Chapter Twenty-Six

Facing the Monster

A/N: Another familiar face shows up in this chapter. This is the end of the Coach Evans storyline.

It had been a long four months for everyone. Evy had finished her school year at home as planned. Evy's name had come out, and her teachers had all allowed her to make up the homework she hadn't turned in. Jordan's prediction had come true. The leaked news report led to almost a hundred complaints from parents that had children in Coach Evans' health class or on his basketball team. Before the end of the following week, not a single parent allowed their children to go to class with him. Mrs. Moreau was suspected and investigated for the news leak, but wouldn't allow Jordan to take responsibility for it. She was finally able to suspend the coach, since there were no parents that would allow their child to stay in his class.

Evy's nightmares had gone down drastically, but Sam found himself sitting by her bed nearly every night. Whether because she asked him to or because he felt like he needed to, he wasn't able to get any rest until she was sleeping. With Sam's blessing, Jordan all but kidnapped Evy once a week and made her go with him to the movies, shopping, eating, or hanging out with friends. Though she acted as if she was reluctant, she soon came to look forward to the weekly outings. Jody and Claire came to visit more often. Cass was confused as to why he couldn't just 'drop the coach off a tall building and fly away'. Though Dean was a particular fan of that plan, Sam had the conversation with them again about watching what they said around Evy.

The trial had started a couple of weeks earlier. Evy had refused to go until it was time for her to testify. The prosecutor in the case kept them updated on the progress of the trial. The local news covered it, and Sam had fought off an overzealous reporter wanting an interview with Evy. It was now the night before Evy was due to testify. She sat on the couch, looking out the window, her mind drifting. Squish was in her lap, purring contentedly as she was startled back to reality when Sam called her name. He was standing above her with a mug in his hand.

"Here you go, baby."

"Thanks, daddy." Evy said, taking the mug from him and taking a sip.

"That's an…odd choice for the middle of July." Sam said as he sat down.

"What?"

"Hot chocolate." Sam said, pointing to the mug.

"Oh." Evy took another sip. "I guess."

"Dean said he'll be home in a minute." Sam said. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Wait until uncle Dean's here." Evy said.

"Okay." Sam said, though his curiosity was killing him. He decided to redirect it. "Why the hot chocolate?"

Evy smiled. "You don't remember."

"Remember what?"

Thirty-Six Years Earlier

Sam walked into Evy's room, only half expecting her to be asleep. Sure enough, Evy was buried under the covers, shaking. There was a roaring thunderstorm outside. Sam sat on the bed and pulled the covers back. Evy grabbed them in protest.

"No!" she said.

"Hey. Hey, Cricket, it's me." Sam said. "Come on out."

"No, Sammy. I'm scared."

"It's okay, Cricket." Sam said. "I won't let anything hurt you."

Evy pulled back the covers reluctantly and looked up at Sam, eyes wide with fear. She was clutching Squish with one arm and grabbed Sam around the waist with the other. Sam kissed the top of her head and comforted her for a minute before he got an idea.

"Come on, Cricket. Come with me."

"Where we going?" Evy asked as Sam picked her up.

"Just come with me."

Sam took her into the kitchen and sat her down on the counter. Evy watched as Sam made them a mug of hot chocolate. He held it in his hand as he helped her take the first sip. Evy felt warmer and less afraid right away.

"How's that, Cricket?"

"It's good, Sammy." Evy said. "What's the hot chocolate for?"

"What hot chocolate?" Sam asked. "I don't see any hot chocolate."

Evy giggled. "This hot chocolate." she said, pointing to the mug in Sam's hand.

"Oh, this? That's not hot chocolate." Sam said.

"It's not? What is it?" Evy asked. "It tastes like hot chocolate."

"That's because it's chocolate flavored. It's scare juice." Sam said.

"Scare juice? What's that?" Evy asked, looking carefully inside the mug.

"It takes away your fear when you're scared." Sam said. "It makes you not be scared anymore. Is it working?"

Evy smiled; she did feel better, and not as scared anymore. "Yeah. It is working."

"Drink up, baby."

Sam laughed. "I had forgotten about that."

"Yeah. It worked, though." Evy said.

"So what's scaring you?" Sam asked. "Is it testifying tomorrow?"

Evy didn't say anything, just looked out the window.
"Baby, you'll do fine. Just tell them what happened." Sam said. "I'll be right there the whole time."

