29. Self-Care and Ruined Dates

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Ella Lopez was spending her Friday night at home by herself. She wasn't really in the mood to go out, given all that had happened recently. She just needed a feel-good distraction. Ella had texted Dan to see if he wanted to do something, but he was with Trixie tonight, and they had planned a father-daughter evening. She and her boyfriend decided on planning something to do together tomorrow night.

Ella decided that tonight was the perfect night for doing some self-care (face mask, her favorite take-out dinner, nail-painting) and binging Jane the Virgin on Netflix.

It hit her like shower thoughts, later guessing that it's right what they say: your brain does its best work when its not being forced to work.

Ella was in the middle of painting her toe nails when suddenly, it was like she was back in the van with Eve in the San Gabriels, holding her breath while one of her best friends kept an actual demon occupied and fished for answers. She replayed that moment over in her head, like her gut was telling her there was something important in that memory.

Ella remembered the late morning sunlight, how it cast golden rays through the redwoods, making the green leaves a certain dark shade she had only ever seen in California and no other place she had traveled could imitate that color green correctly. She heard Chloe playing dumb yet keeping calm like the BAMF she is. Then she heard Faien's silky voice, remembering the way it made her spine go ice cold, sending goose flesh up her limbs. It was like her body knew that this man was...other, that he was dangerous and her built-in alarm system was alerting her of that. She made a mental note to thank the Big Guy later for some of these built-in warning systems that save lives.

She heard Faien try to lure Chloe in, to do God only knows what, as Lucifer swooped in behind him.

Ella straightened up with a gasp, locking every vertebrae in place and knocking over the bottle of neon green nail polish with it. It was definitely going to leave a stain on her carpet, but she desperately needed to get a hold of her friends. That was more important that anything right now.

Her first instinct was to call Lucifer, given that this was more in his wheel house, but before she clicked on his contact in her phone, she remembered.

They're finally on their date!

Ella was tempted to let it go until the morning, but if her hunch was right, (and usually it is) this couldn't wait until the morning. It really couldn't wait until the most-anticipated date (and maybe night) in the history of the world was over. Not when the lives of every person on Earth were in danger.

In the end, she decided to call Chloe, deeply apologizing for interrupting her date. She could hear Lucifer moaning and complaining in the background. Quickly, Ella gave her a snippet of her revelation and told them to meet her at the precinct.

Clad in her pj's and large-framed black glasses, Ella paced in her lab while she waited for Chloe and Lucifer to get across the city. She pulled down all the shades, not sure who to trust at the moment.

The duo arrived about twenty minutes after Ella did, looking tired and exhilarated all at once. Lucifer was in the suit Ella had helped him pick out (which made her smile) and Chloe was comfy in a red sweater and jeans.

They came into the lab and Lucifer shut the door behind them.

"Ella, what's wrong?" Chloe asked calmly and slowly, but her tone was low and her eyes searched her friend's for answers.

Ella fidgeted with her fingers, making unsure noises before forming any cohesive words.

"So...I was watching Jane the Virgin, right? Giving myself a little self-care treatment, painting my toe nails...right?"

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