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One.
Ella saw it from the moment she first laid eyes on the two. She of course had heard of the adage, “beautiful people end up with each other” and Lucifer and Chloe were, without a doubt, the two most beautiful people at the precinct. So, the first time she saw the two of them standing a touch too close together, it made sense to her that they were hooking up.
But then she was told that they weren’t - that the two of them were just partners - and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure it out. How were they not together?
As time went on, she saw it all the time. A look between the two that lasted just a touch longer than it should have, and carried much too much meaning. The constant banter, the knowing smiles, the body language that had them leaning into each other’s personal space. The way that neither of them ever hesitated to throw themselves into danger for one another, and the way they would stick up for each other no matter the situation or potential fallout. The instinct to protect each other seemed to wind deep into their very souls.
Sometimes, she thinks she’s just imagining it. If she was honest with herself, she was alone more than she wasn’t, and watching sappy romcoms and reading smutty love novels have gotten her through more than one night alone, and so what if she wanted to live vicariously through someone else? A soulmate was clearly not in her future, so why not someone else’s?
But then at Tribe nights, (and only when Chloe was out of earshot), Maze and Linda also began to discuss moments they’d noticed between the pair. Linda clearly was at an advantage having been privy to Lucifer’s private thoughts, but she was masterful at drawing a line between things she knew as a doctor, and things she saw as a friend. And when Chloe would do something couple-y, like smile at an incoming text that HAD to be from Lucifer, the girls’ eyes would widen with significant glances at each other, sometimes even nudging each other hard enough to cause those slightly inebriated to stumble off a stool. (Thanks, Maze.)
And then there are the times at crime scenes where she swears there are literal sparks flying between her friends. Sometimes she’s worried that she gawks too much at the pair, but they never seem to notice. Honestly, she’s fairly certain she could scream out, ‘Look everyone, Lucifer and Chloe are in love!’ And they still wouldn’t notice.
In fact, neither of them seem to notice any of the shameless gawks or side comments from their fellow coworkers, which stuns Ella. Normally, Lucifer seems to notice everything, and Chloe is the best detective she’s ever met. But the two of them are always so absorbed in whatever the other is doing that they simply don’t notice what’s happening around them. It’s got to be a sign.
But as much as she wishes her Deckerstar dreams would come true, Ella has no intention of asking outright what’s going on. Sure, she’ll jump all over it once one of them even mentions something off hand, but if they’re not saying anything, it’s not really her place. And again, all of this could just be in her mind, and then she would sound crazy and be embarrassed if she asked and offended either one of them. Besides, they would let her know if they were dating, right? They were friends! They’d tell her. Eventually. Maybe.
Unless they’re hiding their relationship due to work. There’s gotta be some sort of HR policy against partners dating, right? And if that was the case, they would definitely want to keep it quiet.
They were totally dating, weren’t they.
Ella shrugged her shoulders. Ultimately, it didn’t matter. They would tell her at some point if they were dating. And again, she’s likely overthinking it. Just because the two of them stuck their necks out for each other didn’t intrinsically mean they were dating. They stuck their necks out for others on the team as well, and that didn’t mean they had feelings for those cops, did it? Of course not.
Chuckling to herself as she packs up her lab for the day, she quickly realizes that it’s way later than she thought it was. Her past life had turned her into a bit of a night owl, but being on call with the LAPD forced her to curb her late-night workstyle. She never knew when a body would drop, and she would be next on the call sheet.
And unfortunately, her instincts seemed to be on point, because only a few hours into her sleep, her phone was ringing to get downtown to work a crime scene.
It was the middle of the night, and Los Angeles was still humming along. Sure, it wasn’t Las Vegas in that it did sleep, but it was still early enough that the nightclubs were still open, and the after parties had yet to begin. Feeling both a little sluggish due to the unexpected phone call, and a little buzzed due to the coffee she chugged on the way over, Ella got right to work, knowing that evidence wasn’t going to tag itself, and quickly found herself feeling awake and normal.
Chloe Decker, however, did not look to be awake.
Stepping onto the crime scene, she crossed her arms, pulling the long coat she was wearing tighter together, seemingly to ward off the chill of the night air. Shadows under her eyes looked to be almost black, and a haze of sleep seemed to follow her. Almost as if she hadn’t even yet been to bed. Ella was about to call out to her from where she crouched, but stopped herself when Lucifer quickly caught up to Chloe, his hand automatically dipping down to the small of Chloe’s back. He hands her a set of keys which she shoves in her jacket pocket, her weary facial expression seeming to soften as she looks up at Lucifer who is smiling down at her.
It wasn’t unusual for the two to come to a crime scene together. But usually, those were crime scenes that happened during the day, so they were already together at work when it was time to change locations. But then, on the other hand, Ella knew Lucifer would occasionally go to Chloe’s for game night, and she assumed Chloe went to Lux on occasion as well. But it was really late for either of those scenarios to make sense.
And Ella couldn’t explain why, but seeing them walk in together felt different this time, and the familiar exchange of keys made it seem as though Lucifer drove Chloe’s car a lot, which, as far as Ella knew, never happened. It wasn’t anything huge, but it made her eyes narrow in contemplation that something was indeed happening between her favorite (non)couple. They just straight up looked like they were married, and passing along keys was an everyday occurrence for them.
“Ms. Lopez! Delightful to see you here!”
Ella shook her head, not realizing that her thought process had totally zoned her out, making her not even notice Lucifer walk up to her. “Hi Lucifer!” She tried to block her thoughts out as much as possible, because even she had heard stories of Lucifer wooing someone’s deepest secrets out of them, and the last thing she needed to be doing right now was unconsciously spilling her dreams of seeing the two of them be all in love in front of her. “There’s some coffee set up over there if you wanted any.” Ella pointed off to the side, hoping that Lucifer would take the bait and walk away while she further collected her thoughts.
“Oh, there’s coffee?”
At that moment, Chloe joined the pair and smiled gratefully at Ella’s nod before placing her hand lightly on Lucifer’s arm, and gesturing with her head towards the coffee.
Ella watched the two walk off together, when her heart skipped a beat as her brain caught up with her eyes. When Chloe had reached her hand out towards Lucifer, her coat had opened slightly, giving Ella just enough of a glance at the shirt beneath.
A very large, very green, very not-her’s shirt.
Chloe never came to crime scenes looking anything less than completely put together. Sure, on the occasional late-night scene she wouldn’t be quite as professional, because like everyone else, she likely grabbed whatever clothes were near, but there was no mistaking that shirt for anyone’s other than Lucifer’s. Why else would she have a Sol de Javier shirt? (And yes, Ella knew the story of the Sol de Javier case well, after mentioning a friend had talked about the restaurant, which led to Lucifer being graphically detailed about what went down, including the horrid shirt he was forced to wear.)
But with Chloe wearing that shirt, it’s almost like they’re asking to get caught. Are they messing with her now? Do they know she’s on to them? Do they want everyone to think they’re sleeping together? What other reason would she have Lucifer’s clothes on in the middle of the night?
Ella knew that Chloe better tighten that jacket again, or someone else was going to see.
“Ella!”
As if on cue, Ella turned to Officer Matos running up to her, her eyes round with excitement as she shoved a coffee cup in Ella’s hand. Matos was probably the second biggest Deckerstar fan behind Ella, and as such, the two were constantly comparing notes. “Oh my god, did you see what Decker was wearing?”
