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Dr. Linda Martin leaned against the edge of the wall as she watched Chloe wrack her brain trying to figure out Lucifer’s safe combination. The therapist to the stars, or at least the man who made them, saw the desperation on her friend’s face, and debated what to do. Of course Lucifer took off on the Detective’s birthday, of all days, to Las Vegas, of all places! What else would Chloe think? Why was it always two steps forward and one step back with them?
Decker sniffled, “I give up Linda! I open the door, and he runs. I keep him away, and he pushes in! The back and forth is awful! I’m tired of hurting, I’m tired of him running away. I thought he wanted there to be an us!” The reopened wounds in Decker’s heart threatened to turn septic very quickly, and her drunken curiosity about the safe’s secrets had her alternating between anger and despair.
Linda had a problem. She wouldn’t betray Lucifer’s confidences, but she also recognized the sound of a woman about to give up.
“Chloe, what is Lucifer to you?”
“He’s my partner!”
Linda peered over her glasses, looking quite the sexy librarian in Lucifer’s robe and bow tie.
She and Chloe had raided Lucifer’s closet at the Dr.’s suggestion, sometime between after the 2nd bottle of wine and the 1st bottle of tequila, and proceeded to prance around playing at being a fancy British man who plays the piano. Linda wasn’t any better a piano player than Chloe, and made up for it with wild enthusiasm, flailing her arms back and forth against her half of the keyboard, adding Victor Borge-like flourishes with her hands. Her mind drifted, wondering how many famous people knew Lucifer, what favors he’d done them… Seeing the author-autographed Hamlet manuscript had been one of those reality check moments for her. During their sessions, he’d occasionally allude to having known some world-famous or important person *intimately* and she wondered how many times he’d changed the course of history. He certainly touched the lives of his friends very deeply, and she doubted that was a unique phenomenon.
Coming back to reality, she realized Lucifer would have a cow if he came home and found his keyboard sticky, and made a mental note to clean it later. “Detective Decker,” she said, snarkily emphasizing the “Detective.” “You may be one of LAPD’s finest, but you have a blind spot when it comes to our friend with the king-sized daddy issues. I can’t tell you anything from sessions, but as both his friend and yours, I *can* tell you, no matter what, that you are very, very important to him.”
“I can’t take it anymore,” she sobbed. “He knows I care about him. Trixie adores him. But he gets close, then bolts. He’s hiding something big, and I know you know what it is. Why doesn’t he trust me?!? He said he broke you, but you’re still here!” She honked loudly, snot threatening to blob out from her nostrils.
“First of all, DOES he know? Have you come out and said it to him?” The therapist continued quietly, seeing the red eyes and tear stained face across from her, “Don’t worry, I’d hesitate too, given your history together.” She let the rest of her thought remain unsaid while she gave Chloe a warm hug, and a wad of tissues before walking out of the inner sanctum.
Chloe took a sip from the tumbler she’d refilled a few more times than she normally would. It was her favorite scotch, Ardbeg, and the intensely sharp, peaty smokiness stung her tongue and seared her sinuses as she rolled it around in her mouth before swallowing.
According to Lucifer, life was a smorgasbord of pleasure, and his enthusiasm was contagious. She’d developed an appreciation for spirits during their late night talks at his piano, and wondered if Lucifer’s “bad influence” was part of her problem? Before she met him, she’d led a well- ordered life. Her mother Penelope’s already ditzy nature, and the demands of her movie career meant Chloe had grown up too fast. After all, someone had to be the responsible adult. In fact, it was by giving in to her mom’s pressure “just this once” that she ended up in Hot Tub High School, she thought, bitterly. Decker wasn’t ashamed of the role, but her naivety at the time, and the frustration of not being taken seriously now because of it, by the same colleagues who probably threw a viewing party when she joined the force… Well, that was kind of hard for her to accept. So she’d been disciplined, and was happier for it, until a delusional nightclub owner barged into her world.
