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Chapter Text

When the call came in Dan assumed the worst. Twelve witnesses claimed to have seen Trixie walking to a friend’s house after school. Ten claimed to have seen her get pulled into the back seat of an unmarked car. All ten witnesses had tried to save her and all ten witnesses had failed.

Dan’s stomach twisted when the evidence was laid out. Minus the witnesses, it reminded him too much like another kidnapping. He hoped, no he prayed, that Trixie wasn’t going to meet the same fate as April Tinsley had thirty years ago. Neither he nor Chloe would be able to live with themselves if their baby girl was found mutilated and violated in a ditch on the side of the road.

And as if the nightmare couldn’t get any worse, the LAPD had hit a dead end. Correction: the majority of the LAPD had hit a dead end, Chloe, on the other hand, was denying that they’d hit a dead end. 

Dan stole a glance at Chloe’s desk. It was covered with papers and frantic scribbles. Lucifer loomed just over her shoulder, and if Dan didn’t know better, he’d think that it was Lucifer’s kid that had been kidnapped. The man’s face was twisted into something that Dan had never seen before. His features were neutral, blank even, but his eyes burned with a fury that forced the precinct into a tense silence.

The wheeze of a printer made Dan jump. When he realized the noise belonged to Chloe’s desktop printer, he ran towards it. The message had printed by the time he got there. 

WE HAVE YOUR DAUGHTER. MAKE US A DEAL. 

Dan reread the message five times over. The second sentence didn’t make sense. Ransom notes usually included an exact amount of money, but this note read like a blank check. There was no amount, no location, and no indication that they shouldn’t contact law enforcement. 

Chloe didn’t seem to care how wrong the whole thing felt. She was already jabbing at her keyboard, trying to ping where the message had been sent from. Dan looked at Lucifer for an answer, but Lucifer wasn’t staring at the paper. He was staring at his phone. A shadow of disdain crossed over his face, and his frown deepened. If Dan’s heart wasn’t beating as fast as it was, maybe he would have commented on the sudden chill that swept through the precinct. 

“Excuse me, Detective, Daniel,” he muttered, hardly concealing his anger. Then he began to walk off towards the stairs.

Dan’s head whipped towards Ella’s office, where he knew she’d been spying on them for the past few minutes. He caught her eye and jerked his head in Lucifer’s direction. She nodded and grabbed her purse off the table. They headed towards the parking garage.

“We’re going to get some fresh air, Chlo’.” 

Chloe didn’t respond.

“We can take my car,” Ella said when they got outside. 

Dan grunted his understanding and five minutes later they were racing down the Strip in a vintage Thunderbird. Despite his head start, Lucifer wasn’t hard to find. His Corvette weaved through traffic oblivious to pedestrians and road signs, leaving a trail of car horns and near-miss accidents in its wake. Ella maneuvered around the damage expertly and without complaint. 

Fifteen minutes later, Lucifer made a hard right and banked into a group of warehouses. By the time Dan and Ella caught up, they found the Corvette haphazardly parked with the key still in the ignition. 

“If I had to guess, I’d say Lucifer’s in there.” Ella gestured to an access door nearly ripped off its hinges. 

Dan unholstered his pistol. “And if I had to guess, I’d say the kidnappers are in there too.” 

They crept into the warehouse, Dan in front and Ella just behind him, gripping the bottom of his jacket. The few lights that hadn’t been busted out were flickering, almost as if there was a short in the wiring. Shafts of dusty sunlight filtered in through the shattered window panes and cut through the places where the flood lights didn’t shine. Shipping crates and wooden pallets lined the perimeter of the room, and as soon as they could, Dan and Ella ducked behind them for cover. 

They’d walked a few hundred feet when suddenly, Ella shoved him down to the dirt floor. “Get down.”

He went down soundlessly. Next to him, Ella was typing something out on her phone. When she was done, she turned it towards him.

I’m texting for backup it read. 

Dan moved to grab the phone and typed out a message of his own: make sure they know to stay quiet. We don’t want to spook them.

Ella nodded and took the phone back to start typing out her message. When she was done, Dan army crawled towards the voices. The voices got louder and more distinct until finally he could make out what they were saying.

“Look we ain’t the bad guys here. You want your daughter and we want what belongs to us, alright?” a voice said from the other side of the shipping containers.

“One, Beatrice isn’t my daughter. Two, I don’t know what you want, you haven’t told me.” 

