"Why did nobody tell me Lucifer was back?" Chloe asked.

Waverly was now in a conference room with Dan, Ella, and her recently-returned partner.  It seemed like Chloe was feeling a lot of different things at that moment, and Waverly wasn't sure if she could pinpoint a certain one.  She looked over at Ella, who seemed worried, then over at Dan, who seemed a bit angry.

As long as Waverly had known Dan (which had only been a few months), it seemed like he was a bit overprotective of his ex-wife.  She had originally found it strange, since they were no longer together, and neither of them acted like they wanted to get back together, especially since she'd heard about his last girlfriend.  She could tell he was still healing from that.  Now that this random British guy, who was honestly a little creepy, was suddenly back, she was beginning to possibly understand why he acted this way.

"In my defense, I don't know the guy," Waverly spoke up.

Chloe looked at her for a second, then said, "Okay, yeah, fair enough."

"I didn't see him come in," Dan said. "You really think I'd let him waltz back in here like that if I'd known he was back?"

"You seem upset," Ella said.

"I'm not upset," Chloe said, "I'm just..."

"Upset," Ella finished for her.  Chloe glared at her. "Look, I get it.  You guys totally had something going on, then he just decides to leave and go home?  Why couldn't he bring you with him?  It seemed like you two were really close.  Would it have killed him to introduce you to his family?"

"It's... complicated," Chloe replied.

"Complicated how?" she asked.

"It's just complicated, all right?" Chloe snapped.

Waverly tuned them out as she watched Lucifer through the glass.  He was talking to some uniformed officers, almost like he'd never left.  He was chatting them up, laughing, and just...

She began walking away, and she heard Dan say, "Waverly, where are you going?"

He followed her out, shutting the door behind him.  They stood right outside the room.  Ella and Chloe stayed inside, and it sounded like they were both apologizing to each other.

"This guy sounds like he meant a lot to Chloe, and we're just going to let him act like nothing's wrong?" she asked, motioning toward Lucifer.  Dan looked over at him, a frown on his face. "I just want to talk to him, that's all."

He looked back at her. "I know I haven't known you for very long, but I don't believe you when you say you're just going to talk."

She grinned. "Then don't."

She began walking away, and she heard him sigh behind her.

Lucifer saw her approaching, so he excused himself.  He turned to her as she stopped in front of him.

"Miss Wa – "

"No," she interrupted, and he stopped talking.  He looked taken aback. "I have something to say to you."

"All right, then."

"Look, Chloe's my friend," she said, "and you guys obviously had something going on before I got here.  And it seems like she really cares about you, but you decided to just leave and go home.  That's not cool, dude.  So here's what you're gonna do."

"Oh, please, do tell."

"I'm her partner now, and you're not replacing me.  So you just need to – "

"Waverly!" Dan was next to her now.

She looked at him. "I'm not done yet."

"Yes, you are."

He grabbed her by the shoulders, and led her back to the conference room.  She could see Chloe watching them, and she was looking at her like she'd gone insane.  Ella had a face like she didn't know how she should be reacting.  She kept looking from Chloe to Waverly.

They walked into the room.

"What did you say to him?" Chloe asked her, not even waiting for the door to shut.

"I didn't even get to say what I wanted to because Dan interrupted me," Waverly said, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Whatever you were going to say, Chloe would've killed you for it," Dan said.

She looked back at Chloe. "I was defending your honor."

"This isn't Mulan, you don't have to defend my honor!" she exclaimed.

"Hey!" Ella said, obviously happy about the Disney movie reference.  She put her hand up for a high five, but Chloe looked at her and shook her head.  Ella frowned, but Waverly quickly made her way over to her, high fiving her, and she smiled again.

Waverly's heart almost stopped when their hands touched, but she didn't say anything about that.  She just smiled back.

"If you don't want me to talk to him, go talk to him yourself," Waverly said.

"Um..." Chloe scratched the back of her head.

"He's not gonna bite," Waverly said.  She paused, then looked at Dan. "He's not gonna bite, is he?"

"I don't know, he might," Dan said. "He's into some weird shit."

"Okay, Lucifer isn't going to bite me," Chloe said, shaking her head.

"Then go talk to him," Waverly told her. "The worst he can do is make you mad, and if he does, I'll kick him in the balls."

"Waverly..." Dan warned her.

"Okay, fine, you can kick him in the balls," she told him.  She could tell he was trying not to smile.

"Hey, why can't I kick him in the balls?" Ella asked.

"It seemed like you actually liked him," Waverly said.

"Oh yeah..."

"No one's hurting Lucifer," Chloe said.  She began walking toward the door.

"Unless he's mean to you."

She stopped and looked at Waverly.  She rolled her eyes, shook her head, and walked out the door.

Waverly, Ella, and Dan all watched as she slowly walked up to Lucifer, who was standing where Waverly had left him.  He smiled when he finally saw Chloe.

"It looks like he really likes her," Ella said.

"Oh, yeah?" Waverly tilted her head. "How can you tell?"

"Well, first off, I know he actually does like her because I was stuck in the middle of it sometimes," she explained.  She sighed happily. "But you can just tell, you know?  Like, the way he looks at her, like she's the only person in the room.  Lucifer's kinda intense sometimes, but that's not always a bad thing."

Waverly tore her eyes away to look over at Ella.  She was watching Lucifer and Chloe like they were a couple in her favorite TV show, and honestly, it was pretty adorable.

"If he liked her so much, why'd he leave, huh?" Dan asked, and when Waverly looked over at him, he had a frown on his face, and his arms were crossed.

"Not a fan of Lucifer?" Waverly asked.

He looked over at her. "Do you know how many times he's put Chloe's life in danger?  That man is just a walking bad omen."

Waverly just nodded, then looked back at Lucifer and Chloe.  She realized what Ella meant.  Chloe's back was to them, so she couldn't see her face, but she could see Lucifer's, and it was focused on nothing and no one but Chloe.  Even though his gaze was intense, it was also gentle, and Waverly realized she wanted someone to look at her like that.

"I thought he was creepy earlier," she said, "but honestly, those two are adorable."

She wanted Ella to look at her like that.

***

It looks like it's gonna be a while before season 5 comes out (because of COVID), so I'm saying it now, this book is season 5. You don't need to watch it when it comes out, you just have to read this book. Sorry, I don't make the rules.

Anyway, I'm having a lot of fun writing this, so let me know what y'all think! :)