In this AU Delilah was never murdered. Lucifer part-time runs the Lux, part-time rules hell and Maze regularly goes down to spend a few days torturing souls.
Chloe and Lucifer first met at the Gillian Taylor case (2x01) Lucifer helps Chloe solve the case and Chloe and Ella notice the strange powers Lucifer has. When a criminal tried to kill Chloe (chapter 5), Lucifer protected her with his wings: that way Chloe, Ella and Trixie found out Lucifer really is the devil.
Chloe asked Lucifer how he could ignore his dad's orders if he didn't have free will. God listened to prayers of Chloe, Lucifer wanted to know why. God showed up to explain. During the Big Bang he gave the cosmological constant a wrong value, he in the present needs help to warn himself in the past and change that value. He tells Chloe and Lucifer together will give that help without realizing.
Now – just before this chapter – we have Rory as child of Chloe and Lucifer, Julia (human) and Na'amah (demon) as Rory's sitters. Julia, Raziel, Maze and Na'amah have visited Raziel's home in heaven. Uriel seemed not to be pleased with that visit.
Last case Chloe and Lucifer were working on was the Philippe Ordonez case, who stool a manuscript about pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
Julia and Na'amah were almost involved in a heavy accident, but just escaped because something strange happened around Rory: the girl appeared double.
Raziel and Maze were almost involved in a heavy accident, but just escaped because something strange happened: a woman was sitting on Maze' motorbike.
Chapter twenty-five: Finding out
[C]
Uriel had looked angry when Maze and Na'amah had visited Raziel's garden in heaven. Raziel just mentioned it and after that God stared for at least a minute at his daughter.
"You're accusing your brother to be involved?" God asked her.
Raziel lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry, Father. I will apologize to him. I must be wrong. I'm really sorry."
"Changing the patterns is his power." God closed his eyes and slightly turned his head away. Then he looked again at his daughter. "Apologizing to him might be a problem. I can't find him. He is nowhere: not in heaven, not on Earth, not in hell."
"How…" Lucifer started.
"I don't feel him," God interrupted his son. "Thinking back now, I didn't feel him for weeks."
"And you didn't pay attention," Lucifer said.
"Well… No. I had no task for him, so I didn't. I didn't realize up to now."
The five, God, a human, an angel, a demon and the devil, stood in silence for some moments until Maze said: "So he found a way to hide for you. Suspicious."
"He can't hide for dad," Lucifer said.
"He can," Raziel whispered. "Father can not look in mother's palace."
"That is true," God said softly. "Which would mean my wife Ashira has anything to do with this? Why would she?" He folded his hands.
A moment later a woman appeared from thin air: a tall, hot woman with long blond hair. She gave Maze and Chloe a disdain look before turning to her husband. "What?"
"It's good to see you. I hope you're doing well," He said.
"Doing well? On this plane filled with humans? And you now even let Lilith's offsprings free on Earth?"
God mildly shook his head. "Just two because they fit in my plan."
"Ah. And what plan? Can I help with your plan?"
"Minor plan. Just some next detail that I'm working. Do you care? You were never interested in humanity."
The woman gave him an irritated look. "You're hiding something."
"I suspect the same from you, Ashira. You're hiding Uriel."
Ashira. Chloe looked at the woman that was apparently God's wife and Lucifer's mom.
Ashira shrugged. "He is my son. It is normal that a son visits his mother every now and then."
"How long will he stay with you?"
The woman shrugged again. "Who cares about how long? We have eternity in front of us."
Now God looked irritated while Ashira smiled.
"Was Uriel at your place all of the last day?" He asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just preparing diner for me and my son and the last few hours he just walked though the gardens around my home while I was cooking."
"And he didn't leave for some moments to visit Earth?"
"My gardens are huge and I can't see every spot from my kitchen. Anything else?" Without waiting for God's reaction the woman disappeared.
"What detail are you working on?" Lucifer asked his dad.
"Rory needed a sitter."
"Yes?" Lucifer thought that over. When his dad didn't say more he said: "So Uriel wanted to kill Maze and Na'amah. He will sell that as 'protecting humanity' against those evil demons. And mum is helping him."
Both God and Raziel nodded, but Chloe gave it a thought and shook her head. "Why?"
"Why what?" Lucifer asked.
"You always told me your mother hates humanity. She would like to destroy us. Why help Uriel to 'save' us?"