She wants to play it cool until the two of them can compare notes somewhere more privately than this crime scene, but honestly, she can’t blame Matos’ excitement.
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Two.
It’s been about a week since she last saw them, which isn’t unusual. That’s one of the quirks of working in the police force – you never really know who you’ll see each day as cases take people all over the place, and having to avoid working overtime as much as possible meant that working hours aren’t necessarily Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. The shirt incident had pretty much left her mind after she and Matos didn’t get too far in their theories, and the workload seemed to be heavier than usual. The first heat wave of the year had officially rolled in, and criminals seemed to get squirrely when it was hot, which meant a lot of evidence from a lot of cases to sort through.
Sighing at the mountain of evidence bags in front of her, Ella jumped when Matos called her name. She hadn’t even heard her door open; she was so focused on all the things she was going to have to do during the day. “Sorry, Ella. The Lieutenant said there’s another scene for you. If it makes you feel any better, I hear that Decker was assigned this case.”
Ella did indeed brighten at that prospect. She hadn’t seen her friend for a while, and was ready to work with a cop who was actually polite. Being a female in a male-dominated profession always made for uncomfortable moments, so it would be nice to have a case where her sunny disposition would be true, instead of being forced. She spots Chloe at her desk, and expects Lucifer to arrive any second as well, but a minute passes, and Lucifer is nowhere around. Chloe exchanges pleasantries with Ella as she shuffles paperwork around on her desk, seemingly looking for something. She acts as if nothing is amiss, but Ella can’t help but notice that Chloe seems distracted. She keeps glancing up as if she’s looking for someone – with that someone highly likely to be Lucifer.
But when she stands up with keys in hand and tells Ella she’ll see her at the scene, Ella shrugs off Chloe’s demeanor. She was undoubtedly expecting Lucifer to show up, and like he’s done many times in the past, didn’t bother to show up, leaving Chloe to handle the case on her own. Ella shakes her head as she watches Chloe’s retreating form, questioning her theories on Chloe and Lucifer again. Because if they were in fact dating, there’s no way Lucifer would stand her up like this.
It isn’t until Lucifer joins them at the crime scene that the reasoning behind Chloe’s earlier behavior becomes clear.
“Are you sure you’re ok to be here?” she whispers to him as she surreptitiously looks around to make sure no one is listening to their conversation.
“Darling, I’m fine.”
She frowns and steps a half step back away from Lucifer. “But you…”
“Have a celestial metabolism. I can barely feel any effects.”
Ella walks up to them, ready to give them the report of the scene, but stops short at Lucifer’s appearance. “Dude. Were you in the middle of a bender when the call came in? Man, I’ve so been there before. This one time…” Ella lets her story trail off as Chloe looks at her, and Lucifer waves her off.
“Nothing I can’t bounce back from, Ms. Lopez. Devil powers and all that,” Lucifer says with his easy grin. “A private party at Lux happened to be in full swing when our dear detective called me. I’m perfectly capable of consulting on a simple B&E.”
Chloe’s eyes roll into the back of her head before narrowing in annoyance. “Lucifer, it’s not a B&E, this is a murder...”
“Darling, I know.” Lucifer all but pushes Chloe towards the body on the ground. “I’m just being my usual, jovial self. Murder. Dead body. Got it.”
Ignoring Chloe and Lucifer’s interaction for a moment, Ella lets a sigh escape her lips as she looks over the scene.
“Don’t worry, Ella. I made sure to ask for help for you on the scene.”
“Awesome. Not like that’ll mean any less work for me once we get back to the precinct.” She just couldn’t bring it in herself to be chipper about the task in front of her. She was getting squirrely with the heat as well, and having slept in the sweltering heat thanks to her stupid, broken air conditioner, did not help her mood at all.
Chloe doesn’t have a solution for that, nor that she should. It’s not her fault that the LAPD was perpetually understaffed. Or that Ella’s landlord was an asshole.
Shaking her head to get herself back into the game, Ella claps her gloved hands together. “You ready?” She looks over her shoulder at the two, and sees Chloe pinning Lucifer with a wary look. Neither of them responds to her question, but they’re both within hearing distance, so Ella returns her focus back to the body in front of her and a wave of nausea grips her as the small breeze in the area lifts the smell of the body towards her nose. The scent of death never gets easier to handle.
Gritting her teeth against the rolling of her stomach, she waits for the breeze to shift before taking a deep breath. Unfortunately, the moment she takes her deep breath, the breeze shifts again, and it’s like she can taste the smell. Turning quickly away, Ella quickly looks at the ground to compose herself, and mutters a, “sorry, guys.” However, when she’s met with silence from her friends, her eyes flick up to see if they’re also having the same issues she is. At least that way, it would be a little less mortifying.
Unfortunately, they’re handling the situation better than she is. Well, Chloe is. Lucifer though? He looks as if he’s turning green around the gulls.
He turns quickly away, and Ella swears he’s taking big gulps of air, but can’t be sure. Chloe reaches up and gently runs her fingers through the short hairs on Lucifer’s neck, before sliding her hand down to rub soothingly across his back, her expression contorted with profound sympathy. She only has eyes for Lucifer, totally engrossed in him and absolutely blind to Ella’s quizzical look. She leans closer, her mouth stopping just short of brushing against his ear. “You ok?”
His returning grunt is rather unclear, but then he mumbles a bit more coherently - “Just give me a second.”
Chloe nods in spite of the fact that he can’t see her, but Ella reasons that Lucifer can probably feel her nodding since that’s how the two of them seem to work. Chloe steps back slightly, but doesn’t stop the consoling motion of her hand on his back. True to his word, Lucifer collects himself shortly thereafter. He begins to turn back around, grimaces, and freezes for an instant, and Ella is sure he’s about to lose whatever alcohol is still in him all over Chloe’s boots, but the moment passes, and Lucifer takes a quick, steadying breath.
“Well, then.” His face is still pale, but Ella can’t exactly fault him. She feels pretty much the same as he looks, and she hadn’t come to work still half-drunk as Lucifer quite clearly had. Bad smells can get through to people on a good day, but when you’re already feeling sick due to alcohol, a bad smell usually produces a one-way ticket to the nearest bathroom – or bush.
Her thoughts come to a screeching halt as she watches Chloe reach up to slide her fingertips over Lucifer’s face, her eyes clouded with concern. Lucifer cracks his eyelids open at the touch of her skin against his and leans into her hand with a glazed look. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to this vulnerability around you, Detective. But, fresh air...fresh air will help.”
Chloe raises her eyebrows at Ella and tilts her head away from the body.
Right. They want some space and privacy. Right. That’s totally what completely platonic partners who happen to be touching each other’s faces want while working a crime scene.
Ella tries to not overthink the situation, and instead plasters a smile to her face as she jerks her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the body. “Right. Yes. You know what? I need a few more minutes with this body before I can give you any decent information anyways, so why don’t you two take a quick walk to see if you find any evidence that might have been missed?” It was a weak suggestion, and everyone knew it, but Ella hoped they would take the out she gave them.
Chloe and Lucifer stare at each other for a long, breathless moment. Her anxious regard is scanning his face for any lingering signs of sickness, and Lucifer meets her gaze steadily, seemingly making a wordless plea for her to not press the issue. It’s as if he senses the exact moment that he’s won their unspoken argument, because he smirks at her victoriously and turns away abruptly, looking slightly surprised to see Ella still standing there.
