Chapter Text
Eve wanted to melt into the endearment, she longed to hear him call her his love again. A loving smile laid on her lips, forgetting her own pain in favour of focusing on Gabriel´s: “How are you?”. The archangel closed his eyes for a moment, analysing his current state; There was pain and his vessel ached like it never had before. But behind the haze of pain, he felt warm and loved. He doesn’t know what exactly happened, how he was still alive was a mystery to him, but then he saw his own essence. It was weak and part of it seemed to be lost, some was slowly regaining its strength. But deep inside, in his very core he saw another essence. It was holding up his structures, sending warmth and comfort through his being. He wondered who´s essence it was.
“Gabriel?” Eve grew concerned when Gabriel just closed his eyes instead of answering her. He opened his eyes again, grinning weakly: “Sorry”. Eve slowly reached over and under the cover, searching for his hand and holding it when she found it: “It´s alright if you can´t talk”. Gabriel sighed deeply, his thumb caressing her knuckles: “I feel better when you´re with me”. Eve slid closer to him over the bed, their hands emerging from the covers as she did so. “You´re so fucking stupid, you know?” Eve fought with her tears already, not letting Gabriel come up with an answer: “You can´t just turn your back on potential threat in battle!”. A single tear rolled down her cheek; She almost lost him. Her free hand came up to rest on his chest, she couldn’t look at his eyes anymore and focused them on her hand: “I-I´ll take my essence away once you´re stronger again”. Gabriel laid his free hand over hers, securing it on his chest: “You gave me a piece of your essence? After all I did, you still saved me?”. Eve bit her lip, looking up into those purple eyes once more: “Lucky for you, I still love you”. Now it was Gabriel who fought with his tears, though he let some fall down willingly, not caring anymore. He grunted in pain as he moved over a bit, giving Eve space to join him in his, or rather their, bed. Even though Eve was put back together when God combined her split essence again, she only now felt whole, wrapped tightly in her lovers’ arm. “I love you too” whispered Gabriel into the embrace, inhaling her scent. “I´m still mad at you, though” Eve pulled away a little, her face showing Gabriel how deeply hurt she was. He looked at her lips, the urge to kiss her was unbearable but he wasn’t sure if she wanted this yet. Eve saw his gaze, she felt a similar urge and moved just a bit closer to him again, their lips almost touching when she whispered: “No more games, no more secrets, understood?”. Gabriel answered first with a passionate kiss, which he never wanted to leave again, but did just that so he could answer her properly: “I swear to the almighty herself, I will never betray you again”. Their lips found one another again and they were lost in their love for a while, before Gabriel had to take it easy again, his energy was draining faster than he liked it to. Eve helped him to find a position that was comfortable and started to caress his body with simple yet calming touches.
“Could you…leave it?” Gabriel avoided her eyes, he wasn’t sure if he was asking for too much too soon. Eve furrowed her brows in confusion: “Leave what?”. Gabriel chewed at his bottom lip, his voice almost silent: “Your essence”. Eve carefully guided his head over so she could look at him again, smiling despite being a bit nervous: “Why would you want that?”. Gabriel swallowed down a lump in his throat: “It f-feels…nice. It’s warm and-and its calming”. Eve stretched her neck to kiss him again, smiling when he relaxed into the bed again. “You can keep it…if you give me a piece of yours when you´re feeling better” Eve wanted to feel him this way too, it simply just wasn’t fair. Gabriel nuzzled his face into her soft hair: “I´d like that, very much so”. Gabriel wanted to kiss her until he was numb, leave this bed and spend some quality time with the only person he ever loved like this, but his vessel was betraying him. His eyes began to sting as he tried to keep them open, not wanting to be unconscious while he could spend time with Eve. She noticed, her hand rising to his hair, letting it run through them and lightly scratched his scalp: “Rest. I´ll stay with you, I promise”. But Gabriel couldn’t, just yet: “Could you fill in some blanks? I-I don’t really know what happened”. Eve felt her anger rise again, Michael was dead already, but she would gladly do it again. That feeling scared her to a certain degree, she didn’t want to be this violent and her goal in the battle was to not kill anyone except for Lucifer. She didn’t think about what she should, or shouldn’t, do. All she wanted was to revenge Gabriel´s apparent death and before she knew it, Michaels blood was on her hands.
