Chapter Text
The house they share in Heaven isn’t like any place either of them had ever lived before. Lucifer encouraged Chloe to take the lead and they had taken up residence in a comfortable home that was bright and open. The back of the house opens to an ocean view and a beautiful beach that resembles the deep blues of the Pacific so closely that they both feel at home. As was Lucifer’s preference, the inside is well-appointed, but with softer lines and lighter colors than the penthouse they shared in Hell.
After they helped Mackenzie Grey work through her guilt and become Heaven’s newest resident, Lucifer and Chloe decided to take a trip as well. Wanting to make the most of their time in Heaven, they had organized a dinner party with their closest friends, only missing those still on Earth.
Satiated from the food and good company, Chloe’s heart is full. She loves the work in Hell she does with Lucifer at her side, but she has missed her friends.
Her glass is empty for barely ten seconds before Linda is filling it again.
“Linda, Linda, I’m good,” Chloe tries to tell her friend, waving her off.
Linda narrows her eyes at her. “Oh come on Chloe, you can’t really tell me that the wine in Hell is decent. You’ve been missing out.”
Not one to allow any insult pass him by, Lucifer interjects, “Blasphemy, doctor! I’ll have you know the quality of the alcohol in Hell is not subpar.”
Holding the glass to her mouth, Chloe takes another sip. “I don’t know babe, this is pretty good.” She kicks off her shoes and stretches out on the couch, placing her feet in his lap.
Linda smirks at Lucifer, her eyes saying I told you so.
“Hmm.”
Linda takes a seat in the oversized lounge chair next to them. “It’s really good to see you two. Obviously it’s still Heaven but we all miss you.”
“You’re always welcome to visit us,” offers Lucifer.
“Nope. Lucifer, like I’ve told you a million times, I’m retired.”
Acting as though he has been gravely wounded, Lucifer dramatically pouts. “Nonsense, don’t you want to see your star pupil in action?
“Amenadiel is constantly telling everyone about all of the souls you have helped. He’s so proud. We all are.” Linda reaches out to place her hand on Lucifer’s knee, holding eye contact with him, letting her words sink in.
Lucifer is silent, as he’s not sure what to say in the wake of such genuine, earned praise. Chloe jabs him with her foot in the ribs from where it had been in his lap in the hopes of getting him to thank Linda.
“Ouch!” he exclaims.
Chloe shoots back, “Baby.”
“I really have to agree with Chloe on this one,” adds Linda.
At Chloe’s comment, he grabs her foot and begins to tickle the arch of it with his fingers. Chloe shrieks and nearly kicks him in the face as she tries to free her foot from his grasp.
“Let. Go,” Chloe commands, her face pink with exertion.
Lucifer’s grip on her foot is unrelenting. “Not until you apologize for wounding your husband.”
“Hello? Guys?” Linda asks, knowing her friends were lost in their own world.
“Never,” Chloe promises him, sticking her tongue out at him and looking every inch Rory’s mother.
“Darling if we didn’t have guests right now, I’d already have you begging for my forgiveness,” Lucifer purrs right into Chloe’s ear.
“Promises, promises.”
Linda takes another swig of her wine. “I need to remember to bring a spray bottle next time I come over here.”
Later that night, Charlotte takes a seat on the couch opposite Chloe and Lucifer joining her friends with an exaggerated sigh.
“I had to escape from Dan and Amenadiel in the kitchen. Did you know they have started this thing where they go to every single Dodgers game that has ever been played?” Charlotte’s eyes flit over to Lucifer. “You promise I’m not in Hell, right?”
Linda nods in agreement. “She’s right — it’s so irritating. And it’s all they ever talk about now.”
“Charlotte, surely it can’t be that difficult to shut Daniel up. The man is rendered mute by female attention,” Lucifer suggests.
“That is actually kinda true,” Chloe chimes in.
Lucifer’s head whips around to face Chloe after her statement. “Detective,” he admonishes.
She smiles at him, the perfect picture of innocence. “What? We were married for nine years, together two before that.”