“Ms. Lopez. We will absolutely scan for evidence for you as you make magic happen as you always do.” He turns away from the body and takes off like nothing happened at all, and it was always his intention to ‘check for evidence.’
Chloe follows closely behind Lucifer, and it doesn’t escape Ella’s notice that she’s avoiding her eyes as she trudges past her. Because that was new, right? She’s no stranger to watching Lucifer comfort Chloe, but it’s not often she’s had the chance to witness the reverse, and even so...it felt different this time. Like she’d intruded on something private...intimate, even.
She turns back to the body, once again squeezing her eyes shut to force down the rolling of her stomach, still a bit mystified, but work was calling. Chloe would be back to ask for information about the body soon, and Ella needed to be fully prepared.
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Three.
Lucifer is on a mission, and nothing is stopping him. Ella is barely keeping up with him, tripping over every crack in the sidewalk, and inwardly cursing her platform shoe choice so that she could at least appear to be slightly taller than a child. It’d also been a while since she had to run, and she knew she should really get to the gym the next chance she had. But, in what world would she ever imagine she would have to run as a forensic scientist? The people she dealt with no longer had the ability to move, much less run, and there’s no way she’d ever thought she would have to keep up with someone who swore he was celestial.
She finds momentary relief when Lucifer stops at the end of the block, his head swiveling from one side to the other as he takes in their surroundings. Then he’s off like a shot again, and Ella wipes sweat from her forehead before taking off once again after her friend. “I’m…right behind you!”
Not that it matters. Lucifer isn’t waiting for anyone, and Ella can’t blame him. She’s worried too.
The warehouse they had heard the description of over the radio finally came into view, and Ella isn’t surprised when she hears the low thump of bass coming from deep within. A wrapper from In-N-Out blows across her feet as she stares up at the building, and a feeling of dread washes over her. She knew neighborhoods like this one. It wasn’t a good one to lose Chloe, and it definitely wasn’t a good one to go wandering around in some underground nightclub, regardless of whether or not Lucifer actually believed he was the Devil. But this is the club some poor strung-out teenager had told Lucifer he thought where Chloe could be, before he wet himself, and slid down the wall Lucifer had held him against.
Ella shuddered at the memory, but followed Lucifer in as he wrenched the door open like it was tissue paper, and raced towards the pulsing music.
Ella doesn’t see Chloe at first, and that’s only partially due to the pulsating lights that accost her eyes as they make their way to where the rave was being held. Lucifer however, spots her immediately and is across the room in a flash, and Ella realizes the other reason she didn’t see Chloe is because of the two guys who are draped on either side of her in a corner booth, all up in her personal space, effectively shielding her from view. As she runs to catch up with Lucifer, she knows without a doubt that the two men would be in agonizing pain in mere moments.
She wants to yell at him to go easy on the men, but she knows in her heart that not only is it too loud in the room for Lucifer to hear her, but even if he could, he would pay her no heed. Chloe was in danger, and that was his only focus.
“Chloe?” Lucifer uses her given name, and Ella winces at the concern she can hear in his voice as she crashes into his side. She knows how worried Lucifer is if he’s not calling Chloe by her rank as he usually does, because he’s definitely not holding back his usual name for her to save the rapidly-falling-apart undercover sting they’re supposedly working.
Chloe doesn’t look up, even at Lucifer using her name, and Ella is terrified for what that means. The guy on the right glares up at them. “Chloe is busy, pal. Fuck off.”
Ella knows that that’s all that is needed to snap Lucifer’s frayed nerves, and sure enough, faster than she can blink, Lucifer reaches into the booth, and pulls the man away from Chloe, throwing him several feet away. Ella gasps and jumps back a bit, but looks back towards the booth as movement catches her eye. Chloe’s head snaps up at that moment, and a wide grin spreads across her face as she grips the edge of the table and attempts to stand up. “Lucifer! Ella!”
Chloe stumbles her way out of the booth, never losing her grin. The other guy at the table beats a hasty exit, apparently assuming his escape will ensure he doesn’t end up in the hospital. Ella isn’t too sure that’s not too far from the truth.
“Detective, are you…”
Lucifer’s question is cut off as Chloe throws herself at him, arms going around his neck, and spinning them to the music. It makes Ella snort, especially once she sees the grin on Lucifer’s face as his hands automatically grasp onto her hips. Then Chloe is suddenly propelling herself in Ella’s direction, giving Ella a matching hug that almost knocks the two to the ground.
“I missed you guys!” She pulls away from Ella, but keeps her hand in hers. “Where have you been?”
“Uh, Chloe, you’re the one…” Ella doesn’t finish her thought, as Chloe has taken her hand back, but is now running it up and down Ella’s shirt over the sequined unicorn which adorns the front.
“Have you ever seen a rainbow?”
Ella flicks her gaze up to Lucifer before settling back on Chloe who is solely focused on the unicorn. “Uh, of course I have. Why?”
“Rainbows. Like your shirt. They’re my favorite. Trixie likes unicorns too.” Chloe steps back then, her pupils expanding as she looks around the room. “Do you see the rainbows in here? They’re beautiful.” She reaches out, trying to touch the strobing lights around the room.
Ella had suspected it based on what they had heard over the radio, but now she knew for sure. Chloe had left the sting because somehow, she had been drugged, and was currently on a serious trip. Clearly, a really good trip, but a trip nonetheless.
“Yeah, Chloe. I do. They’re really pretty.”
Chloe leans back even further to look at the lights, and ends up tipping completely backwards, only avoiding crashing to the floor due to Lucifer’s quick reflexes, keeping her upright and safe. “You’re pretty too, Ella. So pretty. Have I ever told you how pretty you are?”
“You haven’t, no, but I’ll take it.” She smirks up at Lucifer, knowing that in any other circumstance he would be moaning about not being told he was pretty, but in this instance, she could tell he was ready to go.
Lucifer turns Chloe around in his arms, and leans down so that he knows she can hear him. “Are you quite alright, Detective?”
She shakes her head and mumbles something that Ella doesn’t catch, and then begins to trace a fingernail along the lapel of Lucifer’s suit.
“Did they hurt you?”
“Hurt? Who’s hurt? I feel good.” Her finger slides lower down Lucifer’s abdomen, and he shivers away from her, capturing her hand with a sigh. He meets Ella’s questioning gaze, and gestures with his head towards the door.
“Alright, let’s get you out of here, Detective,” he says, still holding her hand as he moves towards the exit.
Chloe digs her heels into the ground and shakes her head. “We can’t go that way.”
“Why ever not?” Lucifer asks with strained patience.
Chloe darts a glance to Ella before looking back at Lucifer and crooking her finger so that he moves closer into her space. Her voice is low and grave when she answers. “He’ll know. We can’t let him know.”
Ella frowns. “Who, Chloe?”
“Shhh...don’t say my name. He’s listening.” She pokes at the unicorn on Ella’s shirt.
“The...sting? Is that what this is about?”
Her hand flies up to her mouth. “Dammit, Ella, I told you to shhh . Dan can’t know I’m here...” she looks around and grimaces before leaning in close to whisper, “I’m supposed to be watching Trixie tonight, not out having fun.”
Ella can’t help but snort. Even in blissed out drug land, Chloe is in mom-mode. “Chloe, it’s ok. You lost your earpiece. No one, including Dan, has been able to hear you for a while now.”
