Devil May Care - Deckerstar

Chapter 20: Peaches and cream

They had chosen not to tell anyone about the fact they were together, at least until they figured out what they wanted out of their relationship. Well, needless to say, that conviction didn't last for a long time.

It was a week into being together that Lucifer, to his delight, discovered that Chloe's no PDA at work policy wasn't as sturdy as he had been led to believe. He had accompanied her more often, finding himself bored to only be a stay at home dad, and the sneaky kisses, hand holding, and making out in the evidence closet while Clover napped in the car seat had been what ultimately outed them to the rest of the precinct. He had been glad, smug even; she, on the other hand, had been profusely embarrassed.

Ella had been super excited, so had Dan. Of course, neither of them knew of the storm that had preceded the rainbow they were living under right then, so there was no questioning, no uncertainty, just an unbearable load of I told you so's from everyone they cared about. Linda had been the only one to become slightly worried, but when she actually heard Lucifer's terms, she found herself surprised he had done something so mature towards Chloe and his amorous life.

Throughout the first three months of their relationship, Lucifer would hang out at the precinct with everyone, and slowly slip back into his role as a devilishly handsome police consultant, making comments on the case files Chloe was handling, and ultimately helping her with her lesser cases and even paperwork.

He wouldn't admit it, but he had lost himself a little bit in his role as a father, so much so that he could find joy and glee on the little things that would annoy his bachelor self. Chloe was more than glad to have her favorite devil and their little girl parading around the precinct, and she could tell he missed the action. Truth to be told, she, too, missed the relationship they'd had before Clover came along. She loved her life as of the present, but she missed the independence that came with having a daughter reaching her pre-teen years, and knowing that she would have to go through everything again.

Soon, she would be going back to working nine to five, as her breastfeeding relationship with her daughter had sadly come to an end. A respiratory infection that had Chloe taking antibiotics not safe for breastfeeding made her switch Clover to pumped breastmilk and formula for almost two weeks, and when she tried to relink their relationship, Clover would just get frustrated, and therefore Chloe would become frustrated. She tried her best to get it going, but Clover was getting bigger, eating more, and two weeks of no pumping had made her supply decrease, which in turn made it so Clover couldn't get all her nutrients from the breast alone. It took her a couple of days but eventually she came to terms with the fact that her obligation to her baby was to feed her, no matter how, and so her boobs went back to being hers, and sometimes Lucifer's to enjoy.

It was on the morning of Chloe's first full day back as a homicide detective, that she found herself looking up at the ceiling and finally feeling somewhat at peace with their past, with all the bumps in the road that had taken them to where they were then. The fact that most of the bumps were her fault was what haunted her the most, but she wanted to be happy. She needed to. The proverbial rainbow was shining brightly over their heads, and she needed to shine just as bright as her favorite devil and her daughters.

She had woken up before her alarm went off, which was an odd but very welcome occurrence, as she appreciated the time to think back into her life, the decisions she'd made, and just to be mindful of everything she had. She had been looking up to the ceiling for God only knows how long, before the baby monitor lit up with the image and sound of her daughter, indicating that the now five-month-old was up and ready.

Chloe heard her partner groan with his face stuffed in the pillow, before he turned his head to face her; a frown and a pout painting his timeless features and making him look edible. She smiled a little, ruffled his unruly curls with her right hand before softly kissing him on the forehead. He had been up three times during the night because Clover was teething and she would just randomly wake up crying. His reaction to hearing the baby monitor go off for the fourth time was nothing short of entirely expected.