Paperwork.
Sometimes it truly was the bane of her existence. The little boxes began to blur together before Chloe's eyes. She squeezed them shut and pinched the bridge of her nose to clear her vision. She had just spent the last several hours (or at least, it felt like several hours) in a meeting with IA after the events of The Loft. Yes, the capitalization was warranted. It was that big of a deal. She had seen Dan out of the conference room window while she was being "interrogated." In the amount of time she had spent explaining the events over and over again to Internal Affairs, Dan had arrived at the station, booked and processed Barrow, and left again.
Internal Affairs was not happy. Apparently having a crime boss as Lieutenant to a precinct was frowned upon. As if it was her fault. She wasn't the one to hire him. Clearly their vetting process left something to be desired.
She looked back down to her paperwork. Thankfully, she was almost done. It really was no wonder why Lucifer loathed doing paperwork so much.
"This pile could rival the Empire State Building, Detective."
Chloe smiled wistfully at Lucifer's voice in her head. Her thoughts had quickly turned to the self-proclaimed Devil. It was only natural. Not only had she been defending him to IA for hours ("He killed Lieutenant Pierce in self-defense" was a sentence she probably said about a dozen times) but she couldn't stop thinking about him and the details of the afternoon. Some facts just didn't add up.
Like how did she end up on the roof in such a small amount of time? Yes, she had blacked out after getting shot in the chest. But she couldn't have been out for that long.
She knew she heard gunshots. And Lucifer's shirt had holes in them consistent with bullet holes – it couldn't have been a trick of the light and yet there were no injuries on his chest.
But he had bled from his arm where Pierce had slashed at him with the very blade that killed him. A point to IA to drive home the fact that Lucifer had acted in self-defense. Plus, the only prints found on the blade were Pierce's. Chloe kept her mouth shut about the single set of fingerprints found because she knew it was one of Maze's blades. She had seen them enough over the years, not to mention she had seen them embedded in her apartment's walls lately. Clearly the bartender turned bounty hunter was going through something. Once this investigation was over, she would have to find some way to return the blade to its rightful owner.
How did Maze get mixed up in everything anyway? Had she been working with Marcus? No, he was Pierce. "Marcus" was way too familiar after everything he had done. He had blatantly stated that he wanted to kill Lucifer right in front of her.
The audacity.
Her eyes turned to her phone. Was it too soon to call Lucifer? Surely he had patched his arm up by now. They had to continue their conversation. He had quite a history of running when things began to get real between them. She shouldn't give him the chance to run. She let out a deep sigh. She needed answers. She pushed away from her desk, grabbed her keys, and headed to her car – paperwork forgotten.
~*~
"Anddddd… done," Ella plopped the final bullet into a small acquired basin. The bowl (or rather bowls were) already brimming with too many retrieved bullets.
"Wow," Dan shook his head and snapped his gloves off, "A hundred and four bullets… unbelievable."
Lucifer folded his wings to his back, remaining in the visible plane. They were a bit stiff but they felt much better unfurled. He was able to move them with much more ease – now that they were rid of all the holes. His Celestial healing had already begun to work. All that remained was to clean all the blood from them and clean himself up as well. He was sure he looked ghastly. He turned around so he was sitting (now much more) comfortably, legs folded, in the middle of his bed and looked to his friends. He gave them both a grateful smile.
"Thank you both for helping me," Lucifer said genuinely, "You really didn't need to."
"What are friends for?" Ella returned a smile with a shrug of her one shoulder as she balled up her own soiled gloves. She brushed a stray strand of hair from her face behind her ear.
"Why don't you clean yourself up in my washroom, Miss Lopez?" Lucifer offered, nodding toward said bathroom, "You look awful."
"Gee, thanks, Lucifer. You really know how to compliment a girl," Ella returned with an amused eye roll, "But I'm good. You're the one who should clean up first. Your bedroom looks like one of our murder scenes."