Lucifer tugs on her elbow, pulling her toward the door once more. “Come on, love. We’ll get you back to your offspring.”
“He always seems to know what I’m doing. And probably judging. He expects me to be perfect. Even though he’s not.”
She’s allowing Lucifer to direct her out of the warehouse now, so neither he nor Ella have the heart to stop her rambling at this point. The subject thankfully shifts away from what she assumes Dan thinks of her as a mother, to tv moms, and before they know it, Chloe is making a list of her top ten favorite tv moms of all time as they maneuver her up the stairs and onto the sidewalk.
“Carol Brady is great and all, but kind overrated. I mean...I’ve only seen a few episodes here and there, but Lorelai Gilmore? Now that’s a great mom. I wish my mom had been like her.”
Ella shakes her head as they turn onto a busier street and come to a stop at the corner, waiting for the light to change. She’s pretty sure they left Lucifer’s Corvette a few blocks away. “Only Chloe Decker, detective extraordinaire, would feel the need to make up something as boring as a top ten tv mom list as she’s zonked out on ecstasy.”
Lucifer sniffs at that. “Please, Ms. Lopez. It’s not ecstasy. It’s LSD.”
“You’re sure?”
Lucifer holds a hand up to his chest as if he’s wounded. “You honestly believe if the Detective was strung out on ecstasy, she wouldn’t be all over me? I’m rather devilishly handsome, as you know.”
Snorting, Ella shakes her head. “She was getting pretty handsy there earlier, Lucifer. Right, Chloe? Chloe?” Ella realizes that while she and Lucifer were bickering, Chloe had apparently gotten bored and left.
Lucifer bolts into the intersection and yanks Chloe out of the path of incoming traffic, several horns blaring around them as he hauls her back to the safety of the sidewalk. “Detective! What on earth were you thinking?”
She smiles up at him, serene in his wake of panic. “I saw rainbows in the headlights. They were so pretty!”
Ella hears him mumble something that sounds strangely like, “somehow this is Dad’s fault” before he turns his head towards Ella, his eyes still frantic with the leftover adrenaline of such a close call. “I’ll hold her hand on this side. You do the same on your side, ok?”
“Got it.” Ella reaches out and grabs Chloe’s hand. “Come on, girlfriend. We can’t have you getting hurt, now, can we?” The grin she receives from Chloe makes her heart warm, but when Chloe puts her head on Ella’s shoulder, she doesn’t miss the sidelong glance from Lucifer at that little action.
“Listen, Ella, I won’t tell Lucifer that you held my hand. Promise.”
She chuckles and looks over Chloe’s head to Lucifer. “I think he knows you’re holding my hand, and I’m pretty sure he’s ok with it, especially since he’s the one who told me to do it.”
She hums in response. “Lucifer is really great.”
Ella snorts again. Chloe has apparently completely forgotten that not only is Lucifer on her other side, but that she’s gripping his hand tightly as they walk. But, she plays along with Chloe’s rambling, because why not? This could be that inside scoop on Deckerstar that she’s been dying to find out. And so what if it comes from a blissed-out Chloe? Scoop is scoop. “Yup, I think he’s really great, too.”
Lucifer grins at the turn the conversation has taken.
“Was he mad when you and I kissed?”
Ella turns in confusion to Chloe. “What?”
"Well, now. Do tell.” Lucifer, who is suddenly much, much more interested in the rambling that is occurring, grins even wider if it’s possible, as he looks at the pair of women.
But Chloe turns the tables on them once again when she pauses, scrunches her brow, and then starts over. “No, no wait. We didn’t...” her eyes dart to her other side, apparently remembering once again Lucifer was there, and settle instead on him. “No, that was you. Remember Lucifer? Remember that kiss?”
Ella is pretty sure her heart stops beating for a few seconds, and adrenaline shoots through her body like a rocket. “Wait, what?”
Lucifer tenses for a brief moment, almost as if he’s torn between proudly declaring that what Chloe is saying is true, or saying nothing to keep something the two of them had deemed private, private. “Um. We had a moment.”
“Right,” Chloe confirms with a vigorous nod. “A moment. A goooood moment.”
Ella can’t stop staring at them, hoping against hope her brain starts firing enough to ask the questions she’s dying to ask, but all that comes out is, “When?”
“Ah, right before the Professor Carlisle case.”
“Oh my god! I knew it! I knew something was going on with you two then! You were all whisper fighting all the time then.” Ella was practically dancing in the street. This was so much better than a tv show.
“The beach was so pretty, Ella. You should have been there.”
“Uh, as much as I want a front row seat to you two being all couple-ly, that was your moment,” she says, not even trying to subdue her grin as she studies the ripple of emotions crossing Lucifer’s face. What she sees almost makes her think that maybe something isn’t going on between the two, but he just wishes there was. It makes her heart begin to ache at the thought.
It’s only a second later that Lucifer releases a pent-up huffing noise, and then takes a step away from them as he reaches into his jacket pocket for his phone. “It has just occurred to me that my car won’t fit us all. I’ll call an Uber to take us back to the Detective’s house.”
“But, Lucifer, you don’t want to leave your car here. I can make sure Chloe gets home safe.”
Ella watches as Lucifer’s jaw clenches tight, and she can tell he’s waging an internal battle before he shakes his head. “No need, Ms. Lopez. I want to ensure you both arrive home safely. We’ll stop at the precinct so you can retrieve your car, and I’ll drive the Detective home in hers.”
The internal debate rages on in Ella’s head at Lucifer’s insistence that he be the one to take Chloe home, but deep down she knows that this is normal behavior for him – whether the two are an item or not. She feels almost bad about being the third wheel, but the Uber ride proves to be interesting in its own right.
Ella knows that Chloe, no matter what, is pretty buttoned up and professional, so to watch her lose all of that control is hysterical. Chloe is mesmerized by the sequins on Ella’s shirt, constantly pushing them up and down to change the color patterns, and Ella can tell it’s bugging Lucifer that Chloe has once again completely forgotten his existence. The upside is, the sequins keep her busy and quiet, which is a pleasant turn of events for the evening. Ella can feel exhaustion catching up on her, and not having to keep Chloe alive is a welcome reprieve.
The reprieve is quickly broken however, when the Uber driver announces he’ll have to let them off a few blocks away from the station due to the remnants of a Pride parade earlier that day. Once they set off on foot to cover the rest of the distance, things escalate. Chloe slings her arms low around Lucifer’s waist and starts in on ‘the moment’ conversation with renewed enthusiasm.
“I’ll never forget that moment. It was so, so amazing. You know, I had a sex dream about Lucifer that night? Yeah, we were making out in his elevator, and then on top of his piano, before making it to his couch. That’s where his horns came out, because...” Chloe leans in to stage whisper in Ella’s ear, “...he’s the Devil. I held onto them as I rode him.”
Ella is practically bursting at the seams. This is so unlike her friend, and she’s torn between trying to convince Chloe to stop rambling (because she will undoubtedly remember this in the morning, and be mortified) and wanting her to continue because these details are juicy. Chloe is dawdling now though, stopping every few feet to run her fingers along the birds of paradise plants that are lining the sidewalk, then wrapping herself around Lucifer each time he tries to prod her forward. She fusses at him for trying to rush her, and apparently that’s the opening Lucifer needs.
