Chapter Text
Considering he and The Detective were looking for Mum/Charlotte Richards, the last place Lucifer expected to end up was his daughter’s grave. The LAPD had cornered off as much of the forest as they could which created a trail from where Ella had jumped out of her car to where she’d dug Lily out. Dirt and stones were scattered throughout the clearing with a few fallen apples adding splashes of red to an otherwise muddy scene. The grave itself only had a small opening when they’d arrived but now it was wide open, courtesy of the shovels that now leant against the tree.
Lucifer easily spotted Chloe and Ella, standing by the hole whilst cycling through the photos on Miss Lopez’s camera. Despite the horrible memories trying to break their way in, he managed to keep up his upbeat disposition as he skipped over to them. However on closer inspection he couldn’t help but notice the bandages that were wrapped around Ella’s hands. If they hurt she didn’t show it, especially when she ran to Lucifer and wrapped him in a hug even tighter than normal.
“You’re so brave for coming here, if you need a hug at any point don’t hesitate”
“Thank you, Miss Lopez” Lucifer awkwardly replied as he escaped her grip “What happened to your hands?”
“Oh, this?” She gave him a ‘Jazz Hands’ gesture “Just from when I dug Lily out. Didn’t have any shovels so these had to do” Ella then sighed and looked contemplative “It was a little weird actually. It was like…The Big Guy was compelling me to come here, to save Lily. Weird huh?”
“Well I don’t think my Father had much to do with all this other than putting Lily down there” Lucifer shakily retorted before turning to Chloe “Detective, I’m afraid I don’t understand what my little princess has to do with Charlotte Richards”
“Oh, I transferred her case to Dan” Chloe replied as if it was obvious.
Which it clearly wasn’t given Lucifer’s stricken expression “What? Why?!”
The Officers turned to stare so Chloe grabbed his arm and shushed him “Because this is important to you. I understand that this could be very distressing for you, which is why I don’t expect you to help, but I’m solving Lily’s case”
“But you were already working on Charlotte Richards’ case! Why switch?”
Chloe sighed “Because, despite everything you do, I know you’d do the same for me, because that’s what partners do”
Lucifer was stunned. Of course Chloe was right. If Ella had run into the precinct with a mud covered Trixie and told him that someone had buried her alive he’d move Heaven and Hell to rip the culprit apart. Only in this situation he was the culprit. Yes they were Maze’s weapons, yes she’d left them on the table but Lucifer was the one who hadn’t been watching her, who carelessly thought taking his eye off of a three year old wouldn’t have any consequences.
And it was Lucifer who had buried her in that dammed hole.
In his opinion Chloe was the greatest detective to ever live so it was only a matter of time until everything came out.
“I…I don’t know what to say” was all he managed.
“Oh come here” Ella said, hugging him again “If you need a moment then don’t hesitate to take it”
“…I think I will” Lucifer said before rushing back to the road.
“What the fuck do you want me to do?!” Maze shouted down the phone at Lucifer. In the Penthouse she turned and Lucifer overheard her say “Not you Princess, your Daddy’s being a moron”
Lucifer sighed “I don’t know Maze, send her to Day care whilst you find Mum before Dan does?!”
“Hmm, making the Antichrist spend all day surrounded by snot-nosed brats that can’t keep their hands to themselves and bite. Sounds like a brilliant idea”
“Well, do you have any suggestions?! Because shooting down mine only gets us halfway”
“Ok, ok…How about Amenadiel?”
“Tracking down Mum?”
“Uriel?”
“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer”
“Fair. A Nanny?”
“Crowley’s in England, something about the M25” Lucifer paused “Actually, you’ve given me an idea”
On the other end of the line, Maze pulled a face “I have?”
“Well it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to a Nanny this quickly but humans have children all the time without any training and learn as they go along, so surely a parent will do just fine”
“Huh” Maze took a sip of what she told Lily was apple juice (no she wasn’t allowed any) “I guess that could work, we just need to find a parent”
“Well, obviously the Detective’s busy-”
“Got it”
“Maze? Maze!” Lucifer shouted down the phone but Maze had already hung up. The only thing he could do was go to work and hope Maze would make the right choice.