“You, darling, better hope that I am more angel than devil these days.” Lucifer’s eyes darken in a way that doesn’t go unappreciated by Chloe.
“What if I like that you’re the King of Hell?” she asks.
Lucifer leans toward her, fingertips dancing at her jaw. “Is that so, my queen?”
Chloe returns his smile.“ Maybe .” She leans away from him and directs her gaze toward Charlotte, “You know how men get — they lose their mind at the slightest hint of getting laid.”
“So true,” Linda agrees.
Lucifer’s face morphs into a dramatic pout, which doesn’t go unnoticed by any of the women present.
“Of course not you, babe,” Chloe reassures him, barely bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice. Charlotte and Linda conceal their laughter in their drinks as Dan and Amenadiel come outside to the patio, still in the heat of an argument.
“No dude, I’m telling you that Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher the Dodgers have ever had.
“You’re just saying that because he was active when you were going to games on Earth, Dan. You’re biased. Sandy Koufax is objectively the stronger pitcher. He won three pitching Triple Crowns and only retired due to arthritis.”
“Kershaw was playing in a totally different environment. You can’t make that kind of comparison.” Dan leans against the balcony railing just outside the door back into the house.
“We saw Koufax play three days ago. It’s ridiculous that you won’t acknowledge his superiority.” Amenadiel takes a long sip of his beer.
Dan shakes his head. “I know talent when I see it, Amenadiel. Koufax is good, great even, but he can’t hold a candle to Kershaw.”
Amenadiel sets his beer down on the railing beside Dan. “ You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dan waves his arms in frustration. “I don’t know what I’m talking about? Bro, I taught you everything you know about baseball.”
“You think I’m wrong?”Amenadiel crosses his arms in front of his chest, his stance wide. The way the light from the bonfire bounces off his features, he looks every inch the god that he is.
His best friend’s question sends Dan into a million directions at once, intent on defending his position. However, it all only comes out in bits and pieces as the man is too flabbergasted to form sentences.
Linda storms over to the pair. “No no no no no.” She shoves her finger into Amenadiel’s chest. “You do not get to play that card. You two can have your little baseball dates as much as it irritates the rest of us, but you do not get to play the god card to win stupid arguments over who throws a ball better.”
Dan pipes up. “Linda, it’s not that simple.”
She spins away from Amenadiel to face Dan, pretending to be taken aback by his protest. “Oh, I’m sorry. I come over here and save your ass from losing an argument about sportsball and you want to disagree with me?”
From behind her, Amenadiel shoots Dan a satisfied smirk now that Linda’s ire is no longer directed at him. Watching the argument play out, the rest of them are silent, not wanting to risk the doctor turning her attention on them. When push comes to shove, they all know it’s Linda who runs things.
Dan scratches the back of his head. “Ah, no?”
His answer satisfies Linda. “That’s what I thought.”
“Have I ever mentioned that I’m so glad you’re not into sports?” Chloe whispers into Lucifer’s ear.
“I’ve always found it far more satisfying to skip the intricate rituals of it all and go right to the sex.” His voice is low and rumbles in his chest.
The trio of Linda, Amenadiel, and Dan make their way over to the other side of the patio to join the rest of the group.
Linda addresses Chloe, “Honey, I’m going to head home. Do you think you’ll still be up here in another few days or so?”
Chloe looks to Lucifer, who only shrugs. “Up to you, Detective. You know I’ll never say no to a longer vacation.”
“Yeah Linda, we’ll be here for another week at least.” Hell truly was home to Chloe and she loves their work and their penthouse. But it seems pointless to try to pretend it could ever be as peaceful and wonderful as spending time in Heaven with their friends and family.
Linda’s face erupts into a smile. “That’s wonderful!” She looks over at Amenadiel. “Charlie is planning to come to visit in a few days, maybe we can do something together then. He could ask Rory to come too?”
“Good luck with that, Doctor. Aurora has a new girlfriend and no longer has time for me or her mum,” Lucifer complains.
“Lucifer, she visited us two weeks ago!”
