It took some time and plenty of private conversations, but eventually the North Star Agency was blessedly empty of clients, supernatural and human alike. Even Officer Randall had left, promising Lucifer he'd be back when he was off-duty. Lucifer should have felt more relaxed, with just himself and Eric in the room to go over their new facts and try to come up with a theory. Instead, he was wracked with anxiety while the vampire paced the room like a caged lion.

Lucifer was behind his desk, a mountain of sticky notes and pens before him. He'd thought perhaps they could brainstorm, and that meant using all these lovely office supplies he had picked up when setting up the office, but all Eric seemed to want to do was brood and become more and more agitated. The longer the vampire paced, the more upset he seemed.

Lucifer pulled a pad of lined sticky notes before him and began to jot down what they had learned so far. Just because Eric was being a wet blanket didn't mean Lucifer couldn't try to put all of their evidence together in a neat, tidy list. What did they know so far?

Concentrating on the task at hand and doing his very best to ignore his worried vampire lover, he began to make his list:

Halflings being kidnapped

Werepeople becoming sick

Mysterious weather and attacks on crops

Algae at all of the crime scenes

One sighting of a single-eyed giant, apparently named Balor

Fairies also known as Tuatha De Danann

The Tuatha De Danann and Fomorians are sworn enemies

Fomorians attached to the water and weather and crops

Halflings probably held captive underwater – BUT HOW? WHERE?

It honestly didn't look like much, but he wondered if any case he'd ever solved had a large selection of clues. He always just sort of mojoed his way into solving things. Or the Detective solved it. Or he spent too much time comparing the case to his own plights that he barely even noticed they'd closed out a case. Things were different now without the Detective organizing things.

Eric was supposed to be organizing everything—he was a vampire that liked things neat and tidy. He loved balancing books, for the love of Dad! And yet he was the one growling angrily and proving to be useless to this case. Lucifer had a hard time wrapping his head around this behaviour. He knew Eric was quick to anger, but the missing waitress truly was having an averse affect on the man. Would Eric fall apart like this if it were Lucifer who was missing?

He hadn't fallen apart, Lucifer reasoned with himself. He'd flown across the country and knocked down doors and bashed in heads because he thought Lucifer had been in danger. He'd been quick to action and it had made the devil feel loved. No one ever thought to save him, after all. So Lucifer had seen how Eric responded to Lucifer in danger. It wasn't like this. Not at all.

It bothered him that this response was so different.

Did Eric love Sookie so intensely that when she was in danger he couldn't see straight—in comparison to Eric's love for Lucifer, which did not hinder his decision making?

Thunder grumbled beyond the windows, mirroring Lucifer's internal turmoil. He dropped his sticky notes onto his desk and stood, frowning as he watched Eric. How did you broach a subject like this with your boyfriend and coworker? How did you ask the man you loved if he loved someone more than you? And did the answer really matter?

They'd save Sookie, regardless of Eric's true feelings. It wasn't just because Eric cared for her. Lucifer had met the woman. While he couldn't see what was so special about her, she had cared about Eric's emotional state. Lucifer knew how rare that was for men like Lucifer and Eric. Someone who cared for them, regardless of their dark nature—or perhaps because of it. Eric had lamented about Sookie enough times that Lucifer knew that the vampire didn't think he was worthy of her love or her attention. And yet she'd helped him when he was in danger—and for that alone Lucifer would find her. To give her what she'd given Eric. A chance to continue living her life. Protection from the ugly things that would do her ill.

But did helping the damn halfling have to include watching Eric freak out?

It hurt and Lucifer didn't like it.

There was no way to deflect these feelings. And bringing the topic up was just going to make them worse. He'd rather be organizing an orgy, getting his mind off things.

Out of nowhere, Eric stopped his pacing, a growl growing deep in his throat. "Just fucking stop," the vampire swore at Lucifer.

"What have I done?" Lucifer asked, his defensive barriers going up.

"You keep worrying about your worth compared to hers!" Eric said, his blue eyes fiery as he stared the devil down. "You think I can't feel it? The worry, the despair? What do I have to fucking do, Luci? For you to believe me?"

"I do believe you!" Lucifer replied, panic settling beneath his breastbone. This was what he'd been afraid of—no matter how this subject was brought up, he just knew the conversation was going to end poorly.

"Don't lie to me," Eric said. "You can't lie about your feelings to me—I know it's a lie."

Lucifer was frozen to the spot, unsure how they'd gotten to this point so quickly. He didn't know what to do. Well, normally what he'd do was storm off in a huff and then drink away his confusing emotions. Perhaps seek out Linda so she could explain to him why things weren't his fault.

