Chapter Text
“Shit, shit, shit, shit-!”
“Mr. Crowley, sorry to interrupt but can you…?”
He lifted his foot up so Muriel could sweep up the shards under him. She could have miracled the cup back together, of course, but figured she might as well keep doing things the human way if she was ever to be a convincing one. Plus, she liked busy work anyway. “So, you say Miss Maggie’s baby’s a gift from my side?”
“Not a gift, a curse.” Crowley corrected her agitatedly. “A weapon.”
Nina looked rather upset as he unintentionally glared at Maggie’s stomach as if it were a ticking time bomb. “Want to explain what you mean before this gets awkward?”
Maggie nodded eagerly. “Yes, please explain. I’ve been looking for answers all this time!”
Crowley gave a heavy sigh, wondering how best to explain it. It wasn’t like he could compile the event into a nice story that humans could easily… Wait. “Have you seen a Nativity play?”
Aziraphale was incredibly pleased with himself. He’d done as God wished and picked a pure human to be the carrier of her son. Even better, he’d found the woman was close to the very demon he still had to hunt down. He didn’t know why his old self, as he liked to call the pitiful angel he was without God’s influence, had requested for this woman specifically. Well, he did know, deep down. It was because Crowley would be there for her during it all, hopefully long enough to thwart Heaven’s plans for the child.
He tidied his hair a bit more before he walked up to his fellow angels, he had to look his best for any meeting, especially one so important. He clasped his hands together with a wide smile, seeing Michel, Uriel, and Saraquael. “Lovely, we’re all here.”
“I was worried your superior duties were holding you up, Aziraphale.” Michael said with a fake smile. He knew this was a passive way to point out how late he was. She was still rather annoyed this principality had gotten the spot as Supreme Archangel despite her being next in line after Gabriel. Aziraphale knew this, and loved it.
“Oh no! Perish the thought.” Aziraphale chuckled slightly, even though he knew she’d be mad at him seeing as Michael was not one for tardiness.
“If I may ask,” Uriel spoke up. “where were you exactly? Have a tea party with your-”
“If you must know, I was preparing the messenger for tonight.” Aziraphale hissed, glaring at her for even beginning to mention Crowley. They all knew how tense he was about him.
Everyone seemed a bit ruffled at this explanation, including the Metatron who looked especially upset.
“Aziraphale, you know there is a certain way we go about this. The supreme archangel is always the one to descend and tell the carrier of the Almighty’s son now growing within her.”
“Yes, well, I just figured why not have Gabriel do it? For old times sake.” Aziraphale smiled, unphased. For the voice of God, the Metatron sure was clueless as to how much fun she was having with her new puppets. “Besides, he’s been so good with his messenger duties, I thought he’d like the chance to visit Earth…”
“And what about you?” Saraquael asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. This must be part of God’s will, Aziraphale wouldn’t be standing there if it wasn’t. Still, the fact The Almighty wasn’t using this valuable piece in her game of chess wasn’t like Her.
Aziraphale just smirked.
“I think it’d be best you stayed here for the night, Maggie.” Crowley explained offhandedly while pouring himself another glass of wine. “For when… Aziraphale shows up. I’ll be here in case he tries anything.”
Maggie nodded somberly, now fully aware just how crucial she was in Heaven’s plans for Earth and that there wasn’t anything she could do about it.
“We have 9 months,” Crowley continued offhandedly. “Til the baby’s born and with it, Heaven’s first victory in this war against humanity.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do to stop it?” Muriel asked softly. Even if she was an angel it didn’t mean she wanted such a wonderful world and it’s people destroyed.
He hadn’t told them about Aziraphale’s situation yet. What was he supposed to say? ‘Sorry loves, good ol’ Mr. Fell got brainwashed into serving Heaven by the very person they were both created by, who could’ve seen it coming?’
“… Not sure.” Crowley answered honestly. Heaven would do anything to keep the plan on track. Aziraphale used to be a help when it came to avoiding Heaven but now, he’d be helping them destroy him. If only they were together to brainstorm ideas…
The others looked dismayed at this answer.
“It’s getting late.” Nina suddenly reminded them after the sad silence, glancing at a clock on the wall. “We better get you upstairs, angel.”
Maggie nodded, already looking like she wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink.
There was a sudden loud thud, startling them all.
“I’ll check it out.” Crowley muttered, unsure what it was, merely that it was suspicious. “You three head on up.”
The women and angel headed upstairs while he began walking down the aisles of bookshelves.
He stopped when he saw a singular, large book out of place. Aziraphale wouldn’t stand for a book out on its own like this.
Crowley quickly righted the wrong, only to suddenly hear a familiar laugh. “All this time in our bookshop, and that’s the wrong spot, my dear~”
“Aziraphale...” Crowley gasped, backing away as the angel came out from behind the wall of bookshelves. He would’ve brought attention to the ‘our’ part of the statement if he wasn’t so surprised. “Why are you here?”
The angel didn’t answer his question for a moment, too busy taking out the book and setting it back in its proper place. When that was done, he smiled wryly back at him. “For a visit, of course!”
“Maggie’s upstairs.” Crowley grunted distrustfully, wondering how he couldn’t know that.
“Oh, I know…. I’d rather see you.”