Dan barely managed to stay quiet. That was Lucifer’s voice. 

“I thought Lucifer Morningstar didn’t lie.”

“I don’t. Tell me what you want, and I’ll arrange its arrival if and only if you let Beatrice go this instant.”

Dan flinched when he heard the sound of a fist hitting flesh. He crawled a few more feet and managed to find a gap in between containers that he could see what was going on. 

Lucifer sat handcuffed to a metal chair, surrounded by five hulking goons. Each man had a rifle strapped to their backs and handguns on their waistbands. A sixth guy stood parallel to them, holding a gun to Trixie’s head. Dan gulped and tried to keep his breathing under control. 

The man holding Trixie spoke, and Dan realized it was him that had been making demands earlier. “We know what you are, Satan.”

“Then you should know exactly the kind of torment you can expect to receive when your miserable excuses for souls cross the threshold.”

One of the five henchmen punched Lucifer in the gut. It was a shock when he barely even flinched. Then, the henchmen drew out a curved dagger that Dan could have sworn he’d seen before.

“This,” the leader explained, “can kill you, Devil. We have sources that tell us it was forged in Hell.”

Dan didn’t need to see his face to know that Lucifer was at least a little surprised. “And, pray tell, how did you come across this weapon?”

The leader jabbed the barrel of the gun into Trixie’s temple, causing her to whimper. “Your daughter’s backpack.”

“I’m sorry Lucifer, Maze gave me one for emergencies,” she said in a wobbly voice. 

The man slapped Trixie. “Quiet!” 

Dan’s blood boiled, and if the tension in Lucifer’s shoulders were anything to go by, so had his. 

A low, predatory growl rose up from Lucifer’s throat and Dan could have sworn the ground trembled from its intensity. “I’m afraid that was the wrong decision.”

The leader smiled crookedly and shot the henchmen holding Maze’s dagger a look. In one swift movement, the man rammed the blade into Lucifer’s thigh. The only sound Lucifer made was a soft hiss, as if all of the air was being sucked from his lungs. The henchmen slammed his open palm down next to the blade and only then did Lucifer scream in pain. The henchmen removed his hand from Lucifer’s thigh and turned it up so it caught the light. It was stained dark crimson.

The leader laughed in disbelief. “It looks like the big bad Devil isn’t so macho after all.” He shook Trixie’s shoulders. “I wonder if he’ll cry if we shoot his girl.”

In that moment, Dan didn’t even think. He fingers flicked off the safety and fired off a round. The next thing he knew, the leader was falling backwards, and Trixie was falling with him. The five henchmen drew their handguns. Dan barely registered Lucifer snapping the handcuff chain, but he was up and stumbling out of the chair with a cry of pain before he could blink. He watched in horror as Lucifer ripped the blade out of his thigh and began racing towards the group. 

Dan glanced back at Ella, and their eyes met in the darkness. An unspoken agreement sparked between them. Dan cocked his gun just as Ella let out a bloodcurdling scream. Lucifer and the henchmen whipped towards the scream and Dan took another shot. A henchman crumpled to the ground.

What happened next was something Dan couldn’t explain. For a brief second, everything came to a standstill and then it erupted into chaos. He lay in the dirt, dumbfounded. Two white wings, flared from Lucifer’s back. Dan watched as he lunged for the remaining henchmen, dagger in his right hand and his left balled into a fist. He looked every bit the avenging angel from the scripture and Dan couldn’t have been more terrified.

He swallowed his fear and flicked his safety back on before sliding the gun to Ella. Then he made a break for Trixie. Gunshots when off around him, but Dan didn’t stop. He saw Trixie rooted to the spot, shirt stained with her kidnapper’s blood, and ran faster. More screams rose up into the air, but none of them belonged to Ella. 

Dan didn’t stop running when he reached Trixie. He just leaned down, and scooped her up by the armpits and flung her over his shoulder and kept going. He didn’t stop moving until they were safely behind a shipping container on the opposite side of the building.

He set her down to look at her face. “Are you hurt, monkey?”

Trixie shook her head.

“Does your face hurt?” He touched the red hand print left over from where the leader had slapped her. She flinched away from his touch. 

Opened his arms, inviting her to hug him. “Come here.”

Trixie went and they stayed wrapped up in each other until the screams and gunshots were no more.

