Chloe was on her fourth cup of coffee still feeling like a train had run her over when the call came in. A drunken frat party had taken place in a forest near the university. As the partygoers awoke this morning they realized one of the students was missing. A subsequent search had turned up the missing teen, his body partially burned; red-colored contact lenses had been placed in his eyes. A chill shook Chloe. It was as if someone wanted to tie Lucifer into these horrific scenes, mock him...or torment him.
She debated for a few moments if she should call him or not. She liked working with him but he was ill and had been rather distant last night maybe he should sit this one out. She convinced herself that was the right thing to do. It lasted as long as her shower then the guilt hit her. He had abandonment issues and if she suddenly shut him out, especially after he revealed himself to her what would that do to his psyche? She picked up the phone and called him.
"Detective!" He answered cheerfully. She frowned wondering what had improved his mood from the night before.
"I take it you're feeling better?"
"A few hours of deep sleep and I'm just like new again."
Chloe took another gulp of coffee. "Glad to hear it. Listen if you are up to it another body was found."
"Lovely -- I'll stop by to pick you up."
"No, wait...argh." He had hung up. Chloe exhaled. Lucifer drove way too fast for her comfort. She tied her long hair back, put on jeans, a black shirt, and a jacket, and went to the door just as he pulled up. Did his car have wings? She smirked - who knows after everything she had learned in the last day it may very well have some.
It was a gorgeous warm sunny day. He hopped out of the car and opened the door for her. She put her hand to his forehead. "You've cooled down from yesterday," she noted.
"Yes, back to my old self. Still hot though." He winked at her.
She rolled her eyes. He was feeling better. "I could have picked you up as usual," she explained.
He made a face. "Yes, but it would have taken forever. You drive like a narcoleptic sloth."
She raised her brow. "Excuse me; I was an elderly turtle last time."
"Hmm? Keep up Detective, both descriptions apply."
"Better a sloth or a turtle than some careening speeding death trap," she replied sourly.
"Now now, Detective, let's be civil." He grinned and sped through a yellow light.
"Slow down!" She yelled at him.
He grinned mischievously, put his foot on the brake, and sowed to a crawl. Horns blared as they crept along.
"Okay, now you are just being ridiculous." Her eyes flashed and she pursed her lips angrily.
"What? Now you are angry? I'm going even slower than an elderly turtle -- still too fast for you?" He looked wide-eyed and innocent for a moment before snorting a laugh.
She looked as if she was going to hit him. "Okay Detective no need to look so murderous." He sped up again going at a more reasonable speed.
They reached the forest and Lucifer hopped out looking around.
Chloe observed him for a moment. He looked like he had just stepped off a movie set or to the red carpet at some Hollywood premiere. He wore a dark gray suit. light shirt and expensive sunglasses.
He stopped and looked at her. "Come on Detective...chop-chop."
They came to a dead stop as they neared the body. Lucifer leaned closer. "What's this?" He looked at Chloe disturbed. "This is deplorable, is this supposed to be some representation of me?"
She quickly put a calming hand on his arm. He pulled away. "This kid was murdered as a message to me or a sacrifice to me."
He was upset. She quietly said "Lucifer, you need to take a deep breath and calm down. We are here to find the suspect or clue that will lead to him or her. Please focus on that."
Suddenly in the distance, a sound came through the forest. A sound that sent a shiver down Chloe's spine; a strange baying growly howl.
Lucifer laughed. "Good dogs." His eyes flashed red for a split second. "Excuse me detective." and he was off in the direction of the sound.
She wondered for a moment if she should go after him but then changed her mind. Encountering hellhounds might be a bit much to handle and Lucifer was after all the devil and could fend for himself.
The police went into the forest looking for clues while Chloe waited for the medical examiner to show.
She bent down over the body of the teen looking for possible clues that could lead to the missing children.
She heard a strange scream and howls and wondered if that meant that Lucifer had done his hellfire bit and the hellhounds dragged the soul back to hell. She turned her head to listen for more but there seemed to be silence. She turned back to the body and choked off a scream as the corpse grabbed her by the throat. The eyes were open and were staring at her with such malicious glee she felt frozen to the bone. She suddenly heard Lucifer faintly calling "Detective" then a gasp "Chloe?"
