Disclaimer: The characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original character of Evelyn Winchester does.
Chapter Four
Lions and Tigers and Bears
Though the night started off rough, it was relative smooth sailing after Evy fell asleep. Sam woke a couple of times to hear her whimpering, but a mixture of being cuddled up in his arms and him singing softly to her while scratching her back seemed to head off the oncoming bad dreams. Dean woke the next morning before either of them, and headed to the kitchen quietly to start to make some coffee. An old coffee mug of his in the cabinet gave him an idea. He had never used it, just stuck it in the cupboard and forgotten about it when they'd moved into the bunker.
Back in Dean's room, Sam was awake and watching Evy sleep. At some point in the night, she had tuned on her back, so that Sam was looking at her face now. He had gone to sleep fearing that everything the day before had been a dream, and he would wake up and everything would be back to the way it was before. Sam smelled Dean brewing coffee in the kitchen, and as he took a deep breath, Evy stirred and opened her eyes slowly. She jumped a little at first; in her just woken up state, the room was unfamiliar to her, as was the man sitting in the chair beside her. But when Sam stroked her cheek, she calmed and smiled at him.
"Good morning, Cricket."
"Hi, Sammy." She said, placing her head back on his chest.
"You hungry?" Sam asked. "I think Deanie's making breakfast. What do you say we go give him a hand?"
Evy nodded, and Sam let down the chair. Evy hopped off first, her bare feet making loud slapping noises against the floor of the bunker. Sam followed close behind her. She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, then looked up at Sam, puzzled.
"What is it, Cricket?"
Sam saw the reason for her puzzling look and stopped too. Dean wasn't making breakfast like he'd thought, but was on his cell phone, whispering in hushed tones to someone. When he noticed Sam and Evy standing in the doorway, he quickly ended the conversation and hung up.
"Yeah. Thanks, Dave….we'll be there soon." He said.
Sam reached down and patted Evy's back, gently prodding her to go in the kitchen. Evy walked in and sat down, Sam taking the seat next to her. Evy was nervous. Sam seemed annoyed, so Evy didn't say anything.
"Dean." Sam said, his voice carefully measured. "You can't seriously be considering taking a hunt. Today."
Dean didn't respond, just gave them an ear to ear grin. "Both of you need to get dressed."
"Why?" Sam said, at the same time Evy whined, "But I'm hungry!"
"I've got a surprise for you." Dean said. "Come on, chop chop. We can get breakfast on the way."
Sam and Evy both eyed him suspiciously. Evy eventually jumped down and went back to the bedroom to get dressed. Sam stayed behind and tried to pry the surprise out of Dean.
"Dean, what are you up to?"
"Can't tell you Sammy. Top secret information." Dean said.
Sam sighed, giving up. Dean had obviously planned something big. Evy came back a few minutes later, dressed in a purple top and some purple cotton pants. Sam made her get her jacket and shoes on, then Dean ushered them both out to the Impala. Evy climbed up front, sitting between Sam and Dean. Sam kept shooting Dean quizzical glances as they drove, but Dean stubbornly refused to say anything. Around fifty miles from the bunker, an hour after they'd started their journey, Dean tapped Sam on the shoulder. He nodded towards a road sign that read "Topeka Zoo 145 miles" and then back at Evy. Sam grinned and nodded. Evy was too distracted by the sights on the side of the road and playing I Spy with Sam and twenty questions with Dean to notice. Around lunchtime, they were pulling into the zoo parking lot. Dean pulled into a spot in the far corner where it was hard to tell exactly where they were. Evy looked up at Dean, waiting expectantly. Dean pulled out his phone, sent a text, and turned to her.
"What are we doing here?" Evy asked, giggling, after fifteen seconds had passed and no one had said anything.
"Just wait." Dean said, and laughed when Evy glared at him and crossed her arms in a huff. Damn if she didn't look exactly like Sam when she did that. "You'll find out."
Finally, a tall, thin man came out, with close cut black hair and hazel eyes. He was wearing a zoo employee tshirt, with the name 'Jeff Marks' on the tag. Dean told Sam and Evy to get out, then introduced them to Jeff. Jeff shook Sam's hand, then bent down with a smile to Evy. Evy, shy around new faces, had one arm wrapped around Sam's leg.
"Well, hi there. I'm Jeff." Jeff said kindly.
"Hi." Evy said quietly. "I'm Evy."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Evy. Dean tells me you've never been to the zoo before." Jeff said.
Evy's eyes went wide. "That's where we are?" she said, surprised.
Jeff chuckled. "It sure is. And I have another surprise for you. You not only get to see the animals today, you get to help us take care of them."
Evy's shyness was suddenly forgotten as she let go of Sam's leg and nearly shouted, jumping up with excitement, "Really? Cool!"
Jeff laughed. "That's right. But there are a couple rules you have to follow while you're here, okay?"
