Chapter Text
When a body hits the pavement from greater heights, the sound is unforgettable nauseating. Chloe remembered her good friend Jamie, who worked for the New York firefighters. When he had last visited during his holidays, he had admitted it to her. When they sat together at the beach watching the sunset, sharing the sound of the waves and companionable silence, he had finally confessed to her that the sound of bodies hitting the pavement, when people jumped off the burning world trade centre 9/11, would haunt him in his nightmares until his dying day. No matter how many years had passed.
Chloe forced her legs into motion. Besides her, Amenadiel and Linda were hot on her heels. Finally, the rain had started to pour down heavily and the thunder rumbled more frequently. Wind gushes ripped on their clothes. They ran forward to peer around the group of bushes and palm trees that blocked the view on the body – or bodies? Please, please, God, or Lucifer’s Dad? Please, let it not be Trixie! Or Lucifer! Chloe’s mind trembled with fear, hear hear heart racing. Dry sobs tore from her lips.
Amenadiel looked grimly this time, his toothy grin no longer place. Linda tucked on his sleeve as she ran along after Chloe and the big angel, the rain plastering her hair to her face, her glasses foggy. “What did you do, Amenadiel? Tell me! Who fell? Where is Lucifer? Where’s Trixie?”, she shouted over the storm. The sturdy Angel did not answer. Instead, he grabbed Linda’s hand, squeezed her fingers reassuringly and this time it was him who tore the tiny woman forward.
Cain was laying in the midst of a clearing surrounded by bushes, eyes still open, rapidly bleeding out. His left arm and right leg were obviously broken multiple times. They were torn at an odd angel. There were cuts all over his throat and body, none of them deadly, but taking their toll. Bloodied foam trembled on his lips with every rasping breath; some broken ribs had clearly pierced his lungs. Cain’s eyes became glassier by the minute. He had finally done it! He could feel it! A smile of grim satisfaction crossed Cain’s features. Finally, he would vanish from the face of the earth. A cruel earth that he had walked so long, an eternity of punishment!
Chloe reached him first. “Marcus! Can you hear me?” She fell to her knees by his side, mixed feelings tearing through her. She wanted to take his hand, to call an ambulance although she could see that it was too late; with a part of her being she even wanted to give him consolation... There lay the man who had been her steady rock the last couple of months. Her self-declared boyfriend whom she had allowed to slowly step into her life. But there also lay the abductor of her daughter, the man who had not given a damn to whether her child lived or died, as long as he was able to fulfil his dark desire.... to kill himself! To die! This was utter madness! “Should we not call the ambulance?” Linda whispered. “No, in this case... not”, Amenadiel responded, “Trust me. You will understand. Soon.” Amenadiels arm went reassuringly around Linda who watched, horrorstruck.
As Chloe, Amenadiel and Linda gathered around the obviously dying man, they heard a distant shouting from above, Dan’s voice. He was standing on the balcony of Lucifer’s penthouse, gesticulating like mad, and then disappearing as he dashed backwards and rode downwards with the elevator.
Looking up to where Dan had pointed, they saw how an Angel descended, majestic white wings beating the air, Trixie in his arms. For some unknown reason, Chloe registered that the particular angel in question still wore red-soled dandy shoes, which ruined the Angel vision somewhat and turned him...into her partner... the freaking Devil. With Angel wings! Lucifer had been telling her the truth from day one! Seeing him like this was even more “rubbing it in” than having been saved by him herself. As Lucifer approached, the “Angel vision thingy” was further ruined: They could see that his wings and his entire appearance was not as pristine as they used to be. The sharp fanning primaries were drenched in red, his wings sprinkled with red and dirt, his clothes bloodied, ripped and torn, his lip bleeding and his left eye rapidly turning blue and green (close to Chloe as he was).
Lucifer was panting heavily when he touched down. He fell forward to his knees, his arms trembling, his now soaking wet, bloodied wings sagging to the floor. His blood or Marcus’? Chloe wondered, her mind shivering with the onslaught of new information, of impossible pictures. Lucifer just barely managed to let Trixie slide down without dropping her in the first place. Only the girl would not let go of him: She had wrapped her tiny arms around his torso and hid her face in his chest, squeezing her eyes shut, still trembling and panting. For reasons Lucifer did not want to examine he felt content in keeping Beatrice in his embrace, strange as that was (and in the end, Maze was not here to make fun of him, after all!).
