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

A/N: This story alternates between Evy being five years old and twenty-five years old. I wanted to expand the last chapter of my first story, Sensitive Souls are the Strongest. Enjoy!

1998

Sam should have known it was too good to be true.

It had been a long two weeks for the entire family. They had come to Bobby's fifteen days earlier, after John's last hunt had ended. School was over, and the idea had been to just spend a few weeks relaxing and getting some rest before going on the road again. But as things usually turned out with the Winchester family, the plan went out the window. The stomach flu had struck Dean first, who had passed it to Bobby, who had passed it to John, who had finally passed it to Sam. Sam had recovered three days ago, and he had been waiting for the youngest, most vulnerable member of the family to catch the flu too. But so far, five-year-old Evy seemed to be the most resilient of all of them.

John had caught another hunt, and, believing that Evy wasn't going to get sick, decided to take it. They had everything packed in the car, but Sam couldn't shake the feeling that they should stay behind. He avoided saying anything to John, but he kept a close eye on Evy. After the car had been loaded, Sam stepped back inside the house to get Evy, who was sitting on the couch clutching Squish.

"Hey, Cricket. You ready to go?"

"Sammy, I feel funny." Evy said, a slight whine to her voice.

Concerned, Sam sat beside her and felt her forehead for a fever. "What do you mean you feel funny?"

"I just don't feel right." Evy said.

"Do you feel sick?" Sam asked. He hadn't felt a fever, but that didn't mean one wasn't coming.

"No." Evy said, although Sam didn't believe her.

Before Sam could say anything else, John came in and hurried them both along to the car. Evy climbed into the backseat, in the middle next to Sam. Before long, she was sleeping against Sam's side. Sam prayed that she had just been tired that morning and that she'd wake up feeling fine. Three quarters of the way through the journey, and forty miles from their destination, Sam felt Evy smacking him in the side urgently. He turned towards her to scold her gently, but stopped when he noticed that her face was an alarming shade of green.

"Dad, pull over." Sam said.

"Sam, what…"

"Pull over now!" Sam said, already working to unbuckle Evy from her seat.

Sam's voice was so alarmed that John pulled over quickly. Sam had Evy unbuckled and out of the car before John had even turned it off. The second her feet touched the ground, Evy was vomiting everything she had eaten over the last day. Sam held her hair back and comforted her, while John and Dean watched worriedly from the car. When a full minute had passed without Evy vomiting again, Sam timidly asked,

"Cricket? You feel like you're going to be sick again?"

"No." Evy said, distressed. "Not right now."

"Okay." Sam said. "Come on. We need to get back in the car."

Evy was too sick to resist, but Sam could tell that riding in the car was, at the very least, an unpleasant prospect to Evy. She climbed back in the backseat with Sam, who pulled her close to him and held her. The fever that he'd feared was coming had arrived, and she was more miserable than Sam remembered her ever being. She vomited once more when John stopped for gas and medicine. Sam gave her some of the medicine, praying she would be able to keep it down. When they finally arrived at the motel, an hour after Evy first getting sick, Sam picked her up and carried her into their room.

"How you feeling, Cricket?" he asked.

"My tummy hurts." Evy complained.

"I know, baby." Sam said. "After we get everything inside, I'll help you get changed and get a bath, okay?"

"Okay." Evy said pitifully, making Sam lean down to kiss her forehead gently.

Sam helped finish unloading the car, then did exactly as he'd said. He picked up Evy and helped her get a bath, change into some clean pajamas, and got her to drink a half cup of ginger ale. She claimed she still felt sick, but didn't think she was going to vomit again. Sam pulled the hotel trash can next to the bed just to be safe. John had been planning to get her a rollaway bed like normal, but Evy was even more clingy than normal. So John and Dean decided to go on and travel towards the hunt, which was an additional twenty-five miles away, and sleep in the car so Evy could get as much rest as possible.

"Good night, little one." John said. "Dean and I will be back as soon as we can, okay?"

"Okay, daddy."

"Feel better, sweet girl." John said, quickly kissing her cheek.

"Good night, baby girl." Dean said. "Love you."
"Love you too, Deanie."

Sam took a look at the clock next to the bed. It was only 6:30pm, but Evy was already ready to go to bed. He hadn't doubted that she felt bad, but she hated to go to sleep. She must be miserable, Sam thought. As John and Dean walked out back towards the Impala, Evy turned to Sam.

"Sammy?"

Sam walked back towards the bed and sat next to her, pulling her hair gently out of her face. "What is it, baby?"
"I don't feel so good." she said.

"I know, Cricket." Sam said. There was a VCR in the room, and Sam remembered that they'd brought Pinocchio with them, her favorite movie. "You want to watch Pinocchio?"
"Will you brush my hair while we watch it?" Evy asked.

Sam smiled. "Sure."

Sam started the movie and turned the light out, then dug out Evy's hairbrush from her bag. He got on the bed beside her, and Evy sat up so he could brush her hair easily. Sam brushed her hair slowly and methodically, and when he put the brush down, Evy leaned back against his chest and watched the movie quietly. Less than forty-five minutes later, Sam looked down to see a peacefully sleeping Evy. He laid her down beside him carefully.

"Good night, Cricket. I'm right here."