Late Sunday Morning
Evy padded down the hall towards the kitchen, her stomach rumbling fiercely. She jumped when she made it to the kitchen and found someone standing there she wasn't familiar with. She knew right away it wasn't Sam, Dean, or Cass. Instinctively, she grabbed her side to pull her gun, only to have her father grab her shoulder and chuckle.
"Stand down."
Evy immediately relaxed. "Sorry. I'm still getting used to this."
"It's okay. I like the instinct." John said. "You want some coffee?"
"Sure. Thanks." Evy said. "I was going to make some pancakes. You want some?"
"Sure."
As Evy grabbed the stuff to make the pancakes, she remarked, "You're up early."
"Old habits die hard." John said. "Are your brothers still sleeping?"
"Probably." Evy said. "Don't worry, they'll smell the food and come running."
John laughed. "I guess that hasn't changed." He suddenly turned more serious. "Little one, can I talk to you?"
Evy said something then that she hadn't said in years. It came out automatically, and when she said it, John flinched. It showed him just how deep the scars that he'd caused in Evy ran. Even after almost twenty years.
"Am I in trouble?"
"No." John said. "No, you're not in trouble. I wanted to apologize."
"Apologize for what?" Evy asked.
John sat down at the counter and looked down. He'd never really been good at talking, or at least talking meaningfully. He knew that had been a huge part of the disconnect in his relationship with Evy. She had been a very emotional child, who needed lots of reassurance and patience, something John had never had an abundance of. He'd reached all these conclusions in the time that Evy had lived with Sam at Stanford, but he had allowed his obsession for revenge on the demon that killed Mary to keep him from telling her that. He'd allowed it to keep him from repairing his relationship with her. He'd talked to Sam and Dean already, and they seemed to be at least on the way to good terms now. It was time to try for three out of three.
"I've been thinking a lot. About what happened at Jody's. You were right to stand up to me. I'm proud of you for doing that."
Evy looked down at the floor, not sure what to say.
"Little one, I'm sorry. For everything. That I was so critical of you. That I took your childhood from you when I told you about the supernatural the first time. That I never made you feel special, showed you what you meant to me. I didn't really know how, but that wasn't an excuse. It's still not. Maybe I should have taken lessons from you. But no matter what, I always loved you, little one. I'm just so sorry that I made you doubt that. And I'm so proud of the person you grew up to be."
Evy looked up again, tears streaming down her face. "Daddy…"
"And I promise, I'll do what you said at Jody's. Work with you guys instead of criticizing and bossing you around. Treat you like adults." John reached up and wiped the tear tracks off Evy's face. "If I start to slip, you tell me, okay?"
"Okay. I will." Evy said.
John winked. "Good girl. Now how about those pancakes?"
"Yes, sir." Evy said, and got back to work.
Cass suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Evy."
John jumped. "Son of a bitch."
Evy laughed. "You'll get used to that."
"My apologies." Cass said. "Evy, I brought your car back."
"It's about time." Evy said. "What took you so long?"
"I ran out of gas." Cass explained. "I wasn't in the best place to teleport to get more so I walked."
"You let my car run out of gas?" Evy said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Cass, what was the last thing I said yesterday?"
John smirked. He remembered well what Evy had said. When they had been getting ready to leave Jody's the day before, Evy had felt guilty about taking her own car. She felt like the four of them needed to take the same car back to the bunker, to talk and get reconnected. She'd eventually called Cass and asked if he would drive her car back for her. As much as she appreciated the favor, she had warned Cass just before leaving.
"Cass, do not scratch, dent, crash, or in any other way injure my car. Understand?"
"The car is not injured." Cass assured her. "It now has a full tank of gas. The keys are on your desk in your room."
Evy sighed. "Thank you, Cass. I mean that."
"You're welcome." Cass said simply.
"We're going to have some breakfast. You want to join us?" Evy asked. "I could use your help explaining something."
"Explaining what?" John asked.
"You asked about what had happened to my leg." Evy said.
"Little one, you don't have to…"
"I want to." Evy said. "If you still want to hear it."
John nodded. "Okay."
"Do you remember when I told you about beating that reaper when I was thirteen?"
"Yeah." John said. "It happened then? I was still alive…"
"No." Evy said. "But that's where it starts."
Evy told him the whole story, from her encounter in the hospital with the Shtriga, to Dean going to hell to save Sam and coming back, being attacked by Lillith and her hellhound, and the nature of what it meant that she was a Sensitive. Cass helped her with that part. Even though it had been years, she still had trouble talking about it. It disturbed her sometimes that she was so different, that she had been chosen for something like that. By the time they were done talking about it, John had lapsed into silence again, just like he had in Jody's living room.
"Daddy?" Evy asked, worried he was going to start criticizing something again. "
"Sorry. I'm just thinking about the fact that…that should have killed you." John said.
"It normally does." Cass said. "Very few humans survive attacks from hellhounds. The ones that do always get away with only minor bites. As far as I know, Evy is the only person to live through an attack with such grave injuries."
"And that's what left you with that limp?" John asked.
Evy nodded. "Yeah. I always have it, but most days it's not even noticeable. If I'm sick or tired, it looks worse."
"And you've been hunting? Even after that?" John asked.
"Yes, sir." Evy said. "I'm a little slower than I was before that, but I can still do pretty much everything I could do before."
"The remarkable fact is not that Evy did survive." Cass explained. "It's that she survived through her own choice, even though it was incredibly painful for her at the time. She could have chosen to die, go on to heaven, but she held on." Cass looked at Evy with a familiar guilty expression. "I still regret the fact that I cannot heal her."
"Well, something good did come out of it." Evy said. She'd finished making breakfast and was bringing the plate to the kitchen table.
"What was that?" Cass asked.
