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“Is your car supposed to have only three wheels, or did you lose one?”
Gabriel’s tone was innocently curious as he climbed into the backseat of the awkward automobile, and Anathema stifled a laugh at the way that her husband bristled just slightly at the question.
“It’s made that way,” Newt answered. “It’s very unique. You won’t find many cars like this on the roads these days…”
“Hmm, wonder why?” Anathema mused.
“This car is much slower and stranger than Crowley’s,” Gabriel observed, gazing out Dick Turpin’s back window at the passing countryside - utterly oblivious to Newt’s little huff of offense from the driver’s seat.
“Also much safer , I’d wager,” Newt countered, just the faintest edge to his voice. “Least, the way I drive it…”
Anathema reached over and patted his arm soothingly.
“The Bentley would never let us crash.” Gabriel’s tone was unconcerned, mildly distracted. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise,” Anathema reminded him. “You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I wish Crowley could have come,” Gabriel sighed. Wistful and forlorn, he turned his gaze toward Anathema. “Why couldn’t Crowley come?”
“I don’t know, he just… said it wasn’t really his thing.”
Anathema frowned, still puzzling over Crowley’s calm but adamant refusal to be a part of this particular outing.
Gabriel frowned, too, his suspicious gaze passing between Anathema and Newt, searching their faces for answers.
“If Crowley’s not welcome there, then I don’t want to go there, either.”
“He’d be totally welcome. It was entirely his choice,” Anathema assured him. “He wouldn’t tell me why. I guess you can ask him when you get home.”
After a lengthy drive, made longer by Dick Turpin’s limited range of speed, Newt parked the car at the end of a muddy lane that led to a sprawling old farmhouse. Newt and Anathema exited the car, Gabriel following them a bit more slowly, cautiously surveying the landscape.
“What is this place?” he asked, wary and uncertain.
Anathema reached out to take his hand as he neared her, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.
“It’s nothing scary,” Newt assured him with a warm smile, coming up close at his other side. “Promise. Trust us?”
Gabriel glanced between them for a moment, before nodding once. “Yeah.”
“That’s the spirit!” Newt declared, clapping Gabriel good-naturedly on the shoulder, before turning and nodding in the direction he was already heading. “Come on, this way.”
Newt led Gabriel and Anathema around the side of the farmhouse, revealing a red barn and a large fenced enclosure, containing several smaller pens and wire cages, with an open area where several small animals frolicked and wobbled and scampered about, playing and squabbling with each other.
Gabriel drew back as they reached the gate, hesitant.
“I don’t know… maybe I shouldn’t…”
“Why not?” Anathema frowned.
“They’re just babies,” Newt assured him. “They won’t hurt you.”
Gabriel cast an offended glare in his direction. “I know they won’t. It’s just…”
Anathema followed his gaze, past the rabbit hutch and the little lambs and one small donkey, to a small group of young kids, playfully chasing each other back and forth around one corner of the enclosure.
“There are goats,” Gabriel explained, as if that should have been answer enough for his hesitation. When Anathema tilted her head in a wordless question, he let out an irritated, self-conscious huff. “Goats don’t like me.”
Newt arched an eyebrow, puzzled by his statement. “I… didn’t realize you’d ever met any goats.”
Anathema supposed it should have occurred to her, really - all the many long centuries Gabriel had lived, all the messages he’d carried to shepherds and such. Of course, she’d never once heard a story of the messenger Gabriel being sent to deliver good news to a goat herd.
“On a mountain, once… in the wilderness…”
“Oh, well, that’s different,” she pointed out, tugging him gently by the hand, leading him past the gate and quickly closing it behind them lest any small animals should wander out. “These aren’t wild goats. These are domesticated. They’re used to being around people. Plus they’re babies. They’re pretty much okay with anybody who’s paying them attention.”
Gabriel still seemed hesitant, standing awkwardly near the gate and staring, wide-eyed, at the tiny creatures milling around him.
“Here, look…”
Anathema leaned down to pluck a handful of wildflowers and then sat down, cross-legged on a patch of green grass. Newt followed her lead, sitting down across from her and pulling a tuft of grass in lieu of flowers.
Anathema looked up at Gabriel with an encouraging smile. “Watch this…”
She then focused her attention on the baby goats, holding out the flowers in her hand toward them - and it was not long before several of the more curious among them headed her way. She was very much aware of Gabriel’s dubious gaze focused on her, watching closely, but she didn’t look back, instead just luring the babies in closer with the flowers, then reaching out a gentle hand to pet their soft hair when they drew near enough.
