Chapter 1

His eyes blinked sleepily as he stared up at his father. He sighed deeply, his breath dancing across his father's fingers as he gently stroked the face of his miracle. Deep brown eyes gazed into his own as they looked at each other, and, for the first time in his existence, he knew what real, pure love was.

Chloe walked quickly across the park towards the gathered police officers. As she approached, her partner jogged slightly to catch up with her, tucking his silver flask into his jacket pocket.

"Good morning, Detective." Lucifer said cheerily as he joined her. "Isn't it a glorious day."

"You're in a good mood." Chloe observed, eying him carefully. "What happened? Did a fourth Britney turn up at Lux?"

"Of course not." Lucifer replied. "I wouldn't be this chipper for anything less than five Britneys. No, this is our first case back together, I plan to enjoy it. The Deckerstar, back together at last."

Chloe stopped, grabbing his arm to drag him to a halt beside her. "Are you sure about this?" She asked, peering cautiously up at him. "These last few months…"

"Well," Lucifer interrupted, "It's been much longer for me, but what's a century or two between friends?"

"Yes." Chloe said. "For everyone else, six months. For you, centuries. You were in…"

"In Hell, yes." Lucifer finished for her. "What of it?"

Chloe sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Exactly, Lucifer. You were in Hell. Actual Hell. For centuries. For everyone else, though, you were away on business for just a few months. Are you really going to be able to act like you're fine?"

"Why wouldn't I be fine, Detective?" Lucifer asked her, spreading his arms as if to say, 'look at me'. "I wasn't a prisoner down there. I was King. Nobody tortures the King! Not unless I want them to." He winked cheekily at her, smirking, but Chloe wasn't convinced.

"Oh yeah?" Chloe asked. "I know you, Lucifer. I know how you felt about going back to Hell. Just being there is torture for you."

"Yes, but I'm not there now, Detective." Lucifer looked into her thoroughly unconvinced eyes and sighed. "Ok, fine. When I first came back to Earth, it was… difficult."

"Difficult?" Chloe repeated. "You were practically catatonic. For days. It took nearly a week for you to even talk to anyone. You can't tell me that, after just two weeks back, you're suddenly right as rain."

"What can I say, Detective?" Lucifer said, walking backwards towards the crime scene, his eyes staying fixed on her. "You can't keep a good Devil down."

Chloe sighed and bit her lip anxiously before following her partner. The crime scene was oddly quiet, all of the officers standing with sombre looks on their faces. Even Ella, normally so cheerful, looked haunted as she approached Chloe and Lucifer.

"Hey guys." Ella said, her voice low. "Welcome back, Lucifer."

"Miss Lopez." Lucifer greeted her, his brow furrowed. "What's wrong? You should be delighted to see your friendly neighbourhood Devil again."

"Sorry." Ella said, shaking her head. "Sorry, I am happy to see you. It's just… it's a bad one."

"How bad?" Chloe asked, eying the forensics officer closely.

"It's a kid." Ella explained, leading them quietly over to the victim. "Can't be more than five or six."

"Oh God." Chloe whispered as they reached the body. "Jesus Christ."

For once, Lucifer made no comment about her mention of his Father. He stared down at the child, lips parted in horror, eyes wide and suddenly wet.

"What happened?" Chloe asked, clearing her throat and crouching down next to the child, resisting the urge to brush his dark brown hair away from his eyes.

"He was strangled." Ella said, using the end of her pen to point out bruises around the boy's pale throat. "Manually. Judging by the size of the handprints, I'd say by an adult, probably male but could be a big-handed woman."

"Ok." Chloe said, her eyes scanning the body, taking in his bare feet. "Time of death?"

"Between 10 and 12 last night." Ella said. "No dirt on his feet, so he was probably killed somewhere else and then dumped here."

"He's been brought to the children's playground." Chloe commented, standing up. "Then laid down gently like he's sleeping. That suggests remorse."

"Might be our killer knew the vic." Dan said, joining the group. "Rather than being an abduction gone bad. Any sign of sexual abuse?"

"Hard to tell." Ella said, a look of revulsion crossing her face. "We'll know more from a proper autopsy, but he's still fully clothed and the clothes are still clean and tidy, so my first thought it perhaps not."

"Ok." Chloe sighed, taking a deep breath. "Well, we need to find out who he is. Lucifer and I will head back to the precinct, see if our vic has been reported missing."

Chloe turned to walk away but froze. Lucifer was still standing, staring down at the child's body, his face suddenly pale.

"Lucifer?" Chloe asked. He didn't answer so the detective reached out a hand, gently touching his arm. Lucifer flinched, recoiling back from her before his eyes found her face and he let out a shaky breath. "Lucifer, you ok?"

"Yes." Lucifer swallowed thickly, his eyes falling back on the boy's face. "Yes, sorry, Detective. I'm fine."

"Look, man." Ella said, also reaching out to touch his arm. "There's nothing to be sorry about. It's tough. Really tough. This your first kid case?"

"Yes." Lucifer said, clearing his throat and turning back to her. "Yes it is."

He smiled, stretching his arms towards his father's face, watching as the starlight reflected in his eyes. His father smiled and lifted his son, pressing his lips to his forehead and breathing in the scent of his soft black hair.

"Lucifer? What are you doing here?" Linda stepped back to let Lucifer into the house. "I thought you'd be at the precinct with Chloe."

"I was." Lucifer told her as they stepped into the living room. "We're waiting for a match from missing persons so, until that comes in, there wasn't much to do."

"That doesn't normally bother you." Linda commented. "Usually you're happy just talking to Ella or Chloe or coming up with your own theories."

"Yes well…" Lucifer dropped down onto the sofa, glancing around the room.

"Luci!" Lucifer looked up as Amenadiel entered the room, Charlie resting on his hip. "It's good to see you, brother." Lucifer nodded, his eyes focused intently on his nephew as he babbled and clapped his chubby hands. Amenadiel stopped, the smile fading from his face. "Are you ok, Luci?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Lucifer took a deep breath. "We have our first case together since my return from Hell."

"That's great!" Amenadiel exclaimed as he sat down and put Charlie on the floor with some toys. "Isn't it?"

"The victim is a child." Lucifer told him bluntly, dragging his eyes away from the baby to look around the room. "A small boy."

"That's awful." Linda said as Lucifer's phone beeped in his pocket. "And you don't know who he is yet?"

"We do now." Lucifer told her, staring down at the message on his phone. A name and age accompanied a photo of a small boy, smiling happily at the camera, sunlight shining in his dark hair and childlike joy shining in his chocolate brown eyes. "Samuel Ellis. Five years old. Look at him, brother."

Amenadiel took the offered phone and gazed down at the boy's face. His lips parted and he looked sharply at Lucifer. "Luci…"

"I know." Lucifer smiled sadly. "How very unfortunate."

Amenadiel watched his brother closely, trying to read his face. Lucifer was pale, his face closed off as he took the phone back from the other angel. "Luci," Amenadiel whispered. "It's not…"

"I know what you're going to say, brother, and don't." Lucifer snapped, standing up, suddenly angry. "Don't say a word. You don't have that right. None of you do!"

Charlie started crying as Amenadiel moved to follow his brother. He froze, glancing from his son to the door as it slammed behind the Devil.