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She watches as he trails his fingers across the bar, saying goodbye to the only home he’s ever had. Ten years. Ten years reprieve from a lifetime in Hell is all he’s had before he has to go back. It isn’t fair. Lucifer loves life on Earth. He deserves a life here, deserves a life with her.
Slowly, hesitantly, he moves over to the piano, and she feels her heart break even more. “There’s no music in Hell,” he once told her. The thought of Lucifer without music in his life is unbearable. It’s a part of him, so intricately woven with his emotions that she can't stand to imagine him without it.
Rory’s childhood isn’t the only thing he will be missing down there.
He starts to play, the grief in his eyes plain as his fingers drift across the keys. When he stops, he looks at her, and it’s clear what he’s waiting for her to say.
But all that comes out of her mouth is, “No.”
For a second, he looks stunned, and then his brow creases as he says, “Detective?”
“We’re not doing this,” she says with a short, sharp shake of her head.
He reaches to take her hand, but she tears herself away, only stopping once she's out of reach. All she can think about is what Rory told her only a few days before. “You make choices, Mom. If I told you what they were, you wouldn’t be making them.” The words echo in her head, demanding to be heard.
“Chloe, I—” he starts, before stopping abruptly when he sees the glare she gives him. He sighs, defeated already before they’ve even begun. “I gave my word.”
She freezes, then slams her hands down on the piano, causing him to wince. “NO,” she repeats. “We’re not doing this. She told us, Lucifer. She told us the choices we make. That’s not a choice, not for us, not right now, not in this moment. We don’t have to do this.”
He rises from the piano stool, and it only takes a few steps before he's gathering her in his arms. It doesn’t help. His touch is just another reminder of what’s about to be ripped from her, what she’s about to lose for the rest of her mortal life. The future stretches out ahead of her, and eternity seems so very far away. She doesn’t want to wait that long without him. After everything they’ve been through, it’s unfair. It’s unjust.
“My love,” he says, as he kisses the top of her forehead. “This is what she wanted.”
With a force that surprises even her, she pushes him away. “And what about what I want? What about what you want? You gave your word, Lucifer, but what about what you told me? You said you would never choose to leave me. Never.”
She pauses, her chest heaving as tears start to run down her face. “Is that what this is? Do you want to leave me?”
“No…” he breathes, a look of horror washing over his face. “No, of course not, Chloe. But…”
He swallows, his hand instinctively going to play with a ring that is no longer there. “Isn’t this what you want? Our daughter, she… she asked us not to change her. Are you telling me you want to do that?”
She thinks of Rory, her beautiful daughter, so full of hate, anger, and despair. Of how she will spend the next twenty, thirty, maybe even forty years without her father, without ever knowing the kind of man he is. How her pain will be so great that it causes her to self-actualise going back into the past, with the aim of killing him.
Does she want that for her child? The answer is clear.
“Lucifer,” she says as she moves closer to him once more, taking the hand that is still fiddling at his cuff in hers. “She’s our daughter. We’re her parents. It’s our job to protect her from pain, to do the best we can for her.”
He looks distraught, much in the same way he did when he was begging Rory not to make him do this. She knows she’s putting him in the same position again, except this time, she’s forcing him to choose between the two people he loves most in this world.
“Doing what's best for your child, it doesn't always make them happy,” she says softly, an echo of what she tried to teach him so long ago.
His eyes begin to shine with unshed tears. “I don’t want to make her unhappy.” He chokes, and she squeezes his hand gently. His eyes snap to hers. “But I don’t want to make you unhappy either.”
“Then don’t.”
Silence falls between them for a moment, his indecision almost tangible in the air. She can’t help but make one more attempt, one last plea for her future. “I can raise this baby alone, Lucifer. I can do that. But I don't want to. I don’t want to spend the next few decades lying to my child, watching her grow up to despise her father. Not when, together, we can make her happy.”
“What about Hell?” he finally asks. “What if what Rory said was true? What if I never realise my calling?”
“Oh, Lucifer,” she says, her hand rising to cup his cheek. As always, he leans into it, forever craving her touch. “I have faith in you. Lee Garner, Jimmy Barnes… none of that will change. You may not have known it then, but you’re already halfway there.”
