To refresh your mind: Delilah was never murdered. Chloe and Lucifer met at the Gillian Taylor case, what was in the canon season two, episode one.
When someone shot Chloe, Lucifer protected her with his wings: that is how Chloe, Ella and Trixie found out Lucifer is the devil. All three ladies took that reveal well.
Lucifer also realized Chloe is something special: immune to his powers and his dad listens to her prayer. Chloe prefers to think that last fact was just coincidence.
In the previous chapter was Dan found out and Chloe asked Lucifer how he could ignore his dad's orders if he didn't have free will...
Chapter ten:One more prayer
Lucifer stared at the food in front of them for many seconds before he whispered: "Can it be all manipulations from dad?"
Chloe looked at him, not knowing what to think.
"What would you say, detective?"
"You know your dad better than I do. I have no idea."
"Why did he bring you on my path? Does he want to force me back to hell?"
"How should me being with you force you back to hell?" she asked. "Last week you went twice for less than an hour."
Lucifer shrugged. "Two days down in hell. Normally I stay for a week at least, but I wanted to see you."
"So us being together is not really forcing you back."
"No." Lucifer opened his eyes wide and sighed. "But how could I get free will? Why are you immune for my powers. Why did we meet?"
"We met because Bobby B left devil horns in the head of her victim," Chloe answered. "And I decided to check on you, since you called yourself the devil."
"I am the devil."
She nodded. "I know now. You think your dad let me make that decision?"
He thought that over. It took some time before he shook his head. "Free will. Dad has always been clear humans take their own decisions. He does not and can not force them. Of course he…" Lucifer made some hand gestures before he continued. "As example when you want to buy a car, he can not manipulate your brain directly to buy a red one, but he can make sure you see some red ones in advertisements or a beautiful expensive red one parks next to you."
"So when I decided to visit the Lux, it was my decision?" she asked.
"O, definitely, detective."
"And when I said yes to you asking for a date, it was my decision?"
"Also. Human free will."
"And when you decided to ask me for a date, it was your decision?"
He gave it a thought. "I don't know. Do I have free will?"
"You decided to live on Earth, against your dad's orders. If that is not free will…" She shrugged.
"But how could I get it? Why are you immune to my powers?" he repeated.
"Ask your dad?"
He laughed.
"You think our relation is only manipulations by your dad? It's not real?"
They looked at each other. She wanted it to be real. Her decisions were her own, he had said so himself. At that moment her phone rang. By reflex she looked at the screen. "Hi, monkey."
"Hi, mommy. How was your date with Lucifer?"
"It was fantastic. I enjoyed it every second."
Through the phone she heard Trixie laughing. "Did Lucifer and you had a sleep over?"
Chloe hesitated for a moment before admitting: "Yes, monkey we had."
"Do you like like him?"
"Yes, monkey." She said it before she thought of the doubts she and Lucifer just discussed. But she realized it was true: she loved him, despite these doubts.
"And Lucifer? Can I ask Lucifer?" Trixie continued already. "Lucifer?" She shouted loud enough that he must have heard.
"Yes, urchin?" he asked.
"Do you like like my mommy?"
"Yes, child."
"Did you kiss her?"
"Ah," Lucifer grinned. "We…"
"Yes we did, monkey," Chloe interrupted him, shaking her head furiously to him.
"And what did you eat in Norway?" Trixie already jumped to a next – and by change safer – subject.
The next minutes Chloe described the meal until Trixie had to tell her: "Daddy says I have to end the call. We are going biking."
"So you do 'like like' me," Lucifer said softly while she lowered her phone. "Despite it might all be manipulations?"
"You said the same."
He nodded and kissed her forehead. "What else can we do? Run away? I don't want that. We just have to be careful. We don't know what dad is up to."
"You don't even know if he is involved. You just assume he is."
"Stubborn, detective?"
"No. Just what you just called me: a detective. We have no prove and it's easy to oversee there might be other explanations, other scenario's."
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "The pancakes are getting cold."
At eleven they had cleaned the breakfast and decided to make it a lazy Sunday with kisses, cuddles and talking on the sofa when Chloe's phone rang again. "Dan," she said to Lucifer and then in the phone: "Yes, Dan?"
"Kimo van Zandt is arrested."
"Good news."
"Yes, well…" Dan hesitated. "It's my case. I need to interrogate him."
"So I need to take care of Trix." Chloe suppressed a sigh and gave Lucifer an apologizing look.
"I'm sorry, Chlo'. Shall I bring her to you're place?"
"Here," Lucifer whispered and gave her a smile.
"Bring her to the Lux. I'm with Lucifer. You can take the elevator to the penthouse. Trixie knows the way." Chloe said in the phone and ended the call.
"You don't mind?" she asked Lucifer.
"I do regret we will miss a day together, but we will enjoy a day with your spawn."
The elevator's bell rang, but it was not Dan with Trixie, but Maze with Trixie.