“Michael…attacked you. Tried to kill you after you refused to fight me. I-I killed her instead” Eve wasn’t sure how Gabriel felt about that, not that Gabriel knew either. First, he felt a deep betrayal, they worked side by side for centuries! Their, lets call it friendship, was under some pressure in the past months, but that she would turn on him this instant, he didn’t expect that. Then, he felt remorse. They had some good times together, working on the first Armageddon, for example. And now, Michael was gone. He would never see her again and wasn’t sure if he should be glad or sad. He supposed both would have to do. Eve saw the mixed expression: “A-Are you alright? Should I leave?”. Gabriel tightened his arms around her at that: “Don’t you dare”. It was just a bit of relieve for her. The archangel deeply sighed and kissed her forehead: “I am just shocked. I-I never thought she would…and now she´s gone, I don’t know h-how to feel about it”. Gabriel weakened again, his energy was too low, he knew he needed to rest but found himself unable to. His eyes met with Eve´s, a soft desperate plea leaving his lips: “H-Help me s-sleep?”. Eve knew what he meant and cupped his face in her hands: “Always, my love…” kissing him softly and easing him into sleep with the use of her power, her essence deep inside him was making this even easier.
Gabriel´s body went limp and sunk into the soft bed even more. Eve made sure he could rest without more disorders. She thought about getting up again, maybe have a quick talk with her and thank her for everything, who knew how long she was still available like this? For all Eve knew she could soon go back to her ways, not talking with anyone. But when she saw her relaxed soulmate, still holding her, she couldn’t leave his side. Never wanted to again.
At home
Crowley and Aziraphale retired to the couch, both not saying a word since they arrived at their home. The shock was still set deep as they recounted all that happened today, the second Arma-I-don’t-think-so. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a third one. Silently Aziraphale reached for his husbands hand, bringing them both out of their thoughts. “Do you…I mean...how are you?” Crowley squeezed his angels hand once. So many things could have gone wrong today. Eve could´ve been hurt or even killed, Crowley and Aziraphale would´ve had to watch and then likely be killed as well. The earth and humanity they held so dearly would´ve been destroyed. Aziraphale seemed to realize it as well, turning and embracing his partner, tears threatening to burst forth: “I-I love y-you so much!”. Crowley hugged him tight: “I love you too, my angel”. They remained in each others arms for a while, sharing sweet, desperate kisses of relieve, before finally being able to relax somewhat into the couch.
“Eve really kicked some ass today” Crowley smiled bright, he was so proud of her. Aziraphale gave him a scolding look: “Language, my dear” but then couldn’t help but smirk: “But you are right”. Aziraphale rested his hand over his belly, smiling softly: “It sounds silly, but I feel like I only recently gave birth to her and now look at her. Saving the world all on her own”. Crowley grinned down at his angels hand, still resting on his abdomen: “Should I be jealous about god knocking you up?”. Aziraphale went bright red: “C-Crowley! That’s not h-how…Why w-would I…You are the f-father…!”. “I know, I´m joking, angel” the demon laughed, taking his hand and kissing the back of it: “It´s kind of funny though, we never questioned how Eve came to be”. The truth was, and they both knew that, that they didn’t care. Eve was the biggest and most wonderful miracle and gift they would ever receive. They were, and still are, thankful for their daughter. Their happiness peaked so high, taking them with it, so high up that they simple didn’t have to question anything. Not even Crowley, who always loved to ask questions.
