tramitem_net | You're my only hope

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You're my only hope

[ Anthony looked frazzled as he cast a careful glance over his shoulder before slipping back under what appeared to be a blanket fort so he could stare at his phone. ]

Ok look, bad week... shit happened. Lots of shit happened, most of it was my fault. Got engaged, broke it off the next day, had to spend most of the rest of the time at the hospital looking after a sick relative. The visit from the creepy alien hunting suit was incredibly spooky... But none of that compares to this!

[ He swallowed and hushed his tone so he wouldn't be overheard. ]

Mum is here. Actually here in my flat right now, cleaning everything and making dinner because she says I look unwell even though she has done the magic heat sensing mum hand trick three times already and I don't have a fever. What do I do!? I can't tell her about even half of this stuff without--...

[ A second voice, much sweeter and calmer broke in to ask... ]

What is this?

[ And Anthony paled as he and phone broke free of the covers to see his grey haired mom holding that conspiratorial message from the mysterious MMF. Never had a man shot so quickly from a blanket tent to snag the paper, crumbled it, and chuck it into the nearest bin. ]

Nothing! Just some chain letter, probably thinks he is being funny by sending weird notes... Nothing to worry about at all! I told you everything is fine!!

[ His mum merely gave her poor highly strung son a sympathetic look and once again set her hand to his forehead. ]

Honey, you really need to calm down. I know what will help!

[ She turned and dug through one of her many bags until she found a tattered old teddy bear wearing yellow wellingtons. This was pressed into Anthony's arms as he was ushered back to the blanket covered sofa. ]

Its Mr. Yellow Boots! Now you and he can sit here all cozy until dinner is ready.

[ Anthony was sulking but he sat back on the sofa and looked helplessly after his mom until she was well out of ear shot. ]

Send help. Anything... I need her to stop worrying.

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.....

I know I'm going to regret asking this but...

[ Deep breath. ]

Was it a plush snake?

[He laughs.]

No.

It was a rabbit. I named him Alexander. He was very floppy and the inside of his ears had the prettiest blue gingham print.

My grandfather's dog ate one of his ears half off. [Added with the tone that suggests he's still salty over it, and hasn't quite forgiven the (long since deceased) dog]

[ Anthony winced for the rabbit as if feeling his ear-less pain. ]

I could see you with a plush rabbit. Shame about the ear... We never had pets like dogs running around, only the neighbor's sheep.

Oh, sheep! That must have been quite an adventure.
Very, uh.
Pastoral.
Sounds, ah...utterly charming.

Charming small town UK, that's me.

Aziraphale... right now mum doesn't know who the guy 'I've thrown my future away for' is but eventually she is going to get it out of me.

Yes, I suspected she might.
Do you want us to meet, your mother and I? I won't be offended either way.

Is... it too soon for that? Meeting the family, especially one as crazy as mine, can be bad for a new relationship.

Especially given the circumstances.

Well, what would I be getting myself into, exactly? Would she object that I was a man, or just that I have stolen you from a promising future?

Typical mum stuff, she wanted grandkids... thought I should settle down with a nice girl. I don't think she would be as upset over you being gay as she would be about my tossing over my girlfriend of five years for you.

Alright, that's fair. Well. Right. If you would like me to meet her, or want me there for support, I'm more than capable of holding my own.

You sure? I won't think less of you if you have WAY too much restoration work to do or anything. There's no shame in wanting to avoid this.

[It's tempting, and he visibly considers it.]

No. [Firmly, as if telling himself no as well.]
No, we made this mess together, we will get you out of this together.

[ Anthony said backing out wouldn't have been held against Fell and it wouldn't have, but he did feel a surge of relief that he wouldn't be wading into this quagmire all by himself. It made him love the man just a that little bit more. ]

Do you want to meet her one to one first or dive right in and meet the whole clan at once? Mum's thinking about making dinner plans at some restaurant, not sure which one yet.

One to one might be a little easier. Warm me up, make sure I know precisely who I am talking to.

[Speaking of, how many Crowleys will he need to keep straight, he wonders.]

...How many of you are there? You, your mother... [A pause] I assume Alec has excused himself from the hospital by now? Is there more?

I have a older brother and sister, Oliver and Lilith. Oliver actually has a family but all of them were going to stay at home so the kids didn't miss any school. He's got three now.

Then on Alec's side he has a younger half-sister as my Aunt remarried after splitting with Uncle Alistair. So there should be about seven Crowley's there, counting Alec and myself.

But yeah, mum is the only one here right now if you feel like popping around to meet her without the others. Hang on.

[ His Bronx address is texted. ]

Otherwise it will be some group affair, hopefully not at a buffet but... it seems likely.

Goodness. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep them all in order.
But alright. I will be around in a bit.

Unless you're busy right now, having successfully employed the young Misters Elliott and Wei Wuxian to remove you from the apartment as a diversion?

Maybe we can do name tags.

[ He joked lamely as he cast a quick look to the door. ]

Oh... you saw that.

[ Course he did it was on the network, everyone saw that. ]

Thought I could get a few hours out of the flat. Just let mum work out her worries while cooking. That's what she does. If she isn't gardening then she is cooking. Maybe you could slip over before the great escape? That way... we both will have an excuse to leave before the others get here.