Lucifer looked down at his blood-soaked bed. She wasn't wrong. There was enough blood on his sheets to constitute a murder. He looked back up at Ella. He hummed in agreement.
"Still, I insist you clean yourself up after a job well done," Lucifer insisted, "I can wash up in my hot tub… there's more room for my wings. And my cleaners have had the task of cleaning far more dubious things in there than blood."
Ella made a disgusted face but kept her comments to herself.
"Besides, Daniel can clean the bed up while I freshen up," Lucifer said with finality.
"Thanks for volunteering me," Dan said sarcastically.
With an amused shake of her head at Lucifer and Dan's banter and after Lucifer gave her directions to his bathroom, complete with how to work his fancy shower, she headed off to her destination with the goal of making herself feel like a person again.
"You know, you could help me change the sheets and comforter on your bed, Lucifer," Dan said as Lucifer slowly scooted his way to the other end of the bed and got up opposite of the side where Dan stood.
"I could," Lucifer smirked. He flicked his wings in what was no doubt an unconscious (or perhaps conscious) dismissal and headed toward his balcony and hot tub without another word.
Dan rolled his eyes. Lucifer was still Lucifer. That was actually a comfort in light of all the recent revelations. He turned to address the task at hand. He bent down to put on another pair of gloves from one of the almost-used-up first aid kits.
There really was a ton of blood. Ella wasn't wrong. It did look like a murder scene. After a few minutes of bunching up Lucifer's blood-soaked sheets, another blood pool flashed in his mind's eye.
The sheets morphed into a white shirt covered in small black polka dots before Dan's mind's eyes – a blood pool right in the center. Blood glinted off of a waffle bracelet.
Charlotte.
His Adam's apple bobbed at the thought of his lost love. Pierce had taken her from him and Lucifer knew about their former Lieutenant's extracurricular activities. Why didn't he tell them anything? Did he not care? Or worse, did he condone it? Why hadn't Lucifer said anything about Pierce to any of them? Maybe if he had warned them, Charlotte would still be…
"Daniel?"
Dan was startled out of his thoughts. He whipped around. Speak of the… well.
Lucifer had changed into his black robe with the red trim. His hair was wet and streaked back. He had a towel around his neck catching any stray water droplets. His wings had disappeared to wherever it was they went. He looked simply like Lucifer. Though there was a look of concern spread across the Devil's face.
How long had he been standing there staring blankly back at the Archangel?
Right.
Lucifer had addressed him.
"Why didn't you ever say anything about Pierce?" Dan asked.
"I did," Lucifer stepped closer.
"No, you didn't," Dan shook his head, his emotions getting the better of him.
"You didn't say anything to me and you sure as hell didn't say anything with enough warning for me to save Charlotte!"
Lucifer's gaze turned empathetic and stepped closer to the distraught detective. Dan's lip quivered as he held back tears, looking to Lucifer for answers. Lucifer reached out a comforting hand. He left his hand hovering above Dan's shoulder, unsure if his comfort was desired.
"If you had spoken up sooner, I could've maybe saved Charlotte," Dan's voice wavered barely above a whisper. He sucked in a breath, holding his tears at bay.
Lucifer nodded his head toward his couch and Dan let himself be led over.
"Why didn't you say anything to me about Pierce?" Dan seemed incapable of asking anything else. His voice broke at the end as he sat down on the long couch.
"If I had, can you honestly tell me you would've believed me?" Lucifer sighed as he sat down next to Dan.
Dan looked into Lucifer's eyes.
"No…" Dan breathed truthfully as a single tear fell. He let out a shuddered exhale, "I wouldn't have. I would've thought you were just making shit up…"
"And that kills me the most."
"You mustn't blame yourself for what happened to Charlotte, Daniel," Lucifer reached out to firmly grasp Dan's shoulder. The move caused Dan to look back up at Lucifer.
