~ Sand and Feathers ~

True to his word, Crowley wasn't bothered by his partner reading beside him, not even when little Tiara clambered over him to get to Aziraphale and demanded to be read a story. Not quite as true to his earlier words, Crowley was not overly bothered when a book did fall on his head - perhaps because it was a rather light and thin children's book (even though it was a hardbound copy), not whatever large and heavy thing Aziraphale had previously been reading.

"I distinctly recall asking you not to drop a book on my head, angel," the demon grumbled, handing the battered copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar back to him.

"Oh, dear... are you terribly upset about it?" Aziraphale asked, sounding worried. "I didn't mean to let go of the book, but Tiara kept poking her fingers through the holes and I lost my grip on it."

At this pronouncement, Crowley turned over and looked up at him, all irritation wiped from his face by the expression of shock which now replaced it.

"You own a book with holes in it?"

"The holes aren't damage; they're supposed to be there. It's part of the book. And this isn't from my collection. Katan brought some storybooks for the child. Ah, no! Stop that." The last bit was directed at the child, who was reaching out a curious finger toward Crowley's eye, and would have surely poked him in it if Aziraphale had not stopped her.

"You've got funny eyes," the angel child said to the demon. "Are they real?"

Crowley just lay there blinking up at her as he tried to process the question. He had never spent much time around small children (and in the six millennia he'd lived, no the handful of years he'd spent looking after Warlock Dowling did not count as much time).

At length, he responded, "Yes, these are my real eyes. Don't touch them."

"Are you a cat?"

"Most definitely not."

"Then what are you?"

"A demon."

"Okay," Tiara said, with that strange note of finality that children take when they are entirely done with a conversation. She leaned back against Aziraphale (upon whose lap she was perched), and said, "You can read now."

Crowley wondered if the child had ever seen a demon before, since she accepted his answer so easily, without pointing out that other demons didn't have eyes like his either. He turned over so he was lying fully on his side, but this time facing toward Aziraphale rather than being turned away from him, watching and listening as his partner read the storybook to the child.

It was slow going, as Tiara still seemed more interested in trying to stick her little fingers through every hole in the book's pages than she did in actually hearing the story.

Crowley was starting to doze off by the time they finally got to the part of the story where the caterpillar had gotten very fat from all the things he ate. Upon reaching this point in the story, Tiara put her hand on the page to stop Aziraphale from turning it, and proclaimed, "Like you!"

Crowley felt offended on his partner's behalf, but Aziraphale merely smiled and ruffled the child's hair affectionately.

"Yes, little one," he said. "Now move your hand if you want to hear the rest of the story."

It was rather late in the morning when Rosiel woke. He sat up and stretched, extricating himself from Katan with a fluid catlike grace as he did so.

Upon noticing that one of the other angels was finally up, Crowley said to child, "Oh, look! Your daddy's awake. Why don't you go to him?"

Tiara looked over to the second bed and, seeing that it was Rosiel who was up and that Katan still was not, the child remained firmly stuck to Aziraphale. For his part, Aziraphale was not at all impressed with the dismissive manner in which Rosiel treated the child. It was clear to him that Rosiel had only accepted responsibility for the child because his partner wished it, not that he had any particular interest in helping to raise the child.

Aziraphale had already read The Very Hungry Caterpillar out loud a dozen times. (For some reason that Crowley could not fathom, the child didn't want to hear any story other than that one, even though there were several others available to choose from.) Somewhere around the seventh read-through Crowley had noticed that his angel's enthusiasm for reading the story to the child was starting to become a bit strained. After a bit of contemplation on the matter, he realized it wasn't that Aziraphale was losing patience with the child or with the repetitive task, but that breakfast was overdue. However, not wanting to disturb the sleeping angel couple, Aziraphale had doggedly continued reading.

"Anyway," Crowley said, standing up from the bed. "It's about time for breakfast, isn't it?"

"Or past it," Aziraphale said.

Turning to address Rosiel, Crowley said pointedly, "You can watch your own kid while we go have breakfast, right?"

Rosiil gave a delicate shrug and began playing the ends of his hair between his fingers, seemingly disinterested in the subject. "I suppose."

The child, who had previously shown no interest in food or eating, continued to cling to Aziraphale but looked toward Crowley as she asked, "Can I have a breakfast too?"

"Well, that's settled, then. Tiara is coming with us," said Aziraphale, already carrying the child toward the door as he said it.

"What kind of name is Tiara anyway?" Crowley asked on the way out. "Isn't that some type of crown?"

The child, who did not know much about types of crowns, but did know here own name, informed the demon: "It's short for Teialiel."

~to be continued~