Chapter Text
Charlotte silently emerged from the shadows that had been concealing her from her prey, and stood under the flickering lamplight of the alleyway. As she watched Detective Chloe Decker cross the street to her waiting car the Goddess produced a small device from her pocket. Cylindrical and quite bland, it appeared rather innocuous, but appearances could be deceiving as she well knew. She let a smirk twitch the corners of her mouth upwards as she flicked the lid open at the top to reveal a small red button. Honestly, humans were so cliché, she'd spent many an hour watching television shows and movies devised by mankind to enthral and entertain to know that the red button always led to an explosive end. But this time, it worked to her advantage.
The good Detective had stopped just shy of the driver’s side door as she rooted through her purse. Charlotte cocked her head as she examined the normally casually dressed woman. After all, one couldn’t truly engage in police work in a dress and heels, now could they? She looked nice tonight. Date perhaps? As a passing thought, she wondered who the other party was before shaking her head slightly and focusing upon the task at hand. Come on, she silently urged, just a little closer. At last the Detective opened the door and settled herself behind the wheel and Charlotte allowed her grin to widen. Time for the fireworks. And with no further ado she depressed the button atop the remote detonator, her eyes wide and waiting for the ensuing explosion, wondering maybe a little too late is she was standing too close. This was a human meat sack she was wearing after all, not the most durable of things, so fragile and easily injured. But the thought didn't progress much further. Simply because nothing happened.
Frowning in confusion and no small amount of annoyance Charlotte fixed the detonator with a withering glare as she pressed the button once more. Raising her head to study the still unexploded vehicle she released a grunt of anger before viciously stabbing the button repeatedly. But still, nothing happened.
Throwing the blasted device at the alley wall in a fit of fury she turned her piercing gaze to the patrol car in which Chloe Decker sat unharmed and unaware. Cursing the pitiful human she had sprung from police interrogation she turned on her heel and stormed off into the shadows. She needed something else to focus on, something to take her frustrations out on. Perhaps Detective Espinoza would be up for another romp under the covers...
*****
Chloe sat in her car and stared blankly at the steering wheel wondering what was going on. Yes, the day had had its trials and tribulations but it had ended on a high, on a good note. Hadn't it? At least she had thought so. Now she wasn’t so sure.
After making the arrest Lucifer had excused himself from the scene, normally it was to escape the ‘mind-numbing’ boredom of paperwork but this time she knew different. He was going home to enjoy the last few hours he had in the place. Soon his beloved Lux, his little den of desire and debauchery, his home would be brought crashing and crumbling down. The thought made her heart ache. But Lucifer, unwittingly, had given spark to an idea that could just work.
After checking and double checking with the officers called for the arrest she made her escape. Pulling up outside a grand old building, the marble and stone facade standing out a mile due to the modern glass and steel monstrosities that surrounded it, she exited the car and made her way up the steps to the entrance. Barely an hour later the Detective had emerged, a smile on her face and a spring in her step. Lucifer wasn’t the only one who knew people in this town she thought with a chuckle.
Once she arrived at Lux she presented her gift. Lucifer had been shocked to say the least, she had actually made him speechless. Now if only that could be a daily occurrence, it might lend her a few precious minutes to order her thoughts before she had to manage the man child she called her partner and best friend. Upon recovering he had invited her to dinner, claiming he knew someone who owed him a favour, and she had graciously accepted. There was something about that genuine smile he seemed to reserve just for her that made her heart speed up a notch or two. Not that she’d admit that to him, his ego could pull a planet into orbit, it really didn’t need a boost otherwise he’d have his own solar system. Oh God, then he really would be the centre of the universe.
She had spent the rest of the evening fretting over what to wear and how to do her makeup and hair. Putting together combination after combination wondering whether he would like it. She had received a few amused glances from Trixie and Maze along the way, but paid them no heed.