It was Chloe’s voice, mixed with Dan’s who came bolting across the lawn from the Lux building, shouting for his girls, that finally brought Trixie out of her freeze. Dan threw himself down to Chloe’s kneeling level and hugged her first, tears of happiness running down his face, then extended his arm to open their embrace to their daughter. Trixie finally abandoned her safety harbour at Lucifer’s chest and joined the group hug with her parents. Trembling, gasping, shaking.
Just for a second, in the drumming rain and gushing wind, the little hugging patchwork family on the lawn glowed like a space capsule of love and light against the thundering sky and down pouring rain.
Lucifer approached Cain and peered down on his nemesis. “You know, Cain, you got your wish, now! Are you content?” Cain closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath, the bloody bubbles foaming on his lips. “I am”, he croaked, a pain-twisted grin spreading across his features.
Lucifer sighted. “You know, when I gave you my word that I would assist you in your quest to die, I had in mind to help you avoid Hell.” Lucifer’s aura became darker. “You were destined for Hell ever since you first killed your brother Abel. Only my Dad gave you your special Hell treatment on earth. By preventing you from dying. Making you immortal.” Chloe’s eyes closed and she held onto Trixie and Dan, they all took comfort in each others' embrace. A piece of earth, of familiar, in a sea of divine stormy ocean. There was no denying now that it was all true.... Heaven and Hell, Angels and - the Devil himself. Lucifer. Her partner, who had her back.
Cain’s blue eyes searched the Devils’. “And, so...?” he chocked, rain running over his face. Still his own man. Proud. Determined. Lucifer straightened up, every inch the dark punisher he once had been. He does not need his devil face to be scary. He radiates anger on all channels, since Pierce has messed with his loved ones, Linda thought observing the scene, holding her breath as she watched the soaked Devil draw himself up and tower over Cain.
Lucifer’s voice was low and dangerous, almost purring. “What do you think, where will you be heading, now, that you tried to kill an innocent child and the, ah (here, the Devils’ voice trembled) most beautiful woman in the world, who entrusted YOU of all people with her life and happiness? And with that of her daughter...? Mmmh? TELL ME, CAIN!!” Lucifer’s voice now thundered, matching the rumblings of the thunderstorm. Chloe held her breath. The huddling family was finally turning around, focusing their attention to the dying man and the Devil.
“You desire is fulfilled, you will die! But WHERE will you be heading?” The Devil cocked an eyebrow at Cain whose face froze in horror. It slowly dawned on Cain what he had done. He had wrecked it, again, had used these people who had offered him nothing but their love. He had used them, as a means to an end. As his rattling breath became shallower, his eyes dashed around, as if to find an exit. The seconds ticked away in the douwnpuring rain.
It was Trixie who surprised them all. She finally left her parents’ embrace and knelt by the side of the dying man. Her dark eyes bored into his desperate blue ones. “If you are really the Cain from the bible” (her eyes flicked briefly to Lucifer, who nodded) “you have been here for very long, right?” Trixie asked, in a low voice.
“Since the dawn of humankind”, Lucifer confirmed in a murmur. Lucifer suddenly sounded eons old himself. And tired. “Then you have lost the ones you loved, again and again, did you?” Trixie continued. Her warm, innocent eyes searching his. Cain nodded, just with his eyes. He chocked on the bloody foam the rain washed from his lips. His eyes suddenly swam in tears. “You always knew that you would never see your loved ones again, because God would not let you enter Heaven, right?” Again, Cain gave a weak nod. His lips trembled, his eyelids fluttered. “This is horrible...” The little girl closed her eyes in concentration and rocked forward and backward a few times at the spot where she sat. To comfort herself.
“Yes, personal Hell on earth, I’m afraid”, Lucifer muttered, “Dad can really be unforgiving...” It was plain clear that he was not only speaking of Cain.
“Cain, can you still hear me?” Trixie enquired. Then she took the dying man’s hand. His eyes fluttered opened again. More bubbles appeared around his lips. The glassy otherworldly look stole across his face, his cheeks suddenly flushed. Death was approaching. Trixie’s voice was somehow stronger in his ears than before. Or was it because the roaring thunderstorm had temporarily ceased? “I understand now why you did what you did. But it was bad nevertheless, you know?” He nodded weakly with his eyes. He did understand that his actions had been wrong.... And he would now enter his next Hell, to regret his sins for all of the remaining eternity.
