Chapter Eighteen

Trust

A/N: What feels like forever ago, I wrote a story called 'Big Mistake'. I had it up for a few days before I took it down. In the story, Sam spanks his daughter for something she didn't do. I took the story down because I was watching season 2 of the show for the first time, and the deeper I got into the show the more I realized my story didn't really fit Sam's character. Disagree with me all you want, but I feel like Sam would be a very patient, gentle parent. Not a perfect one, but I feel like he'd be very slow to true anger, and would be more willing to talk and explain things to a kid rather than just jumping to yelling or spanking. My point is that this chapter is based off that story. Sam grounds Evy for something she didn't do.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Sam Winchester was normally a patient man. He'd been caring for Evy in some way or another since he was ten years old. He was used to how active she was, and could normally tune her out if he needed to. Today, however, was different. Sam had a massive headache, and just wanted some peace and quiet. He had to work at the bookstore that night, and wanted a nap before he left. Twelve-year-old Evy seemed unusually needy, however. She was coming in and out of the house every few minutes, getting water or juice or asking him if he could come and watch her practice. She was trying out for the seventh-grade basketball team the following week. He'd humored her the first two times, but when she came running in for the third time, Sam finally lost his temper.

"Daddy, can you come…?"

"NO!" Sam shouted. "I told you I don't feel good! Leave me alone!"

Sam regretted it before he'd even finished speaking. Evy's face fell, and had he not known better, Sam would have sworn he'd slapped her. Not since they'd lived together with John had Sam seen her look so depressed.

"Sorry, daddy." she whispered, starting to walk back to the front door. "I won't bother you again."

"Cricket, wait." Evy stopped; he had almost completely stopped calling her 'Cricket', so it caught her attention quickly. "Come here, baby." Sam, who had been laying down on the couch, sat up and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"It's okay." Evy said. "I know you're sick."
"That's not an excuse." Sam said. "But you're right, I am. I can't come outside because it makes my headache worse. I'm sorry."

"I'm just nervous." Evy said.

"About the basketball tryouts?"

"Yeah." Evy said.

"I know you are. But trust me. You'll do fine." Sam said. "Even if you don't make it this year, you can try again next year."

"I know." Evy said.

Sam checked the clock. "Why don't you get a shower and start getting ready for Lily's party? You don't want to show up sweaty like that, do you?"

"No. I don't." As Evy stood up, she asked, "What are you gonna do while I'm at the party?"
"I'm gonna lay back down. If I don't feel better soon, I might call off work and just go to sleep." Sam said.

"Okay. Feel better, daddy." Evy said, kissing his cheek like he did when she was sick.

"Thanks, baby."

When Sam heard the water running, he decided to go to his bed rather than the couch. He turned off the lights downstairs, and started to head to his bedroom. He couldn't tell what made him look outside, but he did. What he found made his head throb even worse. The side mirror on the driver's side of his car was sitting on the front porch, with the glass missing. Sam sat back on the couch, rubbing his head and waiting on Evy to get out of the shower. When she came out, dressed and ready to go for the party, Sam confronted her.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" he asked.

Evy, confused, answered, "No…"

"What happened to my car?" Sam said.

"What are you talking about?" Evy asked.
"Go take a look." Sam said.

Evy opened the front door and looked at Sam's car. "The mirror?"

"Yes." Sam said testily. "The mirror. What happened?"

"I don't know. I didn't do that." Evy said truthfully.

"You're the only one that's been playing out there." Sam pointed out. "Look, I'm not mad, just tell me the truth…"
"I am!" Evy protested, hurt that he didn't believe her. "I didn't do that. It was like that when I went out to play this morning."

Sam took a long, hard look at Evy. She didn't lie to him normally, but he had been very impatient with her that day and wouldn't put it past her to fib to him if she thought she would get in trouble. No one had been by to visit that day, and Dean was gone for the majority of the day. He had left at five that morning and wouldn't be back until around eleven that night. In Sam's mind, Evy was the only one who could have broken his mirror.

"Call Lily and tell her you're not coming." Sam said. "You're grounded to your room until you tell me the truth."