“You can come out now, Daniel, Ms. Lopez, they won’t be harming anyone now,” Lucifer’s voice cut through the silence.

Slowly, with Trixie still in his arms, Dan peered out from around the container. The scene that greeted them almost made him sick. Lucifer was coated in blood from head to wingtip. The dagger in his hand hung limply at his side and what looked to be bullet holes riddled his clothes. Loose, mangled feathers littered the floor and coated the stiff bodies of all six kidnappers. Across the room, Ella was making her way to the center of the room, eyes wide. 

Dan met Lucifer’s eyes, and was surprised to find that they were blazing red. 

Slowly, he got to his feet and crept towards Lucifer, the actual Devil. The closer he got to the bloodied man, the more obvious it became that Lucifer wasn’t in good shape. His breathing was labored and his wings were trembling feverishly.

“It’s alright, I won’t hurt you either.” Lucifer closed his eyes and sucked in a ragged breath. There was a sickening squelch and the crimson-stained white wings receded back into Lucifer’s body. The effort forced him to brace himself against his knees. After another breath, he righted himself and opened his eyes. They were brown.

“You’re not a method actor,” Ella said softly. 

Lucifer gave a heartless chuckle and shook his head. 

“But you saved Trixie,” Dan said, holding his daughter tighter.

“Beatrice is innocent. Even though she’s clearly not my spawn, a child should not pay for their father’s sins.”

For some reason, hearing Lucifer call Trixie spawn was relieving. He shifted Trixie to his hip so he could reach out and grip Lucifer’s shoulder. The man swayed under his grasp and when he matched Dan’s stare, his eyes were glassy. “Thank you,” he said fiercely. “You don’t know how much it means to me that you did that for her.”

Ella gave Lucifer a light pat on the arm. “Yeah buddy, that was pretty heroic of you to come in here alone. Super dumb, but I’ll give you credit for it anyways.”

Lucifer tried to flash one of his signature smiles, but all he could manage was a weak grin. “You’re not frightened?”

Dan squeezed his shoulder and gave it a small shake. “Dude you saved Trixie’s life, why would we be scared?”

Lucifer opened his mouth to respond, but just then half of the LAPD burst into the warehouse. Leading the pack was Chloe, gun drawn and eyes wild. When they fell on Dan with Trixie and then on Lucifer and then Ella, she let out a small cry of relief. She rushed towards them, holstering her gun as she went. 

“Are you alright, baby?” She cradled Trixie’s face with a trembling hand.

Trixie could barely lift her head off Dan’s shoulder. “Yeah,” she whispered tiredly. 

Chloe looked to Dan for confirmation. 

“She’s a little bruised and a little scared, but that’s it,” he told her. Chloe’s eyes swept over them once more before she turned to Lucifer, who was beginning to look paler and paler. Seemingly not caring about the blood, she wrapped him in a hug. His arms weakly went around her waist.

“Don’t do that ever again, you dumbass.” Chloe pulled away to look into his eyes. “Why didn’t you wait for backup? We would have helped. I just turned around and all three of you were gone and then I get this text from Ella demanding backup with an address. I thought you might have been dead or worse, Lucifer.” Lucifer just shrugged and Chloe pulled him to her again. “I’m so glad you’re safe.” She finally let go of him and turned towards Dan and Ella. “I’m so glad all of you are safe.”

Behind her, Lucifer was swaying. Dan was about to say something, but before he could, he watched as the Devil’s eyes rolled in the back of his head and he collapsed into a heap on the floor. Chloe and Ella sunk down to try and revive him.

“We need a medic over here!” Ella called to the group of officers looking at the six unconscious bodies of the kidnappers.

Dan watched as a paramedic rushed over and helped Chloe and Ella secure Lucifer onto a stretcher. He watched as Satan himself was whisked away towards the ambulance undoubtedly parked outside and thought to himself about how odd it was that he felt more at ease in LA than ever before.

Chapter Text

24 Hours Prior

At 3:30pm, Monday through Friday, Jake Lewis took a break from being a mid-tier drug smuggler to pick up his daughter, Janie, from school. Usually Jake arrived at the front of the school ten minutes before the last bell rang to get decent street parking, and today was no exception. He parked his 2001 Impala in the same space he’d been using for the past four years and killed the engine. Like normal, he got out and leaned against the driver’s side door to wait for Janie. 

