THE INFERNO

Synopsis: Lucifer Morningstar left her. She'd relented to the fire he'd made her feel, but he'd just vanished without a trace. Chloe thought she could live without him. She had to. Her daughter needed a mother with a clear head. L.A. needed a detective like her on its side. Fate fooled her again when all she has left is struck by a drunk driver.

Author's Note: Hello, Lucifer fandom! I'm Breviary-Rose. Admittedly, I'm a very obsessed viewer who has way too many ideas for this show. I've had this idea in my head for a while, and I really wanted to share it. Please review to tell me how you like it! I'd really love to continue this story!

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Chapter 1

An awakening stirred her heart. Electricity danced across the expanse of her chest as she sharply inhaled. Bright lights masked the scene. Voices…she heard voices shouting all around her. Something fell from her left eye. It was wet, warm and fast down her cheek. Some sort of mask was slipped over her mouth and nose.

The lights didn't relent, but she felt a soft tough against her arm. "Miss Decker, you're going to be fine…" a voice distantly called as she induced into a mindless slumber.

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No, she was not going to be fine. Her whole body shivered as she sang the lyrics to "American Pie" poorly as she sniffled with her arms around her lifeless daughter. Her legs were scrunched, but Chloe made sure she didn't lay on any of the wires connected to Trixie.

The doctor had come in a few minutes ago. She had only two choices: take her off life support or keep her on life support and hope for a day that may never come. Tears fell from her left eye over the bridge of her nose to the pillow she shared with Trixie. Dan was still in a coma without life support. The decision was hers alone. Though he was in more stable condition than their daughter, the doctors still had no idea when or if he'd wake up. He had better chances than Trixie by miles.

"You sing the song so much better, Monkey," she said as she shook against her body.

No one would answer for this. The drunk driver died on impact. He'd apparently been a serial rapist and wanted in several states for murder. That man whose name she would never forget would never face what he'd done to her family. Tom Hatchings had lived a considerably long and healthy life. He was sixty-eight years when he'd rammed his eighteen wheeler in Dan's car.

Chloe swallowed, tensing as the door opened. Her eyes didn't even have to move to see her mother enter the room. Penelope Decker, whose eyes were red and puffy, appeared calm and stern. Chloe didn't move. She wouldn't leave her daughter's side. Her mother cleared her throat. "You know what you have to do, Chloe Decker," she said sternly.

The words stirred the boiling anguish and guilt – mixing them into a hybrid of emotions she was so unaccustomed to feeling. Chloe shook once more before steeling herself as she kissed Trixie on her forehead. She walked out of the room and down the hall, opening the door into the waiting room.

There were more people here today than usual. Amenadiel, Maze, Linda, and Charlotte sat in different areas, but still somewhat close. Chloe wiped her face, closing her eyes briefly before facing the front desk nurse. "I'd like to request a change in the visitor list for Trixie Espinosa," Chloe said quietly.

Penelope crossed her arms and huffed loudly. For a moment, she sniffled and approached her daughter. Her free hand touched Chloe's shoulder while the other one held onto the clipboard with a stack of papers. "That won't be necessary, ma'am," she corrected as she talked to the nurse.

Chloe balled her fists, but sighed. "I'm her mother, and I want to take off Penelope Decker's name, please." The nurse looked hesitant, but nodded before saying something.

"You're being selfish!" her mother raised behind her.

Somewhere in the weeks being in a hospital and having her whole world shatter, Chloe snapped. She grabbed her mother's hand and threw it off of her. She reached for the clipboard and threw it against the window. This rage was something she'd never seen in herself before. Only one person had given into his emotions so much, and she figured that was what she was doing now. There was a loud bang on the glass and Maze had to move out of the way so it didn't hit her.

He was gone now, and she had to focus on finding her check on her emotions again. Trixie and Dan depended on her to. She was their legal voices. She put a hand against her mouth as she looked at anyone but her mother. When no balance or peace came amidst the turmoil, Chloe caved against the sharp stab of anger. "You're asking me to kill my own daughter," she fought quietly.

"Think about someone other than yourself for a moment, Chloe. She'd be dead if you weren't keeping her alive. Her body has withered. It's time to let her move on into God's grace," Penelope countered.

Chloe sadly chuckled. "God?" she stated. The word felt like the poison that had so nearly taken her life months ago. Tears poured over her eyes. "God has no place here, mother. This is between you and me."

