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Sunday dawned with a phone call at an indecent hour of the morning. Chloe groaned, almost sending it to voicemail, before she saw that it was Lucifer. He wouldn't call so early unless it was an emergency, which had her all the way awake and answering quicker than she would have thought possible.
"Detective!" he said, altogether too cheery for — she checked the clock — six on a Sunday morning. "I've had an idea."
"Oh no," she deadpanned, and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "This better be good or you're a dead man. It's six in the morning, Lucifer."
"Is it?" he asked. "I hadn't noticed."
Dead man.
"There's snow at my cabin in Tahoe," he was saying. "And I thought that perhaps we could spend the day-"
"That's a seven hour drive," she interrupted before he could get going, "and Trixie has school tomorrow."
"Ah, but it's only an hour and a half to Reno by air," he countered, "and then another hour to Tahoe. We-"
"There's no way I could afford two round trip tickets for today, are you kidding?" She ran a hand through her hair, tired again. It was embarrassing to have to admit to anyone that she couldn't afford something, but to have to admit it to a multimillionaire... Most of the time, Lucifer was just another guy to her. But sometimes... sometimes she was reminded how different his world was from hers.
"Well of course I'd pay, Detective," he said, sounding affronted. "I wouldn't invite you on a short holiday and make you pay for it."
"Oh, Lucifer, I don't know..."
"It will be fun. Let me do this for you," he said, adding a quiet, "please," at the end.
She bit her lip, indecisive. On the one hand, it felt like a handout. This wasn't a vacation she would be able to take without saving for a while on her salary or someone else paying for it. On the other hand, this was Lucifer. He probably had more money than he knew what to do with and sounded like he genuinely wanted to do this. To go to Tahoe with her and Trixie. She was pretty sure he understood that it would mean spending the day being dragged around by Trix, but...
"You know Trixie's going to want to spend all day outside if there's snow, right?" she settled on.
She could hear the triumphant smile in his voice as he said, "I would expect nothing less."
"Okay," she said, breathing out a puff of air. "Can I go back to sleep yet? Or are we leaving soon?"
"I thought, perhaps," he said, slow and unsure. "I could pick you up around 8?"
She groaned and flopped back on the bed, ignoring his quick reassurances that of course it was okay if they left later. Leaving at 8 meant she had to get up now, and she never could sleep on planes. So much for getting another couple hours of sleep.
"It's okay," she said over him. "Eight sounds good. I'll see you then."
It took a full hour to dig out the winter clothes they had. The snowpants had been big on Trixie last year, so they should fit again this year, so should the coat...
By the time she got the carry-on packed, Trixie out of bed — all it really took was the mention of snow — and dressed, and herself showered and dressed, it was 8:05 and Lucifer had been standing in her living room for almost ten minutes. She had heard him come in and left him to "entertain" Trixie while she finished getting ready, touching up the last of her makeup and pulling her hair back. She checked herself in the mirror one last time before hurrying out.
He was holding a picture that had been on an end table, and Trixie was talking excitedly about the summer trip to Disneyland they had taken. She really hoped it wasn't the picture where she was sunburnt and a sweaty mess from spending the day letting Trixie drag her around the park.
Of course it was.
Lucifer was looking at it with his eyes shining — she couldn't tell if it was from mirth or something else — and when he looked over at her, the smile on his face was a quiet thing, and just for her. She helplessly smiled back at him even as she felt herself turning pink in embarrassment.
"Alright guys," she said briskly, trying to cover her unfortunate feelings. "Ready?"
There weren't words for how much Trixie loved Lucifer's car. Even though it was chilly out, she kept yelling for him to go faster, and he kept obliging until Chloe would threaten to pull him over for speeding. Trixie found it hilarious, and he would slow to the speed limit only to be whipping down the highway ten minutes later while Trixie shrieked in delight in the back. Chloe couldn't keep herself from smiling even if she wanted to.
Moments like these... Sometimes it felt like she would never be able to get enough.
Lucifer charmed his way — and their way — through the security check in no time, and grumbled about the ridiculousness of "your security theater" as they waited to board. Then they were on the plane, in first class no less, and on their way to Reno.
