Chapter Text
Chloe had been wondering how she was going to track Lucifer down, or if he’d even want her to find him, but it turned out she didn’t have to look very hard. He was at Lux, standing by the piano, one hand resting on top as he gazed out at nothing in particular that she could tell. “Hey,” she said cautiously, coming down to stand next to him. Not too close, though.
“I had no idea, Detective,” he said, not looking at her. “None.”
“I know,” she said.
“And now I can’t help feeling like everything I’ve ever done has all been to lead me right here. To resuming what should have been my job before I rebelled. That I was… that I was manipulated, somehow, into choosing to leave hell, to choosing to come here to this city, to meeting—to wanting to be with—” He swallowed, finally turning to her. He looked so hopeless. “What if I’ve just been following my dad’s plan all along?”
She still wasn’t entirely sure if he’d want her to touch him or not, or if he’d rather be alone after all. But she couldn’t do nothing. So she closed the last bit of distance between them, slowly, giving him enough time to decide. When he didn’t move, she took his hand, clasping their fingers together. “You make your own choices, Lucifer,” she said. “We both do.”
He just kept looking at her like all that happiness they’d found together was already being taken away from them. “I don’t want this to not be real,” he said, desperately. “Please tell me it’s real.”
He trusted her even now.
And she would only ever give him the truth.
She touched his cheek, letting her fingers curl against his skin. He closed his eyes, covering her hand with his. “It’s real,” she said. “Look me in the eyes and tell me I’m lying. That I don’t mean it with all my heart. You’re good at reading me, right?”
He opened his eyes again, searching her own. “It’s real,” she said again. “I wasn’t manipulated into anything. I chose you, all on my own. And you weren’t forced into this either.”
Lucifer let out a long, slow breath. “I just…”
She moved her hand away from his cheek and tugged on his other hand instead. “Come on.” She led them over to the nearest booth, and they sat together. “I don’t believe your dad made you do anything,” she told him. “He didn’t make you choose to come to LA. He didn’t control your actions here. There were a thousand little moments that led to us being together, and none of it was by design.”
“You really believe that?”
“I really do.”
He shook his head. “Even so, how am I supposed to just go on, fulfilling yet another role my father set out for me? Maybe he didn’t make me come here now, but it’s still what I was originally meant to do. If I just end up doing it anyway, then it’s like… like I never broke free of him at all.”
Chloe took a moment to think how to reply. And then she said, “Helping me, helping ghosts—it’s something you chose to do, too. You don’t have to help me with ghosts at all anymore, if you don’t want to do that. You know that’s not why I want you around.”
“Oh?” he said, a hint of his usual humor leaking through. “Other benefits, are there?”
“Lots,” she said, giving him a brief smile. “Look, all this means is that you were supposed to be a Guardian before. But that’s not what you’ve been to me until now, and you don’t have to start. Actually, I don’t even want you to be my Guardian. I want you to be my partner.”
He squeezed her hand, just a little. Chloe hoped it meant she was getting through to him.
“Besides… God changed his mind, didn’t he? He sent you to hell—”
“But he hasn’t forced me back,” Lucifer said hollowly. “What if it was because…”
“No. I already considered that, too, and I don’t buy it. God sent you to hell and had Amenadiel take over for my family instead, and that was that. There’s no indication it’s supposed to have changed, because Amenadiel clearly hasn’t gotten that memo. He doesn’t want us together at all.”
“Perhaps my father really is letting it all play out as it will.”
“Yeah, that’s the impression I got, too. I told Amenadiel to shove it, you know. Actually I told him he was fired as my Guardian.”
Lucifer laughed, an almost startled sound, like he hadn’t been expecting to find anything about this situation funny. “You didn’t.”
“Not in those words, maybe, but that’s the gist of it. I don’t need him. Wouldn’t want him even if you decide we’re done, too.”
He grew solemn again. “Detective, I…”
“Look,” she said. “I’d hate it if you did decide that. But it’s up to you. I’d understand if it’s too much, if you don’t want to take that chance. But I think it really is a choice, Lucifer. That you could walk away if you wanted to. So let me know if you want to keep being partners, or if you want to go separate ways, and I—”
“No,” he said.
