As the others stood up, Lucifer suddenly yelled, "I volunteer to go get him! You guys just go back."

"Angel, I think I'm going to go with Lucifer, I don't trust him out there. Take care?" Crowley said hurriedly before he quickly began running up to Lucifer, who had already begun walking out.

"Why is it always Gabriel?"

"Wait, Lucifer! Slow down a bit at least!" Crowley yelled as he hurried to catch up to the strangely cheery Lucifer.

As he caught up to Lucifer, he wondered why he was so excited about finding Gabriel.

Crowley hadn't realized he had spoken those thoughts aloud until Lucifer answered.

"Well, brother mine, I am just excited! I haven't had any real excitement in ages!"

Crowley scrunched his eyebrows.

"Excitement? You are excited? About what?"

Lucifer looked at him for a second. Crowley did not manage to decode his expression, before Lucifer cheerily began rambling as they trotted down the drizzly street.

Crowley squinted his eyes at Lucifer, still not understanding why Lucifer was so freaking cheery. So he did what he usually did: ask what was wrong due to the sudden mood swing and keep asking until he relented and spilled what was annoying or stressing him.

"Lucifer shut up for a second. I know something is wrong; I know you Mr. Open Book – don't give me that look, you really are an open book for anyone who knows you," Crowley added at the look Lucifer gave him. "Something is obviously bugging you, so explain," he finished, gazing right at Lucifer, making sure his message got across.

"How are you so sure something is distressing me?" Lucifer asked, squinting his eyes."

"One: I'm your brother. Two: like I said before, you're an open book. Three: I've known you since I was created," Crowley explained.

"Family," Lucifer spat the word like it was poisoned. "Who needs family? All they do is hurt you. It's a rare thing for them to be there. When they are, they are never there for you."

"I am here for you and I know the others are as well. You just need to clear the air a bit," Crowley snapped. "Be thankful, not everyone has a family."

Lucifer's cheery smile slowly fell away as he refused to even glance at Crowley, abruptly stopping up. "Nothing is wrong, so there is no need for any unnecessary pressure," Lucifer snapped, looking at Crowley with red glowing eyes. "Besides, I don't need any advice."

Shrinking a bit at the snapping but refusing to let it get the better of him, Crowley looked defiantly, with kindness, at Lucifer.

"I didn't say I was here to give you advice; you don't always need advice."

Lucifer looked even more aggravated and he flashed his demon form as he spoke. "Then what do I need, if not advice?"

Crowley, ignoring Lucifer's demonic form, put his hand on Lucifer's shoulder. "Someone to listen."

At those words, something abruptly changed in Lucifer's posture, no longer tense and aggravated. He suddenly looked worried and lost.

"I- I admit I'm a bit lost about this whole thing. We haven't talked in aeons and so much has changed. And their opinions of me, I can still feel it, even if I don't look. I feel their angry and betrayed looks. They blame me for what happened… Gosh, I'm sorry… It's nothing, never mind what I just said," he said slowly, hurt visible in his voice.

"No, no. It's not okay. I know for a fact that neither of them blames you for that. If they do, they blame themselves more than they would you. We're still siblings, even after all this time, Lu."

"I don't know what to do about any of it. Do I just act like nothing has changed? Or do I speak anew? Let them know I don't hate them and hopefully they won't hate me either. Come to think of it, when isn't it a good time to go limp and play dead?"

"You don't know what to do?" Crowley repeated.

"Go back and look at what you just said," Crowley said, after Lucifer nodded in confirmation.

A moment of silence passed as Lucifer mulled over what he just said.

"Ha… your right. Sometimes you just need to speak with someone, no need for advice on every occasion," Lucifer said, feeling surprised as if a lightbulb appeared over his head (one, in fact, had, but he didn't notice).

Crowley looked at him smugly, "I know."

Lucifer laughed. "Did you have to ruin the mood? I mean seriously. It was a good mood right there Raph."

Crowley laughed along with him.

"Oh, right! I forgot to ask. What do you want me to call you? You are after all both Raphael and Crowley."