Evy walked over to him and kissed his cheek. "We got you."
Had she not known better, Evy would have sworn that Cass blushed at that. Sam and Dean came in, joining them for breakfast. After a slow, leisurely meal, Evy started to clean up, but was surprised when John insisted on doing it instead. She thanked him and headed back to her room. She was planning to show John all the photos she had taken since the last time they'd been together.
A familiar beeping sound caught her attention. It was her cell phone. Evy remembered she'd had it when she went to sleep, so she dug around her bed for it and found it after a couple of minutes. What she saw surprised her and scared her.
4 Missed Calls-Luke Davenport
2 Voicemails
3 Text Messages-Luke Davenport, Amy Mills
The first text was innocent enough. It was from Luke, sent around four hours earlier. Call me please. I need to talk to you. The second one was from Amy. I need to talk to you. Call me or Luke. Please, Evy, we need your help. The third one was from Luke, another plea for her to call him. This time he added Please, Ev, it's bad. Call us.
Evy didn't even bother listening to the voicemails. She tried Amy first, and Amy didn't pick up. She tried Luke, who picked up after the phone rang seven long, agonizing times. Evy closed her bedroom door as she talked to him; she didn't want Sam, Dean, or John to walk in on her.
"Luke, what's going on?" Evy said. "I just got your messages."
"Evy, we need you out here." Luke said. "Can you come?"
"Yeah, I can. But will you please tell me what's going on?"
Luke took a deep breath. "Darren's missing."
"What? Since when?" Evy asked. "I just talked to him a few days ago, he seemed fine."
"He and Amy went out to a movie the night before last. He took her home around eleven that night, and nobody's talked to him since." Luke said.
"Oh, no." Evy said.
"Amy's a wreck. She's worried sick. She keeps saying that when Luke didn't call to check on her after he got home, she should have called him…"
"This isn't her fault." Evy said.
"I know. I tried to tell her that." Luke said. "Look, Evy, I don't know if this is anything supernatural or not. But whatever it is, it's bad. Darren wouldn't leave Amy behind willingly. Please, Ev, I'm begging you. Even if it's just for moral support…"
"I'll be there." Evy said definitely. "I'll pack a bag and I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Thank you." Luke said. "Thank you."
"Listen, Luke, if they'll come with me, I'm going to bring my brothers. They'll be able to help." Evy said.
"It's fine with me. I might not have a lot of room for them, though…" Luke said.
"They'll get a room if they have to. At Marcie's. But I'll be there." Evy said. "Can I talk to Amy?"
"She's sleeping. The first time in two days." Luke said.
"Okay. When she wakes up, tell her I'm on the way."
"Thanks again. We'll see you soon."
Evy hung up with Luke, trying to get a grip on the fear she was feeling. Darren, Amy, and Luke were the only friends she really kept in touch with from Princeton. She wanted to know and know now where he was. She felt guilty leaving on a hunt, with John having only been back for two days, but she had to do this. Evy pulled out her go back and threw a few more things in it. Once she was done with that, she went to the kitchen, where John, Sam, Dean, and Cass were sitting at the kitchen table, sipping more coffee. Dean was telling some joke that had Sam and John both laughing, which immediately ceased when Sam saw the look on Evy's face.
"Cricket, what's wrong?"
"I need your help. All of you." Evy said.
"Okay. What's up, kiddo?" Dean asked.
Evy swallowed. "I just got a call. A friend of mine from Princeton is missing. He hasn't been heard from since the day before yesterday. He dropped his girlfriend off at her apartment and that was the last anyone saw of him."
"Well, I'm sorry, but how do we know he's disappeared?" John asked. "It's only been two days."
"I just do. He wouldn't just disappear." Evy said. "Please, guys. Come with me. I'm really worried. This may not even be a supernatural case, but just in case…"
"We'll go, kiddo." Dean answered. Evy was not one to be impulsive, and she'd done more than that for him and Sam in the past, so if she needed them, he'd go. "Give us a few minutes and we'll pack up and go."
"Thank you." Evy said, relieved. "Sammy?"
"You got it, Cricket. We'll leave in thirty." Sam said.
"Daddy? I'm sorry, I know you just got here. If you'd rather stay here and wait for us to come back, I understand." Evy said. "But I'd really appreciate it if you did come."
John felt conflicted. He only had five more days to spend with the three of them, and he really hadn't wanted to spend it hunting. But whoever this friend was Evy was worried about clearly meant a lot to her. He could see the pain in her face, and he wanted to do anything he could to make it better for her. Besides, the thought of hunting with all three of his kids seemed too good to pass up.
"I'll go, little one." John said.
"Thank you. All of you. I'll tell you about it on the way." Evy said. "Thank you."
"We'll do whatever we can, Cricket." Sam said as he got up and wrapped an arm quickly around her shoulder.
"Yeah, kiddo. We'll meet you at Baby in thirty minutes." Dean said.
"I will accompany you as well. If you wish." Cass said.
"I'd love that, Cass." Evy answered him. "It might be a little crowded in the car, though."
"I'll manage."
Evy, relieved to have everyone on board, went back to her room to call Luke and confirm she was coming. After she hung up, she flipped to a photo in her phone of the four of them. They were standing on the Princeton campus, just outside the library. Evy was on the far right, her arm up in the air. She was taking the photo. Darren stood next to her, arm around her shoulder and Amy's, who stood next to him. Luke was on the far left, rolling his eyes. Darren was whispering something in Amy's ear, which made Amy laugh so hard her eyes were shut tight. Evy smiled at the memory, and whispered to Darren,
"We'll find you. No matter where you are, we'll find you. I promise."
Next chapter: As they travel together, Evy tells her family about her friends and why they mean so much to her. Evy finds out some surprising news about her ex-boyfriend.
