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After the exceptional amount of hustling and bustling that had been done before, and on Christmas, Chloe was exhausted.
She and Trixie spent the entirety of Boxing Day drifting in and out of food comas, picking at the mountains of leftovers that Lucifer had made. Chloe wouldn’t need to cook for a week.
She was so busy spending her time with Trixie that New Year’s Eve rolled around and she didn’t even realise that Lucifer hadn’t been around.
“Maze, have you seen Lucifer?” Chloe asked when the demon stomped in the door and flopped down onto the couch mid-afternoon, her hair slightly tousled.
“I don’t work for him anymore, how should I know?”
“Because you regularly save his ass?”
“Between saving his and your ass, and finding assholes who continue to try and run from the law I’m too busy to know what he’s doing.” Maze waved a hand.
“Since when do you save my ass?” Chloe frowned, and Maze went silent.
“Maze?” she prodded.
“You’d still be eating leftovers if it wasn’t for my help.” Maze replied curtly, and Chloe laughed.
“Listen, Trixie really wants to bring in the New Year with you, are you going to be around?”
“I’m not leaving this couch except for alcohol and food. Trixie can join me if she wishes. Where are you going?”
“To do errands.” Chloe responded, trying not to blush. Maze just laughed.
“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it. By the way, he likes red lace.”
--
Lucifer sat on his balcony, looking over the city as he tapped his fingers on his knee. Below him Lux was a flurry of people, all dancing and drinking their way into 2017. When he had set the theme as ‘New Beginnings’, he had expected people to be naughty and come dressed scantily. He had not expected the majority of girls to wear white angel wings.
Unfortunately it had somewhat killed the mood, and so he retreated upstairs. He wanted some quiet to reflect on the year that had passed – and on everything that had happened.
For the first time in a long time, Lucifer had enabled the security code on his elevator. Only a select few people knew it, and he wasn’t particularly in the mood for random visitors tonight. He hadn’t seen Chloe since Christmas Day, taking the time to sort his affairs – accounts needed going over, Lux needed some restocking after Christmas, and he had wanted to unwind as well as giving Chloe some uninterrupted time with Trixie.
He was on the way to his bar when the shifting sound of his elevator made him pause. When the doors pinged, he should have known that Trixie, Maze and Chloe would spill out into his apartment.
“Lucifer!” she cannoned into his legs, something that was becoming alarmingly familiar.
“Beatrice, what a surprise.”
“It was all her idea.” Maze jerked her thumb towards Chloe as she sat down on his couch and put her feet up.
“We bought the party to you.” Chloe held up a bottle of champagne, and Lucifer smiled.
“Excellent.”
Trixie and Maze soon commandeered the couch, watching movies and laughing between themselves as Chloe poured two glasses of Champagne despite Lucifer’s protests and sat down next to him at the piano.
He let his fingers run across the keys as Chloe shifted closer, letting her leg settle against his.
“Shouldn’t you and Beatrice be celebrating at your house?”
“Well, our usual is to eat chocolate and drink sparkling apple juice until midnight, which usually means me waking up Trixie at 11:58 after she falls asleep at 9.”
“And you decided to do differently this year?”
“I thought it might be nice to have another adult to celebrate with.”
“I may have preferred it if you had come alone, for a different kind of celebration.” He purred, and Chloe laughed.
“It’s not your birthday.”
“If that’s my gift, then I look forward to that night.” Lucifer winked, watching as Chloe laughed again and blushed.
It was absolutely ridiculous how pretty she looked when she laughed.
Lucifer entertained Chloe with songs and chatter as the hours ticked by, and he soon lost count of how many glasses of Champagne they had consumed. Beatrice and Maze fell asleep leaning on each other, settled on the couch and as it approached midnight Lucifer stood, offering his hand to Chloe.
“Let’s go sit outside.”
They pulled closed the glass door behind them, sitting at the outside table as Chloe glanced up at the sky.
“What a year it’s been.”
“Indeed, my dear Detective.”
“Are you ever going to call me Chloe?”
“I quite like Detective, it emphasises how important you are.”
“In general, or to you?” she asked, biting her lip as she looked at him.
“Both.” A soft smile curled the edges of his lips.
“I’m ridiculously glad that I met you, and have you as my partner. I couldn’t have wished for a better turn of events, especially after Palmetto.”
“Despite the unfortunate events that threw us together, I’m exceptionally grateful to have your presence in my life.” Lucifer let Chloe link her hand with his, despite usually hating minor displays of affection. Nothing about himself in Chloe’s presence was normal. And thankfully, she chased away the tendency to dwell on the struggles that he had faced this year, and blame himself for them. Every moment with Chloe that had been good, which had been most of them, completely outweighed every bad moment. He only hoped it would stay that way.
“Hopefully 2017 is slightly better, and doesn’t involve your life being endangered.” He joked, his free hand coming up to cup her chin.
“It’ll get off to a good start at least.” Chloe smiled, and Lucifer’s eyes twinkled.
“I could make it an even better one, if we move this to my room.”
“Shut up.” Chloe laughed, closing the distance between them as fireworks went off, people’s cheers and yells echoing up from the streets below.
“Happy New Year, Detective.” Lucifer whispered to her as they pulled apart slightly, his nose grazing her cheek as she moved closer to him.
“Happy New Year, Lucifer.” She tilted her head, meeting his lips with hers again.