He’d been scrolling through the details of his next delivery when a Corvette he’d never seen before roared down the street. The driver, a dark-haired man in a suit, parked two spaces down from Jake. When he got out and lit a cigarette, Jake blinked in surprise. While he’d never seen the car, he’d certainly seen its driver before. Or rather, he’d seen him in pictures.

The driver of the ‘62 Corvette was none other than Lucifer Morningstar, Lord of LA’s Underworld. Sure, Jake had never met the guy, but he didn’t need to to know that Lucifer was as dangerous as he was powerful. Lucifer had fingers in all sorts of pies, but unlike the infamous Sinnerman, everyone knew that the Devil acted on his threats. 

When most people say they’re scared of Lucifer Morningstar, they mean they’re scared of his deals. Whether that means breaking a mutual deal or having Lucifer cash in on his end of one, the majority of criminals knew that trying to cheat him was a death wish. After all, as he’d mentioned before, Lucifer always meant what he said. And if that meant torturing a guy stupid enough to double cross him or hunting down someone trying to evade their end of a deal, so be it. 

However, for Jake, Lucifer’s deals weren’t what made him so scary. No, to Jake the scariest thing about the man was that he wasn’t really a man at all--or so the whispers told him. No matter who it was, anyone who’d ever met Lucifer Morningstar claimed that he lived up to his name in more ways than one. Morningstar, according to some, has walked away from hailstorms of bullets, has never OD’d on the ungodly amount of drugs he’s taken, and has drank an entire wine cellar by himself. Oh, and there was the whole thing that Lucifer himself claimed to be the actual Devil. 

“Admiring the view?”

Jake jumped. Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil himself, was gazing expectantly at him. Not only that, but Lucifer Morningstar, the Lord of the LA Underworld, was talking to him. Shit, if he wasn’t certain he was going to die before, he was now.

“Uh no, sorry. I was just thinking.” Lucifer arched an eyebrow, almost as if to say really, are you sure?   “But yeah, your car is really nice dude.” Jake tacked on hurriedly. 

Lucifer preened at the complement and took another drag of his cigarette. “It is, isn’t it? Although I can’t say the same for yours.” He gestured toward Jake’s dented bumper and busted passenger window with the hand holding the cigarette. 

If Jake wasn’t so terrified, he might have thought the guy was being a douche. Instead, he shrugged. “Yeah, car repairs ain’t cheap, you know. I’m having a hard enough time paying for rent and my daughter's classes as it is.”

Jake didn’t know why that second part had come out, he hated to advertise his financial situation, especially to part-time crime bosses who probably didn’t give a shit about low-levels like him. That mindset made what Lucifer said next all the more surprising. 

“Yes, schooling has gotten quite pricey hasn’t it?” He rolled his eyes. “These establishments don’t even teach anything useful. I mean what self-respecting music teacher believes that recorders are a worthy starter instrument? Children are annoying as they are, they don’t need squeaking plastic monstrosities to aid their cause.”

Jake nodded and tried to ignore the fact that LA’s infamous resident Devil was complaining about elementary school music education. “Yeah I remember when Janie came home with hers. I shit you not, I thought someone had gotten run over by a truck when I first heard her play it.”

Lucifer scoffed around his cigarette. “Recorders,” he exhaled more smoke, “are a popular trope in Hell.”

Before Jake could ask why Lucifer Morningstar was waiting outside of a school in the first place, someone squealed. 

“Lucifer!”

Jake turned towards the sound to see a little girl with dark hair and a pink backpack running towards the Devil. She crashed into him with a force that made Jake wince, but Morningstar seemed entirely unaffected. The little girl wrapped her arms around his waist, and hugged him tight. 

Lucifer dropped the remainder of his cigarette onto the pavement. “Hello, Beatrice.”

Beatrice grinned excitedly. “I didn’t know you were picking me up today.”

Lucifer patted her head awkwardly, as if her excitement was overwhelming him. “Yes, well, I didn’t either, urchin. Your mother’s paperwork is running longer than usual, so I’ve been dispatched to collect you and bring you home.”

All of a sudden, Lucifer Morningstar’s presence made a whole lot more sense to Jake. Beatrice was a spitting image of the guy. She had the same dark hair and the same big, dark eyes. Her facial structure didn’t exactly match his, but Jake assumed that those features more closely resembled the girl’s mother. Plus, why would Lucifer be picking the kid up and letting her hang off of him like that if she wasn’t his daughter? 