"I dunno, both works fine, I mean, use whatever floats your boat."

A comfortable silence fell after that. Their walk progressed forward as they neared the park.

As they came into the view of the park, it was quiet. They could see trees, bushes and a lake with a small black fence around it. Beside the river were benches with a few meters gap.

On one specific bench sat a figure, dimmed by the darkness, only partially visible in the light from the streetlamp, which stood close by, shining quietly down, giving a weak light and clammy hue to everything it illuminated.

The light lit up the figure sitting crunched a bit forward with crossed legs, a book in hand.

Walking into the park, Crowley couldn't help but admire the beauty of it, the weak lighting coming from the streetlamps and how the rain drizzled down on the green land. It was quite the breathtaking sight, in his own opinion.

It looked like Lucifer agreed with him, looking at his expression of pure wonder and amazement.

After making a small hit on Lucifer's side to get him to move again, they walked over to where Gabriel sat on the bench reading in the rain. His book wasn't at all wet, but this can probably be attributed to a minor miracle Crowley could sense surrounding the object.

It was lucky that angels and demons didn't feel really cold or warm, or else Gabriel would have frozen to death.

Crowley asked Lucifer if he was ready, only walking forward after getting a yes in response. They walked over to Gabriel, making as little noise so he would hear them approach.

It wasn't as if he hadn't already felt their presence.

Closing his book, Gabriel gave a small sigh. "Hello Raphael, Lucifer. What brings you here?"

"Yes, the food was good, Gabriel, thank you for asking, Gabriel. So nice to see you again, Gabriel," Lucifer teased, pouting when Crowley hit him in the side and mumbled 'shut up.'

"Just ignore him, really, he's a bit reliant on humour right now. Bit panicky," Crowley said as he moved to sit down.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "Right, of course. Sit down, I don't mind."

Lucifer animatedly moved over to sit on the bench, almost laying down and stretching his arms wide, almost a mirror version of how Crowley was sitting.

Only, he was sitting a bit more upright. Lucifer looked like he was one stretch to fall off the bench.

Not commenting on how either Lucifer or Crowley was sitting. Gabriel was about to open his book, but it was snatched by Crowley.

Giving a small 'hey' as Crowley asked what book he was reading.

"The Farmer Refuted'. You should have seen the drama when it was released."

"Hm, I can only imagine. Although I did hear a bit from a few souls."

Getting a few amused humming noises in return.

"Why do you sit like that?" Gabriel suddenly blurted out.

Crowley glanced at Gabriel confused before making a 'ohhhh' noise. "Uhhh, I don't know," he half mumbled.

"It is comfortable."

"Yeah, yeah sure... One movement away from falling and hitting the back of one's head is comfortable. Of course."

"Try it," Crowley said, glancing at Lucifer. Both of them wonder if Gabriel would do it and how he would do it and look.

"Uhhhhh," Gabriel said as he slowly slid down on the bench, weakly trying to mimic his older brothers' positions.

"C'mon stretch your arms and legs out, as if you are in an old cartoon and you just got squished by a falling piano from out of nowhere," Lucifer guided.

"Really descriptive. That a hobby of yours?"

"Is what?"

"Getting squished by a piano? Or describing stuff?"

"Yes."

"How to describe... It is in the job description, really. If I don't describe stuff enough, the demons will see fit to add a few extra things to what I order them to do, so I have to remove the loopholes to those actions," Lucifer explained, absently waving his hands about.

A quick silence fell over the three before Gabriel spoke with a surprising amount of honesty.

"That sucks, I mean, I have to do what you do, just in a similar but different way. Most angels have a habit overreacting to what you tell them to do. So I have to simplify stuff a lot."

"Different yet the same," Crowley mumbled, looking around at the park, thinking about Aziraphale and his meetings here throughout time.

A silence overcame them again. The unspoken questions of; 'why did you come here in the first place?' 'What do you need?' buzzed in the air.

"Why are you here?" Gabriel said to neither of them in particular.

