And here's the conclusion where we find out what Crowley is planning to do to fix this!

Thanks to my guest reviewers and Jafryn-I'm glad you are enjoying the extended continuation of this story!

Part Three

Aziraphale woke without having realized he had fallen asleep. He was not used to sleeping and he felt strange, wondering exactly how much time had passed. His body ached, though not as much as it had before. For a brief moment, when he realized he wasn't in his shop, he felt a slight panic, but then he caught sight of Crowley stepping into his line of vision, and he remembered that the demon had taken him to his flat because Gabriel didn't know where it was.

"Aziraphale?" Crowley asked, concern in his voice.

Aziraphale took a deep inhalation of breath and wet his lips. "I—I'm awake." His voice was hoarse and quiet even to his own ears. Crowley frowned and left, coming back a few seconds later with a glass of water. Aziraphale drank some gratefully.

"How long have I been asleep?" he asked hesitantly.

"Few hours," Crowley replied.

"Has anything…happened?"

Crowley shook his head, though he seemed restless. "No. But we need to talk about plans of action. I've been thinking."

Aziraphale sat against the pillows, hands twisted in the covers over his lap as he listened to Crowley.

"So, Gabriel's pissed because of losing his sword and looking like an idiot," Crowley stated. "He's been sort of a screw-up lately, which is why he wanted you back."

Aziraphale shuddered slightly at that thought and Crowley paused before he continued more cautiously.

"We need a way to make him lose face with the other angels even more. Something that will tell him he really shouldn't mess with us or we'll just make his life miserable."

"Crowley, I don't…" Aziraphale started but the demon sat on the bed, leaning forward to appeal to him.

"Now, listen, angel. I have an idea, and before I tell you what it is, I want to know—do you trust me?"

Aziraphale looked up at Crowley, the demon wasn't wearing his glasses so Aziraphale could see his eyes, wide and earnest.

"Of course I trust you, dear," he said sincerely.

Crowley looked a little bit relieved, before he shifted uncomfortably. "Okay, because, I don't think you're going to like this plan much…"

Aziraphale listened to his plan, feeling himself go more and more pale as each new facet of it was revealed, but he nodded in agreement. It was better than any plan he had tried to think of when he was locked up in Gabriel's closet.

When Crowley had finished, Aziraphale excused himself and went into the bathroom to splash water on his face, trying to calm himself. He glanced in the mirror and noticed with some surprise that most of the bruises on his face were gone and the cut on his cheek was mostly healed. He had either healed while he slept or Crowley had helped out, for which he was grateful.

He found his clothes, which Crowley must have cleaned the blood off of. He changed, feeling a little steadier by the time Crowley found him again with a fresh cup of tea.

"You really think this will work?" Aziraphale asked him hesitantly as he sipped his tea.

"I don't think we really have another choice," Crowley told him truthfully, then reached out to squeeze Aziraphale's shoulder gently. "But we'll succeed, angel. And go back to being ourselves again. Helping people."

Aziraphale nodded, trying to find some of Crowley's confidence. "Yes. Yes, we will."

Crowley locked and warded his flat before he left Aziraphale there. He didn't feel good about leaving the angel alone, but if all went well he shouldn't be too long, and there was no way Aziraphale could come with him.

He was not looking forward to Part One of his plan. Well, to be fair, he wasn't really looking forward to any part of his plan, but Part One was going to prove the most difficult.

Especially as seeing how it involved going to Hell.

Crowley had always hated Hell, which is why he tried his level best to spend as much time on Earth as possible. That being said, it was probably one of the easiest places to steal from or get away with anything, which was sort of ironic seeing as they were all about punishment down there.

But that came in handy when you were looking to steal something, and that was what Crowley was planning on doing. It was easier than he thought, considering Gabriel's archangel sword was just sitting in the armory with all the infernal weapons.

It stuck out like a sore thumb since the blade had a Heavenly glow about it. Crowley took cloth and twine out of his bag and wrapped and bound it before slinging it over his shoulder and heading back out cautiously.

He had to plaster himself against the wall as he heard voices coming his way, and worse, the telltale sound of large hellhound claws clacking across the floor.

"Are you sure you saw something?"

"Yeah, I did. No one's supposed to go into the armory without permission."