“You should have talked to us, Mommy and me. Maybe we could have helped. But never mind...” Trixie hesitated. And then she said it. “....I forgive you for what you have done to me. To my mommy. I do NOT need you to be in Hell, you know. You have paid up, I think” the girl said softly, smiling. Chloe looked at her little monkey in surprise. She felt the same, only that Trixie had put it words and actions perfectly. When she, Chloe, was Justitia, her daughter was... amazing Grace. Both, the woman and the girl, smiled at each other, rejoicing in a shared happiness that they did not need him punished at all. It was just so... unnecessary! Mother and Daughter smiled at each other and - set him free in their minds.
Trixie looked up, first to Lucifer, then up to the stormy night sky. “Ok...?” she whispered. Chloe’s hair suddenly stood on edge as if a strange presence had touched them with the gushing wind. The wisper was hardly audible over the storm. “He’s had enough, don’t you think?” Who had said it, Lucifer or Trixie? ....or someone else?
Trixie’s expectant little child face, smiling at the heavens above as if she’d just discovered a wonderful secret, was the last earthly thing that Cain ever saw. His eyes broke. He left his millennia-old body. His soul cached a last glimpse downwards onto the group of people and Angels huddled around his broken body. Then the picture started to fade into nothingness. Briefly, joy filled him to the brim! He smelled the lands of his childhood, heard the laughter of his brother, as they roamed the fields together, bathing in an unearthly beautiful glow. Then – his self-consciousness vanished, dispensing into warm soft light.
The stormy wind tore and wailed around them. “He’s gone” Amenadiel whispered. “I think you got your whish, child”, Lucifer added in a low voice, filled with awe. Lucifer suddenly looked young and vulnerable to Chloe, curly locks drenched in the downpouring rain, soft lips slightly open. “You know..." his eyes flicked towards Chloe and Trixie. "Cain... he - did not go to Hell... I...I can sense that he didn't!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had definitely not been the kind of party Lucifer had originally intended to throw for his friends. After they watched Cain’s body disappear (which was really, really creepy, Linda admitted to herself as she clutched to Amenadiels hand who embraced her even more to steady her), Lucifer suggested in his usually cheery tone that they should all go up to his penthouse to have a proper drink. For one, to calm back down, to collect their wits, and particularly to warm themselves up, rain-soaked as they all were.
Linda again nailed it down. “Lucifer, no more going backwards, ok? This is your opportunity! You owe us a few explanations, here, ok?” Then she rounded to a grinning Amenadiel. “No reason to look smug, you know! You will assist him, right?” To which Amenadiel had stuttered his consent while Lucifer smirked at this brother. "You have a bit of divine explaining to do to some humans, you know!" Linda sighed and took her glassed off, trying to rub them dry to clear the view.
Lucifer felt as if he had collided with a truck, physically (his flight muscles in his back killed him!) and also emotionally. He sighed. But with the Cain-based skydiving revelations... it may turn out to be much better than anything Lucifer could have wished for. Chloe was still there beside him, stealing glances at him, full of wonder and... something else he could neither identify nor understand. After the exploding happiness of having saved her and the child, he felt uneasiness creep up his spine again. Lucifer sighed. He had so much more to learn about human emotions. Why was she still glancing at him? He had tucked away his wings even before Cain died, so it could not be the wings she was glancing at, right? Well, at least Chloe was not running for the hills, was she? Lucifer took it as a first glimpse of hope, refreshing rainfall after a long period of desert and drought in their relationship, that she was still there with him.
As they all went up in the elevator, a subdued, soaked lot of exhausted people and Angels, Dan approached Lucifer, shifting uneasy from one foot to the other. The Douche cleared his throat and looked into the Devils’ eyes. “Hey man, thanks for saving our daughter! I saw what you did to save her, I watched from the balcony! Couldn’t believe my bloody eyes! You were just... a damn hero, right? A... a devil-angel hero with wings..." Dan stuttered and mumbled. "Damn, I still need to wrap my head around all of this!" He grinned at Lucifer. "You were even better than Wesley Cabot in body bags II, you know..?!” "Well, that is a high praise from you, DAniel..." Lucifer cocked an eyebrow to downplay the slightly awkward atmosphere that started to fall as the truth of "my god he's the Devil" sank in.