Evy looked guilty, but before she could say anything, Dean came in. "Hey, guys."

"Hi." Evy and Sam said together.

Once Dean was sitting down, Sam asked again. "What did you want to talk about?"

Evy sighed. "I need to ask you two a favor."

"What is it, kiddo?"

"I don't want you in court with me tomorrow." Evy said, bracing herself for their reactions.

Neither of them spoke for a moment, before Sam asked, "You don't want us there with you?"

"Please don't be hurt." Evy begged. "The thing is, they're gonna ask me tomorrow details about what happened. Really, really specific details. And I just don't want you two to hear that."

"Kiddo, we…" Dean started, but Evy cut him off.

"I know it's a lot to ask." Evy said. "And I want to tell you guys what happened. I'll do that now, if you both promise me you'll let me do this on my own."

"Baby, you don't have to tell us if you're not ready." Sam said.

"I am. But like I said, they're going to be asking details tomorrow. I want you to know, but I don't want you to hear that. Please." Evy begged.

Sam and Dean looked at each other for a moment before answering. "We're going." Sam said firmly. "But we'll wait in the hallway."

Evy, relieved, grabbed Sam's hand and squeezed it. "Thank you." She said. She looked to Dean and said again, "Thank you."

"Sure, kiddo." Dean said. He wasn't happy about it, but it made him feel better that he'd be there anyway in case she changed her mind.

"You sure you want to tell us about it?" Sam asked.
"Yeah." Evy said. She took a couple more sips of her hot chocolate, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Take your time, baby." Sam said.

Another long pause, and then she started her story slowly. "I got to practice a little early. There was no one else there yet. I started running laps, and coach walked in." Evy took another sip. "He asked me why I was so early and I told him I just wanted to run. Then he told me that he needed to ask me something."

"What?" Dean asked.

"He asked me to go with him to his office. He told me to sit down, that he had a surprise for me. When we got there, he asked me if I was interested in going to basketball camp for the summer. That he'd sent in a video of me practicing to the camp and they were offering me a scholarship."

"Was any of that true?" Sam asked.

"No. I asked him for a brochure. I wanted to do it, but I told him I had to talk to you. He said he'd forgotten it and that he'd bring me one the next day." Evy explained. "We went to practice and it was just like normal. When he let us all out, he asked me to come back to his office after I'd showered and gotten changed."

Sam's heart sank; he had a feeling he knew what was next.

"When I got there, he told me to close the door. He said he was upset that I hadn't taken him up on the offer for the scholarship. That's when I started to get a really bad feeling. I wanted to tell him that I had to leave and get home, that you were expecting me, but he was blocking the door." Evy's voice cracked and she looked away from them, wiping at her eyes. When she looked back up at them, Sam was sad and Dean was angry. "I told him anyway, and I got up and started to walk towards the door. When I got there, he grabbed me by the hair and told me I wasn't going anywhere. He locked the door and pulled me to the desk…"
"And that's when it happened?" Sam asked.

Evy nodded. "Yeah."

"What happened after that?" Dean asked.
"I screamed at him to let me go. That I was late and my dad would be looking for me. He pulled my hair so hard he snatched some of it out. He told me if I screamed again or told anyone, he'd kill you two and then me." Evy said.

"Son of a bitch." Dean whispered under his breath.

"When it was over, he told me to get out and go home. That we'd talk more later about how I could make it up to him." Evy said. "I was crying and shaking but I got up and ran out as fast as I could."

"I don't remember you crying." Sam said. "I usually can tell when something's upsetting you."

"It was that day I texted you and said I was running late." Evy said. "I didn't get home until after seven."

The pieces clicked then in Sam's mind. He remembered her being late one night, but he'd let it go because she had let him know and, although he couldn't remember exactly what she'd said, she'd given him a decent excuse. It was the night after that he noticed her starting to become withdrawn.

"What did you do after you left the coach's office?" Dean asked.

"Wandered around mostly." Evy said. "I went to the library and Dairy Queen, trying to get control of myself before I came home." Evy looked to Sam and asked, "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked.

"You're crying."

Sam reached up and wiped his cheek; he was crying and didn't even realize it. "I'm just sorry that you were hurting for so long and I didn't see it."

