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Angels require sleep, not nearly as much as a human, but without a minimum of three to four hours madness can claim the mind. Lucifer had been toeing that line for two days. He can't sleep right now because Chloe needs him. If he sleeps then he might miss a key detail that could halt their ability to find Trixie. Then he'd be failing Chloe and Trixie and that's something he simply can't have.
Trixie needs him. She could be anywhere right now but she's praying to him. There's a nine-year-old, in grave danger, praying to the most hated being in existents. It hasn't happened in so long, someone meaningfully praying to him, that the hair on his body stands on end and his heart beats hard and fast. It makes him light headed but he wouldn't wish the feeling away for anything because as long as he feels it she's still alive. For that, he's willing to suffer ten-fold.
"You look..." Chloe gently touches his face, invading his space as she does so naturally. Her thumb brushes the scruff on his cheek and he knows that she's going to say shit but he smiles anyway. She sees the unnerved energy in his eyes, the dark circles and tremble in his hands and she wishes that at least he could be saved from this panic of losing Trixie. Yet, she also knows that Lucifer loves Trixie as his own. She loves him for that.
"As charming and handsome as ever?" He can't hold the smile that he forces on his lips and pulls Chloe to his chest, hiding the tears blurring his vision from her. She needn't worry about him too. They need to find Trixie and he needs to stop acting a fool.
Chloe grips his shirt tight in her hands, holding him to her as much as he to her. She rubs her eyes and buries her head in his shoulder," promise me we're going to get her back?" It's not fair to put that kind of pressure on him, not when she knows what he's going through too but she just needs the comfort. She needs to know that the rebel that was kicked out of heaven is still the man she's hugging. That he'll kill to get her daughter.
His voice comes out in a rumble, far back in his throat," if it's the last thing I do, my dear, I will bring her home."
All too soon she comes to understand the extent that he means that. He stands beside her when the officers raid a compound that they've narrowed the city to. She has to be in there or they have to start at ground zero again. She looks up at him, eyes tracing his sharp jaw until she's looking into his eyes. She reaches out to take his hand, to direct his frantic attention to her so that she can ask when the last time he slept was but he takes off. That's when she hears the shot's ringing out.
"Lucifer!" His name tears from her throat and she doesn't think twice about going after him. Hands reach out for her arms, trying to stop her because she doesn't have a gun or a vest. She can hear Dan's voice, the sound of his boots on the hard ground, and the loud, frantic shouts that ring out as he calls for Chloe and Lucifer.
When she reaches the door, Lucifer's gone and the SWAT agents are yelling and handcuffing numerous men on the floor. She tries to keep a cool head, thinking through the situation like a detective instead of a frantic wife and mother. Her eyes scan the yard and there isn't a thing that strikes her to think that Lucifer or Trixie would be there.
Then three shots echo out followed by a scream.
Chloe knows who it belongs to. She's heard her own child scream but only in delight. Usually, when her tiny body is being lifted up or thrown around by her father or by Lucifer. It's always followed by delighted giggles and cries for "More!" This scream is not filled with delight. It's horror.
Chloe runs towards the scream. She touches her hip where her gun should be when she finds it's missing she just keeps going. No one gets to just hurt her family. Only, when she finds them they don't need her. Lucifer is swaying, holding Trixie to his body with both of his long arms.
He sees her and frowns deeply," she was afraid, Chloe. I couldn't..." She moves quickly to his side, nearly missing him as he collapses on his right knee. Trixie grips his shirt tight in her fist and buries her face in his neck. He lets out a shaky breath," you have to understand, Chloe. I prom-I promised." He moves to the right again, no longer able to hold himself up.
They become simple limbs fighting one another to untangle as Chloe pulls Trixie to herself. Her daughter sobs, reaching and crying for Lucifer and Chloe understands why. Crimson time is spreading across Lucifer's chest, on the right side of his white dress shirt. It bleeds and oozes and counts out before them the time that they waste. His eyes dim with each passing moment, every agonizing second that Chloe can't soothe Trixie. He so desperately wishes to hold them both but fails to call out to them.
"No, no," Chloe leans over his body, holding his face in her small hands. His hair curls around her fingers, holding her when the rest of his body fails. "Stay with me, Lucifer."
"Detective," he mumbles," t-take the urchin. Leave." He tries desperately to cry out to his father, fear, and pain clouding his mind as he sucks in each rattled breath. "I-I'm sorry." He tries to cough but his airway is obstructed by the blood pooling. It rolls down the corner of his mouth, taunting them all. "I'm so very sorry."
