John had never seen Evy so happy, which made what he was about to do so much harder. He knew Missy wouldn't approve, and he knew there was a better than average chance that she would break up with him once she got back home. But he needed to protect Evy. He felt in his heart it was the right thing to do.

They had lived in Palo Alto for over six months now, and Evy had taken Sam's advice for making friends at her elementary school. She had two close friends, and the three of them were planning a sleepover that Friday night. John had tried to convince Missy not to allow it, but of course she'd overruled him. John had, suspiciously to Missy, not argued further, but Missy hoped that he would just allow Evy to have her fun and not give her a hard time about it. Missy herself was heading out for the night with a friend for dinner and a movie, and she wouldn't be back until late that night. It was Friday afternoon, and it was close to the time for Missy to leave.

"Okay, Kitten, one more time. Your homework's done?"

"Check." Evy said.
"Sammy's looked it over?" Missy asked.

"Check."

"You've got two changes of clothes in your backpack?"

"Check." Evy replied eagerly.
Missy smiled. "You ready to have fun?"

"I'm ready, Mommy." Evy answered, grabbing her mom's waist. "Thank you for letting me go."

"You're welcome." Missy said. "I'm glad you've got some good friends."

"You have fun too, Mommy."

"Thank you. I will." Missy said, kissing the top of Evy's head. "When you come back tomorrow, I'll tell you about my night if you tell me about yours."
"Deal." Evy said. "Bye, mommy. Love you."

"Love you too." Missy said. "I gotta go. Be good for Daddy. Mrs. Lindt'll be here to pick you up in about an hour."

John walked back inside just as Missy was saying this. Missy said a quick goodbye to him, quietly reminded him not to give Evy a hard time about the sleepover. Missy left, and John waited until he couldn't hear her car in the driveway before walking to the couch, where Evy was reading a book with her backpack beside her. John sighed; she was smiling, and he knew he was about to turn that smile into tears. When Evy felt John sit beside her, she asked,

"Daddy, can we make a pie for Deanie's birthday when I get back tomorrow?"

"Sure, little one. We can make a pie for him tomorrow." John said, hoping to give her something to look forward to, and hoping to soften the blow he was about to deliver. "But I'm sorry, you're not going tonight."

Evy's eyes immediately filled with tears. "Why? Mommy said I could go…"

"Mommy's not here." John said. "I already called your friend's mother; she's not picking you up."

"Daddy, that's not fair!" Evy protested, starting to sob.

She'd earned this sleepover. Mommy had promised if she kept her grades up, behaved in school, and Mrs. Lindt said it was okay, she could have a sleepover. It was hard for Evy to make friends, and now that she finally had them, she wanted to keep them. But she had no one there to support her. Sam was on a date with the nice girl he'd brought home the week before, Jess. Dean was on a date with some girl he'd met the last time he'd been home. Mommy was already gone, and she had a feeling Daddy wouldn't let her call Mommy back home. John finally lost his patience with Evy's crying.

"Evelyn, that's enough!" He snapped. "I have to talk to you about something important."

"Daddy, please. I wanna go." Evy begged again.

"I said no. Now get yourself under control. Go to the bathroom and wash your face, then come back out here." When Evy didn't move and kept crying, John added the threat, "Go. Now. You've got five minutes or I'll give you a reason to cry."

Evy jumped off the couch and ran to the bathroom, crying inside as silently as she could. She'd set her heart on this weekend, and now it was ruined. Daddy was being mean for no reason at all. She thought about sneaking out of the house and trying to get to Sammy's, but she remembered John's threat. She knew that he would spank her if she wasn't in the living room soon, and he would definitely do it if he caught her trying to run away. John had only spanked her a couple of times, and Missy just once, but Evy had no doubt John would do it again if she didn't listen to him. Evy felt helpless, and her only comfort was the fact that her mother wasn't going to be gone overnight. She would be back late that night, and she'd get mad and yell at Daddy for ruining her weekend. Little did she know that her ruined sleepover would soon be the least of her problems. She took a few deep breaths and washed her face.

John sat in the living room, waiting patiently on Evy to come back. He wasn't looking forward to the conversation he was about to have. He didn't want to take Evy's innocence away from her, but she needed to be prepared. She needed to understand why it wasn't safe for her to sleep somewhere other than her own house. He was willing to let her leave and see her friends, but he was not willing to let her have a sleepover. He had a suspicion that Missy had allowed Sam to have sleepovers without telling him, but there was nothing he could do about that now. The five minutes he had given Evy had already passed, but he decided to be patient with her. Two minutes later, she walked back into the living room from the bathroom, shaking and wiping her eyes. She was trying not to cry, so John's voice was soft now when he spoke.

"Come here, little one. We need to talk."

It was late, way past the time Missy normally went to sleep, but she was happy she'd gone. It had been a long time since she'd gone out and spent time with other adults her own age, and she fully intended to do it again. She hoped Evy was having as good a time as she was having. Missy opened the front door, expecting to find John sitting in the living room, watching TV or sleeping on the couch waiting for her. Instead, she found the front of the house dark. The only light came from the bathroom. She wasn't too concerned at first; she figured that John had just gone to bed.