Evy pushed Squish off her lap and grabbed Sam's neck. "You see it now. That's what matters." She pulled away from him and said to them both, "Thank you for being okay with me doing this tomorrow."

"To be honest, we're really not. But if it'll be easier for you to talk without us there, we'll wait in the hallway like your dad said." Dean told her.

Evy got up from the couch and hugged him too. "You're the best, uncle Deanie."

"I love you, kiddo."

"Love you too." Evy said. "Now let's eat. I'm starving."

The next day, Sam waited anxiously in the hall after Evy had been called in to testify. He felt like he'd been there forever, and his patience was wearing thin. He was itching to open the door and go in, despite Evy's wishes, but he had made a promise and intended to keep it. Dean had been pacing the building, unable to stand the wait. It had been close to thirty minutes, and Sam finally pulled out his cell phone. He scrolled through his pictures, most of which were of Evy. In nearly every photo, Evy was smiling or laughing. In most of them, she had an arm around Sam or Dean, or was blowing kisses to them. He missed his little girl sometimes, but was so proud of the woman she was growing into that it took his breath away sometimes. Finally, forty minutes after Evy had gone into the courtroom, the doors opened and people began to file out. Evy came out wiping her face, but smiling.

"How'd it go?" Sam asked right away.

The prosecutor, Assitant DA April Lang, who had spent the previous week prepping Evy for her day in court, walked out and over to Evy. "You are the best witness I've ever had."

"Really?" Sam asked.

"Yes." April said, clapping Evy on the shoulder. "Good job, sweetie."

"Thanks, April."

"So are you done for the day?" Sam asked.

"Not quite." April said.

"We have to come back in an hour." Evy said.

"The judge dismissed for lunch after I questioned her." April explained. "She gets questioned by Evans' defense attorney next."

"Yeah." Evy said, biting her bottom lip.

"Hey." April said. "You did good. Just hold your ground when we come back and everything'll be okay."
"Thanks." Evy said.

"Eat a good lunch." April suggested. "It'll help. I'll see you in a bit."

When April left, Sam asked her, "Did it really go okay? How are you feeling?"

Evy sighed. "It was…it was tough. He kept staring at me."

Bastard, Sam thought but didn't say. "Do you want me to come in when you get cross examined?"

Evy thought about it and decided, "Let's see how I feel when it's time."

"That's fair. You hungry? You want to go across the street to the deli?"

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom first." Evy said.

"Okay. I'll go find Dean. Meet us over there?" Sam suggested.

"I will." Evy said.

"Can I have a hug?" Sam asked. Evy hugged him around the waist, and Sam told her sincerely, "I'm proud of you."

"Thank you, Daddy." Evy said. "For everything."

"I'll see you in a minute, baby."

Sam walked out and Evy walked down the hall to the restroom. As she stood in front of the mirror washing her hands, she double checked to make sure that there was no one else in the restroom with her. She looked in the mirror and smiled.

"You're stronger than him. You've almost beat him. Keep it up. You got this."

Evy threw her paper towel away and walked outside. She heard her phone beep and expected it to be Sam checking on her. It was Jordan, who was out of town with his mom and dad, wanting to know how everything was going. Or, in his words, did you put that SOB under the jail yet? Despite the seriousness of what was going on, Evy laughed. She started to type an answer when she heard a voice that chilled her to the core.

"Evelyn."

Evy briefly thought please let that be dad coming back from the dead. But when she looked up, her worst fear was confirmed. Bill Evans was walking right towards her. Evy backed up against the wall, his warning from that afternoon in his office keeping her from screaming her head off. Evans got closer, until he was only about a few feet away from her.
"Get away from me." Evy said.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Coach Evans said, though he continued to walk slowly towards her, closing the gap between them.

"I said leave me alone." Evy said a little louder.

Evans got closer and closer, until he had placed one hand on either side of Evy's face. Evy was shaking now, trying hard not to cry in front of him. Her heart was beating rapidly in her chest, so hard that it took her breath away. She heard Coach Evans start to say something, and she prepared herself to scream out for someone as she kicked him hard in the stomach….until she felt him pulled violently back from her and heard him slammed against the wall opposite her. When Evy opened her eyes, a very angry, protective Sam Winchester was holding Coach Evans against the wall by the scruff of his shirt. His voice was low and dangerous.

"If you ever come near my daughter again, I will personally march you into hell and throw you into the fire. If you ever put your hands on her again, I'll make you wish you were dead. Do you understand me?"

