#maryrowena

(~2k, read on Ao3)

Note on timing: This takes place at some point between 13x22 “Exodus” and 13x23 “Let the Good Times Roll” — that is, after the return from Apocalypse World but before Lucifer and Michael come through and stir shit up. (Let’s all just pretend Michael killed Lucifer and got stuck over there and our beloved characters finally got some much-earned peace, yeah?)

Endless thanks to the incredible @niche-pastiche for doing an alpha read and advising on proper terminology and gun handling protocols, to my tireless beta @rauko-is-a-free-elf, and to the talented @slytherkins​ for the absolutely beautiful commissioned art that accompanies this fic.

Last but not least, note that while eye and ear protection isn’t discussed here (as it’s not used on the show), it’s an important part of gun safety and should always be used when practicing.

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Mary’s on her way to the bunker kitchen when she hears a bang from the direction of the shooting range, which wouldn’t normally be concerning...except that this particular bang is accompanied by a high-pitched squeal and then a great deal of muffled, Scottish-accented cursing.

What on earth? Mary changes course, making a beeline for the range; when she gets there, the door is already ajar. She nudges it further open and peers inside.

Rowena is standing at one of the shooting stalls, arms trembling slightly as she raises a gun and lines up another shot.

“What the hell is going on here?” Mary demands; she hadn’t even known Rowena was visiting.

Rowena looks over, clearly startled, before schooling her features into a more neutral expression. “What’s it look like?” She tosses her head in the direction of the gun she’s holding, a Glock that Mary doesn’t recognize as having come from the bunker arsenal. “I’m practicing.”

Mary raises a brow. “That what you call shrieking like a little kid when your gun goes off?” She takes in Rowena’s appearance: a simple-yet-elegant brownish red dress and heels, hardly the type of outfit that screams ‘target practice’. “Do you even know how to hold a gun?”

“Aye.” Rowena draws herself up proudly. “I’ve had a lesson.”

“A lesson?” Mary repeats. “As in singular? And from who? Sam or Dean?”

Rowena purses her lips, now looking flustered. “From a…professional,” she says at last. “The same one who sold me the gun. I don’t know his name; we didn’t waste time on pleasantries.”

Didn’t waste time on—oh. Oh, you have got to be kidding me…

“Please tell me,” Mary says darkly, “that you didn’t get that thing in some kind of back alley deal.”

“Of course not.” Rowena glances down, away. “We met in the countryside, at an abandoned farm, and he showed me how to fire it.”

Mary just stares, at a loss for words that aren’t both exasperated and highly profane. “You’re saying,” she manages eventually, “that you bought a gun from some random dealer you don't even know, and you barely know how to use it.”

“What’s to know?” demands Rowena. She waves the gun, finger still on the trigger. “It’s not spellwork. I just point it at the thing I want dead and shoot.”

And for a good few seconds, Mary seriously considers just turning on her heel and marching out of the room. Leaving would be easy; it’d be so much easier than trying to scrape together a modicum of patience for this arrogant, snobby witch of a woman who’s somehow gained Sam and Dean’s trust to the point where she’s allowed to move through the bunker completely unchecked…

Sam and Dean.

Their names cause a sense of protectiveness to bleed into Mary's anger, giving her pause. If she leaves now, who’s to say that Rowena’s ignorance around firearms won’t eventually end with Sam or Dean injured, or possibly worse? Mary would regret it, she knows she would; it would be yet another failure to add to the list of things she can never forgive herself for.

Damn it...

She sighs, her mind made up; she might not know how to be the type of mother her boys deserve, but she can damn well make sure another person’s stupidity doesn't lead to them getting hurt. With a few quick steps, she's crossed the room to stand at Rowena's side.