"How can I not, man?" Dan shrugged, "If I had paid closer attention, I would've seen that she was investigating him and maybe I could've helped. Maybe I could've been there to stop him… I could've…"
"Been the one to get killed instead," Lucifer cut him off, "You'll torture yourself with all the what-ifs, Daniel. Trust me."
"She was alone," another tear slipped down Dan's cheek.
"No, she wasn't," Lucifer told him.
Dan gaped at him in confusion. Lucifer elaborated.
"Amenadiel was with her."
"Amenadiel? But he wasn't at the scene when we got there. Was he a witness?" Dan furrowed his brow and sat up a little straighter.
"I believe Amenadiel was actually the intended target," Lucifer admitted.
"What and Charlotte just got in the way? Where is Amenadiel now? Is he okay?" Dan grew worried. His voice rose with each question.
"He's fine," Lucifer assured him, "In fact, I believe he carried our dear Charlotte up to the Silver City."
"Silver City?" Dan didn't understand.
"Heaven, Daniel," Lucifer said.
Dan released a breath.
"She's in Heaven?" Dan looked away from Lucifer as a slight smile grew on his lips, the tears now forming in his eyes for a whole different reason, "She's in Heaven."
"She is," Lucifer returned the smile, "And I'm sure you'll see her again one day."
Dan sighed with a slight scoff, "I can only hope."
"Let go of that guilt, Daniel," Lucifer was firm in his gaze, "And you will."
"I guess there are some benefits to being friends with the Devil, huh?" Dan elbowed him.
"Friends?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow, a teasing affront in his tone. After a beat, he smirked, "Well, I won't tell anyone if you don't."
"Deal," Dan laughed.
~*~
Chloe turned the ignition off in her car and let out a breath. She told Lucifer "No more metaphors" – they were finally at a stage in their relationship where all signs pointed to them heading in the same direction together – potentially giving a romantic relationship between them a shot. It was time to get some answers. With a determined nod of her head, she got out of her car, and headed into the building.
Once inside, she was met with surprise.
"Chloe? What are you doing here?"
"Sorry to bother you so late, Linda," Chloe apologized as she stepped into Linda's office. Linda closed the door behind her.
"I wanted to talk to you about something," Chloe nervously twisted her hands together and turned back toward the therapist. Linda's mouth was agape and her eyes darted toward her couch and quickly back to Chloe. She followed the therapist's gaze only to be greeted by a busted-up Maze sitting on the couch.
"Maze? What are you doing here? Are you okay?" Chloe instantly moved over to her injured roommate with worry.
"I'm fine. It wasn't anything I couldn't handle," Maze assured her, "What are you doing here?"
"I had something I wanted to get Linda's advice on," Chloe replied, trailing off a little, concern for the self-proclaimed demon taking over. Maze was seriously busted up, "But seriously, Maze, what happened to you? You look like you've been through a war."
"Not a war… just fought a dozen guys," Maze shrugged it off.
"A dozen guys- what?" Chloe wasn't following.
"She was being held captive," Linda clarified, "Apparently Pierce's men were holding her. He threatened my life and Maze escaped and ran over here to save me."
"Pierce threatened you too? Oh my God," Chloe shook her head. She took a deep breath and sat down next to Maze. She couldn't believe there was even more danger for her friends than she knew.
"I was just about to leave actually," Maze said, "Enough time has passed. I think Pierce was lying about the hit on Linda. I was going to go hunt down that son of a bitch myself. You want to come, Decker?"
"Pierce is dead," Chloe stopped Maze from getting up.
"What?!" Maze and Linda reacted in unison.
"Pierce was the one that killed Charlotte. We were trying to track him down. Lucifer and I walked into a trap he set… we got separated. Pierce and Lucifer fought and Lucifer killed him in self-defense," Chloe summarized.
"Wait a minute, Charlotte was killed?" Linda put up a hand. She was sitting on the table in front of the couch where Maze and Chloe sat.
"Nobody told you?" Chloe didn't know.
Linda shook her head.