Crowley cursed under his breath. The last thing he needed was to get on the wrong side of a hellhound. He looked around for another way out and saw another demon walking down the corridor.

Hastur.

"Shit," Crowley whispered to himself before slipping back into the armory. He would rather not choose between an angry hellhound and Hastur. He wasn't sure which would be worse.

"What's going on?" Hastur asked the other demons.

"We thought we saw someone in the armory."

Hastur growled and Crowley hurried to find a place to hide as he heard their footsteps stop outside the door. He heard the hellhound sniffing, then scratching at the door and he felt a cold sweat break out all over his body.

"Well, get in there and look!" Hastur demanded.

Crowley quickly shucked the sword from around his shoulders, stowing it behind a weapons rack, then as quickly as he could, changed into his snake form and crawled up the rack of weaponry before slipping into a crack high on the wall where hopefully he would escape the notice of the hellhound and the other demons.

The door swung open just as he got settled and he kept as still as possible. The hellhound sniffed around, growling low in his throat. Crowley closed his eyes as Hastur looked around.

"Well, no one's in here now," he grunted, turning to the other demons. "Are you sure you weren't just seeing things?"

"I swear someone went in here!" one of the other demons protested, then he looked around. "Wait…that shiny angel sword…it's not here!"

Hastur growled, sounding a lot like the hellhound. "Go! He couldn't have gone far! Tell the guards no one gets out of Hell!" He clenched his fists. "Crowley," he snarled like a curse.

They stormed off and Crowley swiftly extricated himself from his crack and leapt to the ground in his human form. He grabbed the sword, slung it over his back and dashed out.

"Hey!" a demon shouted as he sped past him down the hall, at this point caring less about if he were seen and more about just getting out of Hell before Hastur had all the gates blocked off.

"Can't stop!" Crowley called back cheerily.

He hurried to the back door, and heard hellhounds growling behind him in the hallway.

"He went that way!" someone said far away.

"Stop him!" Crowley heard Hastur scream.

A demon guard sprung out in front of Crowley and he swung the wrapped sword around and clobbered the demon with it as he ran past.

"Crowley!" Hastur shouted out behind him. "If you don't come back here now, I'll tear you apart personally when I finally get a hold of you!"

Crowley turned just in time to see Hastur surging down the hall with the other demons and several hellhounds, then he pushed through the door and sprinted out of Hell.

He ran all the way to his car, panting, then drove back to his flat in record time, even for him.

Aziraphale startled when he burst into the flat, waving the sword. "Got it!"

Aziraphale looked relieved, but he clenched his hands in his lap. "That's good, but… we still have to convince Gabriel of his own mistake."

"And we will," Crowley assured him then sobered. "Are you ready?"

Aziraphale sighed. "No. But…we have to do this."

Crowley swallowed hard, hating that his plan involved this next step, but also knowing it was really the only way that they were going to convince the other angels that Gabriel was the one bluffing.

Crowley grabbed what they would need, handed the sword to Aziraphale, and the two of them went back out to the Bentley and drove to the gates of Heaven again.

They took the back way same as before, and Crowley peeked out to make sure the coast was clear then they crept out and toward the offices.

"What if he's in there?" Aziraphale asked suddenly, whispering, as he clutched the sword tightly.

Even as he said it, the door to Gabriel's office started to open and Crowley grabbed Aziraphale and hid them out of sight. Gabriel strode out of his office and Crowley breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was lucky. Okay, let's go we may not have much time."

They hurried down the hall and slipped into the office. Aziraphale hesitated as soon as he got inside, and Crowley turned to him, his heart hurting for his friend.

"Aziraphale, you don't have to do this if you don't want to," Crowley told him gently. "I know how hard it must be. We can figure out something else…"

"No," Aziraphale said, pressing his lips together firmly. "No, this is the best course of action. I don't like it, but I have confidence it will work." He tried to smile a little. "I will look forward to seeing the look on Gabriel's face."

Crowley huffed but had to agree. "All right." He led the angel over to the closet and opened the door. It wasn't warded this time. He shoved several suit jackets out of the way and stepped aside for Aziraphale to get in. He reluctantly pulled a pair of cuffs out of his pocket.