The sparkling flash of rainbow from the crystal brought her back to the present. Well...he’d abandoned her on her birthday, so she was going to drown her sorrows in an ocean of ethanol, if the last few hours were any indication. She watched the whisky legs while the tumbler swirled around, and after a moment, she tossed the last sip back, and set the glass on the nightstand before collapsing down onto a bed that was far more comfortable than any bed had a right to be. It was the first time Chloe had smiled in hours, pulling the duvet around her, and nesting into the ridiculous overabundance of pillows. Still dejected, she held the most rumpled of them and inhaled deeply. His scent relaxed her as she breathed him in, cedar, spice, leather, and whisky, and without meaning to, she fell asleep, clutching his pillow to her chest.
Returning from Las Vegas, the Devil stepped off the elevator into his penthouse and was greeted by the sight of empty bottles, and clothes strewn about. His surprised “Hmph!” woke Linda, who’d fallen asleep on the couch, his large coffee-table book of the illustrated Kama Sutra now full of torn strips of paper towel for bookmarks lying on her stomach. Lucifer laughed when she sat up, immediately blushing when she realized she’d been caught. “Now then, Doctor! What have we here? No need to be embarrassed- after all, we did make the beast with two backs!” Linda laughed with him, the tension of the previous moment gone. The friends talked for a few minutes, while she prepared to leave, knowing that the miracle and the rebellious angel needed to be alone to sort this out. “Lucifer,” Linda said, as she smiled and put her hand over his. “I think it’s time you told her. She can handle it. I did, and I didn’t have anyone but you to talk to about it after. It rocked my world, but I wouldn’t change it.” As Lucifer walked her to the elevator, with the promise to call her for an appointment tomorrow, Linda turned to give him a quick, tight hug. “Lucifer, you and Chloe can have your happily ever after, but you have to do the work.” Big, hopeful grin on her face as the doors slid shut, she decided to text Maze. Linda wasn’t wasting any more time, and decided she was going to go get her happily ever after, too.
Lucifer considered for a moment, that he felt like he was back on that beach when he and his demon escaped. Maze had had to brutally slice through her friend’s flesh and sinew, but the freedom came at a much, much higher cost than that claimed by her hell-forged iron. The sacrifice of his wings also cut off his connection to the rest of the celestials. He was more alone than he’d ever been. Even when he reigned in Hell, he could at least sense his siblings, and occasionally, news would reach him. Lucifer was alone in his heart and his thoughts now. For the next few years, he filled that void with every pleasure and vice he could find, and he thought he’d been pretty happy to that point. He’d settled naturally into the playboy lifestyle, and relished in excess in every area. His craving for the sensual, whether carnal pleasures, or his deep appreciation for a bison Delmonico ribeye was often almost joyful. He’d escaped his world of cinders and misery, and he’d be damned (Ha!) if he was going to let one more moment of potential happiness slip away.
Here, now, though, was his Detective. She’d stood by him, though he’d given her every reason to walk away. After he gave her her birthday present, they’d laughed, and when she opened her arms to him for a hug, he knew.
The time had come to take off his mask. Figuratively, at least. He couldn’t show her Mr. Crispy anymore, thanks to the wanker who dumped him in the desert, but the incredible tenderness of the moment gave him the courage to continue.
“Detective…” He stood from the bed and extended his hand to her. Noticing the soft music she’d been unaware of before, she turned pink as she climbed out of his bed and took his hand, thinking they were about to dance. She wondered how much she would show him if she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hands would slide around her waist, inches away from the bottom of her shirt, and bare skin. Correction… the bottom of *his* shirt. His shirt was the only thing she wore. Shaken out of an unexpected moment of fantasy by her partner’s repeated “Detective?” she noticed how the flickering candles cast a warm glow as they faced each other, still holding hands. “We haven’t talked about the voicemail I left you before I was… taken. You deserve the truth that I’d planned to share that night. You don’t believe me when I say I’m the Devil, and the thing is, since that night, I think Dear Old Dad may agree with you. I can no longer show you the face I showed Dr. Linda, but what you’ll see is much more pleasant to look at, anyway. As if I wasn’t already easy enough to look at!” He smirked briefly at his own wit, but went on. “I never lied to you, Chloe. I have no birth certificate. and all of my documentation is counterfeit, but you do know my true identity. I am Lucifer Morningstar, Lord of Hell. Please try not to be afraid.” With that, he released her hand, and smiled, receiving a confused smile in return. He closed his eyes, and with a soft *FWUF*, magnificent wings appeared.
“What the Hell?!?” she yelled, her “cop voice” instinctively kicking in while she jumped backward and into a ready stance.