Evy's mouth gaped open. "Daddy!"

"Now." Sam said sternly. "Or you can tell me the truth about what happened and still go."

"I am telling you the truth." Evy said, a tear slipping down. "Why don't you believe me?"

"Now, Evelyn." Sam said. Evy bristled at her full name. "Call Lily and tell her you're not coming."

Evy tearily picked up the phone and dialed Lily's house. Sam had to harden his heart when he heard Evy start crying on the phone and telling Lily how sorry she was. Sam texted Linda and told him that Evy was grounded for lying to him and wouldn't be coming. He promised to make it up to her, doing a party for just Lily and Evy when Evy wasn't in trouble. Linda wasn't happy about it, and asked Sam to reconsider. Sam said no, that Evy had to learn not to lie to him. Linda pointed out that he was punishing Lily too, but reluctantly accepted Sam's decision. With a final 'Lily, I'm sorry', Evy hung up the phone, sobbing bitterly. Sam's dropped his stern tone from earlier, a little worried about how hard that conversation had gone.

"Baby, what happened?" he asked, reaching a hand over to comfort her, only to be left shocked and hurt when she pulled away from him.

"What do you care?" she asked, still crying hard as she put the phone down on the couch beside her.

"Of course I care." Sam answered, hurt she would even think to ask.

"Can I go to my room now, please?" Evy asked, wiping tears away with her sleeve.

"Sure." Sam said. His headache was suddenly forgotten; he hadn't meant his impromptu punishment to cause this kind of hurt. "Will you please tell me what Lily said?"

"She didn't invite anyone else to her birthday party. Only me." Evy said. "It's cancelled now. And she's not talking to me."

That's what Linda meant when she said I was punishing Lily too, Sam thought. "I didn't know…"

"Because you didn't ask." Evy said bitterly. "Can I go now? Please?"

"Yeah." Sam whispered.

As Evy ran down the hall to the sanctuary of her bedroom, Sam seriously considered telling her to forget the grounding until after the party and to go. It wasn't fair to Lily to take away her birthday party for something she didn't do, and Sam's mirror wasn't worth the risk of damaging the relationship between the girls. But it wasn't the mirror that worried Sam. Dean could easily fix that in under an hour. It was the fact that she had lied to him, more than once, when asked about it. Sam decided to give her fifteen minutes to calm down, then go down the hall and give her another chance to tell him the truth. He used the fifteen minutes to call Laura, who was more than happy to let him have the afternoon off. Sam hung up and waited another few minutes before finally, he couldn't stand waiting any longer. He walked down the hall and knocked gently on the door of Evy's room. When she didn't say anything, Sam opened the door quietly, thinking that maybe she'd fallen asleep. Instead, she was laying down on the bed, clutching Beanie tightly to her chest, tears still running down her face.

"Can I come in?" Sam asked.

Evy sniffed and asked, "Do I have a choice?"

"Yes. You always have a choice." Sam pointed out.

"Then no. Please don't." Evy said, turning over and away from him.

Sam wanted to protest, disregard her choice and beg her forgiveness, but he resisted. He had always made it a point that her room was her space, and if she didn't want someone in there it was okay to tell them to leave. But Evy so very rarely shut him out that he honestly couldn't remember the last time she'd done it. But you sure shut her out earlier, yelling at her like that. Sam thought to himself. Good job not being dad, buddy. Sam almost wished he could call Laura and tell her that he felt better, that if she still wanted him to, he'd come in. But running away wouldn't solve the problem, it would only exacerbate it. So he went to his room and attempted sleep, which was impossible. He got up and made them dinner, Evy's favorite sandwiches and juice, hoping to calm the storm just a bit. Evy gave him a half-hearted 'Thanks' and refused when Sam asked if she wanted him to eat with her.

Sam's was close to breaking. Evy wasn't angry at the punishment and pouting about it. She was genuinely hurt. Sam was keeping her away from her best friend for something relatively minor. Sam hated it, but lies were not acceptable. Baby, please, please just come tell me the truth. I'll take you to Lily's myself, just please tell me the truth.

