Well ! This took me forever ! This is an AU for 2X05 "The Weaponizer". I hope you like it!

Where The Demon Hides

Chloe was digging a hole in the floor with her pacing.

She was worrying her phone in her hands, her jacket already on, her long ponytail swinging left and right with every new step she took. She kept pushing the button to bring the screen to life, counting the minutes since Maze's call.

She was up to thirteen when she finally heard the knock. She opened the door before Dan was even done, leaving him to stand there with his hand in the air. She grabbed her car keys from the bowl and automatically checked that her weapon was in its holster on her hip.

"What's the emergency?" Dan frowned. "You said…"

"Trixie's asleep." she told him quickly. "Thank you for doing this."

"She's my daughter, of course I…" he started only to stop when it became clear she wasn't listening. He grabbed her arm as she sneaked past him. "Chloe, what's going on?"

"Lucifer's in trouble." she said before she could think twice about it.

Dan's face fell and then turned into a small sneer. "What? Did he bump his toe or something?"

"Stop it." she hissed, shrugging his hand off. "Maze sounded… I need to go."

Maze had sounded afraid. And for anything to frighten Maze…

"You were in a car accident two days ago." Dan argued. "You almost got shot today. You can't just…"

"He's my partner." she snapped.

"Yeah, well, so was I not long ago." he retorted, raising his voice. They glared at each other for a moment. He was the first to drop his gaze, looking guilty. "Sorry. If you need backup…"

"Thanks." she offered awkwardly. She left before he could waste any more precious time.

She followed the instructions Maze had given her, forcing her car through late night traffic, using the siren when she needed to. Once she was outside the popular part of town and into the poorer districts, it was easier to maneuver. She killed the siren though. The police wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms around here.

She knew she was at the right place because she spotted Lucifer's sport car parked haphazardly, almost in the middle of the street, with no concern at all for laws or potential thieves. She briefly wondered if he had deals in place to make sure his car never got stolen.

She parked behind him and hopped out of the car, looking up at the half destroyed building in front of her.

An old church.

A shiver ran down her spine, like always when she was about to enter a dangerous situation. It was a sixth sense. One that had served her well over the years.

She kept her hand on her gun as she cracked the big door open.

"Finally!" Maze exclaimed. "What took you so long, Decker?!"

Chloe let go of the gun and stepped inside, closing the door behind her by reflex. It was dark inside but the night lights spilling from the windows were enough to see a little. Maze was standing at the other end of the room, in front of what used to be an altar, and Lucifer… Lucifer was sitting on one of the few unbroken pew, curled up, his arms around his legs, his face buried in his knees.

He briefly looked up when she came closer and his face… It was almost like it rippled into something else, something… A trick of the light, surely. He pressed it back against his knees before she could even blink.

"What's going on?" she frowned, hurrying closer to her friends. "Lucifer, are you…"

The moment she came within reach, the moment she outstretched an arm to place a hand on his shoulder… She caught sight of what she had missed.

Her hand switched course quickly and ended up back on her gun, as she looked from Maze to the very dead, very murdered corpse lying next to the broken piano. She didn't need to check to know the man was dead. The crafted dagger's handle popping out of his stomach was a clue, the fact that his chest was absolutely still was another. The shiver was back and now she knew why. It smelt like death.

"What have you done?" she hissed.

Maze rolled her eyes like she was being an inconvenience. Her friend left the shadows to step into the pale pool of light spilling from a window and Chloe noticed everything because that was what she was trained to do. The way Maze favored her left side, the finger that seemed to be broken, the slight limp… She did a double take on the dead guy… The man looked smaller than average and… normal. It would take much more than that to hurt Maze.

So, naturally, her attention turned to Lucifer.

He was shaking, she realized, breathing hard through his teeth as if he was cold. In shock. And his hands… She couldn't be sure because he was in a dark part of the church but his hands seemed to be covered in blood.

Had Maze tried to stop him?

Is that how she…

Who was the dead man?

Had Lucifer snapped?

"He's lost it." Maze told her and, there it was again, the touch of fear in her voice. "I can't go near him, he… I'm not sure how much power he has left but if he can't control himself… You need to bring him back. You make him more human."