Time stopped.
…
…
Lucifer kept still and quiet, using every bit of his glamour and relaxed body language to appear unthreatening.
…
“Detective, are you all right? I’m going to put my wings away now, ok? I promise you’re safe. You can leave; I won’t stop you, and you’ll never see me again.” He couldn’t stop the stinging in his eyes, bitter tears forming as he looked at her, his heart broken to see his worst fears become reality. She was looking through him now, frozen, right hand at her hip where she’d have her service weapon. For the Lightbringer, what was really less than a minute felt like eons, and he’d been around long enough to know the weight of time on his soul. Chloe straightened, and she looked at her fingers, which she had twisted together in front of her.
Tense silence slowly evolved into the sound of deep, controlled breaths from the Detective.
Time started.
“Huh.” A pause. A nervous smile when she met his eyes again. “All right then.”
“Detective?” Lucifer questioned with a whisper of hope coloring his voice.
Decker blurted rapid fire- “You really were telling the truth! I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you! How the hell do you have wings?!? You said Maze cut them off! You burned them after we got them back from the auction! I thought they were fake! What about your scars?”
“I don’t know, Detective. I suspect that this “Sinnerman” is involved. How he was able to get the drop on me, though, I don’t know. No human should have been able to incapacitate me like that, which leads to more questions for another time. As for questions… I will answer all of them tonight, but I beg your indulgence. Somehow you haven’t run yet. Please allow me to be completely truthful before I lose what’s left of my nerve.”
Chloe heard the words, but they felt far away.
“I thought you always told the truth?”
“I do. But I don’t always tell the *whole* truth. I’ve never lied to you, but I could have also proved it easily, and I could have told you… everything.”
“There’s more?”
“You tried to open my safe...”
Chloe interrupted, mortified by what she’d done. “Lucifer, I’m so sorry! I...”
“Detective, no. Please listen to me.” He gently led her to the safe, and swung the decoy keypad open on a hidden hinge, revealing a retinal scanner.
He closed his eyes. “You’ve seen my wings. I thought they would be a slightly gentler way of revealing the truth. Now, when I open my eyes, you’ll see the fire.” Then he opened them, and and the delayed reaction to her new reality crashed in on Chloe, stunning her once again into silence. Unlike when his wings appeared, though, this silence was one of wonder and awe, and… She stared into the fires of hell, and after the shock, found it comforting and also a little thrilling, if she was honest. The magnificent wings were so beautiful and in the back of her mind, she knew she would touch them, to finger-comb his plumage, but the fire… Fire was the essence of her Lucifer. She took a step closer, into his space, and looked up at him.
“Beautiful,” she breathed.
She touched his face, bringing him back to the moment. Gazing into her eyes, as she took in the flames in his, quieted every fear in his heart. With a soft, gentle smile, he broke eye contact, and turned to the retinal scanner. A deep click followed by a hiss, and the safe door swung open an inch. Turning back to her with a suddenly nervous need to clear his throat, his eyes returned to the rich brown she was used to.
“The whole truth is in there, and it’s time you knew. No more going backward” He’d laid his soul bare at her feet, and there was nothing left to do. A slow blink as he gazed at her face, and he was gone.
She stood watching him as he ran his hand through his hair on the way to the bar. She wanted to follow him. She didn’t need to know everything anymore. How could there possible be more? Angels were real. Really real. And her partner… her best friend… her… well, he was one of them. And he was the Devil. She didn’t feel ready for anything else, but she remembered what Linda had said that he was still the Lucifer she knew. So she’d been right, Linda DID know. That was certainly going to be a long talk over a bottle or two of wine with Dr. Martin! She considered what Lucifer had said before he left her alone in his bedroom, his safe open. A quiet melody from Lucifer’s piano caught her attention. He’d once said a prayer was a fervent desire directed to an angel, and it struck her that the unrecognized song he played evoked strong feelings of longing and tenderness.
Pausing for a moment to take a sip from the sharply cut crystal tumbler, Lucifer appreciated the play of light on the facets, the oily swirl distorting the sparkles even more. He wondered what would happen now, but he sensed the worst was over. He’d revealed himself, and she hadn’t run screaming. They would still be friends. As his fingers returned to the keys, he tried to put his feelings into the music, wondering if she could hear what his heart was trying to tell her.
