Chapter Text
He wasn’t in touch, at least with Chloe, and she didn’t ask Trixie or Linda for updates. Maze hadn’t returned to the United States as far as she could tell — she wasn’t really entirely certain why she’d gone to Berlin unless she actually thought that Chloe’s knowledge of him being in Berlin near Museumsinsel was a valid threat on his life. She didn’t want to think about it that hard, truthfully, though she likely deserved the guilt that went along with it.
A week later, however, Trixie came wandering out of her bedroom long after bedtime. Chloe was sitting on the couch blankly watching television when she saw her moving out of the corner of her eye.
‘Monkey?‘
‘He’ll be back tomorrow,’ she interrupted, the last syllable getting caught up in a yawn, before wandering on back to her bedroom.
Chloe watched after her, barely breathing as her heart thumped wildly in her chest.
At breakfast, Trixie provided the airport — Burbank — and time — around six in the evening. She reminded Chloe that he was flying private, so he wouldn’t be outside of baggage claim for pickup: she would have to make it to the correct hangar and greet him as he deplaned solo, or she would have to hope he was up for visitors at the penthouse that night.
Chloe told Dan that Lucifer was returning, trying to remain as neutral as she’d appeared at work despite her inner glee that he was coming back to Los Angeles. He agreed to pick Trixie up from school and keep her that Friday night. After some digging to find the plane Lucifer was using — which she found out was actually his own plane, just under an LLC, because of course it was — she was able to find where it was stored. A few strategic badge flashes and she found herself in the empty yet lit hangar feeling extremely uncomfortable and lightly traumatized remembering Malcolm’s attacks on Lucifer, Trixie, and her the year before. As she walked further in, she quickly found Lucifer’s Corvette parked well away from where the plane would be stored. Carefully opening the door, she sat in the passenger seat to wait.
An hour after arrival, the hangar door opened, and soon the Dassault was entering the bay. Chloe got out of the car and watched nervously. Once it stopped, the stairs were lowered, and two flight attendants, one male and the other female, exited first, each carrying a garment bag which they brought toward the Corvette. They were speaking to each other in German before noticing Chloe and slowing, staring at her.
‘Are you authorized to be here?’ the woman asked. ‘This is a private hangar, and Mr Morningstar did not mention any guests.’
‘He doesn’t know I’m here,’ she replied weakly. ‘It’s a surprise.’
‘Fabien! Katerina!’ came Lucifer’s voice from the plane, and she stood up straight, the sound a balm to her ears. ‘You’ll likely need these for the boot.’
He skipped down the stairs quickly holding his own garment bag as well as what was most assuredly an absurdly expensive leather duffel bag. His key ring was hanging from the index finger of the hand on the arm holding the duffel. He strode to them before the two flight attendants parted and Chloe became visible. He stopped absolutely dead immediately.
‘Detective,’ he said before swallowing roughly.
‘Do we need to contact the authorities, Mr Morningstar?’ asked the female flight attendant.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ he replied. ‘She’s a… friend.’
After several very long seconds, he walked to the boot and unlocked it, and they put all of his bags in. The three spoke German to each other for a couple of minutes before the flight attendants stared at Chloe then walked off toward the main terminal. Lucifer closed the boot but remained hunched over it, hands pressed to the metal.
‘So,’ he said softly, tracking the pilot and copilot with his eyes, waving when they did before leaving the hangar. Behind them, the ground crew started checking out the plane. ‘I wasn’t particularly expecting to see you here.’
‘Trixie told me you were coming home.’
‘Urchin,’ he grumbled before straightening and walking around to the driver’s side. ‘Did you drive yourself here, or…?’
‘Uber,’ she confirmed.
‘Get in then.’
He didn’t speak again until they were on the freeway.
‘I suppose we should talk this through,’ he finally said, and she nodded. ‘I’m not particularly concerned about the optics of our time with friends, but we obviously need to plan out how to approach work.’
‘Whatever you want,’ she replied. ‘I’m willing to behave however you’d like.’
