Chloe, Lucifer, and Dan exited Ella's lab. Dan made a motion to indicate he was heading toward his desk. Chloe nodded an acknowledgment before she looked back up at Lucifer as they made their way over to her desk.
"Hey, Lucifer, I've been meaning to ask you something," Chloe slowed her pace and then turned to face him, stopping him in his tracks.
"Yes, Detective?"
"I, uh, I was wondering if I could join you the next time you hang out with Ella and Dan," Chloe asked, her voice going up an octave with a trace of nervousness.
"I'd love nothing more," Lucifer smiled.
"Great!" Chloe smiled before she turned on her heel and started back for her desk. She bit her lip and abruptly turned back around causing Lucifer to startle back, because as always, he was right on her heel.
"And um… I was wondering if we could actually do it at my place instead of Lux?" Chloe's voice went up again. Linda was right. It was about time she bit the bullet and had "THE" conversation with him. Having him at her place was a step in the right direction. Did that mean she would chicken out again? Maybe. But at least she was making a move.
"I thought we could maybe make it like a game night or something. It's been awhile."
"Would the Urchin be joining us as well?" Lucifer asked.
Chloe smiled at Lucifer always thinking of her daughter.
"Considering school's out for the summer and if she doesn't have any plans with any of her friends, I'd say she might make an appearance," Chloe replied as she started back toward her desk once again.
"Better brush up on my Monopoly skills then," Lucifer returned, "She's merciless."
"Right," Chloe finally reached her desk with Lucifer right by her side. Chloe let out a deep breath.
"And maybe after the games are all through… we could… talk?"
"Talk?" Lucifer parroted.
"Yeah, you know, we never really had that conversation after everything that went down with Pierce," Chloe clarified.
Bullet bit.
"If that's what you desire, Detective… then, of course," Lucifer returned with a slight bow of his head.
"Great," Chloe said a little too enthusiastically, "Sounds like a plan. Would tonight be too soon? The warrant on that Satanist club thing our victim was a part of is gonna probably take a day or two."
"Actually… I've got a Bachelorette party I need to attend to at Lux tonight," Lucifer looked apologetic, "But tomorrow my schedule's all clear."
"Oh. Okay… yeah. Sorry, that was way too short notice," Chloe apologized, waving her hand back and forth.
"No apology necessary, Detective," Lucifer assured her, "I look forward to our Game night."
Chloe smiled.
~*~
Ella watched her friends leave her lab and let out a long sigh. She turned to all the bagged evidence forensics brought back from Chloe and Dan's discovery from their victim's secret room. She mentally catalogued a few things to ask Lucifer about whether they were real or not later. This guy was into some really dark stuff. Summoning demons? That's not something you want to mess with – even if you didn't believe in all that occult stuff. But really, who was she to judge? One of her best friends was the Devil himself. That's pretty damn dark.
She knew she had her own darkness to deal with – and she would, in time.
Absentmindedly, she fingered the cross necklace around her neck and looked through the blinds toward Lucifer and Chloe standing by Chloe's desk. A small smile graced her lips. Lucifer had literally been through Hell and had been surrounded by the worst of humanity for literal eons. And she couldn't think of a brighter soul. If the Devil could find and keep his light throughout all that, so could she.
Ella shook herself out of her dark thoughts. She had to focus on the investigation at hand. After all, they were dealing with a case with supernatural elements. How many times had that happened over the years?
That was yet another question for Lucifer another time. At this rate, her list of questions would be a mile long. She grabbed one of the smaller baggies. She opened it and shook out its contents. A dark grey coin a little smaller than her palm fell out on to her gloved hand; pinching it with her other fingers, she took a closer look.
One side had a pentagram emblazoned on it with a horn-headed figure in the middle. The other side had a sword in the center of what looked like what could be an eclipsed sun. That was weird. She had never seen anything like it. Was it possible that some of these objects could actually contain power? Another query to add to the list for Lucifer. She better stop while she was ahead. Ella bagged the coin back up and placed it on the alleged spell book. Slowly she pushed the re-bagged book and the coin further down the counter with her gloved finger. One couldn't be too careful.