Dan cleared his throat and looked away, uneasy. “I mean. If I owe you a favour, or my soul, or anything else then... it is just fine....” A grin curled around Lucifer’s lips. The Douche had daring, he gave him that! Not only Chloe, but also Dan had just overcome the revelation that his ex-wife’s pain-in-the-ass ex-consultant was Satan himself!
Lucifer knew that Dan had been raised in an all-catholic household with all the usual brainwashing when it came to the Devil. Lucifer briefly considered charging Dan to hand over his star-autographed body bags collection. But when he looked into Trixie’s and Chloe’s exhausted but shyly adoring faces (the later giving him all funny side glances), on the other hand, it somehow did not sit right with the Devil to do that. Not even for making fun of Dan! Well, he'd save that for later!
At “...owe you my soul..” from Dan, Linda had started to giggle, then Amenadiel joined, then Lucifer could not help himself but laughed out loud at Dan’s bewildered face. In the end, the entire elevator cabin rang with their laughter! They chocked and panted, looked at each other and broke into more laughter. They exploded with dissolving tension as if there was no tomorrow. Even Dan grinned, although he did not know what he had done to cause this tsunami of hilariousness.
The elevator finally dinged and spilled them all into Lucifer’s penthouse, still chuckling. Thank Dad, some of the worst tension had dissolved. Their host the Devil spoke. “Ok, well... you know where my bathroom is. Please help yourself to dry clothes, my closet is all yours, and use everything you may need, will you? I will not accept charges for a bad cold, just because you did not change or take a hot bath, right?” Lucifer nodded at his friends to downplay the awkward silence that had fallen again after the outburst when he had started to address them.
Lucifer strode directly to his bar to pull himself a drink, tipping it down in and instant. The hot burining sensation of the alcohol helped to ground him. Then Lucifer recharged his glass and pulled more drinks for Linda and Dan. When he met Amenadiels eye, who grinned broadly at him, Lucifer sighed theatrically and bent down to prepare a Cosmopolitan. When he handed his brother the drink, Lucifer looked up and met Chloe’s eye. She smiled at him in a way he had not seen for a long time: warm, gratefully, in an almost shy manner (which he really hoped was a temporary thing!).
Chloe nodded to him and led Trixie to his large master bathroom, to give her little, soaked, tough girl a hot shower and help her change her clothes. And perhaps join her! Lucifer felt a blossoming warmth spread through his chest at the sight of “his” two girls, whole, safe and alive, a feeling as if he’d already drowned two bottles of his best oak-matured whiskey. Lucifer knew there was a conversation to come, soon, but just now, he revelled in the happiness that they were with him. Alive. On this plane of existence.
Linda took Daniel aside. “Lucifer is a good man, I mean, Devil, ok? He’s not evil, nor is he after anyone’s soul, right? That’s where the bible gets him completely wrong. He punished evil when it knocked on his doorstep, on the doors of the ugly house he was forced to keep. Which was Hell, fine, ok. But that is all, Dan.” Dan looked into Linda’s earnest eyes and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I can see that. Still, I will need time to wrap my head around it,” Dan confessed. Lucifer preened a bit at Linda’s words, strode forward and handed them their drinks. They clinked glasses. "This does not mean I'm leaving your pudding be, ok?"
“Nothing better than a golden aged whiskey to lift the spirits, or do head-around wrapping!” Lucifer’s smile was genuine. He even felt lightheaded that they were all here, with him. No one running – yet. “Here’s to you, man!” Dan’s voice cracked with emotion. “If it were not for you...” “Don’t get all teary, Dan, everything’s fine! Just take a sip!” “Can I... can I talk to Charlotte about it, Lucifer? Does she know already? What... what did you have with her, anyway?
Lucifer sighed and started to explain the whole “Goddess hogged Charlotte’s body” incident in brief words. With Daniel’s mouth falling more and more open (and with Linda smiling knowingly and painfully) as he went on. “And that is why she does not remember you. I would prefer it if you do not go like a bull at a gate here, Daniel. She’s figuring out how to be a better person and to avoid going to Hell, and at the same time, she’s trying to make sense of her missing time. If you want to do her a favour, go easy on her. Charlotte Richards will come around. I am sure of it!” Lucifer emptied his forth drink and recharged his glass. And that of Dan. Dan nodded as many puzzle pieces clicked into place.
Dan turned his head and noticed Amenadiel smiling at him, sipping on his Cosmos, watching him. His body language offering contact. Dan decided that he would go on with questioning the other celestial in the room, for a change.
