A fair while after the Apocalypse was averted.

February 2015.

Aziraphale was sat in the backroom of his bookshop with a book in hand and a glass of wine sat on the table beside him. He was so engrossed in the book he was reading that he didn't notice the beam of blue light that shot down from the ceiling onto the floor before him.

"Good morning, Aziraphale."

Aziraphale let out a startled yelp and dropped his book. "Oh…er, hello!"

"It is I, the Metatron."

"Oh! What a lovely surprise!" Aziraphale said with a forced jolliness. He was painfully aware that the last time they had spoken had been at the airbase when he had interrupted the Metatron's conversation with the Antichrist in order to poke holes in his argument. "How are y-"

"Listen. Aziraphale. We've all been thinking and it's about time for some changes to how things are run. Some improvements."

"Okay…" said Aziraphale slowly.

"We are doing some restructuring. Briathos is innovative. We think having him on Earth in a permanent position will be beneficial to the cause."

Although Aziraphale vaguely recognised the name, he did not know Briathos all that well. He hoped that they would get along okay, especially if they were required to work together.

"Er… Okay. Well, that sounds great. Having two angels with permanent positions on Earth will-"

"No. You misunderstand. There will still only be one angel on Earth in a permanent fashion. You are to take up your old position guarding the Eastern Gate. You were very good at that. I think you'll enjoy it. Just like old times."

Aziraphale felt like he had just been punched in the gut. He stared into the light, horrified. "But, really, I mean-"

"It's been decided."

"But I… I make a real difference here! I do good things and I can thwart like anything!"

"It is felt that you have become a bit… complacent. You are too close to that demon."

Aziraphale tried desperately to explain. "No! You don't understand, we just have this little Arrangement you see-"

"Yes. An agreement that you don't meddle in his affairs?"

"No no no! He doesn't meddle in my divine plans! And I can veto anything he comes up with. He listens to-"

The Metatron sounded annoyed. "We need someone who is going to fight the forces of evil, not make deals with them. It is final, Aziraphale. It is time for someone else to have a turn. You are to return to Heaven immediately."

"What? Now?! But…" He couldn't leave now, Crowley would have no idea what had happened to him. He had to say goodbye. He couldn't bear to just abandon him without a word. "I need to sort out my affairs first. The bookshop-"

"No!" the Metatron boomed angrily. "I have heard this from you before! You were told to return to Heaven to join the ranks of our army, but instead I found you still on Earth. And you argued with me, Aziraphale! In front of Beelzebub! In front of the Anti-christ!"

"I…sorry…"

"I don't want to hear it! You are lucky I decided to forgive your insolence and not escalate the matter to a disciplinary."

"Er… thank you."

"Your replacement will take over the shop. He will deal with that demon. If you do not step into the light in the next ten seconds I shall be very upset!"

"Right! Right!" Aziraphale whimpered fearfully. He leapt to his feet, grabbed his wine and downed it in one gulp and then all but sprinted into the light and was gone.

Crowley walked into Aziraphale's bookshop. It was late afternoon and they had plans to go out for dinner.

He spotted a customer who was leaning against a bookshelf reading one of Aziraphale's books. Crowley was surprised that Aziraphale had not gotten rid of this guy yet, especially considering the way he was bending the book's spine which made even Crowley wince.

"This is not a library," Crowley informed him as he strolled past. He moved towards the desk at the back of the shop. "Aziraphale?"

The angel wasn't at his desk. Crowley assumed that he was in the back room or in a corner somewhere sorting through his books. "Angel?"

Crowley turned around and jumped when he realised the customer was suddenly standing right beside him.

"He's not here," the man said with a smile that was halfway to becoming a smirk.

"What? Who the hell are you?" Crowley asked angrily.

"I'm Briathos. Aziraphale has been called back to Heaven." He was full-on smirking now, a cruel glint in his eye. "He's not coming back. I'm his replacement. I'm in charge now."