God, Lucifer and Raziel all three looked at her frowning.
"And who was the woman on Maze' bike?" Chloe asked
"I just hope Ashira doesn't realize who she is. I hope she is just wondering," God grumbled.
"She smelled as Rory," Maze added. "Had I not seen her, I would have sworn Rory had been on my bike."
"Speaking of Rory…" God turned to Chloe. "Your daughter is playing with the Verner twin. She and Jane are boating now towards an island and within a some minutes the two will find a black panther."
"A what?" Chloe reacted.
"O, only a cub. No panic, Rory will be fine. The cub escaped from a house further in the neighborhood. But it has already sharp claws and teeth."
Although Chloe realized het father-in-law changed subject to avoid having to talk about Ashira or about the unknown woman on Maze' bike, she wanted to know what happened to Rory. "Is Rory…."
"Will be fine as I said. A panther can't injure a half-angel." He told her the tale of the 'cat' on the island. "…. But mrs Verner will be a bit panicking. She will notice the cat can't injure Rory and she will see Rory praying to me to ask what animal is. I will send one of my children to set her mind at rest. Maybe Lucifer and you can pick up Rory yourselves to answer some of Claire Verner's questions."
"The woman on my bike…" Maze tried to go back to the previous subject.
"Will in the future sit on your bike with your permission," God said.
"You think? Who…"
God shook his head. "I can't tell you now, Maze. Not yet."
[R]
Mrs Verner opened her eyes and slowly lowered her hands. "Did… I… Will the Lord answer me?" Her voice was unsteady, she was trembling.
Rory looked up from Noah and nodded. "In a moment. Ayaya can't talk to humans as he can to angels." She frowned. "Maybe he can, but he never does. But he will send someone to talk to you."
"How do you know?" Mrs Verner breathed heavily. "Does the Lord… talk..."
They were interrupted a painful yell from Mason. His arm had some red scratches from which droplets of blood appeared. "I only wanted to pet Noah."
"You frightened him. You grabbed him from behind," Jane said. "Without letting him know. I show you." The girl whispered to the cub and slowly moved her hand. Noah purred and let her pet him.
Mason gave his sister an angry look. "That cat is a monster."
At that moment Noah turned and sprinted away: out of the kitchen to the hall and upstairs. "Hey, come back," Jane shouted. She raised and ran after Noah.
"He ran into your room, Mason," she yelled a minute later. Mason cursed and followed his sister and the cub upstairs.
Rory grinned, looked for a second at the stairs and then turned to mrs Verner. "My aunt Anael will be at the front door in a second." Mrs Verner was still pale and trembling, so Rory walked to the front door herself and opened it. As her ayaya had told her, aunt Anael was there: an angel with black, curly hair and a dress of dark red and glittering gold. Her wings were out, light purple feathers with silver ends.
"Hi, niece."
"Hi, aunt Anael. Come in –" Rory grabbed her aunt's hand "– before the neighbors see you."
She dragged her aunt to the kitchen. It took some fumbling with the wings for Anael to pass the doors, but she grinned and made it.
Mrs Verner stared mouth half open at her. "You… are…"
"Anael, angel of Love," the angel answered.
"And Rory is…"
"My niece. Daughter of my brother Lucifer."
"The anti-christ? Is she…"
Anael lifted Rory in her arms. "The Lord sends me with a message for Claire Verner, for you. Rory is his granddaughter and he loves her. Neither she nor her father will harm you or your children, neither she nor her father will endanger your soul or the souls of your children."
"How can my children befriend…" mrs Verner stamered.
Rory glided out of Anael's arm to the floor and grabbed mrs Verner's hands. She felt the hands trembling. "Jane and Mason and me, we like playing together and we play Monopoly and Enchanted Forrest and Carcassonne junior and Lil' Everdell and I'm going to win Everdell next time. We are just friends."
Mrs Verner took a deep breath. "You play to win their souls?"
"No," Rory answered.
Anael added: "I gave you my Father's words: neither your soul nor the souls of your children are in danger."
Mrs Verner nodded but Rory felt her hands still trembling. "Just friends."
"Yes."
"I have to go," Anael said.
"But I… I have so many questions."
"You can ask Rory or her parents."
"Her parents? But her dad is…" Mrs Verner stopped talking when Anael spread her wings and just disappeared.