Her father's death had been hard. She was just a kid when he died, still certain that she was invincible and by default him too. He was her hero and heroes don't die. Not in the movies, that is. But this, what she feels eating her alive as the medics tear her away from Lucifer is nothing like her father's death. It's not to say his death hurt more but it hurts differently.
Her father was supposed to be there for Trixie's birth, to see her get married, and to spend his retirement out on the front porch drinking tea and lemonade. He was supposed to see her grow-up. His life got cut short but he was always supposed to die before her. It's the natural order of the world.
Lucifer isn't supposed to die. He's supposed to be the ruler of Hell. He's Spitfire and brimstone. Not the man who surprises her with dinner dates and takes her kid out to see all of the new Disney movies in sold-out theaters. He's not supposed to die and it looks like, once again, God is going to screw her over.
"He suffered three GSWs to the chest." The doctor looks down at her clipboard and back at them," he doesn't have a power of attorney established and no relatives down either. Who is next of kin?" She looks moody, angry even but at the fact that Lucifer doesn't have anyone listed. If anything she seems angry with what is written on the chart.
Chloe stands, gripping Dan's hand tight in her own," I-I'm his wife."
The doctor looks down her nose, through her thick glasses at Chloe. She shrugs," alright, I'll need to talk to you in priv-"
"No!" Chloe puts a hand over her mouth," sorry. No, we're all family here. Y-You can tell them too."
The doctor nods," alright. He's out of surgery but he's not out of the woods, by far." She flips a paper over the clipboard," he suffered a collapsed lung during transport because of several broken ribs, seven to be exact. We expanded the lung in the ER and braced the ribs but his breathing has not improved, I'll need written consent to be able to place him on the ventilator to improve oxygen supply."
Chloe nods her head.
"The bullets did extensive damage to his left kidney and spleen." She flips another page," we removed his spleen and repaired his kidney. Unfortunately, he's spiked a fever and that's further compromising his ability to breath. While we have placed him on a strong course of antibiotics we need consent to place him on the vent, as I stated previously." The doctor flips all of the pages back to the front and looks over them. She pushes her glasses back up her nose and clears her throat," there's a nurse in ICU drawing up paperwork. I can take you back there if you wish to give consent."
Chloe crosses her left arm across herself and touches her neck with the right. She nods," o-okay. Can I see him?"
The doctor is about to say 'no'. It's evident in everything from her body language to the glasses slipping back down her face. Something changes, she looks over the crowd of people and she nods her head. "Yes but just you and for only a moment. I can't stress to you how important it is that he rests."
Chloe agrees but knows her husband well enough to know that even the brink of death will not allow him to rest. True to her thoughts, when the doctor opens the door Lucifer is watching them. His dark eyes are hidden behind an oxygen mask and whatever he opens his mouth to say is lost in the wheeze and push of the machine.
"Be brief."
Chloe understands this to mean that she has whatever time it takes to collect that paperwork. So she moves to her husband's side and cards her fingers through his hair," Hello, darling." He smiles at the nickname and it almost makes his wheezing breathes something she can ignore. She presses a kiss to his head and he lifts his hand as high as he can. His fingers find the material of her shirt and he holds it, keeping her close to him.
"C'loe?" His voice is lost under the mask but she sees his lips forming her name. She doesn't risk lifting the mask but she lowers her head to his and rests it against his forehead. She runs a hand up to his chest, rubbing soft circles. Her response is soft," what is it, darling?"
He looks up at her with large eyes and manages to move his hand from her shirt to the one on his chest. He holds it tight and swallows thickly," Be'trice? T-The child?" He searches her eyes for his answer, deep-seated fear in his own for what she may see. The heart monitor reflects this.
She shushes him gently, placing a kiss on his jaw. "Hey, she's alright. You saved her, Lucifer. Not a hair out of place." She glances at the machines and red numbers blink back at her. "You're the one we're all worried about."
He moves his head to lean against hers," n-no need."
The door opens and Chloe takes this as her cue to leave. She removes herself from Lucifer, gently placing his hand back on his chest. She presses a chaste kiss to his forehead," I will be back, love. As long as you'll have me."
Feebly, Lucifer smiles back at her. The corners of his smile are covered but she knows his smile to be as mischievous as it always is. He needn't reply, she already knows her answer. Since the very first time he'd said that very line to her, their first date which was interrupted hastily by Trixie getting sick at home, it had been their thing. Then, when she'd invited him to her house for another date when he'd agreed 'as long as you'll have me'. She'd kissed his scruffy cheek and promised-
"Always, my love."