A/N: Evy gets jealous when Sam starts spending more time with Jess than with her.

After telling Evy about the supernatural, life went mostly back to normal for the Winchester family. John and Dean hunted, Sam went to school, Bobby came to visit every few weeks, and Missy and Evy went about their normal lives. Missy and John slept apart for a few weeks, until they came to an informal agreement. It had already been in practice for years, but John finally accepted it. The bulk of decisions regarding Evy were deferred to Missy, including decisions about school, field trips, sleepovers, and, the one John struggled with the most, discipline. Missy agreed to call him and tell him about any major decisions, like health care, discipline problems she needed back up with, and anything about her education. The system seemed to work, and it had been more than eighteen months with very few problems between them.

All that seemed to be going out the door. Evy's tenth birthday was around the corner, but her mind wasn't on birthday presents or parties. Missy watched Evy at the kitchen table, her pencil moving back and forth on the paper, but she wasn't making any real progress. Missy pulled out the chair next to Evy and gently laid a hand on top of Evy's.

"Talk to me. What's wrong?"

Evy stopped writing and looked at Missy, frowning. "Sammy said he'd come help me with my book report tonight."
"Since when do you need help with a book report?" Missy asked.

"I don't." Evy admitted.

"So why did you ask him to come help you?"
"'Cause I haven't seen him in two weeks!" Evy said. "Every time I ask him to come over or I call him, he's with Jess."

She's jealous, Missy thought. "Oh, Kitten, I'm sorry. I know you miss Sammy. But you know he still loves you, right?"

"I know." Evy said, though she didn't sound very convincing.

"Hey." Missy squeezed Evy's hand, making her look up at her mom instead of towards the wall. "Have you talked to Sam about this?"

"No." Evy admitted. "I can't get him alone to talk to him, and I don't want to hurt Jess's feelings."
"You like Jess, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I just want a little time with Sammy." Evy said. "I miss him."

Missy sighed. She knew Sam would never hurt Evy on purpose, and she understood it was hard for him to make time for school, time for Jess, and time for Evy too. She decided to try and distract Evy, making a mental note to talk to Sam when and if he came over that night.

"Did you invite anyone to your birthday party this weekend?"

Evy frowned and looked away again. "No."

"What? Why not?" Missy asked, surprised. Evy had two best friends from her school, and knew she was popular among her classmates. "You do want a birthday party, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I see my friends all the time. I want to celebrate my birthday with you and Daddy and Deanie and Sammy." Evy explained.

"Oh, Kitten, that's so sweet." Missy said. "But I don't know if your Daddy and Deanie will be back by then. That's only two days away."
"Can we celebrate when they come back if they can't be here this weekend?" Evy asked. "I really want them to be there."

"We can do that." Missy promised. "Are you almost done with your homework?"
"Almost. I only have a few more math problems left." Evy explained.

"Okay. Finish that up and we'll watch a movie or something after you get your PJs on."

"'Kay. Thanks, mommy." Evy said.

"You're welcome, Kitten." Missy said, standing up and kissing the top of her head. "Love you."

"Love you more, mommy kitty."

The phone rang, and Missy got up to answer it with a smile. She made a note to talk to John that night about coming home by Saturday. The phone was in the hallway, just out of Evy's range of hearing.

"Hello?"

"Hi, mom." Sam said. "Can Cricket talk?"

"She's doing her homework right now. Are you coming over or not? I actually need to talk to you about something." Missy said.

"Is everything okay?" Sam asked. "Jess and I have an exam tomorrow, so we were gonna study…"
"Sam, I need you to come over tonight. Just for a few minutes, okay?" Missy repeated. "And make sure you come alone."

"Okay, mom. I'll be there." Sam said. He recognized the tone in Missy's voice and knew better than to refuse.

"Alright. See you soon."

Missy hung up and waited somewhat patiently on Sam. Evy was in her shower when he showed up, which Missy was grateful for. She sat down next to Sam on the couch and decided to try the direct approach.

"Listen. I know you really love Jess. I'm happy for you. I really am. She's a great girl, she really is."