‘You must have some agency,’ he said with concern that she didn’t expect. ‘Let’s… I guess let’s go to the penthouse and have a think for a few hours, as Trixie informed me that she was at her father’s this evening.’
She just nodded, and they were quiet again until reaching Lux. Lucifer entirely bypassed the club, stating he’d talk to Patrick and the others the next day. Chloe carried in the duffel while he took the garment bags, and he disappeared to hang the bags in the closet before coming back and taking the duffel, also putting it in the closet while she went to sit on the couch. As she waited, she stared at the empty armchair across from her, tense. He bounded down the stairs from the bedroom like always before slowing and staring at the chair as well.
‘We will perhaps be alright,’ he said softly as he walked to the couch and sat a couple of feet from her. ‘It will just take effort in rebuilding.’
‘Whatever it takes,’ she replied, writhing her hands, and she jumped a bit when one of his hands settled atop hers. The physical touch from him after nearly a month and a half was almost electric.
‘I believe it important for this schism to appear to be my fault in the bullpen to avoid extraneous questioning. I’m seemingly the more likely of us to have caused anguish,’ he said softly, absentmindedly rubbing her hand with his thumb before stopping abruptly, likely realizing that he was falling back into a habit from the time before. ‘If we need to have actual discussions, and we will, we shall use the interrogation room.’
She nodded slowly. ‘What do you want to do?’
‘Behave anxiously,’ he replied. ‘Stay quiet. Act hesitant about being in your proximity.’
She nodded again, a jerking movement.
He sighed as he slowly removed his hand from hers. ‘This won’t be quick, Chloe.’
‘I know,’ she said, looking over at the opening to the bedroom and remembering the times she woke up blissfully in his arms. The thought brought her physical pain. ‘But that’s okay. I’m willing to work, and I’m willing to wait.’
He stared at her for a bit. ‘I really hope that’s the case. My threshold for leaving Los Angeles to a myriad of places is extremely low at the moment, and I can’t promise I’d be willing to give you a third chance.’
‘Understood completely,’ she said calmly, but she was screaming internally.
When she looked over at him, he was typing on his phone, and just before he set it down, she saw he was texting Trixie.
‘Care for a drink?’ he asked.
‘Sure.’
He got up and walked to the bar, quietly getting a decanter and glasses before pouring. She watched every practiced move, performed so smoothly and gracefully like everything he did. He walked back, handing her a glass before speaking into his.
‘Maze didn’t want me to come back, you know,’ he said before taking a sip. ‘Or she wanted to be with me. It took a lot of convincing to get her to do otherwise. She’s still disbelieving of the thought that you won’t kill me.’
He sat down across from her, and she looked at him with concern.
‘Why do you, Maze, and Linda think that could actually happen?’ she asked, mystified. ‘Everything I read said the Devil is invincible.’
‘Except around you,’ he said with raised eyebrows before taking another sip.
‘Excuse me?’
‘If I’m around you, I can be injured. Killed.’
She gaped.
‘With the exception of one wielding celestial or infernal weaponry, you’re the only one who could murder me solo,’ he replied, then looked to the ceiling for a moment with one eye closed. ‘Though I guess you could hire someone and just be close by while I’m murdered. Regardless, my regnal bodyguard is not fond of this. Be on your best behavior now, Detective.’
‘That’s right,’ she said softly. ‘You’re an actual king.’
‘Awful kingdom, and certainly not one I asked for, but yes,’ Lucifer replied with a shrug. ‘A deity, an archangel, a king, a lord, whatever positions humans have given me over the years.’
She expected to take that innuendo and run with it, but he said nothing. ‘I know our absolute focus needs to be on our relationship now, but if there ever comes a time that I’m able to ask questions, I truly have so many.’
‘I’m sure you do,’ he said with the slightest air of annoyance. ‘You should ask your child first. She may know the answer. She’s been soaking up celestial and infernal information like a sponge since this all started.’
He smiled fondly.
