"Lucifer?" Trixie asked, tugging at the bottom of his sleeve. She had somehow managed to get up from her seat on the other side of the breakfast table and over to Lucifer without Chloe noticing. Chloe suspected that her daughter had ducked under the table when she'd gotten up to go and get more bacon.

"What is it child?" he said, gently shaking her hand from the fabric of his shirt. Trixie had definitely crawled under the table to get to Lucifer.

Chloe did her best to stifle a laugh. It still cracked her up that the one thing that managed to shake the ever confident, Lucifer was her child. He pulled a look of mock displeasure at Trixie's invasion of his space.

"Can I get a puppy?" she asked, focusing all the power of her sad doe eyes on him. Chloe was half-sure that Trixie had to have some kind of supernatural power, because no one seemed to be able to resist those eyes - not even Mr. Big Bad Devil.

Lucifer didn't answer Trixie right away, it seemed that he was doing his best to resist her; unfortunately, he was losing. Chloe could pinpoint the moment that Lucifer had given in: he swallowed and released a loud breath and met Trixie's eyes.

"Perhaps," he said, it seemed he was doing his best to hedge his bets; Lucifer never promised something if he couldn't deliver.

"Please?" Trixie asked again. Really, she should be asking Chloe, but Trixie was clever enough to have figured out that Lucifer was far more likely to fall for her pleading doe eyes and innocent charm; it was almost funny how easily he seemed to cave to her.

"You should be having this conversation with your mum," Lucifer said. It pleased Chloe, just a little bit that he had learned to let her lead in all things Trixie.

Then, he continued on, "While I'd like to help you acquire a puppy, this is out of my jurisdiction." Both Lucifer and Trixie turned to face Chloe.

She groaned, "Really?"

"Mooommy," said Trixie, doing her best to lengthen the two syllable word.

It was way too early in the morning for this conversation, even if she'd already had three cups of Lucifer's fancy, strong black coffee. She'd had the puppy conversation with Trixie several times before, but this was the first time that Trixie had ever brought Lucifer into the conversation. Come to think of it, this was the first time that Trixie had asked about puppies in almost a year. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion at her stupid boyfriend - a man who was doing his best to project the image of angelic innocence.

"Lucifer," she said, her voice low and laden with warning in a I-know-what-you-did way.

"What?" he said, his voice raising just a hair.

Busted.

She glared at him again.

He let out another loud puff of air, "I might have been telling Beatrice about the Hounds of Hell last night," he said, "but I certainly didn't intend this to be the outcome."

She kept looking him in the eyes.

"She asked me to tell her a story," he said.

"Uh huh," she said, "So, stories about Hell?"

"Darling," he said, "Most of my stories are about Hell. You know that."

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Would you prefer if I tell her about my Den of Debauchery?"

Asshole.

They were looking at each other now, and Lucifer was doing this thing with his tongue... guh. He smirked then, because he, the asshole, knew exactly what he did to her, exactly where she was trying to keep her thoughts from going.

"Guys!" Trixie said, obliviously cutting through the tension between them, "What about my puppy?"

Chloe sighed again. The she downed the rest of her coffee like a shot, "We've talked about this before baby," she said.

"Yeah and you said that if I was ready to be responsible I could get one. I'm ready mommy," she said.

"I'll think about it," said Chloe. Was she going to think about it? Yeah. She just had, and the answer was still no, so it technically wasn't a lie...

"Well then," Lucifer said, "I'll see what I can do spawn."

Chloe wasn't sure that she liked where Lucifer seemed to be going with this, but her objections were a part of a conversation best had, far, far away from Trixie.

Lucifer vanished for two days, with almost no explanation other than I have business to attend to darling. She might have been repeating his words under her breath in a terrible imitation of his stupid, stupid, beautiful accent. She'd always hated when he got all vague and mysterious on her; she hated it even more now that she Knew. Usually when he got all weird and cagey, it meant that he was off to do something stupid, and he knew it. He never lied to her, but she could tell when he was hiding something from her because he would suddenly become a wall of silence on the topic. Stupid, smarmy, vanishing asshole.

