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Lucifer Morningstar walked into his partner’s apartment with a spring in his step. They had just finished solving their latest case and he wanted to spend time with Chloe. Oh, not for anything romantic, even though deep in his heart he yearned for it, for Dad had ruined all chances of that. But he found himself happiest when he could at least be around her, whether it be at the penthouse, the precinct, or here, in her apartment.
Cradling a wine bottle in the crook of his arm, he shut the door behind him quietly and peered around, anxious that he might get attacked by the little spawn. So far, so good. When he straightened and strode in confidently, a laugh suddenly filled the air, making him jump. Looking around for the source of the sound, he saw Chloe standing at the far end of the room, watching his entry with amusement.
“Don’t worry, Trixie’s with Dan tonight,” Chloe called out as she beckoned him over. “I thought you might be by.”
His eyebrows went up. “Indeed, Detective? Why is that?”
She chuckled. “I noticed that lately you tend to come over with wine every time we solve a case.” She pointed at the bottle tucked under his arm.
Following his gaze, he looked down at the wine, then back at her with a sheepish grin. “Guilty as charged.”
“Here, let me take that from you.” The blonde detective sauntered up, a tender smile on her face. Lucifer’s heart fluttered in his chest as he watched her. Chloe always managed to take his breath away, even when she was dressed casually as she was now, and doing nothing more than walking toward him. Trying to hide his discomfiture, he handed the bottle to her and wiped his hands down his trouser legs.
As she went into the kitchen, he took a seat on the couch and pulled out his phone to check his texts before turning it off. He liked to give the detective his full attention. Frowning, he read numerous texts from Amenadiel about the wonders of eating a dozen maple donuts -- obviously his brother was suffering from sugar overload. He started to delete them when his phone was suddenly pulled out of his hand.
Glancing up with surprise, he saw Chloe staring at his phone with a smile on her face. “You are always on this thing these days,” she teased.
His cheeks pinkened. He hoped she wouldn’t see the messages from all the people requesting sex from him. When her face didn’t tighten with disgust, he slowly relaxed. Perhaps she wasn’t interested in his texts.
Chloe’s eyes sparkled with mischief as she sat down beside him and swiped at the screen. Her leg burned his where she brushed against him. Lucifer’s stomach did a tumble, and his heart beat so fast he thought he was going to pass out, but he didn’t move. Was she going to shift away from him? Holding his breath, he waited for her to readjust herself on the seat, but she didn’t. He felt lighter than air at her touch. Oh, if they could just sit like this together, forever....
She seemed oblivious to his excitement. “I always wondered what kind of photos you take with your phone. I know you have Instagram, Twitter and all the rest, but to tell you the truth, I haven’t had time to look at them. But this is better, isn’t it?”
The fallen angel nodded as he brightened. “It is indeed!”
Photos weren’t a bad thing for her to look at! At least... he didn’t think so. Wait -- did he have sexting photos on his phone? For a moment his chest tightened before he relaxed. No, he had deleted all of the photos of his wedding tackle after the one time Chloe caught him posing for a nude selfie and had yelled at him about it. He supposed he shouldn’t have been doing that in the bullpen of the precinct, but it had seemed like the right thing to do at the time....
“I’m almost afraid of what I’m going to find on this thing,” she chuckled as she glanced at him. “Do you mind?”
Warmth spread in his chest at her consideration of his privacy. Now that he was sure he had taken off all the close-ups of his naked self, he waved at her with a flourish. “Be my guest, Detective. I don’t have anything to hide.”
Her eyes dancing, she held his gaze for a few seconds before she nodded. Chuckling, Chloe showed the screen to Lucifer. “Of course your first photo would be you with Devil horns.”
Lucifer smiled as he straightened and thrust out his chest. “Well of course, Detective! I am the Devil.”
“Sure, Lucifer.” She smiled, but it was obvious from her tone of voice that she didn’t believe him.
Deflating, Lucifer pouted. The Detective never believed him when it came to who he was.... He hated to think that she thought he was lying to her. It was the last thing he ever wanted to do.
Chloe snorted at the next photos, then looked up at him with a smirk. “You have your own comic book?”
He beamed at her. “Indeed I do, Detective! Amenadiel wasn’t very happy about it, as you can see, but you must admit I make a captivating main character.”
“If by captivating you mean totally and completely childish, then yeah. You’re captivating.” She chuckled, but there was affection in her tone. “I mean, you’re a grown man and you’re proud about having a comic book?”
“Not just any comic book, Detective -- a comic book about me, Lucifer Morningstar! Me! Of course, they had to make me blonde -- totally inaccurate, that. But I suppose they just couldn’t help it. I must go to the artist and lodge a complaint.”