Trixie was practically vibrating with excitement by the time they reached the rental car in Reno. Chloe set her up with a coloring book in the back seat. It was a much more sensible car than his corvette, and she wondered if it was because of them. If he would have a much flashier car — something more to his style — if he didn't have a child in the backseat. She wasn't sure if that made her happy because he was thinking of them or uncomfortable to be cramping his style.
She settled on happy. They weren't really cramping his style any more than they did just by being around him. It wasn't something to worry about unless she wanted to drive herself crazy.
She napped on the way to Tahoe, trusting Trixie and Lucifer not to be able to get into too much trouble in a car. When she woke it was slow and to Lucifer's voice from where he was crouching in front of her open door.
"Detective, Chloe, wake up darling, we're here." He reached out, hesitating only for the briefest of moments before gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. His fingertips traced the line of her jaw as he withdrew, making her shiver. Goosebumps ran up her arms at his soft touch and he rocked forward just the tiniest bit, a smile on his face.
She wanted to kiss that smile off his face.
Instead she pushed herself up straight and he rocked back on his heels before straightening himself. She blinked sleep out of her eyes, checking the back for Trixie.
"She's already inside," Lucifer said. "I also brought the luggage in. Up you get."
He helped her out of the car, and she let her fingers tighten around his. When he glanced down at their hands, she let go with an embarrassed huff. Before she could say something and make a complete fool of herself, Trixie flung open the door to the cabin to holler at them to hurry up.
"You call this a cabin?" Chloe asked, her eyes wide as she distractedly yelled to Trixie, "We're coming!"
Lucifer looked slightly embarrassed, or maybe that was just the cold tinging his cheeks pink. In any case, when he said, "Ah, I know it's a bit small..." she could only gape.
"Lucifer, this is huge. There's got to be at least three bedrooms-"
"Four, actually," he said, his cheeks still pink. Definitely the cold, then.
She started for the door, squashing the urge to tell Trixie to stop letting the heat out. "Well it's lovely."
The cabin was partially set into the hill and looked picturesque in the soft blanket of white covering the world. It was surrounded by trees, their boughs weighed down with snow. If she pictured a Christmas card, this was the scene she saw on the front. When she glanced to the side, she gasped. They were overlooking the lake, which was a deep, peaceful blue. It was beautiful.
"Mom, come on." Trixie's yell drew her attention from the scenery and she hurried to the door.
"Stop letting the heat out," she said as she got close, Lucifer following along behind her.
They all bundled up against the cold, even Lucifer pulling out a heavy coat and boots to wear. Then they were back outside, Chloe immediately drafted into helping roll balls for a snowman. Lucifer only snickered a little, and only until Trixie demanded her come over and help get the body on the base.
"Well that's not very big," Lucifer said as he studied the base and the body. There were winding tracks all over the front yard where they'd been rolling balls, and footprints marring the white everywhere. There wasn't much more snow to collect in the open areas, but he looked prepared to give it a go anyway. "Surely we can do better."
He took a pair of gloves out of the pocket of his coat and pulled them on, then directed Trixie to help him roll the base even bigger. Chloe watched as they wound through the trees, well aware that Lucifer was the one doing all the work, a slight smile on her face. She could get used to this.
She could, but she wouldn't, because as much as she was in love with Lucifer... She treasured his friendship too much to make him run again by, heaven forbid, showing any interest in doing things like kissing that smirk he just threw at her off his face. Or having him lay her down in a bed and-
It was a good thing her cheeks were already red from the cold. She'd never hear the end of it if Lucifer caught her watching him and blushing like she was sure she was. There was a line somewhere, between what was okay for him — for them — to joke about, and what was too serious and would send him running. Frustratingly, it seemed like only he knew where that line was.
By the time they finished the snowman — Lucifer offering to run into town for carrots for a nose before she firmly put a stop to that idea — it was almost as tall as Lucifer. He'd had to lift Trixie up so she could put the head on, and they'd made do with pebbles and twigs for the face and arms.
"He needs a scarf," Trixie said with a pointed look at Lucifer, a look she must have picked up from Maze.
He looked indecisive, so Chloe unwrapped the scarf from around her neck and handed it to Trixie, wincing as a chill wind bit into her now-bare skin.