Crowley felt as though the world was falling away beneath him. He was speechless for a moment as the words sunk in. "What do you mean he's not coming back? Why?"

"Why?" The new angel laughed. "Why do you think? He's a liability! He helped avert the apocalypse! He's been fraternising with the enemy for the past 6000 years, ever since Eden! It's honestly a wonder that Management have taken this long to finally take action against him."

It had been years since they had saved the world and Crowley had honestly thought they had gotten away with it. His side were pretending it hadn't even happened and upstairs seemed to be doing the same. He had thought they were safe. Adam had told them they were safe, he had told them not to worry.

Briathos leaned closer, enjoying the panic on the demon's face. "He's in deep trouble now, I dare not think what they have in store for him. I would almost feel sorry for him but then again he has brought this on himself. He deserves to be punished."

"Shut up, you little shit!" Crowley shouted, furious and terrified. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare. What were they going to do to Aziraphale? He couldn't bear the thought of it.

Briathos tutted. "Language," he said with a little chuckle, as though Crowley's anger was funny. "You are not going to get an easy ride anymore. I don't make deals with demons, unlike some people."

Crowley took off his sunglasses and got right up in Briathos's face, golden snake eyes boring into cold grey. "You're going to regret coming down here. I'm going to make your existence a living hell!"

"Really? Good luck with that." Briathos did not appear in the least bit intimidated, in fact he just looked bored. "Now if you don't mind, I'm very busy. I've got several buyers interested in this little shop-"

"You're not going to sell Aziraphale's shop!" Crowley spluttered.

"It's not Aziraphale's shop anymore, it's mine. Everything that once belonged to him is now mine. There are plenty of interested buyers. I'll probably sell all these books too, or just destroy them."

Crowley couldn't believe what he was hearing, Briathos was systemically erasing any evidence that Aziraphale had ever been on Earth. Crowley believed with a desperate optimism that Aziraphale would somehow return to Earth, back to his books, back to his shop, back to him. Aziraphale had to come back.

"You have no idea what you're up against! I'm responsible for the M25! I have so many evil ideas up my sleeve – things I have been holding back because I knew Aziraphale would complain – but that doesn't matter now! Now I can do whatever I want! I am going to tarnish and ruin every soul in the UK and there's nothing you can do to stop me-"

"What? And you think that will get you your precious Aziraphale back? Do you really think Heaven will just swap us over again? Nothing you do will give you a happy ending with your little angel."

"I don't care about him!" Crowley lied. He had to lie because he couldn't let this bastard know just how much Aziraphale meant to him. "All I care about is making your pathetic little existence miserable."

"You know, it's silly isn't it? Us both on Earth, you tempting humans, me thwarting you and saving their souls. I miss the old times, where I'd have just killed you."

Crowley stared at him and quickly forced a grin onto his face. "Ha! I'd like to see you try!"

He really really wouldn't.

Crowley stormed out of the bookshop, shouting insults over his shoulder as he went. He got into the Bentley and quickly drove around the corner and parked so that the replacement angel couldn't see him.

He rested his forehead against the steering wheel of the car and tried to calm down.

Crowley had been terrified of repercussions from Hell. They had threatened him when they had first realised that Warlock was not the antichrist, they had told him that he would get a chance to explain everything whilst interesting things happened to him. His own imagination had supplied many horrible scenarios, but ultimately they had been promising two of his least favourite things: Torture and public speaking.

He had always thought Aziraphale would be okay. Maybe a stern telling off but that would be it.

They were punishing Aziraphale.

But why after all this time? What had changed to make them take action now? What punishment was he facing?

Crowley's imagination was running wild. He knew how cruel and sadistic some angels could be. Many were capable of hurting someone with a horrific self-righteousness fury whilst believing that what they were doing was divine justice.

Crowley felt responsible. It was his fault, he had convinced Aziraphale to help him stop the apocalypse. They should never have become so close to each other. They should never have been friends.