And now she was sitting in her car, alone. He hadn't showed. Why? She had sent him text after text sitting at the table in the restaurant and hadn't received a reply. That phone of his was practically welded to him since he decided he needed one. Taking a deep breath to settle her nerves she started the engine and drove off determined to get some answers.
*****
After the last text had come through he had turned the device over not wanting to torture himself any longer. With a sigh he sat back into the leather armchair and brought the tumbler to his lips downing the double scotch neat. The burning sensation it made as it travelled down brought comfort in its familiarity. At least some things never changed.
Standing, he made his way to the private bar that adorned an entire wall of his penthouse, and uncapped the decanter that lay atop the marble finish. Pouring yet more of the amber liquid into his glass he reflected on the last few hours and his trip to Doctor Linda's. He knew she was right. Every word. Deep down he had known all along, so why was he having such a hard time accepting it when it was finally brought to bare at the surface. Sure, he wasn't exactly a wizz when it came to emotions. To be fair, he avoided them whenever and wherever possible. They were messy things, always complicating simple actions. There was a reason why he kept himself as aloof as possible, he didn't want to be hurt like that again. His banishment, the abrupt abandonment, had left him with some deep scars and he wasn't quite ready to relive the experience all over again. Granted, he didn't think anything could be quite as traumatic as his fall. But Chloe... Ah Chloe, therein lay the problem, she made him feel. She made him feel everything he had long ago buried and sworn to never again revisit. But, strangely enough, it didn't hurt. It was just extremely confusing.
Lucifer couldn't understand for the life of him how she managed to dredge up all these long buried emotions, yet he would forever remain indebted to her. She had breathed life back into him, she had kick-started his withered heart and lightened his dark soul. And for that, he would be forever grateful. Linda had said earlier that she thought he came to Los Angeles to look for something. But she believed he had stopped, because maybe he’d actually found it. She had broken it to him gently, as if fearing he would run. But as he sat there he knew he had found his home here, but it wasn't a what, it was a who. Expelling a breath he hadn't known he was holding he lowered the decanter and placed it carefully back on the bar top.
A flutter of wings broke him out of his reverie and he turned to his balcony with a frown marring his handsome features. What he saw made him sputter to a stop. No, this can't be happening, not now! The intruder smirked darkly, his steel grey wings flared behind him in a show of power, strength, and unrestrained joy at his reaction.
"Hello brother, it's been a little while." he started, his voice a rumbling bass tinged with glee.
Lucifer chuffed what could possibly pass as a laugh as he replied, "If you call hundreds of thousands of years a little while, then yes, yes it has."
The other angels grin disappeared and a mocking expression came over his pale face, "You always manage a sarcastic answer, don’t you? I swear," he chuckled, "you invented sarcasm. But I'm not altogether sure that's a good thing."
Schooling his features Lucifer asked a question of his own, "What do you want, Michael?"
*****
The Detective had parked around the back of the building in Lucifer’s private garage and made her way to the open doors where the raucous music leaked out. The queue to gain entry to the prestigious club was curled all the way around the building, but there were some perks to knowing the owner. As she neared, the bouncer looked up, smiled and nodded her inside. Standing at the wrought iron railing of the balcony she surveyed the dance floor and bar, at not locating her quarry Chloe turned on her heel and stalked toward the private lift that led to the penthouse, stabbing the call button to summon the elevator to her and stepped assuredly inside when the doors whooshed open. It seemed to take forever but eventually the tell-tale ding sounded and the doors slid open. Wondering too late if Lucifer was ‘entertaining’ Chloe took a deep breath and schooled her features before stepping into the lion’s den.
Looking around she finds the penthouse in complete disarray, the stylish sofa and chairs upturned, bar cracked, bookcase in splinters and books littering the floor. Even Lucifer’s beloved piano lay in wreck and ruin. Starting to panic she tentatively calls out, “Lucifer? Lucifer, where are you?”.
