Evermore (Devil's ʻĀnela) [ON HOLD]

VIII

Lucifer made his way to the bar, slowly greeting people. He paused in front of two girls, putting their feet together. "Lovely. Thanks, girls." He chuckled, noticing a pole dance. "Ooh! We'll have to try that later." He greeted someone and clinked glasses. "Brian! Cheers!" He reached the bar and the demon walked up. "Maze! You haven't wished me happy birthday."

"The Devil doesn't have a birthday," Maze said.

"Well, I do now. I burned my wings. I feel reborn. It's my re-birthday party."

Maze chuckled. "Reborn? As who?"

"Whoever the hell I want to be. It's exciting, isn't it?" He inhaled and noticed Chloe and Lani walking down the stairs. "To new beginnings. Happy birthday to me."

"Oh, how sweet. They brought a date."

Lucifer noticed Dan walking around.

Chloe laughed. "You said "drinks with a few friends"."

Lucifer smiled. "Well, you know, things got out of hand. Just the way I like it." He chuckled.

Dan held up a jar of green liquid. "We brought you a birthday gift."

"Is that the royal "we"?"

Chloe took the jar. "Whiskey with a pickle juice chase. It's our station's birthday tradition."

Lani grimaced. "Something I found out the hard, unpleasant way."

"Lovely!" Lucifer said as Chloe poured the drinks. "How can I refuse? Can I refuse?"

"Of course you can," Dan replied. "And we'll always think less of you."

Chloe held up her glass. "Here's to another trip around the sun."

"Cheers," Lucifer said as they clinked glasses. "Ah! Ooh!"

"It's not bad, is it?"

"Briny! Let's find Maze. She needs to try this bizarre concoction. She loves a salty aftertaste."

"No. We're just stopping by. We have a department thing to go to."

"Some of us work for a living," Dan added.

"Well, that's your bad luck, isn't it?" Lucifer answered. "Come on, the party's barely started."

Lani offered him a small smile. "Happy birthday, Lucifer." She hugged him, as did Chloe.

The three cops walked off.

PRECINCT

"You sure you two want to be here?" Dan asked.

"We can't be the only ones missing Malcolm's welcome back, party," Chloe explained. "If we want to find a dirty cop, we got to look like team players."

"Chloe Decker!" Malcolm cried.

"Here we go."

"You and I need to talk."

"Sure, Malcolm."

Malcolm noticed a strange look on Chloe's face. "What, you get the sense knocked out of you, Decker?"

"We're just, we're just--"

"You know, we have--" he laughed. "Just relax, guys. I'm just giving you a hard time." He smiled at Lani. "I've heard good things about you."

"You finally got your sense of humor back, huh?"

"Yeah, he's healing fast," Paolucci said.

"You tired of pushing me around, Paolucci?" Chloe asked.