Everyday it's a-gettin' closer - English Version

The Return - An old feud

"An old bill and an equation too? You're really getting into it," Crowley remarked sarcastically, crossing his arms as he leaned against one of the tables. "Give me all the sophistry you want, it doesn't impress me," Nathanael retorted no less tartly. However, she then took another deep breath, scratched her mop of hair briefly and continued:

"I don't know if this got through to hell, but I was made an angel without my knowledge. Apparently they wanted to do me some good after I had spent my whole life following a hippie sent by God. The fact that I wasn't necessarily keen on that, however, was ignored. How lost and confused do you think I was when, after my death, I found myself not in the Garden of Eden with my lovers but standing in front of a podium with white wings suddenly sprouting on my back? I was shocked, confused and turned around. Like an abandoned stray, I wandered the lands and then was found by an angel who had truly taken care of me."

"Aziraphale," Crowley understood, and Nathanael nodded, his eyes dim.

"I did not share his joy in being an angel, but he made it more bearable for me. I learned to cope with my new fate. When I had first heard recently that he was to move up a rank, I was one of those who was actually happy about it, after all, he is one of the most hardworking of us. But when I wanted to congratulate him, I could not find him anywhere. I searched everywhere and could not find him. However, I knew exactly where to ask...I went to Muriel. She then confessed to me that Aziraphale had been called to a "meeting" and had not appeared since. However, the upper class got wind of it and ordered the poor thing back to heaven. Must be archiving files at the moment. To my surprise though, she hadn't betrayed me, but somehow twisted it around to make them believe she'd just told anyone. Since then I've been coming here to the shop off and on...hoping to find you!"

"Why me? You sound like a loner? A self-made...angel. Then why don't you put on your show and turn to a demon?" At Crowley's comment, Nathaniel actually had to grin. "Well put together, Sherlock Holmes," she praised and shrugged, "but I think you know exactly why." Without meaning to, Crowley immediately blushed. Like a child caught stealing candy, he played nervously with his fingers and tugged at his jacket.

"And don't ask where from. I have been watching you my dear. My esteemed 'colleagues' may want to turn a blind eye to it, but not me!"

"Is this going to be a lecture now?" hissed Crowley and Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "Is that what it sounds like? If so, that wasn't my intention," she apologised and sat down again on one of the carcasses.

"But I don't seem to be the only one who sees your...partnership through different eyes..." Her gaze darkened.

"Are we getting cryptic again?" groaned Crowley. "Not necessarily, I'm just trying to help you get your dusty light bulb working again! Now, think hard. What happened before you and Aziraphale last saw each other?"

"What had happened? We were here and the day was going pretty weird. To make matters worse, the old old man came and..."

Crowley gasped. Open-mouthed, he stared at Nathanael, who gave him a more-than-clear look on her face.

"Metatron!" it quietly escaped Crowley's lips and Nathanael nodded.

"The author himself," she then added to her gesture, "The transcriber of the word from on high."

"And you think...?"

"Wouldn't be the first time he's manipulated events," Nathaniel replied, "He did it to me, after all. It was his crazy idea to make me an angel. He wanted to make an impression."

"The old freak you've got a score to settle with," Crowley now understood, clawing at the shock of red hair with his fingers. Again, he tigered once around the entire shop.

"I IDIOT!" he literally blurted out. His rage discharged into pure energy and overloaded the shop's electrical box, which shattered into a thousand pieces.

"How could I have missed that? I should have known! I suspected he was up to something, but I didn't think that far ahead!"

Unfazed by what had happened, Nathaniel leapt from the corpus, walked up to what had been destroyed and miraculously repaired it. "Maybe because you were blinded by something?" she suggested, and as she turned, Crowley's eyes nearly pierced her. "Don't push it," he threatened, still gasping from his seizure, and Nathaniel walked towards him.

"Your reaction speaks volumes my dear. I don't know what exactly happened between you, but it clearly left its mark!"

Nathanael didn't back away as Crowley stood directly in front of her and pressed his forehead to hers. "Is that supposed to intimidate me now?" she asked, unaffected, and with a snort, Crowley leaned back slightly.

"Take me upstairs now!" he ordered briskly and Nathaniel groaned as she massaged her temple.

"So impulsive..." she groaned, "...do you really think I'm going to keep coming back here, looking for you all the time, without having a plan already?"

Caught off guard and embarrassed, Crowley shrugged, his menacing aura fading a little.

"Have you?" he muttered out meekly.

"What do you think? Of course I do! I wasn't born yesterday," Nathaniel replied.

"Then will you please explain this one to me?"

"Rumour has it that there is a certain room where angels are brought whose complaints or misdemeanours are more serious than the usual cases. I strongly suspect that they have taken Aziraphale there," Nathanael began to explain, "The surveillance of this room is strict and meticulously planned. However, one of the gatekeepers still owes me an enormous favour, as I once shut up for him. Had fallen in love with a person and secretly formed a liaison with that person. It's been a while, but he knows full well that if I talk, he can soon apply for a job with you guys. So I can get into the room...but one thing is also clear. If I manage to get our friend out of there, it won't go undetected for long and we as angels will be faster to track down than a neon sign on display."

"Let me guess, this is where I come in," Crowley understood.

"I don't know what you're all about, but you manage to move under the radar all the time. Whether it's from above or below. Can you also make it so we can use the shop as a safe station again? I mean, from what I gather, it's Aziraphale's pride and joy and I don't want to take that away from him."

At Nathanael's question, Crowley laughed for the first time in amusement. "Can I fix it, she asks!" he chuckled, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "A simple 'yes', would have sufficed," Nathaniel remarked, annoyed. "Sorry, but when you ask me such a stupid question; what did you expect?"

"Anyway," she cleared her throat and put her hands on her hips, "as luck would have it, the angel who still owes me a favour has his shift tonight. So we could go through with this as soon as possible. You in?"

Nathaniel held out his hand and waited patiently.

Crowley himself hesitated. As much as he longed for his angel, the last impressions were gnawing at him. What if Nathanael was wrong? What if she had succumbed to an image of Aziraphale, as he had?

But would he really get his answers if he just continued to drive around in his Bentley highly depressed - no!

After taking one deep breath, Crowley put on his sunglasses and chimed in.

"If this turns out to be a shot in the dark, I'll personally bring you down to us and enslave you as my assistant!" he still couldn't help commenting.

"How would that be any different from now? Besides, I'm sure black wings would look good on me," Nathanael countered glibly and for the first time, the opposites smiled at each other.