"So, that's it then," John said. The phrasing of the sentence made it sound like a question, but his tone of voice made it so that he wasn't asking but rather confirming what he already knew to be the case. All the same, Lucifer nodded.

"The Queens are headed home," John went on.

"They are," Lucifer confirmed.

"And Sampson is still safely in police custody."

"He is."

"So what is there left for me here then?" The question made Lucifer flinch, taken aback. He'd known this goodbye was coming from the moment the Queens had come to give him theirs, had seen the end looming on the horizon, but he still somehow hadn't thought- hadn't imagined- that it would come quite so soon.

"There's me," he dared say, his voice quiet. The noise John made in response wasn't quite a scoff, but it was close enough to one to strike a dagger of pain and rejection deep into Lucifer's heart.

"I told you not to give me your heart," John said. "I told you that I can't carry it."

"I know," Lucifer replied. "But it's too late. It already belongs to you."

"And to Chloe," John pointed out in a distinctly snappish voice.

"What of that?" Lucifer asked with a shrug. "Can't it belong to more than one person?"

"Of course it can," John replied, visibly frustrated now. "The point is, with being the case, there's no need for you to act like your world will fall apart if I'm not there. You have Chloe. You'll be fine."

"John-" Lucifer started to say.

"I have to leave, Lucifer," John interjected. "There are things I have to do. I've lingered here for far too long as it is."

"I don't want you to go," Lucifer whispered, hating how desperate he sounded.

"You've made that clear," John sighed, "but I have to. I don't have a choice. Not with this." A pause, then he added, "Please don't make this any harder than it already is." Lucifer wished that that meant that John could be convinced to stay, but he knew better. He was completely dedicated to the lonely life he saw as his duty to live, and there'd be no persuading him otherwise, a fact that Lucifer was all too aware of- even now that he'd met Oliver Queen, a man known for his iron will, John was still the most stubborn person he knew. He also knew that the words John had just spoken were the closest thing to a real goodbye that he could possibly expect from him. And sure enough, in the next moment, he was gone, leaving behind only his familiar scent of brimstone, ash, and tobacco smoke.

Over the following few days, Lucifer could swear he could still feel John's presence in the city, traces of his magical signature lingering in the air. He told himself that he was imagining it, that John was long gone by now and the only reason he thought he could still sense his presence was because he wanted to, wanted him to still be here. When that failed, he threw himself deep into his work, both at Lux and with Chloe and the LAPD, in an attempt to keep himself so busy that he didn't have time to think about John or wish that he was still here.

After a while, it seemed that his distraction tactic had worked, because Lucifer finally found himself no longer sensing John's presence everywhere he went in the city. Either that, or he truly had been sensing it because John hadn't left LA yet, and now he was finally gone. Whatever the case may have been, Lucifer wished him good fortune in all his adventures. He knew how hard it was for him to come by, especially these days.

Over the next several weeks, Lucifer shifted his focus toward tying up the very last loose end that still remained in this business- Michael Sampson. His trial date was looming, and though everything about his case seemed pretty cut and dry, there was still quite a bit of work that needed to be done to make absolutely certain there'd be no chance of him being acquitted for his crimes. To that end, Lucifer met with Chloe and representatives from the district attorney's office almost every day to discuss the finer points of Sampson's case and the evidence against him. He and Chloe were the primary witnesses for the persecution, and as such it was essential that they knew the case both backward and forward.

"We should call the Queens," Chloe told him. "They're witnesses too, and their testimony might be just the thing that lets us well and truly nail Sampson."

"I'll see what I can do," Lucifer replied, nodding. There was no denying the sense of Chloe's suggestion. He wasted no time in making the call.

It took some convincing, but eventually Lucifer managed to get the Queens to agree to make a brief return to LA for Sampson's trial in order to testify against him. And as it turned about, Chloe had been spot on when she'd predicted that their testimony might be just the thing needed to nail Sampson to the proverbial cross- William's story of how he had kidnapped him, in particular, left everyone in attendance visibly moved. The fact that all three of the Queens were visibly shaken after recounting the event must have helped as well, for the jury laid down a guilty verdict not long after. As Lucifer watched Sampson be led away by uniformed officers for the final time, he could finally allow himself to feel confident that this whole dreadful business was well and truly finished.