A few weeks had passed, the demon and demon child spent more days with the angel at the bookshop and Aziraphale was happy. He enjoyed the presence of the two and Apopis seemed always happy to see him. He felt more involved in her raising without the pressure of being the sole caretaker. Crowley would come and nap on the couch as Aziraphale played with the child for an hour or two.
"You want to read a book, my dear?" Aziraphale asked, picking up a book and showing her. He had run out of games to play with the infant.
"Buh, buh! Ah buh!" Apopis squealed. She was starting to talk now, usually just saying the first sound without finishing the word.
Aziraphale smiled gently, scooping the child into his lap and opening up the book. He started to read until Apopis drifted off to sleep in his arms. He hummed as he carried her to her crib next to the dozing demon. Before setting her down, he kissed her forehead and wrapped her tightly in her blanket.
He settled himself not too far away with a good book and a cup of tea, listening to the pair sleep. About forty-five minutes into his reading he heard the tell-tale hisses and whimpers coming from the crib, a nightmare. The angel quietly set his book down and headed over to the child who was starting to thrash.
She had been waking up from nightmares for a while now and Aziraphale had always failed to calm her from them. Crowley was the only that could, so far. But the angel knew the demon was exhausted. Apopis was not an easy child to raise and Crowley was doing the majority of it already; he needed as much rest as he could.
Apopis' wings lashed out and fluttered as she tried to escape whatever dream she was in. She would start screaming soon. Aziraphale grabbed her writhing body and made his way hastily to a quiet corner of the bookshop so the noise wouldn't wake the demon still napping on the sofa.
At the touch, she started to cry quietly, the noise gradually turning into screams.
"Come on dear, wake up. It's just a dream." Aziraphale cooed, carding his fingers through her hair in what he hoped was calming. He had seen Crowley do it a few times.
Apopis just cried even louder, flapping her wings insistently losing quite a few feathers.
"Apopis, doll you're perfectly safe." the angel tried again, hugging her tightly to his body.
She shivered violently opening her serpentine eyes with a piercing scream. Aziraphale winced and tried to stroke her back in a way that was comforting but the child just wailed into his chest. A feeling of helplessness washed over the angel, he didn't know what to do. How did Crowley do it? He clutched at the child as tears pricked his eyes.
The demon, freshly awakened from a nap, sauntered over to the pair, "I got it angel." He muttered groggily, kneeling down so he was on their level.
Aziraphale nodded, gently handing the child over. Immediately Apopis started to quiet down and Aziraphale had to look away as he rubbed at his eyes to hide any evidence of tears. The feeling of helplessness increased as Crowley hummed rocking the child and she was calm within seconds.
"There, there." Crowley cooed, tickling Apopis under her chin. His serpentine eyes almost glowing looking down on her, "It was just a nightmare."
There was a short silence, before Aziraphale figured he needed to explain himself, "I didn't want to wake you." He winced as his voice broke in the middle of the sentence.
Golden eyes met his and he smiled kindly at the angel, "It's fine. No problem really."
"I know but I should-" Aziraphale cut himself off, looking down.
Crowley sighed and shifted to a more comfortable position with Apopis humming quietly in his arms. "It's okay, Aziraphale. She's just a bit picky right now, eventually she will be completely comfortable with you, it takes time."
The angel bit his lip, not willing to look up into those eyes and see that pitying look.
After a moment the serpent continued, "You know, I found her trying to read the other day."
Aziraphale looked up at that, eyes wide with confusion, "Read? She can't possibly know how to yet, she can't even talk!"
Crowley laughed, "Well, she was trying awfully hard. One of those books you left over at my place. She had it open and was babbling insistently and turning pages. Poor love didn't realize it was upside down but she was giving it her best shot."
The angel laughed quietly at the news.
"She admires you a lot, angel." Crowley said softly, "She loves being in the bookshop and when you read to her. You always have the best snacks. She's gotten so picky that she won't even eat cheerios anymore, only likes the best crackers and cheeses or whatever else it is you feed her here."
Aziraphale smiled and risked a glance at the demon in front of him, there was a strange look in Crowley's eyes. Something soft and caring and beautiful. It took the angel's breath away. As soon as Crowley noticed he was looking, the look quickly washed away, replaced with a kind smile.
"I don't know what her deal is with nightmares, but I'm sure it will pass." Crowley hesitated, "She loves you angel."
"Thank you." Aziraphale breathed, a warm feeling flooding him. He gazed fondly at the demon.
