Chloe's eyes flickered back and forth between the man's face and the detonator in his hand. Don't panic. Remember your training.

"Put the gun down!", he screamed at her, and she heard the panic in his voice and knew that their chances to get out of this one alive where very slim indeed.

Lucifer was a reassuring presence by her side. It had to count for something to have the devil on your side, right?

She lifted her hands up, kneeling down slowly, putting her gun on the ground. The man nodded, running a hand through his hair. She saw that his hand holding the detonator trembled. One wrong move and he was sure to pull the trigger. Well, push the button, to be precise. She had to make sure not to spook him.

She stood up slowly, keeping her hands raised. "Listen, we just want to talk."

He started laughing hysterically, leaning over. "Oh, that's rich. Now you want to talk. Why did nobody listen to me when it mattered? Everything could ha-"

Somebody from the approaching SWAT team accidentally made a small noise and Chloe saw the man's head whip around in their direction, saw him press down on the button. She had time to think I'm sorry, Trixie. I'm so sorry., then she felt Lucifer's strong arms encircling her from the side. She saw a flash of white before everything went to black.

She coughed, regaining consciousness slowly. Why was it so difficult to breathe? It seemed like the air was filled with dust. Somebody should open a window.

She opened her eyes and was completely awake in an instant. The bomb had gone off. Shit. Everything was dark around her. Actually, that wasn't entirely true. Once her eyes got used to it, she saw a faint white light, which somehow emanated from all around her.

She was lying flat on the ground on her back, with Lucifer on top of her, crushing her.

"Would you mind moving a little so I can breathe?", she asked, coughing again.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible at the moment." There was a tone in his voice she'd never heard before. It was strained, as if he were doing something that required a lot of strength. Which didn't make any sense.

He was perched on his elbows, his arms on the ground on either side of her. She tried to move a little, brushing past his arm, and felt the tension running through him. It was as if there was something pushing him down-

"What happened?", she asked, and had to cough again. There was fine dust all around them, some small pieces of debris falling down next to Lucifer's head, leaving a trail of more dust in their wake.

"He detonated the bomb", Lucifer said through gritted teeth, breathing heavily.

"The building-" She couldn't finish the thought. Refrained from finishing the thought. Lucifer did it for her.

"Is on top of us." He groaned and she felt him trying to push upwards with more force, to no avail.

She finally realized where the light was coming from. It was his wings, wrapped all around them. He was holding up tons of debris from the collapsed building with nothing more than his wings and his arms. She had always known he was strong, but this was beyond belief.

"What are we going to do?", she said, feeling rather calm, given the circumstances. She regarded the small pieces of debris falling down between his feathers into the small space they had left with a sort of clinical detachment.

"I'm afraid our options are rather limited." He sounded even more strained now. She wondered how long he'd been holding up the goddamn building while she'd been unconscious.

She refrained from assessing the situation any further in favour of focussing on Lucifer's face. It told her all she needed to know. It was the face of somebody who knew they were fighting a loosing battle, with no chance of rescue. He caught her eye in the dim light and she saw him trying to hide his panic and waning strength.

She managed to free her right arm enough to squeeze it along her body, putting her hand on his face. She started stroking her thumb along his cheek, and he closed his eyes for the briefest of moments.

"I'm sorry, Chloe", he said, despair colouring his voice.

Chloe had a momentary flash of panic, it suddenly seemed to her like she could actually feel the tons of debris pressing down on them, there was no air, she couldn't breathe-

Lucifer touched his forehead down to hers, and she tried to focus her attention on him, tried to slow her rapid breathing.

"You'll be fine, won't you? You can always fly back to earth, right?"

"What's the point? You won't be here." There was such sadness in his voice that it almost broke her heart.

There was a terrible sound, of a sinew or muscle snapping, and Lucifer screamed in pain. The already tight space around her became even smaller as his wings and back were cruhed down further by the immense weight of the building.

Lucifer took a deep breath. "Don't be scared. You're going to heaven. You will see your father again."

"I don't want to die. I don't want to leave Trixie. I don't want to leave you."

She felt something wet on her face and realized that Lucifer was crying. Or maybe it was her. It was difficult to tell.

Lucifer made a sound that was close to a sob. "I won't be able to follow. I can never go where you're going", he ground out through gritted teeth. He was shaking badly now, almost at the limit of his endurance. "I'm sorry. I can't save you."

"Shhh", she said, stroking along his cheek, trying desperately to hold on to every last detail of him, the sound of his voice, the feel of the stubble on his cheek.

"I love you", she told him.

She thought it would hurt, but it was over before she even had time to register the pain.