“Can we get ice cream on the way home?” Beatrice asked in a stage whisper.

Lucifer adjusted his cufflinks. “I think we can arrange a deal if you agree to sit still and complete the homework your mother has requested I help you with.”

Oh god, Jake thought, the guy even made deals with his daughter. If only the rest of LA knew just how seriously Lucifer took making deals.

“Deal!” 

Beatrice let go of Lucifer and jumped in the Corvette. Lucifer made sure she didn’t step on and dirty the upholstery before turning back to Jake.

“Cheers, mate. Come by Lux and make a deal with me if you find yourself in more financial distress.”

Jake only nodded and watched as Lucifer Morningstar and his secret daughter drove off in search of ice cream. When his attention returned to the school, he saw his own daughter coming down the steps. Janie smiled when she saw him. Jake smiled back and waved, thinking more about Lucifer’s offer than ever before. 

When Jake got back to work two hours later, he was still thinking about Lucifer and the daughter he and the rest of LA didn’t know existed.

“Jake bud, what are you doin’?”

Jake blinked. “What?”

His smuggler partner, Carlo, snorted. “You’ve been out of it for like three minutes. I’ve been trying to go over shit for the next run and you haven’t said a word.”

“Sorry.” Jake shook his head. “I’ve just been thinking about when I picked Janie up for school earlier.”

Carlo grunted in response. Kids were always a touchy subject around him. After getting busted on a homicide charge the previous year, CPS had scooped up Carlo’s kids and sent them packing to their mom’s house. Carlo hated his ex-wife almost as much as he hated the cops that had arrested him. 

“While I was waiting for her to come out, Lucifer fucking Morningstar pulled up next to me.” 

That got Carlo’s attention. “What’d he want?”

Jake blew a raspberry. “Nothing. He was picking up his dau--” He cut himself off when he saw a sadistic look cross over Carlo’s features. Fucking shit. He shouldn’t have said that. He really, really shouldn’t have said that. Lucifer and that detective of his had been the one to hunt down and put Carlo behind bars.

“Do you just say that Lucifer Morningstar has a kid?”

Jake backpedaled. “No, no. I mean I don’t know if it was his kid. It was just a kid. Honestly it could have been that chick detective’s kid.”

Carlo rolled his eyes. “Yeah sure.”

Jake grabbed Carlo’s arm. “Carlo, I swear to god whatever you’re thinking, promise me that’s all it’s gonna be. You’d be a dead son of a bitch if you do what I think you’re gonna do. Morningstar will destroy you and your career. Nobody wants to smuggle with a dumbass on the Devil’s hitlist.”

Carlo smiled at Jake’s words and patted his hand. “Don’t you worry, Jake-y. Let a man have his fantasies. If I can’t kill that bitch detective or Morningstar, the least I can do is dream about it.”

Jake gulped and removed his hand. “Good to know, man.”

Tomorrow after he picked Janie up, Jake was going to take Lucifer up on his offer. Not only for the money, but to warn him about Carlo. It was the least Jake could do for him.

Chapter Text

2 Hours Later

It was late when Dan arrived at the hospital. The aftermath of Trixie’s kidnapping had been a whirlwind of flashing lights crowned with halos and anxiety. The Lieutenant had sent him and Chloe home without a word, and neither one of them was willing to look a gift horse in the mouth. Dan had ridden in the backseat with Trixie while Chloe drove them back to her apartment. It had been a silent ride, and by the time they’d made it back home, Trixie was asleep. They’d put her to bed together, and it had felt so domestic and natural that it had been almost as if the past few years had never happened. But the feeling hadn’t lasted. 

“Can you please go check on Lucifer tonight?” Chloe had asked, her voice just above a whisper.

Dan didn’t know why he’d agreed to do it. He could have just told Chloe to do it herself while he stayed home with Trixie, but the thought never crossed his mind. He’d just gotten into his car and began to drive. 

Dan had never liked Lucifer to begin with, and he especially wasn’t sure how to feel about him now. He’d told Lucifer back at the warehouse that he wasn’t afraid of him, and Dan supposed there was some truth in that, but he was still human. And in the deepest and most primitive spaces of his mind, Dan cowered in fear over what he’d witnessed. 