It didn't make a lot of sense but Chloe saw the confession in that, the explanation.

She reached for the phone in the back pocket of her jeans. Dan or the precinct? She hesitated long enough for Maze to snatch it out of her hand.

"What are you doing?" her roommate growled.

"What am I doing?" She almost laughed. "What did you think I would do? Help you cover a murder? Give me back my phone, I need to call for backup." She forced herself to calm down, to be rational, even though the only thing she could think about was that Dan had been right all along and she had been stupid and… "It's good you called me. It will help his case. I will take him down to the station and…"

"Fuck, you're thick." Maze cut her off. "He did this for you." Chloe faltered and took a step back, her eyes going back to the poor man on the floor. "He was going to kill you."

Her gaze snapped back to Maze. "It's ridiculous. I don't even know him."

"Meet Uriel." the other woman spat. "Lucifer's brother. Welcomer of souls."

Chloe touched her face with slightly shaking fingers. This was all part of the delusion Lucifer suffered from and had somehow wrapped Maze in. He had been going on and on about cosmic forces working against her since her accident.

This was her fault…

No, it wasn't. She told herself that firmly. Misplaced guilt wouldn't help anyone. She would call Linda as soon as she had everything sorted here. Maybe she could… help.

"Look, Chloe, I know you don't believe but, right now, I need you to work your magic before he wipes the entire city clean from existence." Maze insisted. She made a face and tilted her head. "Well, I don't think he's strong enough for that but he could do damages."

"Give me my phone back. I need to report this." she insisted.

"What's the point?" Maze sighed. "He doesn't officially exist. I'll take care of the body. Nobody will ever find it. You take care of Lucifer, that's why I called you."

"So I can be accessory to murder?" she scoffed. "That's nice of you, Maze. I'm not letting you move the body."

Suddenly, Maze was very much in her space, sneering, a challenge in her voice. "Try to stop me."

The low growl made every hair on her body rise. She turned around, her gun in her hands, offering her back to Maze without a single hesitation because she wasn't the greatest threat in the room anymore. It was the same instinct that had saved countless humans from deadly preys since the dawn of times. She looked for the animal responsible, certain it must be huge and dangerous, ready to shoot it down, to fight for her life…

The church was empty except for the man still curled up in a tight ball on a pew.

And the growl…

"I wasn't threatening her." Maze said in a submissive voice Chloe had never heard from her. "I am no threat to her."

It was then, and only then, that she realized where the growl had come from.

But it couldn't be possible.

Because the growl wasn't human.

Lucifer was in a bad shape. The shaking was getting worse. What he had done was eating him up alive. She had seen it before on other cases, with people who had been forced to kill to defend themselves and hadn't been ready for the price it would cost them.

Maybe that was what had happened. Maybe he had been forced to defend himself.

She owed him the benefit of the doubt after everything they had been through together. The Lucifer she knew, her partner, would never do something like that without an excellent reason.

He was going to kill you, Maze had said.

Maybe there was something she didn't know. Maybe he had gotten himself in trouble and they had targeted her as revenge because she was his partner, his friend. Maybe what he and Amenadiel called family was a nice euphemism for a criminal group. The mafia or a cartel or…

She put her gun away and carefully stepped closer to him.

"Lucifer." she called out softly.

He didn't react in any visible way.

She crouched next to him, placing a hand on his shin…

It was immediate this time. His head snapped up with another bestial growl that she didn't hear because she was too busy screaming in horror.

His face was…

She scrambled back on her ass, as far away from him as she could get, until her back hit the heap of broken wood on the other side of the aisle. The growl turned to a whine and he shook his head. His features rippled again and she could almost guess at the familiar face under that… thing.

Tendons and sinews exposed, skin burned so raw it looked like crimson leather, fire in his eyes… The flames dancing there… Wrath and pain and…

"Look away." Maze advised quietly.

She looked down and saw the blood on his shirt.

Monster.

The word came, unbidden, and it stayed.

Monster.

"What… What is he?" she asked, not daring to move, not daring to breathe.

The eyes full of flames were staring at her and she was trapped, she knew she was trapped. She felt like a small powerless mice between the paws of a lion.

"He told you." Maze sighed. "Try not to let your brain melt. I need you. He's lost. Bring him back."

