Aziraphale & Crowley: An Ineffable Love Story

Muriel

A.Z Fell and Co.
3 months later

Crowley could still not explain how his afternoon walk led to the bookshop. He had fiercely avoided the urge to visit for months now. There was nothing there for him. For Hell's sake, he could not even enter without Aziraphale as the owner.
He just stood there, staring at the closed sign wondering if Muriel was inside.

The wind was picking up and the thunder noises startled the entire neighborhood. Crowley thought it could be best to leave before the rain started. But alas, he was senselessly looking for a reason to stay.

"Crowley, is that you?" asked a female voice behind him.

The universe must have heard his thoughts for once. He turned around only to be faced with Muriel. She looked...different. Her appearance perfectly resembled a human in her mid-20s. She was in jeans and a green jumper. She was even carrying a phone alongside a coffee from Nina's coffee shop. Compared to the last time he saw her, she appeared a well-integrated resident of Earth.

"Muriel? What a surprise! Certainly wasn't expecting you here! " he said with a dry tone  trying to avoid any future conversation about his presence in the front of the bookshop.

"Haha, very funny Crowley" responded Muriel.

Crowley was still in disbelief at how different Muriel carried herself. He lost hope that he would be able to get out of this by appealing to her inexperience with life on Earth.

"Seriously though, how come you passed by?" she insisted.

"Why, is my presence stirring trouble in the heavens?" he said sarcastically.

"Well, I don't know. You aren't on any watchlist as far as I am aware" said Muriel to Crowley's surprise.

He has been on Heaven's watchlist for quite some time. His heart fluttered at the thought of Aziraphale removing Crowley's name from constant observation.

"It is just..." she continued. "I was expecting you earlier."

"I'm sorry, what?" he said with utter confusion.

The first raindrops started falling. Muriel walked pasted him and unlocked the bookshop.

"C'mon in, let's discuss inside" she said.

Crowley was simply shocked now. He hadn't expected Muriel to ever invite him in.

"I know you're new to Earth, but it is quite frowned upon to invite demons without proper permission" he said while entering the bookshop.

He closed the door behind him and took a look around. Everything was as he remembered. However, the bookshop appeared emptier.

"Well, considering that Aziraphale gave you everlasting permission a long time ago, I won't be the one to disagree with THE Archangel."

"Say what?" he said.

"You know" she said while looking through the office for the copy of Inferno. "Here it is, that's for you I believe" she said.

Crowley's mind was suddenly transported to the day he gave Aziraphale the book. The "permission slip" for special access was still neatly tucked inside. He can't believe Aziraphale kept it all these years.

"Where did you find this?" he asked with disbelief.

"Well, it is quite an odd story" she says. "I'll tell you as long as you don't ask me any follow-up questions. I'd love to maintain some plausible deniability over the subject. Agreed?" she asked.

Crowley couldn't believe that Muriel, an angel who used to be very keen on following orders, was talking about plausible deniability. Apart from Aziraphale, he hadn't met an angel who would color with shades of gray for him.