Stars In Our Hearts

Chapter Two

Aziraphale turned from the customer as the baby started to cry. "Terribly sorry; won't you excuse me for just a moment?" He pushed open the curtain that separated the small back room from the rest of the bookshop and smiled fondly. "Now, little one, there's no need to fuss," he cooed gently as he picked the child up. She stopped crying immediately, looking around in wonder as Aziraphale walked with her back to the woman waiting at the counter.

"Oh, how beautiful," she said. "How old?"

"Well," Aziraphale thought for a moment. "Several weeks by now, I suppose. Time really does fly."

The woman noticed the glint of his ring against the soft pink of the baby's blanket. "I wasn't aware that you were married, Mr. Fell. I don't believe I've ever seen your wife around here."

"Husband actually," Aziraphale corrected her. "And he's a wonderful father."

"I see," the woman nodded. "Did you use a surrogate, or was she adopted?"

"Well, we... yes," Aziraphale agreed after a moment. "He and I used a surrogate."

"Oh, that was a bit forward of me to ask, wasn't it?" She smiled kindly. "But it's so good to see young men like you diving into fatherhood headfirst. My husband was quite the dunce when it came to our first child."

Aziraphale chuckled, tucking the blanket back around the baby. "Anthony was terrified to hold her when she was first born. Ironically, he had been a nanny for a number of years and has been surrounded by children his entire life."

"That's just it, isn't it? They've got all the answers when it's someone else's child, but the second it's their own, they can't figure up from down."

"Exactly!" Aziraphale shook his head. "I don't understand why he's so afraid to do something that I know he is incredibly good at."

"It's called being a dad, honey," she patted his arm. "He'll be alright, just give him a bit of time. Sooner or later, that man is going to come around and realize that he can do this!"

Aziraphale smiled widely. "I know he will."

"Me too. But I must be off, dear. I'll bring this back once I've figured out how to do that bee stitch," she held up the guide to knitting. "May as well make a little blanket for the angel while I'm at it, right?" Aziraphale opened his mouth to correct her when she did it herself. "Half-angel. All children got a little bit of the devil inside them."

"You have no idea..."

She smiled warmly once more before she turned out the door. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, Crowley slid up the back of Aziraphale's arm to curl around both the angel and his baby. "Miss me?"

"Always," Aziraphale still found it a bit odd when he spoke in his snake form, mostly because snakes weren't supposed to be able to speak. "Mrs. Washington down the street is going to knit her a blanket."

"How kind," Crowley closed his eyes, another thing a snake wasn't supposed to do. But then again, the demon was never one for following rules. "How about setting us down for a nap, angel?" Crowley hummed.

Aziraphale rolled his eyes, but walked over to the cradle anyways. He let Crowley slither in first to curl into a loose ring before he placed the baby in the middle of his coils. Crowley rested his head near her shoulder and tightened himself around her just a little bit. Aziraphale smiled when Crowley closed his eyes and sighed in peace. He fumbled with the demon's cell phone in an attempt to take a picture. "How do I...?" he muttered to himself before he gave up and miracled a photograph into existence. He took the frame and walked upstairs to put it on the dresser in their bedroom, missing the sound of the front door opening. He made his way back downstairs, only to run into a petrified customer.

"I am calling the police!" the woman cried, her phone in her hand.

Aziraphale turned the corner of the staircase, startled. "I beg your pardon? Whatever for?"

"There is a giant snake that is going to eat that child! It hissed at me when I tried to rescue her!"

"Snake...?" Aziraphale paused, then realized the woman was talking about Crowley. "Oh, I'm afraid it isn't real," he snapped his fingers quietly behind his back. "My husband got a large stuffed creature for our daughter when she was born. I told him it would frighten the poor dear, but she loves it. Come, let me show you." Aziraphale walked briskly and stopped over the sleeping baby and picked up the head of the now-stuffed snake. "See? Perfectly harmless. In fact, it keeps her from rolling over."

"B-but it hissed!"

A noise resembling a hiss came from the back room. "My husband, I'm afraid. He has some breathing troubles and when he sleeps, he tends to make hissing noises.

"Oh..." the woman still looked skeptical.

"Have a lovely morning!" Aziraphale smiled as he ushered her out of the shop. When the door closed, he stormed to the back to scold Crowley. "How many times have I told you not to hiss at customers! They think you are going to eat our daughter!"

His yellow eyes looked up at the angel from the couch. "'Ave I ever told you I love you?" a smile spread across his face.

"Every time you want to get out of trouble," Aziraphale grumbled, crossing his arms.

"And it works, doesn't it?" Crowley sauntered over to pick up the baby from the puddle of the stuffed animal. He was careful not to wake her as he kissed her forehead ever so gently.

Aziraphale sighed in defeat. "I don't want it to." Crowley just grinned before he kissed the angel's forehead as well.