She blinked. She’d been fully expecting him to need more time.
“No,” he said again. “That’s the last thing I want, to walk away now.”
She softened, in pure relief. She’d really been afraid he would. “Then keep doing what you want, on your own terms.”
He put an arm around her, drawing her in, and she wrapped an arm around his chest, too. Hugging as best they could sitting in the booth like that.
For a moment, they just breathed together.
And then she eased up a little and rested her head against his shoulder instead. She briefly thought of work before pushing the thought away again. This was more important; she would take as much time as they needed.
“I guess that explains some things,” Lucifer said.
“Like what?”
“Like how I always seemed to know when you were around.”
She’d noticed that, too. “I thought you were just very gifted in bothering the hell out of me.”
He laughed a little again. “I did love playing with you—well, I still do—so I thought something similar. But Guardians can always find their wards. I think, maybe, that something tied us together before my father cast me out and ended anything before it could begin.”
“Well, at least try to use your powers for good,” she said, earning another laugh.
“Probably why my mojo doesn’t work on you, either. Trixie will likely be the same.”
“Good. The last thing I need is you two wreaking havoc together because of it.”
His arm tightened around her, just a little. “If we’re right, and this wasn’t by design…” He kissed the top of her head, and then lightly rested his own against it. “Then I don’t know how I ever got so lucky as to have you in my life, Chloe.”
She closed her eyes against the sudden burning that filled them. “Me, either, Lucifer.”
They did end up going to the precinct later, if only because they were determined to show Amenadiel that they weren’t bothered by his declarations and were going to keep working together anyway.
It seemed to work, because Amenadiel showed up halfway through the day. He didn’t try to cut Chloe out of the conversation again, but he did slow time to get there. One second she was at her desk, the next Lucifer was saying with a scowl on his face, “My brother is back.”
She looked up to see Amenadiel standing there as imperiously as ever. He said, “So this is your answer?”
“Yes,” Chloe said. Lucifer just looked at him as if daring him to try to stop them.
“Father won’t be happy,” he told Lucifer.
“In case I haven’t made it clear yet, I don’t give a damn,” Lucifer said. “He’s not happy with anything I do. And honestly, I’m not so sure he gives a damn anymore, either. So.” He made a shooing gesture. “Just fly back like a good little soldier.”
Amenadiel looked at Chloe. “The fallout will hit you, too,” he said.
“I’m not about to stand down because God might throw a hissy fit,” she said, and Lucifer grinned. “Not for this. It’s more than worth it. If he has a problem with it, he’s welcome to come talk to me. I have a few choice things I’d like to say to him.”
“Very well,” Amenadiel said. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
He disappeared again.
“Are you really not worried?” Lucifer asked.
“No,” Chloe said, turning back to her computer. She really hoped he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it now. “I meant it. All of it.”
“All right,” he said softly.
And that was that.
The next few weeks passed by without Amenadiel showing up again. There were no more dire proclamations from heaven, and no sign that God cared one way or the other. They were just… left alone.
It was nice.
It didn’t take long for them to settle into their new routines. Meet each other in the morning if they could. Work whatever cases came their way. Spend the evenings together, at Chloe’s if she had Trixie or out somewhere when she didn’t. They’d go to dinner or find entertainment for the night, dates without any formality behind it, because Chloe never felt like she had to be formal with him. Even at the nicest restaurants she felt at ease. And slowly they got to know each other even better than before.
She’d decided to tell Trixie about their relationship soon. After weeks of Lucifer being around all the time, she didn’t think Trixie would have a hard time with it. Her daughter loved him already, and she was growing on Lucifer, too.
Every day Chloe felt a little more like her heart was with him. That this was the life she’d been looking for for a long time, and now she finally had it.
Three months later, Chloe stopped by Lira’s house on her rounds of the ghosts hanging out on Earth by choice. The number had grown some recently, all because of Lucifer joining her. They were able to cover more ground, keep an eye on more ghosts, help more people than she ever had on her own.