He angrily hit the steering wheel several times then sat up. He had to do something to help Aziraphale. There had to be something he could do.

Adam. He could help. He had powers.

It was the only thing he could think of.

He drove to Lower Tadfield, doing no less than 100mph the entire way and came to a screeching halt outside of the Young family home. He knocked on the door and a middle aged lady answered.

"Hello?" she said.

"Er… is Adam about?"

"Who are you?

"Crowley. Anthony Crowley," he said, accidently feeling a little bit like James bond but being too worried to actually enjoy it.

The name clearly did not ring any bells with the woman, but then again it was not as though Adam would have been regaling his parents with tales of the angel and the demon he met.

"Adam doesn't live here anymore, he moved out a few years ago."

Of course he had. He'd be a young man now.

"Can you give me his address?" Crowley asked desperately.

There was a short pause in which it became apparent to Crowley that Adam's mother did not want to give away her son's address to a complete stranger. "He's gone away on holiday but he said he would ring me when they land. Can I pass on a message?"

Dammit. Why was the antichrist always so hard to find. "Um yes…" He paused as the lady grabbed a pen and paper from a side table. He repeated his name and gave her his mobile number. She scribbled them down.

"Tell him… tell him I'm worried about Aziraphale."

"About what? How do I spell that?"

He resisted the urge to take the pen and paper from her and write it himself. "Tell him I'm worried about the angel."

She looked up at him like he was mad. "Okay."

She wrote it down.

He got back into the car and just sat there for a while, staring miserably into the distance until he realised that the woman was watching him suspiciously from the window. He drove away.

He put on some music to try to help calm his nerves.

'Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters'

He interrupted the song to do something he rarely chose to do. He contacted Hell.

"CROWLEY? WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"Hi! Er… so there's a new angel. Briathos. Aziraphale has gone back to… er. He's been replaced… I don't suppose you know anything about what's going on?"

"WHAT? THEY HAVE REPLACED THEIR OPERATIVE? THAT'S WEIRD. THANKS FOR LETTING US KNOW. WE'LL UPDATE OUR FILES."

They knew even less about it than he did. "You'll let me know if you find out anything…" he stopped. They had already hung up on him.

The music started up again.

'Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind.'

He turned the music off and drove the rest of the way home in silence and tried not to think about what horrors Aziraphale was facing.

This was absolute torture.

Aziraphale sat idly in the grass beside the Eastern Gate and sighed. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this bored.

Surely guarding the Eastern Gate hadn't been this boring 6000 years ago, had it? He had fond memories of those days. Perhaps it was just because his life on Earth had been so fun and this just seemed boring in comparison.

But no, Adam and Eve used to be here. And Crowley. They had made things interesting but now he was here all alone. He would get a handful of angelic visitors each day but they were more interested in wandering around the beautiful gardens then they were in talking to him.

Aziraphale felt very lonely. He got the impression that the other angels thought he was a bit weird and didn't want to talk to him. To be fair though, that wasn't anything new. Maybe that was why he'd been so ready to talk to Crowley when the serpent had first slithered up beside him so long ago.

He missed Crowley so much. Sometimes they went weeks without seeing each other but that was different, he had always known he could see Crowley anytime if he really wanted to, and now he didn't even know if he would ever see the demon again.

He missed Earth. He missed his books, his shop, listening to good music, getting manicures, going to the barbers, going clothes shopping, going out for dinner…

Food! Oh God, how he missed food. His angelic form, unlike his physical form on Earth, was unable to eat or taste. Yet the Garden of Eden was full of food - fruit and vegetables - he could see it all and he craved it. He would kill just to be able to eat one single strawberry.

He missed his human body so badly but he was not allowed it here, even in Eden which existed on the outskirts of Heaven so tantalisingly close to the Earth.

