Chapter Text
The red Morris Minor came to a stop in front of the Young family residence. Deirdre Young, a middle aged mother, and her eight years old daughter Sarah had been waiting all morning. They hurried to the door the moment they saw the car.
Arthur, the father of the family, came out of the vehicle and opened the back door.
“Let me hold him for you,” he said, smiling into the back seat. He leaned in and gathered a little boy with messy brown hair into his arms.
The boy was about 3 or 4. He wore a striped T-shirt and blue jeans, and a slightly oversized green jacket. He looked back into the car and tried to reach for the person inside.
“Daddy!” The boy called out.
“Alright, alright. I'm coming!” The man still in the car laughed.
Arthur stepped aside for him to get out of the car. He was a young man around mid 20s, with wavy red hair. His outfit consists of a black turtleneck and jacket, ripped tight jeans and a pair of sunglasses. He pulled a large backpack from the car and put it on.
Once done, he opened his arms to receive the boy from Arthur. “Come to papa,” he said, giving the boy a little loving peck on the cheek.
“He just can't leave your side, huh?” Arthur chuckled.
“Nope.” The young man gave him a grin that showed two sharp fangs.
Deidre and Sarah made it to the car. They excitedly greeted the two of them.
“Welcome home, dear,” Deidre gave Arthur a quick kiss. Then she turned to the young man. “Crowley, you made it. How was the trip?”
“Not bad, Mrs. Young.” Crowley said.
“Call me Deidre. We’re family now,” she smiled warmly.
“Right.” Crowley cleared his throat. “The trip was fine. Though Adam got a little upset that we didn't stop for him to see the cows.” He bounced the little boy a little.
“Awww,” Deidre cooed. “I'm sure there will be another chance.”
“Tomorrow is Sunday! I'll take him to see the cows!” Sarah chirped. She held Adam's small hand in hers. “Hello, Adam! Remember me?”
“Sawwah!” Adam giggled and turned to his father. “Can I go see cow?” He shook Crowley's lapel.
“Of course, little light,” Crowley stroked his hair. “But not now. Daddy've got to unpack first.”
Adam pouted.
“Adam, do you want to see your new room?” Deidre asked.
“New room?” Little Adam blinked, curious.
“That's right. New room! With a big bed!” She smiled. “There's toys, and candy!”
Adam's eyes brightened. “I want! I want!” He waved his arms.
Deidre winked at Crowley as she took the boy from his arms. “Alright. Let's go.” She let the little boy stand on his feet and held his hand. “Sarah, help me show Adam his room.”
Sarah enthusiastically held Adam's other hand. “Follow me!”
Crowley watched the three of them go to the house with a relieved smile. He turned to Arthur.
“I really can't thank you and Deidre enough,” he said. “This town feels like the perfect place for him.”
“And you two are the perfect addition to our family. Sarah has always wanted a little brother,” Arthur patted his shoulder. “I hope it will be perfect for you, too, Crowley. Tadfield is a wonderful town for a fresh start.”
Crowley stared at him. It wasn't easy to read his expression behind those dark glasses, but he quickly looked away and changed the subject.
“Errr, let's get the rest of my stuff from the trunk,” he turned around. “I've got to get Adam's clothes ready for him to get changed.”
The room was full of laughter.
Now having someone closer to his age to hang out with, Adam spent the whole time playing with Sarah while Crowley arranged their belongings in the room. Sometimes, he would stop what he was doing to watch the two children, feeling nostalgic about his time as a kid.
“Oh nooo, the dragon got the princess!” Sarah gasped. She pretended like the dragon plushie had pulled the barbie doll away. “What do you do?”
Adam giggled. He grabbed the teddy bear and smacked it on Sarah’s plushie. “Mr. Teddy fights the dwagon!”
“But the dragon is veeeery strong!” She fought back playfully. “It can breathe fire!”
Adam took more plush toys from the floor and let them join the fight. “Teddy’s fwiends come to help!” He exclaimed.
The children laughed out loud.