He swings his eyes over to Ella and does his best to mask the swirling of emotions on his face. “Why don’t you go ahead of us and see if there’s a medic around that can look at the Detective? Just in case.”
“Um, ok.” Ella glances at Chloe, who is now recounting the story of ‘the moment’ to a lizard who happened to still be out despite the cooling temperatures of the evening. “You sure you can handle her on your own?”
A wide grin spreads across Lucifer’s face and mischief dances in his eyes. “I do believe I’m more than capable of handling the Detective. Thank you, Ms. Lopez.”
Ella is pretty sure that was an innuendo if she’s ever heard one, and feels like it would be something Chloe would normally roll her eyes at. But looking at Lucifer, she gets the feeling he’s made a decision, and he won’t stop until he’s accomplished the task at hand. Ella is dying to know what it is, but there’s no good excuse to stick around at this point. Lucifer is right. It would probably be wise to get Chloe checked out, and if she can have the medic waiting once they arrive, then Chloe can get home sooner rather than later.
“Alright. I’ll see you guys soon.”
She hears Chloe whine in protest as she walks away, begging Ella to come back so she can introduce her to the lizard, but then Lucifer says something in low voice, and it instantly quiets her protests. Ella steals one last look backward at the two, and can’t help but smile at what she sees. Lucifer’s arms are coiled tightly around Chloe, and her hands are on his shoulders as she listens intently to whatever it is that he’s telling her. Ella turns away with a note of reluctance, ignoring the impulse to stick it out and see what happens next. Matos would have murdered her for not getting the full scoop, but what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her.
Once she arrives at the precinct, it fortuitously only takes her a few minutes to find the onsite medic, and the two wait out front for Lucifer and Chloe to arrive. She starts to bounce on her toes when the minutes seem to stretch out, but not too much longer, she sees the two of them round the corner, and make their way up the sidewalk.
When Chloe sees Ella, she lights up and yells, “Ella! You’re back!”
She chuckles to herself, and turns with a knowing look to the medic who instantly guides Chloe to a nearby bench. Ella looks to Lucifer, and can’t help but see a lazy smirk on his face. “Everything ok?”
“Indeed, Ms. Lopez,” he answers, and Ella’s suspicions rise when she observes the happily stated look that Chloe gives Lucifer as she flops down on the bench.
Lucifer grins down at Chloe for several seconds before leaning back against the pillar behind him, and flicks open his lighter to light a cigarette. Ella looks back and forth between the two of them, in awe of the shamelessly sappy expressions on both of their faces.
Her mouth is moving before she’s even aware of it.
“You do know that there’s a good chance she’ll remember whatever it is you just said – or did – out there, right? She might be sketchy on the details at first, but more than likely, it’ll come back to her eventually.”
Lucifer shrugs and blows out a puff of smoke, indifferent to the warning. “I am very memorable.”
Ella doesn’t comment on that. She’s speechless, actually. So instead, she jerks her thumb over her shoulder, and says, “you know what? It looks like everything is handled here, and I’m about ready to drop. I’m going to head home. See you tomorrow?”
Lucifer gives her a nod of agreement, and as she backs away, before turning to head towards the parking lot, she can’t help but notice how Lucifer and Chloe have yet to break eye contact, and the heat between the two sends fissures of excitement through her own body. Oh yeah. Something was definitely going on with these two.
She couldn’t wait to tell Matos.
-----------
Four.
“This? Is awesome. But, we’re going to stick out like sore thumbs.” Ella didn’t even realize she had spoken out loud until she hears Lucifer beside her.
“Speak for yourself, Ms. Lopez. I absolutely belong here.”
She turns to see Lucifer at her side, and a bit of sheepishness creeps in as she sees the look Lucifer gives her.
“Sorry, but it’s true! I’m sure you attend cool parties like this all the time, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. I still can’t figure out why Chloe wanted me to come on this undercover op with you two, but there was no way I was going to say no once I found out where it was being held.” Ella sweeps her eyes over the crowd before her. Everyone was dressed in outfits that probably cost more than she makes in a year, and the opulence is simply dripping around her. She’s pretty sure she even saw waiters walking around with full jars of caviar for people to take. Well, ok, that’s probably an exaggeration, but that’s what the party feels like.
Lucifer shakes his head. “I normally would never attend such a dull party. Talking to people such as this is simply dreadful. Where are the dancers? Where are the drugs?”
A group of cackling women choose that moment to emerge from the nearby ladies room, forcing Ella to swallow her response to Lucifer’s drug comment. She nods at them as they pass by, but no one spares her even a glance. Their eyes are all pinned to Lucifer, blushing and giggling not-so-subtly in his direction before making their way into the ballroom with the rest of the partygoers.
Ella waits until she’s sure no one is paying them any attention before turning back to Lucifer. “Yeah, I fit in real well here.”
Lucifer shakes his head as he looks down to tug on his cufflinks. “Ms. Lopez. Believe me when I say this. You should never want to fit in here.”
“Yeah, well, if you ever need a date to one of these things, feel free to bring me along. I may not fit in, but at least I can eat the food that the rest of these people seem allergic to.” Ella watches in envy as a waiter walks by several feet away with her with some sort of hors d’oeuvre that looks amazing, and the plate goes untouched as all the pretty people avoid calories like the plague.
When Lucifer doesn’t respond, Ella looks to see what’s captured his attention, and realizes he’s a million miles away, his eyes slightly dazed and mouth slightly ajar.
And when Ella slants her head sideways to find whatever it is that has Lucifer so spellbound, the answer is comically undeniable.
It’s Chloe. Of course, it’s Chloe. She should have seen that one coming.
To Lucifer’s credit, neither of them had seen Chloe before the party. Attending the event had been a last-minute decision, and they’d been forced to split up to get ready. On top of that, Chloe had to stop on the way to drop Trixie off at a babysitter’s, so had to arrive much later than the other two. As she descended the stairs, Ella couldn’t help but think that if Chloe wasn’t one of her best friends, she would probably be making the same fish-out-of-water expression as Lucifer. That girl is hot.
She’s partially turned away from them, absolutely radiant in a deep red gown that fits her like a second skin, her golden hair tumbling down in soft waves, and swept to one side to reveal the smooth expanse of her mostly bare back. Ella couldn’t think of anyone else who had ever worn a dress so well. If she didn’t know any better, Ella would have guessed that the dress had been sculpted specifically for her.
She swivels around to avoid a passing waiter and catches sight of them through the crowd. Ella offers a wave, and smiles when her friend waves back.
“Uh, Lucifer, she’s coming over here.”
“Yes, Ms. Lopez. I’m well aware.”
Ella snorts at Lucifer’s unwavering gaze. “So you should probably stop ogling Chloe before she catches you…?”
“What?” he snaps out of it then, frowning at Ella like she had grown a second head. “I wasn’t…”
“Wasn’t what?”
She’s there already, somehow making record time across the overflowing ballroom, her full red lips fluttering upward as she comes to a stop in front of them.
“Wasn’t doing his job of looking for our drug dealer,” Ella supplies with a smirk. “Too many socialites throwing themselves at him tonight.”
Now both Chloe and Lucifer are frowning, and Ella feels elated at the sight. She’s 99% sure that they made out last week while Chloe was flying high, but needs more evidence to support her hypothesis, so she decides to keep going while she’s ahead. She’s doing it for science.
