Crowley was out on the porch, preparing a flower bed to add to the abundance of greenery now around the house. It had been a few weeks at the house and the three of them were all settling in quite nicely. Apopis was absolutely delighted to have her two caretakers only a room away at nearly all times. Her and Aziraphale had headed down to the bookshop a few times while Crowley checked on her flat, but nothing was out of the ordinary. The two didn't have much work to be done at the moment.
Though Crowley was a little apprehensive of what Hell was planning - they had been silent for much too long - she tried to ignore it in favor of starting her garden. A real one that wasn't hidden in a little greenroom in London. She had gotten all the equipment and plants that she hoped would one day grow into a fruitful garden for this place.
She hummed quietly as she worked, only noticing a little Apopis, featuring a tartan bow tie, shuffle up to her with a suspicious looking smirk.
"Oh no. Did he make you wear that?" Crowley frowned taking the bow tie off immediately, it absolutely did not go with the rest of her outfit.
Apopis giggled and swayed a bit on her feet, holding her hands behind her as if she had a secret, "You are nice." she said with a mischievous smirk.
Crowley gaped at her, "What?"
"Yur the nicest Dee evah!" she screeched and Crowley covered her mouth immediately, looking around for if anyone heard. Thankfully, their wards around their plot of land kept the humans ignorant of what went on within their gates. Crowley growled deep in her throat. She had not taught Poppy that language but she had an idea of who had.
"That angel." She muttered under her breath, "Filling your head with nonsense. I'm not nice." Faintly she heard Aziraphale's giggle from where Poppy had left the door open and her blood boiled. Two could play at this game. Slowly she let go of Apopis' mouth, hoping the child would keep those atrocities to herself.
"Nice nice neese! Neese...?" she mumbled to herself, getting a bit lost in the pronunciation.
Crowley quickly shushed her, "No no. I'm not nice. Dee isn't nice, understand?" She removed her sunglasses briefly to try and make the point clear. Apopis just giggled and bit her lip, looking up at the demon expectantly, "Listen here love, I need you to do something for me." she tugged her closer so she could whisper into her ear. "Go to Az."
"Go to az." she repeated just as quietly.
Crowley nodded, "Yes, and scream as loud as you can 'bastard!' okay?" at the sound of her inhaling deeply as if she was about to scream right now, Crowley covered her mouth, "scream at Az, not me."
Apopis nodded and Crowley let go of her mouth, "bas-turd." she tried the foreign word on her tongue.
"Close enough. Now remember: go to Az, then scream 'bastard'" Crowley said, putting both her hands on the child's shoulders to make sure she understood.
"Bas-turd," she nodded and Crowley spun her around to march her back into the house. Once Apopis was inside, Crowley scampered back to the flower bed she was gardening, waiting for the chaos to begin.
Aziraphale must have gone back to his study, because a few moments later she heard the faint shrill voice of her dear Apopis screaming 'Bas-turd!' through quite a few walls. The demon grinned at the sound of something thumping to the ground - probably a book the angel was holding. Not a moment later the angel was racing out to the porch where Crowley was trying her best to look nonchalant even though all she really wanted to do was to giggle her head off.
"How dare you!" Aziraphale reprimanded, stomping over to the demon angrily. Apopis followed shortly after, laughing at all the antics.
Crowley shrugged and shifted some dirt around in the garden, trying to look like she was doing something important, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You can't just-!" Aziraphale groaned in frustration, "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
"What? You expect I wouldn't retaliate?" Crowley smirked, arching a single brow over her sunglasses, "Fair is fair."
The angel rolled his eyes, "She can't just go around with that kind of vocabulary! Mine was completely polite and totally harmless."
"Wrong. It was offensive." Crowley corrected, clapping the dirt off her hands and moving to stand so she was eye level with the angel, "You know how I feel about four letter words."
Aziraphale huffed and looked very flustered, "This isn't over." he muttered, moving away from the demon, "Come along Apopis- wait... Where's her bow tie?"
Crowley shrugged, pocketing the thing in her back pocket so Aziraphale wouldn't see, "Dunno."
