Chapter Text
Lucifer walked into the precinct (which was covered in holly and wreaths and garlands, because Christmas was just around the corner and it made him want to tear his hair out) as he usually would, all smiles and winks, until he got to the Detective, of course. She was radiant, as she always was, and when her eyes met his, he had to stop himself from telling her so. He placed her coffee order (a tall non-fat almond milk latte with sugar free caramel drizzle) on the desk in front of her and then perched on the edge of it. She’d placed a little reindeer made of corks and toothpicks beside her monitor. It had mismatched googly eyes and antlers made out of pipe cleaners. Her daughter’s creation, no doubt.
“Morning, Lucifer,” Chloe greeted.
“Good morning, Detective,” he purred.
Her eyes narrowed at him suspiciously. “What did you do?”
Lucifer gaped, “What have I… Nothing!” Chloe continued to glare at him. Lucifer stared at her, and then sighed heavily. “I really haven’t…”
“Why are you trying to butter me up with coffee?” she asked him, and then she raised an eyebrow as he brought forward a small paper bag. He watched her as she peeked into opening at the top. “And a lemon bar?” she sighed. “Lucifer…”
“I…” he looked away and took a deep breath. “I need a favor, darling…” Chloe’s arms crossed, and Lucifer rushed to explain. “You certainly don’t have to say yes, and I know you have Beatrice to think about, but…” He cleared his throat and sighed. “My family is having a get together for the holiday and I was wondering if you’d like to attend.”
“A get together?”
“Yes.”
“And you want me to go because?”
Here, Lucifer sighed and looked down at his hands. He was fidgeting with his cufflinks, a sure sign that he had done something, he knew but he couldn’t help fidgeting. “I did try to make an excuse.” Chloe just raised a brow at him, her arms still crossed, the pastry and the coffee still untouched on her desk. “My little sister, Azrael, Rae-Rae, that is, called me and asked me to… she would like me there and no matter what I told her she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“What did you tell her?” Chloe asked.
He looked at her through his lashes. “That I had a… that I had someone to spend the holiday with, but she insisted on me bringing them…”
Chloe sighed again. “You said it was me, didn’t you?”
“Well, I certainly didn’t say it was Daniel.”
“Lucifer!” Chloe whined.
“Chloe, darling…” he started. “I… If you could come with me, I would… it would be appreciated…”
Chloe tilted her head at him like she was trying to figure him out. She didn’t know much about his personal life, his family (mostly by design, though she was acquainted with Amenadiel). This was the most information she’d ever heard about his family all at once. He’d once said he had about twelve siblings, and sometimes he would mention them, but nothing like this. “It’s a Christmas thing right?” she asked. He nodded. “Well, could Trixie come?”
“No!” he snapped, and then looked contrite at her raised brow. “She shouldn’t… they aren’t…” He looked away from her and sighed heavily. “It would be better if she didn’t, darling…”
Chloe paused for a long moment, making Lucifer a little nervous (she was just trying to process… She’d seen his back, the scars that he had, he’d implied to her once, much too soon in their partnership, that his father had done that to him, and she was never quite sure if he was telling the truth, but he didn’t want her daughter there, was adamant about it, actually. Chloe trusted Lucifer, and if he said it was a bad place for Trixie then she would believe him, her daughter should always be her first priority). “Okay, no Trixie…” she said gently, like she would with him sometimes. “Dan’s been asking for more time with her around the holiday, how long would we be staying?”
“Three nights is all I promised,” Lucifer said, his hope rising, “And we’d be back by dusk on the twenty forth at the latest.” She hadn’t said no, not yet anyway and if he could sweeten the deal for her with the promise of Christmas Day with her urchin, he’d certainly do that.
“I have to talk to Dan, but I’ll let you know, okay?” was all she told him, but she finally took a sip of her coffee.
“Of course, Detective,” he nodded.