He told you.

"I'm the devil, Detective."

How many times had he made that claim? How many times had he…

But it couldn't be true. It couldn't. She stopped staring at the blood on his shirt to glance up, certain everything had been a hallucination and it would be gone, the atrocious face would be gone.

It wasn't gone. It was there. Terrifying in everything it stood for.

The devil.

The devil.

Lucifer was the devil.

Which meant her roommate was a demon.

Which meant the dead guy was an angel.

Which meant…

"Angels can be killed?" she asked.

"Not by mortals." Maze replied. "And only with special blades."

Her friend – demon, demon, demon – took something from behind the small of her back with her good hand and showed her from afar. Curved knives that looked a little like two wings.

"And that man…" She let her voice trail off.

"He was one, yes." the other woman – demon! – replied. "We don't really have time for this, Decker. You…"

"You said he was after me." she insisted. "That's why Lucifer killed him."

Maze let out a long suffering sigh. "Okay. Long story short. Lucifer's the devil. We were very happy until you showed up and turned everything upside down. Now he's getting more and more human, thanks to you. He's supposed to be immortal but he's vulnerable around you. Don't ask, I don't know why. When that asshole who grabbed your kid shot him, he died and made a deal with his father…"

"Who is God." she interrupted in a murmur.

Her roommate shot her a glare. "Your life against bringing his mother back to hell. Except, Mama Morningstar turned his head and he never gave her back. Cue to Uriel showing up and trying to force his hand by threatening to kill you."

It was far too much to take in.

"Uriel was his brother." she repeated because it was the most… normal thing she could cling to.

"Yes." Maze hissed, clearly frustrated with her.

"And he killed him. For me." she stated.

Lucifer could be violent but never… Never without a really good reason. He punished the guilty. That was what he always said. He wasn't evil. He punished the guilty.

"And now he's lost to a divine guilt trip and I can't reach him." Maze snapped through clenched teeth. "I can't even go near him. He… He radiates power. I'm not even sure he's really here."

"And you called me." Chloe tried to catch up. "Because for whatever reason, I make him more human."

She made the devil more human.

Vulnerable.

All the times he had tried to tell her and…

"Hallelujah, she got it." her roommate deadpanned.

"You're a demon." she remarked. She was feeling almost detached from the situation now. Perhaps she was going into shock too.

She couldn't even believe she was believing this.

But then she glanced back at Lucifer who had curled up tight again and she knew. Deep down.

She needed to sit down.

She only realized a second too late that she already was.

Slowly, she shifted to her knees. The move was enough to trigger another of those growls. Except it didn't sound so threatening now. It sounded less like a predator about to strike and more like… a wounded animal.

"Be careful." Maze warned. "He's not really the Lucifer you know, right now. He's the Lord of Hell."

It should have scared her but it annoyed her instead. She knew just how much he hated those titles people always tossed on the devil. On him.

"He's always Lucifer to me." she retorted and the growling stopped. She didn't hesitate to come closer even if her hand trembled briefly before she rested it on his shin once more. "Look at me." she whispered and, when he didn't move, she gave his leg a reproachful little shake – she gave the devil's leg a reproachful little shake. "Lucifer, look at me."

He turned his head a little, not all the way, as if he was ashamed of looking at her. She was the one who felt ashamed for having reacted the way she had. Now that she was – in shock – calmer, she could see… It looked horrible, yes. Terrifying, even. She could perfectly understand how people grew mad at the sight of it because she could feel it nagging at the back of her mind, the urge to scream and run for her life… But it also looked painful. And once she caught a glimpse of that pain, it was all she could see. And it broke her heart.

"It's alright." she coaxed, placing her other hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be alright." The rippling was still there and she understood, somehow, that he was fighting to get his other face back. Maze was wrong. He was still in there. He was still her Lucifer. He was just… hurting a lot. "You don't need to hide. It's fine. I'm fine. I'm sorry I reacted that way. I'm really sorry."

"Chloe." he breathed out.

She wasn't sure her name was all he breathed out because, suddenly, it was like that huge tension was gone from the room. Something in her uncoiled and she heard Maze sigh in relief behind her.