The angel glared, clearly not believing her but tugged Apopis inside, leaving Crowley to her gardening.
The rest of the evening Crowley was harassed by the child and angel. Being called 'sweet' 'kind' and even 'good'. She was about ready to burst with anger but of course she retaliated, teaching Apopis all kinds of curse words such as 'shit' 'damn' and her favorite 'mother-ducker' (she wasn't quite so fond of her using the actual phrase considering it might actually push the angel over the edge but 'ducker' was close enough).
Apopis relished in all the attention and was loving this little feud going on. She raced all around the house screaming the words at the top of her lungs to get a reaction out of one of her 'guardians'. It was quite an amusing afternoon and by lunch the angel and demon were glaring at each other across the table as Apopis ate. Aziraphale hadn't touched his food.
"Yer sweet." she commented towards Crowley and watched in delight as the demon scowl deepened.
"No I'm not... Insult angel." she muttered.
Apopis grinned and turned to Aziraphale, "Mahter-duckher."
The angel gave a dramatic gasp and glared even more intensely at the demon across from him, "Don't say that Apopis." he commented offhandedly. "Tell Crowley what she is."
"Good!" Apopis squealed at the top of her lungs.
Crowley slammed her hands on the table, "That's it!" she stood. "I won't stand for you teaching her those- those traitorous lies! I'm leaving, going to do something really evil. You happy now angel?" she snarled, "I'll take down some power lines."
"Oh not the powerlines." Aziraphale moaned, taking the dishes away from Poppy. "The hospitals need power."
"They have generators." Crowley grunted, already grabbing her jacket and moving out the door. Aziraphale pouted dramatically from the kitchen, "Fine I'll take down the phone lines, you don't use those anyways." she slammed the door on her way out.
Apopis looked up in distress, "Row leev?"
"Only for a short while, love." Aziraphale said, quickly heading back to the child's chair to reassure her. "She'll be back tonight."
"Mad?" Poppy raised her arms so she could be lifted out of the chair.
"No, she's not mad. We were playing a game and she got frustrated and needed to leave." Aziraphale said gently, placing her back on the ground.
Apopis nodded but still looked a little upset. Aziraphale knew that she hated when they weren't together and she was bound to have another tantrum if he didn't do something quick.
"You know what? Why don't we go somewhere?" He offered, walking with Apopis back to her room, "We can go and check on the bookshop. You like the shop, don't you?"
There was a change in the child's demeanor immediately, "Shop!" she cheered, then a stern, "No herness."
"Yes, you need the harness," Aziraphale chided, picking up the dratted thing from one of Apopis' drawers. "It's the rules, you got to hide your wings in public."
She stomped her feet in retaliation but reluctantly let Aziraphale bind up her wings so they could hide under a jacket. "Then food fur treet."
"Food?" Aziraphale frowned, "You just ate, and you want more?" Poppy nodded smugly. Guess you really do take after me, he thought to himself, "What do you say to some sushi?"'
Apopis giggled and bounded towards the door, grabbing her jacket from the coat rack, "Go go!" she cheered, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. Aziraphale shook his head and followed, making sure she had covered herself up adequately before heading out to call a taxi. Absentmindedly, he miracled a note on the table to let the demon know where they had gone, in the event that she got back before him.
As soon as Crowley took down the phone lines, her phone rang.
"What the fu-?" She started in frustration. How was her phone ringing if she had literally just taken down the phone lines? She saw the user and realized her mistake, "Shit."
With a groan, she reluctantly answered Hell's call.
The time has come, follow these directions...
The demon gritted her teeth as her orders were transferred to her the good ol' fashioned hellish way. She had to go to a graveyard, meet with Hastur and Ligur - those bastards - for an exchange of some sort. Wonderful.
With a quick miracle, she donned a more masculine form. Whenever making deals with devils, her male form tended to tide over better with them. She didn't know why, but it just did.
Rolling his shoulders, he dawned the appropriate clothes and pressed his glasses secularly to his face. He didn't know why Hell had called but it wasn't a complete surprise. Crowley had known that Hell was planning something these past few months. The tensions were palpable and it was only a matter of time before they asked something of him. And this was it.