The way his forehead creases would be almost adorable, if not for the doubt she can see behind his eyes. “I am?”
She smiles. “Of course you are. You cared enough to help Jimmy, a man you hated. Eventually, you’ll want to help them all. Perhaps we both will. But we’ll never know that if you don’t give us the chance.”
She backs away from him then, giving him space. “This is your choice. I know how much your word means to you. I’ll wait as long as you need me to for you to make it.”
He’s staring at her stomach. She wonders if he’s imagining what she will look like as their child grows inside her, and it gives her an idea. Something that, if the worst happens, will lessen the pain, if only for a while. “But if you chose to go… just don’t go yet. Stay with me, as long as you can. We can make the most of what time we have left together.”
Her heart sinks as he shakes his head. She should have known, known that it would hurt him too much to stay, knowing that all they are doing is delaying the inevitable. Foolishly, part of her was hoping that they could cheat the loop, that if Rory didn’t remember him, it would be fine. It would all be fine.
Nothing about this was fine.
“I can’t do it,” he says, and she feels her heart shatter. Logically, she understands. Rory made him promise, and a promise to your child, no matter how old they are, is hard to break. In the end, Linda’s book was right. In the end, he always le—
“I can’t leave you.”
The world pauses, just for a moment. Her breath catches in her throat as she looks up at him, hope starting to flood through her body. “You’re sure?” she whispers, and the nod he gives is a balm to her soul, piecing her back together from the inside.
In less than a second, they are back in each other’s arms, his face buried in her hair as he murmurs, “I choose to stay. I choose us, and I choose our daughter.” His hand slips to her stomach. “She’s going to be the happiest child on this Earth,” he promises, and all she can do is nod frantically against his shoulder.
“I love you,” she stammers out, feeling completely overwhelmed by all the emotions running through her.
He pulls back a little, and uses his free hand to gather up the hair from in front of her face, tenderly tucking it behind her ear. “And I love you, Detective,” he says, as he leans down to kiss her.
But their lips never met. Time freezes, and in the blink of an eye, the universe around them falls away.
...
“Are you alright?” she asks, as they walk into the precinct she knows so well, yet doesn’t know at all in this strange, eerie place.
“The whole point of this was to see if I could help someone that I hated,” Lucifer replies, rounding the corner towards the stairs. “But the truth is, despite everything Jimmy Barnes did, I care about him now.”
She hates to see him like this, so disappointed in himself for failing. Perhaps coming down here was a bad idea after all? “Sorry it didn’t work out,” she says, attempting to comfort him as best she can.
To her surprise though, his response is something else entirely. “No, no, no, that’s just it. I thought it was a bad thing that I grew to like Carol, but maybe it’s like what you were saying. Maybe that’s a good thing. As is this, because if I can grow to like Jimmy Barnes, of all people…”
Finally, she sees where he’s going with this. “Then you can grow to care about anybody.”
“And if I can care about anyone, then I can help anyone.”
“Including me, I hope.”
The voice she knows so well, has missed so much, comes from inside the break room. Half a second later, Dan emerges, a ping pong ball in his hand as he walks over to them.
“Dan,” she says with a tearful smile, before running into his arms. The hug he gives her is so comforting, so familiar, even after all this time.
“What’s she doing here?” she hears him ask over her shoulder, and she can only imagine the glare he’s giving Lucifer right now. It’s only when he lets her go that she sees the panic on his face.
“Dan, Dan, it’s okay,” she rushes to say, “I’m not dead. Lucifer just brought me here… well, to help, really.”
“Yes, Daniel,” Lucifer says, his arms spread wide. “You wanted the answer, yes? Well, I’m afraid I can’t give you that yet, but lucky for you…” He gestures to Chloe with a grin. “I brought reinforcements."
Lucifer holds a hand out towards her, and she takes it gladly. His grin softens into a smile as he looks down at her, but when he turns his attention back to Dan, there's excitement in his eyes.
"Now, let’s find a way to get you out of here, shall we?”