A/N: In this chapter, Evy gets sick. Mommy and Daddy both take care of her.

"Mommy…"

The raspy voice immediately woke Missy out of a deep sleep. John was snoring beside her. Missy climbed out of bed and walked down to the hall to Evy's room. Evy let out a cough that made the hair on Missy's neck stand up. She turned on Evy's bedroom light and saw her sitting up in her bed, crying, with a hand on her ear.

"What's wrong, baby?" Missy asked, though she had a bad feeling she already knew.

"It hurts." Evy whined.

"What hurts? Your ear?"

"Yeah." Evy said.

"Okay. Does anything else hurt?" Missy asked.

"My throat and my head." Evy cried.

"Okay. Okay, sweetie, come here." Missy said, reaching over and picking up the distraught Evy.

"It hurts, mommy."

"I know, baby. Come on, I'm gonna try to make you feel better, okay?" Missy said. "Just hang on to mommy."

Missy tried singing to Evy to calm her down, but she was beyond comfort at the moment. Her ear hurt too badly for her to listen to Missy's voice, so Missy pulled the earache medicine from the bathroom cabinet and prepared a dose for Evy. There was no doubt now that Evy was miserable; she took the medicine with no fight whatsoever. Missy took the thermometer and helped Evy hold it in her mouth with one hand while stroking her hair with the other. Just as she feared, there was a fever. 101.2. Damn it, Missy thought. She put the thermometer away and bent down to face Evy, who was sitting on the toilet seat still looking miserable. It had only been a half-hour since Missy came to get her, but it felt like days.

"You feel any better?"

"A wittle." Evy said, still sniffing.

"Here. Blow." Missy held a tissue to Evy's nose, and Evy blew weakly. As Missy threw the tissue away, she asked, "Do you think you can go back to sleep?"
"Can I seep with you?" Evy asked.

"Sure."

Missy picked her back up again and headed toward the bedroom. Evy laid her head down on her mother's shoulder, but that seemed to make the earache worse. She picked her head back up and grabbed her ear again. That seemed to settle the question for Missy. She sat back down on the bed, calling a now stirring John to wake him up.

"John, wake up." Missy said. "Come on, wake up. We've got a problem."

John opened his eyes and realized that there was someone else in the room with them. "Huh? What's going on?"
Missy flipped the light on beside the bed. "Evy's sick."
"How sick?" John asked. Missy didn't rattle easily, and her voice was shaking. "What's wrong, little one?"
"I don't feel so good, Daddy." Evy said, hand still on her ear.

"She's got a fever. And she says her throat and her head hurts. Do you think we should take her to the h-o-s-p-i-t-a-l?" Missy asked.

"How high's the fever?" John asked, placing a hand on Evy's forehead.

"101."

John thought it over before answering. "Not yet. If the fever gets any higher, we'll take her to the ER. We'll take her to her doctor first thing in the morning."

"Daddy, will you go too?" Evy asked pitifully. "I scared of the doctor."

"You bet I will." John promised. "How's your ear?"

"A wittle better." Evy said. "Still feels like there's stuff in there."

"Okay. Come on." John said, pulling Evy from Missy's lap.

"Where are you going?"

"Sammy always slept better with ear infections when he was sitting up. I'm gonna take her to the living room and sit up on the couch." John said.

"Want mommy too." Evy said, reaching out a hand for Missy.

"I'm coming, baby."

John picked up Evy and walked with her towards the living room, Missy following close behind. After a few more minutes of Evy whimpering and crying, she finally fell asleep, leaning against John's chest wrapped up in a blanket. Missy laid down beside them, and all three got a fitful two more hours of sleep. Sam woke up and, concerned about Evy, wanted to stay home from school. Missy convinced him to go, promising that he could help take care of Evy that weekend. Missy made an appointment with Evy's doctor, and at 10:00 that morning, the three of them were in the waiting room.

The rest of the family took turns holding Evy. Three long days later, Evy's sickness was finally starting to fade. Her ears were no longer hurting, her fever was gone, her throat didn't hurt anymore, and she was left with a cough and a little congestion. Sitting in John's lap Sunday night, watching a movie with the rest of the family, Evy looked up into John's face and said,

"Hey, Daddy, I gotta tell you somefing."

"What is it, little one?" John asked.

"You a good snuggwer."

John chuckled. "What?"

"You a good snuggwer." Evy repeated.

"I'm a good snuggler?" John asked.

With a grin, Evy nodded. "Yeah."

"Thank you." John said. "You're a good snuggler too."

"I wish you'd do it more."

John knew that Evy hadn't meant to make him feel guilty with her innocent remark, but she couldn't have done a better job if she had done it on purpose. John knew he wasn't home nearly enough. He missed school events, holidays, birthdays, and everyday moments like this, and at times it hurt so much that he could barely breathe. But at that moment, looking in Evy's eyes, he didn't have to think about what he was missing; he only had to think about what was in front of him just then. John squeezed her and kissed her, then replied,

"I wish I could do it more too, little one."

"Can I seep with you and mommy again?" Evy asked.

"You bet." John said. "You bet you can."

Evy grinned and turned back to the movie, pulling John's arms around her waist. Before the movie was over, Missy saw that they were both sleeping. She ushered Sam to bed, reminded Dean to be quiet, and said goodnight to both of them. Once they were gone, Missy sat down beside the two of them. She took a long look at the both of them. She knew John would be gone again soon, but right now, she had the two people she loved the most in the world right beside her, and the other two down the hall.

"Good night, you two. I love you."