His divine body was unable to do lots of things, no matter how much he tried to alter it. It couldn't sleep. He'd never been a massive fan of sleep - that had always been more Crowley's thing - but Aziraphale liked to nap occasionally, mostly just because he enjoyed having dreams, they were fascinating. He wished he could sleep now, it would be something to do.

His angelic form was sexless and for thousands of years his human body had been sexless too. He had looked down on lust, it caused so many problems amongst humans and he had felt that he was better off without something so inherently sinful. He had, foolishly, felt that sexuality was beneath him.

Then he actually decided to give it a go. Well, the end of the world was coming up, and he had known that once their side inevitably won he would not be able to change his angelic body in that way. He had wanted to try it, on his own of course, just once. He wanted to know what it felt like.

Oh, but had been divine. Sexuality was a gift from God, not a curse. He didn't know why he had wasted so many centuries not doing this. He didn't leave his bedroom for a month except when he got hungry.

There had been problems of course, like how does one go about their day with one of those casually in their trousers? And sexuality comes with its own set of turn-ons and insecurities which quite took him quite off guard.

Also, he had a massive crush on Crowley but he thought he was doing a pretty good job of keeping that a secret. Crowley didn't even know that he had a sex-drive, let alone that he wanted him.

Before making the effort, Aziraphale had been afraid that Crowley would somehow find out and try to tempt him with his demonic wiles. Now, he was afraid that he wouldn't.

Aziraphale doubted that Crowley would be attracted to him like that, but it wasn't until after he became sexual that he started doubt his attractiveness in that way. Crowley was all suave, sexy coolness and could have anyone he wanted. He just looked like a stuffy librarian.

He felt sure that Crowley would be unable to contain his laughter if he found out that he, an angel, felt desire, especially if he knew it was aimed towards him.

And now, it didn't matter because it was too late. He would never know what it felt like to have sex with anyone, least of all Crowley. He was probably going to spend the rest of his miserable existence here in Heaven.

If he ever got back to Earth, he would tell Crowley how he felt about him.

Except he'd sort of made that promise to himself before, hadn't he? At the airbase, as Beelzebub and the Metatron did their level best to urge Adam to trigger the Apocalypse, Aziraphale had felt regret for never having told Crowley how he felt. Crowley might have been willing to sleep with him all along so Aziraphale had decided that if they survived he would confess all.

He hadn't. He'd been too scared and embarrassed to even tell him he was sexual.

Aziraphale sat pondering all of this, stewing in his own misery, when he heard footsteps approaching. An angel! Someone who he might be able to talk to, maybe even wrangle a bit of conversation from!

Aziraphale jumped to his feet and turned towards the newcomer, he was surprised to find that he recognised him. The angel's name was Rachmiel. He came to Earth occasionally and would visit Aziraphale in the bookshop to discuss their recent good deeds.

Aziraphale had always suspected that Rachmiel had been sent by Head Office to check up on him, but Rachmiel was always friendly and polite so he had not disliked the visits too much though he was always careful what he said. He'd always felt a little wary of the other angel, but now he wished that he had made a bit more effort to befriend him.

"Hallo, dear boy," said Aziraphale hopefully.

"Good Morning," said Rachmiel, "I heard you were back on the Eastern Gate, so I thought I'd stop by to say hello."

Aziraphale beamed.

"How are you finding it? Being back on the gate?" Rachmiel asked.

"Oh… er, it's great. Really great." Aziraphale said, forcing a smile.

"Glad to hear it." Rachmiel looked him up and down. "It's strange to see you in robes instead of your human clothing. And with your wings out."

"Ah, yes. I do feel odd not wearing a bowtie."

Rachmiel leant against the wall. "I've heard they are not letting you back on Earth? Even for a visit?"

"That's right," said Aziraphale sadly.

"Well that sucks. I hope they'll change their minds." Rachmiel glanced around and then leant closer. He lowered his voice. "To be honest, I think it was a bit rude, the way they just dragged you back here like that, after all the good work you have done on Earth."