It took her a few days to get back to him about whether or not she was going with him, but when she did, Lucifer was so nervous. She’d cornered him at the precinct by the monstrosity they called a Christmas tree, calming him with her hands on his, gentle and soft. “Dan said it was fine with him, so it looks like I can go with you,” she told him.
He was overjoyed and panicked at that. He wanted her to be near him, to support him (because he hoped she would), but he was deathly afraid of her being anywhere near his family. He felt like he was leading her straight into a den of lions, though he was more likely to be prey than her in this scenario. It was his family after all. “Oh,” was all he managed at first. “Right, good.” There was a long pause that sat awkwardly between them. “Thank you.”
She dropped his hands and stepped back, telling him not to worry about it and then told him to text her with the details. As soon as he got them from Rae-Rae, he sent them to her. The next day at work, she told him that she wanted to drive her own car (“It would be better to have two, just in case,” she shrugged), but he insisted. “Darling, if my mother knows that I let you drive I’ll never hear the end of it,” he sighed at her. He was nervous enough about his siblings and father, that Lucifer would rather keep out of his mother’s attention. She would mostly leave him be if he was doing what she thought he was supposed to. He, of course, couldn’t let the Detective know that he was this nervous or worried, but he feared that it was obvious.
On the day of their trip, Lucifer was more nervous than he had any right to be. He showed up at the Detective’s door a little early, but he had wanted to see the urchin before they left, to apologize for commandeering her mother. He knocked, because he was early, and the door was locked, and his hands were much too shaky to pick it like he would do sometimes to annoy Chloe. The door opened and he stared at the empty space before him until he remembered the urchin and looked down.
“Lucifer!” Beatrice Decker greeted him, and then she hugged him around the middle, refusing to let go.
“Beatrice,” he said, instead of trying to pull her off of him. She looked up at him, resting her chin on his stomach as she waited for him to continue. “I don’t mean to take your mother from you at Christmas…”
She interrupted him with a smile. “It’s okay, Lucifer, my mom told me that you needed help and that I couldn’t go because you said that it wouldn’t be good for me if I went, but she didn’t really say why.”
He placed a hand on her head and sighed. Leave it to the Detective to be that considerate. “No one there will be very nice, is all, little urchin,” he told her. Then he started walking deeper into the room, it was the only way to get her to release him. Their tree was less monstrous than the one at the at the precinct, the decorations looked more real than the ones that populated the precinct. They made the room feel warmer and suddenly he felt terrible that he was dragging both the Detective and the urchin away from their normal celebrations…
She opened her mouth to say something, but just then Chloe walked into the room talking on the phone. “Dan, you said you guaranteed the time off!” she groaned. There was a pause. “You promised, Dan! You asked me for more time with her around Christmas!” Lucifer and the urchin shared a look before Chloe continued speaking. “Every single babysitter is booked? You’re kidding me, right?” Another pause. “Fine, Dan, it’s- fine.” She hung up and turned to them, kneeling in front of her daughter. “Sorry, Monkey, looks like your Dad has to work over Christmas and can’t find a babysitter,” she sighed. Lucifer could tell that she wanted to say more, but she wouldn’t in front of her daughter.
“That’s okay, Mommy,” Beatrice said, giving her mother a hug, like she had been the one to be pushed aside for work. “I can just go with you and Lucifer, right?”
Chloe looked up at him, and he sighed too, “I… You don’t have to come with me, I can just… I’ll go to see Rae-Rae, and they can all… Well, the good thing is that you won’t have to meet them after all.” He tried for a smile, but he knew it didn’t hit quite right.
“Lucifer, I promised,” Chloe said, giving him a small, reassuring smile.
He shifted uncomfortably and looked away from the pair of them, “I… Your daughter is your first priority, darling. That is something I can understand. You stay, I’ll go and… face the music as it were.”
“No!” Trixie said, suddenly, loudly. “We can all go! You shouldn’t have to be alone with mean people!”
