Disclaimer: I do not own Good Omens or it's characters.
Chapter 6,
The night was unusual slow for Aziraphale. He did not sleep, truly, but he always distracted himself with some of the finest books in the world. However these classic works did little to distract the angel when thoughts of a certain demon crept into his mind.
"Oh, this is ridiculous." Aziraphale said in a huff, and he stood up. It was the start of summer, so the nights were warm. Aziraphale decided to take a walk. He grabbed his keys and locked the bookshop up before going on his way. Aziraphale's mind was fixated on the expression Crowley had when he removed the demon's sunglasses. Aziraphale recalled the pain and fear he felt from his dear friend.
"Oh, Crowley." Aziraphale groaned softly, his heart was breaking.
Suddenly he heard the sound of a young child laughing. It was unusual, given the late hour, it surprised the angel and that's when he noticed that he managed to walk right next to the movie theater. Aziraphale saw a tall man holding his little 8-year-old girl up on his shoulders. Together they were singing some nursery rhyme or other, but it made Aziraphale remember when Warlock was about six or seven and Crowley snuck the boy out to see his first scary movie. Aziraphale smiled softly.
Crowley took Warlock to go see Silence of the Lambs. They had fun at the movies, but poor Warlock had nightmares of Hannibal Lector chasing him with a fork and a knife. At first Aziraphale chided Crowley for his lack of sympathy towards the child. In response, Crowley said that Warlock was devil spawn and needed to get use to violence.
As Aziraphale rounded the corner, he recalled the night he realized Crowley really did care for Warlock. About a week after they saw the movie, Aziraphale noticed that he accidentally left his watering can in the kitchen when he made his glass of tea. It was in the middle of the night, and the kitchen had it's own entrance; so as long as he was quiet, no one would know if he went and grabbed it real quick. He didn't want to miracle the cab to him, since he's been trying to minimize his miracles per month.
Aziraphale crept into the kitchen, and nervously glanced around for anyone who might yell at him for being in the house so late. He picked up the watering can, and he was about to leave when he heard the sound of Warlock crying. Lord knows Aziraphale just couldn't ignore the boy.
Aziraphale quietly made his way up the steps to Warlock's bedroom door, and then he froze. Through the ajar view, Aziraphale saw an exhausted Nanny Ashtoreth cradling Warlock in her arms and humming 'hush little baby" to the boy. They were curled up in the bed together, and Aziraphale will never forget that small conversation between the two of them...
"I-I don't w-wanna go back to sleep, nanny." Warlock cried into her chest.
"Want or not, you do need rest, dear." Ashtoreth said.
"I'm scared, nanny." Warlock admitted.
"Well that's alright." Ashtoreth said and this simple comment surprised the angel and the boy.
"It is?" Warlock asked and nanny Ashtoreth smiled and wiped the boy's tears away.
"Everyone and everything gets scared now and again. I say it's one of the most natural things one can experience." Ashtoreth said.
"What do you do when you're scared?" Warlock asked.
"What I do and what you do are very different, my boy. And you should remember that." Ashtoreth said and Warlock bit his lip.
"I'm still scared that the cannibal will eat me." Warlock said with a sniffle, and the demon paused to think, then she sighed.
"Sometimes in life you will be scared of something, or to do something. But life requests that you be strong and persevere. Because when others know that you're scared, then you're stuck in their mercy- or lack there of. You need to be strong and pretend it doesn't bother you. And if you can turn the situation around and scare them into your mercy." Ashtoreth said.
"What does that mean?" Warlock asked and she smiled. For a moment she forgot how young the boy really was.
"The next time you see Hannibal Lector, and he's chasing you; I want you to turn around and try to eat him. It'll scare him so much that he'll never bother you again." Ashtoreth said and Warlock yawned.
"Really?" The tired boy asked and Ashtoreth nuzzled the boy a little.
"You're scarier than any cannibal, devil spawn. Remember that." Ashtoreth said then she yawned too.
The two fell asleep in each other's arms and Aziraphale thought this was adorable. Crowley really did love Warlock, and he didn't want him to be upset. It really touched Aziraphale, and so he decided to help them out a bit. With a flick of the angel's wrist, the nightly fear Warlock experienced, diminished and Aziraphale blesses them both with a night of rest.
Aziraphale never told Crowley about his sleight of hand that night. He wanted Crowley's advice to be remembered, even if it's not exactly accurate. Also, the next day Warlock ruined his mother's tea party by entering the room wearing mother but a towel and pretending to be Buffalo Bill. It made Crowley proud, even though it horrified Aziraphale.
After recalling that memory, the angel looked around. He realized two things. One, that he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking. And two, somehow he ended up right outside Crowley's apartment building. Not knowing how he got there, and having no reason to stay, Aziraphale quickly snapped his fingers and disappeared.
Only a second later, Crowley looked out his window. He could have sworn that he felt Aziraphale's energy, but he didn't see the angel anywhere. He sort of brushed this off as his own personal paranoia. Just because he wants Aziraphale, doesn't mean that he'll just show up.
"I'm worried about him, mother." Crowley admitted to God.
"I'm worried about what will happen to him when I'm gone." Crowley said. He walked over to the mantle and gently caressed the books Aziraphale loaned him.
"And I'm terrified of what will happen if they get to Aziraphale, and I can't save him." Crowley said with a sigh.
"But I could be wrong, mother. Maybe angel would be safer here... away... away from me." Crowley took a step away from the books and picked up the phone book.
"Of course you know my presence did nothing to help Junia. Maybe if I left her, she wouldn't have..." Crowley choked on his own words. He swallowed roughly and opened the phone book.
