Ten years later…

"Adam! Adam, are you up?" Adam's mum, Lucy, called from the living room. "Your friends are already here, you know what day it is."

Adam knew very well what day it was. Today was the day his uncle Ant and uncle Ez would move out of their bookshop flat in Soho and move to a cottage in the countryside.

Adam loved his godfathers very much and wanted nothing more than for them to be happy. Except, perhaps he wanted nothing more than for them to be happy, while also being within cycling distance from his home in the heart of London, which their cottage decidedly wasn't.

"Yeah mum, I'm up," Adam called back. "Just tying my shoelaces, is all." But instead of tying his shoelaces, eleven year old Adam found himself staring at a picture on his shelf. It was taken when he was five, of him, his mums and his uncles on their trip to Disneyland. The memories were blurry, after all, it was half a lifetime ago, but it had been awesome. His uncles had been awesome in general. He and his friends visited them every day after school until his mothers would be home, playing out the most extraordinary scenarios, listening to uncle Ez's fantastical tales or watching paintings dry with uncle Ant, and now… now what?

The boy took a deep breath, stood up from his bed and left his bedroom. Immediately, he was swarmed by Pepper, Brian, Wensleydale, Warlock and Dog. "Alright," he said, hoping his smile would seem genuine. "Let's go move my uncles."

When they got to the bookshop, there was already a moving truck on the curb, waiting for everyone to load all of uncle Ez and Uncle Ant's stuff in there. This was really happening. After today, they would really be gone.

With pain in his heart and lead in his shoes, he walked into the bookshop. He was immediately greeted by uncle Ez's brilliant smile. "Adam! I'm so glad you came. We're going to need some strong youngsters like you to help us move all of our things."

"Then it's a good thing we brought reinforcements," mum said and Adam's friends came pouring into the shop.

Pepper frowned at the shelves upon shelves of books. "Are we moving all of these books to Brighton with you, mr. Fell?"

Uncle Ez chuckled and patted Pepper's head. Pepper responded immediately by putting her hair right. "No, no, dear Pepper. The nice woman who bought the shop from me bought it with all the books in it, so we'll only be moving my personal collection."

"Trust me, that 'personal collection' of his is a sizeable chunk," uncle Ant said as he came trudging down the stairs with a heavy looking box, labeled 'Austen'. "Here, Pep. Good girl," he said as he handed the box to Pepper, who held it like a champ. "Would anyone be so kind as to help me with my plants?"

"I would!" Brian piped up.

"Me too!" exclaimed Wensleydale.

"Let's go then," uncle Ant said, leading the boys up the stairs.

"Anything Adam and I can do for you?" Warlock asked uncle Ez.

"Well, why don't you two go up and help your dear uncle Anthony pack up his art supplies? He promised me to do it last night, but I'm quite sure he was painting until late last night."

Warlock smiled and nodded. He took Adam's hand and pulled him up the stairs with him.

It didn't take long for all of uncle Ez and uncle Ant's stuff to be packed into the moving truck. By the time Angela, Anathema and Newt showed up, it was only a matter of minutes until they left for the South Downs. It took some asking, cajoling and Pepper would even say 'begging', but uncle Ez and Ant eventually allowed Adam to drive to Brighton with them in the moving truck. His mums and his friends, as well as uncle Ant's family would be following them in their own cars. But if this was the end of uncle Ez and uncle Ant living in the city, he was going to make the most of it. He even brought his backpack with snacks for the two hour long journey.

When asked, Adam would never admit that he fell asleep on the journey, but two hours was a long time for an eleven year old boy. He jolted awake when his uncle Ez nudged him.

"Wake up Adam, we're here."

Adam hopped out of the truck and laid his eyes on the cottage. It was beautiful. All cracked plaster and ivy. It looked like the stuff of fairy tales. All in all, a proper cottage. It wasn't much bigger than the flat over the bookshop had been, but it had a garden where uncle Ant was planning to raise vegetables and maybe keep a chicken or two. He was sure that once they moved his uncles' stuff in there, the cottage would be perfectly wonderful.

Uncle Ant had already opened the back of the truck and Pepper, Brian, Wensleydale and Warlock were carrying some boxes inside, while the grownups wrestled the sofa out of the back. Adam took uncle Ant's favourite ficus out of the back and followed his friends into the house.

Uncle Ez was ordering pizzas by the time the last things were moved into the house. There were still a lot of boxes scattered through the rooms, but there was at least enough furniture set up for everyone to sit on. As they ate, his uncles and his friends talked of all the things they were excited for when they would go back to school. Adam tried to join, but he saw the sun glide down towards the horizon through the dusty window behind uncle Ez and uncle Ant. It wouldn't be long now. He tried to eat some more of his pizza, but the grease and cheese and vegetarian pepperoni couldn't entice him the way it usually did. He only ate one slice that night.