[Brightly] Could we?
...Oh, you were joking.

And yes, I did. I'm sorry, that was terribly invasive and nosy of me.

I could. She wouldn't think it awfully convenient, would she? Is she staying with you, or does she have a hotel room?

I mean... if you are really into the idea of name tags we could give it a try. No one is going to get your name right though, not even if you spell it phonetically. And don't worry about the spying thing. Its not like you slipped over and had a look while I was in the shower.

[ Just a smirk not a suggestion! ]

Mum is amazingly smart and able to spot a lie from across the room but with the phone call and the kid coming over, one of those has to work. It will be fine!
She will actually be staying at Lilith's penthouse as I don't have a spare bedroom for a guest. That... actually was the plan when I bought into the place. They can visit but then they have to go somewhere else to sleep. One of my best ideas.

I hadn't thought about my part of that. Well, your family can do as Alec does and call me Fell. [Even if that's just kind of Alec's thing.] It's alright. They aren't the kind to shorten it to something horrible, are they? Like Azi?

[A smile.] As for the shower, I don't have a key, so that would be quite the intrusion.

A very sensible idea, the whole one-room thing. And if you need to use me as an excuse, you're welcome to. Within reason. I wouldn't want them to get the wrong impression, of course.
I can be over shortly. Maybe we can go for a bite of something small, get you out of the house a little while.

[ Aziraphale was granted an apologetic grimace. ]

I can't say what my Uncle will do. He may give you a terrible nickname.

[ Azi sounded about right to him but maybe his Uncle would surprise them! ]

Yeaa, no key. Guess it's too soon to be considering that too.

[ Giving him a key that is. It might have been way too fast. ]

Uhhh...what would be the wrong impression? Just so we are on the same page. I like that idea. We can go for dessert some where after speaking to mum. I feel like something sinful!

...Lovely.

[He had no say in the matter, really, so he might as well accept that the uncle would name him and just...live with it. He was not going to be happy about it, however.]

Probably. It's, ah, been a while since that's been a consideration, so I don't know what's [He tries to think of a good phrase for it.] appropriate these days.

Well, ah. [A shrug. What would be the wrong impression? He'd said it purely on principle but now he's not sure. Frankly, some wrong impressions he wouldn't mind. Actually, he thinks with a smile, there are a lot of wrong impressions he wouldn't mind, in certain contexts.] I suppose a little bit of a wrong impression wouldn't be terrible. ...Might even explain this better than 'visions from past lives.' On that note, what did you tell them about how we met, and the like? In case they ask. I feel our stories should be somewhat consistent.

[He wiggles a little with delight. Something sinful.] I could go for that.

[ Anthony drew in a long breath over the phrasing, 'appropriate these days.' It was a tedious sort of word that more and more often he was beginning to feel bored of. This was shocking in a way as hadn't he used to give such conventions more weight? ]

Not the best thing to bring up really, but Grace and I didn't exchange keys until we have been dating for fours years. Reminds me I still have to return hers...

But I think, what's appropriate is what ever you and I decide. I'm not sure the rules really apply all that much to us anymore.

[ It was a relief to hear Fell was thinking along those same lines, ready to buck a few conventions and cause a stir with a 'wrong impression. You rebel! ]

I, uhm... didn't tell the family much about you at all. I took Alec's advice and tried to tell Grace the truth about what was going on. I didn't mention your memories beyond the fact I was in a few of them but the whole... my possibly being a demon thing, might have come up. She called mum so the family knows the telephone version of that. It's not going to be pretty...

Oh, and you should know Uncle Alistair, the one with the nicknames, he's under the impression you are a drop dead gorgeous blonde named Lisa.

Four years-- [Aziraphale made a face that he tried to not make obvious. Aziraphale had never been especially good at letting people--even lovers--into his life, but four years. Then again, he felt far too alright with the idea of giving Anthony a key for any sane person, so what did he know.] To each their own, of course, but that seems like an awfully long time.

In any case, we can sort out the matter of a key later.

[He frowns. Alec came up with that idea? And here he'd learned to trust Alec's instincts, but he supposed one couldn't have all good ideas all the time. There may be no saving the backstory if they knew Aziraphale claimed Anthony was in some of his memories--it suggested he had probably dragged Anthony into the delusions, which was somewhat in line with what Alec probably thought of him at the start. Planning for how to work around that, without outright suggesting Grace had it all wrong (that sounded cruel), was derailed when Anthony mentioned Lisa. He sputtered out his objections.]

Anthony! What in the-- HOW did he get THAT impression?! What have you been telling these people?

Yeah... I was dragging my feet about it. I guess part of me never really felt it was a right fit.

[ That was his fault entirely. Grace had been all too eager to start a life together, but it was a little too 'set', wasn't it? He still regretted how all this had played out but not the end result. If he had moved faster with Grace he might be married to her right now instead of dreaming up interesting ways to slip Fell his key.

Until that happened!]

It's not my fault! He asked about my beautiful fiancee and I described you... a white haired man with a Mona Lisa smile, I never expected him to think Mona Lisa was your name! I'm to blame for his not listening!?

You're my only hope

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