The L.A. sun burned through the car windows but Dan put on a pair of sunglasses and paid it no further attention, continuing to blast old rock songs that were long forgotten and use the steering wheel as a drum kit. Given how hard his job could be, Dan found it important to find happiness whenever possible if you wanted to stay sane. Despite all of this, Dan made sure to focus on the road which is why he was so surprised when he slammed on the breaks. He hadn’t seen anything that would make him stop, nor even made the decision to hit the brakes, it just happened. His head swivelled around as he tried to figure out what had happened until the sound of the door opening caught his attention and he watched as Lily clambered into the car. Dan froze in shock as he watched her make herself comfortable, strap herself in and turn to face him.
“Hi”
He sputtered and stuttered until he finally managed to respond “Wha…What are you doing here?!”
“Auntie Maze sent me”
“Wh-Why?!”
“I don’t know, she said she’s working and Daddy’s busy”
“Daddy…Daddy-Right! Lucifer!”
Dan fumbled through his pockets until he yanked out his phone, almost dropping it in the process. He frantically scrolled until he found Lucifer’s number and dialled it. It rung for what felt like hours until finally going to voicemail.
Hello, Lucifer Morningstar here. I’m too busy having fun on this lovely planet of your’s so leave a message and I’ll see if I can fit you in…Unless your Dan –Beep-
Dan could hear the chuckle that no doubt followed that message when Lucifer made it. He sighed and put the phone down. Clearly there wasn’t going to be an easy way out of this. Obviously he wasn’t going to abandon Lily on the side of the road and if she needed a babysitter then he couldn’t just send her back to the Penthouse, especially unsupervised (Dan shuddered when he thought of Lucifer’s reputation and the types of things she could find).
The Chief was fairly understanding when these emergency situations came up…
Dan fought the desire to swear and put on a smile.
“Have you eaten?” He asked.
“No” Lily replied, swinging her feet in boredom.
“Well then we’ll go get something!” Dan suggested enthusiastically, which gained no reaction from Lily however he wasn’t deterred. He knew what had happened to her and decided that if he was going to spend the day with her then he was going to remind her what it meant to be a child “What do you like to eat?”
Lily hummed until admitting that she didn’t know.
“Well I like waffles, have you ever had waffles before?”
“No”
“Luckily for you, I’m the Waffle Master and know all the best waffle places in L.A.”
Lily didn’t respond and simply stared at the strange man, intrigued enough to be entertained.
The dinner was full of endless chatter and the constant chimes of cutlery. Lily sat in a booth, humming happily as she tucked into her second plate of waffles, covered in chocolate sauce and strawberries which she quickly discovered were her favourite fruit. Dan found a quiet corner (that wasn’t actually that quiet) that he could watch Lily from and called into work, simply telling then he was sick as he didn’t have the time to explain the full situation (who did when Lucifer was involved?).
By the time he was finished the waitress was crouched next to Lily as they engaged in conversation. Whilst Lily wasn’t the most talkative child she wasn’t exactly shy either so Dan didn’t think anything of it as he walked back to the table.
At least he didn’t, until he caught the end of their conversation.
“Is that man you’re daddy?”
“No, I do not know who he is”
Dan scrambled over at the same time as the waitress stood so she was in between them.
He laughed nervously and scrambled for a solution “Ha, she’s such a joker! I’m actually her uncle-”
“No you are not, my uncle’s this colour” Lily argued, pointing at the chocolate sauce.
“I’m calling the police” The Waitress announced, grabbing Lily’s arm.
Instantly Lily froze up.
“No need!” Dan declared, pulling out his badge “This is all a BIG misunderstanding” He laughed nervously.
“Why are you laughing?” Lily asked “You are not funny”
“I don’t have time for this” The Waitress declared “Why is this girl with you?”
“She’s part of an investigation” The Waitress immediately softened when she looked at Lily. Dan looked at the little girl with an expression that begged her to go along with him. She contemplated this before nodding at the Waitress “I can’t reveal everything but please understand that I’m just trying to calm her down. I have no intention of hurting her”
This finally convinced the Waitress, who let them leave with a comped meal and an extra strawberry milkshake for Lily. Lily left with a spring in her step and Dan left with a huge sigh of relief.
It wasn’t even ten o’clock.