69 Memory Lane - Saturday Evening

[time_watcher]

Jack and Ianto had spent much of their day down in the Lair dealing with the latest bit of flotsam and jetsam that had dropped through the Rift and into their laps. Some of the technology had some cool properties, though one items seemed to be a sort of stink bomb that had gone off. Luckily it had been trapped in a containment field but even so,

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[ditheringangel]

Aziraphale and Wilson had handwavily gone for a walk, down by the river as Lana had suggested. The young doctor was headed back to the house now, to make a late supper, but Aziraphale had wanted to walk some more. It was his first foray out after dark like this, and he was enjoying the odd interplay of shadows and light from the streetlamps.

He was also occasionally getting distracted by things. Like the stars, which were just visible above the lamps. Which was how Aziraphale found himself standing in the middle of the lawn at 69 Memory Lane, with his head craned back, lost in thought.

[time_watcher]

Jack had been yelling down in the lair to Ianto about where was the fire extinguisher when the silent alarms set up on the property had gone off. Darting over to check out the CCTV, Jack had left Ianto to deal with the smoke in the kitchen, while he grabbed the Webley and headed out to see who was on their lawn.

Approaching cautiously, the gun at his side, Jack hadn't recognized Aziraphale until he was almost on top of him and arched a bemused eyebrow.

"Aziraphale?"

[ditheringangel]

"Hmm?" the angel-turned-mortal mumbled, by way of reply, blinking at the sky before turning his attention to the man standing near him. He spotted the gun and his eyebrows shot up, and Aziraphale took a little nervous step away. This was not the time to be getting shot.

"Er, do you mind, my dear?" he asked, giving a little wave at the Webley with one hand.

[time_watcher]

Jack looked down at the Webley, which was pointed towards the ground but he figured that it was still making the angel nervous and so tucked it into his waistband at the small of his back.

"Sorry," he said in an easy sort of tone, walking closer. "What brings you out tonight?"

[ditheringangel]

"Quite all right, Captain Harkness, just...not wanting any accidents," Aziraphale replied, relaxing a little.

Although whatever possessed people to stick guns into their waistbands he simply could not fathom.

"Oh, James and I were out for a walk, and I wanted to nose about a bit more. He's gone home to make our supper. I was just..." He gestured upward. "Noticing the stars."

[time_watcher]

Walking up closer, Jack stopped right beside the angel and peered upwards at the night sky.

"Is there something special about seeing them from my lawn?" He asked, more curious than put out or anything.

[ditheringangel]

"Oh no, it's just that I was on my way up to your door when I noticed them. Does it always smell like this at night?"

It was entirely possible that Aziraphale sounded a little bit high.

[time_watcher]

Looking a bit bemused, Jack peered at the immediate area and then leaned a little closer to the angel, surreptitiously sniffing to see if he could smell alcohol on the man's breath.

"Usually, well maybe without the scent of smoke. I was cooking earlier. Are you all right, Aziraphale?"

[ditheringangel]

"That's what the smoky scent is from! I was wondering about that. It didn't quite seem to fit what I expected."

Aziraphale didn't notice the surreptitious sniff, which only revealed that he'd had spiced tea and something with fruit in it recently.

Aside from that ever-present odor of tea, which clung to the angel's clothes as well as his body and breath, there might have seemed -- to someone as intimately familiar with Aziraphale as Jack was -- to be something missing. The subtle scent of old paper, the slight sweetness of butterscotch, the warm intangible smell of sunlight...

He smelled, in fact, like a well-groomed man who'd been out for a walk.

"Oh, I am sorry, Captain Harkness. I'm a bit distractable today. It's been, er...well, I've had an unusual sort of experience recently."

[time_watcher]

It was possible that Jack's hand crept towards the small of his back, though he stopped himself with a firm kick in the pants, since it was a silly action.

After all, the angel didn't seem to be threatening.

Just, stoned.

"Did it involve a little white cigarette?"

[ditheringangel]

"A what?"

Aziraphale turned his gaze back on Jack again, giving the man a puzzled look. "I am working on this whole...'experiencing the world through new eyes' thing, but I hardly think James would approve if I took up smoking. And I find that the couch isn't as comfortable a place to sleep as I'd once thought. It has knobby places."

It suddenly occurred to the angel that of course Jack wouldn't know, because they hadn't spoken since...

Okay, new line of thought needed!

"Er, mortal now," Aziraphale added quickly, discovering yet another new feeling -- the heat that crept into a person's face when he was blushing.

[time_watcher]

"Couches usually aren't comfortable," Jack said automatically and then he paused and grinned. "Well, Dean Winchester's couch is very comfortable to be honest."

He arched his eyebrows then and tilted his head curiously at the angel.

"You're mortal? How did that happen?"

[ditheringangel]

Aziraphale's eyebrow arched, but he couldn't say he was surprised. And then he chuckled softly. "Well, our couch can be comfortable when it needs to be, but I don't fancy sleeping on it."

He gave a little sheepish shrug. "I'm not certain how, although I've got my theories. When, I can tell you. It was when Phoebe and her sister did the spell to separate me from Cole's body." Aziraphale held out his arms as if putting himself up for inspection. "It didn't go quite as planned."

[time_watcher]

"It would seem," Jack said a little worriedly and he reached out to give the angel an experimental squeeze before lowering his hand and frowning.

"Should you be out alone?"

[ditheringangel]

A blond eyebrow arched up at the question, and he looked genuinely puzzled by it. "Why shouldn't I?" he asked, with a little smile for that reassuring squeeze. "I know better than to fall off the ferry dock or walk out in traffic, I promise."

The idea that there could be people -- or things -- around town that might do him harm in this state just didn't occur to Aziraphale.

[time_watcher]

Jack, however, had a very good idea of just what was out there and what sort of threat it posed and he looked concerned.

"Listen, just ... let me walk with you back to your house," he said and then because he didn't want to scare the angel/mortal/angel whatever, Jack smiled impishly. "Give me a good reason to have a nice romantic walk under the stars."