SOME KIND OF HEAVEN ↝ Mazikeen

↳ FORTY-TWO

As her own eyes began to burn, Izzy dropped the hostile act and stumbled over to Dan, not hesitating for a second to pull the man into a tight embrace. He didn't even try to fight it, he merely melted into the hold he desperately needed, had silently cried out for, only to now receive. And Isadora didn't blame him, not at all. If anything, as it all crashed down on her, she found herself clinging tighter too, lips wobbling and eyes closing as if that would hide her from the truth.

Benjamin hadn't even said a goodbye, not to her, not to his brother, probably not to Lucifer, either. He had just packed his bags and taken off, and those weeks Izzy had spent thinking he was on a holiday with the man he loved, he had actually been running away without intending to come back. Or, at least, it was going to take him a while — like Dan had said, maybe they wouldn't see Benji in another half a decade. And while phone calls still existed, and one way or another, he was still in their lives, there was no denying that it hurt like a bitch to know that the hug they had shared in the hospital after Lucifer had almost died, had been their last. That had been the goodbye Izzy had never understood to look for.

"I'm sorry", she whispered, holding Dan's head as her arm tightened around him. "I'm so sorry", her voice inevitably betrayed her, but she could feel Dan tremble against her shoulder, and it encouraged her to stop resisting too, to just give in to the aching that threatened to swallow her whole, and grant one another this one moment of unfiltered heartbreak. As much as she hated the tightening in her chest, she couldn't even imagine what Dan was feeling like — Benjamin's visit had been so fleeting, and filled with arguments and angst instead of only love and support. The two brothers had gone through Hell, not in a literal sense but some personal form of it anyway, and maybe that was why Benji had fled. Yet it still left Dan there, all alone.

With a sniffle, Izzy rocked gently to comfort Dan, though she couldn't lie and say that she didn't need it too. She loved the Espinozas, and even if she still had one, she hadn't expected to lose the other.

—————

ALBEIT ISADORA HAD her plate full of work already, she had decided to dedicate time to Dan, too. She wasn't neglecting her duties, however — on the contrary, she had taken on his tasks too, from the pesky coffee runs to promising Chloe to do whatever she needed of her. There was a certain limit to Izzy's capabilities as a lower-rank officer, but there was also a lot she could relieve Dan of, and despite the man's initial fighting back, the deputy had succeeded. While he dug through the pudding cups she had paid for, and skimmed through the report Ella had scribbled of the evidence, Izzy was seated on the other side of the break room's table and watching through the footage from the crime scene — while sipping on a coffee mug she had personally scrubbed clean yesterday, along with the rest of the kitchen, to avoid anyone else getting poisoned.

So far, the worst thing to have happened in the quaint room was Markowitz's tar coffee and someone stealing Dan's snacks.

"I ever tell you how much I appreciate you?", Dan was mumbling with a mouth full of chocolate, and with a peek from the tablet in front of her, Izzy snorted fondly — he was the most relaxed she had seen him all week, and although she wasn't one to take credit for other people's well-being, she was truly satisfied for being able to help him breathe. She understood, in some way at least, how much it had to hurt to be left behind by your family, and not for the first time either, and that was what she was trying to tell through the little gestures that had managed to ease the distress on Dan's heart.

"Just enough. Right back at you", was Izzy's simple reply before she dropped her stare back to the screen and continued to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. However, their silent love for one another, or the focus on the footage didn't get to settle in when there was a light knock on the door of the room, and both cops turned to find Chloe standing there with half a smile. Most of it was directed at Dan, at least subconsciously, but there was a hint of gratitude tugging at her mouth when her eyes met Izzy's, as if they had all been waiting for Dan to get the weight off of his chest and talk about whatever had been dragging him down.