"Crowley, you shouldn't be buying so many toys for the baby. You're going to spoil her!" Aziraphale scolded as Eden crawled around a myriad of toys that she had just finished playing with and was now moving on to find something else.
The family was sitting on the floor on a thick quilt, to keep Eden off of the cold hard floor. As she grabbed a bright red ball dotted with yellow ducks, Crowley replied,
"Aw, but look at her angel, she loves all the goodies I bring her." It was true. Crowley had a habit of snapping toys out of thin air for Eden, who played with every single one. Crowley would only leave the house when it was absolutely necessary, since Eden would still get quite upset when he would leave.
Even though Aziraphale had found a way to calm her when he would leave, he didn't want to be gone too long for fear of risking her to become upset. He couldn't bear the thought of Eden being upset.
"Besides, she has to start learning about different types of animals. If we keep it up that's the only animal she'll think there is!" Most of Eden's toys were either duck themed or duck related, which was all Aziraphale's doing. Crowley had found it adorable of course and he had added his own duck themed toys to the growing pile...
But he had a feeling that Eden would love other animals too, especially the one he had brought her.
"I stopped at the toy store and I found something perfect for her...." Crowley finally revealed what he had been hiding behind his back, which was a brown paper bag.
"Oh Crowley!" Aziraphale sighed, exasperated.
Crowley shrugged, "Wot? I wanted to see what they had and I wasn't disappointed!" He reached into the bag and pulled out a light brown teddy bear.
"Well, I must admit that is quite adorable." Aziraphale caved in.
"Queenie, baby girl, look wot I got ya!" Crowley cooed with a smirk on his face. Eden had been chewing on her duck baby rattle, completely oblivious to her fathers' conversation until she heard her Daddy call her. She had already learned that "Queenie" and "Little One" were very important words.
Crowley had the bear sitting on his lap and said, "Look sweetpea, it's a bear, a special bear for a special girl."
Little Eden gaped at the bear in shock. She had never seen anything like it and she crawled towards her Daddy, the rattle forgotten.
"Oh you are so brilliant my Eden." Crowley said, pride swelling in his chest as he set the bear down in front of Eden.
Eden sat up and grabbed the bear....by the neck.
"Oh my..." Aziraphale said before bursting into laughter.
Eden, with a look of absolute joy, wonder and shock, was squeezing the bear's neck and shaking it. It was as if she was trying to figure out how it worked.
"It's not a rattle darling." Crowley wheezed in between fits of laughter.
When Eden finally realized that it wouldn't rattle, she threw it on the floor.
It didn't bounce either.
Ignoring her fathers' laughter she then laid her head on its soft belly.
"It's not actually a pillow honey, but that's a start." Crowley said when he finally got his breath back.
Eden was now using the bear as a pillow, her black and white wings pooped out and she flapped them excitedly as she grinned up at her Daddy.
"I'm glad you like it sweetie." Crowley extended his index finger and Eden clasped it instantly.
A flash of a bright white light made Crowley blink rapidly. "Oi!" Crowley exclaimed.
"I'm sorry dear boy...I had to take a picture! This is simply too precious, I must include it in the album." Aziraphale practically kept a camera with him at all times.....and the result was an entire shelf of photo albums of their baby girl.
"I need to get you a camera that doesn't have a flash!" Crowley chuckled as he rubbed his eyes.
The next few moments were just the two of them lying next to Eden as she flapped her wings, flailed her legs and kept Crowley's finger in her tiny grasp. She squealed with delight when Crowley used his free hand to tickle her tummy, which made the demon smile even bigger.
"I'm glad you are finally sleeping again." Aziraphale said suddenly. Crowley met Azirapahle's eyes. "Wot?"
"You fell asleep last night in the nursery." The angel had found his husband sound asleep in the rocking chair and he had covered him with a blanket so he wouldn't get cold.
"Yeah." Crowley murmured. He hadn't slept in a week. He had been too afraid...
"Any more nightmares?" Aziraphale asked, getting straight to it. A week ago, Crowley had a terrible nightmare, the last one being many years ago, in which the demon dreamt that Satan possessed him and killed Aziraphale, leaving Crowley quite hysterical.....
He had dreamt that his old enemy, Hastur, Duke of Hell, had broken into the nursery and killed baby Eden by burning her alive right in front of him.
Even though Aziraphale and the baby gave him comfort, with Eden giving her very first smile in her attempts to cheer him up, Crowley was still quite shaken and he had been guarding the nursery at night. The rocking chair had been moved right next to the crib so Crowley could block the crib from anyone who may want to try to reach in a snatch the baby.
Aziraphale was becoming quite worried. This had been going on for seven days. Seven days of Crowley not leaving the baby....not even for a second.
He had never seen Crowley like this in all of his six thousand years....
But Aziraphale was becoming a bit more hopeful when Crowley began to leave the house and come back with gifts for him and Eden. It was a start.
"I didn't mean to go to sleep....but I didn't have a single nightmare....no dreams either.....best sleep I had in a hundred years." Crowley replied.
"I'm glad to hear it love, would you like me to join you again tonight?" Aziraphale had been spending the last seven days in the nursery with Crowley and the baby as well. The angel had made a makeshift bed out of a sleeping bag, hoping that his presence would put Crowley at ease and that the soft bedding would coax Crowley to join him.
He had come to miss Crowley curled up beside him.
"Yeah, that would be nice." Crowley said with a nod. "We'll have to move it a bit closer to the crib though..."
"Of course dear whatever you want." Aziraphale replied with a sigh of relief, it wasn't the result he was hoping for but it was a start.
"But it'll just be for a couple more days....I miss our bed..." Crowley said wistfully.
"That sounds wonderful dear boy." Their foreheads touched as their lips met in a passionate kiss.
"Oh I almost forgot!" Crowley exclaimed once the kiss was over, he reached into the paper bag and pulled out...
"I got accessories!" Crowley was holding up a red hat and a tiny little blue duffle coat and a pair of boots.
"Oh of course you got her a Paddington..." Aziraphale said with a grin as Crowley showed the accessories to Eden, who sat up instantly at the sight of more goodies.
(Crowley's nightmare from many years ago is from the smudgeandfrank comic, Hereditary Enemies. Full credit goes to that artist. I consider it canon to my Good Omens stories!)