Then, on Wednesday night, he returned, acting as though he'd simply popped off for a smoke. She and Trixie had been working together on one of Trixie's school projects when they'd heard the door opening. Instinctively, Chloe reached for her gun, but pulled her hand back when she heard Lucifer's voice.

"Chloe!" he called out, "Spawn!"

Trixie jumped up immediately, running to follow the sound of Lucifer's voice. Before Chloe could decide what she wanted to say to Lucifer, Trixie had disappeared into the front hall. Chloe let out another breath, and decided that she would wait on the sofa for Lucifer to come into the sitting room. Then, she heard the bark.

There was a dog barking.

A dog was barking, very, very, closely.

Inside the apartment.

There was a dog.

Lucifer, had brought a dog into the apartment.

Chloe felt a mixture of overwhelming fondness, and annoyance. The sound of Lucifer's voice all soft and gentle, his words quiet enough that she couldn't quite make them out, followed directly by a joyful whoop from Trixie certainly stoked the fondness.

Finally, she decided to get up and make her way to the front hall.

Lucifer was crouched at Trixie's level, and a small, pure black pitbull puppy was wriggling in his arms, wagging its tail exuberantly. Trixie was smoothing her tiny hand over the puppy's head, petting it gently.

"She's so pretty," Trixie was saying.

Lucifer smiled a warm, open smile. "She is, isn't she?" he said.

"Does she have a name?" Trixie asked.

"Not yet, spawn," he said, "Her mum didn't want her so she didn't get one."

Trixie looked almost heartbroken, "Why didn't the mom dog want her?" Trixie asked.

"I don't know child," he said, "Perhaps because she's a runt." He stroked gently behind the puppy's ear with his finger.

"What's a runt?" Trixie asked.

"It just means that she was the littlest, sickliest pup of the lot," he said. He sat down fully on the floor, and Trixie followed suit.

Her face crumbled again, for a moment, and then she brightened, "But we can take care of her, can't we?"

Lucifer smiled again, "We can," he said, softly.

Chloe had originally wanted to barge right into the hall, drag Lucifer away and have a word with him, but the sight of the two of them together on the floor with the puppy was too sweet to disturb. So here she was lurking in the doorway, a silent observer; both the Devil and the child were completely oblivious to her presence, completely wrapped up in the plight of the tiny puppy.

Lucifer held the puppy out to Trixie, but stopped her before she could take the puppy.

"Beatrice," he said, voice solemn and serious, "If you take this puppy now, she's yours. You will be completely responsible for her."

Trixie's eyes widened, "Completely?"

"A Hellhound only has one master, and she hasn't chosen hers yet," he said, "If you take her from me now, you're choosing to be her master. She will protect you for all eternity Beatrice, but you are making a deal," he paused, giving Trixie a moment to take his words in before continuing, "She will serve you faithfully and protect you, but you must protect her and care for her in return. Can you do that?"

"Yeah," Trixie said, "I can do that." She put on her most serious face and nodded. The whole scene had an air of ritual to it.

Then she took the puppy from Lucifer's hands. It licked Trixie's face and she giggled.

"Hi," she said, "I'm Beatrice Espinoza, but everybody calls me Trixie," she glanced at Lucifer for a moment before returning to the puppy, "well, almost everybody. I'm going to be your new mommy, since your old one isn't here. Is that okay?"

The puppy barked excitedly.

"I think you look like a Bella to me," she said, "I'm going to call you Bella, okay?"

The puppy licked her face again.

"Lucifer says that you come from Hell, just like Maze," she said, "But you don't have to go back there again."

Chloe finally stepped into the room and made her presence known. Lucifer and Trixie both looked up at her, somewhat guiltily. She burst out laughing, not even sure why, and then she found herself plopping down on the floor next to Lucifer.

"A hellhound?" she asked him.

