Disclaimer: I don't own Lucifer, and that's a fact I'm happy about – because if I did own Lucifer, I'd never have written these drabbles.

Characters: Chloe, Lucifer

Additional tags: canon-divergence

A/N1: This takes place immediately after Chapter 3: 'For her sake'. Writing this chapter has been hard on so many levels, and I'm not at all satisfied.

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"You want a refill, Monkey?"

"Yes, please." Chloe beamed up at her Dad who smiled at her fondly before grabbing the ladle to refill her plate.

"So how was school?", her mother, who was going through a new movie script, asked, sounding vaguely inattentive.

Chloe looked to her Dad and when he gave her a reassuring nod and his fullest attention, she began: "Well, Miranda and I - "

The familiar scene vanishes before Chloe's eyes. She had that dream more times than she cares to remember, and so she knows this isn't where it usually ends.

She blinked, and now she's somewhere she doesn't recognise, somewhere semi-dark and despite the uncomfortably warm air, she's shivering violently, suddenly feeling terribly awake instead of dreaming, like this is real. Strange noises well up from everywhere. Something soft and hot falls down onto her, and only when she accidentally breathes in some of the stuff does she realise its ashes falling from the sky. Coughing, Chloe begins walking despite not knowing where she came from or where she might end up.

"Detective?"

The voice, echoing off the rocky walls, is distant and slightly muffled as well as hard to locate, but the intonation is unmistakable.

"Lucifer! I'm here!"

Moving her head from one direction to the other, Chloe looks around for any sign of him anxiously.

Despite knowing this can only be another dream, she can't revoke the hope rising up in her at hearing the oh-so-familiar voice: "Lucifer!"

Close to her, a sudden, screeching sound rings out that makes Chloe's skin crawl with fear and disgust. Then she sees something moving in the dark beside her, something that might have been human once but isn't any more, with long, messy hair, shrivelled-up skin and teeth looking like they have intentionally been sharpened. Another scream erupts from the direction of the creature and all Chloe can do is watch on as it crawls nearer on all fours, swaying from one side to the other, ever nearer, baring it's teeth, ready to...

A firm hand grasps Chloe's shoulder and the next moment, both her anxiety and the hellish scene before her eyes vanish.

Paying no heed to her surroundings, Chloe turns around, her eyes wide, heart beating fast, again shivering but this time with excitement – and there he is. Lucifer.

There are so many things Chloe has to tell him... but what she does say is: "You've got a new suit."

Putting his hands in his pockets, he grins from ear to ear: "Actually, I don't. This is a very old suit... but I had to make do with what I left in Hell."

His smile vanishes slowly while he looks her over meticulously before noting: "It's been so long... but you look just the same."

"Nine weeks aren't that long", Chloe whispers with lips that are barely moving.

"It's been nine weeks for you... But for me..." Lucifer closes his eyes momentarily while pain crosses over his face.

Chloe isn't sure why she's suddenly able to move again, but with three big steps she's standing in front of him, throwing her arms around him. He hugs her back instantly, clinging onto her, and she feels him shaking.

"I'm so sorry I didn't believe you", Chloe blurts out after a while, and hears him snort in answer somewhere above her head.

He still smells the same, she notices, and this is of some comfort.

"Well, I'm sorry I had to leave so abruptly", he says after a while, slowly releasing her. "I've been waiting for this night ever since."

"I don't understand."

"Chloe Decker – slow on the uptake today, are we?", he teases her, some of his old Luciferness back. "It's All Hallow's Eve."

"Halloween?"

He sighs and rolls his eyes dramatically: "It's all to do with boundaries between the world of the living and the dead, upstairs and downstairs, if you want to call it that. The night spirits can visit earth."

"So you really are dead."

Lucifer raises an eyebrow: "Do I look like I'm dead?"

"No. But you don't look like the Devil, either."

"Point taken."

Chloe, suddenly deciding she might not want to hear the answer to her question looks around for the first time. They're standing on sand, close to the sea's edge. The horizon is already brightening up in the east.

"Where are we?"

"This is the beach Maze and I arrived at five years ago. It has a certain meaning for me by now", he adds as an afterthought and laughs like he's enjoying a joke Chloe isn't in on.

The familiar sound of his laugh – a sound she has missed so much these past weeks – makes her turn and grab his hand. Squeezing it, she pleads: "Stay."

"Detective –"

"Stay here. With me. Please."

Lucifer pulls her to his chest again and, resting his head on hers, he says: "Chloe, I can't stay here. I've made a deal for your life, and I won't put you at risk any more. I might be overstepping my boundaries even now by being here with you."

Tears of anger begin running down Chloe's cheeks: "I didn't ask you to make this deal!"

He laughs drily: "If you had, I don't think I would have. You are important to me, Chloe Decker, and I –"

Behind them, the first beam of sunlight is creeping over the horizon's edge towards them.

Lucifer grabs both of Chloe's hands: "I'll have to go."

"I don't want you to!"

Lucifer's smile is tired and hollow: "So my charm does work on you after all."

His face appears blurred through her tears, and she hates herself for not being able to hold them back. "Lucifer, listen –"

"No, you listen to me: Every deal can be broken. There's always a way out, and if there's one being in the universe knowing everything there is to know about deals it would be me. And I've got time, Chloe, so, so much time in Hell. I'll find a way out, and I'll come back. I promise."

Chloe blinks, and the rising sun, the beach, and Lucifer's face disappear in a flash.

She's back in her bed, Trixie breathing deeply at her side, and stares into the darkness with her eyes wide open.

I'll find a way out.

But when. And how. After a while in which Chloe has tossed around in bed anxiously, plagued by the image of Lucifer in Hell, a thought crosses her mind that she can't get rid of again: What if he lied? What if Lucifer said these things so she wouldn't try anything stupid? Somehow this sounds exactly like something he would do.

It takes her almost four days until she comes up with an idea.

It's ridiculous.

It might not work – but it is something, and even if Lucifer is working to get out of Hell again on his end, it might be a good thing to do the same here.

I don't believe in all that bible stuff.

"Well", the annoying know-it-all voice of Lucifer whispers in her ear, "there's no harm in trying."

A/N2:I can't even tell you how surreal writing this feels... - I want to thank you all for reading, subscribing, following, reviewing and writing such lovely comments. None of this would have been possible without your constant support... I'd surely have given up long ago.

Thank you so much for this amazing month and for making my time writing worthwhile!

*Hugs*