Out of habit, Missy headed towards Evy's room to check on her. She was at Evy's door before she remembered. Duh, she's not here. Missy started to move away and head to her bed when she heard a noise. It took a second to place it. Sniffling and crying. Missy walked inside and was shocked to find a familiar shaped lump in the bed.

"Kitten?" Missy cautiously asked, flipping on Evy's bedroom light.

Evy sat up in bed, relieved to finally see her mother. "Mommy!"

"What are you doing here?" Missy asked. "Why are you crying? Are you sick?"

"Mommy…" Evy said, breaking down in inconsolable tears.

"Kitten, what in the world?"

Missy rushed to Evy's side, grabbing her in a tight hug that Evy gratefully accepted. She was crying too hard to talk, so Missy waited before asking her again what was wrong. When Evy was finally able to talk, Missy listened with growing anger and resentment. John had done some selfish, stupid, inconsiderate things before, but this was beyond anything she could have possibly imagined. Not only had John told her the truth about what it was he and Dean did when they went on the road, he had told her about Missy's first husband and daughter, which had been killed by a demon and drove her into hunting. Evy asked her mother, with one last fading bit of hope,

"Mommy, was he telling me the truth? Are monsters real?"

Damn you, damn you, DAMN YOU, JOHN WINCHESTER! Missy thought to herself. She took a deep breath to keep herself from screaming. Evy still had a tight hold on her waist, waiting on an answer, one that Missy desperately wished she didn't have to give. But she didn't want Evy to grow up, find out the truth, and resent her for it. So, screaming inside, Missy brushed some of Evy's hair from her face and put all the energy she had into speaking as kindly and gently as she could.

"Yes, baby. I'm sorry, but Daddy was telling you the truth." Evy's eyes filled with tears again, and Missy shushed her. "Shhhh. Listen to me, Kitten. We will talk about this. You and me, I promise. But not right now. It's way past your bedtime, and you're exhausted. Get some sleep and we'll talk about this tomorrow."

"Daddy said he was gonna train me so I could fight 'em too. And he said I couldn't have friends anymore." Evy said, her breath hitching in panic. "I don't wanna fight monsters, mommy, I'm just a kid…"

"You listen to me. Right now. That is not happening. Not now, not ever. You can do whatever you want with your life, but you will never hunt. Do you hear me?" Missy asked. "And as for your friends, Daddy doesn't make those decisions. Mommy does. And I'll talk to Mrs. Lindt after everything's settled down. If she agrees, we'll do your sleepover again next weekend. Okay?"

"Okay, mommy." Evy said, wiping her face. "Will you sleep in here with me, please? I don't want to sleep in your room with Daddy…"

"I will. I'm coming right back. I need to make a couple of phone calls, but I'll be right back." Evy didn't want Missy to leave, but she nodded.

"I promise baby, I'll be right back." Missy said. She gave Evy another kiss, then hugged her tight again. "Don't worry. It'll be a long time before you're alone with Daddy again."

Evy let out another sob. She hated to admit it, but that was exactly what she'd wanted Missy to say. Missy held her for another couple of minutes, then swore to Evy again she'd be right back. She noticed John sleeping on their bed, and fought the urge to go inside the bedroom and beat him to a bloody pulp. She had the capability to do it, and if Evy hadn't been awake and able to hear her, she might have done it. But the thought of traumatizing Evy again made her sick, so she walked past the bedroom and into the living room, where she picked up the phone. She called Sam and told him to be at the house at exactly 9am, called Dean and said the same thing, then, on a whim, called Bobby. She told Bobby what John had done, and she didn't even have to ask the question.

"I'll get on the next flight now. I'll be there quick."

"Bobby, I'm ready to…" Missy said.

"I know what you're ready to do. But don't do it. Yet. Not without backup. Go take care of Baitfish right now. Once we get her out of the house in the morning, then it's a free for all."

"Thank you, Bobby." Missy said.

"Get some sleep. I'll be there soon as I can. Tell Baitfish I love her."

"I will. Good night, Bobby."

Missy hung up the phone, her rage now down to a dull roar. She knew she'd get no sleep that night. She just hoped that Evy would. No matter what happened from this point forward, Evy's innocence was gone. Killed by the other person who should never have taken it from her. She made her way back to Evy's room, who was crying all over again. She told Missy that she'd tried to go to sleep but couldn't get what John had told her out of her head. Missy laid down on Evy's bed, pulled Evy close to her chest, and sang to her, the song she'd sung to Evy when she'd been in the womb.

"Don't you feel it growing, day by day, people getting ready for the news…." Evy eventually fell asleep, and Missy kissed her tenderly. "Don't worry, Kitten. Mommy's going to make this right.

A/N: Next chapter-Missy gets into an explosive fight with John over telling Evy about the supernatural.