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“Detective, don’t you look fetching.” Chloe preened slightly as Lucifer’s eyes raked over her, taking in her silky red blouse and the dark jeans that clung to her ass like a second skin. “Are you sure I can’t tempt you to be a little late?” Chloe was supposed to be meeting Ella and Linda at Lux in a little more than an hour. The plan was a Tribe Night (well, three quarters of a Tribe Night, since Maze had sided with Michael) focused on making sure that Ella was holding up okay after her exposure to divinity.
“You know that there is no such thing as ‘a little late’ when you’re looking at me like that.” Chloe admonished playfully, knowing full well that when Lucifer’s eyes turned warm and melty like that, she could get lost in their depths for hours. She moved into his arms, relishing the feel of his heated skin against hers and his sexy, smoky scent.
“We can send the urchin in your place. She’s old enough for an evening out now, isn’t she?”
Chloe laughed and rolled her eyes affectionately, even though she wasn’t sure Lucifer was joking. Six months ago he would have been serious. But every day he learned a little bit more and got better at the ‘Mom’s boyfriend’ role. “Lucifer, she’s only twelve. I don’t think I can exactly send her to Lux for the evening, no matter how well the bartenders know her. Besides.” Chloe pulled herself out of Lucifer’s arms before she lost her internal battle. “You and Trix are going to have a fun night together. She won’t torture you too much.”
“Yes, the urchin has informed me that we’re going to have a movie night.” He wrinkled his nose. “She insisted on ordering pizza for the evening despite the fact that I can certainly make tastier food than that. And she won’t even let me order it from Wolfgang!”
Chloe almost giggled at Lucifer’s consternation, but ultimately took pity on him. “It’s tradition.” She explained. “When Trixie and I do a movie night, we order pizza.”
Lucifer softened at that. He might try to hide it, but she could tell how much it pleased him to be included in family traditions. “Very well, then. The urchin shall have her pizza.” He made a show of shuddering. “Even if it is horrifyingly substandard.”
“Awww.” Chloe gave him one more kiss. “How you suffer for me.”
“Terribly, Detective.”
“But, when I get home, I promise to make it worth your while.” She murmured as she slipped past him.
“You are a cruel woman, Detective!” He called after her.
Even though this Tribe Night was ostensibly for Ella, Chloe found herself really looking forward to it. She hadn’t realized how much she wanted to talk about her new relationship without having to mentally edit every sentence before saying it.
They even went somewhere other than Lux. Sure, Chloe had broken and asked Lucifer for a favor (and frankly she’d felt like she’d come out a winner on the payback too) which virtually assured entry and VIP treatment at any bar in the Los Angeles area.
Ella, for her part, was taking proof of divinity remarkably well. It was probably partly a result of her faith, but also her natural inclination to roll with the punches. Once Ella got a good buzz going, her questions largely alternated between one of two categories - regular old new relationship questions and what Chloe liked to call Celestial Realizations.
“Whoa, meeting the family is going to be really weird for you, Decker.” Ella’s eyes widened as she downed her fifth shot of the evening. “Like they’re just going to casually be telling stories about like, when dinosaurs roamed the earth or when Pangaea was a thing.”
“I’m not sure Lucifer wants to be around his family very much.” Chloe said, side stepping the question of Ancient Lucifer stories. It was easy to forget his real age because her boyfriend regularly acted like a twenty-something idiot, but he was old. Billions of years old. She was fairly certain she’d heard him say 13.7 billion years old, at one point. She was way beyond a May-December romance. “And I’ve actually already met his family. Well, not all of them. He has a ridiculous number of siblings and he doesn’t like most of them very much. Except maybe Amenadiel sometimes. And his sister.” Chloe brightened. “Who you’ve actually already met too!”
That stopped Ella in her tracks. “What?”
“Your friend Rae-Rae.”
Ella collapsed back against the banquette, as if Chloe’s words had physically shoved her. “I never told you her name.” She said, her voice barely audible above the bar noise.
