#poor crowley - lurking in the bookshop all night worried about aziraphale

[aduckwithears]

Crowley must know about Shax the hitchhiker, right??

He can tell if the Bentley is yellow for someone's sake - he's got to know that a demon was literally sitting in the car. Of course, it's not really new information that they are being questioned - Shax was already sniffing around the bookshop - and it's not a surprise that she asked the other half of the duo what was up. However, it does put a spin on Crowley telling Aziraphale that he was worried something must have happened... and readily accepting Aziraphale's answer that nothing did... and the way he's stuck to the angel like glue most of the next day during preparations for the Ball.

But I guess the most important question? Could he sense the bitchy eyebrow???!

[esthermitchell-author]

Today's snippet of the upcoming fanfic I'm almost done with, "The Stars Within His Wings", is NOT a fluffy one (they can't ALL be happy, fluffy stuff... though I do try to average more fluffies for my boys than anything because, hey, after 6000+ years, if THEY don't deserve it, NO ONE does.)...

Snippet:

He had worked very hard to make Heaven something better, and more accepting. Someplace worthy of Crowley. Perhaps, one day, even worthy of the demon's forgiveness. But his demonic love was stubborn, and still a little paranoid about what he believed Heaven represented. Aziraphale knew memories of the only Heaven Crowley knew still lingered -- he'd held his husband through more than one middle-of-the-night panic attack when memories of his Fall haunted Crowley. The idea of exposing Jemima to any place capable of such cruelty terrified the demon beyond all reason. After many hours of listening to Crowley describe in detail both his Fall and what really happened when they had swapped faces to fool Heaven and Hell after Armageddon, Aziraphale never brought the subject of Crowley even visiting Heaven again up, and tried to avoid the subject of taking Jemima up, even just to see the starlight chamber where she was born.

"Do I gets to meet demons, then?"

Aziraphale winced. Jemima was far too excited by that prospect for his liking, and... Crowley's silence pulled his attention that way, even as he sensed the immediate rise of his demon's panic. Concern pelted through him at the ashen horror on his husband's face. If Heaven had been cruel to Crowley, then Hell had been a pressure cooker of never-ending trauma his poor love had tried so hard to bury.

"No," Crowley rasped, the yellow color taking over his eyes entirely and his hands shaking around the papers he held. Aziraphale watched his throat move and his jaw clench, unable to help unless Crowley asked for it. Crowley insisted on this arrangement, and no matter how much Aziraphale hated it, he respected Crowley's right to have it. Now, those frightened yellow eyes met his, full of a plea for help even as the demon managed a strangled, "Angel..."

Aziraphale was on his knees at Crowley's side in a flash, one hand falling on his demon's arm, grounding him in the moment, even as he stretched the other out to take a suddenly confused and worried looking Jem's hand. "Precious, you need to be very careful about demons, all right? Remember when lee-lee brought you back here from Nina and Maggie's, that time, and you were scared and didn't want him to go back outside?"

Jem nodded, her green eyes shimmering with tears Aziraphale immediately hated the sight of, just as he had the day Crowley caught Dagon lurking outside the bookshop. "Most demons aren't like lee-lee. And if they get near you, they might hurt you, or take you places you won't like being."

"Like Hell?"

"Yes, sweetheart, like Hell. It's not a nice place to be."

Jemima's gaze went right to Crowley, before she slid from the settee on his other side and wrapped her arms around his neck, crawling into his lap with a quiet, "I'm sorry, lee-lee! Don't worry, I won't let them take me to Hell. I won't let them take you, neither."

Crowley's rasping laugh told Aziraphale the demon would be okay, even before he felt Crowley relax beneath his grip. His demon was still reeling, emotionally, but he was more grounded, now. Crowley dropped the pages he held, wrapping one arm securely around their daughter, while reaching to grasp Aziraphale's wrist gratefully with the other.

"I would tear it down in an instant to get you back." He heard Crowley's rasping mutter against the side of Jem's head, before the demon's gaze locked with his. "I would destroy existence itself to get to you."

Shifting, Aziraphale wrapped his arms around Crowley and their daughter, resting his forehead against the side of his husband's head.