Detective Chloe Decker took the stairs down from the rooftop as quickly as her battered body would allow, trying to piece together the last few minutes.

She remembered being shot. The bullet struck her chest with enough force to make her black out, but the Kevlar vest under her shirt kept her alive.

Even so, she should have died. She and Lucifer had been lured into a kill-box crafted by Marcus Pierce. They had been trapped by a ring of armed men surrounding them on the main level and also from above. She took a shot at Marcus, knowing she wouldn't survive.

She regained consciousness with Lucifer holding her, looking incredibly worried. Unbelievably, they were on the roof, removed from the danger. She remembered saying they had to find Pierce. One minute Lucifer was with her, and the next he was gone.

She should have heard his footsteps receding; couldn't have missed the heavy stairwell door being opened, but there was no sound other than a whoosh of wind.

She stood up and tried to get her body to move just as Dan called her cellphone. She barely listened as he told her it was a trap; her thoughts were on the moments after she was shot.

The bullet struck hard, and she blacked out. The force knocked her backward into Lucifer who stood directly behind her. But then what? Pierce's men would have opened fire. It just wasn't possible for an unarmed man to get her out of Marcus' trap.

Memories flashed, touching on every instance of weirdness surrounding Lucifer. She had catalogued them all, as was her nature, but her heart promptly dismissed everything she noticed. Now her mind could no longer shut out the evidence of Lucifer's true identity. Her partner was telling the truth, he had been all along. Her fact-driven thinking demanded she stop pretending, but the conclusion she came to wasn't acceptable; Chloe pushed it away again. She hung up the phone when she heard gunshots. She had to get to Lucifer.

She found her way back to the scene of the ambush and immediately registered the silence of the space. No one was moving. She saw men scattered around on the floor like so much debris, white feathers tinged with red surrounding them, and then she saw her partner kneeling beside Pierce's body. She called to him, "Lucifer…" He stood up and turned…

The loud, unexpected ring of Chloe's cell phone brought her back to the present. She jumped and nearly fell off her couch as she reached for the device. She checked the screen and answered quickly, "Decker." She listened for a moment, "Yes, Dan, I'm okay. I just need some time to get over the situation with Pierce…"

It was a half-truth. Her need for time off had nothing to do with Pierce's death and everything to do with Lucifer. She listened again, trying to focus, "Yes, my Mom is keeping Trixie for a few days. I'll see you at Charlotte's funeral. Bye."

She tossed her phone down and stretched out on the couch staring at the ceiling. It felt odd to be alone in the house. Trixie should be doing homework and Maze should be sparring with her knives. Chloe's mind jumped from Maze as roommate and babysitter to the insanity of the truth. Maze was a demon.

Trixie and Chloe lived with a demon. Fear welled up in her, as it had repeatedly for the past two days. She forced herself to think. Maze had never harmed them. She had hurt Trixie's feelings in her recent struggles to deal with humanity and the wish to go home, to Hell…

A small terrified laugh bubbled up as Chloe's mind threatened to implode. She took a few deep breaths. Everything was all right. Maze was busy guarding Linda Martin.

Linda had called just hours after the 'event' to offer her services should Chloe want to talk. Linda also assured her that Maze had been ordered by Lucifer to stay away from the Decker household. Chloe rubbed her hands over her eyes and laughed to herself. How thoughtful of the Devil. The Devil… Her partner was the actual Devil.

She sat up, too jittery to stay still. She stood and began to pace the small living area. For two days she had tried to comprehend the truth of Lucifer, but her mind kept locking up. She couldn't get past the concept that God was real. Her brain kept jumping back and forth from the huge shift in her beliefs to Lucifer. The idea of Heaven and Hell freaked her out, yet her heart kept circling back to thoughts of him as the man she loved. Then the image of his ruined face and burning eyes would fill her mind and she would be consumed by the reality of his monstrous side.

She sat on the stairs and buried her face in her hands. How could she move forward? The monstrous side was part of Lucifer, the part that punished evil. Did she need to fear that part of him? Bits of past conversations confirmed he always told her the truth. All the impossible things she had witnessed were real. She re-lived moments of happiness, when the connection between them was strong and steady. She remembered his face the night he admitted he was afraid that if she knew all of him, she would run away. A tear slid through her fingers. He had been right to be afraid.

She now understood why Lucifer was so different and in understanding, felt hopeless and heartbroken.

She loved the man, but how was she supposed to love an immortal, a fallen angel?

She shook her head, wishing she could take back her shock and fear when she had finally seen the truth. Lucifer had been deeply hurt by her reaction.

Shame and regret poured through her, as she recalled the night she asked Lucifer to open up to her; telling him that nothing would change how she felt about him. That after three years, she 'knew' him. What a fool she had been.

Chloe accepted that life was often hard and unfair, but she always faced whatever happened and looked for the good. Despite what religion taught, despite her own fear, she trusted her gut. Lucifer was basically good. She had witnessed it over and over. She trusted him with her life. But she didn't know if he would ever trust her again. She had messed up badly.

But he had messed up too. She wiped her eyes, and then banged her fists against the stair-step she sat on. It wasn't fair, damn it! She had fallen in love, only to have happiness ripped away again and again. Lucifer sabotaged their relationship every time she got too close. Now the strange way he acted during her relationship with Pierce began to make sense. Either he didn't know how to ask for love or didn't think he was worth it.

She sat up straighter, eyes going wide, he didn't think he was worthy of her. He might be as old as creation, but from the time humans came into being, Lucifer had been forced to run Hell. Despite being immortal, he hadn't had much in the way of happiness. He didn't know how to handle someone actually caring about him. Then when he finally, FINALLY admitted he did care for her, and told her he was the Devil, she had refused to believe it and assured him that she didn't see him that way. Within hours, she did see and had gone to pieces.

Well to Hell with that, she thought, and laughter bubbled up inside her as she realized again, that Hell was an actual place. Her laughter turned into a sob. After a few moments, she straightened her shoulders and pushed her hair back out of her face.

With sudden resolve, she stood up and grabbed her car keys. She needed to see her partner.