He sighed as he reluctantly got into the Bentley to do whatever Hell bid of him.
"Feesh!" Apopis whispered in awe, looking at the fishtank that was off in the waiting area. Obviously Aziraphale wouldn't be waiting for a table, he was an angel and had miracled one open for them. "Luk Az feesh!" Apopis said, tugging on Aziraphale's sleeve excitedly.
The angel realized in a moment that Apopis had never actually seen most of the animals in her many picture books. That had to change at some point. "Yes love, that's a fish." he said, tapping gently on the glass. "Listen, I'm going to go order us some food, you can wait here and look at the fish. Don't go anywhere."
Apopis nodded distractedly, pressing her face against the glass to try and get a better look.
Aziraphale set himself at the bar and greeted the staff that all knew him. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept an eye on Apopis, making sure she stayed out of trouble. So far, she was perfectly happy to just watch the fish go round and round the tank.
Not a moment later did his plate of sushi get placed in front of him - compliments to the chef - and Aziraphale turned to call for Poppy to join him when something in the mirror caught his eye. His heart sank.
"Gabriel? What an unexpected pleasure."
"Shit shit shit shit!" Crowley cursed as he raced down the motorway. No way had he thought this was coming. He should have seen the signs. He knew Hell was up to something and now in eleven short years the world would be over. Apopis. For someone's sake, he shook his head, she was still a child. The world would end before she had even lived!
The radio static interrupted his thoughts and soon his brain was bombarded with more orders from hell.
Aziraphale had tried not to look over to Apopis during the whole conversation with Gabriel. He tried to keep his nerves to himself but in reality, he was internally freaking out. Apopis was right there. What would happen if Gabriel saw? What if her jacket slipped and her black wings were exposed? How would Gabriel react?
Not well, Aziraphale assumed. Please keep her safe, don't let him see, the angel prayed silently. This was a mistake. He shouldn't have come here tonight, he should have had Crowley take Apopis. She was probably having a better time right now, taking down phone lines. And as much as Aziraphale disapproved of the action, that was a far better option than having her hanging out under an archangel's nose.
He barely paid attention to what Gabriel was saying, only as much to prove he was listening. He didn't engage too much in hopes that it would make him leave faster. Why won't he leave?
When Gabriel finally did leave, the principality immediately leapt to action. Snapping the food into takeout bags he raced over to Apopis and picked her up. She let out a surprised yelp as Aziraphale walked very swiftly to the bookshop.
Poppy was getting a little big to be carrying so leisurely but that didn't matter to the angel, they needed to get somewhere safe now. Apopis knew better than to whine, she had felt the tension in the angel and shared in his fear. She might not have understood why she needed to be scared, only that she did.
"Az?" she whispered into his ear as he nearly barreled through the shop door, "why scare? Sum'n ron?"
Aziraphale heaved a heavy sigh and gently set her down on the shop floor. "No no dear, nothing's wrong. Everything's alright, we're just going to stay here for a while, alright?"
Tears made their way to Poppy's now slitted eyes as she looked up at an obviously scared angel.
"Sh, it's okay love." Aziraphale cooed, trying desperately to get himself under control for the sake of Apopis. "I just got a little scared, but it's okay though! Row should be here very soon, she'll make everything all better."
Despite the angel's attempts, Apopis started to cry silently. The angel sighed, kneeling down next to her and pulled her into a tight hug.
"I know things are confusing, love." he rubbed her back comfortingly. He absentmindedly took off her jacket and undid her harness, letting the dark wings stretch out behind her. "Why don't you get some sleep, come along dear."
He stood, and led her hand in hand to the back room where there was a little nook added on where she used to sleep - when living at the bookshop. It would serve their purposes now.
Aziraphale snapped a pair of pj's onto the child and picked up one of her favorite books, handing it over. "Read to me?" He asked.
Apopis couldn't read, but she tried her hardest. From the pictures she would usually come up with fantastical stories. Or, if Aziraphale had read the story to her often enough, she would try to recount it to the best of her ability. Her memory was quite remarkable.
