Chapter Text
The sky was that bright blue colour you are only used to see in movies, during those disgustingly perfect scenes where the main character’s life turns around for the better, or when one person declares their love to the other. The birds were singing their own songs, creating a beautiful melody that seemed to make everyone smile. The grass in this enchanting park was the greenest and brightest colour you could possibly imagine, creating a perfect image. The people walking around here were all smiling, happy, greeting each other, or like the joggers, peacefully minding their own business. You could sum this pretty picture up by saying that there wasn’t a thing to see that wasn’t suburb.
You absolutely loathed it.
You were sitting on a bench, slightly in the shadow in your usual work clothes, a fancy female suit, completely black like always, deeply contemplating the meaning of life whilst judging anyone who would walk by.
That woman with the small girl shouldn’t look so happy, you thought. Kids suck, they’re gross, whiny, ungrateful and this one isn’t even cute. No, from that day on you had decided that you wouldn’t take any kids, or make them… or whatever people call it. Not that you had time for kids, or anything besides work to be honest, you were a busy, successful woman.
You were in your twenties and you owned a freaking company, that was quite an accomplishment in anyone’s opinion. You had done it all on your own, by hard work and ingenious moves in this failing economy you had been able to build a marketing empire. You had helped out the biggest of the biggest brands, from sporty campaigns by Nike and Adidas to the most sophisticated happenings by Chanel. Practically anyone would want to trade with your fortunate life.
Then why weren’t you happy?
Or to put it slightly more exact, why were you so miserable?
Maybe it was because you had no family at all, your mother had been the only constant factor in your life and she had passed away a few years ago, she got cancer and ‘lost the battle’ like many would put it.
You didn’t agree. It had never been a battle. Battles were most of the time fair because you were able to defend yourself, this had been a fatal ambush. But that wasn’t it, it wasn’t the reason you were sitting in the shadows with a cup of coffee in your hand shooting daggers at any content person walking by.
You were silently wondering how they could be happy with the lives they had. Not that you could see what they were planning to do, but none of the faces said something like ‘I saved the world today’ or ‘I have prevented someone from dying a few hours ago’. Because even though you were a sarcastic person, it was nothing but a mask to hide the fact that you were having the biggest existential crisis anyone has ever had.
What were you actually doing with your life? Nothing really noteworthy, you knew that much. You didn’t want to have your own chapter in the next generation of history books or a statue dedicated to your amazing deeds, you just wanted to look back at your life with a smile, knowing you had done something to help the world. Right now, you were certainly not doing that.
The ringing of your mobile phone jerked you out of your depressing spiral of thoughts and you sighed, thinking that it was probably your work to tell you about some new crisis or a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ opportunity with another company.
‘Yes?’ You said curtly, everyone who had your number knew they should go straight to the point.
‘Am I speaking to (Y/N) (L/N)?’ A lady’s voice said, she sounded kind of old, and familiar.
‘Yes, I am her, who is this?’ You said, less harsh than before, being rude to strangers was always a bad idea.
‘It’s Christine Lewis, you remember me?’ She sounded hopeful, apparently scared that you might have forgotten her, but you of course hadn’t. She had been your old neighbour back when you lived with your mother, Ms. Lewis had always come around to help out when your mother had to work double shifts at work.
‘Yes of course, how are you?’ You asked happily and politely, you hadn’t heard from her in ages, but that was probably your fault.
‘Fine darling, thank you for asking, but I need to go to my book club in a second so I’ll have to get to the reason why I called.’ She said, worried that she was being rude, but you were relieved that she hadn’t got the chance to tell you about her life every day for the past few years, you remembered how much she loved chatting.
‘That’s okay Miss Lewis, I’m short on time too.’ You smiled, recalling how sweet the lady had been for you.
‘So there is this very nice gentleman here who would like to talk to you, face to face and he says it is quite important.’ She said, like she was carefully picking her words.
‘Is it about my work?’ You said, frowning, why would they contact your old neighbour?