He uncurled a little, let his feet touch the floor, and she took the opportunity to sit next to him on the bench, wrap an arm around his shoulders… He collapsed against her, still shivering. He was burning to the touch. She wasn't sure if that was a side effect or if that was just… a devil thing.

She glanced at Maze, a little lost, but determined to hold him as long as he needed. She was feeling a bit protective herself and she tensed when her roommate stepped closer.

What had just happened had been… intense.

"Can you get him back to the penthouse?" Maze asked. "I will… Take care of things here."

Everything in Chloe rebelled against what she implied. Hiding a body, covering a murder… What was she supposed to tell her colleagues though? An angel had been stabbed? Lucifer was the culprit but you can't arrest him because he's the devil. This was all a celestial conspiracy against me and he was just trying to stop his brother from killing me to get back at their mother?

So she nodded and tightened her grip on her partner's shoulders.

That was what partners were for. To have one's back. To protect them.

She expected resistance but Lucifer was pliant under her hands. When she gently told him she was driving him home, he stood up and followed. She checked that the street was deserted before steering him to her car because the last thing they needed was an innocent bystander taking a look at him and going crazy.

He was silent during the drive and Chloe was starting to understand what Maze had meant when she had claimed he was radiating power. She could almost taste it. It made the air thick and it woke old dark fears in her.

She blindly reached out and placed her hand on his thigh.

After a minute, his warm fingers covered it.

When she glanced at him, his familiar dark eyes looked back. She relaxed a little, relieved to see him back to himself. At least in appearance.

She parked as close to Lux as she dared. The streets were still full of people despite the late hour and his shirt was covered in blood. So were his hands. She tried to not think about that because he grabbed her fingers as soon as they were out of the car.

She didn't dare ask if it was because he needed the comfort of because of her strange powers over him, because she made it easier for him to look… human.

She clung to his fingers and she guided him to the side entrance of the club, pushing him in the elevator before anyone could get a glimpse of him.

Her phone buzzed as she stared at blinking floor numbers, willing them to move past faster. She checked in case it was Maze. It wasn't. Lucifer squeezed her hand almost to the point of pain. It was possessive and a bit scary.

"Detective Douche." he hissed in a dangerous voice.

"Don't do that." she chided.

He immediately relaxed his grip, looking chastised. "Sorry."

He never was so quiet and it worried her how apathetic he still behaved.

She typed a quick text to Dan to let him know she was alright but that she didn't know when she would be back.

She was relieved when the doors opened but she froze when she spotted the woman in the middle of his living-room. At least, Charlotte Richards looked equally surprised to find her there.

Although it didn't explain what the lawyer was doing in his apartment.

"What happened to you?" Charlotte asked, ignoring Chloe's presence. "Where's Uriel?"

"I'm sorry, Mother." Lucifer muttered.

Mother.

Chloe's brain was almost too slow to catch up.

Mother.

"No." Charlotte smiled but it had a hard sad tinge to it. "Where is he, Lucifer? You didn't…"

He stepped closer to Chloe and she took over by the force of habit.

"I'm very sorry to have to tell you…" she breathed out the standard words, squeezing his hand for support.

"Shut up, you worthless little bug." the woman – goddess – spat.

And, just like that, Lucifer was back to growling like a pissed off dog. A very big, very dangerous pissed off dog.

Charlotte seemed taken aback for a second but she still walked closer with her arms outstretched. "Lucifer…"

"Not now." he snapped. He didn't raise his voice but it seemed to echo in the room as if he had. He closed his eyes and wrapped his free hand around Chloe's forearm, pulling her even closer. "I'm sorry, Mom. I can't… He wouldn't listen. He was going to kill the Detective. He would have…" Lucifer shook his head, his face rippling into this pained wrathful twisted version of himself again. "What have I done… What have I…"

"This wasn't your fault." Charlotte said quickly. "It was your father's. Everything…"

Bottles rattled behind the bar.

"Lucifer." Chloe whispered gently.

The rattling stopped and he exhaled a long deep breath. "Please, Mom. I can't do this right now."

Charlotte's eyes had turned calculating and Chloe didn't like that one bit. What had Maze said? That his mother belonged in hell?

