A Snowy Day
Aziraphale and Crowley take Warlock out for a romp in the woods.
Crowley had experienced many rude awakenings in his lifetime. This was a prime example of one. His young charge had thrown open the door and pounced onto Crowley's bed, startling him awake.
"Nanny. Nanny. Nanny," he repeated incessantly. "Are you awake?"
"I certainly am now," he sighed. "What have I told you about waking me up early young man?
"Not to do it. But look," he exclaimed, pulling apart the curtains. "It's snowing!"
The kid was practically trembling with excitement. It was then that Crowley realized in the seven years he had been caring for warlock, it hadn't snowed once. Call it coincidence, call it something else, but the truth of the matter was that Warlock had never seen snow.
Well there was one time when he was just a toddler, but there was no way that he could have remembered that. He was only two years old.
"Can we go play in the snow Nanny?" he begged.
Crowley nodded in agreement. "Go get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs."
"Do I have to get dressed?" whined Warlock. "I don't want to."
"Yes, Lock. You have to wear proper clothes outside - especially if it's snowing - or you'll get a cold." Warlock crossed his arms over his dinosaur pyjamas in mock defiance.
"Don't want to," he grumbled.
Crowley smirked a little. "If you go get dressed right now, I'll ask Mr Francis if he will come with us."
Warlock immediately beamed and raced off into his room. He absolutely adored the gentle gardener, who was just Aziraphale in disguise. Crowley was ever so slightly jealous.
Crowley quickly dressed himself and went to check on Warlock. Warlock was struggling to do up the buttons of his coat. Crowley quickly buttoned the coat up for him.
The two proceeded to go downstairs, stopping in the kitchen before leaving. Crowley smiled and greeted one of the cooks, Maria. "Morning Maria," he said.
"Miss Ashtoreth, you're up early," remarked Maria, as she wiped down the side.
"Well, this one wanted to go out in the snow, and I can't say no to him." He quickly ruffled Warlock's hair. Maria laughed a little. "Anyway, if Mrs Dowling asks where we are, can you tell her that we've gone out in the woods? We'll be back by ten o'clock."
"Absolutely Miss Ashtoreth," replied Maria, though both she and Crowley knew that Mrs Dowling wouldn't ask. She was involved very little in the raising of her son. One might feel inclined to call her a bad mother, but her husband wasn't much better. Not bad parents, just absent.
Though that could be much worse. Crowley had seen how sad Warlock was when his parents were never there to pick him up from school or always missed his football games. There was only so much Crowley could do to lessen that pain, mostly by just being there for his charge.
Crowley and Warlock made their way out the draft old mansion, into the grounds of the house. The gardens had been carefully tended to by Aziraphale for over seven years. Aziraphale knew every single plant, every herb, every tree, and every flower on the grounds with an almost encyclopaedic standard.
They soon arrived at the tiny house that Crowley stayed in. He slept further out on the grounds so that he could easily tend to all plants there and didn't have to travel hours into the grounds every morning.
He knocked on the door, where a bed headed Aziraphale answered. "Good morning Crow- I mean Miss Ashtoreth. What brings you to my place so early in the morning?"
"Warlock wanted you to come play with us. It's snowing."
"That it is. Give me five minutes to get ready and I'll come."
About five minutes later, Aziraphale came back outside, looking considerably neater and better dressed. They started with the most classic snow day activity – making a snowman. Warlock insisted on doing it himself and because his fine motor skills weren't the best, the snowman ended up considerably lopsided.
Crowley immediately suggested a snowball fight, which was fun. Warlock was exceptionally good at sneaking up on them. After a while, Crowley checked his watch and decided it was time to make their way back.
Halfway back to the house, Warlock announced that he was too exhausted to take another and demanded that Aziraphale carry him the rest of the way. Aziraphale happily complied, scooping the child up in his arms.
A few minutes later, Warlock was sound asleep, his head rested against Aziraphale's chest. "He's pretty tuckered out," chucked Aziraphale.
"He had an early morning," responded Crowley. "He really loves you. He never lets me carry him. Not anymore."
"He loves you too. He talks about you all the time. Thinks you're incredible."
Crowley smiled. They had raised such a sweet boy.
Before they even knew it, they were back at the house. Crowley took the sleeping Warlock and bade Aziraphale goodbye. Being as careful as he could not to wake up the kid, he put him down for his nap.
Godfathers. They were Godfather's.