Linda hovered quietly on the other side of Ella, ready to step in if her therapy expertise could be helpful. Chloe didn’t say anything, letting Ella absorb what Chloe had just told her.
“No. Rae-Rae is...she’s...a ghost.” Ella protested.
Chloe shook her head sympathetically. “She’s Lucifer’s sister. She’s an angel too.”
“How…” Ella looked like her last shot might come back up. “What?”
Chloe frowned, worried that revealing Azrael might have been a step too far. She hadn’t meant to do it, but she couldn’t exactly take it back. Lucifer was so cavalier about his own Celestial nature, Chloe had forgotten that his sister might prefer to keep hers a secret.
Ella covered her mouth, leaning back against the booth. “I don’t know if I’d rather her be an angel or a ghost.”
Chloe was suddenly very glad that she hadn’t mentioned Azrael’s specific job.
“Is this nauseous feeling normal?” Ella asked. Chloe could see her chest rising and falling rapidly as she took short, shallow breaths. “Is this how you two felt after he told you?”
“You’re actually taking this much better than I did.” Linda assured her. “I went catatonic for awhile. And then I hid from both him and Maze for a week.”
Chloe glanced at Linda. “He, um. He didn’t tell me.” Chloe said carefully, steeling herself to tell Ella the story of how she had discovered Lucifer’s other side. “Do you remember when Pierce died?”
“Yeah, but what’s -” She cut herself off. “I didn’t hear the whole story, did I?”
Chloe shook her head. “No, you didn’t. And his real name wasn’t Marcus Pierce. It was Cain.”
“Hold on - Cain?” Ella was getting paler by the revelation. “As in ‘and Abel?’”
“Yeah.”
“You were engaged to him.”
“Yeah.” Chloe repeated, not eager to relive that relationship.
Ella fell silent for a moment. “Damn Decker, I never realized you were so into older guys.”
Chloe burst out laughing. This was why she had wanted Ella to know. She and Lucifer might be incredible, but sometimes it was nice to just be normal and hear Ella’s gentle teasing. But she sobered up as she remembered why she was telling Ella about Cain. “Charlotte had just died. Lucifer and I walked into an ambush. Pierce and his guys tried to kill us. But Lucifer protected me.” She smiled softly, secure in the knowledge that he would move heaven, earth, and Hell to keep her safe.
Ella’s breathing was slowing back down to a normal place as she focused on Chloe’s story. Chloe took that as a sign to keep going.
“He got me to safety and then went back to deal with Cain. I...I went back looking for him. At some point, his face had, uh, changed. I panicked. And I ran.” Chloe felt a familiar squeeze inside her heart at the memory of running from Lucifer. It all seemed so long ago. Now she only ran towards him, wanting to be in his arms as often as possible.
“Your Europe trip.” Ella realized.
“Holy crap.” Linda said breathily.
Chloe frowned at the blonde. “Didn’t he tell you all this in therapy?”
“No it’s not that.” Linda was looking across the room at the bar where a familiar leather-clad figure was sitting.
“Another.” The figure demanded angrily, slamming a glass down on the bartop.
“Is that...?” Ella’s attention shifted away from Chloe’s story.
“Maze.” Chloe said grimly. She didn’t know how, but things had gotten so out of control. Explaining to Trixie that Maze wouldn’t be coming around anymore had been heartbreaking, but for the best. The demon had helped Lucifer’s brother kidnap Chloe and imprison her in that abandoned zoo, for Hell’s sake. And then she had sided against Lucifer in his fight with Michael. Chloe had apparently been frozen for that part, but later on Lucifer had yelled about the betrayal and then cried into her shoulder about the loss of one of his oldest friends.
“I…” Almost as if controlled by some unseen force, Linda stood up from the table.
“Linda?” Chloe asked in confusion. “You’re not actually going to talk to her, right?”
