Aziraphale walks into the bookshop right as a customer walks out, and the angel’s so distracted, he forgets to check to make sure the book she’s holding is a pre approved one.
“Thank you, Adam, for running the shop without me.” Aziraphale says in place of a greeting as he takes Adam’s place behind the counter. “So sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Nothing to apologize for.” Adam tells him, pointing to the door. “That was our only customer this week.”
The angel nods, “Good.”
Adam doesn’t agree, “If it wasn’t on the pre-approved list, I wouldn’t have sold it at all. And the price we haggled was still being generous with it.”
Aziraphale sighs, “Oh. I see.”
After a moment, he turns to Adam, hesitating before speaking up,
“Um, Adam? Please tell me the truth.”
Adam, curious, asks, “About what?”
“Hypothetically, if the bookshop were to…not be here anymore, what would you do?”
The younger man will never be as old as Aziraphale, but he’s not so young to where he doesn’t understand what the angel’s asking, and replies ,“Backpacking.”
That throws Aziraphale for a moment both because he didn’t expect an answer so quickly, and at the unfamiliarity of the term. “Sorry?”
Adam explains, “You pack up for several days and go hiking for long periods of time. Most popular is when you do it through Europe. I want to see the world.”
The angel wonders if any of his journeys throughout history would be considered backpacking, but decides to leave that for another time, instead asking,
“Alright, and after you…backpack? What would you do with yourself?”
Adam shrugs, “I don’t know. Suppose I’d need another job.”
Then he realizes, “Wait. Are you changing your mind about Shadwell’s offer?”
Aziraphale starts to shake his head, then opens his mouth, but stops himself, then says, “Only a mild curiosity.”, before walking to the back of the store.
Crowley’s just finishing turning off the decorations for the day when he hears the tiny bell over the door ring.
He calls right as he turns around and looks up, “Sorry, we’re closing for the—”
And halts whatever he was going to say dead in his tracks, a feeling of both dread and longing freezing him in place as he spots the being in an almost unnaturally flawless corporation miracle the door closed, then turn to flash him a smile only she could pull off with equal amounts of smugness and delight.
“Hello, Crowley. Miss me?”
Crowley somehow manages to gasp out one word, “L-lilith.”
The older demon shrugs as casually as anything, slowly walking towards the younger, voice silky smooth as she inquires, looking, “So what’ve you been up to?”
Crowley’s a shaking, stammering mess as he tries to sound casual, “Oh…y-you know me. J-just getting by. Are you…here to observe Earth’s holidays?”
The First Wife shakes her head, “Actually, no. I reassigned myself to come back permanently.”
Crowley’s eyes bug out from behind his glasses, incapable of processing how he feels about that as he asks, “H-how long ago did you do that?”
YOU ARE READING
The Christmas Tree
RomanceAziraphale plans to avoid any holiday traditions that bring back memories of his late husband until he receives a gift from a handsome shop owner. To move on from his loss, Aziraphale works for a balance between his memories and finding a future.
