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

Chapter Two

The First Day

Two Hours Later

Evy had been fed, and was now playing on the map table with a puzzle that Sam had found in storage. It was a five hundred piece puzzle, so Dean had worried it would be too hard for her, but Sam had assured him she'd love it. In only an hour, she had just under half of it done, and her tongue stuck out as she worked on the other half. Dean had, by a miracle in Sam's book, gotten through to Cass on the first call, but refused to give him any details. As Sam continued to watch Evy play on the table, Cass suddenly popped in.

"Sam. Dean."

Evy jumped and scrambled into Sam's arms.

"Whoa, whoa." Sam wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. "It's okay, sweetie. He's a friend."

Dean kicked himself mentally for not thinking ahead. He couldn't remember exactly, but Evy had been fifteen or sixteen when she met Cass for the first time, so it made sense that she wouldn't remember him as a small child. Cass stood by and watched Sam comfort Evy for a minute before speaking.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone else was here. I didn't mean to scare you." He said.

Evy was now staring at Cass from the safety of Sam's arms, biting her bottom lip nervously.

"Sweetheart, this is Cass." Sam said. "Can you say hi?"

Evy waved at him politely. "Hi." She said quietly.

"Hello." Cass said, offering her a genuine, but slightly uncomfortable smile.

"Cr…"

Sam stopped himself from calling her 'Cricket'. If he did, Cass would pick up on who she was right away. Sam wasn't sure he would have the self-control not to express how shocked he was. Though that in and of itself wasn't a problem, he didn't want it to slip out that she was supposed to be dead.
"Sweetie, me and Dean need to talk to Cass alone. We'll be right over there." Sam pointed towards the other side of the room, where the bookcases were. "Just call us if you need us, okay?"

"Okay, Sammy."

Sam smiled. God, he missed her so much. "Good girl." He said, kissing her forehead and putting her back down.

Evy went back to the table and continued working the puzzle, though she kept shooting glances at Sam to make sure he was there. Dean, Cass, and Sam walked over to the far side of the room, talking in whispers to avoid scaring Evy.

"Who is that?" Cass asked.

Sam sighed. "Cass, it's Evy."

Cass's eyes popped wide in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"It's Evy, Cass." Dean said. "We don't know how or why, but it's Evy."

"Wha…?" Cass looked back to the table, where Evy was back on her puzzle. "How long has she been here?"

"A couple hours." Sam said. "I found her in the woods behind the bunker this morning."
"Yeah, that's another thing." Dean said, turning to Sam. "What were you doing out there so long?"

"I'll tell you later." Sam said. He had no intention of doing that.

Cass had been staring at Evy, just as amazed at her as her brothers. He heard their conversation but let it go in one ear and out the other. He suddenly had an idea.

"Do you know what time she came from?" Cass asked. "Approximately what date?"

"No." Sam said. "Why?"

"If you know the date she's from," Cass suggested, "we may be able to figure out how she got here. Have you asked her what she was doing before you found her?"

It was Sam's turn to kick himself. He'd been so shocked at finding Evy that he hadn't thought to ask her anything about where she'd come from. He turned back to the table and sat next to her, turning her chair around slightly to face him. Her feet dangled over the edge of the chair, and she swung them back and forth. Dean and Cass sat across from them. Sam took her hand gently and Evy looked back up at him.

"Cricket, we need your help." Sam said.

"You need my help?" Evy said. "With what?"

"We need to ask you something, and I need you to answer as best you can, okay? Don't leave anything out. Understand?"

Evy nodded solemnly.

"What's the last thing you remember before I found you this morning?" he asked.

Evy was confused. "What do you mean?"

"What was going on? What were you doing?" Sam asked. "It may help us figure out how you got here."

"Um…" Evy stopped swinging her legs and closed her eyes. Sam smiled; he had taught her to do that when she was having trouble remembering something.

"Take your time, Cricket." He assured her.

After a few seconds, she opened her eyes. "I was sick."

"You were sick?" Sam asked. "Sick how?"

"My stomach was hurting really bad." Evy explained. "You took me to the hospital. The doctor said I needed an operation."