"I didn't know about Charlotte either," Maze said – emotions flickered across her face faster than Chloe could register them before her face settled on concern.
"You said that Lucifer killed Pierce?"
"Yes," Chloe nodded, "But it was self-defense, Maze. Pierce threatened to kill him. I'm sure if Lucifer hadn't gained the upper hand, he would've."
"And Pierce is dead dead? Like he didn't pop back up?" Maze wanted to make sure.
"How could he possibly have popped back up, Maze?" Chloe shook her head. Maybe one day she would understand the strange woman.
"Wow," Maze simply said.
"Is Lucifer okay?" Linda asked.
"Mostly," Chloe nodded, "Pierce managed to slice his arm but it looked like a superficial wound. He went back to his penthouse to patch himself up. I've been with IA all evening."
"I thought you said you and him got separated when they were fighting," Maze said.
"We were," Chloe didn't see what that had to do with anything, "The blade Pierce used was one of yours, Maze… I'm going to do what I can to see if I can get it back to you once the investigation is over."
"That bastard took one of my blades?! Oh-ho… he better count himself lucky he's dead," Maze's lip curled in anger.
"I'm glad you're all okay," Linda brought them back on topic, "What was it you wanted to talk to me about, Chloe?"
Chloe opened her mouth to answer and looked over to Maze.
"Actually, it's a little personal."
"We're Tribe," Maze said with a shrug. She didn't make any move to get up. In fact, she made herself more comfortable by lying back into the pillows on the couch, her arms spread out along the back.
"Maze," Linda gave the demon a look.
"Right," Maze got the hint and sat up. She knew she still had to mend fences with her roommate. It would take time. A demon can grow, after all.
"I'll just be outside if you need me then."
After Maze left the room and a beat of silence to make sure the demon wasn't eavesdropping, Linda took her usual seat across from Chloe on the couch.
"So, what's on your mind, Chloe?" Linda got into therapist mode.
"It's about Lucifer," Chloe started.
"You said he was okay," Linda was a little concerned.
"He is… physically at least," Chloe assured her, "It's just before we walked into that trap and everything went down with Pierce, we sort of… had a moment."
"A moment?" Linda's lips curled up in a smile.
"It just feels like the two of us are finally moving forward in our… well, whatever it is that we have together. And you know that whenever it starts to seem like things are getting a bit real between us, he takes off running in the other direction," Chloe tried to get her thoughts together, "And, well… you know, I don't have to tell you about Lucifer's metaphors. I just feel like he's hiding in his metaphors so much that he won't fully open up to me. And I don't know what to do…"
"I really want to give us a shot."
"I think he'd love nothing more," Linda told her honestly.
"But how do I get him to stop with his Devil talk?" Chloe asked.
Linda opened her mouth to respond, but Chloe kept rambling on, "I mean, I know I've only been humoring his metaphors over the years and that's on me. I just… I didn't know if he's still been using all the metaphors in his sessions with you and I don't know, I guess I was just… looking for someone to tell me what I should do."
"You want to know what I think?" Linda asked once Chloe stopped for breath. Chloe nodded for her to continue. That's what she came for, after all.
"I think you should just talk with Lucifer," Linda said, "Just have a good and honest conversation with him, be up front about everything you feel and have him do the same. You might be surprised what might come to light."
"You mean see beyond his metaphors?" Chloe looked hopeful.
Linda simply smiled back cryptically with a shrug of her shoulder.
"Thanks, Linda," Chloe got up and stepped up to give Linda a tight hug. She patted her back in return before Chloe came out of the hug and with one last smile to the therapist, left the office.
Linda watched Chloe leave. Hopefully this time, everybody would be on the same page when it came to the Celestial Truth and she'd have a whole new Devil come through her doors for their next session. She let out a sigh and went over to her desk. She really needed to head home. It had been a long day. After all, there might've been someone that was going to try to kill her today and she finally made up with one of her best friends. Speaking of…
"Maze? You still out there?" Linda called out.