"No particular reason."

"To come get you."

"Well, that was specific. Which one was the truth?" said Gabriel.

"It's time to have our first full family reunion without any arguing! It is all we do honestly. But what are we to do then? If not cutting each other's arms and legs off. You might ask. Simply talk."

"Putting it more simply. We just talk stuff out, like everyone else would do if they get mad at each other," Crowley simplified.

"So basically, the family reunion of the century?"

"Centuries."

"Yeah pretty much."

"Let us go then. Don't want to keep the others waiting after all, I am honestly worried about that angel of your Raphael. Michael and Uriel might bite his head off if we don't hurry enough."

"Ha, ha, ha," Raphael mock laughed.

-Time skip brought to you by saying happy holidays and happy New Year!-

"You took your time," Uriel said, rolling her eyes.

"I missed you too Uriel!" Gabriel yelled as they shuffled inside the bookshop.

"What a reunion," Michael commented sarcastically.

Doing a quick calculation, Crowley scooted past his siblings, right over to where Aziraphale sat at his desk with two old and dusty books.

"How did it go?" Aziraphale asked as he saw Crowley shuffle over.

"It went better than expected. The park hasn't exploded if you're wondering."

"Well, there is at least some good news on your part; I was worried when you had not returned so soon. But I figured it might take some time. Gabriel is as stubborn as a cat."

Crowley huffed amused. "Since when are you referring to the archangels like that?"

"Since I learned they are your siblings, my dear boy. I suppose it could have gone differently, but it really is no surprise when I think about it," Aziraphale continued, despite Crowley's highly visible blush at the nickname, either not noticing or caring.

"What could have gone differently?" Crowley asked, standing beside the sitting Aziraphale.

"Oh, lots of stuff honestly, don't get me started," Michael said, coming over as she rolled her eyes at the bickering Lucifer and Gabriel. "Hope I did not interrupt one of your more heartfelt moments Raphael."

"No, no, not at all, why don't you just come sit here and I will stay in the corner," Aziraphale said, sarcasm highly visible for those who knew him.

Crowley looked over at the mildly aggravated duo, wondering if they were starting yet another argument just for the sake of it. And it had just been going so well.

"What are they yelling about?" Crowley asked, shuffling his sitting position on Aziraphale's desk, skilfully avoiding the books and the mess on it.

"Oh no - not yelling, exactly. Rather, discussing how untrue the stories written about Merlin are true compared to the real one."

"Well, the real one is not as serious as the stories claim him to be," Aziraphale piped. "Probably still as impatient as he was back then when Camelot still stood."

"And you know that how, exactly?" Michael asked, eyebrow raising in curiosity.

"We have tea a few times a month, lovely company. He likes books."

"Wait, you still talk with Merlin?! How is he?" Crowley asked, suddenly very curious. Michael's presence beside them was suddenly forgotten.

"Anathema will go crazy once she hears this, and she'll probably demand to meet him to talk about magic."

Aziraphale was about to answer but was interrupted by Crowley mentioning Anathema. "He's doing well, considering his circumstances. Before you continue my dear boy, I have a feeling you did something either with or for Merlin. What did you do this time? or should I say that time?"

Michael frowned at the endearment, but chose not to comment on it.

Struggling to speak and utter a sentence, Crowley stuck by doing random sounds until he shook his head, thoroughly fighting a blush at the mention of Aziraphale so calmly and naturally using his endearments.

"I think that might be a story for another time."

"I certainly hope so."

Both plainly ignore the two coughs coming from Michael, reminding them that she was still very much present and listening.

Both of them decided to make conversation like old times, while waiting for a specific two to end their arguing.

"So," Michael said, cutting in on their conversation turned friendly chaotic banter. Who says that you need alcohol to have the weirdest or silliest conversations about literally anything?

"So," Crowley repeated, looking at Michael. He motioned for her to sit like a king would.

"You do know what will happen soon," Michael reminded as she sat down with a straight back, looking business-like.

'Perhaps it is a habit at this point,' Crowley thought, as he did not want to swallow what Michael just said.

