The Garden of Eden (Present Day)
"That wasn't much of a honeymoon, was it?" Aziraphale said. His blue eyes sparkled like a thousand stars.
"That's your first thought after we get back a million different memories?" Crowley said. He was grinning despite himself. "Besides, we didn't get married, Angel," Crowley said nonchalantly.
"Yes, just as you say. We weren't married."
Aziraphale said, fighting back the urge to light up all of Eden with another smile.
"We were just bound together for all eternity, s'all." The demon sniffed in his best casual tone.
The overwhelming emotions he had just experienced had been ice and fire in the demon's veins, and he was desperately trying to recover without letting the Angel know how he felt just yet. He needed more time.
"But you're right. I would have preferred a lovely beach resort or a mountain chalet to, you know, being turned into a venomous snake and cast into hellfire." Crowley sat down on the lush green grass and motioned for Aziraphale to join him.
"Certainly, Dear!" said Aziraphale, knowing him so well, he tried to hide how giddy he was. He sat beside his beloved demon, and they continued to talk as Crowley stretched out and used Aziraphale's lap as a pillow in the summer sun of paradise.
The Angel gently stroked the fiery red hair in his lap and twirled the silken locks into heart shapes, which had a remarkably soothing effect on both of them.
"S'nice here. I'd forgotten how tranquil everything is," Crowley said a bit dreamily. "I don't want to go back. We could just miracle a house right here."
The Angel smiled, and without realizing it, a warm, loving glow emanated from him, enveloping the beautiful creature in his lap. "Well, we might have to avert the end of all things first. Technically, you are still a demon, and we don't want you becoming extinct."
"Aziraphale, I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to keep us together. We've wasted 6,000 years."
"My Dearest, we are eternal beings. What is 6,000 years to an eternity? You did keep us together. You proposed, didn't you.?
Crowley growled a bit at this. "Technically, I proposed we not be bound for all eternity."
Aziaphale could see that Crowley was still struggling with his memories. Some had been enchanting and marvelous, and others... Aziraphale shuttered. He did not want to think about that. Not right now. Those memories were too dark and gruesome, and he did not want to spoil the beautiful now they were in.
"Crowley, can I admit something to you?"
"Corse Angel, I'm all yours," Crowley said sleepily. Aziraphale smiled, realizing that his demon spoke volumes in that sentence.
"I might have been the cause of the fall of man."
Crowley's eyes, which had been closed, popped open in actual surprise. "You have the most ridiculous ideas in your Angelic noggin. You did not cause the fall of humanity."
"No, you tempted them and truly did such a splendid job. I helped things along more indirectly."
"How? I've got to hear this." Crowley said, sitting up and peering at Aziraphale over his glasses.
"Might have pretended not to notice a demon in the Garden for several months."
"You knew I was in the Garden? The whole time?"
"Honestly, Crowley, I was the Angel of the Eastern Gate. You were my only job."
"Angel, you were always looking out across the desert or helping Eve with flower arranging."
"I might have surreptitiously been watching you from the reflection in my sword. And honestly, you sunned yourself on the rocks quite often. How could I not have? Besides, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to speak to me."
"Why didn't you speak to me, then?" Crowley said, mildly affronted.
"I was on duty."
"Not on duty enough to keep yourself from watching me while I was sunbathing." The demon said teasingly.
"Crowley, you, you were a serpent. One of God's creatures." Aziraphale whined.
"Not the whole time, Angel. Now that you've reminded me, I seem to recall that every time I tried to sleep as me, I felt a warm Angelic presence nearby sort of hovering."
"I didn't hover!"
"You did. You liked me, admit it." Crowley declared, and a proud smirk spread across his face. This was comfortable. He was in his element. He was winding his Angel up and watching him become flustered.
"I was intrigued by you. You weren't doing anything wrong. You just sort of moved in, and I wasn't sure what to make of it," was the Angel's answer.
"So, what you're saying is, while we lived together for several months, you watched me sleeping."
Azirapale blushed in increasingly darker shades of scarlet with every word Crowley said.
"Well, you watched me plenty. Why do you think I kept helping Eve?" Aziraphale said in defense.
"Why?"
"Because you were always close to me when I did." The Angel almost whispered.
"How do you know I wasn't watching Eve?" Crowley rejoined.
"I tested you."
"How?"
"I would leave her with the pretty flowers and go rest somewhere, and you never once stayed with Eve," Aziraphale said, unsure if he was winning this particular argument and how it had gotten away from him.
"Well, Aziraphale, you were the Angel of the Eastern Gate. I had to keep an eye on you." Crowley smirked.
The memories from their earlier life were fighting for dominance in the demon's mind, and Crowley placed his hand gently on the Angel's cheek. "I never want to let you out of my sight again." He said. Crowley leaned in, and as gentle as a whisper, he kissed the lips he had been thinking about for the last six months and 6,000 years.
