After a quick lunch, Crowley grabbed his towel and sunscreen and headed for the beach. It was time to laze around in the sun, something he always enjoyed. When he passed the pool on his way to the beach, he heard someone yell his name. 

A little bit confused he turned to the sound, his eyes squinting over the pool to the other side. Aziraphale stood there and gave him a little wave. Crowley sighed and walked around the pool, dodging a few kids that ran about.

“Aziraphale,” he greeted and glanced behind him, but he didn’t see the usual flock of family.

“I hope I’m not disturbing,” Aziraphale started and Crowley waved his concerns away. “Oh, good. I wanted you to meet Adam.”

Crowley protested weakly with a few vowels that came out as gibberish, but Aziraphale didn't notice this as he turned around towards the pool and started waving and calling out for Adam. Crowley would prefer to just jump in the pool when he watched the tall, muscular man coming towards them.

Next to him was the young boy with golden curls and a big smile on his face. Aziraphale really did have it all, didn’t he? Instead of doing something stupid, he just swallowed and waved at them both when they stopped in front of him and Aziraphale, who beamed at them both.

“Crowley, this is Adam,”

Crowley was ready to extent his hand politely to the other man, but Aziraphale interrupted him.

“And this is his father, Arthur. Arthur, Adam, this is Anthony Crowley.”

Now he did extend his hand to the man, Arthur, still thoroughly confused, and to the boy Adam, who grabbed his hand excitedly. Crowley had always liked kids. He never really thought about having kids of his own because he didn’t think he would be a great father, but he enjoyed them nonetheless. As long as he could return them to their rightful owners at the end of the day.

“So very nice to meet you both. He told me a lot of good thing about you,” Crowley told the boy, who grinned widely at him. “I was just on my way to the beach, do you want to join?”

“Oh, can we, dad? Please?

Arthur looked over to Aziraphale, who nodded. “Sure, but you listen to uncle Zira, alright? Everything he says.”

Uncle Zira. All of this started to make a lot more sense to Crowley now, although it surprised him that anyone from his family would let any kids near himself. Maybe Arthur didn’t know who he was? He also knew that Aziraphale used to hate it when people tried to shorten his name, but apparently he got over that. A lot seemed to have changed anyway.

“Promise,” Adam lisped through the hole where his front teeth were supposed to be.

Aziraphale and Adam grabbed their stuff, the young boy enthusiastically running out in front of Crowley and Aziraphale who followed him to the beach. Crowley realised that he had drawn conclusions that weren’t even close to reality. He realised that he had a nephew, but he might be still alone and that was something he really didn’t wish for his former best friend.

“So, uncle Zira, huh,” Crowley grinned. “Who’s his mother?”

“Michael,” Aziraphale answered with a small smile.

“Good for her.”

They settled on the beach, Aziraphale and Crowley sat down in the sand like they did all those years ago, but this time with Adam running around them. They were building a sandcastle and Crowley tried very hard not to destroy this one. Instead, he tried to teach Adam the secrets on how to build the best one, using the techniques that he and Aziraphale discovered together. Even this seemed to feel easy and he couldn’t remember the last time when life felt this effortless.

When they were done building, Crowley stretched himself out on his towel and soaked up the afternoon sun. He was really tired; from the jetlag, going to bed at 4 am and being called awake at 10 am to building sandcastles with a very energetic eight year old. The sound of the waves gently crashing against the sand and children playing lulled him slowly into a dreamless, comfortable sleep.

Crowley woke up in a slight panic. He couldn’t really remember where he was for a moment and there was a strange pressure on his legs and hips, he couldn’t even move his legs. He opened his eyes and sat right up. He noticed two things; first that he was at the beach and he remembered that he was there with Adam and Aziraphale. Secondly, was that those two were looking right at them, their eyes wide and hiding a snicker behind their hands.

He looked at his legs next and found out that they were buried in the sand. Not just a heap of sand, but shaped into a mermaids tail, including crudely crafted scales. Aziraphale and Adam weren’t trying to hide their laughter anymore and Crowley starting laughing too. His eyes met Aziraphale’s, the skin around his eyes was all crinkled up.

“Bastards, that’s what you are! Both of you!” he exclaimed with a smirk before he tried to wiggle his way out of the sand so he could chase them.