"I am sorry for your loss and I understand you're upset but I think you should leave now." she said, staring the woman down. Staring a goddess down.

Maybe madness was contagious.

Charlotte barely looked at her. "Your powers are stronger."

"It will pass." Lucifer said through clenched teeth. He stretched his neck and his face looked normal again. Well… Chloe wasn't sure. Which one was the normal one?

"Lucifer." the goddess insisted.

"Mother." he snarled right back.

And the bottles were back to rattling.

Chloe instinctively stepped closer to him, wrapping her free arm around his waist, as if to bodily keep his… powers inside. She had no idea what she was doing. She just knew being close to her had seemed to help him stay in control so far.

He relaxed almost immediately.

"Let me take care of you." Charlotte insisted, now glaring at Chloe. "Surely, You would rather have your mother with you right now than this… little human." The woman tilted her head to the side. "What even is she? She is… numbing you."

"Numbing you?" Chloe frowned, worried. She couldn't claim to understand half of what was going on but that didn't sound…

"That is not a bad thing right now I assure you, Detective." Lucifer snorted. "Mother."

"Alright." Charlotte retorted. "I won't stay where I am not wanted."

Chloe watched her storm out, a little worried that she would set fire to the building or whatever it was shunned goddesses did.

Only when the elevator closed on his mother did Lucifer let go of her. He took a few steps in the room and rested his hand on his piano, looking lost and bereft.

"He would have killed you." he said softly. "I want to say I didn't have a choice but that's a lie because there is always a choice. But he would have killed you. And that… That isn't a concession I am ready to make."

"Lucifer…" she hesitated, not sure what he wanted her to say.

"You should arrest me." he chuckled. "I should be punished. And I am not talking about the kinky sort of punishment. I deserve…"

His voice trailed off.

She ducked behind the bar and poured him a glass. He seemed surprised when she placed it in his hand but he brought it to his lips all the same. It did little to calm his nerves though.

"You need to give me your clothes." she said.

He scoffed. "Darling, now is really not the time for…"

She breathed a little easier. If he could still make ridiculous innuendoes, then… Then it wasn't that bad.

"Give me your clothes so I can burn them." she cut him off. That was something to do. Burn his clothes and get rid of the ashes in different places. Just in case someone found the body where Maze would hide it and connected it with him.

"You shouldn't be helping me." he protested. "What I've done…"

"Protect me." she clarified. "What you did was protect me. So let me protect you."

"Oh, Detective… If only it was that easy…" he sighed.

He didn't protest when she pushed his jacket off his shoulders though. Or when she unbuttoned his shirt.

He didn't make any leering comment either. He seemed locked in a inner battle.

"You could use a shower." she suggested.

He nodded and let her steer him toward the bathroom. She left the door open a crack, waiting for him to hand her the rest of his clothes. Once she had everything, she rummaged through the kitchen to find nondescript plastic bags and stored them behind the bar for later disposal. Using his fireplace would only have been incriminating. She would need to do it elsewhere. Or send Maze to do it elsewhere.

After twenty minutes, she knocked on the bathroom door and called his name, a little worried by the absence of noises. Only silence answered her.

She didn't let herself hesitate before pushing the door open. There was nothing she hadn't seen before, after all – and it wasn't like he was shy about it in the first place.

She knew she had made the right decision when she found him sitting in the shower, curled up again, clouds of steam rising around him.

"Lucifer!" The water looked scalding and she hastily turned it off before crouching down to make sure he wasn't hurt. His skin was red but he seemed mostly alright. There were bruises all over him though. "Did Uriel do that?" She met his eyes, shocked to see the tears he wasn't even trying to hide. "It will be alright." she promised. "I know you don't believe me but it will be."

He let out a single chuckle that didn't sound so amused. "You are so… pure." She rolled her eyes at that but he didn't give her time to reply. "I must apologize, Detective."

"You don't need to." she countered.

"Oh, yes, I do." he insisted. "I wanted you to believe me but I never wanted you to see." He turned his head away from her. "I apologize for scaring you earlier. I was not quite… myself. Or perhaps I was a little bit too much myself. It is difficult to say today."

