Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Like all good things, December must come to its end. And therefore, I give you the last chapter of it.

Chapter 25:

Carowiel's Christmas

Aziraphale leant against the back of the couch, gently running his fingers through Carowiel's hair as the other angel's head was resting in his lap. "It's Christmas," he said quietly. "The first true Christmas."

Carowiel didn't say anything, just made a tiny agreeing sound. His eyes were closed, the pools of gold-freckled blue currently hidden, his long eyelashes brushing his cheeks. There was a smile of contentment on his face that Aziraphale rarely saw aside from some brief post-sex moments.

Now, Aziraphale tilted his head a bit, listening. "They haven't started yet," he said then. "Could we --" He swallowed a bit, then tried again, "Would you mind if we went to the roof of the shop... to listen?"

Now, Carowiel did open his eyes, looking up at his lover. "I'd love to," he said softly, a smile still on his lips. He then took his head from Aziraphale's lap and sat up, drawing a tiny sound of disappointment from the fairer angel. Glancing around, he smiled at the decorations scattered around the room. Most of them were angels, with equal amounts of blondes, redheads, brunets, and black-haired ones. Candles were burning on about every free surface. Only one small table was completely candle-less. However, even it was lit by the little star Aziraphale had miracled over the nativity scene arranged on it. In one corner stood a beautiful Christmas tree, full of candles and shiny little ornaments.

The year before such a sight would have made him flee in disgust and terror, with most probably setting all the decorations on fire at first. Now, however, the decorations brought him a strange sense of peace -- not least because he had himself put them up together with his beloved.

His gaze came upon a stack of parchment letters on the floor, and he smiled. Aziraphale's innocent, naive love letters to his young friend Carowiel had most certainly been pleasant to read, even more so now that he again was one of the Host. He would have to thank Gabriel for keeping them safe one day. Looking again at his lover, he smiled. "Did I already thank you for your present?" he asked.

"Only about a dozen of times," Aziraphale replied with a tiny chuckle. "I'm glad you liked it, though."

"I'm sorry I don't have another gift for you, though," Carowiel added. "But, like you know, after I gave that sword to you I haven't really been able to look for another." At this, his eyes wandered to the two swords standing in one corner of the room. They were both silver, and Aziraphale's had a sapphire on the hilt where his had an emerald. The sword was the only thing where Aziraphale carried his brother's colours.

"I don't want or need anything else," said Aziraphale in response. "You have already given me much more than I ever dared to wish for." They shared a fond smile, then both stood up from the couch.

"So. Up to the roof, then?" asked Carowiel, grinning. "We wouldn't want to miss the show, after all."

"Why, of courssse, my dear," hissed Aziraphale, grinning as well. "We can sssing along, too."

At that, Carowiel's expression brightened, if such a thing was anymore possible. Along with fighting, singing had always been the one angelic activity he both liked and excelled in. "That we ssshall do," he said, hissing as well. He maybe wasn't a demon anymore, but old habits die hard, and he didn't particularly want to get rid of this one, either. After all, it would only be good if he had some way to throw off certain old angels. As far as he could remember, some of the cherubim and seraphim could get very annoying at times. (Of course, to him 'old' meant quite a large part of the angelic Host. He was even younger than Aziraphale, and nobody would have even considered calling Aziraphale anything but a young angel.)

The two angels found themselves sitting on the rooftop just as night fell. Both invisible to human eyes, they stretched their wings, their faces turned up towards the sky, waiting.

And then, it began. From the first harmonious note a sense of infinite peace and contentment filled them from head to toe, strengthened their auras, purified them. Aziraphale simply sat on the roof, enjoying the incredible sensation, while Carowiel gawked like a little child. After all, the older angel had heard the choirs every year, although only faintly due to his efforts at closing the praise out around Crowley. To Carowiel, however, this was the first time he heard the celestial choirs, and the first Christmas night he didn't spend cowering in fear. Therefore he was amazed as he raised his face towards the sky, soaking up the feeling of holiness and purity that was poured onto Earth.

Quietly at first, Aziraphale began to sing. Slowly he dared to sing louder until his voice was echoing over the town. Humans in general couldn't really hear it, but everybody in hearing range felt a bit better than they had before. (Of course there was the odd human here and there who was a bit closer to the angelic wavelength and could tell that there was some unusual sound even if they couldn't make out the song. However, those were overwhelmed by the praise of the Host and couldn't tell his voice apart from it.)

At some point Carowiel joined in. His gold-freckled eyes looking up to the sky, seeing the faint glow of endless amounts of angels there, the freshly redeemed angel raised his voice in praise for the first time ever since the Fall. Like Aziraphale could well recall, Carowiel had always been a good singer, but now there seemed to be yet some new power and intensity in his voice.

Not ceasing his own singing, Aziraphale rested his head on Carowiel's shoulder, feeling an arm being wrapped around his shoulders. Somehow they managed to make their wings envelope them both, leaning against each other in their little nest of white feathers and the smell of Heaven.

As in the skies almost the whole Host of Heaven was gathered to bring praises to their Lord, down on Earth two angels raised their own voices, purer and clearer than any others.

And somewhere in the skies was a star, brighter than all the others, and it gave light to the whole Earth, bright and warm and pure.

A/N:

There will be no sequel. However, I have claimed Aziraphale for the fanfic100 challenge, and I'll try my best to turn my responses into a 100-chaptered fic, which will partly follow the storyline of this fic aside from a few differences. The fic's name is A Hundred White Feathers, and it can be found at (copy, paste & remove spaces) www. fanfiction. net/ s/ 2723192/ 1/.