"Okay." Evy said, waiting with the utmost seriousness to find out what she had to do.
"First, and most important, is that you have to listen and do exactly what the zookeepers and the other staff tell you, okay? There's some animals here we can let you see but you can't help with because they're too dangerous. So if me or one of the others tells you not to touch, you have to listen. Okay?"
"Okay. I promise I'll listen." Evy said. "What else?"
Jeff smiled. "Have as much fun as you possibly can. Okay? You think you can do that?"
"Definitely." Evy responded emphatically, making all three adults laugh.
Jeff started walking back towards the zoo entrance. Evy turned around and held her hand out to Sam, who took it and walked with her across the parking lot. Dean was beaming, and Evy was practically vibrating with energy. When they went inside, Evy said to Sam "Sammy, I gotta go", and Sam walked with her to the nearest restroom. Jeff was at the reception desk taking care of something, so Sam took advantage of their privacy to ask Dean about what was going on.
"Dean? How in the hell did you swing this so fast?" Sam asked.
Dean smirked in triumph. "Jeff's an old friend of Bobby's. Told me if I ever wanted to come visit, just let him know and he'd take us backstage."
"And who does he think Evy is?" Sam asked.
"Our niece." Dean answered simply.
Sam started to say something else, but Evy came out of the bathroom and Sam cut his question short. She took Sam's hand again and they walked over to where Jeff was standing. Over the next two hours, Sam lost count of the number of times he heard "Look, Sammy!" and "Wow!". Evy giggled, laughed, and played to her heart's content. By the time they sat down for lunch a couple hours later, Evy had not stopped smiling the entire morning. When they sat at the large picnic table, Evy surprised both her brothers when she sat next to Dean instead of Sam. She stood up on , wrapped both arms around Dean's neck and squeezed.
"This is great, Deanie. Thank you." She said.
Dean smiled and patted her hand, then pulled her over into his lap. Sam had gotten to hold her all day, and Dean intended to take his turn now. He didn't respond for a moment, just held her and breathed in her scent. He kissed her, then responded,
"Anything for you, baby girl. I love you."
Sam was standing at the drink fountain, filling cups for everyone, when he glanced over and saw Evy sitting in Dean's lap, cuddled up to him. Sam smiled. Dean was reluctant to admit it, but he had a soft side. Or, as adult Evy had called it, "a squishy soft side". And Evy had always been one of the fastest, most foolproof way for it to come out. Sam didn't rush, allowing Evy and Dean a little close quality time together. He brought the cups over and told them he was going to the bathroom. Evy moved out of Dean's lap but stayed close to him. As she took her first bite, she said cautiously,
"Deanie? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure thing, kiddo." Dean said, wiping his hands with a napkin. "What's up?"
"Well…" Evy said slowly, taking her time to phrase her question. "If you're here, and Sammy's here…"
"Yeah?" Dean prompted after a long pause.
Evy looked up at Dean, and after the laughs and giggles of the day, Dean was surprised to find a few tears starting in her eyes. "Where am I?"
Great. Dean thought. He'd hoped to avoid this question. He considered waiting on Sam to come back, but decided that he should handle this one alone. So Dean put on his best fake smile, and attempted his best 'cool big brother' voice.
"Here's the thing, kiddo. I can tell you some stuff, but I can't tell you everything, okay? Some stuff you got to wait to find out."
Evy nodded. "Okay."
"Well…" Dean started. "You are super smart. And you grow up to be a bigshot college professor."
Evy scrunched her face in confusion. "What's that?" she asked.
Dean smiled; Evy's quick learning meant he didn't often get to explain things to her. "It means you grow up to teach other grown-ups."
"Wow." Evy whispered. "Really?"
"Really." Dean said. "But that's not the coolest part."
"What's the cool part?" Evy asked seriously, her little eyes hanging off of Dean's every word.
Dean leaned in close, so that only Evy could hear what he was saying. "You saved the whole world, kid."
"What?" Evy asked, jumping slightly.
Dean smiled. "That's right, kiddo."
"Wow. You were right." Evy said. "That is cool."
"What's cool?" Sam asked, returning from the bathroom and sitting down to join them.
"Deanie says I saved the world." Evy said. "Is that true?"
Sam immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at Dean with a mixture of horror and anger. Dean couldn't look Sam directly in the eye. Sam, fuming, chose not to say anything on the matter other than "Yep, that's right, kiddo." and change the subject. When Evy had finished her sandwich, Sam finally got the break he needed to confront Dean. Evy had been eyeing the small playground directly on the other side of the picnic tables.
"Sammy? Can I go play?"
"Sure, Cricket." Sam said. "Fiftenn minutes, then we go find Jeff, okay?"
"'Kay." Evy said, hopping off her seat and running over to play.
As soon as Evy was out of hearing range, Sam turned on Dean. "What the hell, Dean?"