Tonight's story was about three bears who owned a bed and breakfast and were horribly neglectful to their customer. Meanwhile Aziraphale sat behind her and combed through her feathers soothingly. Grooming did wonders to calm her down and him. Soon enough her words slurred and she melted into the angel's arms. At that point, Aziraphale knew that it was time for bed.
"Sleep well my love." the angel murmured, kissing her forehead as he gently tucked her into her bed. With a small miracle, he made sure she would be able to sleep through the night. Now, all that was left was to wait for Crowley to inevitably show up.
It turned out Crowley did not head over to the bookshop that evening, much to Apopis' and Aziraphale's displeasure. The demon didn't want to leave an obvious trail to them so he decided to stay at his old mayfair flat for the evening instead. Poppy was quite confused when Aziraphale and her headed to St. James park the next afternoon to see Row looking much more masculine and sprawled along a park bench.
"Dee!" she cheered, running forward despite Aziraphale's orders to slow down and lept up into the demon's lap.
"Hello love." Crowley grunted, "Here's some bread, why don't you feed the ducks for a bit? Az and I have some talking to do."
Apopis took the bread eagerly and ran off to chase the ducks and swans around.
Aziraphale sat stiffly at the other end of the bench, trying his hardest to not look like he recognized the person next to him, "Sorry about that."
Crowley sighed, "She's just a child, bound to blow our cover at some point if we keep this up. Now with armageddon on the rise, our sides will be breathing down our backs."
"It's quite unfortunate," the angel said primly, craning his neck to see where she had run off to. "You're taking her this time, if she molts I can't have those feathers around the shop."
Crowley turned and looked at the angel as if he had been slapped in the face, "We're going back to that?!"
Aziraphale nodded.
"What happened to 'can't raise her in a split home'?" the demon asked with a raised brow, "What about our house in South Downs?"
The angel gulped, "As you said, our sides will be breathing down our backs; we can't afford to mess up now."
Crowley stuttered a retort before settling on, "We have a little time."
To be truthful, Aziraphale didn't want to give up the house or the little life they had created for Apopis either. If they had been under the radar for the past year with Apopis and in the sushi shop where she was literally under Gabriel's nose, there couldn't be much harm. "Fine, I'll give it a bit more but at the first sign of trouble we're back to the old system."
The demon seemed to relax at that and breathed deeply, "Alright I can work with that."
They continued to converse about the end times and what that would mean for them. Aziraphale was constantly checking up on Apopis who kept inching closer and closer to the water, trying to chuck pieces of bread at the ducks further away. Crowley seemed much more preoccupied with needling at Aziraphale's philosophy and convincing him that the apocalypse was a bad idea. The angel was yet to be convinced.
After a moment of silence and the angel looking in the demon's general direction Crowley muttered, "Shit," under his breath, eyes trained out on the water.
Aziraphale whirled, the worst scenarios coming to ming. The one time he hadn't been looking at Apopis and... "Oh." he gasped. Apopis was standing a bit from the shoreline out on top of the water with the crumbs in hand, bending over to feed a duck. At a glance, it looked like she was waded in like a human - or demon - but once you looked a little closer, you could see her shoes barely touching the surface of the water. "Apopis!" Aziraphale got to his feet and walked briskly to where she was.
Crowley followed from a distance.
"Love, come back please." Aziraphale asked, holding out his hand for her to take as he tried to get her off the water.
Apopis hummed a little distracted as a duck started to circle her. She pelted it with bread crumbs.
"Apopis." the angel's voice was stern now and grabbed the child's attention.
She looked up with wide blue eyes and grinned. "Fee duck!" she cheered.
"Yes yes, now come over here, love." Aziraphale repeated, gesturing to his side and Apopis reluctantly followed.
Crowley sauntered up to them, still a good few feet apart, "She's never done that before." He murmured.
"Yes, well... she's never had the opportunity." Aziraphale commented, letting go of her hand so she could race forward towards the Bentley. He was reminded of last night and her fascination with the fish. There was still so much she hadn't seen or understood; and the apocalypse was in just a few short years to take it all away from her. But what could be done?