Part of the family
The next two weeks went by in a rush and today was already Christmas Eve. Chloe didn’t have much time to think about her Devil. She took a few days off from work since Trixie’s school was closed, and she enjoyed spending some time with her daughter.
Chloe always loved quality family time with her little girl, like baking their last batch of cookies together for this year. Trixie cut out little Christmas trees, bells and angels, while Chloe put them in the oven. And they decorated the finished ones together, singing some silly Christmas songs and wearing ugly but comfy sweaters.
“DECKER!” Maze busted the front door open. The demon was just back from a bounty hunting mission. Shit...she was a demon. Chloe had never thought about that and now the Devil she managed to avoid so well was back in her mind.
He had tried to call her the next day after the revelation. She had ignored it and put him through through to voicemail. Lucifer had left a few messages but mostly not more than “Detective...I-” And then he had hung up, stuttering like a mess. She could hear his distress and what had she done? She had pushed him away again, hid like a coward.
“What is it, Maze?” Chloe couldn’t help but stand a little protectively in front of her little girl, who was busy decorating the little cookie angels with black colored frosting to give them little suits.
“Go to him, Chloe. He is a mess.” The demon’s voice softened. “I know that you know.” Maze crossed her arms in front of her chest. “And he is a mess. He needs you, Chloe.”
The detective huffed.
“What for? He is the almighty Devil. He doesn’t need a human.” And if she was honest, she still felt terribly guilty for not listening and pushing him away, maybe also she was indeed scared of him and the knowledge that came with it.
“Don’t you get it? He cares for you. He is utterly in love with you and now? Now he is just…”
“If he cares so much, why didn’t he show me earlier, Maze? He lied to me by keeping the truth from me.” He loved her? Her heart jumped a little in her chest. Nonsense, he could get anyone, why should Lucifer be interested in a single mother with a time-eating job and a child? He didn’t even like children.
“Because he was afraid? I’m not good at all that emotional human stuff, Decker, but everyone he cared for rejected him at some point. He just was afraid that you would push him away...which you did. And he may deny it to himself, but he loves you.”
With that, the demon pulled out her phone.
“Look at this, Chloe, he doesn’t know I filmed it a few days before his sneezing reveal. I was going to use it as blackmail material, but desperate times and so on.”
With a few swipes she found what she was looking for.
A video of Lucifer.
Adorable Lucifer, fresh out of the shower, barefoot like he loved to be in his home, with product free and curly hair, in his bathrobe and shorts. He was at his piano and smiling to himself, clearly not noticing that Maze had her phone out. Lucifer looked so happy and carefree in this video, so much younger.
“Maze, do you think the detective would like this one?”
He started playing, first to warm up his fingers, but after a few moments Chloe recognized the melody. It was the song her father had always sung to her when he had tucked her in. And then he started singing, still totally oblivious that he was being filmed.
“The other night dear, as I lay sleeping…”
Of course Lucifer would know that she loved this song and of course his stupid, awesome, angelic voice would made this song even more beautiful, but also sadder. Chloe could hear his love for her with every word and as she heard, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” she couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. He looked so damn happy, but also sad at the same time. Happy because Lucifer thought about her and sad because she was pushing him away more and more.
Maze stopped the video and smiled at Chloe. “No need to ask. I’ll take care of your little human.”
It didn’t take long for Chloe to get rid of her flour-spoiled sweater and then she was out of the door driving towards LUX.
The club was closed, Lucifer had told her that. But he never locked his doors since nobody would steal from the Devil himself, so it was easy for her to get in. She pushed the button for the elevator and the ride up seemed to take so much longer than normal.
Chloe wasn’t prepared for the sight that welcomed her after stepping into the penthouse. Lucifer’s home was a debris field. His bar was trashed, his furniture torn and turned upside down. The books he loved so much were not much more than ripped pieces of paper. Even his beloved piano was trashed. The floor was covered with empty alcohol bottles, a lot of candy wrappers and she could also see the remains of drug excesses. But what shocked her the most were the white feathers that lay everywhere. Big, white feathers and she knew where they came from.
She swallowed down the lump in her throat and fought the tears.
Where was Lucifer?
She looked in his bedroom first and there he was. A big lump under his blankets. Only one of his wings was peeking out - well, what was left of its former beauty. Most of the feathers were pulled out, not in a gentle way - she could tell by the little blood stains on the few remaining ones.
“Lucifer?” She sat down at the edge of his bed. The lump huffed and curled up even more, the wing sticking out moving along with it.
“Go away.”
To her, Lucifer sounded horrible, broken, tired and lifeless. She put a hand on the lump where she imagined his shoulder to be and Chloe could feel him stiffen under her touch.
