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"It doesn't have to be a full time job, I can still be in your life, both your lives."
"No you can't. And that's why you can't ever tell me why he left. I get why you had to keep it from me now. Give me your word that you won't change anything, that you won't change me."
"Rory, darling, I can't."
"No, dad, you have to! If I change, you won't discover your calling and that's more important than me!" Rory was getting desperate. She could feel herself being pulled back in time and she knew she only had a couple minutes to convince her father. And she had to convince him or all the pain they went through would be meaningless.
"Rory, darling, that's not how time travel works." Rory and Chloe looked at Lucifer in surprise. How could he possibly know how time-travel worked? "I was remembering a very long winded rant from Amenadiel and we'll, long story short, if I go to Hell and stay there now, we'll close the loop, but if I stay, we're just creating a new timeline, dear. You won't change, you will still go back to your version of the future and I… well, a version of me, will be waiting for you there, and I will still remember all that happened here. And if this right here is the point where our timelines diverge, than your father will still remember everything we had together the last few days."
"Are you sure that's going to work?" That sounded like a better option than what she'd thought had to happen. It actually sounded like the best solution for everyone at the moment but she needed to be certain first, so she held on to this past that might not be hers for much longer for just a little while.
"Yes, I'm sure. You go now, tell your father he's an idiot who forgot all of the time lectures Amenadiel couldn't stop giving back in the day and I'll take care of you and your mom here. We'll all be just fine, darling. You have my word ."
Those were the words she was waiting for. She knew she could let go now, her dad never lied, if he said they'd be alright, then that's what would happen. She sighed in relief and with a last smile and a wave Rory disappeared, sucked back to her own timeline.
Chloe couldn't resist reaching out a hand to try to hold on to her daughter for just a little longer, but her hand just met empty air. Her eyes filled with tears remembering Rory's willingness to sacrifice her own happiness for the sake of all the souls down in Hell. In that, she's very much Lucifer's daughter. "I'm going to miss her so much."
Lucifer reached out and enveloped her in a hug. "She's going to be just fine, Chloe. And she's already here. In essence, she's the same person, the same soul. Ours will just have fewer painful memories." He dropped a kiss on her forehead, drying her tears with his thumb, his own eyes watering. It was the same, but it wasn't at the same time and he could very well understand the loss she was feeling. "But, yes, I'll also miss her very much."
They stayed like that for some time, mourning someone who wasn't dead and technically in the room with them. Finally, Chloe broke the silence whispering "So you're going to stay here?"
"Well, I thought I could pop down to Hell every day, spend a few years getting some work done and then I'm yours, well, yours and the urchins, for the rest of the day!" Lucifer answered, trying to put some cheer in his voice. They had a bright future ahead of them, no sense moping their time away.
"Uh, Lucifer, honey, run that math by me again?"
"Oh, it's quite simple, actually. An hour here is roughly a year and a half down there."
"So you're just going to be gone for a couple hours a day?"
"Yes, darling, do keep up." Now that he had an idea of what he needed to do, he couldn't wait to actually get to it. His head was already spinning with plans, his hands itching to pull out the white board from Daniel's prank. "Well, I may need to be gone for a couple days at first, it might take a few decades to put a system in place and convince Maze's siblings to cooperate, but after that…"
"I get my partner back?"
"If you'll still have me, Detective." He smiled and brought his hands to cup her grinning face, his heart lighter just from seeing her face lighting up. "And I might need your help every once in a while, you know, when I get a difficult case downstairs."
"I'm sure we can work something out." Not able to resist anymore, he kissed her. If necessary, he would have waited thousands of years for her, but he was very glad he would not need to do it. He did feel sorry for the Lucifer on the other timeline, though. Poor sod.
Air eventually became a problem and they had to separate, but neither wanted to go too far, keeping their arms around each other and their foreheads touching to try and savour the moment just a little longer.
"And you're sure Rory is the same in the future?" Well, savour it for as long as Chloe's ever practical mind permitted.
"Well, in her future, but yes, she's fine. I do hope she gives me a good slap upside the head. What kind of idiot forgets how time-travel works?"
"You do know you're talking about yourself, right?"
"Semantics, darling. Now, I'll probably have to spend some grueling decades wrangling demons and missing you like, well, Hell, so" Lucifer let go of her and dropped to one knee, took her hands in his and looked up at her with an adoring smile. "Chloe Jane Decker, will you spend one more last day with me?"
"Yes. Yes, I'd love that." She smiled at her goofy partner, already knowing he would try and wrangle her into as many "last day" excursions as he possibly could. And she would cherish each and every one of them.
***
"Rory?" A familiar voice called her as soon as the world around her got back into focus. She was right back where she started, but he definitely wasn't there when she left to go back in time.
"Dad!" He looked just the same and she launched herself into his arms. He hugged her back tightly and she remembered that what for her had been a couple of seconds for him had been hundreds of thousands of years. She also remembered the message that her father wanted her to pass to, well, himself.
"You're an idiot." She murmured from where she was pressing her face against his collar
"Well, I beg your pardon!" The tone of his voice was indignant, but apparently name calling wasn't enough to make him let her go.
"You told me to tell you you're an idiot. And that you forgot uncle Amenadiel's time lectures." She said in a voice that was between a laugh and sob. She hadn't changed, which meant her father and her mother had sacrificed their own happiness just so she could keep her sense of self and that just made her want to break down and cry, but it was over now. They didn't have to sacrifice anything anymore.
"Oh...oooh. Oh, darling, I do think I really am an idiot. Can you forgive your old man? In my defense, seeing my future daughter disappearing before my eyes is not very conducting to remembering the fine details of time-travel. And your uncle Amenadiel talks quite a lot, it's kind of hard to separate the important stuff from the rest, you know?"
"I forgive you. Is mom still here?" She asked while letting go of the hug to look around. Everything looked just like she had left it, but she knew a soul could move on in the blink of an eye. She hoped she hadn't missed her.
"Yes. Trixie is with her now. I've been keeping her company when you're not around, but I bet she'll like to see all of us together."
"How long…?" She knew her mom was on her last days and knew where she was going, but it still wasn't easy to think about her dying, especially when she saw her well, alive and healthy just a few moments ago.
"I'm afraid it's not going to be long now. She's quite tired."
"And after?"
"Well, I promised her that I'd take her wherever she wanted to go. She's adamant in just visiting everyone up in the Silver City and then coming down with me. I've tried to convince her to just stay up there and let me visit every once in a while, but you know your mother. Stubborn even in death." He let out a little laugh, but his eyes where brimming with tears. Apparently she wasn't the only one with mixed feelings about her mom's impending death.
"I'll miss her."
"You do have wings, you know. You can pop in on us anytime you want. Just maybe knock first, we have to make up for all the lost time, you know?"
"Oh, dad, gross!!! It'll need to bleach my brain now!"
"Oh, don't do that, that's so 2020."He grinned at her mischievously, delighted in finally being able to gross her out again after all this time.
"So, can I go hang out with you guys now?" She asked, desperate to get the subject away from anything involving her parents and sex.
"I do think I have earned a few years of vacation. And I can modify the loops to whatever I want, so where should we go, darling?"
"The beach?" She asked hopefully, those moments on the beach still ranking as one of the best of her life.
Lucifer smiled at his daughter and extended his hand to her. "I'm sure your mother is going to love that. Come on. She's waiting for you."