“Well, we can’t have you there, can we?” he asked sharply, but then sighed heavily as she looked down at her shoes. “I’m… I apologize, Beatrice, darling, I… they are mean people, most of them… It’s not… a healthy environment…” he fumbled through an apology as he knelt in front of the little girl. “I barely want your mother there…”
“But wouldn’t it be better to have us there?” Trixie asked, her brow furrowed. “So you won’t be sad…”
Lucifer looked away from the little girl to her mother. “Detective…” was all he could say.
“We’re going with you. Is that okay?” she asked him. And that was that, it seemed.
He looked down for a moment and then nodded. He didn’t want to go alone, but he was having trouble with the idea of bringing the child. At least the Detective could take care of herself. He met the little girl’s eyes, “You can’t be near my Father alone, or any of my brothers for that matter. You’ve met Amenadiel, but he won’t be nice there, try not to bother him. He’ll be with Dad most of the time… Rae-Rae, Azrael, that is, is a bit like Miss Lopez, you’ll like her. If you can’t find me or your mother, you find Rae-Rae, do you understand? Or Raziel, she’s one of the nicer ones…”
Trixie gave him a look. “There’s gonna be a lot of rules, aren’t there?”
“’Fraid so, Monkey,” Chloe said, placing a hand on Lucifer’s shoulder. It felt like a show of support, and he couldn’t find the words to express his appreciation. “Now go pack a bag, okay? I’ll check on you in a minute.” Lucifer took a moment to breathe as he stood. “You sure you’re okay with this?” Chloe asked, her hand trailing down from his shoulder to his wrist as they stood close to each other.
“The thought of the both of you anywhere near my family…” he shook his head. “Are you sure you’re alright with her coming? It probably won’t be fun, not with Mum there, or Dad…”
Her brow furrowed even as she nodded. “Which of your siblings is going to be there?” she asked. “I know there’s a lot.”
“Michael, Raphael, Gabriel, Remiel, Amenadiel, and I told you about Rae-Rae and Raziel…” he sighed. “Oh! And it’s Yeshua’s birthday on the day of, but we’re leaving Christmas eve, so I expect it won’t matter.”
“Should we bring presents?” Chloe asked, she seemed a little stressed, and Lucifer idly wondered why.
“No, that’s been covered, darling,” he told her. “I did tell you I was taking care of everything, didn’t I?”
Chloe sighed, shaking her head. “Lucifer…” she was all she said.
“Really, Detective, it’s the least I could do…” he said looking away from her.
“Mommy, do you know where my boots are?” the urchin called from her room.
With a sigh, Chloe turned to help her daughter. It was about an hour of slightly controlled chaos before they could leave. Lucifer helped them put their bags in the car, and he was glad that he’d chosen a car other than his corvette, because now they had the urchin with them. He could feel Chloe watching him as he helped the child with her bag. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing, so he just got into the driver’s seat and tried not to think about how she was looking at him.
Chloe got her daughter settled in for the somewhat long car ride with a book and some music, and then she turned to Lucifer. “What’s the story?” she asked.
“As close to the truth as we can get it, darling,” he told her with a wink. “We met at work, and you couldn’t help falling for me, of course.”
Chloe rolled her eyes with a fond huff. “You wish, pal,” she scoffed, but it wasn’t in a mean way.
“Don’t I just,” he purred, grinning as she slapped his arm lightly.
She sighed after a long, comfortable pause, “Lucifer, we need to get our stories straight.”
Lucifer took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I fell for you straight away, but it took you a while to warm up to me. The truth, Detective. Play with it, and you can make all sorts of stories.”
Chloe shook her head at him, “Shouldn’t you be calling me Chloe then? If were supposed to be closer?”
Lucifer paused. “I…” he tried, but he couldn’t find the words. “’Darling’ should suffice, wouldn’t you say, Detective?” He managed, his voice a little rougher than it should be. Then his face hardened as he looked away from her, “I refuse to change my habits around my family, darling. If I call you ‘Detective’, then that’s all there is to it. They’re used to me being… being me…” He waved away her concern, or at least he tried.
