Bad Omens: The Attack (Novella)

Chapter 17

Crowley was back in the family room, kneeling at Eden's side, mopping her sweaty brow with the cold compress. He glanced at Gabriel, who was now curled up in a ball on the floor thanks to the herbal tea that Azirphale had given him.

Which was fine by Crowley, he wanted to be alone with Eden for now.

Crowley peeked under the blankets and stared at the layers of bandages concealing the horrible stomach wound. The wound that was red and swollen with infection, the cause of his daughter's fever and the reason why his daughter had almost died again and be stuck in bed on her birthday.

Crowley shudderd when he recalled that day.....

It started as soon as Eden woken from the coma. Bella had told both him and Aziraphale that the strength in Eden's muscles needed to be rebuilt and it was added to the already long list of instructions.

Although difficult and a bit painful due to the stiffness, as well as the pain from her many wounds, Eden was determined to regain her strength so she could sit at the table with her parents and Gabriel at the dining table.

Eden moved her good arm, just like Bella had showed her that last time she came. Once she did it a couple of times, she then tried to move her left leg so she could do a leg exercise, but was stopped by her Daddy. "Eden, don't. You've done enough for now."

"But I wanna keep going Daddy." Eden protested.

"You can't over exert yourself Queenie, you just relax and drink this." He handed her a steaming mug of broth.

"I'm not hungry." Eden said.

"I know it doesn't taste very good but Papa is getting your ice cream right now."

"Don't want it." Eden said again. She lay back down with a grunt of pain, "I don't feel good."

"What do you mean?" Crowley demanded, his voice sharp with concern.

"I feel cold." Eden murmured as Aziraphale stepped in the room. "Hello my loves, did you drink your broth Little One?"

"No Papa." Eden answered honestly. "I'm not hungry."

"Oh? That's odd; you never turn down a meal, especially if it's followed by vanilla ice cream."

"She said she's not feeling good, angel." Crowley murmured.

Aziraphale immediately set the bowl of ice cream aside on the bedside table and placed a hand on Eden's forehead. "You do feel a bit warm....perhaps it's because you just finished with your exercises! Yes, that must be it!" Aziraphale grabbed the bowl, "Maybe we can change things up a bit today, something sweet for my sweet?" Aziraphale grabbed the spoon sticking out of the bowl, scooping out a small spoonful of the frozen yogurt, offering it to Eden.

Eden stared at the ice cream with dull blue eyes. "No thank you Papa, my stomach feels funny....I probably shouldn't eat anything at the moment."

That's when Crowley knew something was wrong. Eden never refused vanilla ice cream. Never.

"Funny how?" Crowley asked. Aziraphale looked like he was about to cry, the angel well aware that something was indeed wrong.

"I don't know...." Eden rasped. "It's hurting more than usual....and like I said earlier, I'm cold. But not like, regular cold, like cold-cold....does that make any sense?" She looked pleadingly up at her parents, hoping they would understand.

"It's probably because you haven't drank your broth." Aziraphale said, his voice strained, he grabbed the mug and offered it to Eden, "It'll help if you drink some." This must be why she felt off, it had to be. Surely nothing else could go wrong?

"But I don't want it Papa....I think I'm sick...."

At those words, the fathers' quickly pulled away Eden's blanket, unbuttoned her nightgown and un-bandaged her midsection; where they found her stomach wound, a sickly yellow pus seeping from in-between the cracks of the black threads holding the skin together, the flesh around the stitches red and swollen.

"Papa, Daddy...what's wrong? You both got very quiet all of the sudden...."

Aziraphale broke down completely while Crowley quickly re-wrapped the terrible wound and tucked their daughter back in. "I-It's nothin' just keep an eye on yer Papa for a for me. I gotta make a call." Crowley said sharply, darting out of the room as he reached into his pocket, whipping out his cellphone, dialing Bella's number with tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Papa? What's the matter? Did I do something wrong?" Eden asked completely unaware of what her parents had just discovered.

Aziraphale stopped crying almost instantly. "Eden Alexandria Queen Fell, I don't ever want to hear you imply that any of this was your fault; do you understand?!" his voice had a strange edge to it....was he being stern with her?

"Yes Papa." Eden tried to nod, but was suddenly dizzy. Eden had too blink her eyes several times to try to get rid of the dizziness. Seeing this, Aziraphale miracled a damp cloth and a bowl filled with cold water, which appeared on the bedside table, replacing the mug of broth and the bowl of ice cream.

He touched her forehead, it felt warmer than it did moments before, she most definitely had a fever. He placed the now cold compress on her forehead and she flinched. "It's alright sweetpea, this will help....I promise...." His voice cracked when Crowley returned.

"Bella's coming. She says that she'll take a look at the infection, but there's really not much she can do."

Aziraphale flinched. "Crowley, please, not now. She's still awake...."

"It's okay Papa." Eden murmured when her eyes fluttered open. "I'm sure it'll pass in a day or two. Then we can get back to exercising so I can eat at the table with you all on my birthday!" She tried to sound enthusiastic, but her voice came out weak and drained.

Eden turned back to her Daddy, "Can you fetch Gabriel for me? I'd like to see him and tell him what's going on. I want to tell him myself that everything will be okay...."

"I'll do that Little One, you just take it easy, and try to drink the glass of water I left for you." The angel pointed to the glass of water waiting on the bedside table. "Please Crowley, she needs to drink something." Aziraphale whispered under his breath as he left the room, silently dreading the look of despair that would undoubtedly cross the Archangel's face once he heard the terrible news....

And now Crowley was dreading the look that would cross his little girl's face when he and her Papa would have to tell her that she would have to spend her special day stuck in bed......

"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit!" Crowley swore softly to himself as tears poured silently down his face falling onto Eden's deathly pale face.