{david tennant character oneshots}

Crowley ~ Not The End For Us

💙🖤💕🌸🖋

He was easy to spot. They were, really. It didn't take a detective like her to find them in less than a minute, once an accurate description of them could be found. The pair of them stood out in a crowd, what with her father's hair and the angel's out-of-date style. She was't sure if Aziraphale had taken female form to give birth to her or not; she wasn't sure she wanted to know. 

On a bench on the opposite side of the park, an angel and a demon sat together, enjoying the not-end-of-the-world. Evidently they'd both survived their respective trials; doubtless she'd hear of their miraculous escapes from death through word of mouth. It was helpful, she decided, to be part demon and part...something else. Crowley assumed she was the result of one of his galactic creations. 

Thessaluay smoothed her hair, the same color as her father's. Then she stepped out onto the path directly in their line of sight and waited, people who happened to walk by going around her without even noticing she was there.

Crowley visibly tensed, leaning forward to peer in her direction, staring in disbelief. She didn't blame him. The last time Thessaluay and her father had spoken, she'd told him she didn't want to see him again. 

To Hell with it. 

Crowley said something to Aziraphale, who caught his sleeve with a frown. Crowley gestured in Thessaluay's direction and freed himself from Aziraphale's grip. He tried to keep his pace casual and slow as he walked to his daughter, but she'd spent centuries with the pair of them; she could read them like an open book. He was resisting the urge to run to her.

"Thessa?" Crowley's tone was one of utter disbelief. 

"If you're wondering if you're dreaming," she began, voice dry, "Aziraphale can see me, too. I'm here."

Crowley swallowed with difficulty. "What happened to not wanting to see me again?"

"It's been three years, Dad," Thessa started. 

"Ngk—" Crowley stared at her. She hadn't called him Dad in at least a century.

"All that's happened—Gabriel and Beelzebub both complained to me, by the way—has made me realize how much I missed you." Thessa looked away as Crowley made incomprehensible noises. "I don't want to part on bad terms."

"Part?"

"Inches, Dad. We came inches from death, all of us. And we're here just because you and Aziraphale managed to talk the greater powers into postponing. Had the world ended, the last thing I would have said to you would have been hateful."

"But you were right," Crowley said softly. "It's my fault Safalonne is dead."

Thessaluay squeezed her eyes shut against oncoming tears. "There was nothing you could do to save him."

"He meant so much to you—"

"You mean more," she interrupted. "You're still alive." She was silent for a moment; Crowley didn't say anything, knowing from her face she was searching for the right words. "Six months ago, Hastur and Ligur found me. They tried to kill me."

Rage twisted Crowley's features. "What did they do." It wasn't a question. 

"They tried holy water and hellfire."

"Those don't harm you—"

"When neither worked, they dropped staging on me and stabbed me until I bled enough to turn a river black. They knww I am neither demon nor angel, but now they know I am something different." Thessaluay raised her eyes to her father's, obscured by his glasses. She saw through them. "They stole my blood."

"Ligur is dead. I killed him. Holy water. It appears Hastur is our only problem." He frowned. "No wonder he let me go so easily at my trial..."

Thessaluay looped her arm through her father's, starting a slow circuit around the park. She felt Aziraphale's gaze burning into her. "I heard you made a wondrous escape. You bathed in holy water...yet here you are. Care to explain how?"

Crowley shoved one hand in his pocket. "A body switch."

Thessa raised both eyebrows. "You took that risk?"

"It was worth it," Crowley snapped. "Aziraphale and I would have died if we hadn't done it."

"I'm not reprimanding you," she said defensively. "Don't raze your hackles. I'm just...surprised. An angel and a demon, switching forms... It's a dangerous thing to do. You could have burst into flame should the switch not been exactly perfect."

"We knew."

"You did it anyway."

"Yes."

"You love each other, don't you?"

Crowley squawked. 

"Tell me honestly—is Aziraphale my mother?"

"No! There was a star, Celebin, she became a sky spirit and I..." Crowley dragged a hand through his hair. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"You started this conversation!"

"It needed to be had!"

"No it didn't!"

"If Aziraphale was my mother, it most definitely was necessary."

Crowley scoffed. "Oh, don't tell me you'd call him Mum."

Thessaluay leveled an even stare at her father. He paled.

"You wouldn't." Her stare seemed to intensify. "You would. Thessa!"

They reached Aziraphale. The angel smiled at her, standing. "Hello again, Thessa."

"Aziraphale," she said, nodding at him. She softened the rather cold greeting with a smile. 

"You've decided to come back?" he asked.

Thessaluay linked her other arm through Aziraphale's. "I realized I miss you both too much to stay away for all of eternity. It's not the end for us."

"Good," Aziraphale said pleasantly with a cheeky grin, "because your absence has been tearing your father apart, no matter how much he refuses to admit it."

"Angel!"

"And you wonder why I asked if Aziraphale was my mother!" Thessa murmured to him. "You call him a term of endearment!"

"The humans picked that up from me!"

Thessaluay rolled her eyes with a sarcastic, "I wonder why."

"Explain," Crowley demanded.

"Not a chance," Thessa said. She pulled a slip of paper from her pocket. "Now, who feels like solving a murder with me?"

Aziraphale's interest sparked. "A murder?"

"Mmm," she said, showing him the paper. "Very Sherlock Holmes-esque. What do you say, Dad? Just like old times?"

"If by old times you mean the 1900s—"

"Of course that's what I mean."

"Oh, alright. Who's been murdered this time?"