And ultimately, it’s for their own good too, right?
“So, here’s a solution. Why don’t you two go out there on the dance floor. Blend in with the other dancers, and you’ll be able to see the whole room. I can look around over here. Near the food stations. Because I’m sure he’ll end up at the food stations.”
Chloe narrows her eyes at Ella, like she knows what she’s doing, but when Lucifer offers his arm, she accepts it without objection, although Ella thinks she detects a hint of nervousness in her eyes.
When Ella catches a glimpse of them several minutes later over the puffed pastry she was currently shoving in her mouth (and, holy hell, that’s real cream), she is struck by how natural they look together. How right it is to see them swirling together in the midst of a hundred other couples. Lucifer’s hand is fused to Chloe’s exposed back and she’s gazing up at him with a shy smile. He leans closer, whispers something in her ear, and Chloe ducks her head with a laugh before her hand descends from Lucifer’s shoulder to adjust his pocket square.
And is she imagining that, or are they always doing that? Mindlessly touching each other, hands flitting over jackets and sleeves and collars, finding the most random excuse to make physical contact at any given moment? And the more she thinks about it as she takes a sip of champagne (just a small sip – she knows she’s working), don’t they tend to drink out of each other’s cups? She swears more than once she’s seen both of them swiping the other’s drink.
She’s so intent on watching the two of them dance together that she nearly misses the unmistakable face tattoo of the dealer they’re looking for, but Chloe’s posture abruptly shifts and Ella knows that she sees him too.
“Dammit, bad guy,” Ella grumbles as she abandons her champagne flute on the nearest table and darts through the throng of revelers, trying to catch up to her favorite couple. “I was this close to seeing it for real this time.”
-----------
Five.
Chloe had managed to collar the drug dealer they were after, and was able to close the case on the dead bodies that had turned up weeks ago in an abandoned warehouse just outside of LA. As a result, over the next few weeks, Ella had only seen her favorite (non)couple a few times – once during a taco Tuesday meetup, where she swears Chloe and Lucifer were leaning into each other way too close after way too many margaritas. But honestly, Ella herself had been leaning way too close to the others at the table as well. Tequila can sneak up on you.
When the call came in for her to join the next case, Ella was torn out of a dead sleep right before dawn on a Thursday morning. It’d been so long since she was collecting evidence for a case that Chloe and Lucifer were assigned to that she was slightly nervous about interacting with the two. Especially since she and Matos had been having a drunken Deckerstar gossip session the night before.
As such, she was too busy wigging out to notice Lucifer glancing worriedly at the back of Chloe’s head when she arrived on scene. They were at an elementary school in Huntington Park, where a body of a child had been found on the playground.
Chloe listens attentively to the first officer on scene as he walks her through everything he knows, and Lucifer stands steadfast next to her. When the officer leaves Chloe and Lucifer to talk amongst themselves, Ella can’t help but think there’s something off with the two of them, but she can’t figure out what it is. They seem fine with each other – maintaining eye contact, rehashing what the officer said, nodding to each other as one or the other makes a comment – but there is an underlying strain to all of it.
When the next wave of officers and medical personnel arrive, all thoughts of their earlier interactions immediately leave Ella’s head. A child was possibly murdered and there’s no time to evaluate the emotions of her favorite (non)couple. Her only focus needed to be on the evidence, and catching the scumbag that could have done this.
The day leaves her feeling gritty and exhausted, but since they’re hot on the trail of the murderer (not hard, when the kid’s mother’s dead-beat boyfriend has a rap sheet a mile long), Ella pushes through the exhaustion. Everyone was burning the midnight oil on this one, and therefore spread out throughout the precinct, waiting on their BOLO to come through, as it seemed likely it would before dawn broke.
Scrubbing her eyes for the hundredth time in a minute, Ella moves towards the breakroom to get another cup of coffee. Due to the late (or early) hour, the precinct is quiet, and as she walks past an empty hallway, something draws her to turn down it. Slowing her pace, she arrives at the door that leads to the “quiet room” - a room set aside for officers to catch a few hours of sleep if need be.
She squints into the darkness as she hesitantly steps in, and sees the shape of two people shoved deep into the darkness of the room. As her eyes adjust to the dark, Ella sees Lucifer comforting Chloe, the two of them sitting on one of the beds, with Lucifer enveloping Chloe. Ella could tell that Chloe was crying, something which was a rarity, regardless of the case they were working on, but she also knew this one was hitting Chloe hard. The victim had been the same age as Trixie, and no parent could wall off the “what ifs” of the case.
The room was otherwise empty, but Ella had a feeling that no one else would have noticed the couple who were almost completely cloaked in shadow. Had someone noticed however, they probably wouldn’t even have thought twice about partners comforting each other after such a horrific crime. But Ella...Ella had a leg up on everyone else. That niggling feeling she’d been having for months now, that her favorite (non)couple were indeed, actually a couple roared forward in her mind, and as she observes the two, she can see the intimacy of the scene before her. One partner was holding the other, willing the demons to go away.
Ella stands there allowing the moment to flow through her, long enough to realize that she’s acting like a total creeper. Part of her wants to go in and tell the two to just go home, and she’ll call when they were needed again. She knows Chloe is stubborn, and will want to wait it out at the precinct, but if the case is getting to her this much, she had to know she would be better off at home for a few hours.
At that moment, Chloe lets out a strangled sob, causing Ella to freeze in place. “Lucifer, I just keep seeing Trixie.” Chloe’s voice was quiet and small, and Ella tiptoes backwards, leaning against the wall next to the door, hoping that she isn’t seen. Chloe sobs again, and Lucifer instinctively pulls her closer, kissing the top of her head.
“It’s ok, Detective,” he says with a croak in his voice, as if he’d been crying as well. “No harm will ever come to the urchin while I’m around.”
Ella can’t be sure, because she’s not that much of a voyeur so she doesn’t stick around to see what happens next, but it seems like Chloe shifts and reaches up to cup the back of Lucifer’s head, drawing his lips near hers. Ella is gone before she sees anything, and can’t hear anything else as she makes her way back down the hallway, but the scene leaves her wondering.
------------
Six.
They’re fighting. They’ve been fighting for at least twenty minutes, and up until now Ella has been content to stay far away from the eye of the storm.
It’s been a few weeks since the child victim case. Chloe’s been attending mandatory counselling sessions due to the nature of the case, and today had been one of her sessions. Ella knew it was a pretty standard practice for anyone who’s been through a heavy case, so hadn’t thought twice about it when Chloe had mentioned off hand she had been forced to go. Honestly, Ella thinks it has been helping Chloe, because the case had really hit her hard. She feels bad Chloe has to do something she doesn’t want to do, but the last thing she wants is for her friend to have a nervous breakdown due to everything she’s been through.
Lucifer usually hovers around the precinct whenever Chloe has a session, choosing to hang out with Ella to discuss whatever she’s working on while he waits for Chloe. The pair of them arrive together, split up for an hour, and then the day goes on as usual, with the three of them going out for lunch if everything works out.
Today was supposed to be a day with lunch involved, but the shit hit the fan when the counsellor was the one to appear at the end of the hour, and called Lucifer to join her for a moment. At first, Ella had been concerned that something was wrong with Chloe, and she could see the same fear written all over Lucifer’s face too.
That concern went out the window when Ella had spotted Chloe from across the room shortly thereafter, her fingers twisting anxiously around each other as she stared at the conference room where Lucifer had been holed up with the counsellor.
