![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
waxbean.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
go_exchange2007-12-25 03:42 pm
Happy Holidays, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
blueeyedtigress!, Part VII
***
By the time Pepper got there, it was all over. The damage had all been put right and Dog was a silly little mongrel again. Adam knelt by him and scratched his ears absently while he watched the angel and the demon who were far too caught up in each other to pay any attention to what was going on.
She laid a hand on Adams shoulder and he smiled up at her.
“So you put things right again?”
“Looks that way,” he said.
“Are those two alright?”
“They’ll be fine. At least I hope so. I think Aziraphale might have a few things to get over.”
HE’LL BE ALRIGHT. CROWLEY WILL HELP HIM FORGET. LOVE’S FUNNY THAT WAY.
Pepper jumped. Death was one thing she would never get used to.
“You think so?”
I HAVE SEEN IT. WHEN ALL YOU HAVE IS TIME YOU REALISE THAT ANGELS, DEMONS, PEOPLE - ALL OF THEM ARE THE SAME WHEN IT COMES DOWN TO IT.
“What about Dog?” asked Pepper.
“I’ll have to drop out and look after him,” said Adam. “He’s too dangerous for anyone else.”
“That isn’t fair,” said Pepper.
“No,” said Adam philosophically. “It isn’t, but that’s the way it is.”
AHEM!
“Yes?”
I HAVE ALWAS BEEN MORE OF A CAT PERSON. I LIKE CATS. BUT I DO NOT DISLIKE DOGS.
“Are you sure you could handle him?”
HE IS A PROBLEM IF YOU TRY AND TURN HIM INTO SOMETHING ELSE. I WOULD NOT HAVE THAT PROBLEM. I HAVE NO WISHES. I KNOW THAT THERE IS NO JUSTICE.
Adam nodded. “Well, if you’re sure.”
I AM SURE. WHAT SAY YOU, LITTLE BARGHEST? WOULD YOU LIKE TO ACCOMPANY ME ON MY DUTY?
Dog barked and jumped up happily. It had been a long week. Passed from master to master. But he had a good feeling about this one.
Pepper looked worriedly at Aziraphale and Crowley. “Don’t they have to breathe?”
NO.
Adam laughed and slung an arm over her shoulder. “Come on Pep, Let’s leave them to it. I reckon it’s been a long time coming for them.”
He looked up at Death. “Take care of him.”
OF COURSE.
And they were gone.
Adam yawned. “Let’s get to back to halls,” said Pepper. “Big day tomorrow. It’s the tequila slammer and I intend to drink you under the table.”
“You’re on,” said Adam and they left.
Pepper chanced a last look over her shoulder at the still entwined forms behind them.
“Adam?”
“What?”
“Is it weird if I think those two together are sorta hot?”
“…”
Epilogue
Crowley likes Christmas and so does Aziraphale. Both for different reasons.
Crowley likes the tensions running high and the hot tempers. He likes the chaos that is Christmas shopping that starts about six weeks before the actual day and gets busier, angrier and more chaotic with every passing day.
He likes how people spend far too much – more than they can afford – and then worry about it. He likes how they all try to outdo each other with gifts. He likes the resentment when people don’t receive gifts that are as good as the ones that they have given.
He likes the stress of the Christmas lunch. The need for everything thing to be perfect but the certainty that it will be anything but. He likes the rows after dinner and how everyone will drink too much and say things they don’t mean and some other things that they do mean but shouldn’t have said.
For all the other side might like to claim Christmas as their own, Crowley truly believes that it’s all about commercialism and that it’s the season of greed and excess.
Aziraphale likes how people come together. It doesn’t matter if they haven’t spoken in six months, or how busy their jobs are, they all make the time to see their family on this most special of days.
He likes how they send cards to everyone they know, sending goodwill and best wishes. Letting others know that they are remembered if only for a brief moment and that they mattered enough to merit a card and postage.
He likes how they put so much effort into their presents. How there will always be presents – whatever they can afford - even if they can’t afford it. He believes that it’s the thought that counts and believes that people know it too.
And he likes the wonder about it, the hopeful anticipation and delight of the yearly visit from Father Christmas. He likes how parents are proud to see their little ones perform in their first nativity play and how excited the children are. He likes how they come together to sing carols.
And as much as Crowley likes to insist that Christmas is all about excess and materialism, he knows that it really is the season for goodwill on earth.
There is, however, one thing that they both agree on. Christmas should be spent with the people you love.
They have a long way to go. There are some marks that do not rub off easily and some scars that take a long time to heal. But time is a great healer and after all, as the song goes -
All you need is love.
☺☻
THE END
no subject
In a thousand years they would be still warning little demons about him. They would speak of him in hushed tones and terrified awe and say things like you must work hard and be diligent, or you will end up like Crowley. And if anyone cocked up in an exceptionally impressive manner they would call it doing a Crowley.
“I thought they’d kidnapped you and were poking unspeakable things into your orifices!”
no subject