One of them went straight for the blossoms and bit them off of the stalks before any of the others could get the chance. Not overly disappointed, a couple of the late comers settled for the nearby grass Newt offered instead. One more adventurous eater began experimentally chewing on the ends of Anathema’s hair.
“No, no,” she murmured, laughing gently as she pulled it free and tied it up into a loose knot. “That’s not for eating.”
When she finished her task, she smiled to see that Gabriel had joined them, cross-legged in the grass - looking a little uncertain and awkward, and very surprised that his mere presence had not caused all of the baby goats to scamper off.
“Look,” Newt said softly, drawing Gabriel’s attention as he reached out to gently stroke one goat’s back. “Go ahead and pet them. They’re soft.”
Gabriel hesitated, before lifting one large hand, the size of one of the younglings’ heads, and extending it toward the nearest one. Curious, it butted its tiny, grey head into his hand briefly, before turning to nibble experimentally on his thumb.
Gabriel laughed softly in surprise, rescuing his thumb from the goat’s mouth, just to gently stroke the soft fuzz at the top of its head instead - at which the little creature, not to be deterred, went after the long sleeve of Gabriel’s sweater instead. When he withdrew it in mild alarm, the kid clambered up onto his lap, bracing its two front legs against his chest and straining its neck in an attempt to reach the confiscated sleeve.
Curious as to what had drawn their playmate’s attention, and not to be denied any tasty treat that they might be missing and he might be about to enjoy without them - several other babies surrounded Gabriel, nudging him with their heads, nibbling and sniffing and pressing in close.
Anathema had a moment’s concern, wondering if Gabriel might be put off by the potential damage to his clothes - but the delighted smile that spread across his face was wide and genuine, his eyes alight with as much curiosity as the babies clambering over his knees and up his back and the one, tiny white kid, ignoring the tumult around it and nestled sleepily in Gabriel’s lap.
Gabriel gazed down at the tiny creature with awe, his long fingers gently stroking its soft hair.
Anathema looked up to meet her husband’s eyes, sharing a warm smile of shared pleasure at the success of their outing.
Anathema shifted in closer to Gabriel, nudging his shoulder.
“I’m sorry Crowley couldn’t come,” she said. “I told him that he could if he wanted, but…”
“Oh, no, he was right,” Gabriel cut her off, firm and certain. “They would not have liked him here. They’d all think he was here to eat them. It’d be chaos.”
Anathema frowned. “I know Crowley’s a demon and all, but he’s not exactly scary …”
“He’s a giant fucking snake,” Gabriel declared, not shifting his attention from the baby cradled in his lap. “He’d have scared all the animals and gotten us kicked out. He would not be welcome here.”
Anathema blinked, reconsidering. “Fair enough.”
“So does that mean…” Newt began, a faintly sly, teasing note to his words, “... you won’t consider coming back?”
“ Fuck, no,” Gabriel answered without hesitation. “I am so coming back.”
Newt let out a soft chuff of laughter, shaking his head ruefully. “Glad these aren’t human babies, or you’d be the one getting us kicked out.”
“Well, they’re fucking not, so I can say whatever I fucking want,” Gabriel shot back with a mischievous grin - that immediately faltered a little, as he added, a little softer, a touch uncertain, “... right?”
Anathema looked to Newt, whose friend owned the farm, and whose idea it had been to organize this outing.
He rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh of exaggerated patience.
“Fuck yeah, you can,” he replied, the unfamiliar word falling hushed from his lips.
Anathema couldn’t suppress a burst of laughter at the fact that he’d said it at all - and a rush of warm affection at the lengths her overly anxious, overly cautious husband would go to, in order to make Gabriel feel more at ease.
By the time they left an hour later, what was left of Gabriel’s well-chewed, unraveling sweater was covered in all possible shades of goat hair. His own hair was a tousled mess from lying in the grass and allowing the babies to tug at it to their hearts’ content.
And the archangel himself was a very relaxed, smiling, sleepy adorable mess.
“Can we come back?” he asked as he climbed into the backseat.
“Of course,” Newt said. “Anytime. I mean… if we come during regular hours there’ll be other people around. But I’m sure my friend won’t mind opening the petting zoo off-hours for us again - just every once in a while. You know. As long as we don’t bring along a terrifying giant snake-man.”
“Crowley will understand,” Gabriel said, soft and sleepy as he leaned against the windowpane, staring out into the starry night sky with quiet contentment. “I’ll just have to tell him all about it…”