He glared down at the angel in anger, taking a step towards him.
“Is this some kind of game to you, bouncing between Heaven and Earth?!” The demon hissed. “You made your choice! You abandoned me, you coming back just…!”
“It hurts too much.” Aziraphale answered for him, but he looked honest for once. “It hurts when I see you… and know I can’t have you, we can’t be together because of my decision…”
Crowley slowly nodded. It seemed even under Heaven’s control, Aziraphale would still have some semblance of care for Crowley. “…”
“It’s all so… pathetic!”
Crowley was suddenly slammed against the wall by the angel. He looked up to see Aziraphale smirking down at him and wondered if he’d ever made Aziraphale feel this way when he’d done the same: he was rather frightened by such forwardness, he wanted this to stop.
“It's the fact that I still want to be with you so badly…” Aziraphale whispered softly, not allowing Crowley to move a muscle. Crowley felt his breath hitch when Aziraphale caressed his face. “I’m starting to understand: I can’t destroy you. And I believe the Almighty is starting to understand it too. She knows she can’t keep us apart too long, it makes my old self restless, it makes me restless.”
Crowley frowned, he didn’t like the idea that Aziraphale referred to the one in love with him as separate. Was that really true? Which parts were Aziraphale and which were Her? He narrowed his eyes. “And She’ll allow that?”
Aziraphale thought for a moment as if conversing in his head and then nodded, looking content. “Since it keeps the old me quiet… I think she will.”
“Mr. Fell?”
Crowley was finally released when Aziraphale turned to see the two humans and angel.
“You really did come!”
Maggie barreled into a hug which Aziraphale gladly accepted.
Crowley was going to pull her away seeing as this wasn’t the same Mr. Fell she knew but didn’t get the chance seeing as the hug was quickly over.
“Maggie, how are you, my dear?” Aziraphale asked in seeming concern, holding her hands tightly. “I’ve heard you have accepted the great honor of being our carrier!”
“I don't have much of a choice…” Maggie wilted, thinking about the message she received. “Gabriel made that very clear.”
“Oh, stop being so humble! You should be beaming with pride, my dear! You were chosen out of every person being on this Earth, proving you are an extraordinary human being and I couldn’t be any more proud of you.”
“Really?” She smiled widely.
Crowley held back a groan, knowing Aziraphale was just praising her so she would be more accepting. She’d been against it only a few minutes ago but now that someone she loved encouraged it…
“Have you come for a visit?” Muriel asked excitedly. “I can put on some tea!”
Aziraphale shook his head, gracefully raising a hand to stop her. “There is no need. After all, I’m not just here for a visit…”
No way. Crowley thought, realizing where this was going. He’s not!!
Aziraphale looked directly into Crowley’s eyes as if to revel in his reaction. “It seems I’ll be staying down here, working from home as you call it!”
“Hooray!” Muriel cheered, hugging the angel. “That’s wonderful-”
“He’s not staying here!”
Everyone turned to Crowley in shock, the room went quiet.
He knew everyone was thinking the same thing he knew: Wasn’t Crowley the one who wanted Aziraphale to come home the most?
“Mr. Crowley-”
“No, no, it’s quite alright, I deserve it...” Aziraphale whispered, waving off the concerns of the others as he walked to Crowley’s side.
Crowley felt his heart ache seeing Aziraphale’s eyes fill with tears. This wasn’t real, it couldn’t be. Aziraphale was just pretending to be hurt so Crowley would let him stay.
“Crowley, my dear… I know what I did was wrong: asking you to come with me to Heaven when I had the feeling you’d wouldn’t want to…” Aziraphale mumbled, not breaking contact. “I just… I can’t live without you, I got upset at the thought you wouldn’t be by my side like always.”
It was working. It was working so well, it sounded so genuine, so real. He’d wanted to hear this apology ever since they separated and here it was, spoken with just the right amount of pity, sorrow, and regret.
“I… I couldn’t bear it any longer…!” The angel whispered, wrapping his arms around the demon’s neck.
This isn’t real, this isn’t real… Crowley repeated to himself, trembling. Unless… this is truly him? Is he… back…? I broke through before, maybe…
Aziraphale embraced him gently, not allowing him to even check his eyes and see if he was speaking from the heart, if it was truly Aziraphale saying these things. “I’m so sorry…”
Crowley felt tears roll past his sunglasses at hearing the word he’d been waiting for. It was getting so hard to resist.
Poor thing, he’s so heartbroken from before that he can barely resist me… Aziraphale smirked once he was out of Crowley’s sight. Whether he meant it or not didn’t matter to God, what mattered was what it meant to Crowley. “So… Can I stay?”
Crowley didn’t answer, gritting his teeth. He couldn’t do it, he couldn’t let Aziraphale be this close to the Earth!
Aziraphale was so close to persuading him to let him stay, he could feel it. He just needed one final temptation…
Crowley’s eyes widened in shock when Aziraphale pulled him down and kissed him passionately. His defenses melted away as he collapsed into it. There was no hesitation from the angel, he was enjoying every bit of it unlike their first kiss.
“…How about now?”
Crowley found himself nodding, finally giving in to his desire. “Of course…angel…”
“Perfect.” Aziraphale whispered.
His angel was back… somewhat.