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

Dean paced up and down the emergency room floor, waiting to find out what was going on with Evy. Sam had been gone for five days now, and the family was a wreck. Dad had left to go on a hunt, and Dean, hoping to cheer up Evy, had taken her to the park to play.

Things went downhill from there.

Dean had left Evy alone for a minute to go to the bathroom. When he'd left, Evy had been kicking Sam's old soccer ball around the field at the end of the park. When he'd come back, Evy was on the ground, nursing a bloody nose and having a hard time breathing. Apparently, in the course of the two minutes he'd been in the bathroom, three older girls had come over, punched her in the nose, and taken the ball away from her. While Dean could deal with the nose easily, especially since it wasn't broken, Evy's look of panic and her attempts to tell him "I…can't…breathe…Deanie" were a little harder to swallow. Finally, after what seemed like hours but according to the clock was only forty-five minutes, the doctor came out.

"Dean Collins?"

"Is she okay?" Dean asked anxiously.

The doctor smiled and offered a comforting hand to Dean's shoulder. "Evelyn will be just fine. Her nose isn't broken. She'll be sore for a couple of days, but she should be just fine."

"What about her breathing?"

"I checked her airway, and I believe Evy has asthma."

"Asthma?" Dean asked, surprised. "She's never had any kind of problem like that before."

"She's eight. That's around the time that problems sometime start manifesting. Attacks are sometimes caused by stress."

"Like the fight?" Dean asked.

"Exactly like the fight. I'm gonna give you a prescription for an inhaler before you leave, and teach you how to use it. But as long as she keeps her inhaler with her, her asthma will be very, very manageable."

Relieved that Evy would be okay, Dean nodded and shook the doctor's hand. "Thank you."

"My pleasure. Come on, I'll take you to see Evy, and I'll be back in about ten minutes with her prescription."

"Sure."

Evy was sitting in the first exam room. Her nose was swollen a little but looked much better than it had when he'd brought her in. She was also breathing normally.

"Hey, kiddo. How you feeling?"

"Better." Evy said. "Did the doctor tell you?"

"Tell me about what?"

"That I have asthma." Evy said.

"Yeah, he told me. Don't sweat it, we'll take care of it."

"Are you gonna tell Daddy?" Evy asked worriedly.

"I kinda have to, kiddo. He needs to know."

"Deanie, please don't. Please, please, please don't tell Daddy." Evy begged, grabbing Dean's arms and pleading.

"Whoa, kiddo, calm down. Why don't you want Daddy to know?"

"I don't want him to get mad and yell at me again." Evy said, panicked and two tears starting to fall.

Dean sighed. He knew why she was afraid. After Sam left, Evy had cried for two straight days before John had snapped at her and told her to 'get over it'. In the two days after that, he'd snapped at her three other times, to the point that Evy had climbed into bed with Dean the night before and cried herself to sleep. Holding Evy and helping her get to sleep that night had been the catalyst for the park trip, which had ended up in the emergency room visit they were currently in the middle of. Dean wiped Evy's face and smiled at her.

"I won't let Dad get mad at you for this. Okay?"

"You promise?" Evy asked.

"Promise." Dean said. "I won't let him yell at you for it." He'll yell at me plenty for it.

"What about my ball?" Evy asked.

"I'll head back to the park tomorrow and try to get it back." Dean said. "If I can't, I'll get you another one when I can."

Evy nodded. "Thanks, Deanie."

"No problem, kiddo. So, tell me about the fight. Did you get any good licks in?"

As they climbed back into the car to head home, Dean was feeling better about himself. The sense of failure that had plagued him as a big brother since Sam left was slowly starting to lift. Evy's giggle at his terrible jokes made Dean dare to hope that all would be okay. As he picked up Evy's prescription and paid for a lollipop for her, he meant it when he ruffled her hair and said,

"Everything's gonna be just fine, kiddo."