"Take mine," Lucifer said to her quietly, unwinding the deep red scarf from his neck and carefully wrapping it around hers, his face so close she could have kissed him if only she had the courage.
He hovered there for a moment, his breath warm against her, and she wondered what he was doing, if he was waiting for her to make some sign that it would be okay for him to kiss her. She licked her lips, her tongue darting out fast to wet them. When he pulled back — without kissing her — it was slow, his eyes bright with something she couldn't name.
"Let's make snow devils!" Trixie called, breaking the moment.
"What on earth is a snow devil?" Lucifer turned to ask.
When his attention was sufficiently distracted by Trixie's explanation and his exasperation at her insistence that snow devils had horns and a tail, Chloe bent down and gathered up enough snow for two small snowballs. When she was certain they were both deep into their argument — Lucifer losing spectacularly to Trixie's stubborn insistence — she lobbed one of the snowballs at Trixie's chest and hurled the other one to hit Lucifer in the back of the head.
Trixie shrieked with glee and immediately rant behind a tree and started making snowballs. Lucifer on the other hand, yelped and turned slowly, sending an utterly betrayed look Chloe's way. She just smiled at him, the picture of innocence.
"Did you just-" he said, and shivered, presumably from the snow that must have fallen down the back of his coat.
"What're you gonna do about it?" she asked, her smile sliding to something more... well. Something more devilish.
He opened his mouth, about to reply, when he jerked forward then whipped around. Trixie must have hit him in the back with two well-packed snowballs. She threw hard for a kid, and Chloe was delighted to not be the target of her snowballs like she was when Dan was with them.
In fact...
Before Lucifer could say anything to Trixie, Chloe had another snowball made and threw it at him, catching him in the middle of the back. He froze, and then darted to the side, out of the way of Trixie's volley.
"Get him!" Chloe shouted, her words echoed by Trixie's laughter.
Lucifer gave as well as he got, his cheeks reddened by the cold and his laughter just as breathless as theirs as they ran around. The snowball fight didn't end until she and Trixie both tackled him, knocking him over with a yelp, and stuffed snow down the back of his coat.
"Mercy!" he yelled. "Mercy! I give in!"
Chloe and Trixie both rolled off of him in opposite directions, laughing and landing in the snow on their backs. When Chloe turned her head, he was watching her, his eyes bright and his face split by a scowl that quickly slid into a smile when he couldn't keep it up.
"I think," she said as Lucifer pushed himself up and then reached out a hand to her, "that it's time to go in and get warm."
As he pulled her up she overbalanced and nearly fell forward, catching herself with her hands on his chest and her face... His face was right there and all she needed to do was tilt hers up and she could...
She knew it was a bad idea, knew she shouldn't do it, but he was right there and he was looking at her with such softness in his eyes and she wanted to taste his smile so much. She pushed herself up a little onto her toes and pressed her lips against his. They were soft, so soft, and colder than she remembered. He froze for an instant before his arms came around her and he was kissing back, pressing tender touches to her lips.
When she darted her tongue out — just to taste — he opened his mouth for her and she was able to sink into the heat of him. He made a tiny noise in the back of his throat when she did, a noise she echoed as his tongue brushed over hers. His hands clenched in the back of her coat.
She let herself enjoy him for a minute, and then backed off, gentling the kiss until it was just a soft touch of lips, and then sinking down onto her heels, a smile she couldn't stop spreading across her face as she drowned in his eyes. It wasn't until a shiver wracked him that she realized how cold they were, and how cold Trixie must be.
She took a step back, looking around to find Trixie making snow angels — devils — a few yards away.
"Ready to go in, Trix?" she called, and Trixie sprang to her feet. When Chloe turned back to Lucifer, his smile had turned brittle, and she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She pulled off her gloves and reached out to him, touching her cold fingers to his even colder cheek. "Ready to go in?" she asked, much more quietly.
He nodded against her hand. "I'll just be a minute," he said, turning from her.
She bit her lip and watched him move away a few feet, before turning and following Trixie up onto the porch. It was a good ten minutes before he followed them inside; she really hoped she hadn't made a mistake.
THE END