“Please come out, I can’t talk to a lump-”
“But you have to, I’m not here anyway, go away.”
Okay, now he was acting like a little child. But it was fine with her, at the moment. He was hurt and now that she believed everything he had told her about his past, she could see that it was normal behavior for him.
“I’m sorry Lucifer, I really am. I should have called you back. I should have come earlier and reacted better in the first place. Please come out. I need you.” Chloe closed her eyes, trying to hold back her tears again, while her other hand was grabbing the pendant he had given her on her birthday.
The lump moved; first she saw his curly hair again - she would never tell him that she found it adorable. Then his head popped out before he sat up, resting the remains of his wings on his back. He really looked horrible. Lucifer had dark circles under his eyes, his stubble was a scruffy beard, and he still wore the suit he had worn on that day that changed everything.
“Oh, Lucifer.” Chloe couldn’t hold herself back and pulled him into a hug, and he stiffened again.
“For what would you need me?”
“I need you by my side, silly. I can’t say how sorry I am. Please Lucifer, I need my best friend back. I should have believed you - I do now. I promise to never doubt you again. But please come back.” She still held him in her hug and before she could think of it, her hand brushed the partly naked wing. The limb trembled and made a weak flap and his whole body relaxed a little. It seemed to soothe him instantly.
“And please stop hurting yourself.”
Lucifer stayed silent; he was afraid that Chloe would come to her senses and run away if he moved. He inhaled her scent. “Detective…”
“Please Lucifer, come home with me. The invitation still stands - come to Christmas dinner with me, you are part of the family. Nothing changed that.” Chloe smiled at him and she could feel him relaxing even more. She cupped his face.
“Take a shower, I can help you if you want, and then when you are back to your devilish self, come with me. You promised to cook, after all.”
Lucifer blinked at her, unbelieving, Chloe still wanted him in her life after all? Even today? Or was she mocking him? No, Chloe would never do that, he was sure of it.
Suddenly she started to hum the melody of her song again, it just came over her and Lucifer couldn’t help himself and finally hugged her back.
“Okay, and while I would normally take up your offer to help with pleasure, Detective, I think I can shower alone….this time.”
There was a fraction of his smug grin when he got up and went to the bathroom.
And while he was busy, Chloe had a look around the trashed penthouse. It really hurt her, for she knew Lucifer was a neat freak and it would take some time to get everything repaired.
Without thinking she went into his dressing room, pulled out a small suitcase for Lucifer and packed some essentials for him. Of course she stumbled across one of his sex toy drawers and tried to forget that as soon as that thing was closed again. Chloe knew he had a lot of stuff, for he once had told her he stored the things he rarely used there.
Nope, she needed to stop thinking about it, maybe her face would stop being tomato red then.
She packed fresh clothes for several days, and also some T-shirts. Oh he owned some, which was surprising to her, of course they would be from Armani.
“What are you doing here?” Lucifer stood in the doorway, the towel hung dangerously low on his hips. At least he had the dignity to wear one at all. He was freshly shaven, back to his stubble and his hair was still damp, product free and curly. He still had his wings out which were dripping a little.
“You are staying with me, I can’t leave you in this mess.” Chloe smiled at his puzzled reaction.
Lucifer tilted his head and looked at her with puppy Devil eyes. “Are you sure?”
“I am. Now come on, put on some clothes and we will be on our way.”
“With pleasure, is your offer to assist still valid?” He grinned at her and she just rolled her eyes, but also smiled back before she left the room.
The drive back to Chloe’s apartment was made in pleasant silence. Chloe glanced at her partner from time to time, who was deep in his own thoughts. And if she was honest, she was also curious where his wings went, for after that little shoulder roll they just vanished, his back looked totally human, even his scars were gone, but that was something for another time.
“LUCIFER!” And again the small human barreled into him and clung to his waist. Trixie looked at him with bright eyes, really happy to see him. “Do you want a cookie?” Before he could answer she ran away again, just to be back with one of the suit wearing angel cookies. “Is that…?” The Devil looked at it, confused.
“It is, you are a cookie now, isn’t that cool?” She smiled brightly at the puzzled Devil.
“It is, spawn...it is.” And he happily shoved the thing in his mouth, munching happily. His sweet tooth was legendary.
“Come now monkey, Lucifer needs to prepare dinner and we need to set the table.”
Lucifer just put his jacket over the couch, rolled up his sleeves and started his work. After the Decker women set the table, Trixie was curious about the cooking and Lucifer let her help, explaining everything to her.