The battle of wills dragged on and on well into the night. Sam heard Evy getting her shower around seven o'clock, then head back to her room. He knocked on her door and asked if he could come in to talk, but again Evy refused. It was hard, but Sam respected her decision and left her alone.

Dean pulled up to the house that night, surprised to see the living room light on. Sam in the last few years had become much less of a night owl, and was usually asleep well before ten at night. Evy's bedroom light was also on. Why were they both up? Dean turned off the Impala, less worried now about waking them up. He walked up the steps and opened the door. Sam wasn't in the living room, so Dean decided to check on Evy first. He knocked on her door and was surprised by the greeting.
"Daddy, please leave me alone! I'm trying to sleep."

Dean opened the door a few inches to see Evy sitting up in bed, not even remotely trying to sleep. "Hey, kiddo, it's me."

Evy jumped at the unexpected voice. "Oh. Hi, uncle Deanie."
"Hey. Can I come in?"

"Sure." Evy said.

"How was the party?" Dean asked.

"I don't know. I didn't get to go." Evy said.

"What?" Dean asked. "You've been talking about it for days. Why didn't you go?"

"Because Daddy grounded me for something I didn't do." Evy explained.

"What was it you supposedly did?" Dean asked.

"Broke the mirror on his car." Evy said.

Dean's eyes went wide. "Kiddo, I'm so, so sorry."
Evy looked up at Dean, afraid that she knew what he was going to say. "Sorry for what?"

"I broke the mirror on your dad's car."

Evy's started crying all over again. "Why didn't you tell him? I got in trouble for it!"

"I'm sorry, kiddo." Dean said again. "It happened early this morning and I didn't want to wake anyone up. I left your dad a note saying I'd fix it tomorrow, but I guess he didn't get it."

"I told him it wasn't me." Evy said.

"I'm sorry, kiddo." Dean said, a sharp sense of guilt threatening to eat him up. "I really am."

"I'm not mad at you." Evy said. "You didn't ground me for nothing."

"Stay here for a minute, okay? I'll go talk to your dad."

Evy nodded, and Dean left her to go say something to Sam. Dean walked down the hall towards Sam's room, anger starting to replace the guilt. It just wasn't like Evy to lie about something. The kid was honest almost to a fault. Sam and Dean's trust meant too much to her to risk breaking it for a lie. Dean knew that, and he didn't spend half the time with her that Sam did. Dean pounded on Sam's door, and Sam answered the door fairly quickly.

"Cricket…"

Sam suddenly felt an explosion of pain on his face and stumbled backwards, narrowly avoiding hitting the floor. He was so stunned he didn't say anything at first. Dean leaned against the doorframe and waited for Sam to recover.

"Dean what the hell?" Sam said.

"I broke your damn mirror!" Dean said.

"What?"
"I broke your damn mirror." Dean repeated. "Not baby girl. Me."

Sam's heart sunk. "Oh, no."

"I left you a note on the fridge." Dean said. "I told you to leave the mirror where I put it and I'd fix it in the morning."

Sam walked past Dean and went to the kitchen. Sure enough, there in the middle of the refrigerator was a note scribbled out from Dean. Broke the mirror on your car backing out this morning. I'll fix it tomorrow. -Dean Sam felt sick all over again. The thought of the look on Evy's face when he'd accused her made him wish he could get his headache back. It would hurt less.

"What the hell did I do?" Sam said.

"What did you do?" Dean asked. "Baby girl wouldn't lie to you. Why did you think she did?"

"It just didn't occur to me that it could have been you." Sam said. "She was out there playing and that's when I noticed it."

"Well she's in her room crying right now and it looks like she's been doing that all night."

"She's still up?" Sam asked. "I thought she was asleep."

"Go fix this, Sammy."

Sam nodded and walked slowly towards Evy's room. Dean had left her door cracked, and sure enough the light was still on. Sam grabbed the doorknob and knocked lightly. Evy turned around and her face fell. She clearly had thought it was Dean again.

"Can I come in?" Sam asked.

"Are you gonna yell at me again?" Evy asked.

"No. I just want to talk, I swear." Sam said.

"I guess." Evy said reluctantly.