The fireworks had begun once Lucifer was dismissed from his impromptu meeting, and immediately made his way to Chloe to likely tell her what happened in the session. It’s weird seeing them like this. They butt heads all the time, but there is never any bite to it. They’re both passionate, stubborn people. It’s to be expected from time to time. And it’s never personal, they just don’t always see eye to eye on strategies and game plans while working a case.
At least, it never was personal. Even from a distance, Ella knows that this one isn’t the same. One minute they’re in each other’s faces, making fierce arguments and counterarguments, and then they’re pulling away as if they’ve had enough...then the cycle repeats.
Ella takes this as a good sign. If neither of them are willing to walk out on the other, then they’ll be fine, right?
The argument has gradually migrated towards the elevators, and then they’re finally gone, presumably off to the parking lot so they can work it out without half of the officers pretending not to watch, while the other half openly stare without remorse.
“So...no lunch today, huh?”
Ella looks over to Matos who has sidled up to her. She shrugs and shakes her head before turning back towards her lab.
But then she sees Chloe’s keys sitting on top of her desk, next to her computer, and she grabs them without a second thought to bring to their proper owner before she has to come back to face the spectators once more.
Unfortunately, they haven’t made it as far as Ella had assumed. They’re only a few car spaces away from the elevator, and Ella practically molds herself to the wall beside the elevator doors, praying that neither see her. Chloe’s voice is riddled with tension, and the two are completely ignoring anyone walking by.
“Apologies, but I’m merely trying to protect you, Detective.”
“Lucifer, we’ve had this discussion. Multiple times. I don’t need you to protect me.”
Her tone is dangerously quiet, stilted with anger. Ella can’t help but notice the brief wounded look that slides across Lucifer’s face.
“But, Detective...”
“What we talk about outside of work is just between us, Lucifer.” Chloe’s words were terse.
“Let me talk to the Lieutenant. I can work this out.”
“I can fight my own battles, Lucifer. I don’t want you mojoing the Lieutenant. We’re supposed to be partners. We’re not supposed to be going behind each other’s backs.”
“I have your back, Detective. I saw how that case affected you. Much more than usual.”
Ella gasped. She knew that Chloe had taken their last case hard (as evidenced by her mandatory counselling sessions), but clearly, she had taken it much harder than anyone at work realized. Is that why the two of them had been so close to each other in the quiet room?
“It’s not up to you to decide what I can, and can’t handle, Lucifer.”
He snorts at that, looking down as he fiddles at his cufflinks. “Right, because there’s no way I could possibly understand when you’re upset.”
Chloe looks wounded at the comment and steps closer, reaching out with a hand, before seemingly thinking twice and pulling it back. “You have to trust me, Lucifer,” she whispers. “If you really care about me, you have to trust that I can handle the job, regardless of what’s thrown at me.”
There’s a long pause, and Ella feels like her heart is going to explode. It felt like Chloe was putting herself, her heart, on the line with that statement, and surely Lucifer would relent, right?
But then his eyes flicked up from his cufflinks, and the pain in them was palpable as he shook his head. “Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe I care too much about you, Detective, to watch you put yourself in harm’s way.”
Chloe looks stunned, and Ella shifts her gaze to Lucifer as he puffs his chest out, straightens his lapels, and spins on a heel to walk away without a glance backward. She turns expectantly back to Chloe, because there’s not a chance in hell that she’s actually going to let him walk away after he said something like that. It’s not possible.
Seconds pass, and stretch into what feels like minutes. Ella feels frantic as time keep marching on, and Chloe continues to stand there with her head in her hands.
When she finally moves, it’s not to follow Lucifer. Instead, she turns back towards the elevators and startles when her eyes land on Ella doing her best impression of a painting on a wall.
“Heyyyyyyy, Chloe.” Ella throws a little wave.
“Ella.”
Ella pushes away from the wall, and moves slowly towards Chloe, not wanting to spook her. “You’re going after him, right?”
Chloe looks at the ground and lets out a long sigh. “No. It’s probably better this way.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Was that Lucifer quitting?”
“I don’t know, Ella…” she flicks her eyes up to Ella, before dropping once again to inspect the laces on her boots. “Probably not, but with me on desk duty...”
“Wait, you’re on desk duty?”
Sighing, Chloe nods. “I’ve admittedly had a...tough time with our recent case,” Chloe said slowly as her eyes bounced around the parking garage. “The counsellor recommended I do desk duty for a bit, so I would have more time to spend with Trixie. To get my mind back in the game. I refused, because, that’s crazy,” she scoffed, a hand lifting in the air in a mindless gesture. “She told me I was too focused, and that I should listen to the opinion of the person I trust the most.” At this, Chloe’s eyes flicked to Ella. “I told her that person was Lucifer.”
Ella could only nod, because it didn’t surprise her in the least that the person Chloe trusted the most was Lucifer.
“When she asked Lucifer’s opinion, he agreed with her assessment, and so now I’m on desk duty for the next few weeks.” Anger flashes across her face then. “He knows how important my job is to me, Ella, and because of him, I’m stuck on desk duty.” Sighing once again, she continued. “I guess this was inevitable.”
“This? As in you and Lucifer?” Ella lets the question hang there, unsure of what Chloe is trying to say but not wanting to overstep her bounds.
Chloe shakes her head, but Ella can see the hurt dance all over her face. “It would never work.”
“You’re wrong.”
Chloe lifts her gaze, clearly caught off guard by the determination in Ella’s words. Ella continues, refusing to take the easy way out before she can lose her nerve. “Lucifer is a weird guy, we can both admit that. I mean, his commitment to his acting role is incredible. But, he’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had. It’s crazy, but even though I haven’t known him that long, I feel like he would do anything for me. I hardly have to explain that to you, though. I mean, you’ve known him longer and are in love with him, so…”
“I’m not…”
“Chloe, please. I spend way too much time with you guys to be wrong about this, so don’t get all coy with me. Because, I know that he loves you too. When I say I feel like he would do anything for me? I know he would do anything for you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he would die for you, to be honest.”
Chloe anxiously twists her fingers together, but doesn’t try to leave or argue.
Ella sighs, choosing her words carefully. “Like I was saying, Lucifer is a good man, and he means a lot to me. Both of you do. And if I could pick anyone for him, match him up with the best person I could find, I would choose you.”
“But…”
“Nope, I’m not finished,” Ella cuts back in with a smile, “because this is the important part, ok? You’re so worked up about Lucifer being overprotective of you, but it’s pretty simple from where I’m standing. You deserve someone who will love you and care for you as much as you love and care for everyone around you. You deserve the kind of guy who will be there for you no matter what. Sounds a lot like Lucifer, doesn’t it?”
Chloe opens her mouth to say something, but Ella still isn’t done, so she presses on.
“And since I’m sure he’ll never admit this, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t feel worthy of you, Chloe. Maybe it’s because of his whole devil-schtick, but I get the feeling he doesn’t think too much of himself, and since he has you on a pedestal, he doesn’t think he would ever make you happy. So, if he’s willing to do something he knows you’ll hate to protect you, then you have to respect that.”
The last part brings a reluctant smile to Chloe’s face. “He would definitely never admit that. Are you not aware of how cocky he is?”
Ella snorts as Chloe takes a deep breath. “I need to talk to him.”