“Speaking of our little star, she still with Gabriel?” Crowley changed the subject. Aziraphale shrugged, his face beginning to turn back into its pale, creamy colour: “I think so…I have to say, I feel rather pity for him”. Crowley chuckled, stretching his arm over his angels shoulder: “Well I think he may not deserve to die, but watching him getting stabbed was kinda satisfying”. If Aziraphale was being honest with himself, he agreed with that, but would never voice it: “Still, I hope he is getting better”. “Ehh, I would like to see him suffer, just for a little while longer, just because for that stupid grin at your trial” Crowley pulled Aziraphale closer, the angel noticed the protective gesture. Crowley´s deepest fears always involved his family. He didn’t care about himself. The demon would endure every torture and every execution their enemies would come up with just to spare Aziraphales and Eve´s life. Aziraphale caressed his cheeks softly, all his love was pooled in his ocean eyes as he spoke: “My dearest Crowley, as far as I know heaven and hell are working on their first negotiations. God and Eve will work on bringing together our former sides. And I am sure that nothing harmful will come our way, not with Eve being such an important role”. Crowley leaned into the soft touch, humming in contentment: “I hope you´re right, my loveliest angel”. They kissed again, grinning like it was their first ever kiss and not their 1´000´000th.
Six month later
“Careful, don’t push yourself too hard” Eve glanced up at Gabriel, who chuckled at her worried look: “I´m fine, I promise”. Eve sighed, giving up on trying to win this: “Just take it easy”. They were walking towards the, now, familiar cottage. Aziraphale and Crowley settled down in the south, a new home was in order after all that happened. Eve in the meantime managed to convince, which surprisingly didn’t take much, Gabriel into getting a home of their own, here on earth near to her parents. Eve liked how human-like their life was becoming, Gabriel would go to work, a.k.a heaven, during the day and return home in the early evening, taking some extra time off so he wouldn’t have to leave Eve alone for long. Crowley and Aziraphale first felt sad and even a bit scared when Eve announced that she would “leave the nest” as it were. They somehow never thought about that possibility before. But they found themselves happy in their new home, just the two of them, like in the old times. Not that they would ever want it to be completely like that ever again.
The husbands were preparing their table for the get together, preparing tea and coffee and getting some pastries from the fridge. When the doorbell rang, Aziraphale almost skipped in his walk, his joy to seeing his daughter again getting stronger with each step. The door opened and Eve instantly embraced her father, she had to admit she was missing them, it was hard getting used to not seeing them every day. When they pulled away again, Aziraphale greeted Gabriel and invited them inside. “Hey hellspawn” Crowley kissed her forehead, then turned to Gabriel: “Mr. Archangel”. “Good day, wily demon” once, those words were meant to be mocking, but now it was all on good fun. They sat down on the table, enjoying the beverages and eating the pastries. It was still a bit awkward, it wasn’t like they could all just forget their history, but they worked on bettering their relationship. Gabriel was learning to live among the humans, grateful that Eve was helping him. He learned to enjoy a few simpler things like taking a bath, eating new things or his first time in a cinema. He slowly saw the appeal Aziraphale and Crowley had with humanity.
“So, how´s work?” Crowley asked, taking a sip of his coffee. “Heaven and hell are working on a sort of peace treaty, Eve is helping with the negotiations and we´re making a lot of process” Gabriel announced, smiling over at Eve, who kissed his cheek then. “That is wonderful! And god?” Aziraphale asked with a hopeful smile. Eve shook her head, sighing: “Still nothing”. The almighty had returned to her old ways, just like Eve had feared. She knew she was there, watching over everything like she always did, and she was thankful for the trust she had in Eve. But it was frustrating to an extent, the mother was silent once more, not answering their calls anymore, Eve missed talking to her. Eve felt a warmth in her essence, comforting her and she smiled over at Gabriel. Recently Eve received her part of the promise, Gabriel had given her a piece of his essence. What they didn’t expect was the strong connection it would create. Gabriel could feel Eve´s sorrow and could comfort her, even when they were apart, and Eve could do the same. It was amazing! “Well, she is rather busy” chuckled Crowley, pulling Eve out of her thoughts again. Aziraphale beamed his happiness towards his daughter, the love he felt in return could make him cry out in his joy. Their lives were perfect, peaceful even. Something they all longed for since Eve´s birth. No more tries of taken her away, no more of heavens or hells influences. Just peace. What more could they wish for?