Chapter Text
She was running, the wind from the rooftop battering her face as she kicked in the door to the emergency stairwell. She barely registered the steps beneath her, mind too busy hoping – praying – that she wasn’t too late. The façade around her evolved into the stark white and columned art-deco lobby she had been in just moments before, and turning the corner she tried to process the scene in front of her.
Lucifer was kneeling over a body, the neatly polished marble floors strewn with – bloodied feathers?
He stood and turned to face her, and she felt her heart begin to race. The thing standing in front of her was not her partner – its skin a charred and twisted mockery of human form, eyes blazing with an otherworldly fire.
And then it spoke – “Detective?”
Chloe awoke with a start, blanket pulled tightly to her heaving chest as she frantically scanned the corners of the room for the presence from her dreams. Glancing at the clock, she registered the red glow of the numbers: 2:07am. With a sigh, she wiped the sweat away from her forehead and readjusted the pillows from where they had been subject to her unrestful sleep, before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and quietly padding into the living room. A look into Trixie’s room revealed that she was still sound asleep, and Chloe shut the door carefully before getting a glass of water from the kitchen. Taking a seat on the couch, she flipped on the TV and settled in with a blanket.
It wasn’t the first time she’d been woken from this particular nightmare – in fact, it had been reoccurring for weeks since… Since you found out your partner is the literal, biblical Devil, her brain unhelpfully supplied. She’d been working with Linda to try and keep her head above water after the full world-tilt that had occurred, and while it was mostly damage control to this point, every little bit helped – though she’d also discovered along the way that there were some things she wasn’t able to control. For example, there wasn’t much use in trying to sleep after having that nightmare: instead, she would settle for however many hours she could get, and reality television to fill the space before sunrise. It was in moments like this she was thankful for the quick close on her latest case – it meant that none of the other uniforms would judge her on the bags under her eyes and bad habit of draining the coffee pot before noon, as long as she was making the arrests. She flicked through the channels, trying to ignore the faint tremble lingering in her hands and the flash image of those glowing eyes watching from the corner of the room.
Her phone rang, entirely too shrill and loud for her liking, at exactly 5:45 the next morning. Resisting the urge to throw it across the room, Chloe peered bleary-eyed at the caller ID. With a groan, she pressed the answer button.
“Hey, Mom.”
“I had the strangest thought,” Penelope Decker replied. “After my last two calls went to voicemail, I started to convince myself that maybe you’d lost my number.”
Her mother’s intuition was as sharp as ever. She had been avoiding those calls, but the “busy with work” excuse only worked so many times before a real conversation became inevitable. “I’ve been stacked up with cases the past few weeks,” she backpedaled. “A bunch of the other detectives are taking time off for the holidays and I don’t mind getting in a little extra work.”
“Funny enough, that’s exactly what I was calling to ask about. Have you decided on whether you’ll be coming up to the cabin for Christmas this year? I was planning on flying back from Boston next week so it doesn’t sit unattended for another season, but if you’ll be there I can extend my convention circuit another few days – just until the new year, of course.”
Chloe sighed. Her mother always tried to get her to make the trip up to their vacation cabin for Christmas, but she hadn’t found the time since Trixie was born. With her and Dan both working plenty of hours at the precinct and her daughter’s school and social life taking up most of the extra time, she hadn’t had a few days for herself in a while.
“Trixie would love the snow, I’ll bet. You could bring Dan and your friends from work too! And that partner of yours…” her mother trailed off.
She frowned. The woman did have a point – they could probably all use a getaway from police life for a while, and Chloe did have a few days off she had to use before the new year. The mention of her maybe-former-something partner seemed to be the only (frankly massive) roadblock in the plan. “I know Trixie and Dan would be in for it, but let me talk to everyone else at work and get back to you later.” She glanced at the clock hanging on the kitchen wall. “It’s what… two hours ahead there? I should know by this afternoon, if that’s okay?”
“Of course, sweetie. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Bye, Mom.” She waited for the click on the end of the line and dropped her face into her hands with a muffled groan. You’re really considering this, aren’t you, Decker? Heading into the kitchen, she ladled a scoop of ground beans into the top of the coffee maker and set it to work – this was going to be a long day.
Chloe shrugged off her coat, laying it over the back of her desk chair, as she briefly registered the faint sound of Christmas music coming from somewhere in the precinct. With a look at her watch, she made the executive decision that it was far too early for anyone except Ella Lopez to be the source of the holiday cheer. Her suspicions were only confirmed when the volume of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” increased the closer she got to the forensic lab.
Swinging open the door, she couldn’t hold back a smile at the scene that greeted her: Ella’s neatly-tied bun had lost its grip, depositing a few strands of hair across her forehead that swung wildly as her gloved hands emphatically played the air drums in time to the music. “Hey, Ella,” she laughed.
“Hey, Chlo!” she grinned. “I don’t know about you, but that song always puts me in the best mood this time of year. You’re just in time, actually.” She clicked open her pen and jotted down a few notes on a case file before closing the folder and sliding it across the countertop for Chloe to look at. Thumbing through the report, it wasn’t hard to tell that Ella had definitively matched their suspect.
“I swear, criminals these days don’t seem to know that we can totally pull DNA from anything they leave behind at a crime scene," she groaned in mock exasperation. "But leaving your shoe in the alley directly behind where you robbed a convenience store seems to be a whole new level of stupid.” She tossed her disposable gloves in the waste bin and leaned against the storage cabinet. “But I’m sure you didn’t come in here this early to hear all about my latest brilliant solve,” she deadpanned. “What’s up?”
Chloe closed the folder with a sigh. “My mom wants a bunch of us – you and Linda, Dan, Trixie – to come up to her winter cabin for Christmas.”
Ella practically jumped for joy. “You don’t need to ask twice, I’m in. That’s so cool!” Noticing the detective’s demeanor, she quirked an eyebrow. “Or… maybe, not cool?”
“I mean, it sounds like fun and it’d be a nice getaway. But she wants me to bring Lucifer too, and we haven’t exactly been on level ground since…” She hadn’t told Ella the whole story about what had happened with Marcus, but her friend did know enough to understand that something had shifted between the two partners.
“That makes more sense,” she nodded. “But listen, Chloe. It’s a few days away from work, and it’s low-key since other people will be there. Plus,” she gave her arm a playful punch, “you know I’ve always got your back. And Christmas brings everyone together!”
Chloe scratched her head. “You think so?”
“Totally.” She cracked a grin. “I’ll bring the egg nog?”
It was Ella’s excitement that finally did her in. “Okay then.” She was put off from any further explanation by a crushing hug.
“Yes! This is gonna be so much fun. My brother and I don’t really do anything for the holidays and our Christmas tree is usually made out of tires and used car parts so – “ she smiled. “You’re the best.”
The detective laughed. “Thanks, Ella. Listen, I’ll text you in a couple days with all the details. I’ve gotta go make sure I can get the days off from the Lieutenant.” She pushed open the door but paused for a moment. “I think we might need the strong egg nog, if you know what I mean.”
Ella winked. “Gotcha covered, dude.”
As she headed through the bullpen to the (interim) Lieutenant’s office, she couldn’t help but feel anxious at the thought of the next task on her list – figuring out just how in the hell she was going to invite Lucifer.