"But…" Sam said, clearly dreading whatever was coming next.

"But, you need to find a way to spend a little more time with Evy too."

"I do spend time with her." Sam said.

"Sam, do you realize you haven't been here in almost two weeks?" Missy asked.
"What?" Sam asked. "I knew it had been a few days…"

"She didn't need help with her book report, Sam. She just wanted to see you."
"Oh, man." Sam said, overcome with guilt.

"Sam, I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I'm really not. But she's feeling kind of jealous about Jess. She's used to having you to herself. Talk to her tonight, okay? Let her know you still love her, no matter how you feel about Jess." Missy explained.

The shower stopped and Sam nodded. "I will, mom."

A few minutes later, Sam was nearly knocked backward into the couch by a flying Evy, who sailed into his lap at the speed of light. "Sammy!"

"Hey, Cricket. How are you?"

"I'm glad you came." Evy said, still holding onto Sam's neck.

"Yeah, about that." Sam said, pulling Evy away from him a little. "I talked to mom."

"Oh. Yeah." Evy said, nervously taking her fingers and twirling a little of her hair.

"Cricket, I'm sorry. I know I've been spending a lot of time with Jess. I just didn't realize how much until now." Sam said.

"I know you're happy with her." Evy said. "And I like Jess. I just miss you."
"Did you really need help with your book report?" Sam asked.

Evy shook her head. "No. I'm sorry. I just wanted to see you."

"It's okay." Sam said. "Have you written your book report?"

"Yeah. Mommy already looked at it." Evy said. "I turn it in tomorrow."

"What'd you write it on?"

Evy brought her book report out to Sam. They discussed the book and her report, and Sam stayed until it was time for her to go to bed. He helped her repack her things for school, then tucked her in. Before turning out her light, Sam sat on the edge of her bed and pulled her blankets up to her neck.
"You warm?" he asked. Evy nodded and yawned. "Good. You feel any better?"
Yawning again, Evy answered, "Yeah."

"Cricket, listen. I want you to think about something. You love me, right?"

"Of course I do." Evy said.

"And you love mom? And dad? And Dean?" Sam asked.

"Yeah…"

"Do you love me any less because you love Dean? Or dad any less because you love mom?" Sam asked.

"No. I love all of you a lot." Evy said.

"Just because there's someone else in my life, Cricket, doesn't mean I love you any less. It just means I love Jess too. There's no limit to how much we can love. If someone else comes in our lives, it just means we love them too. Does that make sense?" Sam asked.

"I think so." Evy said.

"Would it help if you, me, and Jess spent some time together?" Sam asked.

"You think she'd want to?" Evy asked. Jess had eaten dinner at their house a few times, but she'd never spent time with Jess outside of the house. "She seems like she'd be fun."
"She is a lot of fun." Sam said with a grin. "I'll talk to her about it when I see her tonight. Okay?"
"Okay, Sammy." Evy said. "Will you ask her about coming to my birthday party?"

Sam got an idea. "How about this? Jess and I aren't planning to do anything Saturday. If Dad and Dean are home, I'll bring her to the party with me. But if they don't, I'll come pick you up and the three of us'll spend the whole day today together. Whatever you want to do, we'll do it."

"You promise?" Evy asked.

"Promise."

"Deal!" Evy said enthusiastically.

When Evy yawned for the third time in five minutes, Sam turned her lamp off. "Bedtime." He said. "Good night, Cricket. I love you."

"I love you too, Sammy." Evy said. "Will you sing to me?"
"Sure. Lay down and close your eyes." Sam said. Evy turned over, her back to Sam, and Sam lifted her shirt and started to scratch her back. "Don't you feel it growing, day by day, people getting ready for the news…"

Five minutes later, Evy was fast asleep, and Sam left her room to go back to his dorm. He said a quick goodnight to Missy and told her his plan for Saturday. Missy thought it was a great idea and encouraged Sam to bring Jess over more often. Thursday and Friday passed, and Evy seemed to be in much better spirits.