Surprising him out of his thoughts, Chloe sat next to him on the bench, a carved onyx box in her hands.
“I don’t understand…”
“You know who I am now. What you call my ‘desire mojo’ is really my ‘Dad-given gift.’ As Lord of Hell, my burden is to punish the guilty, and the most brutal torment there is is to find out what someone really wants, what their soul needs to be at peace, and then they will spend eternity reliving the moment that peace is shattered. When you know what is most important to someone, you know how to destroy them. Do you know why the safe is so small, Detective?”
“Why?”
“Because I never cared for anything in a way that could make me vulnerable before.” He picked up the funny card she’d given him at his “re-birthday” party after he’d burned his wings. “Now you may understand why this is in here. In all my long existence, nobody has ever given me a card, or any gift as such. Something just to make me feel good. As you can imagine, while many have begged for my favors, and given pleasures, nobody cares for the Devil without thought of a deal.”
She smiled at him warmly. “And this?” She held up an obviously Trixie-drawn picture of herself, holding hands with Chloe and Lucifer on either side of her. She noticed with amusement that Lucifer’s eyes were red, and that he had wings. A red face, wings and a big smile. A thought startled her- “Lucifer, did you tell Trixie you’re really the Devil?”
“Of course, Detective! I don’t lie!”
“And she believed you?!?”
“Your spawn was more perceptive than you’d expect in one so young. She’d seen my eyes in the airplane hangar when that miscreant Malcom stole her away from us." From *us* she thought. When had Trixie become *his*? The implications were starting to dawn on her. Well, she'd just found out her partner and best friend was the actual Devil, so she figured she'd be forgiven for being slower on the uptake than usual. "After Beatrice’s ordeal, Maze told me that she’d been having nightmares. She didn’t want to upset you or Daniel, so Maze brought her here the day she picked Beatrice up from Daniel’s for you. I’d thought about asking her what she desired, but do you know what your remarkable child did, Detective? She asked to make a deal with the Devil! Imagine that! She’d heard me mention that I do favors for people, and she asked me to help her stop reliving the kidnapping every time she went to sleep. She kept hearing his voice calling after you in the hangar, saying how he’d kill you, and then she heard Malcolm shoot me.” Chloe’s heart broke knowing her baby had been so scared, but didn’t want to make her parents feel bad. She and Dan would have to have a long talk with their daughter about that later, so that she never again hesitated to go to her parents.
Her child, so innocent and wise at the same time. Remembering what they were talking about, she asked “What favor did the Devil give a little girl?”
Lucifer’s face grew serious, the weight of his emotions tangled with the joy he felt that she was still sitting here with him. “An oath to keep her safe, always. The same I give to you now.”
Chloe’s face flushed with warmth, .
“As much as I detest the bondage the feathery burdens represent, they do have their uses.” Lucifer took his partner’s hand, and pressed a small box into it. Speaking softly, he continued. “I would give this to you, and ask that you wear it always. A jeweler had to be blindfolded and use tongs to be able to put it in the gold plating tank. He was well compensated, of course. I have the same arrangement here as my brother Azrael does with Jason Ogg in Lancre.”
“Azrael? Lancre?”
“A story for another time…”
Chloe nodded, and opened the grey velvet box.
“One of my feathers, covered in rose gold.” he said softly. “It has been charmed to afford you as much protection as I was able to instill. If you are in danger you can summon me, from anywhere, and I’ll find you. I made one for Beatrice, as well.”
Chloe’s hand flew to her mouth and her chin dropped to her chest, tears forming as she realized the truth, the most wonderful truth there could be. She wasn’t a notch on a bedpost to him. The truth was that her partner, the man who’d become her best friend, loved her. Love, not lust. He’d not just insinuated himself into their world, but to Chloe and Trixie, he’d become indispensable. And to know that he’d come to love her daughter, too, filled her with so much joy. That her Lucifer was actually the Devil, but allowed himself to be wrapped around the little finger of a child, when he had the power to literally light the stars was staggering. Confused and alarmed by her silence, Lucifer began to panic, until the Detective raised her glistening eyes to his and smiled as she kissed him, pouring her feelings into his lips.
“I love you, too, Lucifer…”