The pieces clicked together in Sam's brain like the puzzle that Evy had been working on just a few minutes earlier. Though he had no idea how she had ended up near the bunker over twenty years later, he had half the mystery solved. Sam closed his eyes for a moment, blocking out the, to put it mildly, unpleasant memory. When he opened his eyes, Evy was still looking at him expectantly.

"Did that help?" Evy asked.

"Yes, baby. It helped a lot." Sam said, standing up. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead gently. "Thank you."

Evy smiled, and turned back to the puzzle. Sam took note that she was almost three quarters of the way done, and signaled for Dean and Cass to come back and join him where they'd been talking before. Dean and Cass were confused at Sam's sudden epiphany.

"Sam? Care to share with the class?" Dean asked.

"Dean, do you remember when she had her appendix taken out?" Sam asked.

Recognition suddenly dawned on Dean's face too. "No way."

"What happened?" Cass asked.

"That night she was talking about, the night she got sick? She had surgery to take her appendix out. The surgery went fine, but she wouldn't wake up later. She was unconscious for three days." Sam explained. "The doctors couldn't figure out why."

Cass nodded. "That's seems to be the most likely explanation."

Dean asked, "Cass, have you ever heard of anything like this?"

"No." Cass said simply. "But that doesn't rule it out." Cass turned to look at Evy, the familiar sense of pride he'd always felt about her starting to come back to him. "I'll see if I can find a way to send her back home. You two stay here with her."

Sam nodded. "Thanks, Cass."

"I'm finished!"

Sam looked back towards the table and was not surprised at all to find a perfectly completed puzzle. Sam checked his phone and looked to Dean, holding his hand out. He and Dean had made a bet when Sam found a puzzle that Evy couldn't finish it in under three hours.

"Two and a half hours, Dean." Sam said.

"Ah, shut up." Dean said, slapping a five dollar bill in Sam's hand.

Sam, laughing, took the bill from Dean and shoved it in his pocket. He went over and praised Evy. It had been a long, long time since he'd been able to just play with her like this, and he intended to take full advantage of it. In the back of his mind, though, he thought back to the terrible day Evy had just come from.

Twenty-Three Years Earlier

Sixteen year old Sam Winchester sat in the surgical waiting room, his heart pounding hard in his chest. He'd only been here for four hours, but it felt like a week. When he'd brought Evy in, she'd been crying and shaking in pain. Everything had happened in a flash. The doctor had examined Evy, told Sam that she needed emergency surgery right away, and that it had to happen fast. An hour after arriving, a still crying Evy was being wheeled into surgery. Sam could hear her voice playing over and over in his head.

"I'm scared, Sammy."

Sam thought about what he'd told her, and hoped that it was all true. That she'd be fine. That she'd wake up feeling much better. That he would be right there the second she opened her eyes. The last one Sam had no doubt about. Heaven, hell, God, demons, ghosts, his father; it didn't matter. Sam was not about to let anything, natural or supernatural, keep him from his little girl. Especially not when she was sick and hurting like this.

"Sam."

Sam was shaken out of his thoughts by the voice of his father, who had just appeared in the doorway. Dean and Bobby were right behind him, and all three looked incredibly worried. Sam mused for a moment on the fact that a tiny little girl could cause four grown men who regularly fought monsters without fear to be truly afraid.

"Dad." Sam said, greeting his father.

"Sam, what happened?" John asked, taking the chair next to Sam.

Sam swallowed hard and ran a hand through his hair. "She was complaining of a stomachache all night. I made her lay down and I thought she'd get better. She woke up a little while later. God, Dad, she was…."

John put a rare hand of comfort on Sam's shoulder. "What, Sammy?"

"She was screaming, Dad." A heartbroken Sam said, his voice breaking. "She was hurting, and screaming, and I couldn't help her."

"Sam, you did the right thing." John said. "She'll be fine, son."

"Abigail Winston."

At the sound of the alias Sam had used for their trip to the hospital, he jumped up. The doctor who had taken Evy to surgery, Dr. Kissler, was standing there. John, Dean, and Bobby followed behind him.

"How is she?" Sam asked immediately.

Dr. Kissler noticed all the new people in the room. "Who are all of you?" he asked.

"I'm her father." John said. "Where is my daughter?"

"Abigail is quite the trooper. She made it through the surgery just fine. We took her appendix out before it ruptured." He said.

