is dead tired and every muscle in his body screams for a bed to relax into, but since he hasn't had the chance to sneak after the Detective tonight and find somewhere close by to sleep, he can't be sure there won't be any nightmares tonight.
He sighs and looks round one last time. This is when he notices the red shawl lying discarded on a chair. He walks over and takes it – it is definitely Detective Decker's.
Lucifer leaves Lux and takes the shawl upstairs with him.
When he lays in bed a little time later, his eyes wide open in the dark, fighting the inevitable, he becomes aware of a smell lingering in the air that is comforting, warm and familiar, evoking mixed feelings in him. It takes him a while to realise it is the shawl he had laid on the bedside cabinet so as to not forget taking it with him the next morning.
He reaches out and runs his fingers over the fabric.
He must have been smelling Chloe's perfume, and somehow it makes him feel... safe.
A little while later Lucifer has fallen asleep, the shawl, neatly folded, placed beside his pillow.
It is the first night in a long, long time he sleeps soundly through the night without having a nightmare, despite Chloe not being close.
From then on, Lucifer stops sneaking after the Detective when he wants to sleep, and Chloe, who finally figured out what was going on and who had placed the shawl by design, is able to not feel like someone is following her around all the time.