Sam walked in and sat on the edge of the bed. "Uncle Dean told me what happened to the mirror."

"Yeah?" Evy said.

"Baby, I'm sorry." Sam said, realizing that it sounded hollow.

Evy said nothing, just moved a little further away from Sam.

"I should never have grounded you for this…" Sam started to say.

Evy looked up in indignation. "I don't care about you grounding me!"

"You don't?" Sam asked.

"No!" Evy said. "I care that you didn't trust me. I told you, three times, I didn't do it!"

"I know, baby…"
"I'm not done." Evy said.

Sam's mouth snapped shut at the unexpected interruption, and he let her continue.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me. But you did." Evy said, wiping a tear away from her face. "And Lily's still mad at me. That's your fault. You can't fix that."

Sam's emotions were threatening to short circuit as Evy spoke. He felt guilty for distrusting her, for hurting her, for causing a rift between her and Evy. He was scared she wouldn't forgive him, although deep down he knew she would. But what surprised Sam was the pride. He was proud of her for standing up to him. To Sam, it meant he was raising her the way he wanted. She felt safe enough to tell him anything, even that he'd treated her like a jerk. Sam tried hard to fight a smile. His little girl was growing up. She's not so little anymore, he thought sadly, which helped him resist the urge again to smile.

"Why didn't you believe me?" Evy asked again.

"Because I'm an idiot." Sam said. "Because I was stupid and I jumped to conclusions. I know I hurt you, baby, and I'm sorry for that. And as far as Lily goes, I'll make that up to both of you."

"How?" Evy said.

"You think about it. Whatever you come up with, I'll do it." Sam said.

"Can we throw her a surprise party here tomorrow?" Evy asked.

Sam smiled. "You got it."

"Will you help me practice tomorrow?" Evy asked. "After the party?"

"Done." Sam said. "Anything else?"

"Yeah." Evy said. "Promise me if I tell you I didn't do something, you'll believe me."

"I promise." Sam said. "I swear this won't happen again."
"I'll make sure of that." Evy looked at her bedroom door, where Dean was standing. "And I'm really sorry too, kiddo."

Evy finally smiled. "You can help me practice tomorrow, too."

"Deal." Dean said. "We good?"

"Yeah. We're good." Evy said. "Almost."

"Almost?"

Evy held out both arms to him, and Dean was brought back to her being much younger. Whenever John and Dean would come home from a hunt, if she had been put to bed, she would stay where she was and reach out for both John and Dean to come to her. John had tried one night to get her to come to him, but Evy refused.

"No. I supposed to stay in bed. Sammy say so."

John chuckled, even as he moved to oblige her. "Are you sure he didn't say you were supposed to be asleep in bed?"

As John let her go and Dean moved to hug her too, Evy bit her bottom lip. "Um, I not remember, daddy."

Dean laughed as he wrapped his arms around her neck. "Atta girl. Way to bend the rules."

"Dean!" John scolded mildly, although, if he was honest, he was impressed too. "Good night, little one. Daddy loves you."

"Deanie does too." Dean said.

"Good night, Daddy. Night, Deanie. Love you."

Dean hugged her and kissed her cheek. "Good night, kiddo. Love you."

"Love you too, uncle Deanie."

As Dean left, Sam asked the same question. "Are we good?" Sam asked.

Evy grinned. "Almost."

"Almost?"

Evy laid down and pulled her covers over her. She grabbed Beanie, the only remaining remnant of her old bedtime routine with Sam. She still slept with him every night. Evy let out a big yawn and grabbed Sam's hand. She put his hand on her back and asked,

"Sing to me?"

Sam nodded and started gently scratching her back. "Of course I will."

Evy's heavy eyes closed slowly as Sam started.

"Don't you feel it growing, day by day, people getting ready for the news…"

By the time he finished, Evy was fast asleep. Sam stood up, leaned over Evy, straightened her blanket, and kissed her forehead. Evy's feet stuck out of the end of the blanket after a few seconds, and Sam fought the urge to wrap her feet back up. It wouldn't do any good.

"Good night, baby. Daddy loves you so much."

Next Chapter: The death of two friends changes the lives of the Winchester family.