Tragic Life Changes

Lucifer walked into Chloe Decker's home. He was bored and decided to see what she was up to. Perhaps there was a new case to be solved. He found the detective there with Maze and the child. "Hello, Detective."

"Will you ever knock?" Chloe asked with annoyance in her voice. Normally she'd just accept Lucifer's quirks. It had been two years since they began working together. She was used to his uniqueness by now. However, she was having a really bad day.

"Lucifer!" Trixie yelled before running to him and grabbing his hand. Unlike normal, the child didn't have her usual happiness. "Tell Mommy not to go."

"Yes, of course, child," Lucifer said before looking to his partner. "Don't go, Detective."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You don't even know where I'm going."

"No, but it's clearly somewhere you shouldn't given your offspring's sourness, and far given the bag on the couch," Lucifer said as he pointed towards the duffle bag right behind the detective.

Chloe sighed. "I'm going to Florida to pick up a fugitive wanted by our department."

"Isn't that Maze's job?" Lucifer asked.

"My job is to catch them. This one's already caught," Maze said.

"They wouldn't trust this guy on a bounty hunter anyway. He's high profile and his crimes are severe. That's also why the department is sending us rather than letting Miami PD transport him here. Pierce doesn't want to take any chances," Chloe explained.

"Mommy, please don't go," Trixie begged as she ran back over to her mother.

Chloe sighed and knelt down in front of her daughter. "Monkey, I'm not gonna be gone long. I'll be back by the time you wake up Saturday. That's only two days."

"But you and Daddy will both be gone," Trixie said sadly. It wasn't uncommon for her daddy to leave sometimes for work, but her mommy didn't usually leave, and they were never gone at the same time.

Chloe winced. This was a first for her daughter. She'd never had to deal with both her parents out of town. Chloe didn't like it much either, so she understood why Trixie didn't.

"Wait, Daniel's going too? Why? I'm your partner," Lucifer protested with a hint of jealousy.

Chloe glared at him. She did not need to deal with another child right now, especially one in the form of a grown man. "You want to come with me to pick up a criminal and then babysit him until we get back. There's no fun case to solve. No partying, nothing to entertain you."

Lucifer thought about it for a minute. "Yes, perhaps Daniel is more appropriate."

"Uh huh," Chloe said before turning back to Trixie. "Look, I'll be back before you know it. Maze will be here with you at night, and the babysitter will take you to and from school."

"You promise you'll be back Saturday?" Trixie asked. She was still far from happy, but she knew there wasn't anything she could do about it.

"Yes, I promise. And when I get back, we'll do something really fun. Maybe we can go to the beach," Chloe said.

Trixie smiled a little. "Okay."

Chloe sighed in relief. With that disaster over, she could get this crappy assignment and get back home in a couple of days. Given her complicated life, she should've known it would never be that easy."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Chloe sat next to Dan on the plane as they flew to Miami. He seemed no more pleased about the operation than she did.

"Why do we have to be the ones to do this again?" Dan asked.

"Well, Pierce doesn't like you, so that's why you have to go. I'm not sure why he's making me do it. Maybe he doesn't like me either," Chloe said.

"Gee, thanks," Dan said sarcastically.

"I don't want to do this anymore than you do. Trixie was not happy to find out we were leaving. By the way, you could've been there to help me explain it to her," Chloe told him.

"I wanted to, but I had a ton of paperwork to finish. Not doing so wouldn't make the new Lieutenant like me any better," Dan said.

Chloe decided not to argue with him. She wasn't in the mood to fight. She just wanted to get this over with.

"Why couldn't we take a private plane?" Dan asked. It seemed to him that if they were forced with this stupid assignment, they should at least get the perk of a private plane.

"Pierce didn't want to use the resources. Hence, we're going back on Miami's dime with a private plane. It's not gonna kill us to fly commercially," Chloe said.

As if she had spoken too soon, they start to feel some bumps as they flew.

"What the hell?" Chloe asked, slightly on edge.

"I'm sure it's just turbulence," Dan said.

Just then, the pilot went over the intercom. "Everything's fine everyone. We just have a bit of turbulence."

"See," Dan said with a smirk.

Chloe nodded. "I think this whole damned trip just has me on edge. I think I'm just waiting for everything in the world to go wrong.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. This whole thing sucks, but it'll be fine. It should be nice and simple. We get the bastard, bring him home, and then it's over. Nice and easy, even if annoying," Dan said.

Just then, there were more bumps, and then the plane seemed to dive down, causing many passengers to scream.

"Dan!" Chloe exclaimed with fear in her voice.

Dan looked back at her with just as much fear. They were going down. There wasn't much denying that. Unless the pilot managed to pull off a miracle, they were going to crash.

Chloe and Dan both looked at each other, both thinking the same thing. They were going to die, and their daughter would be left alone.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Lucifer was woken up at the sound of his phone ringing. He turned away, promptly ignoring it. It stopped after about five rings only start again seconds later.

Lucifer huffed before turning over and picking up the phone. He saw that it was Ella and picked it up. "Ms. Lopez, it is after four in the morning. Even the Devil needs to sleep."

"Lucifer, you need to get down to the station now," Ella said. It was obvious in her voice that she'd been crying.

Lucifer sat up. "What's wrong Ms. Lopez.

"It's Chloe and Dan. The plane went down."