“Uh, yeah you do, girlfriend.” Ella reaches into her pocket and holds out Chloe’s keys. “But, you’ll need these.”
Chloe’s eyes open in realization and she reaches out for the keys. When her fingers clasp around them, she steps forward to pull Ella into a hug. “Thanks, Ella.”
“You bet. I’m team Deckerstar all the way.”
Chloe pulls back with confusion in her eyes. “What?”
Stepping back and shaking her hand in a “forget about it” gesture, Ella snorts as she replies, “never mind. You crazy kids.”
As Chloe makes her way to her car, Ella leans back against the wall, feeling as if she had just run a marathon. But, she needed to find Matos. This was going to be an epic conversation.
--------------
Seven.
Something still isn’t right.
The case is another middle-of-the-night call, just 12 hours after Ella had convinced Chloe to go talk to Lucifer. The two of them should have arrived at the scene looking cheerful, giddy, basically stupid happy. And Ella expects some gratitude, too. She has a lot invested in this relationship and she’s not too proud to admit it, so she’s more than a little disappointed at the lack of payoff.
Lucifer is distant, strangely quiet and avoiding eye contact with everyone – especially Chloe.
And speaking of Chloe, her behavior is even weirder. She’s continually walking around the scene, never stopping longer than a few moments in any place. Even when she’s getting information, she’s having the person she’s talking with move with her. However, she never, ever ventures close to Lucifer.
Ella watches with interest, and her mind starts to wander as her stomach drops to her feet. What if Chloe went over to Lucifer’s, and the conversation went badly? What if she had badly misread everything, and Lucifer didn’t love Chloe? Or that Chloe loved Lucifer? Playing their conversation over in her head, it’s suddenly painfully obvious to Ella that Chloe had never explicitly agreed with anything Ella had said about love or relationships – just that she needed to talk to Lucifer. But if Lucifer was here, that had to mean he at least hadn’t quit the LAPD, right? But he’s also avoided Ella the entire time he’s been on the scene, even going painfully out of the way to avoid her hug. When she swallows, her throat feels like sandpaper, and Ella begins practicing her apologies to both her friends. She had overstepped. She had definitely overstepped.
It doesn’t help that when there’s not much left to do at the scene, Lucifer announces he’s going to head back to the party at Lux, and Ella can practically hear Chloe’s eyeroll. Yup, Lucifer is definitely irritated. Definitely with Ella, and potentially with Chloe, as well.
A few minutes later, Chloe announces she’s going to head off as well, and Ella looks back towards the scene, blowing some hair out of her eyes as she contemplates how long it’ll be before she can leave. If she can get out in the next few minutes, she could head to Lux and at least start her apology tour with Lucifer. Chloe would have to wait for a more decent hour.
In hindsight, it’s painfully obvious. So damn obvious that she can’t believe she missed it.
Ella slowly makes her way through LA streets to Lux, going over and over in her head what she’s going to say to Lucifer when she sees him. Would he even allow her in the building? Oh God, what if she was banned from Lux?
Tossing her keys to the valet, and feeling slightly mollified that at least the valet hadn’t been told of her ban, Ella walks up to and through the front doors, and finds out from the bartender that Lucifer is upstairs.
Ella can’t stop pacing in the elevator. Guilt is eating at her for heading up to Lucifer’s this late. As she paces, she wrings her hands. Lucifer wouldn’t be angry with her. She knew that. And logically, it wasn’t that late. The club was still pumping below, and even if the bartender had told her Lucifer was upstairs, that didn’t mean he was asleep. He could have just gone upstairs to change, or for a break before closing down the place. Yeah, that was it. It would be fine. She wouldn’t be disturbing him.
The soft ding announces the arrival to the penthouse, and the doors open with a quiet whoosh. Ella steps out and sweeps her eyes immediately to the right, assuming Lucifer would be near his bar, or at the very least, at the piano. When that comes up empty, she slowly sweeps her eyes to the left as she moves a few steps further into the penthouse.
When she gets closer to the piano, a moan echoes out of the bedroom, and Ella yelps, “oh, jeez!” Throwing her hands over her eyes, she bumps into the piano as she tries to remove herself from the situation. It’s too late of course. She’s seen it, and her brain is already replaying it over and over again without her permission.
Chloe. Chloe straddling Lucifer. Chloe, completely naked, straddling Lucifer against the headboard. And oh God, Lucifer, also naked, moaning her name with his hands clamped on her hips.
It’s what she’s been dreaming of, but something she never actually wanted to see in person.
Stumbling backwards, Ella feels the cool metal of the elevator doors on her back, and she turns quickly, jabbing her finger repeatedly on the call button. Why, oh why is the damn elevator taking so long? She just got off it. Why wasn’t it still there?
“Ms. Lopez! You can open your eyes.”
“Um, no!” she shakes her hand blindly behind her in the general direction of the bedroom. “I can’t. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t be here. But, I thought…you know what? It doesn’t matter what I thought.” She jams her finger a few times more on the call button and laughs nervously. “Where is this damn elevator?”
When Lucifer chuckles, the sound of his voice is much closer than Ella feels it should be. “Ms. Lopez, it’s quite alright. We’re all decent. Well, I’m decent. The Detective however still needs a few moments.”
Ella dares to sneak a look towards Lucifer’s voice, and relaxes slightly when she sees that Lucifer is indeed decent. Well, as decent as Lucifer could be in a tight robe, she supposes. Feeling brave, Ella then sneaks a look towards the bedroom, and sees Chloe descending the stairs, fully dressed, but with a full blush coloring her face. When Chloe makes her way to Lucifer’s side, he reaches out and wraps his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close to him, with a wide grin splitting his face as he looks down at her.
The action makes Ella swoon a little. She’s still struggling to form a single thought, but manages to put together enough words to semi form a sentence – “How…you guys were acting so, uh, strange earlier, so, um…”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? We were distracted! When the call came in, we were just about to…”
“Lucifer!”
Ella watches as Chloe elbows Lucifer right in the ribs, but it doesn’t seem to alter his course as he then continues with, “and we were working on round two for the day right now as you walked in!”
Chloe buries her face in her hands, and Ella can completely sympathize with the feeling of embarrassment. But, “wait, so…” Ella glances back and forth between Lucifer and Chloe, who has managed to lift her face from her hands, while Lucifer grins proudly. “Is this new or isn’t it?”
“It’s fairly new,” Chloe answers, her eyes bright as she bats Lucifer’s wandering hand away from her side. “We’ve been heading in this direction for a while, but our talk today really helped. So, thanks for that.”
“Sure!” Ella nods as her mind whirs on the best way to break the news to Matos. “You know, you could really show me how much you thank me by hooking me up with some free drinks downstairs. So, you know, you two can…” Ella moves her finger back and forth between the two as she grins and watches as an even deeper blush creeps up Chloe’s neck to cover her face.
Lucifer removes his arm from Chloe’s shoulders to pat at this chest with both hands, a habit for searching for his phone, before he realizes it’s over at the bar and heads in that direction. “Absolutely, Ms. Lopez! Consider yourself covered for the evening!”
It’s that moment that the elevator finally arrives, and she steps backwards into it, unable to keep the massive grin off her face. As the elevator doors close, she hears a delighted squeal that could only have come from Chloe, and as the elevator descends, Ella pulls out her phone to make a call. “Matos is going to lose her mind when she hears this…”
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