He ripped the hand off her neck. "Get out of the way Detective" he ordered in a low resounding growl. Chloe quickly scrambled away. She crawled on the ground trying to catch her breath. She could see Lucifer focused intently on the body. His hand around its throat. She was sure his eyes blazed red.
A whimper escaped then right behind her she heard a low growl. She froze afraid to look. Something huge, pony-sized, and black raced past her in a flash. She smelled sulfur and saw the spittle from its fangs then it disappeared. The body collapsed to the ground.
Lucifer dropped to his knees - his head suddenly in his hands.
She crawled over to him. "Are you alright?"
He gave her a half grin. "Detective, I think two bouts of hellfire in a row might have been a bit over-excessive for me."
He looked sweaty and flushed. She was about to reach for him when he suddenly went limp and fell to the ground.
Her heart jumped in her throat. "Lucifer!" she touched his cheek -- he was burning up -- unbelievably even hotter than before. The medical examiner arrived just then and immediately called for an ambulance.
"Has he been ill?" She asked as she took his pulse.
Chloe frowned. She couldn't tell her about the hellfire. "Uh yeah, I think he's been feeling a bit fluey lately."
The examiner nodded. "He's feverish. His pulse is rapid but that's to be expected seeing this crime scene."
Chloe went with Lucifer to the ambulance. She left the keys to Lucifer's car with one of the officers so that they could bring it to the hospital.
Lucifer felt wretched when he awoke; his head hurt, and he felt sick and unbearably hot.
He opened his eyes and found himself in a strange place - a sparse white room. He was lying in a bed wearing some horrid gown that was tied at the back. wires were attached to his hand and some things were taped on his chest there was some clip or something on his finger that led to some contraption with squiggly lines and numbers.
"You're awake." Came the obvious statement from the other side of the room. he realized it was Chloe who was sitting in a chair beside the bed.
"Where am I?" He asked with a note of apprehension in his voice.
"Hospital. You passed out after the hellfire thing."
"Well, I'm fine now." He reached out to rip out the IV but Chloe quickly stopped him putting her hand over his.
"No leave it," she ordered sternly. "Your fever is dangerously high. They are trying to bring it down. You are dehydrated so they are giving you electrolytes."
"I don't want to stay here." A note of panic had crept into his voice, he looked tense and his breaths had become faster.
Lucifer, it's okay, it's..."
He interrupted. "Chloe...please." His eyes were wide and beseeching.
She squeezed his hand. "I'll be right here; I promise I won't leave your side. Just stay a little while -- maybe they can make you feel better." She wondered if his reaction has anything to do with his past. "Have you ever been in a hospital before?" she asked.
"No!" came his horrified reply.
She felt relieved it was just what must appear to him as a weird place, all clinical and sparse not something horrible from his past that unsettled him.
"I can recover at home." He suddenly groaned and put a hand over his stomach.
"Are you nauseous?" She grabbed the stainless steel bowl and put it in front of him.
"What is that supposed to be for?" he looked at her questioningly.
"Haven't you ever thrown up?"
"Ew, Detective, of course not. I'm not some weak human that can't hold their liquor." He went a little paler as his breathing became even more labored.
She went and got a nurse.
The nurse came back and inserted a needle into his IV as he watched her warily. "Please relax, the nausea will pass soon."
Lucifer looked miserable as he lay down and Chloe patted his arm,
"This is vile I want to shoot myself," He complained.
She grinned. "I promise you'll live and be just fine. Just give the meds a chance to work."
He exhaled and closed his eyes putting his arm across his forehead.
To distract him she started talking about the case. "So if these souls escaped hell and took on bodies how did one of them end up in the dead body that they previously killed?" Just putting it into words made her shudder.
"Dearie me, I must have passed out before I could tell you, there must be another body somewhere in the woods. It must have started to decompose in the heat so the soul went into the freshly killed body."
Chloe herself started to feel nauseous. "I'll call it in for them to check for another body." She made the call. "So now that two souls are back in hell -- is that it? Or were there more escapees?"
Lucifer opened his eyes and tilted his head to look at her. "I don't know. If the hellhounds come back we'll know more."
"Do you think that these escapees are the ones who took the kids?"
He yawned as his eyes kept falling shut. "I don't know but I suspect..."
Chloe smiled softly. The meds were making him tired. He was fighting them but he was rapidly losing the battle.