“Still want to join the Improv group..?” he asked. Amenadiel smiled. “Yes, Daniel, more than ever! I mean... perhaps, finally, I’ll get the hang of it. "Giraffe in labour" and all of that! I even read about the birth-giving of Giraffes, for a change,” Amenadiel told him, eagerly. “I like your improve class!” Dan could not help himself, he had to suppress grinning like a maniac at the big, broad-shouldered Angel who was naive, honest and awkward at the same time. Who could, after all, really do with a bit of loosening up and learning how to be human! Improv was just perfect for Amenadiel, Dan decided, grinning to himself. Plus, he would get more answers regarding celestial affairs as a bonus.
Trixie and Chloe re-emerged, both giving off hot steam. Both had chosen something from Lucifer’s large closet: Chloe had picked the old Sol de Javier T-shirt for Trixie. It was way too long and looked like a summer dress on the girl, who had draped a golden drawstring chord around her waist which she had taken from the nearby drape curtains (Trixie had started finding pink dresses “ugly childish” and simple T-shirts “bulky”, a clear sign that puberty was dawning on the horizon).
Chloe had not wanted to use a dress that an overnight visitor may have left in Lucifer’s closet (“...and she left with nothing but a smile”, she remembered). Instead, she had settled on choosing one of Lucifer’s silken dress shirts, which was way too long for her. She had rolled up the sleeves, also those of the sweat pants she had found in the back of his closet - she still wondered if these were really Lucifers'.
Linda observed how the Devil went all silent when his two girls emerged and approached, barefoot. He forgot to answer Linda, his mouth slightly hanging open. He also forgot to take a sip, glass suspended in mid-air. He swallowed. Linda could not help but smile. Lucifer looked so adorably man-childish with his messed hair and his large, dark adoring eyes focused on Chloe. Who seemed somewhat shy or hesitant, to Linda’s surprise. Linda wondered if this had to do with her being afraid of the Devil (she guessed not) or her having a guilty consciousness because she had never considered believing Lucifer in the first place.
But Thank-Dad there was Trixie, to dissolve the tension! The girl was clearly exhausted, but still excited and on high-alert, no surprise given her recent ordeal, her own skydiving Devil experience and her easing a dying man’s parting. The girl even seemed older now than she had been when they came this afternoon for the party, Linda mused. Was it really the same day? So much had happened!
Trixie took the initiative; she pulled her hesitant mother towards Lucifer. Trixie knew what she wanted to say. Two dark earnest eyes dipped into the black eyes of the Devil. “Thank you, Lucifer, for saving Mommy. And thank you for saving me! You know, you are awesome!” The slender girl beamed up at him with breath-taking brightness. “Can you pick me up, just briefly? You are so tall and I want to hug you!” For once, Lucifer could hardly decline her request on the grounds of her being dirty and him being clean because, at the moment, it was clearly him who needed a bath, while the girl smelled all fresh and flowery. Lucifer could still smell Cain’s blood on himself.... who would want to hug him, now? Well, Trixie did!
Lucifer felt lost in the smiles of the girl and her mother. He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, if this is your desire, Beatrice, I shall surely oblige...” Lucifer did as she had asked and scooped her up. Surprisingly, he got two rewards: His first and foremost reward was the radiant smile that he saw spreading over Chloe’s features when he picked up her daughter. He filed away that information for later use. Second, he discovered that the girl did not hug him like a bench vise any longer. Rather, she was quite considerate. She carefully wrapped her arms around his neck without much squeezing and snuggled her head into the bend of his neck. Just a second, then she let go and touched his face injuries tenderly, first with her finger. Then she touched the skin under his blue-black eye fondly with her closed lips. No wet child kisses any longer! “Get better soon, Lucifer”, the girl whispered, and he could sense that it came from the bottom of her heart. He, the Devil, had been kissed better! The strangeness of this day would not cease to amaze him. Lucifer swallowed and blinked his eyes repeatedly as he let the girl carefully slide down. Surely, there was just some dirt that had JUST gotten into his eyes, that was all!
Chloe was next. Her fond smile of seeing Satan embrace (and endure) her daughter, including his shiny eyes, ignited her features from within. Her blue-grey eyes sank into his dark ones. Chloe took his hands, carefully, running her thumbs back and forth over the inner of his palms. Lucifer felt her touch with his entire being. His lips opened slightly. Both looked down at their intertwined fingers, momentary at a loss for words. Then both spoke, simultaneously.