Angela, Anathema and Newt were the first to leave. Angela and Anathema would drive the truck back to the place they rented it from, while Newt would drive the family car back home.

A quarter of an hour later, mum got up. "Alright, kids. Up you get. I'm sure your parents are going to want you back before," she glanced at her watch, "one in the morning, shit. I'm sorry, Anton, we really stayed too long."

Uncle Ant laughed. "I'm the last person you should be apologizing to. We had a great time having you around, not to mention all the helping hands." He grunted as he got up from his chair and popped his back. "I'm going to feel that in the morning. Come on, let us see you guys off."

Adam's friends got up and raced towards the door, laughing and shouting. Adam sighed and trudged on behind them. His mom ruffled his hair and smiled down at him. "Come on, you'll be in bed soon enough, little prince."

The sun was still setting and a soft breeze kept the high grass by the side of the road gently swaying. Mom went up ahead to mum, but uncle Ez and uncle Ant didn't follow them further than the fence around the front yard. Somewhere between the four of them, Adam stopped walking. He frowned. He didn't want to leave his uncles in this faraway place. He wanted to visit them and play with them and listen to them and paint with them and have fun with them.

Adam turned around to face his uncles. "Are you sure you want to stay all the way out here?" Adam asked. Heavy winds swept his golden curls through his face, hiding the tears that formed in his eyes. "Think of all the fun we could still have in the city, and, and the bookshop, it will never be the same without you, uncle Ez!"

Uncle Ez smiled at him, but he didn't seem very happy. He frowned as well. Uncle Ant, on the other hand, was tearing up.

"I'm opening a new bookshop here, Adam, so don't you worry. It'll be a smidge smaller, but I'm sure we can manage."

So that was no good, then. Adam turned to Crowley. "Uncle Anton, you were there for me every day after school—"

"And long before that," Crowley added, trying very hard not to cry.

"— What will I do without you?"

He was definitely crying now. Crowley took a few steps towards Adam and knelt down in front of him. "Adam, the first day I took care of you, I was terrified out of my wits. And today I'm terrified out of my wits just as well, but it's not the end of the world because it's all a new adventure. There's no telling what kind of thrilling adventures you'll go on in the city and that's good. And it's good that you'll have them without us, because that's the first step to becoming your own person. You and your mothers and your friends can come here for the holidays, during the summer — actually, you can come here whenever you damn well please to tell us all about them, maybe you could even have some adventures here." Crowley wiped away the tears streaming down Adam's face as well as his own with the cuff of his shirt sleeve.

"What your uncle Anthony is trying to say," uncle Ez said as he walked up to the two of them, "is that we are old—"

"Speak for yourself."

Adam giggled through his tears.

"— and tired and we don't have the energy for the city anymore, so we're moving out to make room for the bright eyed and bushy tailed youngsters like you. But I promise that we love you very much and we promise we'll keep in touch."

Adam hugged the both of them and the both of them hugged Adam.

"I'll miss you," Adam mumbled as he pulled away from them.

"We'll miss you too," uncle Ant whispered, pressing a kiss to Adam's cheek. Uncle Ez soon attacked the other.

"I should go. Mr. and Mrs. Dowling have probably already called the cops on us for having Warlock out this late."

"That's probably a good idea," uncle Ant laughed as he stood back up.

"Perhaps you should have Warlock call his parents once you're on your way. Might save you a hassle."

Adam nodded and turned around, walking to his mums' car. They hugged him, kissed him and promised things would be okay. As mum drove away, Adam waved at his uncles, sobbing and crying. But then again, he wanted them to be happy. And despite a severe lack of Adam and the Them, this seemed like a place where they could be very happy indeed.

Crowley had never stopped crying since Adam addressed them in their front yard. Lucy's car had long since disappeared past the horizon. "God," he croaked. "I didn't think it would be this rough."

A warm hand lay on the small of Crowley's back. Ezra was leading him back into the cottage. Quietly. Crowley imagined that if the man were to speak himself, his tears would spill as well.

"You know, I was planning for our first night here to be stupidly romantic, but now I'm here crying like a baby and it just won't stop."

Ezra tried to hush him and softly kissed his lips. "The night is young. Let's just take our time. I'm sure we'll be alright."

"But tonight was supposed to be the first night of the rest of our lives…" Crowley protested.

"Exactly. The first of many more to come."