"I was just going to tell her…" Coach Evans started, before Sam threw him against the wall again.

"You have nothing to say to her." Sam said.

"Daddy, let him go."
Sam stared at Evans a few seconds longer, before pointing in the direction of the opposite side of the hallway and telling him, "Walk that way. Don't stop. If I see you near her again, I don't care whether or not she's here. I'll kill you."

Sam reluctantly released Evans from the wall, who glared at both of them one last time before walking in the direction that Sam was pointing. When Evans was out of eyesight, Sam turned to Evy, who was still against the wall shaking.
"Are you alright?" he asked. "Did he hurt you?"

"No." Evy said.

She grabbed Sam's waist and held on. Sam couldn't tell which question she was answering 'no' to. He checked her over once, then grabbed her hand.

"Come on. Let's go find April." Sam said.

April was furious, and went right to the judge, who nearly jailed Coach Evans all over again for breaking the protective order against Evy. The judge asked Evy whether she wanted to postpone the case for the next day, but Evy refused. Never before had Sam been so unbelievably proud of her than when she said,
"I'm not going to let him scare me again. I want to finish this today."

"Very well." the judge said. He turned back to Evans' defense attorney, who looked as if he wanted to sink though the floor. "You tell your client that if he approaches Miss Winchester again, he will go to jail for thirty days, no matter what. He will not intimidate her."

"Yes, your honor."

"Okay. This case is the only one I'm dealing with today, so I'll give everyone an additional two hours. Be back here at 4:00pm."

When Sam finally made it back across the street with Evy, Dean and Jody were waiting. Sam told them what happened, and while Jody was more worried about comforting Evy, Sam pulled Dean to the side. He had formed a plan in his head from the time that he'd left the judges' chambers to the time he'd made it to the deli. He shared the plan with Dean, who agreed with him enthusiastically. Sam made an excuse as to why he and Dean needed to go, and together they headed out the door.

Twenty minutes later, Sam and Dean were sitting in the Impala with Cass. They were waiting for someone they hadn't seen or talked to in years, but who had enthusiastically agreed to help. Soon enough, Crowley made it back to the car. Coach Evans sat between him and Cass.

"What in the hell…?" Evans said, jumping so far in fright that his head hit the ceiling.

"We'll get to that." Crowley said. "Right now, you need to listen to all of us."

"And who are you?" Evans asked.

"We're here about Evelyn Winchester." Cass said.

Evans looked in the front seat and finally seemed to notice Sam there. "Look, I'm sorry I approached her…"

"That's the least of your problems." Dean said. "Shut up and listen to our deal."

"Deal? What deal?" Evans said.

"Where you go once you leave this car." Sam said.

"I go back to court…" Evans said.

"Wrong." Crowley said. "You see, you've messed up. In a colossal way."

"What does that mean?" Evans asked.
"Well, you see, everyone in this car is rather fond of Evy." Crowley said. "He is an angel. From heaven." Crowley pointed to Cass, who stared at Evans with a glower that made Evans wither. "My name's Crowley. I'm a demon. The demon, actually. I run hell. And these two," Crowley pointed towards Sam and Dean, "are in charge of everything in between."

"All of you are crazy!" Evans said. "Let me out."

"We will." Sam told him. "We're not going to kill you. That's too good for you."

"What does that mean?"

"When you leave the car," Sam explained, "you're going to go find your lawyer, and tell him you want to plead guilty."

"And why exactly would I do that?" Evans asked.

"Because if you don't, these two get to duke it out over which one gets to take you." Dean explained.

"Take me where?" Evans asked.

Dean nodded to both Cass and Crowley, who simply touched Evans' forehead with one hand each. They were both showing him where he would end up and what would be done to him if they took him. Sam and Dean simply continued to stare at the coach, who screamed until Crowley and Cass let him go.

"I'll do it." he said. "I'll do it. I swear. Just please let me go."

Sam laughed bitterly. "See that's funny to me. Why should we let you go? My daughter begged you to let her go." When Evans stuttered, Sam said, "Never mind. You'll go straight to your lawyer. You'll tell him that you want to plead guilty. You'll admit what you did in open court and tell the judge you want the maximum penalty."

"Fine. Fine. I'll do it. Just please, please don't send me….wherever it was you were planning to send me." Evans said.

