"This place is a total loss," Buck said as he knocked another hole in a wall to look for any remaining fire hiding inside. They'd managed to put out the flames before the entire structure had been engulfed, but there was a lot of damage, not only from the smoke and fire, but from the water, broken windows and the vented roof that had been happened while battling the blaze.

Eddie nodded in agreement. "Whoever lives here won't be moving back in anytime soon," he replied, tapping the floor and noting that it was reassuringly solid, though they had yet to reach the epicenter of the fire. "I wouldn't be surprised if this was a tear down."

Together they moved down the hall, keeping the chatter to a minimum in order to conserve air as they cleared the residence. Soon though, they froze, peering into what had been the bedroom. Obviously more damaged than the rest of the house, the inferno had more than likely started here. A charred bed stood directly across from the door and on it lay a burned and blackened corpse, wrists fused to the bent metal frame, body contorted in a rictus of agony.

"Oh shit," Buck muttered and Eddie put a hand on the younger man's arm. There was nothing they could do for that poor soul now.

"Cap, we got a body here…."

"All I'm saying is burning someone alive is a bit melodramatic for my tastes," Lucifer said as he exited the crime scene with Detective Chloe Decker and Ella Lopez. "What with the screaming and the smell that puts one off pork for months…."

The two women shared a look, used to Lucifer's antics. "I'm sure it was very dramatic for our victim," Chloe pointed out as Dan made his way toward them.

"The hose jockeys who ruined the scene are over there," he said, shaking his head, a statement that made Lucifer chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"Really now, jealously, thy name is Detective Douche" Lucifer chuckled. "Every firefighter I know could give you a lesson on how to properly handle a hose."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Enough with the hose talk, boys. We know what you're talking about."

Lucifer blinked at her, head cocked to the side. "Well, I should hope so, Detective. The entendre was thinly veiled enough for Dan to understand, so obviously a woman of your intelligence would as well."

"Let's go talk to the cute firefighters," Ella interrupted, nodding over to where a few of them were standing by a truck, turn out coats off, navy t-shirts stretched across broad backs. "Water might be my enemy forensically, but I would not mind getting friendly with them."

When the others looked at her, she shrugged and Lucifer grinned. "Well then, let's go find you a yummy fireman to liaise with, shall we?"

"Don't sexually harass the firefighters," Chloe admonished, causing him to pout at her.

"But what if...Evan?!"

"Evan?!"

A mellifluous, accented voice called out Buck's given name as they were chatting by the engine, waiting for the police to stop by and ask them some questions about discovering the body.

The voice belonged to a tall, handsome man in a stupidly expensive looking dark suit who was striding towards them through the crowd. His dark eyes were clearly trained on Buck and he was beaming, his gaze appreciative in a way that made Eddie bristle.

He was about to ask Buck about the guy, but a blinding grin split Buck's face, his eyes crinkling at the corners. "Lucifer!"

Eddie liked when Buck smiled like that. Liked it a lot...but for some reason, when that bright smile was directed at this stranger, it made Eddie's hackles raise. The man hadn't done anything, but Eddie had to hold himself back from herding Buck behind his own body and growling, "MINE!"

Not in a weird way, just...like a friend.

Yeah.

He held himself back though and Buck stepped forward to embrace this Lucifer guy fondly. That wasn't a surprise, Buck was a hugger. Eddie enjoyed being on the receiving end of that freely give affection quite often.

The kiss however...that was a bit of a shock.

Not to Buck though. He didn't seem at all put out by the kiss, standing in the circle of the slightly taller man's arms as the lip on lip contact went on for a couple of seconds beyond what Eddie generally thought of as a European guy kiss.

"Wonderful to see you!" The man was saying as soon as he came up for air, hands now clasping Buck's biceps. "And you've regained some of that scrumptious thiccness that was lost during all that unpleasantness earlier this year!"

To emphasize his point, he squeezed Buck's arms and the blonde detective sighed. "What did I say about harassing the firemen?" She said in a tone that suggested she knew he was going to do it anyway. "Stop groping him."

"My dear Detective Decker, if I wanted to harass a fireman, I'd be all over that handsome fellow who looks like he'd enjoy nothing more than removing my kidneys with a spork instead of catching up with Evan here," Lucifer drawled and Buck shot Eddie a confused look.

Who the hell called their kid Lucifer anyhow? It was like they knew he was going to be awful from the jump.

"I don't remember him from your parade of ex's when someone was knocking them off," themale detective said, prompting the other woman to elbow him.

"Dan!"

Lucifer waved a dismissive hand. "Oh no, Evan was obviously not involved with that debacle and I wasn't about to disrupt his time at the fire academy. I did let him know to be on the lookout for blade wielding maniacs though."

The reply made the detectives both close their eyes and mutter to themselves about the man not following procedures, but Eddie didn't care.

"You dated this guy?" He blurted, but hurried to clarify when Buck looked crestfallen. "I just mean if he's worried about murderous ex's, you could do so much better, Buck."

"Dude, Buck 1.0 did a heck of a lot worse," Buck replied lightly, but there was that hint of self deprivation in his tone that always reared up when he talked about his libidinous past.

It always made Eddie want to gather Buck close and reassure him, but he was never sure how to banish the self loathing look from those blue eyes without making things awkward.

Lucifer, the bastard, didn't seem to have any such issues.

"Hey now!" He exclaimed, actually placing a hand on Buck's face and cradling his jaw. "You're judging yourself far too harshly, darling. There's no crime in indulging in life's pleasures. You don't think poorly of me for doing so, do you?"

"Of course not!" Buck seemed startled that the man would even suggest that.

"Then don't let judgmental fools dim your light, Evan. You shine among the dullards."

The blonde detective spoke up as Buck was beaming at Lucifer in a way that made Eddie's molars grind. "Okay, as cute as whatever this is, we need to ask you some questions…."