"You didn't scare me." she lied and, when he shot her a dubious glance, she amended "Well… Maybe for a second." He snorted and it seemed genuine enough that she relaxed a little. "I'm sorry I never believed you."

He gave her a small shrug. "There was a man named Thomas a long time ago… He only believed in what he saw too." The comment was anecdotal at best. Lucifer closed his eyes and rested his head against the tiled wall behind him. "Most people would have run by now."

"I'm guessing most people don't numb you." she countered, lowering herself from her crouching position to her knees, not quite caring that her jeans were getting a bit wet.

"I have it under control now." he said tiredly. "I think. You should go back to your spawn. Isn't it illegal to leave her alone?"

She rolled her eyes. As if she would leave her daughter alone. "Dan's with her." At her ex's name, another of those growls escaped his throat. She poked his arm. "You were saying? Under control?"

He flashed her a sheepish look but it soon disappeared under the obvious self-loathing. "I'm a monster, Chloe. I'm the monster they always said I was. They've always been right and…"

"Bullshit." she cut him off, ashamed of that same thought having crossed her mind earlier. "Self-defense. That's what it was."

"He's my brother…" he whispered, his face contorting with pain. "Was."

"Did he give you a choice?" she insisted gently.

His fingers were warm when he brushed them against her cheek. He seemed to marvel at the fact that she didn't flinch.

"Not one I was willing to make." he murmured. "You are… You are precious to me."

There was a lump in her throat that she forced herself to swallow. She smiled at him. "I care a lot about you too, you know."

Awe and gratefulness battled on his very human face as if she had offered him the world instead of something that was so simple…

"Detective, you never fail to surprise me." he declared softly.

"Is that a good thing?" she asked, looking around until her eyes fell on a black silk robe that would probably have looked ridiculous on anyone that wasn't him. She stood up to take it off the rack behind the door and handed it to him, averting her eyes when he hauled himself up from the floor a little less gratefully than usual.

"The best." he breathed out when she reached out to steady him after he had taken an uncertain step.

"Are you sure you don't need a doctor?" she frowned.

He dismissed that with a careless wave of the hand. "I will be fine once…"

His voice trailed off.

"Once I leave." she finished with a nod. Because for some unfathomable reason she made the devil human. Or as close to human as could be. It would all take a while to sink in.

"Please, don't." he requested, sounding almost panicked at the thought.

She bit down on her bottom lip, reluctant to leave him but displeased by the knowledge he was in pain because of her. "Are you sure that…"

"Please." he repeated.

This time, she simply nodded. "Let's get you to bed."

The lack of outrageous flirting told her he was more exhausted and shaken than he looked. She helped him to his bedroom and, at his request, fetched another glass of whiskey from the living-room. The bags with his clothes were gone and a lone empty glass was abandoned on the bar, which told her Maze had been in and out without their knowing.

By the time she came back to the bedroom Lucifer was already asleep. She placed the glass on his nightstand and tucked the sheets higher on his body, forcing herself not to notice the robe had been discarded at the foot of the bed. Now really wasn't the time for this kind of thoughts - about the devil no less.

She was turning away, intending to text Dan and Maze before making herself at home on his couch when fingers coiled around her wrist and gave a gentle tug. Lucifer's eyelids seemed heavy and he looked almost vulnerable, younger, there was a small pout hanging at the corner of his lips that made him look like a rebellious toddler about to throw a tantrum.

"Stay?" he asked.

It was only when he tugged again that she realized what he meant.

She knew what she should have done. She should have told him she was staying but in the next room, at a proper distance.

What she did instead was climb in bed with the devil, on top of his expensive designer sheets, barely making sure the fabric was an effective barrier between his nakedness and her body.

He wrapped himself around with something akin to a pur, a real actual pur that was a thousand times preferable to the threatening growls. It tugged at something deep in her that sound, something she had been neglecting for months.

So what if he was the devil? He was a better person than more humans who called themselves good men.

He was her partner. Nothing had changed. If she could help him, she would.

Oh yes, she would. She was fiercely protective of her family and friends…

And as she fell asleep, feeling safer than she had ever felt before, she promised herself that anyone who wanted to try their hand at hurting Lucifer would have to go through her, be it an army of angels or God himself.

And good luck to them if they tried.

Did you like it? Let me know!