"She asked me, Sam, okay?" Dean said. He'd been expecting Sam's outburst, so he was prepared for it. "She asked me, and I had to tell her something. I didn't tell her everything, just what would sound cool to a six-year-old."
"She asked you what?" Sam said.
"She asked me where she was." Dean said. "Adult her."
Sam's expression softened and the anger melted out of his face. He glanced across the way at Evy, who was pushing herself down a slide and laughing. Another thought occurred to Sam, one that made him sick to his stomach.
"She'll be gone tomorrow."
Dean started to respond, but another, deeper voice cut in. "Yes."
Dean and Sam jumped. Cass had appeared behind them. Both fought the urge to curse at him, and both were checking around to see if anyone had noticed the man suddenly appearing in the middle of the lunch section. Everyone seemed to be buried in their own conversations, so Sam turned back to Cass.
"What are you talking about?" Sam asked quietly.
Cass sat down next to Sam, and looked everywhere but in Sam's face. "She goes back home tomorrow."
"How, Cass?" Sam asked. "What do we do to get her home?"
Guilt flowed through him, but Cass finally looked at Sam. "Nothing."
"Nothing?" Dean said. "What, do we just let her loose in the woods? Cass, come on, we're gonna need a little more than that."
"At approximately 2:36pm tomorrow," Cass said, "a temporal window will open inside the bunker. All Evy has to do is walk through it and she will wake up back home."
"A 'temporal window'?" Dean asked. "What the hell is this, Star Trek?"
Sam was having flashbacks to three and a half years earlier, when Chuck had stopped time to give them a chance to process what was happening with Evy.
"Will it hurt her?" Sam asked.
"Will what hurt her?" Cass asked.
"Going home." Sam said.
"No." Cass said. His heart broke for his friend. "No, it won't hurt her. A door will appear, and all she'll have to do is step through."
"And she'll be gone." Sam said, near a whisper, turning back to the table. He studied the pattern on the table closely. "Again."
"Yes." Cass said. "And she won't remember being here with you. The time will be erased from her memory."
Dean started to ask for details on exactly how Cass knew all of this, but Sam suddenly jumped, looked down and laughed with relief. Evy had snuck back over to the picnic table and grabbed his leg to scare him. At his startled look, she started giggling and wrapped her arms around his leg. Sam asked her as he picked her up,
"What are you doing, you silly monkey?"
Evy didn't respond, just giggled as Sam placed her on the table and tickled her side. Dean reached over and tickled her other side. They both relished the sound of her laughter. Cass watched them carefully. In the time that he'd known her, when she was much older, he'd known her to be a kind, compassionate person, even when she was suffering. Evy had always tried to be a friend for him, even when Cass wasn't talking to Sam or Dean. She had, every time the three of them had ever fought, been the first to forgive him. He didn't know if she had ever put it together or not, but when she'd landed in the hospital after Sam had gone to hell, Cass had been there with her every night. After Dean would leave, Cass would sit on the edge of Evy's bed and hold her hand all night. When she would cry for Sam in the middle of the night, Cass would either lay a hand on her back or put his arm around her. Cass missed her terribly, and felt a little jealous at the fact that she remembered Sam and Dean at the moment, but not him.
"Sammy?"
"Yes, Cricket." Sam replied.
"I'm ready to go back now." She said.
"Go back?"
Evy narrowed her eyes in a way that clearly meant get with the program, Sammy. "More animals, Sammy."
"Oh!" Sam laughed. She was ready to go back to the zoo. "Let's go, then."
Sam picked her up and put her back on the ground, taking her hand and preparing to lead her back in. Dean followed behind them. Cass had already left. Two hours later, they were back in the car, headed towards the bunker. An exhausted Evy sat in the front again, between Sam and Dean, sleeping with her head in Sam's lap and her feet in Dean's. Sam was quiet, absentmindedly running his fingers through her hair and staring out the window. Dean let the uncomfortable silence stretch for over twenty miles before he finally sadi something.
"Sam."
"What?" Sam said, sniffing.
"When should we tell her?"
Sam knew what he was talking about, but decided to play dumb. "Tell her what?"
"That she's going home tomorrow."
How about never? Sam thought, closing his eyes against the painful lump in his throat. He swallowed, and felt Evy stir underneath him. He looked back at her face, taking in every detail he possibly could. He remembered Evy as a child, but he'd forgotten how sweet she was. Especially when sleeping. Sam's heart suddenly felt tight and painful inside his chest.
"Sam?" Dean asked, breaking the silence.
"In the morning." Sam said.
"Won't putting it off make it harder…?" Dean asked.
"If we tell her tonight…" Sam said, cutting off Dean. "…she won't get to sleep."
Dean nodded, then turned back to face the road. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, Sam watching Evy sleep, Dean watching the road and dreading the next day. Neither of them wanted her to leave. But it was coming, and as painful as it was, they had to face it.