"My dad is Lucifer and you have talked several times with him in the last month. And he is still the same dad and he always told you he is the devil," Rory said.
"Rory!" Jane shouted from upstairs. "Noah doesn't want to be picked up and he hisses all the time. Can you pick him up."
"Coming," Rory shouted back. She did let mrs Verner's hands go and rushed to the stairs.
[C]
When Chloe and Lucifer rang the doorbell at the Verner's residence it was not mrs Verner that answered the door but her daughter, Rory's friend Jane. "We are busy, mrs Decker," the girl told her. "Everdell."
Chloe smiled. "You can finish the game. We will talk a bit with your mom."
"Mom is in the kitchen." Jane answered, already rushing back to the living room.
They found Claire Verner sitting in the kitchen, staring at the floor. She looked up when first Chloe and then Lucifer came in. Her eyes opened wide, giving them a frightened look. Chloe stepped forward and took Clair in her arms.
"He is coming to take me," Claire Verner whispered.
"He is not," Chloe answered. "He never will."
"But all my life the devil has been lurking at me, peering from dark corners." Claire shivered. "Waiting for a change to drag me to hell."
"Mrs Verner," Lucifer said softly. "Before last August I never had seen you, never had heard of you. Only when our children became classmates I did meet you."
"But my dad…" Claire whispered.
"I really have no idea who your father is. I'm sorry. I don't want to sound rude."
"What did your father say?" Chloe asked with the trembling Claire Verner still in her arms.
"Each day he said the devil would come and get me. Whatever I did. If I made any noise, if I spilled breadcrumbs on the floor, if I made any move while he prayed before eating, anything. He would yell at me and say that Satan would take me to hell."
"Lucifer would never do so," Chloe assured her.
"I have had nightmares all my youth," Claire softly continued. "I studied theology hoping I could deal with it. I tell everyone the devil doesn't exist, including myself. But every night I sneak into the children's bedrooms to check he didn't take them. And now…"
"Now God did send you an angel to tell you he will never harm you nor your children," Chloe reminded her.
"Yes." Claire stared ahead. "Yes? But why did the two of you send Rory to this school?"
"For the same reason as you did send Jane and Mason to that school," Lucifer answered. "It's the best school in the neighborhoud."
"The best school…" Claire finally looked at him.
"Yes." He spread his hands and shrugged. "Really, mrs Verner. That is all. I didn't decide our children became friends, although I'm glad they did. Your twins and Rory seem to have fun together."
"But Rory is the anti-christ."
"My father-in-law loves his granddaughter," Chloe said with a smile.
"She told me…" Claire frowned. "Yesterday she told me she and the two of you visited both her grandfathers last Sunday."
"We did. Lucifer carries me, Rory flies herself. But we indeed visited my dad, who died twenty years ago, and Lucifer dad."
"The devil visits God? To drink a cup of tea?"
"Tea? Excuse me," Lucifer said with a grin. "A few whiskeys, please. Dad and me, we don't drink tea."
"You don't have to be afraid for anything," Chloe said. "Lucifer will not harm you, Rory will not harm you. Why would they? Everyone tells you're such a good person. They tell me you helped Tyra Jays last year. A homeless girl that needed a house to escape drugs and prostitution."
Claire took a deep breath and shook her head. "Everyone said I did a good deed. But I didn't do it to help Tyra. I thought the devil would come to claim her soul." She looked at Lucifer. "That you would come to claim her soul. I wanted to see how you did such. I wanted to learn so I could prepare myself for when it would be my turn. But you never came."
"No," Lucifer said. He reached out his arms and took over Claire from Chloe and into a hug. "By accident we knew, still know, Tyra. She was a witness in one of our cases..."
Chloe frowned and thought Claire's explanation over while Lucifer explained the had convinced Tyra to go into rehab.
"Mommy, daddy," Rory suddenly yelled from the living room and the second later the three children ran into the kitchen.
"Finished?" Chloe asked with a smile.
Once they had left the Verner's residence and where in the car for the four minute drive home, Chloe said: "Claire didn't care about helping Tyra, she wanted to find out what you would do."
"Yes?" Lucifer raised his brows.
"Your mother doesn't care about helping Uriel, she wants to find out what your father is doing."
"About what?"
She had given that a good thought. "What is most important to your dad? Sending that message to his past himself. About that constant."