It was something of a wonder to Chloe that that was true, because she’d started spending less time on them than usual. During cases or their time together outside of work, they’d occasionally stop so she could handle a ghost, with Lucifer gradually joining in more and more. But he’d convinced her to make time for herself, too, that always working those two jobs would do her more harm than good in the long run. And Chloe had been exhausted from it without even realizing that was the case. So she listened, and now, she didn’t feel like she constantly had to go out looking for them.
It was easier to manage it now as well, because she wasn’t alone in it. And Lucifer was often able to help in ways she wouldn’t have been able to without him. Concentrating a ghost’s desires, fulfilling last requests with resources she didn’t have or ideas she wouldn’t have come up with, helping their families without them knowing it, empathizing with certain victims when Chloe would have been at a loss.
Sometimes it was the opposite, with Chloe being the only one to understand how they felt or what they were going through. They made a good team.
She parked outside Lira’s house late that night, near the old crime scene that had lead to such changes for her and Lucifer. It’d become a custom to stop by at night with Lira; it was the only time she could be counted on to be at the same place, and it would look weird if her family saw Chloe talking to thin air outside their house. Like usual, Lira came out to meet them on the lawn without her having to do anything to get her attention.
“Hi, Chloe,” she said, and nodded at Lucifer. He nodded back, smiling. They’d met a few times before now, but they hadn’t introduced him by name. It hadn’t taken long for them to figure out that informing ghosts that they were talking to the devil generally went poorly. They all thought he was there to take them to hell, and more often than not, it impeded their ability to get anything done. So she just knew him as Chloe’s partner.
“How are you?” Chloe asked.
Lira gave her a soft smile, and something told her that tonight was different from the others. “I’m good,” she said. “I hope you both are, too.”
“I am,” she said. Lucifer shifted a little closer to her as he said the same, as if his doing well was tied to her. It wasn’t the first time she’d noticed it, and it always made her feel good.
Lira nodded. Let out a breath. “I think I’m ready,” she said, still smiling a little.
Chloe returned the smile, though hers was less peaceful and more sad. It wasn’t that easy to say goodbye to ghosts she’d gotten to know over time, and Lira had always been so kind to her. “All right,” she said.
“Can… can you do it in the garden?” Lira asked.
“Of course.”
They went around the house to a small gate in the fence, and Chloe and Lucifer let themselves in while Lira drifted straight through. It was a nicely kept backyard; even in the faint light from the street and the moon overhead, she could see the neat rows of flowers, all in bloom. “It’s lovely,” she told Lira.
“Thank you,” she said, some emotion Chloe couldn’t name passing over her face. She sat on a low stone wall separating part of the garden, looking at the flowers. “I loved doing the garden when I was alive, you know. This was one of my favorite places to be.”
Chloe sat next to her, Lucifer on Chloe’s other side. Lira smiled again. “My son sat out here earlier today, in this very spot. They’ve been keeping up the garden since I died. I think for me.”
Chloe touched her arm. “It is for you,” she said. “You’ll always be loved, Lira. Trust me.”
She nodded. “Thank you, Chloe. For letting me stay. You helped me even more than that, and I’m so grateful for it. I hope… I hope life is kind to you. That it’s as full of love as mine was.”
“It is,” she said quietly. Lucifer put a hand on her back, offering silent support. He didn’t need to say anything, knowing this moment wasn’t for him. “I hope you find peace, Lira.”
She closed her eyes, and Chloe called on her power.
A moment later she was alone in the garden with Lucifer.
He put his arm around her, and she took a minute to lean into him. “It’ll be okay for her,” he said.
“I know.”
She thought of the other Blessed around the world. How so many of them would never have bothered to talk to Lira at all.
How even if they did, there were too many ghosts and too few helpers to go around.
Not for the first time, she thought of her own future. Eventually she’d die, and be reunited with her father. She’d have some of her family, but not all of it. Not if Lucifer stayed in her life.
And then Trixie would be left to deal with either Amenadiel, or Lucifer, however that ended up playing out in the long run. Things would go back to how they’d always been, or Lucifer would be left on his own.