"Trix came to hug me," Maze said. "The big human was in a hurry. I offered to bring her here, so he could do whatever he needed to do."
"Can we go to the zoo, mommy, Lucifer?"
Chloe glanced at Lucifer, who first rolled his eyes, then smiles and finally nodded. "If you want."
"Can Maze come with us?" Trixie asked, still holding Maze' hand.
As result they had an afternoon with four in the zoo. At five they left to look for a place to eat. Chloe's phone rang. "Hi, Dan."
"Ready with Van Zandt. Confessed. DA happy. Shall I pick up Trix?"
"We are just going to a restaurant for diner."
"You and Trix?" Dan asked.
"And Lucifer and Maze."
"Maze? That bartender that Trix hugged this morning?"
"Indeed," Chloe answered. "We have been to the zoo and…."
"Will daddy also come to eat?" Trixie interrupted her. Chloe glanced at Lucifer, not sure what he would say. Trixie seemed to understand for, jumping up and down, she grabbed Lucifer's hands and asked: "Can daddy also come to eat?"
Lucifer took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment and then nodded. "Of course, urchin."
He had said yes to everything Trixie had asked this afternoon, Chloe realized. She smiled, but she also made a mental note to keep an eye on it.
Dan came and was clearly wondering why Maze was also here, but Chloe noticed he was also looking at her from the corners of his eyes. Apparently Maze also noticed for suddenly she turned to Dan. "Do you like what you see?"
"Where are you talking about?" he asked while his face turned a bit red.
Maze grinned and asked Chloe: "Is he any good in bed?"
"Trixie can hear you," Chloe whispered a bit shocked.
Maze looked at Trixie. "Yes? I think so."
"Not suited for children."
"Grow up. How old are you?" Dan added to it.
"How old?" Maze asked and frowned. "Does that matter? A few million Earthly years. Time in hell runs different, so it's not easy to say exactly."
Dan stared at her, mouth half open.
"She is a demon, daddy," Trixie told him. "Lucifer's first lieutenant."
Dan's eyes slowly went from Maze to Chloe, to Lucifer and back to Maze.
In the meanwhile Maze was still looking wondered. "But what does my age or Trixie being here have to do with how good…"
"Maze," Chloe interrupted her. "You don't discuss that when children can hear you."
"She…" Dan whispered. "Just as… O, my god. Chlo', how can you… "
Chloe ignored him and continued to Maze. "This kind of things human women discuss on a girl's night, for instance you, me, Ella and Linda drinking in the Lux and no men that can hear us. Then you discuss men."
"You said human women, but I'm not human."
Chloe grinned. "You would be welcome, Maze."
Maze smiled and now Chloe turned to Dan. "Just as Lucifer, Dan. And just as Lucifer she will not harm me, nor Trixie, nor you. She will not eat your soul."
"So we need something else to eat. Shall we take a look in the menu's?" Lucifer said while Dan was still staring at Maze. Chloe saw Dan swallow and slowly opening the menu in front of him.
Monday morning in the precinct lieutenant Monroe handed Chloe a file. "Man murdered in Inglewood. Can you take it?"
Chloe took Lucifer and Ella with her. They found a dead man in an apartment, naked, next to his bed with shot wounds in his chest. After a quick look around, Chloe decided she and Lucifer would first question the neighbors so Ella could check the crime scene.
"He was named Alessandro," the downstairs neighbor – the woman who had reported the shots – told them. "Always a smile and a hello when you saw him in the stairwell, but that's all I know. He had a woman visiting regularly. Yesterday evening also. This morning at five I heard three shots and then footsteps in the stairwell."
"How do you know he had a visitor tonight?"
"The building is quite noisy. I can hear what they are doing above me."
"Did you also hear footsteps before the shooting?" Chloe asked.
The woman shrugged. "Maybe. There are six floors, no elevator, and this is the second floor. I hear footsteps every hour and normally I ignore them. They had sex, that was around midnight. Just before five I woke up because I heard voices, but I never can't hear the words. Then three shots and some minutes later someone running down on the stairs."
"One person?"
Again the neighbor shrugged. "Or two. I don't know."
"Can you describe the woman that visited Alessandro?"
"About my length. Dark hair, a bit hispanic, good looking, I did see her twice and it's months ago."
"Her face?"
"Good looking. No glasses. Maybe thirty or forty."
Other neighbors had nothing more: shooting, footsteps, yes the building was noisy, no they hadn't hear words. Chloe and Lucifer went back to Ella to get an update.
"There was a used condom in the trash bin and makeup stuff on the floor, so I expect a woman was in the room," Ella told them.
Chloe nodded.
"He was shot twice in the chest, a third shot missed and hit the wall over there. The shooter was in the doorway, less than three yards away, so I guess the third shot was fired while the victim was falling down. Victim's name is Alessandro Pinto. He is, or was, Brazilian. Most likely he and the unknown woman were laying in bed when the murderer opened the door. Alessandro raised but was shoot before he was standing straight."