"Great." John said, smiling with relief. "Can we see her?"

Dr. Kissler sighed. "There was a complication."

"What kind of complication?" Sam asked.

Dr. Kissler wished, more than anything, he could give them better news. "Is there any chance that she's allergic to some medication that you didn't tell me about?"

"No." Sam said right away. He knew Evy's medical history better than anyone. "Why?"

"Abigail's actually been out of surgery for over an hour. She should have woken up by now." Dr. Kissler said. "We've taken her out of recovery and moved her to the ICU. We need to keep her here for observation and try to figure out why she isn't waking up."

"Doc, please." Dean spoke up for the first time. "Can we see her?"

"For a minute, yes." Dr. Kissler said. "Follow me."

Dr. Kissler led the four men down the hall to the ICU. There were a few rooms, and Dr. Kissler led them into the one at the farthest end of the hall. The lights were on, and for a moment Sam couldn't tell where Evy was. When he did, Sam felt his breath catch in his throat. She was lying on the bed, which looked huge compared to her tiny frame which was sleeping on it. Sam sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, brushing her hair away which was hanging in front of her face. I should have given you a bath before I put you to bed, he couldn't help but think. As Sam leaned down to give Evy a kiss, he heard his father ask,

"Is she in a coma, doctor?"

"No." Dr. Kissler said. "That's why it's so puzzling. Her brain activity is normal, and she's responding to outside stimulus. For whatever reason, she's just in a very, very deep sleep. We've drawn a little blood to try and run some tests. I'm sorry, I wish I had more answers for you. But I assure you we're doing everything we can to find out what's going on."
"Thank you, doctor." John said.

Dr. Kissler checked the clock and his heart sank again. "Listen, I'm sorry about this, but visiting hours are almost over, and we only allow a parent or guardian to spend the night with a child in the ICU."

Sam looked at his dad in a panic. "Dad, please…"

"And they have to be over eighteen." Dr. Kissler said.

Sam's heart sank. The thought of Evy waking up and him not being there like he'd promised crushed him. He looked at John with tears in his eyes, pleading. John sighed. He wanted to stay with Evy. But he knew that it would not go over well if she woke up, sick and miserable, and Sam was not close by. She would panic and cry, and John couldn't stand the thought of that.

"Doctor, let me ask. You don't know what's keeping my daughter asleep, right?" he said.

"Right." Dr. Kissler said.

"So this could just be a fluke. She could wake up any second now and be totally fine." John continued.

"She could." Dr. Kissler agreed.

"When she does wake up, she needs to be calm, I'm assuming?" John asked.

"That's true."

"Doctor, my son takes care of my daughter ninety nine percent of the time. If she wakes up and he's not here, she will not be, in any sense of the word, calm." John said evenly. "So if my son is willing to stay, he needs to stay."

Dr. Kissler sighed. He actually hated the hospital rule that only one person could stay with a child in the ICU. Children who were that sick needed as much family around as was willing to be there. Looking at Sam, Dr. Kissler saw the tears shining in the boy's eyes. She had clung to her brother while she'd been examined as if it would actually kill her to let him go. Separating them would just lead to heartbreak, and that would hinder any healing that needed to take place. And if the girl woke up and really did react badly to her brother not being there, it could make whatever was not allowing her to wake up worse. Dr. Kissler nodded.

"Okay. I'll need you to sign a waiver saying that it's okay for your son to stay here without you. Assuming you are okay with it…" Dr. Kissler said, turning to Sam.

"I'm not leaving her." Sam said.

"Okay. I'll let you gentlemen say good night. You can come back in the morning at nine. Mr. Winston, I'll leave the waiver at the nurses station." Dr. Kissler said.

"Thank you, doctor." John said.

Dean and Bobby both said their good nights to Evy, wishing her a speedy recovery and asking her to wake up soon. They stepped out into the hallway to wait for John, who lingered for a moment in the room, staring down at Evy's unconscious body lying on the bed. Sam still sat on the edge of the bed, holding Evy's hand. He had been shocked when his father had stood up for him, and allowed him to be the one to stay with Evy. Shocked but incredibly grateful.

"Dad?"

"Yeah, Sammy?" John said, tearing his eyes away from Evy.