Crowley shifted, holding out the child for the angel to take, "Here. I'll go gather our stuff. It's nearly time for her dinner and bedtime."
Apopis babbled happily as she was placed in the angel's arms, "Ah! Ah! Ah!"
"Okay darling." Aziraphale said smiling down at the child in his arms, he tickled her cheeks. She giggled at the touch and squirmed, shoving her face into the angel's shoulder before looking up with a playful grin. "I care for you very much my love." He ducked down, blowing raspberries into her cheeks as she squealed.
Crowley and Apopis didn't show up the next day or the day after that or even the day after that. Nothing out of the ordinary but still Aziraphale was starting to get lonely. He was looking forward to introducing the child to biscuits now that her teeth had properly grown in. The angel didn't think much about it as he curled up into his chair with a book and a nice cup of tea.
Around noon his phone rang, startling him from his trance with the book. There were a few people who had his number and actually used it. Frowning, he stared at it for a second, wondering if the person would bugger off if he didn't pick up. After a moment the ringing stopped and Aziraphale sighed contentedly, nose back in his book. The phone started to ring again only a few seconds after.
With a huff, the angel delicately folded his book closed and set the tea on the coaster. Who could possibly want to be talking to him right now? He hauled himself to the ancient telephone picking it up with a frown.
"Who-?" Aziraphale started before being interrupted by panicked breathing on the other end of the line. Was that Crowley?
"Angel!" his favorite demon exclaimed breathlessly, "Are you busy right now?"
"No, nothing in particular. Is everything okay? What happened?" The angel bit his lip, things did not sound swell. In the background he could hear Apopis' crying out in confusion.
"Yeah everyone's fine, we're fine." Crowley said much too fast. Aziraphale cocked an eyebrow and made a noise of disbelief, "It's just... she started to molt."
"Ah," Aziraphale nodded. That was why they didn't show up today, they had discussed this before. Crowley had said he was perfectly fine with dealing with the molts by himself despite Aziraphale offering help during this obviously messy time, "I'm sorry dear, there must be feathers everywhere."
"It's not just that, can you... can you come over? You need to see something."
"Of course dear, I'll be over in a jiffy." Aziraphale grabbed his coat as he spoke, listening to the demon's barely controlled breath. "Are you sure everything is alright?"
Crowley sighed into the phone, "I don't know, hoping you'll help me figure it out." With that, he hung up, leaving a concerned angel to run out of his bookshop and walk very briskly across London to the demon's flat. It was probably nothing, Crowley tended to overreact about things, Aziraphale tried to tell himself. Yet, the frantic breath in his ear left him on edge.
Young angels, and Aziraphale assumed demons, always molted quite a bit growing up. When they got to fully matured then they only molted every few years. Aziraphale had gone decades without a molt on occasion but he remembered the young days of seemingly taking hours to comb out all the dead feathers. It was not pleasant.
He walked quickly up to the flat, hearing the commotion behind the door. Apopis was screaming and Aziraphale fought the urge to burst the door open. He knocked firmly and heard the serpent stumbling footsteps approach but Apopis' noises weren't getting any closer. Why wasn't he with her?
The demon opened the door a crack and Aziraphale stared wide eyed at the demon. He had his sunglasses on, a rarity in his own home. He was pale and shaking as he held the door only slightly open.
"Did you do something to her?" He hissed darkly at the angel in his doorstep.
Aziraphale reeled at the accusation, "What? No! What happened? Is she okay?"
Crowley sighed shoulders dropping as all pretense of a threat washed away from his exhausted body. He shook his head, swinging the door fully open, letting the angel in. As he expected the ground was littered with dark feathers, he stepped in gingerly looking around for wherever Apopis was hiding. Her screams were all encompassing, making it hard to locate her.
The demon gestured to her bedroom and Aziraphale started off that way, determined to soothe those cries. Crowley didn't look like he was going to get around to it anytime soon.
The lights were off when he entered, no wonder she was crying, it was terrifying to be in the dark. He quickly flicked on the light gentle words already on his lips as he turned to the child curled up in the middle of the room screaming.
At the sight of the angel, Apopis' paused blinking up at him with wide serpentine eyes. "Ah?"
Aziraphale stumbled forward, since that was his intention before his eyes had fully taken in the sight before him. Her wings were stretched out behind her. One wing was clearly more groomed than the other, black feathers still sticking out at odd angles yet under it he saw a patch of new feathers, white feathers.