It was different with Eric. They'd moved in together. They'd started a business together. He couldn't just walk away and forget about the problem. He'd have to come home eventually, and Eric would be there. Still upset with him. No, if he wanted to get through this and to the other side of this fight, he'd have to actually talk things through.

"I can't lie to you," Lucifer said, trying to gather his thoughts. Unfortunately, they were pinging around inside his head, refusing to slow down. "But you shouldn't lie to me either. You can't tell me you don't love her."

Eric's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and Lucifer's own feelings matched his. That had not been what he thought would come out first. Such a bold accusation. So much self-doubt in it too.

Worse yet, Eric's response justified it. "I'm not going to say I don't love Sookie. But how many times do I have to confirm that you're the one I want; not her?"

Lucifer's bottled emotions bubbled up, all of those self-doubts running in circles in his mind. "You're pacing like a caged animal, Viking! Watching you stress about this woman while I'm bloody right here is demeaning. You know that, right? You tell me you love me, and I know it's true—but I can't help but wonder if perhaps you love her more!"

"Where is this coming from?" Eric seethed right back.

"Where?" Lucifer replied hotly, losing control of the self-doubt he'd managed to forget about over the last couple days. "The moment that shifter came in our door and uttered that waitress's name, you freaked out. Couldn't even think straight without someone telling you what we could or could not do. You've been storming around the entire time, and the only reason you've entertained the other clients is because it's been the only way to find clues as to the whereabouts of Sookie Stackhouse!"

Eric snarled, fangs popping out as he hissed at Lucifer. "You're one to talk. The moment you thought Chloe was in danger—which she was not—you wanted to come back here immediately to make sure she was safe. So does that mean you still love her? Should I be worried?"

Lucifer's entire world seemed to come crashing down at that question. Eric asking Lucifer if he still loved Chloe Decker. How did Lucifer even begin to answer that question? It wasn't his fault he loved her—his father had made her for him, after all!

She was a bloody gift from God. It wasn't his fault how he felt about her. He didn't have a say in the matter. Chloe Decker was pure manipulation on his father's part. It wasn't the same thing as Eric and his Sookie Stackhouse. Halflings might not be a dime a dozen, but there were plenty more of them out there than there were Chloe Deckers. The two situations were completely different. Eric bloody knew that.

"It's not the same," Lucifer said lamely, too many thoughts in his head to say anything more than that.

"Why?" Eric seethed. "Why do you get a pass but I don't?"

"That's not what's going on," Lucifer defended himself. "I'm allowed to have worry, aren't I, without you taking it as a personal affront? It's not like I'm saying a damn thing to you. They're my own personal thoughts and feelings."

"And yet they're about me," Eric replied. "You worry that I'm going to leave. How am I not supposed to respond to that? You can't hide it from me, even if you don't say anything. But I know it's fucking there, this giant fucking elephant in the room. You think I'm going to leave you. For someone who doesn't even want me. How do you think that makes me feel?" He spit out the last work, the vampire notorious for claiming he did not have feelings. "That you deem me low enough to even entertain such an idea."

Lucifer sighed, his heart breaking just a little. "It's not like that," he replied. And it really wasn't. But he couldn't bring himself to tell Eric the reason he was doubting everything. Hell, he could barely even bring himself to look at the underlying problem. It was better to not think about it.

Eric growled, not liking that answer. "I don't fucking have time for this," he ground out. He started heading toward the door, his shoulders hunched.

Lucifer shot out from behind his desk, alarmed. "Where are you going?" he asked. "We don't know where she's being kept! It's not like you can go get her!"

Eric whirled around. "Better to go out searching than to sit next to the man who doesn't fucking believe me when I tell him I love him. How hard can it be to find a boatload of halflings? Pierce said it's somewhere underwater. There's no sense in twiddling our thumbs and jotting things down on frilly pieces of paper—it's gotten us nowhere so far. So I better start looking."

And then he was gone, out the door and down the hall. The sound of the stairwell door banging shut told him Eric couldn't even stand waiting in the hall. He was that eager to get away from Lucifer and his doubts. And quite frankly, Lucifer couldn't blame him. Eric did, after all, have a point about Lucifer's constant doubt. It wasn't fair to Eric either—he might be doubting Eric, but it was only because of his own self-worth.

He was being a complete buzzkill and if he got right down to it, it really had nothing to do with Eric and Sookie—and everything to do with himself and his past.

But instead of contemplating his own hangups, Lucifer did what Lucifer knew how to do best. He decided to run away from problems and dive right into the real problem at hand. The concrete one. The one about missing people.

And what better way to do that than go to the best Detective in all of Los Angeles?

It was time to visit Chloe Decker. Whether she wanted to see him or not.

And it had absolutely nothing to do with whether or not he loved her. He didn't. And he'd prove it by going to her for some detective help. That would prove some sort of point—right?