“Exactly. I go through the trouble of changing the time difference in Hell when she’s there so she’s not gone from Earth for very long and she still doesn’t come.”
“Charlie’s here about once a month. Consider yourself lucky,” commiserates Amenadiel.
“Damn kids,” Lucifer grumbles goodnaturedly.
Chloe knows the group still treads carefully around the subject of Rory, especially around Lucifer. She’s grateful for the grace and understanding they continue to extend to him. It’s a wound that will never fully heal for Lucifer or Rory (or herself for that matter), but the past year has been everything she had hoped for in 2021.
“I’m going to head out now. See you all soon,” Linda finishes off her drink and sets the empty glass down.
“I’ll walk you out, Linda. Have a good night everyone. Dan, maybe think about how you can be so wrong about baseball considering you’ve supposedly loved the game your entire life,” Amenadiel tells the rest of them with a pointed look at his best friend.
Linda and Amenadiel take their leave. As Chloe, Dan, and Charlotte talk amongst themselves, Lucifer watches his brother and the doctor make their way back into the house on their way out.
“No one told me that was happening again,” Lucifer plainly states to everyone and no one in particular.
“They both think no one notices,” Charlotte confirms.
“Mm.” Lucifer takes another drink, finishing off the scotch in his glass.
“They were never quite like that back on Earth before Linda passed,” adds Chloe.
Charlotte leans in as if she is part of a dangerous conspiracy rather than gossiping about their friends’ sex lives.“I’m pretty sure it’s new — at least since she arrived here. I think it’s been easier with them both here full-time.”
“We managed long-distance just fine, didn’t we, Detective?” Lucifer’s not asking her so much as he is gloating about the perceived superiority of his relationship with Chloe.
“We never broke up, babe.”
He preens. “Of course we didn’t.” Lucifer tugs Chloe closer to him and gives her a quick kiss on the lips.
“What the fuck are you guys talking about?” Dan asks.
Chloe spins her head around to face Dan. “What? Amenadiel and Linda, Dan.”
“What about them?”
Lucifer sighs as if he’s explained himself a thousand times before. “That my almighty brother is finally getting some again.”
Dan shakes his head.“He’s what? No way.”
“Don’t you talk? I thought the two of you were best friends.” Chloe asks Dan, disbelief coloring her voice.
“We are,” states Dan.
Lucifer scoffs. “He didn’t tell you about his holy communions with the doctor?”
“I’m sorry, you-you think Linda and Amenadiel are together ?” Dan asked in a half-whisper.
“Please Daniel, it’s obvious.”
Dan turns to Charlotte. “Did you know about this?”
“...Yes?” Seeing his shock, she quickly follows up, “I figured you knew but didn’t want to break your friend’s trust!”
“Honestly Daniel, I know it’s been a while, but weren’t you a detective?” Lucifer’s grin is wide as he teases Dan.
“Shut up, man,” Dan tells Lucifer, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I think it’s nice that they’re together again. Charlie must be thrilled. That is if he knows.” Charlotte observes.
Dan chuckles. “Chlo, do you remember when Trixie kept trying to Parent Trap us when we first split?”
“Oh do I.” Chloe laughs at the memories.
At Lucifer’s confused expression, Chloe explains, “It was before we met. It was a perfect storm between the timing of our separation and Trixie seeing that movie for the first time.”
Dan jumps in, “Trixie was seven at the time and made a picnic for just the two of us. It was sweet. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because that’s about all she could manage at that age. She also picked some flowers for Chloe and told her they were from me. Problem was—”
Chloe interrupts, “Problem was that this bouquet, wherever she had gotten it, also had nettles. Before I knew what had happened, both Trixie and I were covered in a terrible rash. Poor Dan spent the weekend running across town trying to find anti-itch treatments and antihistamines.”
“You know, aside from the poisonous plants, it wasn’t a terrible plan that Trixie came up with.”
“We ended up spending the weekend together. It was just the three of us for the first time in a long time. It was nice, actually. Minus the horrible itching.” The unpleasant parts of that weekend had faded with time. Chloe was left with memories of blanket forts, calamine lotion, and Frozen on repeat.
