Annabelle stood outside of Aziraphale's book shop, a two year old perched tiredly in her arms as she contemplated entering or not.
She knew that the angel would love to meet Oscar, but she wasn't as sure that Crowley, her demon fiend boyfriend would be.
She was scared that Crowley would hate the responsibility and time she would have to put into taking care of the young boy, but her cousin had just died, and although they were never close, she always did take care of Oscar whenever she was busy, and so she was Oscar's godmother.
She had never even brought Oscar into a conversation with Crowley, never. She was unsure of his opinion of children, so whenever she was visiting her cousin or looking after Oscar, she claimed to be working someone else's shift or helping out a friend.
She hadn't seen Crowley in a week for the funeral and settling Oscar into her apartment, which she and the demon both despised.
Sure, Crowley got suspicious at the amount of shifts she happily took up and how much help her mother and friends really needed, but Oscar became a necessity in her life. She lived for the bundle of annoyance.
Suddenly the door was thrown open to present none other than Crowley himself, he had his back turned to her, giving her enough time to throw up her hood and duck under his arm, hoping that he wouldn't notice her as he continued his conversation with Aziraphale.
Annabelle hoped that Crowley would just leave as she hid behind a bookshelf, keeping her hood up as a backup, she wanted to talk to Aziraphale to see what he thought would happen.
However, luck didn't seem to be on her side as Oscar giggled wildly at the pictures displayed in the book covers before he pointed deftly to one and practically screamed; "Annabelle!"
As soon as that shout left Oscar's mouth, Aziraphale and Crowley became quiet, and Annabelle froze.
The sound of the front door closing caused Annabelle's shoulders to drop in relief before she poked her head around the bookshelf to see Aziraphale standing alone, looking over at her in delight and confusing.
"Annabelle! I was hoping it was you." He explained, clasping his hands, "who's this?" He continued curiously as the young woman approached him, readjusting the small toddler in her arms.
"Oh, this is Oscar, cute, right?" She grinned, craning her neck to kiss his cheek playfully, which he giggled crazily at. "Ain't that right, Ozzie Oscar?"
The toddler nodded his head furiously before shying slightly when he noticed Aziraphale. "Oh, Oscar." She sighed softly, glancing at Aziraphale to get him to introduce himself.
"Hello, I'm Aziraphale." He greeted cheerfully, "Annabelle has told me a lot about you." He smiled, attempting to coax the boy out from his shyness, which apparently worked as Oscar smiled brightly.
"I love Annabelle." Oscar commented, "she's the best!" Annabelle gave him a small kiss on the tip of her nose before jumping at the sound of the Bell tinkling as someone walked in.
"I love Annabelle too, little fella." Crowley crooned, strutting over with his favourite sunglasses on. "Hello, Ann." He stated, giving her a pointed look, suggesting that he knew it was her and was curious as to why she tried to hide it from him.
"Crowley, this is Oscar." She introduced, pulling Crowley out of his glare and causing him to smile at the tiny child, who waved shyly back at him. "Oscar, this is Crowley, remember when I told you about him?"
Oscar smiled and giggled, causing Crowley's eyebrows to shoot up. "Is he my new daddy?" He asked tentatively, before turning to Crowley with a proud smile. "Annabelle is my new mummy." Crowley gave her a look of shock.
Annabelle's face dropped slightly as she snuggled into Oscar, "no, I'm looking after you for mummy. She's gone away for a while." This confused Crowley even further.
It was clear to him that Oscar and Annabelle had met many times before since he was so comfortable around her, but he couldn't understand why Annabelle was taking care of him for a while whilst he believed that she was his new mother.
"Angel, could you look after the kid for a moment, I'd like to talk to my lovely girlfriend." He commented, watching as Annabelle stiffened slightly.
"Oh, can you handle him, Zira?" Annabelle asked, begging the man with her eyes to just say no, so she could carry on hugging him.
However, Aziraphale didn't pick up on this and nodded in agreement. "Of course I can, you two do what you need to do." He smiled brightly, opening his arms for Oscar, who Annabelle reluctantly handed over.
Crowley wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into the back room. Once the door was closed, Annabelle closed her eyes and awaited the onslaught, but nothin came.
When she reopened her eyes, Crowley was standing before her with his arms crossed at his chest and his eyebrows raised. "When were you going to tell me you were adopting?" He asked curiously, Annabelle frowned at the floor, refusing to look at him.
"I didn't adopt him." She muttered back, loud enough for Crowley to hear and get confused at.
"Then you're looking after him for a day, a week?" He continued to ask calmly, but she simply shook her head, keeping it angled to the floor, which slightly frustrated Crowley. "Just look at me, Annabelle." He snapped slightly, before taking a deep breath.
Slowly, Annabelle looked up at him and he noticed the tears in her eyes. With a small frown, Crowley took a few steps forwards and collected her in a hug. "What's up?"
"I'm his godmother." She whispered, her voice cracking. "Oscar is my cousin's son. She and her husband died last week when they were being mugged." She breathed out, causing Crowley to frown and tighten his hold on her. She was truly hurt.
"I'm sorry." Crowley frowned, "but why didn't you tell me?" He added, wanting to know why she had been so adamant in avoiding him.
Annabelle pulled away slightly. "I was scared." She admitted.
"Scared?" Crowley repeated, a frown stretching on his lips.
Annabelle nodded in agreement. "Scared." She sighed, "I wasn't sure whether you liked children so I wanted to ease you into being around Oscar but he is still settling into my flat, so I didn't want to overwhelm him or you."
"I could have helped you." Crowley frowned in dissatisfaction, he wanted to be there for her, he loved her.
Annabelle nodded slowly, "I didn't think you would like him. I thought you would leave me." She continued, the tears finally falling. "I don't want you to leave."
Crowley wrapped her in his arms once more and place a kiss in her hair. "Ann, why would I ever leave you for taking him in?" He asked rhetorically. "We'll get through this."
An hour later, Crowley offered to give Annabelle and Oscar a lift home, which is why Oscar was sat on Annabelle's lap, sharing a seatbelt as Crowley started up the engine to his prized Bentley.
"I swear, Crow, if you dare even go one mile per hour over the speed limit, I will kill you." She seethed with a glare, causing the demon to laugh.
"You and your motherly instinct." He joked as he pulled out onto the road..
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