As Lucifer was being packed into the ambulance, Dan had felt the hazy tendrils of shock creep over his senses. He’d fallen into its numbness willingly and almost with a hunger. The less he felt, the easier it had been to pack everything he’d seen and everything he’d done in the past few hours away into a neat little box in the back of his mind. For a few blissful hours, Dan didn’t think about Lucifer or the men that had almost stolen away his little girl. But now those hours were coming to an end.

A ringing had set into his ears and Dan could feel a headache coming on, but he pushed through it. He owed Chloe whatever piece of mind he could get her, and if that meant doing a wellness check on the Devil himself at eight at night, so be it.

Dan flashed his badge at the front desk and got directions to Lucifer’s room a little too easily. His suspicions were only confirmed when he saw that he wasn’t Lucifer’s only visitor. Standing next to Lucifer’s hospital bed was a man with heavily visible under-eye bags and tattered blue jeans. He was gesturing animatedly at Lucifer with one tattooed hand and running the other through his cropped blond hair. Dan couldn’t tell if it was drugs or fear that made the man so fidgety. He shifted from toe to toe, still gesturing as if trying to explain some convoluted story, while Lucifer just stared at him silently, mouth set in an unreadable line. 

If anything, the man looked more suited for the hospital bed than Lucifer. Lucifer looked...well. Dan didn’t know how else to describe it. He sat up in the bed as if it were a throne and regarded the man in front of him with a calculating eye. Occasionally, he tilted his head to one side and quirked up an eyebrow at whatever the man was saying. If Dan hadn’t witnessed the fight with the kidnappers himself, he would have thought that Lucifer was perfectly healthy.

Dan edged closer to the door to see if he could catch what the man was saying. Lucifer seemed to sense the movement because the moment Dan came within earshot of the conversation, the Devil’s eyes locked with his own. For a moment Lucifer stared at him with that unblinking predatory gaze that made Dan’s insides shrivel up and turn in on themselves. Then he turned back to the man by his bedside, seemingly uncaring that Dan was listening in on what was probably a private conversation.

“--But man, Mr. Morningstar sir, this whole thing was fucked up and I am so sorry,” the man said. “I’m done with that shit. This was the last straw; if someone ever tried to do that to Janie…” the man shook his head. “I’d kill ‘em.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Lucifer considered the man’s words. To his credit, the man didn’t flinch when Lucifer finally spoke.

“So what do you desire, Jake?”

“I want you to help me get out of this shit; I’ve been in it too long. I want to be a clean, regular guy.”

Lucifer nodded. “I think we can come to an agreement. Drop by Lux tomorrow evening and we’ll make the deal official, yes?” 

“Yes,” Jake confirmed. 

Lucifer stuck out his hand, and Jake shook it without hesitation. Dan grimaced when he realized that there was still blood underneath Lucifer’s fingernails. 

Without another word, Jake turned to take his leave. His eyes darted over Dan as he left, pausing for a split second on the police badge that was still clipped to his belt. Instead of bolting like most desperate people did when the police showed up, Jake only nodded and stalked past him. Dan watched him go. A nurse bustled past the man, and the draft she’d left in her wake whipped up his flannel and revealed a pistol lodged in his drooping waistband. 

“Daniel.”

Dan turned back towards Lucifer. He didn’t look like the Lucifer he’d seen when he’d arrived. His shoulders were hunched, not in pain or exhaustion, but as if he was trying to make himself appear smaller. There was a slight sheen of sweat and dirt dotting his hairline that gave his skin a feverish countenance and made his eyes look wild.

It was the eyes that made Dan shutter. Whatever they were, they certainly didn’t look human. Dan didn’t know how he’d let himself believe that Lucifer was anything except what he said he was. Looking at him now that he knew the truth, it was hard not to see the otherworldliness in his features. 

“Who was that?” Dan asked, moving to lean against the inside of the doorway.

Lucifer’s impossible eyes rolled. “No one of importance.”

Dan let the conversation drop into an uneven silence. On the drive over, he’d rehearsed so many things to say to the Devil, but now that he was standing in front of him, Dan’s mind was blank. 

“Did you come here to gawk, Daniel, or are you here for a different reason?” Lucifer said testily. 

“Chloe asked me to,” he said, as if that was enough of an explanation.

The non-answer seemed to appease Lucifer, and he slumped into the pillows at his back, eyes going distant. “Tell her I’m fine.” Dan didn’t speak as Lucifer’s eyes drifted shut. They stayed closed for a beat before opening again. “Why haven’t you left yet, Daniel? You’re not bound here, you can leave if you’d like.”