‘She’s a good one, your offspring,’ he admitted. ‘Excellent job with that creation.’
She took a long sip of her drink. ‘When do you want to come back to work?’
‘Monday will be perfectly fine,’ he said lightly.
‘Do you want to carpool, or…?’ she replied with a slightly hopeful smile, but he looked at her severely.
‘This is going to occur in stages, Chloe. No carpooling, no dinners, no overnights,’ he responded, leaning forward. ‘We will see how things go when surrounded by others, one agreement I made with Maze for her to allow me to return without her version of panic. She would be horrified that we’re alone now.’
‘I would never murder you, Lucifer.’
‘Do you not realize the point of exorcism, or holy water, or the crucifix?’ he pushed. ‘They’re meant to burn me again, scare me into abandoning Earth, or truly and permanently return me to Hell by ripping my soul from my physical body. Do any of them work? Absolutely not. But it’s the intention, Chloe, and your intention was to injure and destroy me. Why wouldn’t my most loyal servant and protector worry that you would murder me to attain your ends, ends that you admitted to after the priest left and over me when you were praying to Michael. Do you not remember the words?’
‘By the power of God, thrust into Hell Satan,’ she muttered in response.
‘Michael, unbelievable,’ he hissed, turning to look out the windows at the gathering night. ‘You may leave when you finish your drink.’
—
While he didn’t lie, Lucifer was breathtakingly good at obscuring the truth, and that was never more apparent than when he returned to work. The whole situation made her absurdly uncomfortable, but she wondered if that was part of the point. The awkward, sustained silence so she couldn’t hear his melodious, soothing voice that she didn’t realize she missed so much. The horrible almost touches when he was close enough that she felt his warmth but brushed over her rather than secretly caressing like he did before all of this. While she knew she deserved it, seeing him acting so blatantly anxious around her was heart-wrenching, and she wondered if this is how he behaved with Linda as she and Maze shot off angry missives to her in the days following her shitty reaction to him, or if it’s how he felt before taking off from Burbank in July to put a safe distance between the two of them.
A week after he returned to work, the first week of September, Chloe walked by Trixie’s bedroom door, catching the sound of his voice as they FaceTimed. She paused, listening as they joyfully spoke, and slowly sat down near the door despite knowing it encroached on Trixie’s privacy. Lucifer had mentioned in passing a few days earlier that he enjoyed speaking with Trixie despite hating other children because talking to her was more like speaking to an adult than a child despite her being only eight years old. Their conversation wasn’t about school or childish pastimes — she asked about his travels (yes, he’d been to Siberia before), how he chose Maze as his second-in-command (she chose him), whether he knew Galileo (he did, and apparently sometime during that trial was his most recent exorcism attempt).
‘When are you coming over for game night again?’ Trixie asked, and Chloe could tell she was smiling.
Lucifer sighed. ‘Things aren’t quite straight between your mother and me, love.’
‘Oh,’ Trixie muttered, deflated. ‘When will they be?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replied in a small voice, and for the first time since his return, he sounded a bit sad instead of angry or righteously standoffish.
‘I love you,’ Trixie stammered. ‘And Mommy seems really, really sorry!’
‘I’m afraid that a sorry isn’t quite adequate in this situation, dear child,’ he responded. ‘Your mum made me feel unsafe, and it will unfortunately take some time to build back our relationship.’
‘What did she do? Maze said it was terrible but wouldn’t tell me details.’
‘Nor shall I,’ he said a bit tightly. ‘I’d rather not drag you into this.’
‘But I am in it,’ she said. ‘I can’t visit you, and you won’t visit me.’
He sighed again, this one heavier. ‘Okay, how about this. If Linda is available, perhaps you and your mum can come to the penthouse for dinner this weekend.’
Trixie was silent, but Chloe had to assume she was nodding vigorously.
‘Right then. Go to sleep, Urchin. I’ll discuss details with Linda and your mum tomorrow.’
There was the click of the video disconnecting then silence.