“I should have believed you all along, I’m so sorry, Lucifer!” “I’m sorry I did not insist and show you earlier, detective!” Both laughed but continued simultaneously, again: “I should not have trusted Marcus the way I did and dismiss working with you! I was so blind...” “I should have trusted your instincts all along, detective! Trust that you would not run, when you finally knew...!”, Both nodded at each other like lunatics.
Trixie, who had observed the scene, finally pulled a face and decided that hugging time with her dad was overdue! She bounced to the couch where Dan was sitting, chatting with Amenadiel, and let herself topple over the backrest just into Dan’s waiting arms. Dan embraced her, deeply grateful that she was still there to be held. Trixie curled up in his lap, content, always at home with both of her parents. She yawned.
Lucifer spoke first. “Detective, I insist that you take care of yourself and Beatrice after this ordeal. Please go home (he swallowed at the thought of her leaving) and get some well-deserved rest.” Lucifer cleared his throat. “I dearly hope that you will allow me to be there for your tomorrow, and each day you want me near you afterwards. To answer your questions. To explain things you might have witnessed around me in the past... now that you know.” He cleared his throat and paused. “And...if.. you don't want me around...I understand. You just need to say the word." Lucifer blinked and took a deep breath. It was her right to distance herself from him. "And there is Linda. She knows who I am since quite some time now... I am sure she will help you to cope with everything, even if you do not wish to discuss it with me.... be it Celestials, Immortals and all the rest.”
Chloe looked up at this amazing man, nay, Devil, Angel or... whatever. She did not care just now! Freak out officially postphoned! Suddenly she realized that Lucifers greatest fear was and always had been her, Chloe’s, rejection. And that exactly she had done already, rejected him, rejected to be his partner, or the permanent target of his... Luciferness. Which, she knew now, had a perfectly reasonable background. Because he was, well, Lucifer. The Devil... At least in celestial terms, his reasons had been valid. She realized that, from now on, this would be part of her new universe. Because she would not give up on him again! Lucifer gave her his best hopeful puppy-dog-eye smile. “Will you allow me to explain...?” he whispered.
Chloe nodded fervently. “Lucifer...” her voice trailed off, then she pulled herself together. “I apologize for being such a bad friend to you! It was just that when you...”. He moved forward and put his forefinger onto her lips. She stilled at the unexpected gesture. He seldom stepped into her space in such a straightforward manner. “Sshh! Please, detective! It is not your fault!” He removed his finger and stepped back, afraid that he might have scared her (he didn’t). “It was mine” (she shook her head at that, while he nodded), ”mine all along! I was so angry at my father for taking away my devil face...”
“Is it that what you showed all the perps who came up half-mad, your devil face?” she asked, fascinated. “And is that what you tried to show me, after you were kidnapped...? And it dd not work, and you didn’t know beforehand?” “Yes, exactly, detective!” He grinned, delighted, the old Lucifer back in place for just a second. Then his grin faded and he continued. “I was angry at Dad that he had taken my Devil face, after all the suffering I had to endure to make it my own in the first place! Instead, Dad he had given me back my stupid wings to enforce my servitude...”
“And did he do that? Enforce your service, I mean?” Chloe asked. They were talking about God, like, in GOD with a capital G, aka Lucifer’s Dad... she still shuddered with the strangeness of it all. “No... now you mention it, funnily, He didn’t....” Lucifer’s brows furrowed.
“You know”, Chloe continued, “without your wings... we would have both been dead tonight, Trixie and me... and Marcus...” Chloe still hurt inside, as the memories crept back. She closed her eyes briefly, while a tear tickled down her cheek, and continued. “Marcus would not have found.... his rest. Because he would have killed Trixie if it hadn’t been for you saving her. You, the Devil with wings...” She smiled up at him. Lucifer looked stunned. Chloe could see that Lucifer would have to go a long way to reconsider old assumptions he had made about his father. This was no topic for tired fuzzy-brained humans! She rubbed her face in her hands, then looked up at him.
“Lucifer, what about you?” “What about me, detective?” “You are injured." She pointed at his face and his right rib cage where blood had soaked though his vest, blood that seemed to come from him, not Marcus. “Your wings... don’t they need, I dunno, some care? Grooming? At least a clean-up, likely... is your shower even large enough for them...?” Chloe’s practical down-to earth attitude seemed to be faster than her mind-wrapping-around-it-all with the new celestial stuff.
