Whenever Chloe turned her head to glance into the room, the hands on the clock in Lucifer's penthouse seemed to be covered in gooey honey as they seemed to move in slow motion. It was10.42am.

Chloe had been unable to eat dinner or breakfast and had spent the night first going through her notes on miracle children, the archangel Gabriel and free will in human beings and then uncovering all of the furniture in the penthouse and cleaning it from top to bottom. She had sent Amenadiel and Charlotte downstairs to the club as the tension emanating from them had simply been too much. When they had returned at 6.30 in the morning, Chloe had quickly driven home to jump in the shower and change. With trembling hand she had applied her make-up carefully, chuckling nervously at the realisation that she was trying to look the best for the Devil and one of his siblings, and Archangel, who might well have been sent down to earth to punish or even kill the aforementioned Devil. But then she remembered the tender kisses she had exchanged with Lucifer, his declaration at the beach, the genuine worry in his eyes when he had found out that she had been poisoned and then the fact that he was immortal and the Master of Hell no longer seemed to matter.

She'd been back at the penthouse before 9am and had spent most of the last 90 minutes out on the balcony, leaving the living room to the two celestial beings who were nervously pacing up and down.

Finally she heard the elevator ascending the floors and she quickly stepped into the room. 'It's Maze. Maze. Just Maze' a voice in her head said while her heart was longing for Lucifer to step through the door.

With a ding the elevator doors opened to reveal a tired looking Maze who shoved a man of medium build into the room. He had a linen bag tied over his head and stumbled along as Maze dragged him to the sofa where she barked 'Sit down' before giving Chloe a long hug and stomping off to the bar to pour herself a drink.

Chloe went up to the man and lifted the bag off his head. He blinked at the sudden light in his face and then turned to look at Chloe.

"Where am I? What's happening?' he asked as he tried to get up.

'It's OK. Sorry for the way in which you've been brought here' Chloe said and, noticing the man's dry lips, then asked 'Would you like a glass of water?'

Something in her voice must have calmed him as he sat back down again and nodded.

As Chloe walked towards the kitchen to get said glass of water she felt a weird warmth behind her. She turned to see where that warmth came from and then, suddenly, all she could see was grey mist surrounding her. She felt strangely calm and didn't struggle. She knew that Lucifer was close by, probably in the same room and she thought she could hear his voice. Angry and confused at first and then full of warmth and worry as it seemed to get closer to her. Then his voice became more distant again and less frequent. He must be listening to what Gabriel and Amenadiel had to say, then another question (Chloe couldn't understand the words coming out of his mouth but from the tone of his voice she inferred that it was a question) followed a long silence. How long had she been immobilized for? Ten minutes? Two hours? And then she could feel him right next to her. She couldn't move, couldn't see him and could not hear him, properly hear him but she felt him close by with every fibre of her body. She wanted to touch him so badly, to see his brown eyes, the cheeky smile on his face, smell his distinctive aroma. How long would this trance last? When would Gabriel leave - because it must be his doing, this trance of hers. And then she suddenly felt panic as a realization hit her: what if Gabriel took Lucifer away from her before she could lay eyes on him at least once more? She felt like shouting, tried desperately to move but was unable to do either. All she could do was endure this state of nothingness for however long Gabriel saw fit.

And then, all of a sudden, she felt different. For starters, she was no longer standing up. She was lying down, feeling her entire weight pressing into what must be Lucifer's sofa. But she wasn't able to hear anything. And she felt really nauseous so kept her eyes firmly shut. Fighting the need to throw up, she reminded herself of some mindfulness exercises she had read about in one of her mother's books. She decided to focus on the different parts of her body: starting with her feet, moving up towards her knees and her hips. Her stomach (quickly skip over that mess!) and up onto her chest. Her left arm and her right arm. Somebody was holding her right arm… and stroking her head. No, not somebody… Lucifer!

The realization made Chloe smile through her nausea and all of a sudden her hearing seemed to have returned as she clearly heard a loud sigh coming from no one but Lucifer himself!

'Lucifer?' she whispered, still not sure she could handle a spinning room if she opened her eyes.

'Yes, Chloe, I'm here.' His voice was shaky but it was definitely him. 'How are you feeling?'

'Hm, like Gabriel put me in a washing machine on the maximum spinning cycle' she managed to say before a wave of nausea nearly made her gag. Great, Decker, she berated herself, throw up in your man's face - that'll make for an unforgettable reunion!

'I think I need some air' Chloe managed to say after a few deep breaths.

"OK, love.' With that, Lucifer swept her up into his arms gently and slowly walked out onto the balcony. Lucifer was about to lower her onto a deckchair but she held on as tightly as she could and shook her head. So he decided to sit down himself with Chloe cradled in his arms. She buried her head into his chest and inhaled deeply. She didn't know whether it was the fresh air or the distinctive smell of Lucifer that made her feel instantly better.

After a minute or two, she felt well enough to open her eyes and since the world did not spin like mad any longer she slowly tilted her head back so that she could finally see Lucifer's face.

He had felt her movements and had positioned his arm in a different way so she could rest the back of her head on it. Chloe's eyes found his and the tenderness in them made her sigh.

'Hi!' she managed to say, a tentative smile on her lips. 'Where is everyone else? How did the talk with Gabriel go?'

Lucifer let out a chuckle. 'They all left. Gabriel took Michael, the other 'miracle child' , back home - he won't remember anything that happened to him. The talk with Gabriel went well - he apologizes for stunning you but he thinks you know enough members of the celestial family already… He explained that every single human being has free will so I feel like a right idiot now for believing my mother's theory.' He swallowed and then said: 'I'm sorry, Chloe. I'm sorry for disappearing… I just couldn't handle…'

Chloe lifted her index finger and shushed him. She sat up and took his head between her hands. His surprise at this made her smile ever so slightly.

'No need to apologize, Lucifer. I understand why you did what you did. And I'm sorry it took me so long to get it. If I'd been less stubborn and had accepted what you were telling me all along as the truth, perhaps we could have gone through this together…'

Lucifer leaned into her until their foreheads touched and whispered: 'You are truly amazing, Chloe Decker. I don't know what I've done to deserve you!'

"Well, you've died for me twice already so that must count for something!' Chloe joked and then pulled him in for a long, tender kiss.

'But you still owe me a proper date, Mr Morningstar' Chloe whispered as she drew back after a while.

"Duly noted, my love' mumbled Lucifer, his lips already back on Chloe's. 'Duly noted.'