“I fell into a patch of poison ivy at summer camp when I was nine. Covered in the stuff, from head to toe. I feel your pain,” Charlotte empathizes.
“Speak for yourself, Chlo. While you were passed out from the antihistamines, I was left trying to keep a seven-year-old from scratching. It’s not a one-person job.”
“Fair, fair. How had I ever forgotten?”
“Speaking of itchy children…. Detective, do you remember when Aurora picked up chickenpox from some contagious miscreant at her daycare before she was able to get vaccinated?” Lucifer asks.
Chloe winces at the decades-old memory. “Ugh. We had plans to go to Napa for a long weekend. Of course with Rory sick, that trip was canceled.”
“Poor kid,” said Dan.
“She was so little. At least when Trixie was covered with the rash from the nettles, you could try to explain to her to not itch, but Rory was what? Two?”
“Eighteen months,” supplies Lucifer.
“Right. Our poor baby.” Chloe remembers Rory screaming her tiny little lungs out as she and Lucifer had to spread lotion on an uncooperative baby. They all were miserable. Along with the chickenpox came a fever so hot that a human child would have been in the emergency room. Only Linda’s assurances that Charlie had been through something similar kept them sane.
“She liked the oatmeal baths, even if she did ruin three of my suits.”
“I don’t know how you didn’t learn after the first time,” Chloe teases. Lucifer had been beside himself with fear when their daughter had been sick. It was no cakewalk for Chloe, but she had suffered through the misery of a sick child before. Lucifer’s ability to function on less sleep than her meant that he stayed up with Rory all night and most of the day as well. By the end of the week when Rory had made a full recovery, Lucifer slept in Chloe’s bed for almost two days straight.
“Funny how I had almost forgotten that time with Trixie.”
Dan teases her, “Again Chlo, you were unconscious for a lot of it.”
“Still.”
“I remember being exhausted at the time, but now all I can recall is how much I enjoyed spending the weekend with the two of you.”
“Me too.” Chloe glances over at Lucifer, who is watching her as he carries on his own conversation with Charlotte. “I’ve really been missing Trixie lately. It was nice to reminisce.”
Dan reaches out to rub her shoulder. “I get it, Chloe, I really do. Look, I know you’re happy. But I’ve been down there. I wasn’t in a loop or anything, but it can be rough.”
“Dan… it’s not like that. He wouldn’t—”
He holds up a hand to stop her. “I know. I know he would figure out something different for the two of you if it was anything like that. But I also know it’s not here . It’s not Heaven,” he pauses, “Chloe, I’ve had a lot longer to miss Trixie—”
“I know you have.” Chloe sniffles through her words.
“It never gets any easier, but here it feels like I’m not drowning in it. I can accept that she’s living her best life on Earth. And one day, far into the future, we’ll get to see our daughter again. I know you’re not suffering in Hell, Chlo, but the ache you’re feeling won’t feel like that forever. I promise.”
Chloe leans toward Dan and gathers him in a tight hug. “Thank you. So much. For everything. For this. For being such a good dad. Trixie is so lucky to have you.”
“Nah, we’re the lucky ones, Chlo. Our girl’s something special.”
“She really is,” Chloe agrees.
“Dan, are you ready to go home?” Charlotte asks.
His eyes leave Chloe and he smiles up at Charlotte. “Sure thing, hon.”
“We’ll see you both soon, assuming this one and Amenadiel can clear time for us in their busy schedule,” Charlotte tells them as they move to leave.
“Ha-ha, Charlotte,” Dan replies before kissing her. “See you guys later. And Chlo, you’ll be alright. I’ll always be here for you if you need me.”
“Thanks, Dan. And me too.”
“Alright alright, the pair of you get out of here before Daniel starts making moves on my wife. He had his chance.”
“Oh whatever, bro.” Dan rolls his eyes.
“Honestly it’s amazing the urchin’s eyes haven’t gotten stuck in the back of her head with the two of you as her parents,” Lucifer observes.