‘No, personal matters. He has asked me not to tell you what it is all about yet, he wants to do it himself. When can you meet him?’ She said, and you guessed that man was probably still in the room with her, because she sounded way too excited.
‘I’ve got the next few weeks no time at all actually, I’ll only be able to make an appointment for the next month. Unless he can come over tonight at my apartment, after 7 o’clock.’ You said, thinking about the busy season that was coming up. You heard the lady ask something to the mystery man in the background before answering you.
‘That’s fine, he’ll be there tonight, and don’t you worry, he’s a nice man.’ She told you and you smiled a bit, you worked in an industry were the meaning of the word appeared just as often as real unicorns did, you didn’t care whether he was nice or not. You just wanted to know what was so important.
‘Well, thank you for helping out, it was really nice of you, but I’ll have to leave in a few minutes.’ You said, looking at your watch and seeing that your small break was almost over.
‘No problem, Dear, look after yourself!’ She told you and you felt yourself lighten up a little, it had been a long time ago someone cared about your health.
‘You too, goodbye.’ You said and hung up. You wondered what the unknown man would like to talk to you about while you walked back to your building, but as soon as you stepped through the doors, different problems were thrown at your head.
Guess there’s no time to daydream right now.
--------------------------------------------------That evening--------------------------------------------------------
You were listening to a jazz radio station that always helped you relax when you came home from a long and tiring day of giving people orders and coming up with bright ideas. You softly hummed along with the melody while you poured some with wine in the spaghetti you were cooking in some kind of fancy oil with a name that gave you a headache. You didn’t know for sure whether your guest would be eating with you, but just in case you made a semi-fancy dinner.
Your doorbell rang and you quickly took off your apron, and walked over to the door. You noticed while opening it that you were still suited-up, but you didn’t mind, a good first impression mattered.
And apparently your guest had been thinking the same thing, because he was also wearing a pitch black suit. It made him look classy and sophisticated, and the way he was standing gave him a confident look, like he was used to receiving authority. He was good looking, but too old for you, he could be your father.
‘Good evening’ He spoke lightly in a low voice with a British accent, you had already decided that you liked the man. He was smirking lightly and he oozed charm. You were used to judging people and things on their looks, it was basically all you did, and in this case you were not disappointed.
‘Evening. Please, come in.’ You told him politely, as you stepped aside and held the door open for him. You closed the door after him and saw him looking at the apartment, he didn’t look very awe-struck, unlike some other guests you’d received in the past, so you assumed this wasn’t his first time in such a modern, luxurious place.
‘The name’s Crowley.’ He introduced himself, as he held out a hand for you to shake. You did, with a firm grip and smiled. The man had a strange name, but a good shake, that was the best way to find out what kind of person you were against.
‘(Y/N), but you already knew that.’ You told him while walking to the kitchen.
‘Would you like some dinner? I wasn’t sure if you had already eaten and decided to cook for two, just in case.’ You told him while adding the last few ingredients.
‘That would be perfect, thank you.’ He answered politely and you prepared the dishes and took them to the table that was already set. Crowley had hung up his coat by the entrance and sat down at the table in front of you.
‘So, if you don’t mind, I always prefer to get to the subject as soon as possible. What did you want to talk about?’ You said to him, estimating him like someone who could be great at senseless chitchat, but also like one who preferred not to.
‘Well then, I’ll get right to it. What do you know about your father?’ He asked and you immediately stopped eating, looking at him confused. You had never known your father and you hadn’t really cared before, this topic hadn’t been on your mind in an incredibly long time.
‘Barely anything. He had a one-night stand with my mother and moved on, she never saw him again, why?’ You asked suspiciously. A stranger coming over asking about your dad wasn’t really a good sign, or maybe this was his lawyer and you’d inherited a fortune, not that you needed it.
‘Well, a few weeks ago some documents came to my attention that revealed some information to me that had been unknown until now. Basically they told me I had a daughter. So I put some of my men at work to find out who she was and before I knew it, I’m here.’ He said evenly, eying your response as he revealed that you were currently having dinner with your father.