Chloe watched them from the couch; she would cherish this moment forever and even snapped a picture with her phone. The Devil, a fallen angel, explaining how to cook to her little daughter. For someone who claimed to hate children, he could be awesome with her daughter.
Dan arrived right on time for dinner, greeted everyone and placed his gifts under the tree along with the others.
Maze also put some boxes there. Some were poorly wrapped, obviously hers, and some very neat ones with expensive looking paper. Lucifer had stored his presents in her room long before the Christmas shopping disaster. Trixie’s eyes got big; she didn’t believe in Santa anymore but that didn’t stop her from getting excited about it.
“Dinner first, monkey,” reminded Dan. It was their tradition to open the presents on the evening of the 24th like they did in Europe, since on the 25th Trixie was normally with her grandparents and Dan the whole day, getting even more presents.
“Fiiiine.” The girl huffed.
Good for her it was finished just a few minutes later and since Lucifer valued style, he put some candles on the table and tried to light them with his lighter. That stupid thing refused to work again, like it often did recently. He just growled, snapped his fingers and lit up the candles with his lightbringer powers.
“Cool...are you a magician?” Trixie beamed at him in joy. He hadn’t noticed the little human.
“What? No, why would you think that? I’m the Devil, and I don’t do stupid party tricks.” Lucifer shrugged his shoulders but smiled. He smiled because he was happy, for just being here was enough to ease the loneliness, eating with the Detective and his friends. He wasn’t used to it, but deep inside he hoped that this would be something common from now on.
His smile grew bigger as he heard Dan moan over his food. Chloe knew his cooking skills, Detective Douche did not.
“Man, that tastes divine.”
“Well, thank you, Daniel. Better than flavored cardboard like the Detective planned.”
“Hey! I’m here, you know?” And Chloe nudged him in his side, which got her an offended look from the Devil. But he was right, if she had cooked, it would have been microwave food or they would have just ordered something. This was a far better alternative. For dessert they even got homemade chocolate pudding, something Dan was more than happy about. It tasted better than anything he had ever bought in a store.
“Presents, presents, presents!” chanted Maze and Trixie in unsion as soon as everyone finished their dinner. The demon was impatient like a child? That was cute and something Chloe had never thought of.
“Fine, fine, come on.” She put out the candles before they all moved to the living room, sat down on the couch and Trixie started to pull out presents that were for her.
She was a child after all, and impatient.
She got a new doll from Dan and that big box of high quality crayons she had been eying for weeks now from Chloe.
Then she pulled out the present from Maze. Chloe looked suspiciously at the demon, for Maze refused to tell her what she had gotten for her daughter. Trixie squealed with delight after she ripped off the paper and took out two knives that looked like the ones Maze always carried around. Chloe’s and Dan’s eyes widened in shock and they stared at her.
“Relax, they are plastic.” The demon huffed. “I know you would take away real ones so those have to wait. But she can train with those.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Trixie lunged at Maze and hugged her before she got to the last present, the one from Lucifer.
Again she ripped open the paper and tilted her head in amazement.
“I hope you like it, I don’t do that gifting thing very often, you know.” The nervous Devil stuttered a little, clicking his lighter to get rid of some nervous energy.
“I love it.” Trixie ran off to get Molly McDowell. Her Ninja chemist fit perfectly in the car Lucifer got her - a model car of his own Corvette in the perfect size for the little doll. Lucifer knew how much the small human loved his car.
Even Chloe looked surprised at him and he just shrugged. “Someone owed me a favor and built it for her.”
Again, the Devil had used one of his favors to get her a daughter a nice present. She couldn’t believe it, but it was also so him. Chloe just grabbed his hand, pressed it slightly and mouthed a silent “Thank you” to him.
Dan got a signed, limited edition box set of the body bag movies, another favor Lucifer called in, and the promise not to steal his pudding for 2 weeks. Lucifer could made big sacrifices if necessary. Maze got new knives. She was always happy about sharp and pointy things.
But now it was his turn to give Chloe his present.
Lucifer cleared his throat, clearly nervous.
“To be honest, Detective, I didn’t know what to get you. I wanted something that represents you, that would show you how much you mean to me. But something you would also like and couldn’t refuse. You are not a fan of fancy stuff, so...uhm. I hope you like it? Can I stop embarrassing myself now?”
Chloe took the envelope from him. He looked so insecure, so shy.
“Lucifer, you didn’t have to get me something. But I will be happy with anything.”
She opened it, blinked at it a few times, before tears welled up in her eyes. She seemed to cry a lot near him recently.
