Crowley felt himself start when he saw her, despite having come to look for her in the first place.
"Mummy. You startled me." He said. She smiled, a tiny half grin as she looked at him.
"Now you know how I feel when you do that to me." She almost laughed. Almost. When she saw the pensive look on his face, she frowned. "What's wrong, Fergus?" She asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Come now dearie, I'm your mother, I know when something is wrong."
He felt surprise color his expression. Then, he smiled a bit to himself. Of course she knew. But then, he felt himself worry. How was he going to explain himself to her? This wasn't normal. This wasn't something you could tell anyone. But… who else would understand better than his mother? Still, felt his fears take over. He was surprised when her expression softened and she took his hand.
"Are you alright?"
He felt himself still. He almost said no, but he felt himself barely, just barely, shake his head no. He watched his mother's eyes fill with worry. She sighed quietly, and then stood up. She pulled her son over and had him sit down in the rocking chair. She knelt down on the floor until she met his eye level.
"What is bothering you?" She enunciated each word very specifically for him. He tried to break her eye contact, but she would not let him.
"I don't know how to say it." He found himself saying.
"If I have to look into your mind, I will." She said.
Somehow he found that oddly comforting. He wanted to say it though.
"I… I need to tell you something."
"Alright. I'm listening." She said calmly.
He knew she was trying to bolster him, but somehow it made his anxiety rise higher.
"Mummy… I… Do you… Do you remember when I told you that when you spoke in a higher voice that it made me want to do childish things?"
"Yes, I do." She said slowly, trying to figure out where he was going with this.
"There was… there is… a voice." He said. Trying to figure out what to say. "It tells me the same things."
Rowena frowned. "But I made sure that the spell was completely gone. There was no trace of it left."
Crowley felt his face burn red with embarrassment. The next word out of his mouth was the most difficult word he ever had to speak. "Exactly."
It took her a minute to process what he was saying. If the spell was gone, then… Oh. Oh. She felt herself smile.
"Fergus… Is the voice yours?" She asked.
His blush brightened, if that was even possible. Slowly, hesitantly, he gave her the barest nod.
To Crowley's surprise, instead of disgust, or anger, or any of the absolutely horrible reactions that he had pictured in his head when he told her what had been happening inside his head, she smiled and looked at him lovingly and went over to him, stroking his hair and sat on one of the arms of the rocking chair.
"I'm glad you told me." She said. "Because I've been thinking about the same thing."
His head whipped around so fast that he thought he might give his vessel whiplash.
"What?" He asked, surprised.
Rowena sighed, and decided to tell him the truth. "Ever since you were turned back i've been empty. I lost so much time with you when you were little. I felt so guilty… when I had to leave you behind I kept thinking about everything I was missing. I wondered what you were doing, and who you were becoming. And then I saw you in your dungeon, and I realized that you weren't dead. I tried to cover up the happiness and love with hate and anger. All because I was obsessed with my appearance… And then I realized what happened. And I saw how I had treated you. And when you let me in, It was like a whole new world had opened up in front of me. I thought that there was nothing better than that, but then those witches cursed you, and even though it was awful and I felt incredibly guilty about it, I was joyful because for the first time, I got to enjoy the time with you because you were little. I had never known joy like that before. I wanted it to last forever, but I knew it was selfish because you had your own life outside of me. But after what your father did to me I wanted to hold on tighter. You were the only thing that kept me going when he was…" She stopped, swallowed, and continued on after a pause, "…Beating me. And then we worked together to try and defeat him, and even though it was wonderful I wanted more. But once he was gone I couldn't put off the inevitable, so I cured you. Even though It broke my heart in a way. But I knew I had done the right thing for you. It eased my conscience, but not the selfish longing in my heart. So I came here, hoping that maybe for just a moment that that feeling would go away. And then, somehow, you gave me just what I needed."
Crowley listened to his mother's story attentively, surprised by what he had heard. He had known much of the first part, but the last was unexpected. How she had felt the same need he had. He was still surprised that she hadn't been repulsed by what he had said.
"So y-you're not… mad at me?" He was surprised at how feeble the words sounded.
"Of course not! Why would I be mad at you?"
He shrugged. He didn't know why. His mother wrapped her arm around him.
"Any time you want to listen to that voice inside of your head, you just let me know. I'm happy to help."
The two of them shared a smile for a moment before enjoying the quiet, happy moment they had found together.