"Terribly sorry my dear, I didn't realise you would still be asleep," Aziraphale wrung his hands.
Crowley frowned, "what's the time?"
"A little after 11."
"In the morning?!l"
"Uh, well. Yes. I mean. That is to say…you left so abruptly last night that I.."
"It's only the next day?!" Crowley cut him off. "I've only been asleep for 12 hours and you're waking me up now?!"
"Are you feeling quite alright?"
"No, yes! Bless it all, Angel, what do you want?"
Aziraphale's words failed and his mouth bobbed but he was saved from answering by another knock on the demon's front door. They looked to the entrance and then back at each other.
Crowley held up a finger, signalling for quiet. No one ever came to his door. No one except…
"Crowley! I know you're in there!"
The demon's head dropped with a groan before he bundled the angel out of the hallway into the sitting room. "Keep quiet!" he hissed.
Taking a deep breath he opened the front door. "Hastur, I would say 'long time, no see' but we both know that's a lie. What do you want?"
Hastur's nose wrinkled. "You smell like angels."
"Ah, well that would be the Holy water bath you all gave me," he said, thinking on his feet.
"What are you wearing?"
"Well I WAS asleep."
"In that?"
"What?"
"A fluffy jumper…." Hastur sneered.
"Hey, you try being a snake and see how easy you find it to stay warm up here."
"I don't know how you did it. But I'll figure it out."
"Does Lord Beelzebub know you're here?" Crowley watched with some satisfaction as the other demon lost some of his confidence. "Didn't think so. Now who's to say I haven't got another bucket of holy water here with your name in it?"
"You wouldn't dare."
"Wouldn't I? Why's that? Last time you came uninvited didn't go so well did it?"
"You're up to something."
Crowley sighed. "I'm really not. Not anymore. Haven't you got souls to be securing or something? Bugger off before I discorperate you, or worssse," he hissed before slamming the door. He waited until he was sure Hastur had given up before heading back to Aziraphale. How had he not felt the demon enter the building? Distraction. Yup. That was it. Aziraphale was a distraction in his home and that made him dangerous. Yes, definitely dangerous.
"Everything alright?" the distraction asked gently, as Crowley swept into the sitting room.
"Fine."
"They're not going to leave you alone are they?"
"Probably not."
They both fell silent for a moment.
"Do you really get cold?" Aziraphale asked.
"When I'm tired."
"I did wonder why it was so warm in here."
"That's more for the plants," Crowley muttered.
"The plants?" The angel looked around the room. It was dark, and harsh. No softness anywhere to speak of.
"Yes, the plants." He strode off, his feet sounding on the concrete floor.
After a beat Aziraphale followed him and was met with a room full of the most beautiful green he'd ever seen, and the most scared.
"Crowley? What do you do to these poor plants?"
"Encourage them," he muttered as he inspected the leaves for spots.
"Dearest boy, a little love and care would suit them much better than fear."
"I don't do love; demon, remember?"
"What happened last night? You looked quite unwell suddenly."
"Occult don't get 'unwell'. Unless they're cursed… or is it blessed?" He frowned at his thought.
Aziraphale sighed. "Why don't we go to lunch? There's a lovely little bistro that's just opened up down the street from the shop. Oh, the owners are so lovely and it smells divine. I promised I'd pop in once they were up and running."
Crowley tried not to smile at his friend as he rambled on excitedly. He enjoyed sleep and alcohol but Aziraphale enjoyed food.
"Oh you poor thing!" the angel suddenly exclaimed. "What a nasty spot you have!"
As Crowley stalked over the leaves all began to tremor.
"Well, let me just fix that for you," Aziraphale said kindly.
"You shouldn't miracle it away," the demon groused.
"Oh one little miracle won't harm, besides. I don't think anyone's watching me at the moment."
"No, but they won't learn," he said, pointing to the rest of the plants.
"Oh for heaven's sake, Crowley. Go and get dressed you old grump."
Raising an eyebrow and sighing, Crowley snapped his fingers. "Fine. Will this do?"
Looking up Aziraphale found that Crowley had miracled himself an outfit and had tamed his hair.
"Oh. Well. Of course. Erm, shall we?"
XxXxX
Aziraphale managed to keep his eyes open for most of the drive, which was an improvement but Crowley was silent, turning on the radio instead.
"Must you always play this music when you drive? Have you not got anything else?" He rooted through the glove box. "One of these perhaps?" he suggested, pulling out a handful of cds.
"They're all the same," Crowley muttered. "All music left in the car turns into Queen's greatest hits."
"Oh. Is it a popular band in hell?"
Crowley chuckles a little. "Have you really not heard of Queen?"
"Not sure they're really my scene."
"Mmm you're more classical and Sondheim."
"Nothing wrong with Sondheim."
"Nope. Nothing at all, rather fond of his 'not so happy' endings. Much more preferable to an eternity of the 'Sound of Music'."
Aziraphale shuddered. "Most things are preferable to an eternity of that, no matter how lovely Julie may be."
"Swears like a sailor," Crowley said.
"Sorry?"
"Julie Andrews, swears like a sailor."
"I don't believe you."
"Would I lie to you?"
The angel had to stop and think. Had Crowley ever lied to him? He'd lied to Crowley. He'd lied about finding the anti-Christ and he wasn't proud of it. "I'm sorry," he said, looking at his friend.
"What for?" The demon kept his eyes on the road.
"I lied to you."
"Oh?" Crowley tried not to smirk. He knew where this was going.
"Yes. I'm sorry, when you phoned and asked if I'd found anything on Adam I lied and said I hadn't. When in fact; I had. I thought I could go to Gabriel and stop the whole thing."
"I know."