“If you do, they will make you into a complete barbarian with a terrible fashion sense,” she snickered.
He frowned. “I suppose you’re right. Perhaps I should refrain....”
Nodding, she laughed again and continued looking at the photos.
Chloe squinted at the phone. “Wait a minute, wasn’t this the house in the Hollywood Hills where we found the drowned woman?” She shot an accusatory glance at him. “Don’t tell me you took a picture of the infinity pool...?”
Lucifer smiled. “But of course, Detective. I’m doing my part as a consultant to the LAPD.”
She shook her head. “Your part. Right. You look as if you’re relaxing on an outdoor chaise lounge.”
“Well, I was, actually.” When she glared at him, he frowned. “What? What’s wrong with soaking up the nice atmosphere while you and the rest of the LAPD are busy being boring?”
For a moment he thought she was going to scold him, but after studying him with narrowed eyes, she suddenly laughed. “You’re supposed to be working with us, not relaxing!”
“I was working!” He said indignantly. “I was studying the layout of the pool -- she had drowned, after all. You can hardly blame me for doing it while lying down...”
Chloe rolled her eyes and went to the next photo. She glanced up from the phone and showed the screen to him. ‘What the hell is going on here?”
“Oh, Maze was trying to show Doctor Linda some of her moves.” Lucifer shifted a little closer, hoping she wouldn’t move away from his proximity, and glanced at the screen fondly. “Those two make a very good couple, do they not?”
"Yeah, they do at that." Chuckling, Chloe went back to scrolling through the photos. With a gasp, she suddenly stared in shock at Lucifer. “Amenadiel and Ella like each other?!”
“Appalling, isn’t it?” Rolling his eyes, he shook his head with disgust. “Apparently my brother’s got a thing for our little lab tech. I don’t understand it myself, but there it is.”
Swallowing, she blinked a few times at the phone, then finally nodded. ‘Yeah, okay. Maybe it would work, although your brother is kind of odd sometimes.”
“True, but Ms. Lopez can be odd at times, as well, so perhaps they are a good match....?”
Chloe shrugged. “I guess....” She suddenly burst out laughing. “What’s going on here?”
The happy sound of her voice filled his insides with warmth. A lopsided smile lit Lucifer’s face as he scooted over a little closer to see what she was looking at. His heart beat faster when she didn’t shift away. “Oh, Amenadiel and Maze have a very... interesting relationship.”
“You could say that.” When her laughter subsided, Chloe looked at the phone again. “Oh look, it’s Dan!” she said.
“Daniel? On my phone?!” Aghast, Lucifer snatched the phone out of her hand and stared hard at the device. “What the me is Daniel doing on my phone?!”
Chuckling, she pointed at the screen. “Quite a manly photo, too. Are you harboring a secret man crush on Dan?”
His heart shriveled up inside of his chest as he cringed inwardly. It wasn’t that he was against having relations with men -- oh no, he quite enjoyed having sex with them! Unless, of course, said man was Daniel Espinoza. He had no intention of sleeping with the douche who had slept with his mother. Leaning away from Chloe, he handed the phone back to her. “Don’t be ridiculous, Detective!”
Taking back the device with a grin, she swiped at the screen. “Oh look, here’s another one! And another!”
“This is ghastly, Detective! How did these get on my phone?!” Lucifer cried as he snatched the phone once again and hurriedly deleted them.
Chloe snickered as she took back the device. “Don’t be shy -- you can admit that you have a man crush on Dan.”
“I do not!” he cried as she broke out into boisterous guffaws. Heat rushed into the fallen angel’s face. Folding his arms in front of him, he said, “Hmph!” and pouted until her laughter died down.
“Oh look, you have one of Trixie!” she said before she squinted at it. “Wait a minute -- is she... is she on the driver’s side?!” Her head snapped up to glare at him. “You are not teaching her how to drive your car, are you?”
He pursed his lips as he looked over her shoulder at the picture. He really didn’t have any idea why he had even snapped that photo of the little spawn, but now it was coming back to bite him in the rear. Relying on subterfuge, he cried, “Detective, look over there!” and pointed wildly behind her.
“What?”
When she turned, he quickly grabbed the phone and hit the delete button.
Grabbing the device back, Chloe looked at the screen which now showed a different image, and shot daggers at him with her eyes. If he had been a lesser Devil, he would have fallen dead at her feet. “You are not teaching her to drive. She’s too young.”
Oh, her fire always aroused him! He swallowed hard and chuckled nervously as heat uncoiled in his belly, sending shivers of desire through his veins. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice the effect her anger was having on him. “One is never too young to drive, Detective. Why ten-year-olds used to drive tractors!”