"They make excellent guard dogs, and as an added bonus they come pre-house trained," he flashed her one of his signature I'm-so-great-aren't-I grins, "Win-win wouldn't you say darling?"

She shook her head gently, squashing down her annoyance - Trixie looked so happy to have a puppy. Lucifer was often unclear on the more delicate facets of proper human etiquette but she'd never let it be said that he wasn't trying. He certainly had a keen interest in doing things that would make Chloe and Trixie happy, even if he was clumsy about it. What did it say about her life now that a literal Hellhound seemed practically mundane?

"Mommy!" Trixie said, "You need to meet Bella." Trixie held the puppy out to Chloe.

"Go on, darling," Lucifer said, "Say hello to the puppy."

Chloe took Bella into her hands, "Hi there Bella," she said, "I'm Chloe, I'm Trixie's mommy."

Bella licked Chloe's face. Then she set Bella down, not entirely comfortable with dog saliva on her face. The puppy immediately scrambled her way back into Trixie's lap.

"Trixie babe, don't you think you should go off and get ready for bed? You do have to go to school tomorrow," Chloe said.

"Can I take Bella to see my room?" Trixie asked.

"Of course baby," Chloe said, "She's going to be sleeping in there with you isn't she?"

The dog would not be sleeping in her room Chloe thought. The only invited guest was Lucifer, though for the moment even that was uncertain - Chloe was seriously considering making him sleep on her couch tonight if he was planning on staying over; it would serve him right for disappearing without an explanation for two days.

"Yay!" Trixie said, running off to her room, puppy in arm, "You're going to really like my room Bella," trixie said to the puppy.

Bella barked in response.

Now Chloe was alone in the front hall with Lucifer, the two of them still sitting on the floor. He looked especially pleased with himself, but his smile faded when he realised that she was no longer smiling at him.

"Darling?" he asked, "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong? The child seemed quite happy with her gift?"

He seemed genuinely confused; with Lucifer there was no doubting his sincerity on anything - he was truthful to a fault, a trait that occasionally landed him into trouble. Chloe let out a deep breath and shifted closer to him.

"Where have you been?" she asked.

He blinked in confusion, "Why I've been out acquiring Beatrice a puppy," he said it like it was the most obvious answer in the world, "She did say she wanted one and you indicated that you were open to the idea..." he trailed off.

"I said I'd think about it," Chloe said, "not that we were going to get her a puppy."

"Oh," he said, "I thought - the spawn seemed very pleased - I..."

Chloe couldn't help laughing this time; his look of confusion was pretty funny.

"Chloe, darling are you okay?" he asked. His eyebrows were scrunched up, his face carrying a look of deep genuine concern.

"Yeah," she said, gasping between giggles, "I'm perfectly fine Lucifer."

And he was stupidly adorable when he was confused. Not that she would admit it; he would be horrified. She could just imagine him: the Devil is not adorable darling. And his face! The faces he pulled when he was mock offended were hilarious, probably intentionally.

"If you say so darling," he said, looking dubious.

It took her another minute or so to calm herself down. All the while he continued to look at her with deep concern.

Finally she took a deep breath and straightened herself out.

"Look," she said, "It's sweet that you got Trixie a puppy, it really is -"

He smiled. His smiles always warmed her, "I'm glad you think so," he said.

"But, you should have asked me first," she said, "Especially since I'll be the one who will end up having to take care of the puppy once the excitement wears off."

"Oh," he said, "But you won't be," he added, "Trixie entered into an agreement with Bella; she will be the one taking care of her."

Chloe was confused, "So, what? My daughter signed a contract with a dog?"

"Essentially," Lucifer said, "I told the child what she was going into before she took the hound."

As was often the case Lucifer seemed to deal with Trixie as though she were a mini adult; his knowledge of the proper way to handle children was, well, lacking at best.

"My daughter entered into a magical contract with a hellhound," Chloe said.

"Yes, I already said that. Do keep up darling," Lucifer said.

