desperately-seeking-words:

Rowena and Charlie are at a little pub outside of Reno when Sam calls.  

Rowena doesn’t bother to hide her surprise.  Charlie leans over to look at the phone in her hand with eyebrows raised.  “You know, it’s not going to answer itself,” Charlie reminds her as she takes a sip of her vodka tonic.

Rowena looks at her.  “I know that,” she says with an edge in her voice.  “But, with Samuel?  There are only a few reasons why he might call me…and I usually don’t like what happens next.”

Charlie shrugs.  “Really?  I thought I saw you looking pretty pleased when he was chatting you up the night we came through the portal.”

Rowena sighs.  

“If you don’t answer tall, brooding, and handsome, I will,” Charlie says, reaching for the phone.

Rowena snatches it away and accepts the call.  “What is it, Samuel?” She asks, drawing out Sam’s name.  “End the world again already?”

“Not exactly,” comes Sam’s reply, and Rowena would be lying if she said that hearing his voice didn’t make her stomach flip.  “Well, I guess, maybe, but that’s not why I called.”

Rowena frowns.  “Consider me thoroughly comforted by that remark,” she says, fighting to keep from rolling her eyes.  “What is it with you Winchesters…”

“Rowena,” Sam interrupts her.  “He’s dead.”

This gives Rowena pause.  Now, she could picture him calling her about Dean on the off chance she might be able to do something to fix it, but Sam’s voice sounded too…relieved.

Rowena gasps out a laugh.  “You can’t mean…?”

“I do. Lucifer is gone.  For good.”

Tears of joy prick her eyes and Rowena is grinning so hard she’s afraid her face might split in half.  “Truly?”

“We don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

Rowena is grateful for the distance between them, because if he was right there in front of her, she might not be able to refrain from hugging him.  She covers her mouth with her hand and just breathes in the moment.

But in this pause, she notices something.  Behind that relief in Sam’s voice is a twinge of loss.  Her smile fades.  “At what cost?”

“What?”

“Sam,” she tries again, “what did it cost?”

Sam sighs, and it’s heavy with the weight of the world.  “It’s Dean,” he says, his voice small and quiet in a way that sounds so utterly defeated.  Rowena hates it.  “In order to beat him, Dean had to…Dean let Michael in.”

“And now he’s not letting go of his prize,” Rowena fills in the blank.

Sam says nothing.  He doesn’t need to.

“You and the angel must be fraught.”

“Understatement,” Sam confirms after a moment.

Rowena glances over at Charlie, who has been sipping her drink and trying way too hard to make it seem like she’s not listening.  “What do you need me to do?”

“What? No, this isn’t your problem.  You don’t have to-”

“As much as I appreciate you giving me an out, let’s face it: if Michael can defeat Lucifer, then he can be worse than Lucifer.  He can’t go unchecked.”  Rowena sighs.  She can’t believe she’s doing this.  “So let’s put him in check,” she says slowly, really emphasizing the last syllable. 

“I won’t lie, we could really use your help.”  Sam pauses.  “I could.”

“Lucky for you I’m practically going for sainthood these days,” Rowena says airily.

“Yeah, right,” Sam says with a laugh in his voice.  It’s nice to hear in contrast to the defeat she heard in his voice just a moment ago.

“We’ll head your way in the next day or so.  See you-”

“Rowena.”

Rowena pauses.  “Yes?”

“Thank you.  Really.”

Rowena smiles and says nothing.  After a moment, she hangs up and turns to Charlie, who is looking back at her with a smug expression on her face.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” Rowena asks, irritated.

“I love it when the baddies turn good for love,” Charlie replies.

Rowena rolls her eyes.  “Please, love?  Don’t be absurd.”

Charlie grins.  “You literally just volunteered to jump into preventing the apocalypse just because he needs you.  He even gave you the option of not getting involved.”

“You’re really rather nosy, aren’t you?”

“Point is, you used to be this awful witch that didn’t care if you killed anyone.  At least, that’s the cliff notes version I got. Now you and Sam have bonded over your shared trauma and you’re going to help him save his brother, which, from what I’ve gathered in my short time with them, is pretty much the best thing you could possibly ever do for either one of the Adonis brothers.” Charlie takes a sip of her drink.  “He’s going to be so grateful,” she adds, waggling her eyebrows.

“Come off it,” Rowena snaps. “I’m not doing it for him, I’m doing it for the world, which I happen to live in, you know.”

“Yeah, but also, you’re doing it at least a little bit for him.”

“No.”

“Yeah.”

Rowena shakes her head.  “I’ll just leave you to your delusions.”  With that, she gets up and starts heading towards the exit, but Charlie is hot on her heels chanting something about “ship names” and which one would be best.

But Rowena ignores her, because…Sam and Rowena?  Never gonna happen.