"Oh, you'll end up there." Crowley promised. "But whether it's today or when you're an old man, that's up to you."

"If you ever do get out," Cass put in, "we will keep a very close eye on you. If you ever so much as approach another child, we will grab you off the street and, shall we say, dump you somewhere."

"Dump me where?" Evans asked.

"Somewhere worse than the little special effects show we just gave you." Crowley said.

"One more thing." Dean said. "You tell anyone about this little meeting, you do die. Not until you're alone, but you do die. And then you end up with one of them."

"Okay. Okay, I swear I'll do it. Just please let me go."

Sam and Dean nodded, and Cass touched Evans' shoulder. Evans disappeared, and the four of them sat in the car together, not talking at first. Finally, Crowley spoke from the backseat.

"Well, this has been fun." Crowley said.

"What did you two show him?" Sam asked from the front seat.

Bitter enemies though they were, Cass and Crowley smiled at each other. "His jail cell." Cass explained.

"With a few special effects added." Crowley said, without elaboration.

"Crowley?" Sam said. "Thanks."

Crowley nodded. "I would say call me, but…don't." And with that, Crowley was gone.

Cass, Sam, and Dean made their way back to the deli. Jody was still comforting Evy, who was so distraught after her confrontation in the hallway with Evans that she didn't ask where the three of them had been. Jody was suspicious, but didn't ask them about it. Evy decided that she wanted everyone in the courtroom with her when she was questioned the second time. So the entire front row behind the prosecution's table was Evy, Sam, Dean, Cass, and Jody. Evy gripped Sam's hand tightly, and Sam tried not to smile.

The rest of the courtroom filed back in slowly. April came in and looked dazed, as did the judge and Evans' defense lawyer. Evans kept stealing glances towards Sam and Dean, until he saw Cass reach up and snap his fingers lightly. Dean leaned over and asked,

"Why'd you snap your fingers? What'd you do?"

"Nothing." Cass said simply. "But he doesn't know that."

Before Dean could respond, court was called back into session. "All right, everyone, settle down." The judge leaned forward and finally spoke. "I've been a judge on this bench for thirty years, and I have to say what I'm about to do is by far the weirdest thing I've ever had to do. Mr. Evans, I understand that you now want to plead guilty to all charges?"

An audible gasp was heard throughout the courtroom. Evans' attorney stood up. "Yes, your honor. Over my very strenuous objections, my client wishes to plead guilty."

"And you are not interested in any kind of deal from the DA?" the judge asked.

"No, your honor, he's not."

"And Mr. Evans, you make this deal willingly and knowingly? You understand that you will be convicted of felony sexual assault of a minor?" the judge asked.

"Yes, your honor." Evans finally answered, his voice shaky.

"Very well." The judge answered.

Evy looked up to Sam. "What does this mean?" she whispered.

Sam smiled and leaned down to whisper in her ear. "It means it's over. He's going to jail."

Evans made a full confession, turned to Evy and apologized. When the judge sentenced him to fifteen years in prison, the rest of the courtroom erupted in cheers. The case was dismissed, and Evy was laughing in relief as Evans was led away. Jody leaned over and asked Dean,

"You don't know anything about this, do you?"

Dean was smirking mischievously, but responded, "About what?", and Jody dropped the matter.

Evy was still hanging on to Sam.

"How do you feel, baby?"

"I just can't believe it's over." Evy said.

"He'll never hurt another kid again. And that's all because of you. Because you turned him in." Sam said. "I'm very proud of you."

"Can we go home now?" Evy asked. "I want to do something that doesn't have to do with this case."

"Sure, baby. Let's go." Sam said, and he released her so they could walk out of the courtroom. "I love you."
"Love you too, daddy."

A/N: As much as I respect Mark Sheppard's decision to leave Supernatural, I do miss him in the show and refuse to accept Crowley's death. Despite Crowley's many protests that he didn't care about Sam and Dean throughout the show, I never bought it.

Also, on a lighter note, I'm still looking for suggestions of which of my stories to show my mom. She's not a Supernatural fan so I don't want to show her one of the heavier ones, like Sensitive Souls are the Strongest or Don't Underestimate the Little People. I was thinking of Sammy the Chicken, or Bully. Suggestions?

Next Chapter: Evy discovers the truth about how she ended up at the bunker.