A beeping sound from the other end of the lab caught her attention.
There was a match for the fingerprints.
"Okay, let's find out who you are," Ella muttered as she brought up the results.
A picture of a bald man with a beard popped on to the screen.
"Father William Kinley," Ella read out loud. A Priest and a Satanist seemingly working together? – Now there was an oxymoron.
She left the window up and popped her head out of the lab. Lucifer and Chloe were conversing quietly, small smiles adorned on their faces. They were too cute. Ella could practically see their mutual heart eyes. She almost didn't want to break up the moment, but she did promise Chloe she'd let her know when she got the results.
After giving her "Deckerstar" another second, she called out.
"Hey, guys! I've got a hit on those prints!"
~*~
"International Association of Exorcists," Lucifer read aloud from the screen after Ella called him and Chloe into the lab.
He let out a scoff.
"What won't they think of next?"
"What do we know about this Father Kinley, Ella?" Chloe asked.
"Not a whole lot," Ella shook her head and gestured toward the screen, "Really all that you see there. Though, I have to admit, the idea of a priest working with a Satanist is pretty weird. They'd make quite the odd couple."
"I thought the same when Lucifer made friends with a priest," Chloe grinned. Her smile then grew a little sad after thinking of the late Father Frank.
"That was completely different," Lucifer argued.
"Anyway, so if this Father Kinley is based in Rome, what's he doing in LA?" Chloe folded her arms as she stepped closer to the big screen, after reading his statistics.
"That's assuming he actually is in LA," Ella shrugged, "We only found his prints on the book. It could be that the book used to belong to the priest before our vic got a hold of it or there's something else going on."
"I'm sure if anyone can figure it out, it's you, Detective," Lucifer stated. Chloe shyly smiled at the small praise.
Lucifer returned an equally shy smile before taking a quick glimpse at his watch.
"Ah, now if you ladies will excuse me, I'm late for my therapy session with Dr. Linda."
"Why do I get the feeling you purposely schedule your sessions for the time when you know I have a lot of paperwork to go through?" Chloe smirked.
Lucifer just playfully wiggled his eyebrows without saying a word before taking his leave of his Detective and forensic scientist. Chloe and Ella exchanged an amused look as they watched Lucifer exit the lab. After a moment, Chloe gestured back to her desk, letting Ella know she'd be there if she needed her; and Ella got back to work.
~*~
Lucifer entered Linda's office building and as always, breezed right past the receptionist before walking right into his friend's office.
"No, no, no, no," Linda's back was to the door as Lucifer quietly shut it. He turned to address his therapist when he saw she was on her phone.
"No, no… there must be some sort of mistake," Linda spoke into her cell phone. She was standing behind her desk. She hadn't noticed Lucifer's entrance quite yet. Lucifer furrowed his brow with concern as he slipped his hands into his pockets and listened on.
"You must have my results mixed up with someone else," Linda argued with whoever it was on the other end, "That's impossible."
After a beat of Linda listening to the person on the other end, she let out a deep sigh.
"Yes," Linda turned slightly, her palm to her forehead, still not seeing Lucifer, "Yes, I'll make another appointment."
With that, Linda hung up, closed her eyes and let out a long sigh.
"Everything all right, Doctor?" Lucifer let his presence be known.
"Lucifer!" Linda let out a gasp and put a hand to her heart, "You startled me."
"Apologies, Doctor, I have been standing here," Lucifer told her.
"No, no, sorry, of course, I was just a little distracted," Linda waved away his apology as she stepped around her desk.
"Are you okay?" Lucifer asked again.
"I'm fine," Linda gave him a non-convincing smile and gestured to her couch, "Have a seat."
Lucifer slowly sat down, not entirely convinced how "fine" his therapist currently was – he opened his mouth to ask once again before Linda interjected.