Dan only shrugged.

Lucifer’s spine straightened again as he focused his full attention on Dan. “Unless you have questions for me?” There was a hint of desperation in his voice.

“Yeah a couple,” Dan said.

Lucifer gave a ghost of a smirk, and for a moment Dan saw a flash of the monster he’d seen earlier that afternoon. “In that case, ask the Devil all of the questions you desire.”

Chapter Text

Three Weeks Later

They had a triple homicide and Lucifer was stuck on the steps of an elementary school. No, the murders hadn’t happened at the school, nor were any of their suspects associated with the school. Lucifer wasn’t here for business, he was here for Beatrice. 

Three weeks ago she’d been kidnapped by mid level drug pushers and Lucifer would be damned twice over if he let that happen again. Chloe had protested the first time he told her where he was going, but after about two days she’d stopped rolling her eyes and had started shooting him grateful smiles. He knew it was wrong, but Lucifer couldn’t help but feel guilty every time she gave him an appreciative peck before he left the precinct. It was his fault this happened in the first place. His reputation in the underground crime community caused Beatrice’s kidnapping. He’d punished those responsible, but a large part of him still felt obligated to tithe to stay in the Detective’s good graces.

But that wasn’t all. According to Jake, the cartel he and the miscreants had worked for had placed a hit on his head. They were originally from Detroit, and Lucifer assumed that they hadn’t quite learned that threatening the Devil wasn’t the best action to take. Not when he ran LA’s criminal underworld. The hit didn’t bother him, of course. They wouldn’t kill him, and Lucifer was willing to play the waiting game until they stepped over the line. However, what did bother him was that they’d already proven that they were willing to kidnap innocent children to get to him. And Lucifer would not stand for that.

So here he was, watching screeching children stream out of the school and waiting to see Beatrice’s smiling face among them. She appeared after a few moments, and when she saw him, she began running. 

“Lucifer!” she shouted and crashed against him in a poor attempt at a hug.

By now Lucifer was used to it. The first few days had been cringe-worthy, but he was making progress. At least he’d stopped flinching each time she reached out her arms for a hug. 

Lucifer patted the top of her head. “Hello urchin.”

Before he could ask about her day, a sound drew his attention to the car behind the Corvette. A man in a stained flannel met his gaze. His face had two diagonal scratches running the length of his nose to his temple, and his hair was cropped close to his skull. Upon their eyes meeting, the man drew the flannel aside. There in the waistband of his baggy jeans was a handgun. How typical, Lucifer thought. The man was a spitting image of Jake, and Lucifer let himself entertain the thought that there was some sort of rule that all drug traffickers had to wear ill-fitting clothes and look like an ex-marine. Despite the cliche attempt at intimidation, Lucifer cupped Beatrice’s head and pulled her into his side. 

The man jerked his head in Lucifer’s direction and then motioned to the car. He let his flannel cover the gun again and crossed his arms, tattoos and muscles bulging with the movement. 

Lucifer’s eyes swept over the man. He guessed he was hiding a little more than just a single pistol. He did a cursory glance around them, making sure nobody was watching too closely, before calling upon his Devil face. He smirked as the color slowly drained from the man’s face. A beat later, he was scrambling back into his car. Lucifer bared his teeth to give him a little extra boost.

Lucifer would have watched him drive away if not for the small gasp that came from his side. Immediately, a cold finger of dread curled around his stomach. Slowly, Lucifer looked down. Beatrice was already staring at him, eyes full of wonder and something he couldn’t describe.

“Whoa,” she whispered.

Lucifer snatched his hands away from her. “Now Beatrice--” he began.

“That was so cool, Lucifer!” She hugged him tighter and Lucifer felt his heart clench.

“What?” 

“That was so cool. I can’t believe you scared that guy so easily. I wondered what your face looked like after you beat all those guys up last month! Daddy wouldn’t let me see you until you looked like you again, at least kinda. I saw your wings, and those were cool.” Beatrice finally let go and climbed happily into the Corvette’s passenger seat. Lucifer blinked, stuck in a daze. She turned back to him. “Are you coming, Lucifer?”

Lucifer shook his head to clear away the haze that had settled there. Then he gave her a real, genuine smile. “Yes, of course.”