Crawly chuckled. He put the blanket with space patterns for Adam, which he got before leaving London, into the drawers. That should be the last of his son’s items. He would take care of his own clothes later. There was no hurry to put away everything. They would be staying here for a long time, at least until Crowley could afford his own house.
He decided to leave the kids to their little game and went out to the kitchen to see if there was anything he could help with. When Crowley arrived, Deidre was tasting the vegetable soup. He leaned against the entrance to the room.
“Do you need any help?” He asked.
“Hmm… Not really. Sarah and I did the preps while we were waiting for you and Arthur,” she answered him as she went to collect a large bowl. “Besides, you don’t have to do anything, Crowley.”
“Come on, let me do something, would ya?” Crowley insisted. “You can’t just let us stay here rent free and not put me to work around the house.”
“Well,” Deidre smiled playfully. “The deal was that you’d start paying rent once you got a job.”
“Right. Took me days to convince you guys to agree on that,” Crowley said and sighed. “But seriously, money’s not enough to repay you two for… all of this.”
He left the wall to get deeper into the kitchen. “You said we’d be family. Yeah? Stop treating me like a guest then.”
“Fine.” She laughed. “You can help me set up the table. Everything’s in the cabinet.”
“My pleasure,” Crowley smirked. He scanned his eyes around the room to get a sense of where things were. The cabinet was wooden and showed the age of the house. It reminded him of the good ol’ 70s. He sauntered over and opened the door to start collecting plates and silverwares.
“By the way, Crowley,” Deidre spoke from behind him. She started pouring the steaming soup into the bowl with a ladle. “I’ve spoken to the school-”
“School?” He stopped midway through stacking the dishes in his hand.
“Yeah, isn’t Adam of age? What’s his birthday?”
“Errr… 20th August,” replied Crowley, suddenly losing some of his enthusiasm.
Deidre hummed. “Hmm, then he'd be old enough for school this Autumn semester. We only have one elementary in town, and they said they'd love to speak to you about enrolling Adam.”
“Autumn? You mean like… September?” Crowley turned his head to look at her.
“Yeah, you still have a few months to decide,” she shrugged. “You can book a tour of the school and speak to the teachers. I'll send you the website on your phone so you can read the documentation they provide.”
“D-does he have to go so early?” Crowley started getting nervous. The reality of his little boy going to school had been buried at the back of his mind. He refused to acknowledge it was going to happen eventually.
Deidre eyed him. She signed nasally. “I suppose if you aren't ready, you can postpone it until next year.” She smiled at him. “It’s good to be well prepared.”
“Yeah… I'll think about it. Thanks…” Crowley quickly gathered the rest of the items he needed and closed the cabinet.
As he was arranging the silverware on the table, Crowley couldn't get the thought out of his head. Time sure went by so fast. It felt like just yesterday when he held the little one in his arms for the first time. They had been inseparable ever since.
Due to their circumstances, Crowley wasn't able to go to work for years, and in that time, most of his life was devoted to taking care of Adam. Crowley knew schooling was a necessity but…. He didn't like the thought of leaving Adam in the care of some strangers for the majority of the week. A whole lot of things could happen when he wasn't watching.
“Mr. Crowley!” Sarah called to him.
He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look. She was leading Adam into the room. It immediately raised some alarms when he saw that his child was borderline crying.
“Daddy!” Adam pulled away from her and ran up to hug around Crowley's legs.
“He saw that you were gone and wanted to find you,” Sarah explained. “I told him you would come back, but…”
Crowley eased up. He realised how tensed up he was at the sight of Adam looking so distressed. Thankfully it wasn't anything serious.
“Aww, I'm here. I'm here,” he soothed, picking his son up for a cuddle. His eyes met Deidre's empathetic gaze.
“See, I don't know if it's a good time sending him off to school yet.” Crowley muttered, “He'd be so upset without my presence…”
“Can't blame him. It's a big change in environment,” Deidre said, placing some bread on the table. “You can't keep Adam by your side forever though,” she reminded him. “Sarah also cried a lot on her first day at school. But now she loves to meet her friends and teachers.”
