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Aziraphale's Festively-Decorated Bookshop

Kiki opens the shop, and runs through her mental check-off list.

"Open" sign - check.
Tea and cocoa - check.
Scones and biscuits - check.
Crackling fire in the fireplace - check.
Cozy chairs and pillows - check.
Festive decorations - check.
Lack of avocados - check!

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Read 'em, maybe buy 'em.

If the angel is available for chat.

If the demon is available for professional snark.

On her way to work after school, Ivanova decides to pop into the bookshop for a bit of reading material. Minbari flight manuals can only get one so far in the procrastinating.

Besides, it looked so very Christmasy and inviting.

"Hello!" Kiki calls to the newcomer. "Welcome to Aziraphale's."

"Hi!" Ivanova replies, grinning at the other girl. "I was finally sucked in. I was resisting the urge to buy books, but your decorations have foiled me. Have you ever heard the good line, "A bookstore is just a genteel bookstore that knows how to read"?"

[[Genteel blackhole. Blackhole. Dammit.]]

"That one's new to me, but I know just what you mean," grins Kiki. "This place caught me so quickly that I started coming here every day, and even helping out - and then Mr. Aziraphale hired me!"

Ivanova is totally caught up by the other girl's enthousiasm. "That's great! A friend of mine when I was younger got a job like that - at a stable, actually." She looks around the store. "Could I possibly have a cup of that cocoa?"

"Absolutely," Kiki answers. "It's free for anyone who would like some - and it's always hot. Help yourself to some scones or biscuits, too."

There are some cozy arm chairs and a very comfortable couch near the fireplace, as well, and the table with the goodies is near them.

"Thanks!" Ivanova takes a cup, but avoids the squishy couches of doom, as she has to get to work at some point in the foreseeable future and squishy couches are as insidious traps as bookstores are. Instead she wanders towards the books, carefully holding her mug at a safe distance.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Ivanova, I don't think we've met," she says to the other girl.

"I'm Kiki," answers Kiki. She looks about 15 years old. "I'm going to guess that you're browsing, not looking for anything specific," she says with a smile.

"Very true," Ivanova replies to the younger-by-three-years-while-we're-giving-some-context girl. "I just managed to burn through everything on my ship. It's down to the manuals. In Minbari. Do you stock any of those cheesy romance novels?" She grins. "Y'know, the ones with the fiery-haired, tempestuous young heiress and the dashing rogue with a past as dark as his manly windswept hair?"

[[I swear I'm not refreshing like a demented hamster. I just happen to check almost as soon as you post]]

Wilson was after cocoa.

Actually he was after cocoa and the fireplace. Bundled up in his overcoat, he'd even remembered his gloves as he'd closed up at the clinic, set his pager on his hip and headed down to the shop for a couple of hours.

Just to clear his head a little bit.

Sliding through the door, he saw Kiki busy with a customer. Giving her a little wave but in no way wanting to disturb her he headed for the couch in the lounge. Shrugging out of his coat ~~and suriptiously checking for avocados~~ Wilson got himself a mug of cocoa and grabbed a random book off a shelf. He might even pretend to read it.

For now, he was settling in quietly to sip at the hot chocolate, study the flicker of the flames in the fireplace and...think.

Aziraphale wanders into the shop from being out doing whatever it is angels do when they're not drinking tea in their bookshops. Hanging up his overcoat, he sees the familiar one already on the coatrack and looks around the shop, pleased. On his way back to the lounge he smiles at Kiki ~~and checks the bookshelves for avocados, of which there are none because that would make him cry, and you don't want to see the angel cry, do you?~~.

Spotting the doctor sitting lost in thought in front of the fireplace, Aziraphale slips softly into a seat, pouring himself a cup of tea and quietly watching Wilson watch the fire.

It was a testament to the level of quiet comfort the oncologist felt when he was at the store, that despite being 'in public' he could still zone out to the point where it was almost half an hour before he realized that the angel had crept in, on little cat feet. So to speak.

Turning his head slightly so that he could see Phale, while still watch the play of the flames in the hearth, Wilson smiled.

"Hey there."

Smiling over his tea, Aziraphale says softly, "Good day, James dear. You seemed rather lost in thought, so I didn't want to disturb you. More cocoa?"

With a blink, Wilson looked down at his cup, which he'd emptied a while ago and he chuckled softly, holding it out towards Phale.

"I'm going to get fat coming down here you know?"

There was a gentle twinkle in espresso dark eyes and the corners of the oncologist's mouth were twitching impishly.

"I doubt that, my dear. Not with all of the running about you do." The angel took the cup to refill it and handed it back.

"How are things at the clinic?"

Taking the cup back from Phale, Wilson shifted around on the couch till he was facing the angel, warming his side with the fire in the hearth.

"You've discovered my secret, I run about to keep in front of the fat cells."

Taking a sip of cocoa, Wilson looked down at the carpet for a minute before he peered up at Phale.

"I gave your gift to Jonathan. He was quite pleased and believes you to be a very nice man indeed. So I don't think you have to worry that he doesn't like you."

"James dear, I have a feeling that Mr. Crane would say I was a very nice man indeed even if he hated me."

Aziraphale's tone is calm and neutral, the comment made almost as an aside.

"How is Greg?"

Something about what Phale said and about how Crane made the oncologist feel, sent a shiver through the young doctor's body. The classic 'someone just walked over his grave' sort of quiver.

Looking up however, he blinked and set aside the topic of Crane for the time being to smile warmly.

"He's...he's good. He's fighting but he's also doing a lot of thinking. Maybe more than he's let himself do since the infraction."

"I'm so glad to hear that. I promised him I would come by the clinic or the apartment sometime tomorrow, if that's all right."

His eyes brighten. "Do you know, I'm rather looking forward to making this trip with you on Saturday."

Wilson blinked, then smiled gently as he sipped his cocoa.

"Aziraphale, you certainly don't need to clear a visit to the apartment or the clinic to see House through me." He paused thoughtfully, tapping the side of the cup before glancing towards the angel.

"Whatever friendship is between you and House, it's just that...between you two, I don't need to be a third wheel in it simply because you're my friend as well."

He wanted Phale to understand that he respected what went on between the angel and House as private unless either party wanted him to know specifically what transpired.

The brightening of blue eyes was hard not to grin at and Wilson straightened up a little.

"You should tell me if there is some specific activity you'd like to indulge in. Like... museums? Toy store? Ice skating? A theater production?"

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Aziraphale's Festively-Decorated Bookshop

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