"Remember, these aren't sigiled so if you really need to get out, you'll be able to," the demon reminded.

"I know. I trust you, Crowley. I told you that," Aziraphale said but he sounded small, unsure. Crowley felt slightly sick as he helped the angel sit and loosely locked the manacles around his wrists securing him like Gabriel had done.

"Alright, that's that then," Crowley said, straightening up.

"Crowley," Aziraphale said hesitantly. "You—you'll need to gag me. To sell it."

The demon felt his stomach twist again and he swallowed hard. "Angel…"

"It's all right," Aziraphale said, trying to look brave but Crowley could see him trembling. He didn't know how he was going to close that door if he put Aziraphale back into the same position Gabriel had left him in. The only comfort was that he was doing this to save them both.

So, swiftly, before he could think about it again, he pulled a strip of cloth out of his coat and bound it firmly but not too tight across Aziraphale's mouth.

"I promise I'll get you out of here, Aziraphale," he told his friend before he forced himself to his feet and closed the closet door.

He grabbed the sword and left the office, hating himself in that moment for leaving his friend behind and helpless.

He was going to finish this once and for all.

Demons typically didn't just waltz into Heaven, which is why Crowley was met with shocked looks instead of attack when he strode up from the main entrance as if he belonged there.

"Hey, I'm looking for Gabriel, is he around?"

The angels all looked to each other, as if none of them were sure what to do.

"Um, what are you doing here?" one finally demanded.

Crowley gestured to the bundle he was carrying. "Uh…I…Gabriel told me to come. He has my payment waiting."

"Payment?" one of the other angels sneered. "What could Gabriel be wanting with paying a demon?"

"Maybe you should ask him," Crowley smirked. "Can you get him for me, I'm a little tight on time right now…" He tapped his watch in emphasis.

The angel hissed to another. "Go get Gabriel, we'll make sure he doesn't leave."

Crowley waited awkwardly as the angels watched him like a hawk, hemming him in like he would all of a sudden dash off into Heaven and they would have to spend the rest of the day rousting him out like an unwanted rodent.

"What's going on?"

Crowley looked up to see Gabriel and Michael pushing through the gathered angels, both stopped in their tracks as they saw Crowley there.

"Gabriel, good to see you, mate, I got what you asked for!"

Gabriel stood there as all the angels turned to stare at him, folding his arms across his chest. "I didn't ask for anything from you."

Crowley raised an eyebrow. "No? Oh! Oh I see," He glanced pointedly around at the other angels. "You want to talk in private. My bad."

"Gabriel, what is this demon talking about?" Michael demanded.

"Nothing! I have no idea what he's talking about," Gabriel scoffed. "I have nothing to hide. Speak here, hellspawn."

Crowley shrugged. "Okay, then. Well, here's the sword you hired me to get back for you…" He unwrapped the archangel sword and there was a gasp from the gathered angels. "Safe and sound as promised."

Everyone was looking at Gabriel again and this time the archangel was actually speechless.

"Gabriel, you hired a demon?" Michael demanded. "I thought you said you were working on a trade…something to put us a little further from war with the demons."

"I was, this isn't…" Gabriel began, but Crowley cut in.

"Oh, the trade? Yeah, there is one, but not with the demons, with me," Crowley said. "See, your boss here, he wanted to bring in your old pal Aziraphale to help with human relations and all that while he took the credit for missions on Earth that Aziraphale would actually be doing for him. Aziraphale didn't want to, so Gabriel decided he wasn't going to let him leave Heaven until he got the answer he wanted. Now me, I actually care about my new business partner, so I brokered a deal with Gabriel: I get his sword back and Aziraphale goes free. He still saves face. Or…well, he would have if I hadn't just let the cat out of the bag."

Gabriel's face was red with fury. "That's not… None of that is true!"

"Isn't it?" Crowley asked, raising an eyebrow and sliding his glasses down to give Gabriel a dangerous look. "Because I don't think anyone here believes that. Why else would I, a demon, be standing here now, with your sword? Now, I'm willing to give this back in good faith but you need to make good on your end of the bargain."

"Aziraphale is not in Heaven!" Gabriel shouted.

