Lucifer's Return

Chapter 1: The Blue Shirt

[This story takes place after Chloe tells Lucifer she loves him and he returns to Hell.]

Night after night Chloe returned to Lux. She went through work in a daze for nearly a month. Every evening she would drive away from the precinct intent on going home, but she would find herself parked at the curb of the nightclub instead. Her eyes red from so many sleepless nights, eyebrows knitted together, she scanned the crowd from her stool at the bar.

"He's not here, Decker." Maze's voice came from behind the counter. She was polishing dry the lowball glasses, dressed in a tight black vest and leather pants. Her eyes were adorned with a metallic golden eyeliner wing, her lips the deepest shade of burgundy. "I know" Chloe said defensively. She didn't really know, but she hoped.

Dejected, Chloe asked Maze for a gin and tonic, grabbed it without looking back at her, and headed for the elevator. Maze called after her over the din of the music "Some people tip, you know!" Chloe's figure disappear into the sea of people. Maze shook her head and went back to polishing glasses, sharing in Chloe's hurt.

Chloe entered the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor penthouse. She leaned against the amber wall and took a sip from her glass. The ding of the elevator startled her and she slumped out into the living room and dropped herself onto the sofa. She stared at the wall, stony faced, sipping her drink, then downed the last drop. 

"Ugh," she groaned to herself. Chloe hauled herself off the sofa towards the extensive liquor shelf. She browsed the various bottles and settled on a rum. She poured a bit into her glass, but wanted to mix something with it to make it more palatable. She opened the fridge, already aware there was scarcely a thing left behind. She found a half empty bottle of flat soda and shrugged. She poured the remaining contents into her drink, tasted it and winced. "Whatever" she muttered to herself.

Chloe walked over to the record player and put on one of Lucifer's favorite jazz albums. A hiss, a crackle, then the sounds of piano filled the air. Water welled up behind her eyes as she looked over at Lucifer's black grand piano and the empty bench beside it. Chloe braced herself against the piano, eyes closed, trying to conjure his form on the bench. Stopping herself from becoming too overwhelmed, she planted her glass down on a table and walked through the threshold of the bedroom.

Chloe flung open the armoire doors and traced her finger across the row of fine Italian shirts, pausing as she touched a dark blue one. She remembered the day Lucifer wore this one. It wasn't a particularly special day, but it stuck in her mind. She had been pouring over a case at home when he appeared at her door with information to share, ever the faithful consultant. She had looked him up and down as he towered over her, filling the doorframe in his black suit and dark blue shirt. He was always impeccably dressed. She had thought to herself how beautiful the color looked on him, but she remembers stifling that thought because her attraction to him would only distract her from the case she was agonizing over.

Suddenly that flashback popped like a bubble above her head and she returned to the room, her finger still on the blue shirt. She pulled it off its hanger and flung it onto the bed which was covered in black satin sheets, the way he had left it. The lights of the city dimly illuminated the bedroom through the grand windows.

Chloe began to slip off her clothes. She hastily peeled everything off of herself as if she was shedding an itchy skin. Her trousers, blazer, button-down and bra hit the floor. Then, with a level of care she never gave her own garments, she tenderly unbuttoned the dark blue shirt. For a moment she imagined Lucifer's form was behind the buttons and felt an odd rush in her stomach, but soon every button was undone with nothing inside. Chloe slipped the silky dark blue shirt over her shoulders and began buttoning it back up. It hung loosely on her frame, her chest and legs exposed. She gazed at herself in the full length mirror at the corner of the room. She pulled her hands up to grip her elbows, the sleeves so long they covered her hands except for her fingertips.

Chloe went into the bathroom and tied her hair into a messy bun on top of her head, small tendrils hanging down tickling her neck. She grabbed Lucifer's toothbrush and used it as if it were her own. "He wouldn't mind" she said to herself with the smallest wistful smirk.

She turned off the bathroom light, climbed onto the black satin sheets, and lay on her side looking out the large windows past the balcony, where she had last seen him and felt the wind of his wings brush her face. With a hand between her cheek and the pillow she said quietly "Just come back, Lucifer." A few moments later Chloe drifted to a deep sleep. One slim leg draped over the other, the curve of her hip half covered by the hem of his dark blue shirt.