[SIGH. Lord grant him patience. This old chestnut. It felt like they had this conversation a million times over, at least once every few months and Aziraphale was willing to go through it all again because Alec was worth it. He honestly believed Alec was pushing them away just to push them away, as a defense mechanism, and that he needed to see that someone was fighting to keep him (and that Alec shouldn't try to leave this world, or any, prematurely--the hospital still haunted him).

But he also knew how this would likely pan out: Alec would accuse him of being emotionally manipulative and, like he'd already said, 'engineering' this to happen. And Alec would drag his feet and resist and then act like they'd hoodwinked him into this whole thing. And he'd seem happy for it in the end. Yes, Aziraphale had probably manipulated him a little in the past, but it had worked and, in his opinion, they'd all been better for it. But maybe that was the point of view of an angel who served a Heaven that resorted to manipulation 'for the greater good' and maybe he needed to stop choosing what he wanted and selfishly trying to think Alec needed them as much as he needed Alec around.]

I'm very sorry I didn't ask you first. That was... selfish of me. But if this is how you feel, I won't drag you through the ritual of rekindling all this. Nor will I engineer it to happen. I'll tell Crowley and you can be left to your own devices.

[He pushed back his chair and stood, leaving the cocoa on the table.]

Have a good day, Alec.