"Well… er… they're restructuring so-"

"Is that what they told you? Restructuring my a- derriere!" Rachmiel snorted. "This is all Briathos' doing, he's been after your job for centuries. He's been pestering Gabriel non-stop, especially after the failed Great War - that just gave him more ammunition. I think Gabriel only gave him the job in order to shut him up."

"Oh," said Aziraphale, genuinely surprised. "I thought it was the Metatron's idea."

"Nah, he doesn't worry himself with us lot. He has bigger fish to fry, whatever they are." Rachmiel turned to Aziraphale and grinned, a glint in his eye. "Aziraphale, I've been meaning to ask you, there's been this rumour going around…"

Aziraphale tensed, fearing what the angels might have been saying about him.

"On the day when Armageddon was supposed to happen, did you really argue with the Metatron?"

Aziraphale hesitated. "Argue is a strong word. It was more of a debate."

Rachmiel laughed. "You never fail to surprise me, Aziraphale. I wish I'd been there."

Aziraphale smiled.

"We'll see how Briathos gets on anyway. If he's terrible they'll swap you back again."

"Do you really think so?" Aziraphale asked excitedly.

"Sure. He's still on probation. This is just a trial."

"The Metatron never told me that."

"I'm surprised Gabriel didn't tell you at least."

"He never tells me anything," Aziraphale said bitterly.

Rachmiel shrugged. He turned to Aziraphale thoughtfully. "Briathos always said that the Arrangement you had with that demon was a bad idea, but personally I always thought it was a pretty smart way of keeping that creature under control. What's going to stop it from causing chaos now? Well, if the demon does ruin Briathos's plans, that'll help you get your job back at least."

"Poor Crowley. I do hope he's alright." Aziraphale said sadly. "I never even got a chance to explain what was happening, he must think I vanished without a trace."

Rachmiel gave him a stern look. "You see that demon through rose-tinted glasses. They are dangerous, you should be very careful around it."

"Crowley's not so bad really," Aziraphale said, annoyed by the way Rachmiel was talking about his friend.

"Those creatures can never truly be tamed," Rachmiel warned.

"Crowley isn't a… a dog!" Aziraphale snapped. "And Crowley is a he, not an it!"

Rachmiel gave a surprised laugh. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend. You really are quite fond of that demon, aren't you?"

Aziraphale stared at the floor.

Rachmiel sighed. "I'm sure this Crowley will bump into Briathos at some point. He goes to your shop sometimes, right? Briathos is bound to explain the situation."

"Oh, I hope they won't be at each other's throats," worried Aziraphale.

"I'm going to Earth shortly, I'll check in on Briathos while I'm there and see how things are going."

"Could you let Crowley know what's going on, please?" Aziraphale pleaded. He realised instantly that he'd made a mistake.

"Are you mad?" Rachmiel said furiously. "I'm not going to talk to a demon."

"I… sorry. Of course not. I shouldn't have asked. I'm just ever so worried, that's all."

Rachmiel rolled his eyes and sighed. "Listen. If you want to write a letter, I'll get it to him. How's that?"

"Oh thank you! Please! I'll give you his address and you can drop it off-"

"I'll post it, Aziraphale. I'm not going to a demon's abode."

"Oh! Yes, of course, silly me." Aziraphale laughed awkwardly. He waved a hand and a quill and paper appeared.

Aziraphale held his pen over the paper, ready to write 'Dear Crowley' at the top of the page but he hesitated. What if Rachmiel read it? What if he just took the letter straight to Briathos and they read it together and laughed at him. He wanted to trust Rachmiel but doubt gnawed at him.

He pushed his paranoia away.

He scribbled down a letter quickly, put it in an envelope and sealed it. A postage stamp appeared on the corner of the envelope. Aziraphale handed it over to Rachmiel who smiled as he placed it into the folds of his robes.