"Everything okay?" Maze burst back into her office, the door nearly swinging into the doctor.
"Everything's fine, Maze," Linda assured her, "I was just going to head home… you want to walk me out?"
Maze and Linda shared a smile.
~*~
Ella stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself up in one of the fluffiest robes she's ever worn in her life. Lucifer really did have the most lavish things. He made just that bit much more of sense now that she knew he wasn't a method actor. Lucifer was right. She really needed to clean herself up. After everything that had happened, she really needed that shower. She felt like a person again. The cross necklace she always wore caught her eye as she looked at herself in the mirror. She looked up and closed her eyes, absentmindedly fingering the necklace.
After everything that had happened with Charlotte and Pierce, she told Lucifer she was on rocky ground with the Big Guy. Now, after learning that one of her best friends was the actual Devil, that ground felt even rockier. Celestial being or not, she would never understand how anyone could treat their son the way God had treated Lucifer.
She sighed.
Rocky ground indeed.
She took a few more minutes to herself before dressing back into her own clothes, soiled as they felt. She wasn't about to traipse over Los Angeles in just a robe. And she didn't want to take advantage of Lucifer's hospitality. Speaking of, she should check on him and Dan. Those injuries to his wings were no joke. It was a miracle he was even conscious enough to fight Pierce. It was no wonder he had passed out from the pain once the adrenaline wore off. Did Angels even have adrenaline?
She shook herself out of those thoughts. If she thought too hard about all the Celestial stuff and comparing them to human physiology – she really would have some kind of meltdown. Lucifer had enough to clean up. He didn't need to add her brains to the mix. She giggled at the mental image before heading out to Lucifer's bedroom and the main area of the penthouse.
Ella stepped out into Lucifer's lounge area only to be greeted with the sight of said Devil passed out on his couch. If that wasn't adorbs enough – Dan was equally unconscious with his head resting on Lucifer's shoulder as a pillow, his mouth slightly agape with a tiny bit of drool at the corner of his mouth. Lucifer was slightly slumped, arms folded with his chin tucked toward his chest and tilted, not quite resting on Dan's head. Both of them were sound asleep on each other.
The temptation was too much. Ella took out her phone and snapped a few pictures for posterity. These pictures were most definitely going to be saved for all eternity and shared with all their friends. Once she made sure both parties of her favorite bromance were indeed okay and that she got a picture of every possible angle of their cuteness, then backed up the picture so Lucifer and/or Dan wouldn't try to delete them, she made her way to the elevator and home.
After all, it had been quite a long day for everybody.
~*~
Chloe had left Linda's office with renewed determination to talk with Lucifer. But as she drove away from the therapy offices toward Lux, her thoughts raced, warring against one another.
Lucifer had just killed someone, albeit in self-defense. He was just a civilian. Would he want company right now? Should he be by himself? Or would it be better for him to process things on his own? He was also on the mend after being slashed in the arm too. But he was a fast healer. She had just been shot too, albeit thanks to her bulletproof vest, it was just a stinging bruise. It was getting really late. Would he be entertaining? If she was really honest with herself, she had noticed that Lucifer hadn't really been doing too much entertaining as of late. Still, should she chance it? She palmed her phone. No – no texting while driving. She was a police officer. She should be setting an example. Before she knew it, she found herself back at her apartment.
Bottom line: she chickened out.
She went through her nightly bedtime routine and was soon in bed staring up at her ceiling in the dark. She turned her head toward her phone charging next to her on her nightstand. Should she text him? She vowed she wouldn't let Lucifer run, but it seemed like she was the one doing the running right now, metaphorically speaking. And wasn't that ironic? All her talk of ceasing all the metaphors and now she was the one thinking in them. Chloe retracted her hand from her phone and wiggled around in her bed, settling in to go to sleep.
There was always tomorrow.
Tonight, her dreams would consist of the Devil. Why would tonight be any different than any other night?