What the actual fuck
There’s a guy who decides to come barging in, telling you he was your father.
Breathe in, breathe out, don’t start screaming
Your mind was working at hyper speed, why did he have to tell you this news like this? Though there wasn’t probably a better way to say it. He can’t write a letter, or an e-mail and he couldn’t phone you, that wouldn’t be personal enough. Even though you thought everything was going a tad too fast, you appreciated the forwardness, it made everything much more clear and easier to understand. Now, you had to impress this strange man.
‘That wasn’t as dramatic as I’d imagined.’ You said sassily with a hint of cynicism in your voice while leaning back in your chair, again doing a full scan on the man before you. You managed to look reserved and elegant, but behind that façade you were screaming and running around aimless circles.
‘Should I’ve worn a mask, amputated a limb of yours and thrown you in a shaft after telling the wonderful news?’ He sassed back and you smirked, a Star Wars reference in a British accent while using sarcasm, you had a pretty cool dad. That sounded fucking weird.
‘You didn’t know?’ You asked him suspiciously, you had always believed that your father hadn’t cared enough.
‘No, and I’m bloody pissed about it myself that your mother never told me.’ He huffed and you smiled a bit. It was, of course, a shock to you. You apparently had a father, but you weren’t disappointed. You could recognise some of your characteristics in him and the fact that he hadn’t know about you either put you at ease. Besides, the moment he had found out about your existence he made contact with you, that was pretty impressive.
‘Alright, and I’m sorry if this sounds rather rude, but what do you want?’ You asked in a gentle tone, you wanted to know what he expected from you. He thought a little bit and looked at you before answering.
‘I just want to get acquainted with you. I’m a fairly busy man and I haven’t got the time nor the patience for a family, but I’ve always wanted a daughter and now one magically appeared.’ He said with a slight mocking tone at the end, you really appreciated this man.
‘Well…I’m intrigued, but I would like to see the documents first, after that we can start building up the whole father-daughter thing people always seem to be talking about.’ You smirked and raised your glass of wine to toast, he took his and a high sound of glass clashing against each other followed. You wouldn’t immediately start calling him dad and expecting him to really see you as a daughter, but you needed something in your life that you could hold on to, and maybe this new experiment was that well-needed distraction.
‘To a new bond.’ He said, drinking his wine, clearly looking content with himself. You just nodded and took a sip for yourself, this was definitely not the way you imagined how the evening would go by.
------------------------------------------------STORYTIME---------------------------------------------------------
At first, it was all a bit strange of course. Suddenly you had a father who actively wanted to be a part in your life, like you had wanted at one point in your life. Once in every few weeks you would go out to get dinner and talk, and slowly you started to get warmed up to each other.
A year had passed and you liked to think that you were pretty close now. You two shared a lot of characteristics and had easily gotten along, you often called to check up on each other and you saw each other quite frequently. Crowley had also proven to be quite useful in your worklife after he stopped by a meeting and had gave you great advice that had resulted in an incredibly successful campaign.
But you didn’t fully trust him yet. There were some things about him that didn’t quite add up. Like the fact that he didn’t seem to have another name than ‘Crowley’ and that he never really told anything concrete about his job. The only thing you knew about his work is that he had an important position and that it was essential to some people.
Then the day came you found out what he really did.
You had been walking home from a cocktail party on your heels and dressed in an elegant, tight, black dress you usually used for this kind of events. You had more than enough money to buy a different one each time, but you couldn’t really be bothered, you didn’t care that much.
Then a van pulled up right next to you and some men stepped out, you immediately jumped away and you wanted to start running but you couldn’t run hard enough because of those stupid heels. You felt a hand grab your shoulder and your instinctively twisted around and punched the guy straight in the face, the others caught up and before you knew it you were surrounded. Fleeing was no option, so you decided to try to fight them of. You hit two of the three guys pretty hard, but not hard enough, it almost seemed like they didn’t actually feel it. Then you got grabbed from behind and a cloth was held to your nose. You felt yourself slip into unconsciousness as you got carried into the vehicle, off to god knows where.