The front door of her mother's beach house never looked so ominous before, as Chloe approaches it with careful steps making sure to not make any noise once she finally steps inside. She's home early, she knows— but that was exactly her intention.

It had been a normal day at work, nothing out of the ordinary— that is until she decided to call her usual babysitter wanting to hear about Trixie after a rather arduous case, when the old lady informed her that Trixie wasn't with her— her aunt, is it? and the handsome man took her again a few hours ago, said they were going to the zoo and that she thought that Chloe knew about it, since the two are always around.

She'd ended the call after that, going home as fast as humanly possible and probably breaking a few laws on the way there, but she barely gave it any thought, not when she didn't know what would be waiting for her once she got there. Not when it's Trixie on the line.

Chloe can't help but let out a sigh of relief as she hears her daughter's voice coming from the living room, something that she hadn't even known was there easing up inside her chest. Trixie sounds fine, at least. That's good. She can feel herself breathe easier at that. Chloe almost gets lost for a second listening to Trixie talk animatedly about something or another that a giraffe had done when a masculine voice answers to her.

With a british accent.

Chloe's hand goes to her holster, almost immediately— she never wears it home, not around Trixie, but today she couldn't risk it. She starts slowly walking inside again, the door behind her closing with a soft click just as another voice, a feminine one this time, says something else.

Chloe finally reaches the living room to see Trixie sitting on the ground, drawing on the coffee table like Chloe had seen her do many times before, while two adults— while Lucifer and Maze, she can't not recognize them from her daughter's many stories that now she knows can't have been all imaginated, not when there's drawings of them still hung on the fridge— sit on the couch near her, watching and trading comments. As if that's something normal for them, which as she has just found out, it is.

"Trixie?" Chloe calls out, her voice traitorously even.

Trixie turns around, beaming at her like there's nothing wrong as she drops everything and runs out to hug her. Chloe smiles back at her, even as she keeps the other two on her peripheral the entire time— she hears the man commenting something about not understanding the child's need to cling to people and if Trixie notices her mom's hug turn a bit too tight, she doesn't mention it.

"Mommy, mommy, you won't believe it, I got to feed baby giraffes today! Their tongues are so gross!" she says in greeting, twisting her small button nose in disgust even as she continues giggling. Chloe's heart tugs at the open joy on her daughter's face.

She always loved the zoo.

"Did you now, baby?"

"Yeah!" Trixie bounces back and forth on her feet, almost shaking in her excitement. "They said they don't usually let you do that after feeding time and only with the big ones but Lucifer convinced them and it was so fun, mommy! Today was the best day ever!"

Chloe feels herself unconsciously tense at the man's name, looking up just in time to see him perk up and approach them taking it as an opening, and Chloe's sure she doesn't want to hear whatever it is he has to say. She puts a hand on Trixie's shoulder, pulling her closer to her side and moving ever so slightly in front of her to face the man while still being half-turned to her daughter.

"All it took was a simple deal. Nothing interesting, really," Lucifer— if that's even his real name, which Chloe doubts— says, either not noticing or not caring about her defensive posture. He gives her what he must think is a charming smile. "You must be the mother, then!"

She raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. The man continues as if unconcerned.

"Lucifer Morningstar," he introduces with a flourish, purring the next words, "it's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance."

Chloe ignores him— is he seriously leering at her? Right now?— and instead turns back to Trixie and gives her best Mom Look. "Trixie, baby, you know you were supposed to stay with Olga today. When I leave you with someone I want to be able to trust that you're still with them so I know not to worry. I want to be able to trust you, andnow I'm not sure I can," Chloe tells her honestly. "Have you done this before?"

Trixie looks away, which is enough of an answer by itself. Chloe already knew the answer anyway.

"I'm sorry, mommy, you can trust me! I promise! But Miss Olga is just so boring, and she never wants to do anything fun so I thought I could just go to the zoo with Lucifer and Maze instead," she rushes to explain, guilt clear on her little face, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"I know, monkey. But you still shouldn't have done it, or should have at least called me first and asked me. That's why we gave you that phone."

Chloe sighs, stroking her daughter's cheek gently before letting her hand fall to her shoulder again so to make sure Trixie knows she isn't mad at her. They still have to talk about this, and they will, but right now there's more important things at hand and Chloe needs to keep her focus on them— like 'Lucifer' who's still unashamedly staring them and Maze, who hasn't said a word yet.

She looks up at the other adults for a second, barely containing her glare, before turning to Trixie again, her voice as soft as she could muster as she asks, "Do you remember what we talked about talking with strangers?"

Trixie twists her nose, looking at her in exasperation.

"Lucifer and Maze aren't strangers, mommy. They're my friends!"

Before Chloe can come up with a way to rebutte that though, Lucifer pipes in. He points at Trixie as if she's just made a very good point, smiling at Chloe with that same obnoxious smile from before that only makes the white fury inside of her seethe further.

"Yes, exactly. She tricked me into making that deal— quite cunning, really, your offspring. To be able to trick the Devil. You should be proud. I imagine she got her intelligence from you." He smiles at Trixie, who preens. "Besides, the child was perfectly safe, I can assure you," he says and even has the gall to look offended at the implication that she would not be, as if he has any right to. "Mazikeen and I would never allow any harm to come to her."