Worry and fear quickly override her earlier anger and Chloe carefully picks her way through the destruction. Something creaks underfoot and looking down Chloe sees Lucifer’s phone. Slowly bending to pick it up she turns it over and hits the button to unlock the device, remembering when Lucifer had told her his password, carnal, with a capital ‘c’. The phone hums to life, the screen illuminating the crack that now ran down the middle and the tiny splatters of red.
Heart now racing, Chloe studies the floor in the low light picking out the droplets of blood here and there and follows the trail to the open-air balcony, stopping at the glass doors her gaze traces the spots of blood on the tiles that lead to the shattered glass railing. Heart thumping loudly in her ears, Chloe stares at the gaping hole her breath coming in gasps, mind numb. Shaking, she goes to take a tentative step but comes to an abrupt stop when something impacts the tiles next to the jacuzzi.
Gazing in shock at the now groaning figure she can’t bring herself to move, she’s like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming truck. What springs her from her current state is the sudden appearance of a man crouching next to the prone figure on the floor. He would have seemed vaguely normal had it not been for the massive grey wings sprouting from his back and the booming bass of his voice sent tremors through her very being.
“Maybe that will knock some sense into you little brother,” the man - angel she realised - hissed, “the choice remains the same as Uriel stated. Either Mother goes back to Hell, or you forfeit the life of your precious little human, you can’t have both.” Standing tall and proud with his wings splaying out behind the angel looks to the sky then casts a glance back down to his fallen brother, “Remember your place Luci.” He warned before launching himself into the inky night sky.
*****
With a groan, Lucifer raised himself on his elbows and sent a withering glare after his so-called brother whilst muttering, “Bloody sanctimonious arse.”
Hearing a soft sound behind him Lucifer twists round to investigate, his face slowly draining of colour when he sees Chloe standing just beyond the balcony doors. Swallowing past the growing lump in his throat he tries to haul himself to his feet, a myriad of emotions and endless questions flitting through his mind. None of them ended with a good answer. How much had she seen? He hadn’t wanted her to find out this way. He hadn’t even decided if he wanted her to ever find out.
Sighing and glancing furtively at the Detective he chanced a small step forward, but his legs buckled under his weight and he fell to his knees. His little jaunt with Michael had left him in a bit of a state and with Chloe’s presence he wasn’t healing as fast as he should be.
Upon seeing him drop to the ground Chloe was ripped from her stupor and ran toward him, slipping to her knees and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Lucifer stiffened in her embrace and she squeezed slightly to reassure him only to make him gasp in pain. Eyes wide Chloe pulls back and quickly assesses him for injuries, trembling hands running lightly over his form.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” she managed to croak out “W-where does it hurt?”
For the most part Lucifer just stared in disbelief, his breath catching in his throat. She wasn’t scared? All she seemed to be was concerned for him. Head tilting slightly in bewilderment he murmured, “Chloe…” but didn’t get much further than that, not knowing what else to say.
The sound of his voice, so quiet and unsure, brought her azure eyes up to settle on his own. As she did so, her hand raised unhurriedly to lay on his stubbled jaw, her thumb softly caressing his cheek. Lucifer’s lips parted slightly, his mind in complete disarray, as he gazed down at the Detective. His Detective. Brave and fearless, even in the face of a monster.
Her eyes turned soft as she murmured so quietly he would have missed it had it not been for his angelic hearing, “I don’t care, you’re still you.”
He blinked. Once, twice. Before the corner of his mouth twitched upward in the beginnings of a soft smile. He should have known. She always did have the astounding tendency to surprise him.
“Do you-” she broke herself off and he searched her face, enquiring, “You don’t have to go back, do you?”
“Oh Chloe,” he breathed, “I’m not going anywhere.” His small smile broke into a genuine grin as he cupped her cheek with his hand and lent toward her, resting his forehead against hers, “Don’t you know, the home is where the heart is. And mine…” he whispered against her lips, “mine belongs to you.”