Aziraphale's eyes shone after the gloriously delicious kiss. And he felt truly happy for the first time in his life.
"I want to tell you how I feel," Aziraphale said boldly.
"I know how you feel. Same as me. You thought about me and wanted to say you loved me but couldn't because I wanted those things, too, Angel."
"But Crowley, there is so much more I need to say," Aziraphale said.
"Can, can you feel that Angel, that pull? Crowley said. He was suddenly very distracted.
"What pull?" Aziraphale asked, concern growing in the pit of his stomach.
"It's like a deep yearning. It feels primeval and simultaneously fresh. It's blue like the sky but loud like thunder. It wants..."
"What does it want?" Aziraphale's panic began to rise.
"To be set free," Crowley murmured.
The Angel looked at him with alarm. "Are you all right? " He asked.
Crowley shook the cobwebs out of his head, and an excited grin echoed his mood. "Never better. Aziraphale, I'm going to crack open my heart stone. We were unceremoniously jerked back to Heaven before we could finish that part of the service, but I'm ready now. It's definitely ready now. It's practically screaming at me."
Crowley sprang up, and Aziraphale followed suit.
"No, please don't do that. Let's wait till all of this is over. Then we can go off together and have a proper service." Aziraphale begged.
"Go off together?" Crowley grinned widely and grabbed Aziraphale around his waist, drawing him close. "You want a proper honeymoon, don't you?"
"Yes, you know I do, but that's not what I mean. Besides, I thought you said we weren't married." Aziraphale pouted.
"I'm a demon. I lied." Crowley said, brandishing a kiss on Aziraphale's cheek.
He let go of the Angel and took a step back. He stood very still, and there was something in the soulful look in his eyes that melted the Angel.
Aziraphale watched transfixed as the dearest person in his world sent golden energy into his own chest, breaking open the sapphire heart stone given to him so long ago. and letting the contents mingle with his love for the Angel. Love unspoken, hidden, and almost fractured had now been set free.
"Aziraphale! You've got to join me. Break your stone, too. It's wonderful! It's beyond wonderful! It's," Crowley shouted over the roar of swirling love coming out of his heart. A dam made of tightly knit fears suddenly broke. And love that the demon had been holding on to and hiding for centuries gushed out. Aziraphale was caught in the wake and relished every moment as wave upon wave of true love washed over him.
Each time Crowley had kept himself from telling the Angel how he felt, every time he had assumed his feelings were unrequited, every time Aziraphale had given him hope, every touch, every kindness, they all erupted, filling the Garden with more power than that insignificant 25 Lazari miracle they had performed together.
It began to slowly subside, and a cooling mist settled around them. Crowley stumbled and began to fall. Aziraphale caught him. The demon with the shining yellow eyes was grinning excessively.
"Whoo-hoo, Angel! I have never felt anything like that before! You've got to try it! I mean, woah. Crazy stuff s'better than wine. S'better than when we do that thing together. You know the one, I mean," Crowley looked directly into the Angel's eyes, smiling a silly grin.
"I don't know what you mean," Aziraphale said, mildly annoyed.
"Sure ya do, Angel. S'when you touch me an' I pretend I don't notice, but we both know I'm noticing," The demon growled and then laughed at his own joke.
"Crowley are, are you drunk?" Aziraphale asked, confused.
"I d'know maybe," Crowley said, almost giggling, and he booped Aziraphale on the nose.
"How? Dear Lord, what am I going to do with you?" Aziraphale said.
"Can't do anything, Ha! Y'are stuck with me. Can't get out of it now. I warned you, but you were very demanding. You and me, we're an us now. Ngk!" Crowley giggled again.
"Crowley, in 6000 years, I have never once heard you giggle."
"Can't be helped. It's you, ya ninny, popping out...from when we didn't get married, member? You really wanted to not marry me badly. I had no idea how much you wanted to have a not-married service. You thought I was the cutest Angel in Heaven." Crowley batted his eyes dramatically. "Lots of Angels thought I was cute. Don't deny it. Says so right here in your heart...Oh! Wait, I see now. You were worried about that. I get it. Your heart's so cute, Angel."
"How can you be teasing me at a time like this?" Aziraphale said crossly.
"S'what I do, my angel-y Angel." Crowley leaned in and kissed Aziraphale on his forehead. "I love you." He said and collapsed into Aziraphale's arms.
Aziraphale gently helped the demon lay back on the grass and looked at him sleeping. Crowley had never said those words to him before, but it was real. He had meant it. All the flooding love he had just felt was undeniable. It was natural, honest, and genuine. Those words were more perfect and delicious to the Angel than anything else in existence.
Crowley had said the words. Tears began to roll down Aziraphale's cheeks. He looked at the sleeping demon, smiling to himself under the green dappled lighting that the awning of leaves provided them.
"I will love you for eternity, Crowley," whispered the Angel. "I will always love you, but my heart can't do what yours just did. It's been locked, and nothing I can do will ever be able to open it."