"Anything on the identity of the woman?"
Ella shook her head. "Alessandro's wallet and car keys are here, but no phone. Lots of fingerprints. On the door knobs, the faucet in the bathroom, some glasses in the kitchen."
Lucifer nodded. "That phone was taken by the shouter, to prevent us to find conversations with the woman. My guess, ladies? Our Alessandro had a night with a married woman. The husband found out, came to pick up his wife and shot her lover."
Chloe looked around. "A possible explanation. Ella, the fingerprints?"
"First priority as soon as I'm back in the precinct, Decker. Just cross your fingers the woman's prints are in the database."
The fingerprints were in the database: Vicky Legrand, married with Philip Legrand. "Let's pay them a visit," Chloe said.
It looked as if the Legrands were not at home. Chloe and Lucifer rang the bell, knocked on the windows but no reaction came. Lucifer reached for the door and it unlocked.
"Agains the rules," Chloe whispered.
"It was unlocked before I touched it. Never forced anything."
She shook her head, but entered with him. They found Vicky Legrand, bound on the bed and gagged, brushes on her face, dried blood under her nose. Chloe removed the gag.
"He is going to kill Sonia," Vicky whispered, swallowing and trying to wet her mouth.
"Who is Sonia?" Chloe asked while Lucifer broke the ropes that tight the woman to the bed.
"A friend, she covered up for me when I was with Alessandro. Philip went for her."
"Where does she live? When did Philip leave?"
Philip left two hours ago and Vicky gave Sonia's address. Chloe and Lucifer left the woman with a glass of water to first look for Sonia and Philip. Lucifer entered the address in the navigation system while Chloe started the car and merged in the street traffic. "Forty minutes drive, detective and he left two hours ago."
"Call her. I wrote the number in…" she started.
"Angel. Perfect memory," he interrupted her and typed the number Vicky had told them.
"God, please let us be in time," Chloe mumbled. "Let Sonia pick up the phone."
"You ask dad?" Lucifer said with a grin while the phone on the other side rang.
"What? Oh, no. Just an expression. I didn't think…"
He raised his hand to interrupt her when the call became answered. "Hello," a woman said on the car's handsfree.
"Hello. Lucifer Morningstar of the LAPD. Do I speak with Sonia Manning?"
"Yes. LAPD? What…"
"Friend of Vicky Legrand?" Lucifer asked.
"Yes. Yes, what…"
"Can you please keep all doors locked. We think Philip Legrand is coming your way. Do you know about a man called Alessandro Pinto?" Chloe said.
"O, god – "
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "Dad again."
" – what happened. Yes, well…" Sonia hesitated.
"Philip found Vicky with Alessandro and is now on his way to you," Chloe explained.
"O, my god," Sonia said again, resulting in another eye roll of Lucifer.
"He left home two hours ago, so we would expect he is around your house by now," Chloe continued.
"So it was his car," Sonia said.
"What do you mean?"
"There was an accident. A block away. Ambulance and police and a car was towed away and I thought it was Philip's car, but I was busy."
"When did that happen?"
"An hour ago," Sonia said. "Or so. They towed the damaged car away only ten minutes ago."
Chloe called LAPD's traffic group and got a confirmation Philip Legrand had been involved in a traffic incident and brought to a hospital with a broken leg.
"There was a loaded gun in the car, yes," the officer told her.
"What a coincidence," Lucifer said after she finished the call. He sighed and shook his head. "What are you, detective?"
"You ask again? Why?"
"Because you asked my dad for us to be in time. And next Philip Legrand appeared to be stopped by a car accident."
"But that accident happened before I said it. And it was not really a prayer, I just said what I hoped to happen."
"And dad listened."
"It had already happened."
"Dad is omniscient. He knows the future."
Chloe frowned. "We discussed this before."
"I know. And I still love you. But I would like to understand."
That evening, after Trixie was put to bed, Chloe and Lucifer sat in the living room with Ella and told her what happened.
"Why don't you ask your dad?" Ella said.
"He never answers questions. Essential or real questions that is," Lucifer said.
"If Chloe asks? You just claimed god listens to her prayers."
"Twice," Lucifer grumbled.
Chloe thought that over. "Maybe three times. Remember when you brought Dan and Ryan Goldberg to safety. I asked for not having to deal with two men in panic…"
"And by luck Goldberg was unconscious," Lucifer said softly. "Not by luck."
"Why?" Chloe asked "Why would your dad listen to me?"
For some seconds they looked at each other. Then Lucifer looked up, first angry and then with his hands folded. "Why can you not explain?… What do you… Just speak…"
He slowly lowered his hands and looked at Chloe.
"What?" she asked.
"Because he gave the cosmological constant a wrong value. That's what he said, without explaining what you…" Lucifer stopped talking when a light appeared in the center of the room taking the shape of an Afro-American man, about the same size as Lucifer, a friendly smile and very short trimmed hair and beard. Socks in sandals Chloe noticed and a grey, woolen cardigan.