She thought about what heaven might be like. For Lira, for the other souls she’d helped on, for herself.
Maybe it was nice, but she liked sitting here on this cold stone wall with Lucifer just fine.
God might not have any interest in them now, but he could change things, if he was inclined to do so. He could tell his angels to help more. He could make more Blessed, people who wanted it instead of people who had no choice. He could prevent wraiths from hurting anyone.
He could make her a Guardian, too. Let her keep helping. Be with all of her family.
Chloe had a lot of ideas for things to talk to him about. And maybe she’d never get the chance while she was alive, but eventually, she’d be stuck in heaven with him.
She fully intended to make that his problem. And if God wouldn’t see her, well.
Then she’d just have to raise a little hell.
She didn’t say any of this to Lucifer. She’d decided already to keep it to herself, because there was no guarantee of any of it, and he didn’t like to talk about heaven. Not really.
No matter what, though, she’d try her best. They always would.
Chloe had woken up on her birthday last year alone, her alarm going off same as usual. Her mom had wished her happy birthday and said she’d made dinner reservations at some place where the whole point was to be seen. Trixie had given her a handmade card that she’d genuinely loved, and then gone off to school while Chloe went to work, where no one particularly cared. Dan had been awkward about it, and even back then, everyone had mostly been on his side. Lucifer had sent her the usual flowers and delivered an open invitation for a massage with a guaranteed happy ending, since Dan was finally out of the picture.
Some things remained the same this year, but others went very differently.
There was no alarm to get her up. Instead, she dreamed that Lucifer was working kisses up her back, only to gradually wake up and realize it wasn’t a dream. It’d been nice before, but it felt amazing when she was actually awake. Her toes curled as her eyes opened. “Mmm.”
“Good morning, Detective,” he said, voice low and smooth, and it only added to certain sensations working through her.
“Morning,” she said, as he placed another kiss between her shoulder blades. Another, two inches higher. His fingers moved up her side, slowly, so warm wherever they touched. And then they gently moved a few strands of her hair aside.
A kiss against her neck. Her jaw. His eyes finally lifted to hers, and he smiled. That smile alone was enough to make it impossible to lie still anymore. She shifted, turning onto her side. “Happy birthday, Chloe.”
His lips met hers, and then he wished her happy birthday without words, too.
Lucifer had started early enough that they had plenty of time later to get ready and eat. He somehow managed to fit in cooking breakfast for her, despite all the time he used on his appearance each morning, and they ate together with Trixie while she gave Chloe her birthday gift. A necklace, simple but pretty, and not one that kids put together either. A real one that she could tell right away came from a jeweler’s. She smiled at Lucifer. “Thanks, monkey. I love it.”
“Lucifer helped, but I picked it out,” Trixie said.
“It’s beautiful.”
Lucifer put it on for her, and then they left for the precinct.
She’d told Trixie about Lucifer a while ago, and as she’d thought, Trixie was okay with it. They were together all the time now, spending most nights at her apartment. Despite their worries, these past months had done nothing to dampen their feelings. The opposite, in fact.
Chloe cherished every day, even the not so great ones. When they got into it about something dumb, or she was exhausted from work, or a ghost drained her emotionally. They always worked it out. And he was always there to help her deal, just like she was there for him.
She’d finally started to really let herself believe that this would last for a long, long time. And she looked forward to seeing where their lives would go.
Lucifer had tried to convince her to take the day off, but she was close to finishing off her current case and didn’t think her birthday was enough to justify it. So they’d compromised: half a day instead. If it wasn’t done by noon, she’d put it off to the next day.
Her birthday at the precinct was different this year, too. A bunch of other detectives and officers were waiting by a box of bakery cookies to wish her happy birthday, under a bunch of banners and streamers that wished her the same.
She just turned to Lucifer, resigned to her fate. “Why?” she asked. “Just. Why?”
He blew a party horn that he hadn’t been holding a second ago, and materialized a sash out of nowhere that said Birthday Detective in hot pink lettering. “Why wouldn’t I?” he said, obviously very pleased with himself. “This day is for you, darling, and you insisted on coming here. I decided to make it count.”