"Remember you promised." His dark eyes held her own.
"I'll stay with you," she assured him putting her hand on his arm. "Sleep and when you wake up you'll be back to being a pain in the ass."
He snorted.
"Now close your eyes and have sweet dreams of ...threesomes or orgies or whatever floats your boat,' she quipped.
He chuckled softly moving his arm up so her hand rested on his own. He then clasped it and closed his eyes.
She was amazed at how much he had grown on her. So childlike almost innocent in moments like this needing comfort and assurance yet at other times a flirty, rich, powerful, truthful, courageous playboy. Who would have ever guessed this kind of man was the devil? She still couldn't quite comprehend it -- not logically -- logically in her mind the devil didn't exist. Yet he did and was lying now in a deep peaceful sleep holding her hand, maybe deep down the devil was just another messed up the soul with baggage just like everyone else.
As open as he was at times there was a side to him as well that was secretive. Things that perhaps hurt him that he kept close and private. She thought about when she had touched his scars -- he had turned around and instantly grabbed her wrist in a tight grip with the "Don't please" plea. Something changed between them at that moment. She seriously had started to care about him more. She wondered why he had had such a strong reaction to her touching him. She imagined countless lovers had undoubtedly touched his scars in the throes of ecstasy over the years. Yet her touching them had seemed to completely unnerve him and he couldn't get away from her fast enough.
Later at Lux, after the auction after his fight with his brother when he was all dejected and had found his wings and declared them unimportant; she poked him as to why and he was evasive again and changed the topic, Despite his habit of oversharing at times he held a lot of his issues inside. trust issues were something they both had in common.
She realized that over the months of working together she now trusted him with her life. Looking at the hand in hers she realized he put a lot of trust in her as well. She thought back over her life and came to the surprising conclusion that never had she connected to anyone as she did to Lucifer. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. Of all people in the world, the one she felt the most intertwined with was the devil.
A nurse came in, nodded at Chloe, and placed a thermometer in Lucifer's ear. She nodded. "Fever is coming down -- although we still haven't figured out what caused it."
"How long does he have to stay here -- he's very anxious to leave," Chloe informed her.
"The doctor will decide but I suspect if his temps keep dropping steadily and he's feeling better he can probably go home in a few hours."
Chloe was relieved. About an hour later Lucifer awoke when a young female doctor came in to review his chart.
"Doctor, when you have a patient in distress it would be beneficial to not dress them in such a horrid gown -- I mean it's blue -- it's so not my color. Don't you have something in silk in a more becoming color? Like black or perhaps an emerald green or royal purple? I assure you it would aid in the recovery phase." Lucifer sincerely informed her turning his dark eyes on her.
The doctor suddenly smiled happily. "I'll get one for you," she then giggled. "And I can give you a sponge bath."
"Lovely," Lucifer responded.
Chloe quickly interrupted making the doctor focus on her. "When can he go home?"
The doctor suddenly looked as if she had just awoken, then frowned. "Mr. Morningstar can go home now. Make sure he drinks plenty of fluids I can prescribe an anti-nausea pill. Just keep him in bed for the rest of the day. If his temperatures go up again bring him in and we'll run some more tests. This could just be a touch of a virulent flue that is going around -- although he doesn't seem to have all the symptoms."
Chloe thanked the doctor - who backed out of the room smiling at Lucifer like an infatuated schoolgirl.
Chloe groaned.
Lucifer pouted. "Buzz kill -- could have had me a sponge bath." Then he suddenly looked as if he had an epiphany. "Detective, you could give me a sponge bath?"
"No! No, I can't but I'll be sure to tell Maze you want one when I drop you off."
"Wait, can't I go home with you?" He looked pleadingly.
"Trixie is coming home today -- so ...no."
He sighed, "Fine, I'll let Maze fuss over me."
"Come let's get you up and dressed."
"Oooo are you going to help me because I do still feel a little light-headed and you wouldn't want me passing out."
"Considering how many times you've stripped your clothes off around me -- I'm pretty them on by yourself as well. But if not I could get that nice male nurse that just walked by to help," she told him pointedly.
"You are an evil woman Detective." He smirked. Then suddenly looked at her sincerely and mumbled, "I do appreciate you staying with me."
"Hmm, what was that?" she grinned.
He exhaled "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She touched his arm as they smiled at each other.