"I know heaven sees Aziraphale as a traitor, mother. There's no point in denying that. But without me there to protect him, I was wondering if you could protect him. I know it's asking a lot, but Aziraphale has not fallen- he's still a angel. Surely you have enough room in that endless heart of yours, to protect my angel. Er, I mean your angel." Crowley said. He needed two different numbers from the phone book. But since they were or two different pages, he simply ripped out the pages he needed and tossed the phone book to the side.
"Heh, I can already hear Aziraphale ranting about how I should respect books. I guess this is a little different. I mean I'm trying not to do any miracles, so I can't fix the book when I'm done." Crowley said. He picked up his phone and we started dialing.
In the morning, Aziraphale jumped every time he heard his door open up. He knew Crowley was coming to say goodbye, and he simply couldn't relax. The angel knew that he shouldn't feel this on edge, he knew that, but he simply couldn't help it. He kept thinking about what Newt said about Crowley staying out in Tadfield.
"Oh, Aaaaangelllll." Crowley gently sang out as he entered the bookshop. Aziraphale's very soul came alive hearing those words, but it's something he quickly stifled. He needed to control himself otherwise Crowley may know how much Aziraphale cared.
"Hello, Crowley." Aziraphale muttered, as he walked over to his dearest friend.
"I'm here, as promised. Even with the box of books you lent me. Why on earth did you lend me so many?" Crowley asked and Aziraphale looked inside the box.
"Goodness, I didn't think it was that many." Aziraphale admitted and Crowley chuckled.
"Neither did I. I think you've slipped books all over my apartment, Angel. You really wanted me to start reading." Crowley said and he handed the box the Aziraphale and the angel went ahead and placed it on the desk.
"So you're off to Tadfield then?" Aziraphale asked and Crowley bit his lip.
"Yeah. I purged the apartment, gassed up, and stopped by the storage locker. Last thing I needed was to stop by here and... uh... give you the box." Crowley said, giving off a smile, similar to the one he gave Gabriel and Beelzebub.
"You know, I don't remember you owning a storage locker." Aziraphale commented.
"Oh, I rented it last night. I got it to store big things I can't take with me." Crowley said.
"Couldn't you just miracle it there?" Aziraphale asked and Crowley sighed.
"I told you, Angel, I'm trying to avoid using miracles at all costs. They can be tracked." Crowley reminded him and Aziraphale nodded.
"Of course. Forgive me, I guess it slipped my mind." Aziraphale said.
"Alright. Actually I was hoping that I could trust you with the spare key to the storage locker." Crowley said and Aziraphale blinked.
"You want me to keep it?" Aziraphale asked. The Demon couldn't help but blush, and he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, I figured it's best to keep one with you. I mean, with Adam and his friends, there is a possibility that they would come across it, and take it for some reason or other. So I would need to keep the spare somewhere safe. I don't see you stealing from me or losing the key anytime soon." Crowley said, handing the key to Aziraphale.
"O-of course, Crowley. I'll keep it close." Aziraphale said and Crowley cleared his throat.
"So, I guess that's my cue to leave." Crowley said.
"I'd like to see you off. If you don't mind." Aziraphale said and the demon paused.
"If you'd like, I don't mind." Crowley said. The two walked outside and Aziraphale nearly had a heart attack.
"Where's the Bentley?" Aziraphale asked, exasperated.
"In storage." Crowley replied coolly. Aziraphale's eyes widened and he looked down at the key in his hands.
"You're not taking the Bentley. And you're trusting it with me?" Aziraphale asked in disbelief.
"Who else?" Crowley said simply.
"You're trusting me... with the one thing you love?" Aziraphale said. Crowley froze at these words. The angel could tell that Crowley was wrestling with something. Crowley whipped around.
"I'm trusting you with one thing that I love." Crowley clarified and Aziraphale swallowed.
"Thank you." Aziraphale said. It was the only phase that he could think of. Crowley took a deep breath.
"You're, uh, welcome." Crowley said, thrown at the angel's remark.
"And I guess you're it's going to ride off in the sunset in your new... uh, car." Aziraphale said.
"Sunset? Your clocks must be off. And I'm just renting this piece, and it's called a Tesla. Tesla Model X. Don't you love that. You remember Tesla don't you?" Crowley asked.
"Yes he tried to give everyone free power. To bad his invention didn't pan out.
"Oh, we can kill off some birds, maybe serve them in restaurants or what not. I didn't see what was so bad about it." Crowley said.
"Killing innocent animals? You didn't like when Noah did that." Aziraphale said.
"God did that, not Noah. And I see this more as a sacrifice then a killing." Crowley said.
"They didn't choose to die." Aziraphale stated.
"True, but one rarely plans to be sacrificed. When it's planned it's suicide." Crowley said and Aziraphale rolled his eyes.
"Goodness, your mind. Well I suppose I shouldn't keep you. You still have a lot to do today." Aziraphale said and he held his hand out to Crowley.
"I do wish you well, Crowley." Aziraphale said. Crowley sighed and shook the angel's hand.
"Stay safe, Angel." Crowley said. Then without another word, Crowley got into his Tesla, gave Aziraphale one more wave goodbye and drove off.
It pained Aziraphale to watch Crowley leave. He needed to be strong, but somehow it seemed more real since Crowley doesn't have the Bentley. How could Crowley give up the Bentley, but Aziraphale couldn't give up the bookshop. Somehow it almost made the angel feel like he were being selfish. He turned around and took a good long look at his beloved store.