“Yeah -- in the Depression, on a farm.” Her voice was dry, only making his arousal that much worse. With a shake of her head, she went back to looking at his photos. Chloe lifted an eyebrow and bumped his shoulder to get his attention. "What’s this?”
Feeling strangely elated by the friendly gesture, he grinned. “Right. Well, apparently I have my own fan club. They insist on coming to LUX just to watch me. I do so enjoy seeing them tell everyone to watch me, even if it is a tad pervy.”
At her angry expression, his heart soared. Was she jealous? Not that they could do anything about it because of Dad’s interference, but the thought still sent flutters in his stomach.
“This is vandalism!” She lowered the phone and glared. “Not only that, but this could be considered downright stalkerish. Tell me who they are and I’ll arrest them --”
Oh. She wasn’t jealous, after all -- she wanted to make an arrest. Crestfallen, the fallen angel waved dismissively. “That won’t be necessary, Detective. There’s nothing to worry about. They only come to LUX to watch me on Monday nights. They never bother me otherwise.”
“But --”
“Besides, a little paint never hurt anyone.” Smiling, he pointed at the screen. “Right. If anything, I think Jennifer Lopez looks better with the horns and goatee, don’t you? They do suit her.”
She gave him a disbelieving look. “Are you serious?! We have to catch these taggers before they move onto something more destructive.”
“It’s all right, Detective. They are just some exuberant humans fangirling over me. And you must admit, I am fangirl material.” Rubbing his knuckles on his chest, he waggled his brows at her. Maybe now she would notice him?
Rolling her eyes, Chloe returned to looking at his phone. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Seriously, Lucifer?”
Tilting the device toward him, he broke into a huge grin as he saw the image. “Ooh, I do like that one! Nothing like a bit of naked neon on Hollywood Boulevard!”
She rubbed her hand over her eyes. “You are so childish!”
He brightened. “Why thank you, Detective!”
Chloe didn’t say a word when she showed him the next picture. Her exasperated expression said it all.
“What?” He didn’t know what she was so upset about. “I had to take a picture of the most perfect cool ranch puff in the world, Detective! Surely you can’t blame me for that?”
She snorted and muttered under her breath, “Childish.”
After a short pause, his partner lifted an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you bought makeup? I mean, I know you wear eyeliner, but really, Lucifer?”
The fallen angel beamed as he puffed his chest out proudly. “It’s not make up, it’s moisturizer -- my delicate skin needs pampering. It’s my Devil skin care regimen, made especially by the company just for me! Very fine products. I must say, Detective, you would benefit from --” At her narrowed gaze, his voice petered out. He cleared his throat and continued in a small voice, “-- a glass of wine. Would you like me to get you one?”
She snorted. “No.” With another glare in his direction, she continued scrolling through the phone. A laugh burst from Chloe’s lips. “You had Maze cut your hair?”
“What?” His voice took on a defensive edge. “She does a fine job when my barber is unavailable.”
Chuckling, she took a closer look at the phone. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look so tired.”
“Yes, well, I did wake her up from a dead sleep, but to my defense, I had a good reason. It was imperative that I had my hair cut that day.” He smiled crookedly and refrained from saying it was because he had wanted to look good for her. Slanting a glance at his partner, he gazed at her with a tender expression. He always wanted to look good for her. It was too bad she never seemed to notice.
She studied him for a long moment. After his cheeks grew warm under her scrutiny, she finally gave him a disbelieving look.
“What?” he asked. Merely shaking her head, his partner went back to scrolling through the phone.
“What the --” Chloe’s mouth fell open.
Puzzled at her reaction, he furrowed his eyebrows. “What is it, Detective? What’s wrong?”
“Oh my god, Lucifer, what happened to you?!” she cried, her face full of concern.
The fallen angel winced. “Please, Detective! Can you please refrain from the Dad comments?”
His partner looked at him, worry shining in her eyes. “Don’t change the subject and tell me what happened.”
When she placed a hand on his forearm, he thought his heart would beat right out of his chest. His eyes fell to her long, slender fingers burning his arm where she touched him, then up to the ceiling. He could feel the blood rushing into his cheeks. “I had a little tiff with Maze. It’s nothing, really. Just a little misunderstanding.” Eager to reassure her, he gave her a wide smile. “I thought I’d take a picture to commemorate the event. And as you can see, I’m perfectly fine now.”
“But Lucifer....” She glanced back down at the phone. “You should have told m--” She broke off and bit her lower lip.
Cocking his head, he waited for her to continue, but she didn’t. He wondered what was wrong. “Detective?”
Keeping her eyes averted, she only shook her head and studied the device in her hand. When she looked back at him, her eyes were incredibly sad.
Lucifer’s heart stuttered, and his insides went cold. Had he upset her in some way? “What? What is it?”
