A/N: This chapter is mostly a request/prompt from the member 2 sides of the same girl. I wasn't intending to write it today, but I ended up spending most of the day in a waiting room, so I filled the time by taking it as a challenge. Enjoy!
Bobby wasn't an idiot. He'd known the second Dean had called the night before that something was up. But he decided to wait until they showed up to ask anything. The next day, a little after lunch, the Impala and John's truck pulled up, and Bobby had barely opened the front door when he was nearly knocked down by a fifty pound, three feet eleven inch rocket known as Evy.
"Uncle Bobby!"
"Hey, Baitfish!" Bobby said, recovering his balance and hugging her close. "How you doing?"
"I'm good." Evy said.
She's cheerful enough, Bobby thought. Maybe they really were just here for a break before she started school. Once Bobby put down Evy, though, he saw it. Five bruises on her arm, in the shape of someone grabbing her and holding her arm in a death grip. Evy grabbed her bag and asked with a smile if she could go in and get some ice cream. Bobby told her to go put her stuff in her room, deciding to wait until she was asleep that night to say anything to John and Dean. The time came quick enough. Evy got a bath, changed into PJs, and watched a movie in Bobby's living room with Dean as John and Bobby shot small talk in the kitchen. Sam called around 8:30. Evy talked to him. Bobby noted she had to assure Sam she was fine, that she'd just had a stomachache the night before and went to bed early. Bull, Bobby thought. That kid wouldn't go to sleep if she won a million dollars for it. She finally hung up with Sam and yawned.
"Bedtime, kiddo." Dean said gently.
"'Kay." Evy said. "Uncle Bobby, will you tuck me in?"
"Sure thing, Baitfish. Go on up, I'll be there in a minute."
"'Kay." Evy said. She got up and kissed Dean and John's cheek. "Good night, Daddy. Night, Deanie. Love you."
"Good night, kiddo. Love you too."
"Good night, little one."
Bobby followed Evy up the stairs to her room. She climbed into the bed, snuggled under her blanket, and couldn't stop smiling when Bobby agreed to read her a chapter out of the book she was working on. Finally, Bobby couldn't stand it anymore.
"Baitfish, I need to ask you something. And I want you to tell me the truth, okay?"
"Okay." Evy said.
"What happened to your arm?"
Evy got quiet and bit her bottom lip, the sure sign she didn't want to talk. "I don't want to say."
"Why not?" Bobby asked.
"'Cause you'll be mad." Evy answered.
"Not at you." Bobby said. "Did something bad happen?"
"I don't want to tell you." Evy said again. "Please don't make me."
"How about this? How about I guess, and you just nod if I'm right. Then you didn't tell me. I guessed." Bobby asked, almost desperately; Evy was just as smart, if not smarter, than Sam had been, and he honestly didn't think his ploy would work.
"I guess so." Evy said.
Bobby restrained himself from cheering for joy. "Alright, good. Now, what I think happened is, your daddy got mad at something. He came in, was real unhappy, maybe yelled at you, and grabbed your arm real hard and tight. Am I right?"
Evy nodded and whispered, "Yes, sir. You're right."
"Are you afraid of something, Baitfish? Come on, you can talk to me."
"Are you gonna take me away from Daddy?" Evy asked.
Bobby sighed and decided to be honest to be with her. "It crossed my mind."
"Please don't, uncle Bobby. He didn't mean it."
"Baitfish, listen to me. Your daddy ain't got no right to hurt you. Not for any reason. And I'm gon' make sure he figures that out." Bobby said.
"But if you take me away from him, Deanie'll leave him too. Then daddy'll be all alone. Please don't do it."
Damn it, Winchester, you don't deserve these kids. Especially this one, Bobby thought. "Alright, Baitfish. I won't take you from your daddy. Yet. But the three of you are staying here for a while. And when you leave, I want to hear from you every night. No exceptions. You hear me?"
"I hear you, uncle Bobby."
"Baitfish, are you scared of your Daddy?" Bobby asked.
Evy bit her lip again. "Sometimes. And with Sammy gone, it feels like if Dean's not there, I don't have anybody."
"That's where you're wrong." Bobby said. "Are you afraid of me?"
Evy smiled. "No."
"Do you trust me?"
"Yeah." Evy said, wondering where he was going with all this.
"So just trust me now. Okay?"
"Okay, uncle Bobby. I will." Evy said. She looked around and realized something was missing. "Will you hand me Squish, please? He's on the dresser."
Bobby turned behind him and grabbed the raggedy, battered old cat off the dresser. "Here you go."
"Thank you, unca Baby." Evy said as she yawned, briefly taking Bobby back to the days of when she'd just started talking.
"Go to sleep, Baitfish." Bobby said, pulling her blanket up towards her chest. "Hey, I gotta tell you somethin'."
"What is it?"
"I think I love you, little girl." Bobby said with a grin.
"I think I love you too."
"Good night." Bobby said.
"Night night." Evy said, already drifting off to sleep.
Bobby stood up, swore quietly that 'I'ma take care of this, Baitfish', and started back towards the living room. On the way, he stopped in his own room and pulled a small shotgun out from under his bed. Checking it was loaded, he brought it to the living room with him and barely paused before expertly sticking the shotgun mere inches from John's face.
"Bobby, what the hell?" John and Dean said, almost in sync.
"Where did the bruises come from?" Bobby asked.
"What bru…"
"Do not play games with me. The bruises on her arm. Where did they come from?"
"What did she tell you?" John asked.
"Nothin'." Bobby said through clenched teeth. "In fact, she made it a point not to tell me. Because she's afraid if she does, if I move her in here with me, that you'll end up all alone."
John looked up and stared, mouth gaping open in shock. Even after hurting Evy, she still wanted to be there for him. Make him feel like he had a family, no matter how fragile or crumbling it felt like it was at the moment. He truly didn't deserve the blessing that she was to him. A point made all too obvious by the gun in his face.
"Since she didn't tell me, I am gonna tell you this. That kid's gonna call me and Sam. Every single night. I don't hear from her in twenty-four hours, I'll track you down and find out why. She gives me so much as a hint that you've done something to her again, I will snatch her away from you so fast it'll make your head spin. Dean, you got a problem with that?" Bobby asked.
"No sir."
"Your ass is gonna stay right here. If I ain't convinced in a week and a half that you've learned your lesson, she starts school right here." Bobby said, earning a somber nod from John. "And if you ever hurt her again, I will fill your ass so full of holes with this gun I'll be able to use you to strain pasta. Catch my drift?"
"I got it, Bobby." John said, hands in the air in surrender. "I got it, I do."
Bobby held his stare for a few more seconds, before pulling the gun away. "Make sure you do."