The truth shall set you free

17. You're an angel

"Oh good, you're back!" Ella barely looked up from the test results before her. "I came looking for Lucifer yesterday and Ray-Ray said you two had to skip town for a couple of days," she glanced up at them. "Vegas, hmmm?" Her eyes flicked down on Chloe's left hand and she responded instantly.

"What? You think we eloped?" Chloe couldn't believe her own thoughts but Ella's reaction confirmed it.

"The sparks between you guys are lighting up LA, so why not?"

"I assure you, my dear miss Lopez that our departure was strictly business," Lucifer's face held not one amused hint. "I can't believe I'm saying this but can we focus on the case?"

Ella harrumphed and did as he requested while Chloe sent a silent 'thank you' to him. The feelings within Lucifer where stronger than he would have expected. The time he and Chloe had shared had built stronger connections between them and he wasn't ready to loose that now. None of them mentioned how tightly wrapped they had woken up in Lucifer's bed that morning when Chloe's phone chirped.

Ella had apologized and instead informed the partners of the case they had been investigating before they left. "Right, so the murdered husband, you know Collins, turned out to have huge debts and that's the guy that pulled the trigger on him." Ella rolled her eyes. "So the wife is free until she pulls one on the mistress, aka her former best friend from high school."

"Excuse me for asking, but isn't this case already solved?" Lucifer had his brows knit together in confusion. "Don't we have something new to get our hands on?"

Ella was a bit taken aback from the question, however much credit it had. "The new boss is coming in tomorrow, and with the track record the old one had, there will be plenty. Excuse me." She turned on her heel and returned to her lab.

Lucifer was just about to ask Chloe why she scared miss Lopez off, when Chloe did just that to him. "Just sit down and stay quiet." She motioned towards the visitor chair by her desk; the one that had become Lucifer's. He slumped down and with a sigh she sat down in hers.

"You once said that going back to normal just hurted you, but..." Lucifer started carefully but was interrupted.

"Nothing has really been normal since I found out..."

"The truth." He smiled that dark confident smile that had allured Chloe from the start.

She nodded while her straight face broke into a smile and she started shaking her head instead. "No, nothing has been normal since then."

"But who wants to be normal, right?"

~ ~ ~

The feelings within Chloe she had no names for when Dan dropped Trixie off after her week at his place. Tears sprung to her eyes and she had not hugged her daughter that hard in a long time.

"Mom, you're hurting me," the daughter complained and snickered when the grip loosened. "I haven't been gone that long."

Chloe chuckled as well. "Thank you Dan, you're an angel." She had asked him several times if he was okay after Charlotte's death and he had answered that he was okay, but there was a new hardness in his eyes Chloe noticed.

"No problem. I'll see you at work," he announced and Chloe simply nodded, determined to get a full statement from their daughter. Dan jumped into his car and drove off while his ex wife and daughter walked inside.

"So, what have you've been up to?" Beatrice beat Chloe to the interrogation. "You can't have been working all the time?"

"Well, I've been helping Lucifer with..."

"Lucifer's back?"

"Umm, yes monkey."

"Is Maze back as well?" Her tone got clipped as soon as she spoke.

"Actually she is back as well." She tried to think of what to tell her daughter about the unimaginable truth that had opened up like Grand Canyon. "She had business to attend but I'm gonna ask Lucifer to tell her to... stop by."

"I'm not sure I want to see her."

"I understand that monkey, but let me tell you that I was so glad to see her that I hugged her," Chloe revealed with eyes opened wide to emphasize the surprise. "And she hugged me back."

Trixie widened her eyes as well and then she exhaled. "She hugged you?" That was something Maze never did. "Okay, I'll talk to her if she shows up."

~ ~ ~

The next day Chloe was ready to go back to work. She had barely slept as she had been constantly sneaking into her daughters room to make sure she was sleeping soundly in her bed. A part of her had wanted to call Lucifer, but the other parts scolded her for it. Her main focus was Trixie. The passionate night with Lucifer seemed like a figment of her own imagination.

Chloe spent extra effort on her clothes and the strict bun in the nape of her neck before she drove Trixie to school and then continued to the precinct. Even if she was on time, the new boss had already held a short statement of her new leadership. Chloe missed half of it. Lucifer had been a responsible Devil and held a hand out for Chloe to sneak into the back line.

"Thank you," Chloe mouthed silently and focused on the lady who was now in charge. A horrid thought went through Chloe; what if she was something even older and more terrifying than Marcus Pierce. But what would that be, what was older than the son of Adam and Eve? She decided to air that inquiry in a private session with Lucifer later.

Applauds signaled that the speech was over and the crowd dissolved.

"We've got a new case," the beautiful blonde that was their new boss informed as she walked up to Lucifer and Chloe. "Miss Decker and mr Morningstar; You two head over," she handed over a folder to Chloe and Lucifer. "Take miss Lopez with you," the Lieutenant requested, "while you two stay on the Bennet case," she pointed with her whole hand at Dan and his new partner. Chloe noticed Dan glare at Lucifer but he nodded confirmatory at their boss and they parted ways.

The new Lieutenant Powell was not much for idle chit-chat Chloe thought; she pointed with her whole hand Perhaps it was for the best to keep the ranks separate, especially with her past.

~ ~ ~

It was funny how all the little quirks of Lucifer's that had annoyed Chloe earlier now made her snicker. They had responded to a call about a homicide and while Chloe spoke to Ella about the poor victim, Lucifer raided the close by workbench. He looked up through a pair of glasses and those dark eyes of his were huge. Chloe felt the need to bite her cheek to stop the smile from breaking free.

It turned out to be Ella who bursted out a laugh but instantly bit it back again. "You better come look at this wound," she corrected both herself and Lucifer. "Someone got all stabby-stab on this dude, but I'm not really sure with what." She clicked off a few more close up shots with her camera. "It is so much wider than a knife."

"A buffalo horn perhaps?" Lucifer suggested with a motion up on the wall of mounted animal relics. "One of the plaques miss its companion."

Ella looked impressed at the consultant. "Good eye on you mister. Well spotted!" She got on her feet and took a photo of said item before she called an assistant over to sweep for finger prints.

"Thanks love, you're an angel," Ella hugged a surprised devil and hurried along.

Lucifer looked over at Chloe who watched the encounter wide eyed. "Well, she's not wrong," he muttered.

.