Sam swallowed. "Thank you." He said.

"You're welcome, Sammy." John smiled. "Call one of us if she wakes up in the night, okay? I don't care what time it is."

"Sure, dad." Sam nodded.

"And Sam? I get why you want to stay with her. I do. But you need to take care of yourself too, okay?" John said. "I'm not going to make you train while she's still recovering, but I do expect you to get some sleep and eat like you're supposed to. If you don't do that, I will make you leave and I'll be the one to stay here. The last thing your sister needs is for you to get sick too."

"Yes, sir." Sam said. He turned back to Evy, the guilt in his heart threatening to eat him alive. "Dad, I'm sorry."

"For what, Sam?" John asked.

"She was telling me her stomach was hurting all night. Maybe if I'd gotten here sooner…" Sam said, his voice starting to break.

"Sam, stop it." John said, pulling a chair up beside Sam. "Listen to me. Children get stomach aches. You had no reason to think it was anything other than that. But as soon as it got bad, you jumped into action. If you hadn't gotten here when you did, your sister might have died, Sam. You saved her life. Understand?"

Sam nodded, though the guilt still threatened to crush him. "Yes, sir." He whispered.

"Okay." John said. Turning to Evy, he took her hand and kissed it, then stroked her hair lightly. "Get back to us, little one. We miss you. Daddy loves you."

Before John could leave, Sam thought of something. "Dad?" John turned back to him and he asked, "Will you bring Squish with you in the morning?"

John smiled and nodded, then finally turned and left. Sam was relieved. He let go the single tear that had been threatening to fall when the doctor had said that Evy wasn't waking up. The guilt and the fear threatened to eat him alive, to destroy him, but Sam wouldn't let it. Like John had said, the last thing that Evy needed right now was for him to get sick too. So Sam turned out the lights in the room, got back on the bed with Evy, and positioned her so that she was completely wrapped in his arms.

"Sammy's here, Cricket. Wherever you are right now, I'm waiting for you. Come back to me, baby. I love you."

Sam was snapped out of his thoughts by a tug on his leg. Evy stood underneath him, childish smile on her face, arms outstretched towards him. Sam picked her up again and held her tightly to him. What she said next made the tears he'd fought to keep away come.

"I'm here, Sammy. Please don't be sad."

Sam smiled. This was both the happiest and the saddest that he'd been in years. He knew he'd have to let Evy go soon, but he didn't have to right this second. So he squeezed her as tight as he could without suffocating her.

"I'm not sad, Cricket." Sam assured her. "How could I be? You're here with me."

Sam had forgotten how nice it was to feel needed. Though Evy was bravely facing the situation, especially given the fact that she was only six years old, she kept coming to him throughout the day and wrapping her arms around his legs or his neck, as if checking to make sure he was still there. Sam admired her strength, even as a little kid. Most adults would have been freaking out at that point, but Evy was fine as long as Sam kept reassuring her. Cass returned close to dinnertime, informing them on what he'd found. When Sam and Dean sat Evy down to tell her about it, she said nothing for a moment. She was mulling it over in her head. Finally, she turned to Sam.

"So, you're grown-up Sammy?' she asked. Sam nodded, and she continued. "And you're my brother Dean, just older?" Dean nodded. "And all I have to do is stay here with you until I can go back home?"

"That's right, kiddo." Dean said.

Evy nodded and looked away from both of them. She tried to hide it, but Sam caught her wiping a tear away from her eye. It pained him to do it. It had been years, but she needed it. Sam gently took her chin and turned her to face him.

"Talk to me." He said softly.

Evy's bottom lip started trembling. "I want to go home."

Sam had to stop himself from saying this is your home. The fact was, this wasn't her home. Not yet. She didn't belong here. It killed him to admit that, but she couldn't stay here. Sam put a hand to her cheek. His hand covered almost the whole right side of her face. Evy leaned into it, searching him for answers. Sam wiped her tear away before promising,

"You will, sweetheart. I promise. I will get you home."

Evy nodded, deciding that grown-up Sammy would keep his promises to her just like the Sammy she knew would've. She smiled, then asked,

"What are we gonna do?"

"Whatever you want." Dean answered. "You got three days. It's up to you."

Evy grinned and turned to him. "Can we go get pie?"