She tried to refuse the sash, but Ella showed up, and between the two of them, they bullied her into wearing it long enough for Ella to get a picture of them. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Lucifer asked cheerfully.
Chloe stuffed a cookie in his mouth. “Can I get five minutes of peace?” she asked, but she wasn’t really upset about it.
“Mmm, this is good,” he said, swallowing a bite of the cookie. “I have excellent taste, if I do say so myself.”
“You do say so yourself. Almost every single day.”
“Well, I always tell the truth, don’t I? And it’s true every single day.”
Twenty minutes later, flowers were delivered to her desk, the same way they’d been every year since Lucifer had shown up. Chloe laughed as she accepted the bouquet and the gift that accompanied it. “I don’t know why I thought we were done with this, but…”
“Why not?” he said. “It’s basically tradition at this point. And now I can finally see your reaction for myself. Though I have a feeling it’s already very different from your prior reactions.”
“You got that right,” she said. “Considering you weren’t actually trying to make me happy before, though, I’m pretty sure you’d have enjoyed it anyway.”
“That’s very true.”
She opened the gift, expecting the worst now that they were actually together and Lucifer wasn’t shy about making that known, but it was surprisingly simple. Nothing but a piece of paper folded at the bottom. “What is this?”
“Do you need my help reading now, too?” he asked, and she elbowed him. He let out a low laugh.
She unfolded the paper. “Reservations for a resort?” she asked. Some place up in Big Sur, with a picture of an elegant building on a stunning hill.
“For the two of us. Since you keep insisting on working, I decided we should take some time for ourselves. Just the two of us.”
Wow. That was a lot more thoughtful than she’d been coming to expect from these gifts. She kissed his cheek. “That would be amazing,” she said. She didn’t even know the last time she’d left Los Angeles for something fun. “I can’t wait.”
He looked pleased, the way he did when he was genuinely trying to make her happy and succeeded. “Me either. And because I can’t be entirely serious about this…”
Ah. Here it comes. She knew it’d been too easy.
Lucifer opened one of her desk drawers and pulled out another gift. “Seriously?” she said, and he grinned.
“Here you are, Detective.”
She opened it. And then stared at it. “A dictionary?”
It didn’t even look like some gag gift dictionary that was actually full of sex terms or something. It was just a normal, perfectly respectable pocket dictionary.
“Yes,” he said, still pleased, but more with himself now. “I thought I’d help you out with your many struggles with the English language, particularly when it comes to describing me.”
There was more to it. There had to be.
She flipped it open to the first page. In black Sharpie he’d written over the title page with the words How to describe the devil, with suggestions from yours truly. A cheeky little devil face punctuated the end.
“Do I even want to know?” she said, and started skimming through the pages. They were full of highlighted words, sometimes with a little note added next to it.
Attentive (to all the needs and desires of a certain detective)
Brave
Brilliant (in all things)
Charismatic
Charming (as all hell)
Chivalrous
Delicious
Delightful
Generous (you’re welcome, Detective)
Genius
Incomparable
Inspirational
Magnificent
Passionate
Perfect (in every way)
Sensational
Sexy
Stunning(ly gorgeous)
She let it fall shut and looked at Lucifer. “You forgot smug. I know because your face is currently dripping with it.”
“And it’s well deserved, because I came up with an excellent gift. You’re welcome, Detective.”
“I didn’t thank you.”
“That’s okay. You don’t need to. Because—”
“Don’t even finish that,” she warned, and he laughed. “I can’t believe you got me a gift that’s really a gift to you.”
“Is it really so hard to believe? Some of the others were, too. Do you still have them?”
“No,” she said. She’d gotten rid of all of them immediately.
“Shame. All, well.” He leaned forward a little. “I can always get them again.”
She rolled her eyes. “You know there’s nothing stopping me from adding to this myself, right?”
“Oh, yes, I do. But I’m confident that you’ll only have good things to say. Even some of your supposed insults are really compliments.”
“Of course you’d think that.”
She finally managed to concentrate on work, though at that point, she was doubting that she’d be able to wrap up the case. Her heart wasn’t in it.