"Oh." Aziraphale collapsed to his knees before Apopis. She whimpered, crawling onto his lap and tucking herself into his coat. She started to cry again, softer this time. Aziraphale carded his hands through her wings, riding more dark feathers only to reveal fresh white ones underneath. "What?" he muttered to himself, feeling the child shudder in his lap.
"Do you know what happened?" Crowley asked, appearing out of nowhere. He rested his hip against the door frame and arms crossed to try and assert an aura of nonchalance but Aziraphale could read the fear off of him easily.
"No, I-" Aziraphale stroked her wings some more, revealing more of her wings. "This is impossible."
"What are we going to do angel?" It was obvious Crowley was trying his best to control his tone. "What is she?"
Aziraphale hesitated, curling a protective hand around her head as she tucked it into his sternum, sniffing. "Well, we can't let hell know about her."
"They don't." Crowley growled, "Heaven can't know about her either, they would destroy her."
The angel bit his lip, still caught up in his own loyalties. He just focused on combing through her wings.
After it was obvious Aziraphale wasn't going to respond, Crowley started again, "This changes things."
"What does it change?" Aziraphale asked, still in a daze at all of this information.
Crowley huffed, growing exasperated, "I can't be seen with a baby angel, Aziraphale! An infant hellspawn was already pushing it, but this..." Crowley gestured to her wings that were stretched out in Aziraphale's hand.
"How do you know she's an angel? Her eyes are still like yours." Aziraphale said quietly, not really present in the conversation. He felt numb.
Crowley groaned, "No demon, in all of hell, has wings like that! Our feathers are permanently tainted, they never go back to white."
Aziraphale nodded in a daze. "I suppose you're right, dear boy." He was feeling light headed, too much was happening too fast. The world started to spin and the angel could feel himself tilt. "I think I need to lie down."
The demon was by his side in an instant, prying the child from his arms and assisting the angel as he slumped to the side. He cursed under his breath, grabbing some pillows to rest the angel on.
Apopis made a confused noise from where she was resting on his hip, squirming to escape his arms. Once successfully out she crawled over to the angel, poking at his face. "Ah?"
"Leave him be, Poppy." Crowley muttered scooping her up as he went off in search of a suitable blanket for the angel, "He's processing."
After about half an hour, Aziraphale was confident he had his thoughts straight. He tucked the tartan blanket around his shoulders for comfort as he wandered out into the main room. Apopis was sitting between Crowley's legs on a wing outstretched as the demon patiently groomed them, sunglasses firmly in place. She had stopped crying thank someone and had a book in her lap as her wings were ridden of dead feathers.
"We should talk." Crowley muttered, not looking up as Aziraphale entered the room.
"I agree." Aziraphale nodded, sitting down in a chair opposite the pair.
The demon sighed, shifting the wing in his lap to get a difficult spot, "Any ideas on how to move forward?"
The angel nodded, "We're going to have to teach her to hide her wings. I can do some research and try and figure out what exactly she is."
"We've been on this earth for six thousand years, Aziraphale. If there was someone like her out in the world, we would know about it. You won't find anything in books." Crowley grumbled.
"Buh." Apopis contributed to the conversation unhelpfully, grinning up at Aziraphale.
"It's still worth a try." Aziraphale muttered mainly to himself as he nodded in acknowledgment of Apopis' input.
Crowley sighed, "I think we're going to have to split up the workload evenly now. My superiors are not above a little snooping, if they so much as see a white feather in this place... it's not going to be pretty."
Aziraphale nodded.
"Until she has full control of putting her wings away, it's risking both of our lives keeping her here. While they are white." Crowley added.
The angel nodded, watching Apopis turn a page in her book, "Do you- do you think they'll turn back to what they were? During the next molt?"
The demon huffed a short laugh, "I wouldn't put it past her. For all we know they may turn purple next. I'm afraid the only understanding we are going to be getting from her is raising her and seeing for ourselves."
Aziraphale smiled, one that didn't reach his eyes.
"So putting away wings. How are we going to teach her that?" Crowley asked.
"Well, in heaven," Aziraphale started, reminiscing on his own early days, "we learned to fly first before we even knew they could be hidden. It might take a while for her to take control of her corporation like that, it's a lot of concentration the first time I figured it out."
Crowley nodded, finishing one of Apopis' wings to the best of his ability and moving her so he could get to the other one. "Okay so the game plan is after this molt, I can keep her here for this one, we go somewhere and teach her how to fly. Can't teach her very well here or the bookshop, it's not safe."
"Sounds good, my dear." Aziraphale said, relaxing into the surprisingly soft chair.