Mary who turns to Rowena for issues like 'what's your wisdom witch (affectionate)' but Rowena's advices are just either kill him, get a rich husband or move to another country in another time

Rowena knows so much about the Grand Scheme of Things and the social dynamics, like Mary will complain about minimum wage and Rowena's like 'yeh capitalism is bad blabla we've been knew' but Mary has a new look on everyday things & she adapts quickly in everyday life stuff so she'd ask Rowena stuff like 'why don't you just internet the phone number instead of doing a spell? also logically it's probably about your amazon order just call back' and Rowena pretends it's a conscious choice bc she doesn't trust muggle things but actually she just forgets how to be a regular human being

also Mary keeps a witch killing bullet around her neck and it's actually a gift & show of trust from Rowena but they both pretend it's a constant threat

YOUR MIND!!!

Thanks for coming to talk to me about mary/rowena, they live in my mind rent free, i don’t know why this ship isn’t more popular. (sorry this got a bit long, but i have many Thoughts)

I love the “witch (affectionate)” cause really Mary has grown up her whole life thinking that witches are bad, that they are monsters to be killed, but she comes back in a new world and her sons are friends with demons and angels and werewolves and she... maybe she can learn that the world isn’t as black and white as she was told, by falling for a wicked old witch.

I see it starting as reluctant allies because Mary is working a case and she needs a spell and obviously Sam and Dean tell her to call Rowena and they work it together. Neither of them trusts each other at first - Mary calls her ‘the witch (derogatory)’ and Rowena says she’s just like her sons, pretty face but no brain- but they have to learn how to work together (cause Rowena wants something from the thing they’re hunting and Mary wants to save people) and by the time they close the case Mary calls her ‘witch (affectionate)’ with a playful smile and Rowena is shamelessly flirting. (i think this happens after s13 and of course in this universe Mary never dies)

I think they make out before Mary actually accepts her bisexuality and she FREAKS OUT, because she never thought about this before. she met john in highschool (i’m not mistaken about this, right?) and yes, girls were pretty, but she was not like that, she liked dudes, so it never crossed her mind. She has a heartfelt conversation about this with Dean and when she later tells Rowena about this she’s like ‘you lads are so close minded, like mother like son’.

They bond over their failed roles as mothers. Mary tells her how she can’t help but feeling guilty over leaving after having just come back and Rowena is the first person to actually understand her and tell her she did the right thing. Sam and Dean are adults and they can’t expect her to be a mom, she should be allowed to choose her own life for the first time.

also I love you idea about Rowena using magic for everything!! neither of them is really adapted to todays world but Mary at least tries, Rowena, however, usually forgets she has a phone.

AND THE WITCH KILLING BULLET!! I LOVE THAT CONCEPT. It starts in that first case, Mary shows her the bullet, threatening her. Rowena laughs at it like ‘look at you cute young thing, all so bravado and righteousness’, but also she’s a bit worried cause she doesn’t feel like dying again. Of course Mary doesn’t use it and it becomes a recurring teasing between them. Neither of them is the kind to make a commitment but it kinda is when eventually Mary takes the bullet out of the gun and wears it in a necklace. She plays it as causal and jokes that it is to remind her that she still has it, but they both know its a way of always having a reminder of her close to her heart. Mary changes her husbands ring - a sign of what she once thought was freedom but was just another lie chosen for her, a reminder of loss and mistakes, of all that was taken from her (her youth, her choice, her life...) - for a sign of actual freedom, of new beginnings, of having control over your own life and using it to tear down the bigotry that was taught to you.

Rowena and Mary having cute little dates together.

Rowena making Mary bashful and shy.

Rowena and Mary having passionate, heated sex in the bunker that makes Sam and Dean leave just so they could give Rowena and Mary some alone time.

Rowena making Mary a squirming, needy mess.

And I mean like LOVED eachother if you know what I mean (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

They would've made such a cute couple, such a baddie couple.

oooo hell yeah !! love a yuri rarepair <3

Oh my god ………………………. rowena velma. she’s running the jail. she’s tiny she’s in charge she’s beautiful. she’s going to get away with murder.

mary roxie of course and she steals the limelight and rowena handles it Poorly plus it’s gay jealousy too