Sometimes his misunderstandings were incredibly frustrating. Unfortunately it was way too late at night for her to be dealing with her frustrations when she had to be up bright and early in the morning to head off to the precinct for an all hands staff meeting. Later. She would be having a more in depth conversation with Lucifer later.

"Okay," she said, "So is there anything special about the Hellhound that will make her stand out from regular dogs?"

"Bella is hellspawn, so she's quite long lived. Hellhounds have ten-thousand year lifespans," he said, "and they're some of the most loyal creatures in existence. Once they have found a master they will serve and protect their master to their deaths."

"Oh-kay," she said, drawing the word out, trying to wrap her head around what he'd said.

"They are also completely obedient," he said, "Bella will do anything that Trixie asks of her. And Bella can track Trixie's soul and body to anywhere in existence," he added.

"Huh," she said, not sure how else to respond.

"I thought a hellhound would be an excellent companion for the spawn, Beatrice now has a constant protector - an obvious plus given our line of work," he said. He flashed her another one of his patented aren't-I-the-greatest smiles.

Chloe didn't respond, so he just plodded forwards.

"Oh and there's the preternatural strength, handy in a fight. And she can do the, fires of hell, glimpse of screaming souls of the damned, drive humans crazy look, brilliant really." He was grinning broadly.

"That all?" Chloe asked.

"For the most part," he said.

"And what does she eat?" Chloe asked.

"Dog food," he said, his tone dripping with well duh.

"Okay," she said.

"Oh and the souls of the damned," he added brightly, "They need to be dead of course."

"Are you just screwing with me now?" she asked. He looked as though he were about to answer, but she stopped him, holding up a hand, "Wait- don't answer that," she said, "You don't say anything that you don't mean."

"I promised I would never lie to you," he said, "and my word is my bond. I am a great lover of the truth after all."

Chloe sighed.

HIs face was bathed in warm, yellowing light and it looked soft and hopeful.

"I just wanted to get Beatrice what she desired," he said.

She laughed again, "Of course you did," she said, giving him a soft smile, "how could I fault you for that? Besides we both know how difficult her doe eyes are to resist,"

"Truly, I sometimes wonder if she has some kind of God-given gift of her own detective," he said wistfully.

She kept smiling at him, warmed by how much he wanted to make her and Trixie happy. She snuggled herself closer into him, breathing in his comforting and familiar scent.

"I'm not mad," she said, "I was, at first. But you made Trixie so happy, and I can't fault you for that."

He wrapped his arms around her, tugging her even closer. "I'm glad that you're not mad anymore," he said. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.

They sat there for a while longer, and Chloe found herself drifting off in his arms. She was almost asleep when she heard his voice her sleep fogged mind making sound far away.

"Up you get darling," he said, "can't have you falling asleep on the floor."

Her eyes weren't open but she could tell by the sound of his voice that he was smiling. Then before she could shift around she felt him picking her up. He brought her to their bed and tucked her in, smoothing his hand over her forehead before placing a gentle kiss to the crown of her head.

"Do dream of me," he said. If she'd been more awake, she'd have gently slapped him.

He left their room, and she let herself fall into morpheus's arms. When she woke the next morning she was still alone in bed. Had Lucifer gone and disappeared again? It would be just like him, he still had great difficulty with emotional intimacy and tended to disappear for a few hours when he was overwhelmed - though he always came back. She grabbed her cellphone from her nightstand and checked the time - it was already six-thirty! Moreover, it was suspiciously quiet for six-thirty in the morning.

She got out of bed and padded down the hall to Trixie's room. The door to her daughter's room was wide open. She peeked in and found her daughter still fast asleep. With her on the bed was Lucifer, who Trixie was laying on top of and and Bella the Hellhound who was buried in Trixie's arms. It was possibly the cutest thing that she had ever seen. A stupid grin formed on her face.

She took out her phone and snapped several quick pictures to preserve the scene and to use as blackmail against Lucifer, who would be horrified if anyone else saw the pictures. She set the best photo as her phone wallpaper. And she couldn't help herself - she sent a copy of the photo to Linda.