Disclaimer – while it has been some time since I last updated, I still don't own any of the characters contained herein. I'm sure that if I did, I wouldn't be working in the chaos that is the banking industry!

Sighing, Aziraphale rose from the table at which he had remained seated for a full ten minutes in a state of confused irritation. That had been an incredibly un-Crowley-like display of emotion and it had caught the angel thoroughly off-guard. Deep in thought, he wandered to the restaurant door, shielding his eyes from the alarmingly bright sunlight. His puzzlement overtook his anger when he spotted the Bentley sitting exactly where it had been parked earlier. Crowley didn't do walking – he said it didn't fit with the kind of mortal he imagined he ought to be. Aziraphale frowned as concern crept in alongside his confusion. There was only one thing for it – he was going to have to go looking for the demon.

So it was that Aziraphale spent the remainder of the afternoon hunting for Crowley, who was not as easy to locate as the angel had initially anticipated. He had tried the most obvious locations: the arcades, the stalls, the bars – all places someone like Crowley could cause mischief – but he could find nothing, not the tiniest example of demonic malevolence. It would have been soothing were it not for Aziraphale's present worries. He began to wonder whether he ought to give up on looking in the obvious places. It was a moment of sheer exasperation as opposed to divine inspiration which drove the angel to the unlikeliest location of them all.

It was a bit of a hike to the top of the cliff and as such, Aziraphale arrived at his destination with significantly less composure than he would have liked. Nevertheless, it looked as though it had all been worth it, for here, silhouetted against the fiery sunset, was an instantly recognisable shape. The angel elected to pause for a moment to catch his breath. He was perfectly aware that this was not necessary – after all, he didn't actually need oxygen in order to live but he wanted to take a couple of seconds to get his thoughts (and appearance) in order.

"Took you long enough."

Evidently the silhouette wasn't going to spare him those couple of seconds.

"Well forgive me but after all that fuss, the last place I expected to find you was the one with the best view of the beach."

Now that he had satisfied himself that the demon had come to no harm, Aziraphale could feel his earlier irritation returning. After all, even angels have their limits, and physical exertion was his. Crowley merely grunted in reply.

Sighing, Aziraphale approached his friend, who had seated himself on a bench. He stopped short of sitting by him, electing instead to stand behind, looking out across the sea at the blood-red sunset, hands resting on the back of the bench on either side of Crowley.

"So." The angel found that he didn't really know what to say.

"So?" Crowley evidently wasn't going to help here. Aziraphale knew that there was only one direction this conversation could take and he was going to nudge it that way.

"I think you owe me an explanation."

"Do I?" Crowley's tone was dull.

"You don't think so? After that little strop, and of course all your behaviour up until that point, I think I'm entitled..."

"It was a long time ago." Crowley interrupted. "I mean, centuries ago, back in Rome. You remember that little squabble between Julius and Gnaeus?"

"My dear, you are talking about Gaius Julius Ceasar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and that 'little squabble' was the great Civil War – the one that brought about the fall of the Roman Republic!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, of course, well all these things run into each other over the centuries, don't they? Anyway, back then I spent a lot of time in the company of Caesar, was one of his most trusted confidantes really. I was the one who convinced him that crossing the Rubicon was in everybody's best interests. I socialised with some of the greatest men of that age, earned a certain reputation myself."

"I can quite believe that you did but I don't see what that has to do with anything." Aziraphale frowned at the top of Crowley's head, as if the answers would somehow present themselves provided he stared hard enough.

"Patience angel – this is just a bit of scene-setting, dramatic tension and all that." The words were playful but they were uttered with all the cheer of a funeral oration. He sighed and continued.

"I was at a banquet one night when I was introduced to the eldest son of a prominent Senator. He was quite possibly the most devastatingly handsome specimen of human life I have ever encountered. Intelligent and witty to boot. We hit it off immediately and went on to spend most of our time in each other's company. Well, you know, one thing led to another and... well let's just say our relationship developed into something more than friendship.

"Oh." Aziraphale tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice but rather feared he failed.

"Come on angel, you can hardly claim to be surprised. I'm a demon – carnal pleasure is one of our things."

"Well yes, of course. I really should have seen it coming but if you'll forgive me my dear, your voice is conveying far more than lust right now."

"Well, maybe it was more than, what would I know – lust might be my territory but I'd say love is your area of expertise. Either way, we had a relationship of sorts. We would meet every evening we could, always in the same place."

"The beach?" Aziraphale ventured hesitantly.

"Got it in one angel. This was no ordinary beach though, it was unimaginably beautiful, a truly special place. It was our place. Until it wasn't."

"What happened?"

"He switched sides." Crowley's voice was barely a whisper now. "He met me in our special place and told me he was going to betray us all." Aziraphale opened his mouth to respond but the words died in his throat. He tried again.

"Crowley, I..."

"Oh, it gets better. You see, this wasn't really a face-to-face confession, rather his final words to me as he plunged his dagger into my back."

This time, Aziraphale didn't bother trying to find the right words, they didn't exist. Instead, he moved his hands onto Crowley's shoulders and squeezed them. Crowley reached up and placed one of his hands on top of the angel's as they continued silently watching the last rays of sunlight as they slowly faded. They remained that way until the first stars began to appear. It was at this point that Aziraphale's legs decided that they'd had enough of all this exercise lark and the angel moved around the bench, sitting himself down next to the demon. At length, Crowley spoke again.

"I know that death isn't a big deal for us but he didn't know that. As far as he was concerned he was finishing me off. It was the ultimate betrayal. "

"What happened to him?" Aziraphale found that curiosity won out over tact.

"I do believe he died in battle not to long afterwards. Small consolation but it's something I suppose. Anyway, that was the last time I allowed myself to get so close to a mortal. They can be worse than all the lords of Hell when they put their minds to it. No, it's just you and me angel, the perfect Arrangement."

Aziraphale cast a sidelong glance at Crowley who was staring intently out into the dusk. Suddenly, the demon snapped his head round and, removing his sunglasses, he fixed the angel with the kind of intense stare that had struck fear into countless house plants.

"You would never betray me, would you angel?"

"I...I...what?" The question had taken Aziraphale by surprise.

"I can trust you, can't I?" Crowley's tone was alarmingly panicky. The angel did his best to adopt as reassuring a demeanour as possible.

"Of course you can Crowley, you know you can."

Seemingly reassured, the demon nodded perfunctly, replaced his sunglasses and turned once more to face the sea. A smile crept over his face as he slipped an arm around Aziraphale's shoulders.

"You know angel, I think I could come to like this seaside lark."

Aziraphale merely smiled.

Fin