"Yeahh, sure, of course! I know what will happen, but I admit I'm not entirely comfortable making it happen," Crowley said as he drawled the first part. At the others' half confused faces, Crowley tried to find a way he could explain without saying it outright.

Crowley had not really talked about it with anyone before, nor had he ever really wanted to talk about it, especially like that. Bad memories were rarely pleasant to talk openly about. Ignoring and discarding them had worked fine for him so far, he knew it wouldn't last forever but it was working for him pretty acceptable right now.

"You spend years wishing your parent would get off you back and leave you alone, only to realize they might be one of the few who had you back," he mumbled.

"Don't worry, we will be there to support you. I am sure your 'friend' Aziraphale will be there as well. Of course, if you and the others will let him," Michael reassured.

"Of course, I will be there! If the others will let me, even if they don't. I will just sneak in," Aziraphale assured.

"He will be there." Crowley quickly added.

"Who will be there? I don't know anyone who might do what you agree they do," Aziraphale said. His expression, looking very much like the one he wore when he decided he should be a magician at Warlocks 11th birthday party. No matter how many times he tried, Crowley could not get past Aziraphale's stubbornness to change his mind. It was rather endearing if you asked him, not that he would outright tell you that.

Crowley has a big soft spot for the principality of an angel. He would do anything for him. He wondered if said principality knew that. But enough of his big heart's cravings.

"You do realize we have to go soon, right?" Michael said, crossing her arms. "You may be stalling but if you don't want to be discovered I suggest you stop now. Or you are going to have a few subtle complaints... You want this 'therapy session' to work? You need to get it in action first."

Crowley gave a small grimace, scrunching his nose and eyebrows together before giving an overdramatic and loud sigh. He stretched out and stopped as he almost fell off the desk in the process, gaining him three new stares at the yelp he would later deny ever producing.

"Yes, very well then. Have you guys finished bickering yet? Then I suggest we set the session in place," Crowley informed his siblings as they looked at him with two questioning gazes and one mildly annoyed.

"Where will this 'therapy' take place?"

"Well, in heaven I suspect," Lucifer piped up.

"We will do it in Raphael's former office," Gabriel suggested. The others nodded, accepting the place.

Looking at the confirm-waiting gazes all Crowley could do was produce a few sounds in surprise, which the other took as an agreement.

He had honestly thought they would have removed his old tinkering room. He admits he kept it - good memories there. Sentimental to a fault, the lot of them.

"Let us leave."

"Uhh hello? Forget anything?" Lucifer questioned, looking around at the angels. "I- I can not just prance into heaven. Demon? If you recall?" Lucifer shrieked while doing some big arm movements, trying to make his point seem as important as it was.

"Don't worry, it will not happen," was Michael's answer, with an eye roll for dramatic effect.

"Now come on, let go."

"Wait, what about the humans?" Gabriel surprisingly asked.

"I will write a quick letter and miracle it. Explain things and promise we will explain more later," Aziraphale explained as he turned around to his desk, to find some paper he could write on. "You can go, I will catch up later."

No one mentioned what Aziraphale's statement also meant.

Appearing to get ready to leave, Crowley said he would wait for Aziraphale to finish, promising he would join them and that he could still find his way to his former office. He still would not refer or call it an office.

His sibling slowly got ready to leave, seeming adamant to wait for him, before he shooed them along, giving an extra promise before Lucifer bailed out, muttering about how he did not trust them being alone and especially in heaven where his present was least liked.

As the silence ticked along with neither of the three speaking, only Aziraphale's pen made scratching sounds on the parchment he had discovered.

Giving a quick hum in acknowledgment that he had finished writing, he folded the letter before having miracled it to the cottage in Tadfield.

"Ready to go dear?"

"Lucifer knows I'm Crowley as well," was Crowley's answer.

"WHAT?! How did he discover it?!" Aziraphale shrieked, looking petrified.

Lucifer, well. Lucifer simply began laughing like a maniac at the outburst.