Chloe stared at him for a long moment. “You resent your whole family, don’t you?” she asked. Her only answer was a glance in her direction. “I just… If you resent them so much why did you agree to visit?”
“Rae-Rae… and Raziel,” he sighed. “They were the only ones that ever treated me like they…” He shook his head. “When I was young, I did something… and they sent me away to a boarding school in London because of it.”
“What happened?” she asked, voice quiet and gentle. She wasn’t being judgmental; Lucifer was sure that she couldn’t ever be… But she might be if she knew this… There was only one way to find out, he supposed.
“I let my little brother fall into the pool…” he said, almost absently. “He was three years old…”
Her brow furrowed. “How old were you?” she asked. Her voice was so soft, that he almost didn’t hear her.
“Five, but I… I should have been watching him better… or saved him…” Lucifer rasped.
“Could you even swim?”
His face screwed up. “Why would that matter?” he asked. “It was my fault… I killed him…”
“Lucifer…” was all he let her say.
“But Rae-Rae was always nicer than everyone else… And she asked to see me,” he sighed.
They were silent for a long moment, until Lucifer reached for the radio. He couldn’t decide on a station and Chloe reached out to stay his hand, gripping his hand tightly in hers. “You’re a good brother, going to see her even though your family is…”
“Well, she was always kind,” he sighed, and then he cleared his throat like he was a little uncomfortable. He glanced down at their hands, but the Detective didn’t seem to want to let go. Instead, she brought her other hand up to their clasped ones in her lap and started to gently play with his fingers. He shifted his gaze from their hands to her face, trying to keep an eye on the road at the same time. She was staring out of the windshield, almost like her mind was elsewhere. “Darling?” he asked, batting at her fingers with his thumb.
Chloe shook her head lightly, but she didn’t release his hand as she sighed and turned to him. “Will your whole family think we’re a couple?” she asked.
Lucifer sighed. “Yes, darling, they will. My mother especially. She is a bit particular, so I’ll be… very much at your disposal.”
“’At my disposal’?” Chloe frowned, scrunching her nose up.
“Opening doors, holding out chairs, fetching drinks. That sort of thing,” he told her with a soft shrug (she still had his hand in hers, and he really didn’t want to give her a reason to let go of it… Her skin was soft, and she was still playing with his fingers, like her mind was on other things…). “And you know I’m always up for a cuddle, Detective,” he smirked, just to see her roll her eyes at him. She did and he had to look away to hide a grin.
“Really? She just expects you to wait on me?” he knew she wouldn’t like it, but he nodded at her. She rolled her eyes at him but didn’t ask him about it again. He would let her challenge his mother, but she was very set in her ways and he was going to try to keep them away from each other. There was another long pause, “Is anyone going to expect us to… act like a couple?”
“Michael, but he’s the worst sort of wanker. Anyone else will be joking and I suspect that Raziel might figure out that we’re not- but that’s not really the sort of thing they’ll be focusing on, Detective.”
“What will they be focusing on?”
Lucifer sighed heavily. He didn’t want to answer, but he had asked this of her and now he was dragging her and the little urchin into it. “Everything I’m doing wrong.” There was a short moment of silence. “Oh, and Yeshua, it will be his birthday, and Mum and Dad do love spoiling him.”
Chloe shook her head like he had given her too much information to process all at once. Perhaps he had, but instead of perusing it, all she did was squeeze his hand and ask him, “How long are we going to be on the road?”
“Six hours; they live in Star City,” he said, taking a moment to look in the back seat. The urchin was reading but she looked up at him and gave him a grin. He looked away to hide a smile of his own. He caught Chloe yawning out of the corner of his eye. “Take a nap, darling. They’ve been working you to the bone at the precinct lately…”
“Worried about me?” she managed through another yawn.
He scoffed at her softly, but she turned to look at him and he smiled softly at her. “Sleep, Detective…” he said, gentle and just for her. When he was sure that she was asleep, he sighed, “I always worry about you, darling…”