“Mooom,” Sarah pouted. “You didn't have to mention the crying.”
Deidre chuckled. “Well, Sarah. You're a tough young lady now. When Adam goes to school, you'd help Mr. Crowley look after him during breaks. Yes?”
“Of course! I'd love to!” Sarah jumped. “You can count on me, Mr. Crowley!”
Crowley smiled back awkwardly. “G-good to know, Sarah. Uhh… I’m not sure yet, though….”
Understanding that they were putting some pressure onto Crowley, Deidre squeezed Sarah's shoulder. “We're about to have lunch. Go get your father.”
“Got it, Mum!” The girl gave her a thumbs up and ran off to the living room.
Crowley watched her go, idly stroking Adam's hair. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad…
“Well, Adam, are you hungry?” he asked. “Auntie Deidre made us some delicious food.”
“Yes. I'm hungwy! I want sawsages!” Adam nodded, pointing to the plate full of tomato sausages. He had returned to smiling brightly again.
“Okay, good choice.” Crowley laughed. “What do we do before food?”
“Umm, wash our hands!” The little boy raised his hands, waving them in the air.
“Exactly!” Crowley gave him a gentle high-five. He carried Adam to the sink. He held the boy up, seeing he was still too short to stand without a chair.
Adam giggled when he pushed down on the soap dispenser bottle and a few bubbles came out.
“Make sure you clean between the fingers,” Crowley reminded softly. “Get all the bad germs.”
“Die, germs!” The boy splashed his hand into the water flowing from the faucet. “You’re not going to make us sick!”
Crowley laughed. “Good job. Brave warrior. You killed the germs.”
He helped his son turn off the water and dried his hand. As they did so, Sarah returned with Arthur. The older man was holding a box-like cushion. Apparently this was why it took him a while to make it to the dining room for lunch.
“I just remembered that we had a booster seat in the storage,” Arthur said. “It’s been a while since we needed it. Gotten quite dusty there. Pass me the rag, honey.”
Deidre quickly grabbed one from the counter to give him. “I completely forgot about it,” she said with a small laugh as Arthur wiped the seat and secured it to the chair.
“Ohh, look Adam, you can sit like a grown-up now,” Crowley led his son to the table.
“Yayy!” Excited, Adam climbed onto his special seat. He bounced playfully to test the elasticity of the cushion.
“Say thank you, buddy,” Crowley ruffled his brown hair. Everyone could see that he had two tiny horns growing from his head. They were covered by the long hair until Crowley moved it.
“Thank you!” The boy chirped.
They all settled down except Deidre. She continued standing to divide everyone’s portion as Arthur turned to Crowley.
“So, about the job opportunities I mentioned. Since you don’t have any degree yet, I asked around for some jobs where you can just start right away. There’s a pub in town looking for a barista. A family restaurant is also hiring,” Arthur said. “I’ve gotten their phone numbers for you. Whichever rocks your boat.”
Crowley considered it. He definitely worked with wine before. Not in the setting of a small town pub though. The question was whether he trusted himself with handling alcohol again… A restaurant job didn’t sound so bad. Unless they wanted him in the kitchen. Crowley doubted he would be a good cook. All he knew to do was making instant or canned meals and mixing baby formula. He’s gotten quite good at the latter.
“I don’t suppose you’ve asked them about the hours?” he asked. “I don’t think I can work fulltime yet.”
“The pub is most busy at night, and on the weekends. So that’s when they would need an extra hand,” replied Arthur. “As for the restaurant, you’ll have to ask them for more details. I only saw the hiring sign at their front door. It’s a French restaurant.”
“Justine’s?” Deidre joined the conversation, now sitting down for her meal. “That’s the one by the charity bookshop, isn’t it?”
Crowley eyed Adam’s plate and saw that she had given him some sausages and mash, with boiled vegetables.
“That’s a lot. Are you sure he can eat all of this?” he commented, slightly concerned about the portion.