But when Saturday morning came, Missy's heart dropped. Evy woke up at eight in the morning, ate her breakfast, got dressed, then parked herself on the couch and waited. And waited. And waited some more. She kept walking to the front door, looking out and down the street, but Sam didn't come. Missy tried three different times to call, but Sam didn't pick up. She couldn't walk to Sam's campus and drag him back like she wanted without Evy knowing what she was doing, so she watched helplessly as Evy got more and more disappointed. When two o'clock came with no word from Sam or John, Missy finally asked,

"Why don't you and I just go to a movie or something?"

"No thanks." Evy said.

"What about the new museum in town?" Missy suggested. "I know you wanted to go check it out."
Evy shook her head. "No. I don't want to do anything."

Unsure what else to suggest, Missy was about to give up, when she heard a sound that made her heart leap. The sound of the Impala's engine, pulling into the driveway, followed by John's truck and Bobby's car. Evy immediately forgot how depressed she was and jumped up from the couch. She ran outside and jumped into John's waiting arms, who picked her up and swung her around. Missy had warned him when he called four hours earlier that she was upset, and he had taken her warning seriously. There were balloons in the car, a strawberry birthday cake, and several small gifts that Evy received as if they were pots of gold. After cake, ice cream, and presents, the family was in the living room watching a movie. John sat on one end of the couch, Missy next to him, and Dean on the far end. Evy sat in front of John, on the floor leaning against the back of the couch, as John brushed her hair for her. When the front door opened, Evy's smile immediately dropped. It was nearly seven pm, ten hours after Sam was supposed to come and pick her up. He looked regretful, and in his hand was another meticulously wrapped gift.
"Cricket…" Sam started to apologize but was cut off when Evy jumped up and ran out of the room. When they heard her bedroom door shut, Sam turned to his parents. "How upset is she?"

"Sam, she sat on this couch and waited for you for hours this morning." Missy said.

Sam squirmed; he wasn't used to this much anger from the usually patient Missy.

"If your dad hadn't come home, she probably still would be. What were you thinking, Sam?"

"I'm sorry. I lost track of time…"
"Doing what?" John asked.

Sam shifted his feet. He really didn't want to answer that question.

"It doesn't matter what he was doing." Missy said. She pointed in the direction of Evy's room. "Go talk to her. Now."

"Yes, ma'am." Sam said.

He placed the gift on the couch and walked towards Evy's room. He knocked on the door and waited, but when Evy didn't answer, he opened the door a few inches to find Evy lying down on her bed, holding her stuffed cat Squish to her chest and scratching the ears of a worried Sugar. Sugar kept licking her hand, but instead of making Evy laugh as it usually did, she continued to cry silently.

"Can I come in?" Sam asked.

"No." Evy said, her voice breaking and making Sam's heart crack.

"Please?"
Evy sniffed and wiped her face. "Fine."

Sam walked in and cautiously approached Evy's bed. "Cricket, I'm sorry."

Evy turned and accused Sam. "You forgot about me!"

"No, Cricket. I could never forget about you." Sam said. "I just lost track of time today. I swear I meant to be here earlier."
"Were you with Jess?"

"Yes." Sam admitted.

"Did she tell you not to come?"
"No." Sam said. "In fact, when I realized I had forgotten to come get you this morning, she was ready to kick my butt from here back to South Dakota."

"Really?" Evy asked. "You got in trouble with her over me?"
"Yeah." Sam said with a smile. "She made me promise to bring you over tomorrow so she could spend time with you."

Evy smiled. "I like her." She said, wiping away a stray tear.

Sam smiled, but he still felt terrible. "I'm sorry."

Evy nodded. "It's okay."
"No, it's not." Sam said. "I promised you I'd spend time with you today and I didn't. But from now on, I'll come get you on either Friday night or Saturday and spend at least one night a week with you, minimum. Deal?"
"Deal." Evy said.

"You want to open your present?" Sam asked. "It's from Jess too."

"In a minute." Evy said. She reached an arm around Sam's neck. "I love you, Sammy."
"Love you too, Cricket." Sam said. "Happy birthday, my big girl. Happy birthday."