"Well, if he's not, we're going to have a problem," Crowley said, clutching the sword. "Where would you keep him, Gabriel? You wouldn't want the others to know, would you? So probably not in the prisons—and yeah, I know you lot have prisons here. So, where would he be? In your office maybe?"

"This is insane," Gabriel growled and motioned for guards. "Get him out of here!"

"Not until I see your office," Crowley demanded, raising the sword and brandishing it at the reluctantly approaching guards.

Michael stepped forward. "Actually, why not?"

"Michael," Gabriel hissed. "You don't believe me?"

She lowered her brows. "I want to see this done. We know how much of a thorn in the side this demon can be so I would rather have all avenues thoroughly checked. And he did bring back your sword."

"Thank you!" Crowley appealed to her and she lifted a lip in disgust.

Gabriel folded his arms across his chest again. "Well, fine then. I don't have anything to hide."

Crowley and the angels trooped after Michael and Gabriel as they went on their way toward his office. Gabriel opened his office door with a furious yank, sweeping his arm around the space.

"See? Nothing here!"

A thump and muffled sound came from the closet and Gabriel's face went instantly pale. Crowley just barely hid his satisfied smirk.

"Nothing, eh?" he asked as he pushed past the archangel and went over to the closet, throwing the door open.

Aziraphale blinked up at Crowley, Gabriel and Michael as they stood in the open door.

Crowley shoved the sword into Gabriel's chest and the archangel just barely caught it before it slipped out of his hands and stabbed him in the foot.

"But…but I…" he stammered. "This isn't…"

Crowley reached inside the closet, snapping his fingers to undo the manacles then pulled Aziraphale to his feet. He met the angel's eyes as Aziraphale reached up to pull the gag off, and the angel offered him a small smile to tell him he was okay.

"Well, looks like our transaction is complete," Crowley said, taking Aziraphale by the elbow and leading him past the archangels. "We'll be leaving now."

"You were actually working with a demon?" Michael demanded. "And you had Aziraphale here this whole time? I told you we don't want him back! He's too much trouble."

"Oh, like you're one to talk," Gabriel growled. "You've worked with demons before too."

A small gasp proceeded by chatter swept through the other angels listening outside the door and Michael's face went red with fury.

"None of this is true!" Gabriel shouted. "They set us up! They're too smart for their own good!"

Crowley spun around, getting close to Gabriel's face and hissing, "I think it would be best for you, if you were to just…stay quiet."

Gabriel froze, glowering at him and Crowley grabbed Aziraphale arm again and ushered him out past the other angels who swarmed Gabriel and Michael, asking questions neither of them wanted to answer.

The two hurried to the exit and were soon back on Earth. They didn't stop until they were back at the Bentley and they both sagged, looking at each other.

"I can't believe that actually worked," Aziraphale breathed.

Crowley was trying to calm his breathing as he started the engine and began to drive away. He couldn't believe it had worked either. He was still half expecting the armies of Heaven and Hell to show up at any minute in retribution. He turned to the angel. "Are you okay?"

Aziraphale nodded. "Yes…Do you think that really settled it?"

Crowley sighed. "I don't know. Probably not forever—don't think we could ever be that lucky. But for now, yes, I think we will be left alone. But I think it would be wise to have some sort of contingency plan worked out." He glanced over at the angel. "It's not too late to go to alpha centuri."

Aziraphale sighed. "No, but…I think we belong here, Crowley."

Crowley felt his heart twinge again as he remembered Aziraphale's pained response to why he had gone to Gabriel in the first place, "I just wanted to help." And they did help, both of them. Heaven and Hell might think of them as their public enemy number one, but in truth they never wanted to do anything to hurt anyone. They just wanted to be left alone to help people with ordinary or not so ordinary problems. Was that really too much to ask? Really, the other angels might do better for following by their example. It was rather a lot to cover for just two beings.

"You're right," he said finally. "And that's why we're not going anywhere. And they can't make us."

Crowley drove back to the bookshop because it wasn't any less safe than his own flat really and he wanted his friend to be home and comfortable.

He really just wanted everything to go back to normal again.

Aziraphale felt a little relief as he walked back into his bookshop. It was familiar and friendly and he thought that perhaps putting up some wards might not be out of the question.

But for now, he really just needed to sit down with a nice cup of tea.

"Should I put on some water?" Crowley asked as if reading his mind.