Chloe swats at Lucifer’s chest. “Stop.”
He sticks his lower lip out at her. “That hurts, Chloe.”
“Then don’t be an ass.”
“Excuse me, it’s hardly my fault if Daniel made the mistake of marrying you somewhere that has a process for divorce. I made no such error in judgment. Hell Decree Number Eight Thousand and Eleven: No Divorce.” Lucifer recites the decree he dictated to Belios the day before he tied the knot with Chloe.
“Hilarious,” Chloe deadpans.
He sniffs. “It’s official. No appeals process.”
Dan groans. “Dude, I’m starting to see why your kid doesn’t come around more often.”
“Very funny, Daniel. Weren’t you leaving?”
“I thought so too,” says Charlotte.
“Yeah, yeah. Goodnight guys.” Dan wraps his arm around Charlotte’s waist as they head back to their house.
“Night Dan. Night Charlotte,” Chloe calls to them.
Alone with Chloe once again, Lucifer has her move so she is lying against him, her back to his chest.
“I thought they’d never leave.”
“Want me all to yourself?”
“Always, darling.” He kisses the side of her neck, just below her ear. Lucifer sucks the skin a little longer than she would have let him had they been on Earth, in fear of having to explain away a bright purple hickey like a teenager.
“Lucifer…”
He settles with his chin on her shoulder and wraps his arms tightly around her middle. “I couldn’t help but hear your conversation with Daniel. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop—”
“Dan was wrong about Hell not being the right place for me,” she refutes the argument she anticipates from him.
“I-I… that isn’t a concern I have, Chloe. I trust you. And I don’t think he was saying Hell isn’t right for you, just that it’s not Heaven. Which is true. And Daniel has been to Hell, he’s not completely ignorant on the subject.”
She lowers her defenses, content that she won’t have to defend her decision to spend her eternity in Hell any longer. “Yeah. And I get what he’s saying. I do.”
“Mm.”
“Maybe I could be better about taking breaks to come up here more often. And be better about talking to you.” Chloe tries not to feel as though she’s admitting defeat or weakness. She knows Lucifer would never see her admission as either.
“I’d like that.”
A mixture of surprise and relief washes over her. In her delight, she reaches behind to scrape along his stubble with her fingers, bringing him forward so she’s able to kiss him from her position. “You seriously wouldn’t mind if we came up here more?”
“Detective, did you forget how we met? I don’t usually spend this long in Hell without taking a vacation.” Lucifer presses a series of kisses from one side of her neck to the other, nuzzling further into her.
“To Earth, not Heaven,” corrects Chloe.
“Well, until relatively recently, Heaven wasn’t an option if you recall.” He traces the ring on Chloe’s right middle finger that made his first visit post-fall possible.
“Fair enough,” she acknowledges.
“Besides, it’s much better up here under new management. Better company, too.”
Chloe hums contentedly in his arms. “I’m so happy. You know that, right?”
He does. He really does. “I know you are, darling.”
“Good. I need you to know that, babe. Even in the future if I’m not having a good day, I love our life together. I love you.” She takes his hand from where it rests on her midsection, bringing it to her lips and placing a gentle kiss on the back of it.
Lucifer swallows, willing himself not to ruin a nice moment with his wife, even though she is so clearly the one who started it. “As I told you and Daniel earlier, my love, you’re stuck with me.”
“Mm.” She shifts in his embrace in a way that he thinks is not entirely unintentional.
“Are you quite alright, darling? What’s gotten into you?” he asks. His fingers travel along the hem of her blouse. She squirms again in his lap and he knows he’s got his Detective right where he wants her.
“Nothing… yet.” It’s obvious by the inflection in Chloe’s voice that she’s pleased with her wordplay.
He growls into the shell of her ear, “I thought we were having a moment, hmm?” He sucks on a spot low on her neck.
“Luci-fer.” She is so close to begging him. He’ll get her there. Lucifer gently sinks his teeth into her earlobe and tugs.
It’s his wife’s soft whine that finally makes him drop the façade and carry her up to their bedroom.
Heaven indeed.