"How have things been going with Ella and Dan? You know, with them being part of the "Celestial Insider's Club?""
"They're fineeee," Lucifer replied, still a little concerned with Linda's erratic behavior.
"It must be nice to have more of your human friends in on the Celestial world," Linda continued.
"It is," Lucifer agreed slowly.
"Good… Good… That's good," Linda continued bobbing her head up and down.
Once again, Lucifer started to open his mouth to continue the conversation when Linda blurted out, "Can Angels have babies?"
"What?" Lucifer asked.
"Can Angels have babies?" Linda repeated, this time a little less intensely.
"Why do you ask?"
"I, uh… I just got off the phone with my doctor," Linda gestured back to her desk, "You know, when you came in."
Lucifer just gave her a look to continue.
"Apparently I'm pregnant," Linda announced, her posture ramrod straight, letting out the announcement with a breath.
"Congratulations?" Lucifer wasn't sure what kind of response she was looking for.
"Thank you… Yes, and Amenadiel is the father," Linda finished.
"How?" Lucifer asked.
"Well, if you don't know that…" Linda teased.
"Very funny, Doctor," Lucifer returned, "I mean how could that be? Angels can't procreate."
"That finally answers my initial question, thank you," Linda commented, "Maybe it's because he was almost human when we were together?"
"Quite frankly, after all that's happened these last few years, it wouldn't surprise me," Lucifer replied.
"Right, well, any way you can get a hold of him for me? I've been trying his cell for the past couple of days, but haven't heard anything," Linda asked.
"Amenadiel is… out of range," Lucifer replied.
Linda looked confused for a moment before realization settled on her features.
"He went back to Heaven, didn't he?"
"He did," Lucifer confirmed.
"Do you think he'll come back to Earth?"
"Honestly, I have no idea," Lucifer shook his head, "But if it's any consolation… you've got Uncle Lucifer to be by your side."
"Thank you, Lucifer," Linda smiled and reached across the table to grasp his clasped hands in gratitude. She let out a deep breath, "Sorry… we're here for you – how has everything been going with Dan and Ella knowing you're the Devil? Really?"
Lucifer returned her smile and sat further back on the couch, resuming their usual positions.
"Like I said before, they're actually just fine," Lucifer replied as he settled into the couch, crossing one leg over the other, "Quite frankly, I'm most astonished by Detective Douche's… uh, or rather, I mean Daniel's response."
"You all are still having your "Celestial Q and A" sessions then?" Linda put air quotes around her question, "I hope they're going better than mine did."
"Yes," Lucifer answered, "And they're going well for the most part… there's actually a development on that."
Linda motioned for him to keep talking.
"The Detective has asked to attend," Lucifer told her.
"Chloe's asked to join those sessions? Did you tell her and I missed it? Man, I'm not even that far into this pregnancy and it's already making me miss things," Linda muttered to herself.
"No, no, the Detective just thinks that Daniel, Miss Lopez, and I are just hanging out. She doesn't know about the Devilish aspect to the nights," Lucifer assured her.
"She actually asked if we could turn it into one of our Game nights and have it at her place."
Linda smiled. Perhaps Chloe was finally taking her up on her advice. It would be about damn time. Her two friends were incredibly stubborn, after all.
Oblivious to his friend's musings, Lucifer continued on, "In fact, she even asked if after we all were adjourned for the evening that we might… talk."
"Talk?" Linda couldn't fight the smile on her face.
"I believe the Detective wants to discuss… us," Lucifer dropped his leg and scooted closer to the edge of his seat, "I believe she wants to talk about our relationship… everything that was put on pause after all that nasty business with Cain."
"Would that be such a bad thing?" Linda returned.
Lucifer swallowed, pointedly not answering before he promptly changed the subject.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you about the twist in our latest case… demon possession."
Linda shook her head at his blatant switch in topic before what he actually said sunk in.
"Wait, what?!"