“He said he wanted the sausages,” Deidre shrugged. “Now that you two are in my hands, I’ll make sure you boys eat well.”
“Guess I’m your son now too…” Crowley chuckled. He grabbed his knife and fork, then leaned closer to cut the food into smaller pieces for the boy. Granted she already cut them in half, but Crowley didn’t want to risk his son choking from eating too fast.
Deidre sighed. “If we had a kid right after marriage, you might as well be. But we’re both betas.”
“Mom said I was a miracle,” Sarah chimed in.
“You are,” Arthur chuckled as he ate. “We actually considered adoption. That’s why we registered for the housing programme. We specifically wanted to help single parents like you, Crowley. When Anathema called, I was quite surprised because I had forgotten about it.”
“I thought it was such a nice coincidence. Maybe it was destined,” Deidre clasped her hands together hopefully. “Sarah kept talking about wanting a sibling. I don’t think we can have another one before 50. And that’s a dangerous age for another pregnancy.”
“Ah, that’s right. I’ve yet to thank Sarah for this. Thank you,” Crowley smiled at the little girl.
“You’re welcome. That’d be a ticket to Disneyland, please,” Sarah said proudly.
Everyone laughed.
Crowley eventually focused back on cutting the food. “It does feel like fate has set us all up. Honestly, I wanted to find a place by myself at first. I’m a little… stubborn when it comes to receiving help… I like standing on my own feet, y’know?”
The man pushed the dish back to Adam so he could start eating it. “But Anathema was scarier.” He laughed. “She’s the most supportive attorney I’ve met. It wasn’t even her job to convince me.”
Deidre nodded. “She’s very dedicated when it comes to situations such as yours. Been very vocal at a young age. You know, none of us expected her to come back from America as an attorney. I thought she would be following her mother’s business.”
“Speaking of,” Arthur said. “Her home is not far from here. She lives in the Jasmine Cottage. Tomorrow I can give you and Adam a ride to visit her. I already told her that you’re moving in today.”
“Thanks. I haven’t seen her in person in a while,” Crowley nodded. “Not after everything concluded.” He rolled his food with a fork thoughtfully. “We mostly talk on WhatsApp.”
“That’s decided then. Tomorrow I’ll take you to the cottage.” Arthur patted Crowley’s shoulder.
“And then we see the cows!” Sarah added.
“Sounds like you all have got a solid plan for tomorrow,” Deidre giggled.
After lunch, the adults left their children watching the kids channel on TV while they cleaned up the table. By the time Crowley was done helping with the dishes, he came into the living room to see Sarah and Adam had fallen asleep on the couch together. The food must’ve made them drowsy. They were leaning on each other, cuddling their plushies.
At first, he thought of picking Adam up and brought him to the bedroom but decided to leave the kids be. So he ended up resting on the armchair beside them. Crowley sighed, gazing at the children. He couldn’t help but smile lovingly at the sight.
Adam really needed this. It was mostly adults back in the old housing, or much older kids. While they weren’t terrible people, there were more restrictions in place. He had to always ask for permission if he wanted to do anything. Crowley understood it was a safety measure, but the older Adam became, he realised it wasn’t the best place to bring up a child.
The allowance from the government programme was enough for food and some comfort. Still, Crowley wanted more. Not for himself, of course. When he decided to keep Adam, he made a promise to give his child the best that he could provide. Crowley knew the life they had wasn’t his best. He had the potential to do much more.
Well, at least his therapist told him to start telling himself that.
This was the first step. He managed to get the two of them a new start at a town where mostly no one knew who they were. The Young family had been kind. The air was fresh and the food wasn’t overwhelmingly manufactured. There were jobs available. Things were going the right way.
Crowley didn’t want to jinx his luck by saying it out loud. He regretted even thinking about it.
The young man took a deep breath, feeling his heart rate rising. He had been practicing it every time he got anxious about everything going “too well”.
Crowley reminded himself that staying optimistic was the advice. Whatever happened next, Adam would have the life Crowley never had.
At the very least, he would make sure the boy wouldn’t have to go through what he did.