Forget Me Not

Found but lost

After that situation at the car dealership, Aziraphale needed some time to collect his thoughts. He's been back on Earth for a little over a week and he's spent the whole time trying to find Crowley. Ever since he left, all he's wanted was to get back to his demon.

Once calmed, Aziraphale calls Maggie and tells her to get everyone together at the coffee shop. Aziraphale never owned a cellular phone before. He's done a lot of things he's never done before in the past week. He's never sought the help of humans, giving them the full truth. He's never drug another angel into his demon problems. He's never driven a modern vehicle, but Maggie let him borrow hers to find Crowley. So purchasing a mobile phone was not a big deal this week.

Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death normally isn't very busy at 2 in the afternoon so Nina didn't feel bad about flipping the closed sign on the door. When Aziraphale gets to Whickber street Nina, Maggie, and Muriel are already waiting in the coffee shop.

"Did you find him?" Maggie asks. All eyes are on Aziraphale. All he can do is give a nod. Maggie smiles big, "goodness, where was he?"

Aziraphale straightens chairs at the table closest to him. "At a automobile store. Muriel was right he is selling them."

Nina is cleaning up behind the bar. If her shop is going to be closed then she'll at least clean in the down time. She asks the golden question, "where is he, then?"

Aziraphale's lip quivers, "uh still there, I presume. He- um- well something strange happened." The angel finally take a seat with Maggie and Muriel. He doesn't face them though. He doesn't want them to see him cry, if it comes to that.

Maggie leans in and ask's eagerly, "what happened, Mr. Fell?"

"He um- he didn't know me. He kept telling me to leave," Aziraphale swallows, "I don't think he really knew who he was either." All Aziraphale has wanted was to get back to his demon and while he was gone someone took him away.

The hurt turns into anger. "I think his memories have been messed with," the angel says in a more solid voice. "We'll have to find out what happened."

Nina wrings out her rag and drops it on the counter as she comes out from behind it. "He didn't know you? He said 'I don't know you and you need to leave'?" Aziraphale nods. That's pretty much exactly what happened.

Nina is the only one in the room who would be considered a realist or a skeptic. She has a different idea of what's going on, "you think maybe he's just crossed with you?" She talks to the table, "that you left and he's not ready to forgive you?"

5 months ago when everything had happened Nina and Maggie asked Muriel what happened. When hearing that Aziraphale had left to go back to heaven, it rubbed Nina the wrong way. She felt a relation to Crowley and took it almost personal when Aziraphale left him. Of course, she's since learned the truth about why the angel left but still feels a bit of resentment.

Aziraphale doesn't think that's the truth. "No it wasn't like that," he explains, "it wasn't anger. I- I think he was scared. Oh- he seemed lost."

Aziraphale goes on to explain exactly what happened. Nina still isn't fully convinced but either way they need a plan to get closer.

"If I could just explain to him," Aziraphale stresses, "if I could get him somewhere private and really explain it, maybe he'd listen without everyone else watching." The group decides that might just be the way to go.

"But," Nina chimes in, "how are you going to talk to him alone if you only know where he works. Plus he said he'd call the cops if you got near him again."

That definitely is a good point. The police aren't the issue, it's getting close to Crowley without terrifying him. The coffee shop is silent as the group thinks.

It's Muriel who breaks the silence, "someone else could talk to him." It's so obvious. "Not me of course," they add, remembering the interaction a few days ago.

"I'll do it." Nina wants a chance to test her hunch, "maybe he'll remember me."

It seems like the best course of action. They spend the better part of the next hour figuring out exactly how they should go about it. Tomorrow Nina will go car shopping.

***
Oh finally a short one! I didn't originally plan on writing from Aziraphale's pov but I'm glad I did. Thank you for reading, as always.