Maze gives a nod in agreement, narrowing her eyes at her. "Trixie is under my protection. No one would dare to try and hurt her."

"Right, well, forgive me if I don't believe you," Chloe snaps, addressing them for the first time.

She regrets it once she sees Trixie's face fall, a small frown forming on her face at the tense air around them not understanding what's wrong. Chloe takes a deep breath, reminding herself that in her daughter's eyes they were her friends and that she did tell Chloe, it's not her fault that given all the fantastical tales and descriptions of them she assumed as any normal eight years old Trixie had been talking about imaginary friends.

Goddammit, Chloe is a cop. She's a damned good detective.

How will she even explain that she allowed two complete strangers, two grown adults she's never met, to be around her child just because she didn't think to take her daughter seriously? Shit. She must be the worst mother in the world.

And to think she was proud of herself for how she handled it. Chloe doesn't even want to imagine how Dan will react to this.

She gives the two a scathing glare— the goddamn lunatics that are lucky she doesn't shoot them right here and now for ever daring to approach her little monkey and, God forbid, if they so much looked wrong at her, if they so much thought about taking advantage of her childish naivety, Chloe can't make any promises about what she'd be able to do then, for her— then stores it all inside a little box in a corner of her mind for later, as any good cop (if she can even still call herself one) learns pretty quickly how to do.

"Trixie, monkey," she says, voice deceptively calm as Chloe gives her daughter an Oscar-worthy smile, not wanting to spook her daughter even more. It wasn't her she was angry with— never her, never her little angel.

She reaches for her bag, pulling out what's inside of it without for a second taking her eyes out of the tall man. Chloe leans in a little closer, as if about to tell a secret, before showing her the surprise, and with a loud gasp Trixie stares at it with wide hungry eyes.

"Look what your dad got you, baby: your favorite! Double fudge chocolate cake, as an apology for not being able to come to Taco Tuesday again."

They share a small smile— Chloe's a lot more strained, though not as fake as the last one as the sight of her daughter's happiness never failed to warm her heart and make her smile— as she handles her the cake, both already familiar with this.

The moment it touches Trixie's hands though it is quickly and rudely pulled away.

"I'll take that as my payment, thank you," Lucifer announces, cradling the cake close to his chest and seemingly uncaring about the entire situation.

Chloe stares in shock, her tight smile now completely vanished and she almost expected all her fury to come back at once at the man's act but instead she's far too confused to focus on anything else. The… the nerve of him!

To her surprise, Maze seems to share her sentiment, or at least part of it, as she immediately kicks Lucifer on the shin. Chloe blinks. She hadn't even been aware the woman moved closer, which is an alarming thought. She could swear she was on the couch a second ago.

"Come on, share it with the kid."

Trixie— her kind, thoughtful baby— just sighs, apparently not surprised at all with the change of events.

"It's alright, he can have it," she says, amused. "He must be really hungry."

Lucifer holds the cake closer to him, protecting it from Maze. "It's my payment!" he defends himself, and is he— is he seriously pouting right now? What the hell. "Beatrice said that it was even better than the puddings."

Beatrice? Nobody calls Trixie that, she hates it. Chloe frowns.

It doesn't seem to convince Maze, who continues glaring at the man until he caves and sighs. Lucifer very magnanimously hands the cake back to Trixie, who only giggles at his antics and is more than happy to accept the cake back.

"Don't forget half of it is mine by right per our deal," Lucifer tells her. "I wouldn't recommend attempting to steal from the Devil."

Chloe watches as the three bicker and joke between them, not knowing what else to do and feeling completely wrong-footed.

This isn't how she planned for this to go.

It had been a simple plan, really; get Trixie as far away from them as possible before interrogating and arresting the two possible-perverts who dared to trick her daughter. Sure, Chloe didn't have a lot of time to plan it in detail while rushing to get here, but it was easy enough to follow.

Now though, Chloe can't help but notice all the little details that were so common in her daughter's tales, trying to piece together the characters she knows with the very much real people in front of her. Stupidly, she focuses on their nails— Lucifer's are messily painted black— a matte nail polish she recognizes as her own— while Trixie and Maze have theirs matching with an eye-sore orange.

Chloe cleans her throat, calling the attention back to herself though the other two adults don't seem all that impressed. She reminds herself that she's the cop and is armed, and that her priority right now is her daughter's safety.

"Monkey, why don't you eat your half of the cake in your room?" Chloe can see the surprise and confusion on Trixie's face, as she's usually not allowed to eat in the bedroom, but she's quick to wave away her worries. "It's alright. But just this once, okay? I want to talk with your friends a bit."

Trixie hesitates for a moment, seemingly able to tell that it's not just that and looking between them as if trying to tell if it's really alright— and it's a familiar gesture, it hurts Chloe to remember it's something she and Dan used to do a lot, trying to keep their fights away from her the best they could— but she goes without a fight. In her door, there's a sign written in crayon: No Boys Allowed, except for Lucifer and dad.

Chloe remembers helping her put it there.

The second the bedroom door closes, Chloe's attention goes back to the two adults in front of her immediately, all traces of her smile gone as she stares at them, her expression serious and completely fucking furious.

"So. Give me a reason not to shoot you two right this very second, as I am very much tempted to do."