“Oh Lucifer…”
“What...I messed up, didn’t I? I’m sorry, so sorry, I...we can change it, if you want to-...Why can’t I just do anything right...only one time, is that too much to ask?”
He was interrupted by her lips pressing against his and her arms around his neck.
His insides grew warm, he felt like he would fall again, but it felt good this time.
“Oh shut up, you silly Devil, it’s perfect.” Chloe smiled at him, kissed him again and with a rustle his wings popped out again.
“Oh, bloody hell.” Lucifer sighed.
“Cool!” That was Trixie, while Dan was just staring at him.
Maze boxed the other detective onto the shoulder. “Don’t forget to breathe, Dan.”
“The...the…” The man couldn’t get a sentence out.
“Yeah, the Devil, ex-lord of hell, looks a little like a plucked chicken now, don’t you think?” Maze just continued grinning at his shocked face.
As Chloe looked back and forth between Dan and Lucifer, the latter froze again.
“Hey, don’t worry...he’ll come around.”
Lucifer just nodded and cleared his throat again. “So… you like it? I know it’s not much.” When he tried to furl his wings again, the things refused to do so. He was far too nervous for that.
“Lucifer, this is the best present you could get me, it’s so thoughtful of you. Thank you.”
The smile he got from her caused a weird feeling in his belly, his wings flapped happily a few times, causing the discarded wrapping paper to fly around, while Chloe looked down at her present.
It was just a piece of paper, but an important one. It was the ownership of a bank account in Trixie’s name. Chloe should say that it was too much, that she couldn’t accept it, but she knew he would feel rejected if she did. And it was for Trixie - Chloe wouldn’t need to worry about the college education for her daughter with the money. Lucifer had just paid for her future.
The Devil looked innocently at her after he rolled his shoulders again, making his wings finally vanish. Trixie stared at him in awe, but Lucifer just had eyes for Chloe.
His detective smiled shyly before she handed him his present. It wasn’t nearly as valuable as his had been, but she hoped he would like it.
Lucifer stared at the little box. “Detective…” He had never gotten a present till now. His fingers brushed over the purple paper and the little golden bow.
“Come on, open it.” Chloe looked at the Devil who just stared at the little box. She enjoyed his pure joy over the little thing, looking so innocent and happy.
And he started to open it carefully, Lucifer didn’t want to destroy the paper so he treated it like it was made out of gold and opened the package carefully. Then he opened the little box inside and pulled out a silver lighter with engraved ornaments on it. Lucifer tilted his head and and looked at it.
“Well, I noticed yours doesn’t work well. I know it’s not much and you don’t really need it to...uhm.” She felt a little silly now, for he could lit up things with a snap of his fingers. But then he started to smile, flicked the lighter on and beamed at her with joy.
“Thank you, Detective, I love it.”
Chloe nodded before she got up to take Trixie to bed, who couldn’t stop talking about Lucifer and his wings. She asked her mother if he was molting because of the lack of feathers. Chloe laughed at that. “You can ask him that tomorrow. He will sleep here for a few days.” Trixie grinned at her, nodded and Chloe kissed her good night.
When she entered the living room again, Dan seemed to have gotten over his shock, taking a sip from Lucifer’s flask, looking a little easier around the former angel and his demon.
The Devil felt accepted and that was a beautiful feeling. They talked till the early morning about everything, mostly what happened in the last weeks and a little celestial interview for Chloe and Dan, but they enjoyed just spending time together. Even though the two men had hated each other with such a passion earlier, now Daniel got along with the Devil himself.
Since a lot of alcohol was involved too, Chloe decided that Dan would also stay overnight. He could sleep on the couch which meant she offered to let Lucifer sleep in her bed.
“But you have to behave, no naked splendor. Don’t look at me like that, you enjoy getting naked whenever possible.”
The Devil just huffed. “It’s my gift to humanity, especially to you.”
“Shirt and shorts, mister, and sleeping only, just because we kissed and I lo-” She stopped herself before she said the wrong things. “However just sleeping is okay.”
Lucifer raised his eyebrows. “But just sleeping is boring, Detective.”
And for that he got the mom look and sighed.
“Fine, fine. Just sleeping, I promise. Night Dan, night Maze.” Maze also went up into her room, while Dan prepared for a night on the couch.
Lucifer followed Chloe to her room; he still couldn’t believe that she would accept him, that she loved him. Yes, he heard that slip, thank you very much. It felt so surreal. After she closed the door to her room, she turned around to kiss him again.
“This is real, isn’t it?” He asked uncertainly.
“Yeah, it’s real.” Chloe answered. She hugged him again and enjoyed his annoyance when his wings unfurled again.
“Bloody hell, not again.”