With an hour left, though, she got the evidence they needed. And so they set out together.
Like at that Halloween concert two years ago, Lucifer had somehow managed to distract her from taking off the sash. It wasn’t until she found the killer and started to arrest him, only for him to say “This is a joke, right?” that she realized she was still wearing it, and then she didn’t have time to remove it until she’d chased after to him to arrest him. Lucifer didn’t bother to help; he just cheered her on from the sidelines.
“Excellent job, Birthday Detective,” he said.
“You’re so going to regret this later.”
He just smirked. “Do your worst, love.”
When they got home later, she did.
They went out to dinner that night with Trixie, and then had chocolate cake at home. Trixie loved the stuff; she had frosting smeared over her face by the time Chloe put it away.
It was the best birthday she’d ever had.
A full year to the day since Lucifer had decorated her new apartment in candles and told her she was everything to him, they celebrated their anniversary at Lux.
He’d been afraid their time together wouldn’t last back then. Chloe hadn’t been that sure of it, either.
But it had lasted, and they were stronger than ever now. She’d never had any reason to doubt he was growing tired of being with only her; she knew this was what he wanted, and she didn’t think that was going to change.
It certainly wasn’t for her.
Lux was alive around them as they toasted to each other at the bar, her new favorite scotch in hand. “To us,” Lucifer said. “Today and every day.”
“To all the days to come,” she agreed. They drank to that, and then sealed it with a kiss.
Chloe hoped there would be thousands and thousands of those days ahead.
When the lights started to blur a bit and she felt warm all over and the music was too inviting to ignore, Lucifer held out his hand. “Care for a dance? Or are you going to keep drinking until I have to carry you upstairs?”
“Well, I think you can still carry me upstairs later,” she said. “But yes. Let’s dance first.” She took his hand, and he swept her out to where half the club was dancing, somehow managing to get them right into the thick of things without any effort at all. She laughed as he guided her into that first dance, getting caught up in it in no time. Dancing had never been her thing before, but there was something about doing it with Lucifer that let her enjoy it without worrying how she looked or if she was doing it right. It was freeing. Joyful.
It wasn’t the first time they’d danced together, and it would be far from the last.
They got lost in the music, the heat of the club, the rhythm of their bodies moving together. Chloe lost track of time, too. They sometimes took a break to catch their breaths and consume another drink, and then they ended up right back where they started.
Eventually the crowded died down a little, Lux emptying out as people left. The music switched to something calmer, and everyone else who’d still been dancing with them drifted off. Lucifer took her hands, though, and Chloe was all too glad to stay right where she was. They ended up holding each other, swaying in a small circle, eyes only on each other.
Before she knew it, she was pressed against his chest, arms wrapped around him. Lucifer held her as she laid her head on his shoulder. They were barely moving anymore, but it was enough.
“Thank you, Detective,” he murmured.
“For what?”
“For everything. I know I keep joking about you and gratitude, but the thing is… I have never been more grateful to anyone in my entire my life, and I wanted you to know that.”
She closed her eyes, half wanting to meet his gaze, but she didn’t want to break this moment. His voice held all the weight of something spoken from the heart.
He said, “Thank you for always being there for me, even when I think I don’t deserve it. For caring what happens to me, and what happened to me in the past. For making impossible things seem possible, as long as I’m with you. For giving me a family, a real one, like I’ve never had before. For bringing all this light into my life, more than I ever thought possible.”
Heat pricked her eyes, and she pressed even closer against him.
“Above all…” They rotated in another small circle. She could feel it as he breathed in deep. Let it out again. “Thank you for loving the devil when no one else would. You showed me what it is to be loved, truly loved, and I will never stop being grateful for it.”
He shouldn’t have to thank her for that. But she accepted it for the gift it was. “Then let me say it again now,” she said, full of contentment. There was nowhere else she’d rather be than right there with him. “I love you, Lucifer, and I always will.”
His arms tightened a little, his head coming to rest against hers. Chloe could feel how much she was loved, and heard it in his voice as he replied. She never got tired of hearing it. “I love you, too.”