"God has a plan, my angel. He will guide her to a better place. You know I'm right," she miserably countered. When she stepped toward Chloe, the detective backed away with her hand out.

"I have a chance to save my daughter. I'm not going to give up on her. I'm not letting her go, okay?" she seethed. Her whole body was shaking again. "If He had a plan, He would have taken me instead of an innocent child's life. If He had a plan, Tom Hatchings would be facing me in court right now to face what he's done to my family."

"Chloe-" her mother consoled.

Chloe's hand flew up. "No! If He had a plan, I would be on that bed right now! If He had a plan, I would have a caved-in chest like Dan, brain damage like my damn daughter. I wouldn't be standing here without any bandages or scars from the same accident! Nothing makes sense anymore! Not since Lucif-" she cut off. She covered her mouth. She hadn't said his name in over six months. He didn't matter right now. "What matters is that my daughter is still fighting this. Dan is still fighting this. For whatever reason, I'm here unscathed, and as long as I'm alive, those two will be, too."

Penelope shook her head. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she wasn't yielding on the subject. "We're going to talk about this another time."

"I'm done talking, mother. I'm a detective, and I help, save, and protect people. I'm not a murderer," Chloe said dangerously. Chloe neared her mother and looked her in the eyes. "Come hell or high water, they will wake up. I'm here. I'm breathing. I've survived this long. I'm not giving up on my daughter and my ex-husband. I don't have anything else to lose."

With that, Chloe walked over the window and found the clipboard. Gripping the object until her knuckles went white, she bent her knee and broke the clipboard in half. She unlatched the papers from the clip and ripped them into pieces. For effect, she threw the pieces of paper and wood in her hands over her head until they snowed down over the area.

Her heart hardened. Somehow, she felt her shoulders square. For the first time in the months after the accident and the suffocating loss of Lucifer, she felt strong again. Hope and renewed strength washed away the suffering, the agony, and the anger. Chloe hadn't realized her eyes were closed, so she opened them and looked to the ground at her feet. Litter surrounded her. She dropped to her knees and started to pick up the mess she'd made.

Amenadiel knelt down and helped out. Meeting his eyes provided her a sense of safe harbor – refuge. She hadn't spoken or looked him in the eyes since the day she realized Lucifer was gone. His eyes were kind, understanding. Somewhere in those eyes, secrets started to shimmer into recognition, but she didn't recognize what any of them might be. She sniffled and looked down to finish.

"I have nothing more to say to you, mother. I love you, and you mean well; however, I'm asking you to leave. Don't come back until I've asked you to."

"Chloe Decker! You're asking me to walk away from my granddaughter!" she hollered, echoes sounding through the room.

As Chloe stood, she turned around and shook her head. In a moment like this, she needed him here beside her like he'd been at one point. Not knowing where exactly it had come from, she straightened and stood still. "You were just asking me to sign away her life. She may as well be dead to you," she firmly retorted.

She wasn't cruel, but in her weakness, Chloe needed Lucifer. He wasn't here anymore. She glanced away from her mother and piled the battered paper and clipboard on the information desk. "Sorry about that. I'll replace it," she said as she opened the door and walked through.

She needed to return to her daughter.

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"Maze and Amenadiel are with her for now," Chloe fought. Dan's brows furrowed, resisting her dampened cloth. "I'm not giving you a sponge bath, Dan. I'm just trying to get you comfortable. Stop fidgeting."

"I will when our daughter is awake," he gravely retorted.

Chloe sighed, "This isn't your fault, you know."

He looked at her like she was stupid. "Of course it is, Chloe."

"It was an accident," she corrected.

Another month was gone. She hadn't seen or heard from her mother in that time. Chloe couldn't find it in her to care for the time being. Her time was absorbed here at the hospital or at the precinct. While she wouldn't return to work full-time, she had been helping out other detectives on a part-time basis.

Maze had convinced her to do it. Staying at the hospital twenty-four hours a day all week had taken its toll on her. She'd lost nearly twenty pounds. She was barely eating in between doctor's visits and all the testing she'd signed off on for Trixie.

Dan had woken up three days ago. He hadn't talked to her much, but she didn't need conversation. She wanted answers, results, and one other human being who wouldn't come back to her. Thankfully, her busy schedule kept her mind preoccupied. Dan's doctor knocked and walked into the room.

"Mr. Espinosa," he greeted pleasantly. "You're healing spectacularly."

