Lucifer stood, hands trembling, heartbeat thundering in his ears, and looked at the circle of women who had saved him. He should alert them to his presence. It was selfish, really, to just stand there and continue to listen to their prayers but he couldn't make himself move, couldn't interrupt them.

He closed his eyes and let the feeling wash over him once more. It was intoxicating. Unlike anything he'd ever felt before. It was like a piece of him had been missing all this time and now he was finally complete. Whole. At peace. Something he'd never felt before. Not even back then. Not even in the Silver City, before everything changed. There had always been a certain unrest in him that neither his parents nor his siblings had ever quite understood.

He opened his eyes, to find Linda smiling at him. He smiled back at her, grinning from ear to ear like a complete idiot. He couldn't have cared less. Linda gently touched Chloe on the shoulder. The detective opened her eyes and looked questioningly at the doctor, who made a small nod in his direction. Chloe turned and he watched the worried lines on her face slowly change into disbelief, then pure joy. It was mesmerizing to watch.

She let out a shuddering breath, then she jumped up and ran into him with such force that it would have knocked the air out of a regular human being. Her arms came around him as if she were holding on for dear life.

"Hey", he said soothingly, drawing his own arms around her in turn. She made a noise that was close to a sob, burying her head in his chest. "I'm here. I'm fine."

"Lucifer!", came a delighted yell from the circle, shortly after followed by a second, child-sized canonball. This one hit him on the legs and hugged itself tightly to him as well. "You heard us!"

He heard the rustle of several people standing up, and all of a sudden he was the center of a group hug. And he meant to be annoyed at the sappiness of it all, he really did, but all he could feel was joy. Joy at all of them showing him again in actions what they had already shown him in words, and he didn't know how he deserved any of this, it was all too much.

Maze was the first to let go. He caught her eye and she looked a bit sheepish, as if she didn't know what in the world could have made her partake in anything so silly as a group hug. He gave her a little nod and a grateful smile. She cleared her throat and fled.

Linda was next. He caught her eye when she let go and mouthed thank you. He had a pretty good idea who must have come up with the whole idea of essentially telling him how they all feel.

Chloe pulled back and they locked eyes. Several emotions were running over her face in rapid succession and he had trouble keeping up. There was relief, incredulity, happiness, and what he could only describe as a dawning realization. Like she had theoretically accepted who he was, but standing across from him, in the flesh, was a different thing entirely.

Trixie detached herself from his leg and grinned up at him. "We did it! We're superheroes!"

"You most certainly are", he replied, patting her on the head affectionately. He heard Chloe draw in a surprised breath beside him.

He waited several more heartbeats, then he loudly cleared his throat. Nothing happened. Trixie gave Ella a little nudge and she looked up from where she was still tightly hugged to Lucifer's side. Ella looked around, realizing she was the only one left still hugging him.

"Oh, we're done?", she said, drawing back apruptly. She looked from Chloe to Lucifer and back again. "Right. I guess you two would like a minute to talk. C'mon, Trixie." She ushered Trixie out of the room after Linda and Maze who had already dissappeared somewhere.

Chloe paid her no mind, her whole focus on Lucifer. She lifted her hands and put them on his face, stroking over his cheek reverently, as if she still needed to make sure he was actually there and not just a figment of her imagination.

"I can't believe that actually worked. I can't believe you're back."

"Me neither." He lifted up his hand in turn and stroked an errand strand of her hair aside. It stubbornly fell back in place immediately after he withdrew his hand, making him smile.

"I missed you. I- well, I told you."

He looked at her and tried to put all of what he felt into his next words, willing her to understand how much it meant to him. "I heard you. Thank you."

She pulled him down softly until their foreheads were touching. She let out a sigh. "I thought I'd never see you again."

He drew in a deep breath, then another, trying in vain to keep his emotions in check. "I was certain I would never see you again."

They remained like this for a moment, foreheads touching, just breathing each other in.

"Was it bad?" Chloe pulled back a little to look at him. "I mean, of course it was bad. It's hell. Sorry, that was a stupid question. I-"

He stroked his thumb over her lip and she stopped talking. He still couldn't believe his luck. He was back on earth, with her.

"I missed you, too", he said, and kissed her.