"You know?! Oh you wicked…. demon!"
Crowley laughed. "I figured you'd found out something. That's why I came back, I knew you were in trouble, just didn't know what kind." He stopped the car outside the bookshop and unfolded himself, going round to open Aziraphale's door.
"It's just up here," the angel directed, watching Crowley through his lashes.
"Lead on."
They continued in silence until Aziraphale was welcomed to the bistro with open arms and big smiles. After the usual pleasantries he introduced Crowley as they took their seats; a corner table at the window so they could watch London pass by. After ordering wine, the angel told the owners to bring whichever dishes they were most proud of.
Crowley just stared out the window, waiting for the inevitable.
"You came back to...save me?"
And there it was. The truth that Crowley had been hiding away from. "Well… you know. Anti-Christ problems and all that. Couldn't do it all by myself now could I?"
"I think you could do anything you wanted, dear boy," Aziraphale said softly. He watched Crowley's profile as the demon refused to look at him
"Thank you."
Crowley raised his eyebrows behind his glasses and spared him a glance, raising his wine to his lips.
"For trying to rescue me. Must have been quite a mess in there."
"It was on fire."
"And yet you went in anyway."
"Little bit of fire isn't going to harm me."
"You could have been discorperated," Aziraphale pointed out and Crowley frowned. "That didn't even occur to you, did it? You went into a burning building trying to find me with no thought for yourself." His eyes shone as Crowley swallowed.
"Let's not get carried away," he cleared his throat and shifted in his seat.
Aziraphale went to place his hand on Crowley's but the demon shifted out of reach and the angel frowned. "Are you quite all right? You seem out of sorts today."
"For the millionth time I'm fine!"
Unperturbed Aziraphale pushed on. "No. No you're not. You're behaving very strangely. What's happened to make you so… so distant. I normally can't get rid of you when you're not hibernating or out making trouble. Yesterday you ran out of my shop like the devil himself was after you ."
"Well a great number of things have happened, Aziraphale. Was there something specific you were looking for?"
The angel huffed, his features hardening. "Why do you always have to make things so difficult?"
"Me make things difficult?" Crowley scoffed, "Mr, higher authorities will help. Mr, it's all part of the plan. Mr, we're not friends. Mr, always blame the demon!"
"Well," he flustered. "You ARE a demon, it goes with the territory."
"I KNOW!" It was an explosive outburst that was so unlike him that Aziraphale leant back in his chair as far as he could.
"Crowley, dear boy. Calm yourself."
"Will you stop with the 'dear boy'? I'm not a boy and I'm hardly 'dear' to anyone."
"You are to me," the angel countered.
"Ngk." Crowley stared at him.
"Come now, tell me what bothers you."
"You. You bother me."
"Well if you're not going to be serious I'm not going to try and help anymore," Aziraphale huffed, playing with his food.
The demon turned back to watch the world go by through the window but found no one was moving. "I thought they'd taken you. I thought they'd killed you and that I wouldn't see you again."
The angel looked at him dumbfound.
"It was so hot in there my clothes burnt, my glasses melted, I couldn't hide behind any of it and I'd lost my best friend. So I went to get drunk and suddenly there he was, unseeing but in front of me, sort of. All those years of keeping you safe; I mean 6000 years of it, and I lose you to a sodding ethereal phone call!" He gave a rueful laugh as he filled his wine glass again and took a large mouthful. "I used to know where I belonged in the world."
"And where was that?"
"In the dark. In the shadows. Whispering in people's ears. Not worrying about anyone else. I managed to escape hell and I wasn't going back. You've seen what they do to each other."
"You're not like other demons."
"Figured that one out have you? You're a few millennia behind. Mind you, took Armageddon for Belzeebub to figure it out."
"How did you fall? I've never asked. I just accepted that's what you were but it never occurred to me to ask why."
"I asked questions. That's all it took. Listening to others opinions and asking questions. Not allowed to question Her. Not sure how I ended up in Eden, just lucky I guess," he scoffed, gulping more wine.
Aziraphale just stared at him. Crowley had always been so sure of himself, so cocky but right now he was the complete opposite. He thought back over some of their encounters over the years. He'd never been cruel or unfair. He'd always found Aziraphale when he'd been in trouble. The angel frowned. How had he always found him? How did he even know?
"What?" Crowley asked. Not looking at him.
"You always knew when I needed help. How?"
"You hear things," he shrugged.
"Oh? You heard that I was locked up in the Bastille? You heard that I was going to be double crossed in a church during the blitz?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes. It matters to me, Crowley."
A heavy silence fell as Aziraphale pushed his plate away, looking out of the window. "Um Crowley? You appear to have stopped time."
"So I have."
"Are you going to restart it again?"
"Is this conversation over to your satisfaction?"
"Not by a long shot."
Crowley rolled his eyes behind his glasses. "Fine but not here." He restarted time with a click of his fingers and stood, dropping far too much money on the table before leaving his friend to trail behind.
"My shop is closer," Aziraphale said and watched Crowley stop dead at his car and tensed. "You can't avoid it forever. I'll always be here so unless you plan on avoiding me…"
The thought had crossed Crowley's mind. His life would undoubtedly be easier without the angel around to confuse him, but he couldn't stay away, not for more than a hundred years or so.
He turned and glared at the building. Once it was a bit of a refuge for him, now it was a source of anxiety.
Aziraphale unlocked the door and waited. "We can go upstairs if you prefer. I have a lovely dessert wine, ooo and cake!"
Hesitantly he stepped up to the door and sighed. His skin started prickling and his face started to twist into a sneer. "No. No. Can't do it. I'll see you up there Angel," he muttered miracling himself away.
Aziraphale sighed and went inside.
XxXxX