Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original character of Evelyn Winchester does.

A/N: I didn't really give an age for Evy in this story. She's still in diapers, so she's definitely still a baby. She's speaking very simple sentences, so think early toddler-ish.

The scream of a vengeful spirit was nothing, John decided, to the vengeful scream of a feverish baby.

John immediately felt bad for that thought. It wasn't Evy's fault. He had always heard that babies randomly got sky high fevers, only to get over them quickly. Not that he'd had much experience with them. From the time he was four, Dean had cared for Sammy, and from the time he was ten, Sammy had cared for Evy. It was simply the way things in the family worked.

Which was why John would kick his own ass at the moment if he would could. Sam had begged for and been given permission to go to a sleepover, so he was out of the house. Dean had asked for and been given permission to go on a hunt with Caleb, so he was also out of the house. John thought about going to pick up Sam and bring him home, then decided against it. Sam already thought that John didn't care about him enough to want him to do anything 'normal'. So he decided to swallow his desire for a peaceful night and just wait it out.

John wasn't a complete dunce when it came to taking care of a baby. He took her temperature, which was 102 the first time he'd taken. He'd given her as high a dose of the children's Tylenol as was safe. She had almost choked on it from screaming so hard. John had tried to be stern with her, tell her that she had to calm down if she was going to get better, but that had only served to make Evy cry even more. Finally, John gave up. He'd been talking to Evy, but hadn't actually done the part that scared him.

Correcting his children came easy to John. He admitted that he sometimes took it to far, but he saw it as his duty to keep them safe. It was comforting his children that he found difficult. When they were hurt, or sick, or scared, he often didn't know what to say. He halfway thought that Evy would pull away from him when he reached down to pick her up. But when she saw John reach down to pick her up, she eagerly threw her arms in the air.

"Daddy!" she cried out, breaking John's heart.

"Come on, little one."

John walked with her to the couch, and by the time they got there, Evy had grabbed John's jacket and was pulling on it. John couldn't figure out what she was trying to do, but he didn't ask. He did notice she was shaking. Fifteen more minutes of talking to her produced no results, just more hair raising screaming from Evy. John ran a hand through his head in frustration and began to tune Evy out, hoping she would tire herself out. He tuned her out so well that when he felt her hand touch his face, he jumped. She had stopped screaming, but her face was still wet with the tears she'd been screaming out for what felt like hours.

"Daddy sad?"

John swallowed hard. Now that Evy had stopped screaming, she just looked pitiful. Scared and sick and hurting. And she wanted to know whether he felt that way.

"Yes, Daddy's sad."

Evy's lip started to tremble. "Baby make Daddy sad?"

"No. Daddy's sad because he doesn't know how to help you feel better." John explained, pushing some of Evy's sweaty hair out of her face.

The tremble in Evy's lip became more pronounced. "Baby feel bad. Head owie."

"I know, little one. I'm so sorry." John said sincerely. "I wish I could be the one sick, not you."

"Sammy come back?" Evy asked hopefully.

"No, little one. Not tonight."

"Baby show Daddy?" Evy asked.

"Show me what?"

"Make Baby better." Evy asked.

"You want to show me how to make you feel better?" John asked. Evy, who now had two fingers in her mouth, nodded. "Okay. Sure. Show me how."

"Daddy hold Baby." Evy said. "Wock Baby."

"I can do that." John said. "Anything else?"

"Daddy heart." Evy said. She pointed up to the center of John's chest. "Baby wisten."

"I hold you, rock you, and let you listen to my heartbeat?"

Evy nodded, and John lifted her up. He opened his jacket and laid her down close to his chest, where she pressed her ear down so she could hear the steady thump of his heart. He closed the jacket until all he could see was her neck and her head. She calmed much faster than before, and soon was fast asleep. John considered putting her back to bed, but when he saw how soothing the sound of his heart was to Evy, he decided instead to just lie down and let her sleep with him.

"Good night, little one. Daddy loves you."

Early the next morning, John was woken up by a hand patting his cheek. He stirred for half a second, then jumped. He saw that Evy was awake, looking much better.

"Baby make Daddy owie better?"

"What?" John asked.

Evy patted John's cheek again. "Baby make owie better?"

John then realized what she was talking about. There was a scar on John's cheek from a cut he'd gotten on the last hunt. He thought about telling her it didn't hurt, so she didn't need to do anything. But Evy looked so hopeful that John consented.

"Sure, little one. You can make the owie better."

Evy grinned, leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Daddy better?"

"Yeah. Daddy's better. Are you better?"

"Baby better." Evy said.

"Perfect." John said. He felt her forehead, relieved to find it cool. "Why don't we get some breakfast?"

"Awfuls?" Evy asked.

John laughed. "Yes, little one. We'll get waffles."

"Yay!" Evy cheered. She kissed the palm of her hand and put it to John's cheek again. "Wove Daddy."

John kissed Evy's hand tenderly. "Daddy loves you." He sat up and scrubbed his face with his hand. He opened his jacket and set Evy gently on the floor. "Let Daddy run to the bathroom, then we'll get you a diaper, and we'll go."

"Yay! Awfuls!"