BAD GRACE - quantum witch © 2005
see Prologue for warnings, rating, and summary
Once upon a tyme, there waf an angel and a daimon who shared a cottage onne the Southernmoft Downes.
EPILOGUE
AZIRAPHALE WAS SITTING IN THE BRIGHT and comfortable kitchen of Eden's Fall, the charming cottage he shared with Crowley. He sipped his tea and read the morning post.
Ten years had passed, and it seemed all was well with the former Sins. Ginger had chosen forgetfulness and returned to her life as a doting grandmother and a far more humble Christian. Eustacia and Sable had long since turned their company successfully around, touting delicious and nutritious means of weight loss. White and Amelia had totally reconfigured their products to more educational and environmental causes. Carmine and Vermeil were very active in the Peace Corps. Iona and Saffet had discovered a strong compatibility, and were now an official couple much to the world's surprise. Most astonishingly of all, Kogane and Hastur had been delivered of a third child and were quite happily ruling their island country. All the young Disciples/Virtues were grown and off on their own, but still best of friends.
The angel smiled at the letters. Though the world was still unpleasant in far too many ways, these small examples were a true inspiration, offering hope for the future. Those billions of tiny diamonds in the soul were going to be impossible to ignore forever.
"Aziraphale," Crowley snarled, "you are such a bloody slob! Towels all over the bathroom floor, dishes in the sink, books falling all around –"
"My books had better not be falling anywhere, because then I know you'll have done it," Aziraphale said flatly, "as you seem to have no trouble whatever in tossing towels and dishes about, either."
"Shall I start tossing them at your head now?"
"Do, and you may live to regret it."
"Right," said Crowley, and he lobbed a damp towel, which hit Aziraphale soundly in the face. "Get your pudgy arse moving, would you? I'm already dressed and ready to go. We're going to be late, since you won't let me exceed the speed limit. Much."
"Fine, dear, I'm getting up." Aziraphale placed the towel in the hamper properly, then put the finishing touches on his clothes and hair. "Am I presentable, then?"
"Gorgeous," Crowley said with genuine feeling. "Especially since I've forbidden you to ever wear a bow tie in public again."
"Tsk," Aziraphale clucked and straightened his long tie. "Speaking of forbidden things… What have I said about wearing you sunglasses indoors. Outside is fine, but when you're in here, I expect to look you in the eye."
"Sheesh, it's just an old habit, hard to break," Crowley whinged, then removed them with a flourish. "Happy now?
"Blissfully," Aziraphale said, enfolding his lover in his arms. He looked up into the golden reptilian eyes and kissed Crowley softly. "I'm very glad you stayed just as you are. You wouldn't be my old serpent otherwise." All those years ago, he'd been presented an option that wasn't really an option, and so another deal had been worked out. Why fix what isn't broken?, it had been asked. And thus it was decreed. Crowley was still Crowley and God was in Heaven and all was right with the world.
"Like I'd turn human," Crowley chuckled. "I'd never be able to keep up with you in bed otherwise. Dead within a week."
"You," Aziraphale chastised fondly. "Now come along, love. We'll be late for Adam and Rachel's wedding. They've only waited six thousand years to be together."
"How well I know the feeling," Crowley said. Snapping his fingers to summon the wedding gifts, he took Aziraphale's hand and sauntered down the steps of their home.
THE END