Lucifer remembered her touch at his right wing after he had saved her. He grinned his shit-eating grin for a second, before it faded into a warm afterglow. “At another time, I would have loved to invite you to join me in the Jacuzzi and aid me with wing- and otherwise Devil-grooming service”. Lucifer smiled, then swallowed. “But for now, I am content if you will allow me to see you again tomorrow, after all of this...” he confessed. “Rest assured that I will be able to clean up the worst of the damage. I also do heal faster when you are not near me” “Then Marcus was right with what he shouted, there, on the roof...?” Chloe felt her brain again goint into overdrive. "...I really make you vulnerable..?" “Yes... Chloe, he was right...” whispered the Devil. " You make me exsanguinate, even killable. but I have come to terms with it a long time ago. No reason to stay away from your gracious presence." Lucifer's smile was one of his rare genuine smiles that he reserved only for her.
“I see, there is so much for me to learn...” Chloe sighed and glanced over at the couch where Trixie was already sleeping in Dan’s lap, while Linda and Amenadiel had an obviously sweet, low-voice conversation with a lot of joint chuckling. “Lucifer”, she moved closer to him, gripping the lapels of his half-opened shirt. She looked adorably and more desirable than ever, with her wet hair, in his shirt and in his rolled up pants! Chloe took his jaw into her hands endearingly, carefully, moving his face to look at her. Her blue eyes bored into his. She smiled. “Never think that you are not loved, my sweet devil. Or that we, that I, would run from you, now that we know the truth. Please. Promise me you won’t?”
He felt himself drown in her blue eyes. “If you say so, detective...” he breathed. Then Lucifer took her hand into his and kissed her palm in a shy gesture before he let her go. “I promise it, if you desire it...?”, he whispered. Chloe’s eyes widened. She could not help but smile at him.
Then she turned to her ex-husband and daughter. “Time to get going, to get Trixie into her own bed for recovery, Dan”. “I’m ready when you are, Chlo!” he confirmed. Dan stood up, the sleeping girl tugged against his chest. The three of them stood at the elevator doors when Trixie stirred and started mumbling in her sleep. “...knew you had wings, Lucifer...dreamt it, always...” her murmuring voice trailed off. “She’s drawn you with wings so often I can’t count”, Chloe admitted, “she always insisted on that detail and no one could convince her otherwise”. Chloe smiled. Now Lucifer’s eyes went wide.
Lucifer stared at the closed doors. Hope expanded in his chest like a colourful balloon. Everything was new, was different, needed discussion and adjustment... but tomorrow! Lucifer cached his own reflection in the mirror and frowned. Hair all curly, dirty, bruised and bloody! Damn, he was a mess! How could they have liked him? He would have to burn those clothes and he would have to spend eons in his Jacuzzi to get his hair and feathers cleaned! Then, Chloe’s voice swam to the back of his mind, “Never think that you are not loved...”. Maybe he did not need to be perfect all the time...? An entirely new thought that he needed to explore. But first, he needed a bath for sure!
Amenadiel and Linda prepared for leaving. Linda chuckled. “You know what, boys...?” she smiled fondly at the two brothers, “I’m SOOOO damn glad that I’m not the only celestial insider any longer!” With a warm smile, Linda left, with Amenadiel following suit on her heels.
As Lucifer lay in his large bath tube, soaking his bloodied wings in the hot water, he could not stop dreaming. About a new, different and brighter future. With the detective. Somehow. And musing. About what it all meant. That Cain had been spared another Hell, after his earthly one, despite the monstrosity of his actions. Because of one special, miracle-born, forgiving girl and woman? Or did his Dad show his hand here, perhaps a new mood of his? Or was it both, combined?
The detective has had free will all along. Lucifer had come to realize that the hard way, when Chloe had decided against him. But his wings, the stupid wings that had grown back again and again, persistent little buggers, these wings had allowed him to save her. And the girl. Lucifer peered up at the now clear, starry sky. His own stars blinked at him, content. For the first time in eons, Lucifer did not feel the need to swear or oppose. He felt old and young, tired and curious. What would the future bring? At least a future that would still include the humans he had come to... love. He smiled at the starry sky and closed his eyes, sinking deeper into the hot water. His gut felt as if he had swallowed a little sun.