"Oh, no, I'll do it, I…I need something to do," Aziraphale told him before hurrying to the small kitchenette and filling the kettle, setting it on the stove. He wasn't sure what to do, if he were being honest. He was having a rather hard time not thinking about Gabriel's cruelty and his recent captivity. It may have been short, relatively, but he had never truly felt so helpless. The fear that even if he had been able to call for help that no one might care enough to help him had weighed heavily on him. And on top of that, the thought that doing that and getting caught would only cause Gabriel to make good on his threats to drag Crowley to Heaven too and torture him instead made everything twice as bad.

He just wished things could be different. He had always understood that humans could sometimes be inexplicably cruel, but he supposed he hadn't really realized before that angels also could share the same qualities. How had he never noticed before? Had he just ignored it subconsciously in some way as to protect himself, or had he simply never actually seen Heaven for what it was?

"Angel. Aziraphale!"

He startled as he was shaken and blinked with a small gasp, seeing Crowley in front of him, gripping his shoulders, a worried look on his face. Aziraphale swallowed hard and suddenly realized the kettle was whistling.

"Oh," he whispered, not sure what else to say.

Crowley let him go for a moment to pull the kettle off the stove and pour the boiling water into two cups with the tea. "Talk to me, angel."

Aziraphale sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over his face. "I don't know if I can. I'm not sure what to say."

"Well, first off, don't worry about Gabriel, because I don't think he'll try anything again for a while since his plan backfired and caused all sorts of trouble in Heaven. If I were him I'd rather forget about you all together."

"You didn't see him, Crowley," Aziraphale said, wringing his hands. "When he…when he had me…he was just so cruel. So petty. He may not come after us for a while, but he could try anything! He threatened to tell everyone we were traitors—if we can fake things so can he."

"Well, if he does, we'll fight," Crowley said firmly.

"I just don't want you to get hurt, dear," Aziraphale said.

Crowley scoffed. "Aziraphale, whatever we do now we do together. I'll be fine, and you will too, no matter what happens. I still think there's a reason we survived before, and if you want my opinion, I think that should scare Heaven and Hell a lot more than it seems to be doing."

Crowley led Aziraphale back into the sitting area and the angel slumped onto the couch, Crowley beside him as the demon handed him a cup of tea. Aziraphale clutched it in his hands.

"I don't know why this has me in such a tizzy," Aziraphale said, trying to wave it all away.

Crowley took off his glasses and looked at him incredulously. "You were kidnapped and tortured, Aziraphale, you have every right to feel this way." He looked down, but Crowley reached out and grabbed his wrist. "Hey. You're not going to be an idiot and think this was all okay for some reason, are you?"

Aziraphale sighed. "No. I know it's not, I suppose I'm more angry than anything that I didn't realize at first that that was exactly how it was going to go. For a moment, Crowley, when he said that someday I could have my old job back, my powers…for a moment I really hoped that was true. Is that wrong of me?"

"No, angel," Crowley sighed, slumping over with his elbows on his knees. "You always have seen the good in people and that's a good thing—you shouldn't stop. I just gave that up a long time ago because I got tired of being proven wrong. But…I get it. Sometimes I think about what it would be like…going back to Heaven."

Aziraphale glanced up, surprised at his friend's admission. "You do?"

Crowley shrugged self-consciously. "Yeah, but then, things like this…make me glad we're on our own side. I think we're better off here."

Aziraphale nodded. "I just feel rather silly about the whole thing." Then he felt sick to his stomach. "It could have gone so much worse."

Crowley had a distant look in his eye as if he too were thinking about how much worse it could have gone. He took a deep breath and then held out one hand. "It's over now, angel. Let's forget about them and go back to doing what we're meant to."

Aziraphale nodded and clasped Crowley's proffered hand, feeling the demon squeeze his comfortingly. He managed a small smile. "Yes, I think that would be best."

Their troubles might not be over completely, but in that moment, Aziraphale knew that as long as they stuck together and did what they believed to be the right thing, then he thought they would probably be all right.

Maybe, possibly, there will be a sequel to this if anyone is interested?

In the meantime, I will be posting many Christmas fics soon, and for my SPN readers, the next installment of the Raising Hell verse starts Friday!