Dan groaned in reply, but said, "Enough about me. How's my daughter?"

"I'm here to talk about you, sir," he said, smiling. He glanced at Chloe with a serious expression. "His legs will need extensive rehabilitation as will his arms. He won't be working for the rest of the year – at least. His chest is healing as well as can be expected. He'll need to stay here for at least another month before we can begin treatment and rehabilitation."

Chloe nodded as she rubbed her hand on his shoulder. "What can we do to make him more comfortable?" she asked.

This had become their routine. Dan had no interest in answering or talking to anyone about him. Chloe quickly became his voice of reason. When he sighed, Dan stated, "I'd be most comfortable if my daughter was awake."

"Her injuries are more extensive, Mr. Espinosa," the doctor replied.

His name was Benjamin Morrow. He was probably a few years older than Chloe. He was polite and quicker than the other floor doctors. Dr. Morrow was the one Chloe preferred looking in on her family members. He'd supported her through everything, telling her the best odds for Trixie waking up. She trusted him with her daughter's life; however, her recovery was still stagnated.

Chloe's patience with Dan had expired, so she'd walked out of the room while they chatted some about his condition. She needed coffee if she was going to stay awake any longer. Trixie's room was right by the break room where she got her coffee. There wasn't a nurse at the nurse's station. Her brow rose, but she moved on down the hall. Trixie's door was closed, despite Chloe always leaving it open.

Something was off, and something in the air shifted. She didn't have her gun. Technically, she wasn't supposed to have one on her at all. She was on extended leave. She swallowed and reached for a pen on the counter next to her. She swallowed once and moved near her daughter's door. The door was solid and had no peep hole on it. Instead, the room had a large glass wall, but the sheet was pulled shut.

She immediately put her hand on the handle and opened the door. "Trixie?" she shouted. Something black, bloody, and wretched leaned over the child. Chloe didn't have time to decide if it was human or something else entirely. She clenched the pen behind her. "Get away from my daughter!" Chloe stepped into the room, her back facing the glass wall.

The creature waved its hand toward her and some unseen force pulled her backward, her body forced through the glass. When she landed, her head bounced against the hard tiled floor a few times. Her vision clouded and her ears rang. Something pulled her back, and her head hit something behind her – something hard, either a wall or a door. Suddenly her skin felt like it was melting – on fire. Someone grabbed her by her throat and pinned her high on something solid.

The lights flickered in her hazy vision and she felt something thick and hot launch out of her mouth as she coughed. It was blood. She only heard a ringing that stifled the tortured screams her lungs roared. The grip on her neck tightened, and she started to feel her spinal cord wail in response.

She was going to die.

Trixie was going to die because she couldn't protect her.

Her vision went dark and suddenly, the ringing went silent. All she experienced was exquisite, acute pain on a cellular level. She felt like her body was being torn apart. She smelled smoke and sulfur. Quickly, she heard a child's scream.

Trixie? she thought.

A car horn blared as her daughter stopped screaming. The world went quiet again. Everything she smelled and felt was agony. She swore her eyes were open, but she saw nothing. The pain wouldn't end. It was an endless cycle of fire in her body. Quickly, she couldn't breathe anymore.

Everything vibrated and shook around her. In this dark cocoon, in the last moment of her life, she thought of Lucifer. Chloe felt his touch, a memory of what they'd briefly had. Her daughter and Lucifer replayed in her mind over and over until she felt her body hit the floor.

"You can wait. I've found you though," a dark, demonic voice sliced through the silence. The fire's bite faded away slowly. Over time, the screeching in her ears returned. Eventually, she was able to hear her own screaming. It sounded loud, but distant all the same. When the pain nearly subsided, her vision became cloudy again until she was able to make out flickering lights.

All of a sudden, someone badly scarred and skin so terrifyingly red lowered to her side. The man shouted her name, but again, it sounded loud, but distorted by a distance that wasn't between them. The voice echoed and rang over her until she heard Lucifer's voice. She blinked slowly and saw the red-skinned man lower closer to her face.

Something touched her lips. She shivered despite a wretched heat hanging in the air. She felt a thick layer of sweat all over her skin. She blinked her eyes open, and heard herself crying in pain – so much pain. She swallowed and saw Lucifer's handsome face pull up. His eyes hovered over hers as she heard him say her name more distinctly.

Chloe heard her own breathing become louder and louder – until something pulled her into sleep.