Chapter Text
March 2019: Five And a Half Months Before the End of The World
Barely two weeks after his contract with the Dowlings had ended, Crowley felt a sharp tug on the tether in his chest. He thought for a moment that it was the one connected to Warlock, and he prepared to miracle his hair and clothing back to the style he'd just gotten rid of. However, a second tug gave him pause, and he realized that he was in fact feeling Evan's tether.
With Evan working as a firefighter for the past two years, Crowley had adapted the health teather he had created over a decade before so that it had far stricter triggers. He'd gotten too many alerts in Evan's first few weeks on the job as minor burns and strains became commonplace, and every call out made his adrenaline surge. Now, it was restricted so that only the strongest emotions and major physical harm would call to Crowley.
So, without a second thought, Crowley snapped himself to LA. He landed in the middle of a disaster zone of lights, smoke, and screams. Crowley quickly took in the flipped truck, the bodies in the street, and the boy standing there with a bomb strapped to his chest. Crowley was tempted to just destroy the brat where he stood and vanish the truck pinning his kid, but he couldn't afford to draw attention onto Evan from down Below with such an ostentatious display. Not when they were so close to the End.
Instead, he watched. And when the man he recognized as Evan's captain dove at the boy, Crowley cast a small miracle to clamp his hand down on the trigger, keeping the vest from blowing up and hurting anyone else. Evan's co-workers raced to his side, and Crowley invisibly observed as they worked on his kid.
Finally, he heard "I need all hands on deck to move this truck and clear a path to the nearest trauma center." Now that was something realistic that Crowley could do. The first attempt made it clear that the firefighters alone would not be enough, so when he saw the first civilian shove at one of the temporary barriers, Crowley made short work of miracling them out of the way. Then he made himself visible and joined the front of the crowd. Even with as many people as they had, the truck would not have moved without better leverage, but with Crowley's demonic strength added to the mix, it was easy. They'd later attribute it to adrenaline, as humans tended to do, if anyone pointed out the impossible math.
Crowley waited, watching every person who came near Evan, ready to strike at anyone else suspicious. But it was just his team, and they quickly had Evan loaded onto an ambulance. As soon as they were on their way, Crowley snapped back to London, appearing in the back room of the Bookshop. He tended to avoid springing himself on Aziraphale like this, but this was an emergency.
"Crowley?" Aziraphale sat up in his bed, shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"You need to come with me, now," Crowley said, reaching for the angel's arm to tug him up.
"I shall do no such thing!" Aziraphale protested. "I'm not even dressed!"
Crowley looked around and found a dressing gown — tartan, of course — and flung it on the bed. "Fine, put that on. But we need to move, now."
Thankfully, though he was clearly startled and a bit flustered, once Aziraphale had the dressing gown tied up, he allowed Crowley to grab his arm and snap him away.
They landed, invisible, in the hospital Emergency Room that Crowley had heard Evan's team mention. The ambulance hadn't arrived yet, which meant they had enough time to fix this quietly, without having to cover up or change too many things.
"What is going on?" Aziraphale asked when Crowley didn't immediately spring into action. "And why— are we in America? Why would you bring us here? And to an A&E of all places?"
Crowley ignored him for the moment, watching the doors to the ambulance bay. As soon as they opened, he snapped, freezing time in the building. "What?" Aziraphale sputtered behind him.
It was Evan, being pushed by the two paramedics on his team while his best friend held his hand. Crowley moved to the other side of the gurney, opposite of the man he recognized as Eddie, and he felt Aziraphale follow him. Looking down on his godson, Crowley felt his heart clench. "Listen carefully, Angel. You need to perform a miracle. Not a big one, but an important one. You need to fix this, without arousing suspicion. You need to make it so that it still looks real, but he'll make a full recovery."
Beside him, Aziraphale stiffened. "What kind of demonic plot is this? I shall do no such thing!"
"This isn't a plot!" Crowley snarled, unable to keep his voice calm. "This isn't a scam! A whole bloody fire ladder truck fell onto his leg because of some idiot child who wanted to hurt people who hadn't done anything to him. This young man is a stupid, selfless idiot who runs into burning buildings to save absolute strangers who won't even thank him, because he's like you, you foolish angel! And some stupid angry child blew up a ladder truck and crushed his leg and you need to save it!" He realized he was begging, his hands clutched in the lapels of Aziraphale's dressing gown, but Crowley didn't care. Dignity be damned; he was going to convince the angel to save his kid.
"Crowley…" Aziraphale's voice was soft, confused, and far too knowing.
"Look, whatever you want, just— he doesn't deserve this! Isn't that what your side is all about? Fixing injustices? Rewarding the good? Just fix him!" Crowley released Aziraphale and looked back at Evan. He could mention the Bastille. He could mention the books. But he didn't want to. He didn't want the angel to think he was keeping score. Crowley would if he had to — he'd promise whatever he needed to if Aziraphale faltered again — but he wanted this to be enough.
"Well why don't you do it?" Aziraphale asked.
Crowley closed his eyes, feeling tears gathering and desperately hoping he could keep them from falling. "Because I can't."
"Alright then," Aziraphale said firmly. "Let me get a look at what I'm meant to be fixing.
Feeling a bit faint — though he'd deny it later if asked — Crowley scooted closer to Evan's head so that Aziraphale could see his leg better. It took two tries before he could bring himself to speak somewhat normally. "And don't go overboard, Angel; you always go overboard. He doesn't need to run a mile tomorrow. They saw that truck crush his leg; there has to be some damage."
"I know what I'm doing, Crowley." Aziraphale said airily.
"Oh, do you? Like the time that Warlock broke a window and your replacement was intricate stained glass before I made it look normal?" Crowley scoffed. "I'm just saying, use a little moderation."
Aziraphale rolled his eyes, but he did spend a little more time examining Evan's leg before he snapped his fingers.
Crowley examined it with an experienced eye, and it looked like the leg had been partially protected from the crushing. He'd pop back over to the scene in a moment and miracle up a random piece of strong metal that could have conceivably shunted some of the pressure off of Evan's leg. "Thanks," he said gruffly.
"You'll have to explain this to me later, you know," Aziraphale said.
Then, before Crowley could retort, the angel vanished. After checking Evan's leg one last time, Crowley stepped back and restarted time. Once he was sure that the medical professionals were taking care of his kid properly, Crowley swiped a little of Evan's blood and then popped back to the scene.
He conjured up a piece of metal that could believably fit in with the rest and added Evan's blood to it before placing it by the truck. Crowley waited long enough to ensure that one of the officers on the scene found the part and began taking photos of it before backing off. Now they'd be able to put the pieces together properly, and no one should be suspicious at Evan's miraculous healing.
Crowley probably could have come up with something better with a little advanced notice, but if he'd had advanced notice Crowley wouldn't have let Evan get crushed in the first place, so it was the best he could do under the circumstances. He just couldn't risk anyone from Below — or Above, for that matter — hearing about a miraculous save that even the humans couldn't justify, and looking closer. Not with the End so close.