But Linda wasn’t listening. She was already advancing on the demon, looking nervous but determined.
Chloe and Ella watched in horrified fascination as Maze rounded on Linda, whatever the demon was about to say dying on her lips before she uttered it. Maze and Linda stared at each other for a moment.
“Are they okay?” Ella asked worriedly as the demon and the therapist sat next to each other silently, both so full of emotions that they didn’t even know where to start.
Chloe’s first instinct was to make something up. Then she remembered that Ella knew the truth now. She eyed her friend, wondering if she could mentally take any more celestial revelations.
“I see that look on your face, Decker.” Ella might have been drunk, but she was still whip smart. “I can handle it.”
Chloe turned to face Ella. “Okay, uh, Lucifer has a twin brother, Michael. Who is a psychotic dumpster fire of an angel. He was responsible for my kidnapping. After you guys found me, he showed up at the precinct and got into this fight with Lucifer and Amenadiel. Maze...sided with Michael.” Chloe said, her expression darkening as she thought of her partner’s twin.
“Holy crap, Decker. How have you even had time to sleep in the last five years?” Ella asked in wonderment.
“You’ve seen how much coffee I drink.”
“So...sex with an angel.” Ella leaned forward enthusiastically. “How is it?”
Chloe felt a light flush on her face as she recalled Lucifer’s version of a wakeup call this morning. “Really good. Really really good.” She couldn’t stop a wide grin from stretching across her face.
“All-time best, huh?”
“Oh yeah.”
Linda spoke first. “Maze.” Her eyes flitted worriedly over the demon. “What happened?”
Maze’s expression hardened. “What, he didn’t tell you?”
Linda didn’t pretend to miss who Maze was referring to. “He told me his side of the story.” She used her best calm therapist voice.
“You know he doesn’t lie. I was working with Michael.” Maze’s said evenly, her tone belied by the tense set of her jaw and her protective posture.
“I know you, Maze. You had a reason.”
“Of course I had a reason.”
“I’d like to know what that reason was.”
“Why?” Maze snapped. “You’re going to take his side.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because he’s Lucifer. None of you humans can resist his charms.”
“I certainly couldn’t, at first.” Linda acknowledged. “But after awhile, you kind of get inoculated to his...Luciferness. You start to get to know the real Lucifer. You watch him make mistakes and you see his faults. But you don’t stop loving him, because he’s your friend and friends can trust each other not to run at the first sign of trouble.” On the surface, Linda’s words were about Lucifer, but Maze understood the deeper meaning.
“Fine.” Maze scowled. “He hid my mother from me.”
“He hid your mother from you.” Linda repeated, mostly because she couldn’t think of anything else to say and somehow yelling ‘he did what’ at top volume didn’t seem like it would help.
“He knew where she was, this whole time. And I was never important enough for him to tell me.”
“Oh, Maze.” Linda’s heart broke for her friend. “That must have hurt.”
Maze’s scowl sharpened. “I wasn’t hurt, I was angry”
“And I understand why. But I also think there’s still trust there. Lucifer said he only hit you offensively one time. Is that true?”
Maze nodded.
“So, if the rest of the time he was blocking, it’s because he didn’t want to hurt you, Maze.” Linda let Maze sit with that for a moment before moving on. “But regardless of your fight with Lucifer, I have missed you.”
Maze jabbed her chin in Chloe’s direction. “You hang out with his girlfriend. You’re his nephew’s mother. How can I trust you if you’re not on my side?”
Linda closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep calming breath, warding off her irritation with the Celestial system. “I’m not on anybody’s side, Maze. Your fight with Lucifer is between you and him. I’m still your friend.” She gave a sidelong glance to where Ella and Chloe were locked in enthusiastic conversation . “I won’t force you to come sit with us, but I’m ready to talk when you are.” Linda slipped off the barstool and waited, giving Maze the last word.
“Maybe.” Was all the demon said.