“I just realized....” She tapped the frame of the phone. “You have photos of everyone else, but you don’t have any of me on here.”
The blood rushed out of his face. “Detective --”
“I mean -- it’s okay, we’re just partners, but it’s just that....” She turned away from him, and shifted her leg away from his. He immediately felt a sense of loss, but squelched the urge to sidle up next to her. He didn’t want to upset her further.
He tried again to explain. “Detective --”
“I’m not jealous,” she suddenly said as she turned to glare at him. Lucifer felt his heart freeze over at the hurt in her eyes. “I’m not. But... I thought we were friends.”
“Detective, we are. You must believe me --”
“No, it’s okay. I get it.” Nodding to herself, she fumbled with the phone. She started to hand it back to him, then paused as her eyebrows suddenly furrowed. As Lucifer wondered what she had seen, she said in an odd voice, “What’s this folder that says ‘Detective’ on it?”
His heart stopped beating for a second before it suddenly went into overdrive. “Right. You don’t need to open that --”
She gasped. “You... you do have a picture of me on your phone...?”
He cringed. “Right, there’s no need for you to look at those --” Lucifer tried to snatch the device back, but she held it away from him and kept swiping at the screen.
Chloe’s mouth fell open. “These photos... they’re all of me.”
Pulling at the back of his neck, he tried not to squirm on the couch. Heat rushed into his face, burning all the way up to his ears. ‘Yes, well, you are my partner,” he said with a strained laugh as he stared at the ceiling. He had never expected her to look into that special folder....
Her gaze was intense as she studied him. “Why do you have all these photos of me on your phone?”
“Oh dearie me, look at the time.” He glanced at his watch pointedly, then back at her. “I should be going --”
Holding his phone away from him, she shook her head. “No. I want -- I need to know.”
Lucifer’s heart sank. There really wasn’t any good reason he could tell her that wouldn’t make him sound like a lovesick calf, so he stayed silent and bit his lower lip.
Reaching over, Chloe took a hold of his hand and squeezed. “Please, Lucifer... please tell me.”
He could never resist her, especially when she asked something of him. Taking a deep breath, he struggled to find his courage. He could do this -- he could. “I... when I’m having a tough time... I look at photos of you.” His face grew hot as he tried to pull his hand away, but she tightened her grip. Rubbing his forehead with his free hand, he studied the ceiling. “They... they help me when I’m feeling... low.”
Sneaking a glance at her, he saw her mouth fall open in surprise. Obviously he had shocked her... maybe even disgusted her. Hunching his shoulders, he averted his gaze. The silence stretched out before he gave a nervous chuckle and started to rise. “I suppose you want that wine now --”
She practically yanked him back down on the couch. “No, I don’t want wine now. Lucifer....”
His heart thumped unevenly as he stared down at the floor, clenching and unclenching his hands. He didn’t know what to say or how to make things... well, better, for obviously she was repulsed, wasn’t she? She’d order him out of her life, and he’d never see her again....
He cleared his throat. “I’m not a perv.”
“I know.”
“I am not stalking you.”
She giggled. “I know that.”
Well, that didn’t sound too bad. He cast a glance at her and saw that her aqua gaze was soft as she studied him. His heart jumped in his chest at her expression. He didn’t know what it meant....
“Detective --”
When she leaned against him, he thought his heart was going to leap right out of his chest. Gaping, he stared down at her, then at the room around him, before returning his eyes back to her. Obviously he was dreaming...? He had hurt her so much -- she shouldn’t be leaning against his arm, nor should he be feeling so happy about it. Dad had thrown her in his path, after all -- she couldn’t help her feelings toward him. And yet... and yet....
His face softened. He didn’t care. Well, not tonight, anyway. Dad be damned. He’d deal with the fallout tomorrow. All he wanted right now was to have his detective close to him for one night. Just one night. Surely there was no harm in that?
Disengaging their hands, he reached over to wrap an arm around her shoulders and tuck her close as he leaned against the backrest of the sofa. A glow of contentment spread through his body as she snuggled close to him. How he wished this moment could last forever! Taking a deep breath, he inhaled her soft, floral fragrance and reveled in the warmth of her body against his. He needed her -- needed this -- desperately.
“I’m glad you have photos of me,” she whispered. He could hear the smile in her voice.
So was he. His face gentling, he stared tenderly down at her and brushed his lips against her hair so lightly that he doubted she even felt it. Pulling her even closer, he made himself comfortable on the couch. For the first time in weeks, contentment flowed through the fallen angel, and the tension he had been carrying around melted away at last.
He’d worry about the future, Dad, and all the rest tomorrow. Tonight was his -- his and Chloe’s. Closing his eyes, he smiled... and dreamed.