A/N: In this chapter, John, Sam, and Dean have been gone for months hunting Azazel. They've finally beaten him, but have come home to find that their victory may not mean as much as they thought.

The Winchester family was in shambles.

At least that's the way it felt to fourteen-year-old Evy. For six weeks after John had forced her haircut and hurt Sugar, Evy had thought he actually was turning around. He stayed home for over a month, which was unheard of. He'd given up two hunts to do that, and Evy foolishly thought that she and Missy finally took priority over hunting. He finally, with Evy and Missy's blessing, took of on a hunt, promising to call every single day without fail.

Then everything went to hell.

John stopped calling. For a few nights, Missy and Evy didn't think anything about it. Dean called every night, claiming that John was just in the thick of the hunt, and would be home really soon. Then, everything came to a screeching halt. Dean came home, frantic but pretending that he wasn't, looking for John. After realizing that Dean didn't know where John was, Missy was angrier than Evy had ever seen her. She ordered Dean back out on the road, trying to find him. Dean tried to find him for weeks, but when he had no luck, he asked Sam for help.

And things went from bad to worse.

Sam left with Dean, and after he came back, Jess had died in a housefire. After burying her, Sam left. It had always been hard with Dean and John constantly on the road, but Sam leaving had devastated Evy. He'd always been her confidante, her friend, her place she could turn when for whatever reason she didn't want to go to her mother. With him gone, Evy believed that all she had was her mother.

Except she didn't. Missy was frantic for close to a week, calling John once every two hours like clockwork. After a week, her frantic emotion turned to depression, and that had been exactly where she'd stayed. Missy got into a rut of getting up, going to work, coming home, then lying in bed until she went to sleep. Evy tried for weeks to get her to talk, but Missy just withdrew into herself. Things got even worse after nine months, when Missy lost her job. From that point forward, every time Evy looked, Missy was either asleep or in bed crying.

Now, Evy was in her own rut. She got up every morning, went to school, then came home. She did her homework, made her own dinner, did any household chores that needed to be done, then said good night to her mother. But rather than going to bed, Evy would spend hours every night working. She would go to bed, on a good night, between one and two in the morning.

It had been a year and a half since John had left, sixteen months since Jess had died, and fifteen months since Sam and Dean had left to follow him. Evy found it easier to pretend she didn't care that they were all gone. On the rare occasions Sam or Dean called, she would give them short, clipped answers, then hang up and go to bed. But it was on those nights that she realized she did care, and them being gone hurt. Really hurt. It was those nights that Evy cried herself to sleep, all the while listening to her mother crying in the next room.

But this day was different. Evy walked in from school, dreading the week she had coming. All of those thoughts were driven from her head when she saw something that almost brought a smile to her face. The Impala and John's truck were parked in the driveway. By the time Evy got to the house, she remembered the anger, the hurt, and the feelings of abandonment she'd been struggling through all on her own for months, and the smile that she almost let through died on her face. Evy walked into the front door, placed her backpack next to the door, and took off her shoes. When she turned around, the living room was fuller than it had been in months. Missy was out of bed and sitting on the couch, with her arms around John's waist. Evy was almost thrilled that her mother was finally happy. Almost. Sam was the first to get up, followed closely by Dean.

"Hey, Cricket."

"Hey, kiddo. How's it going?"

"Hi, guys." Evy said flatly.

John stood and took a look at Evy. For the first time in Evy's recent memory, Evy saw he was at peace. He killed the demon. Good for him, Evy thought. And for the first time ever, Evy stared John down. He no longer intimidated her as he used to, and she no longer cared about whether or not he wanted to see her. After an awkward few seconds of complete silence, John said,

"Hi, little one."

"Hi, Daddy." Evy said.

"It's good to see you." John said with a genuine smile.

Evy scoffed. "I'm sure it is."

Taken aback by her tone, John asked, "Look, I know you're angry with me…"
"That's one word for it." Evy said, touches of anger finally seeping into her voice.

"Watch your tone with me, little…"

"No." Evy said. "No, I'm not gonna watch my tone with you. And I won't watch it with you or you." Evy said, pointing to Sam and Dean in turn.

"Cricket, please just listen to us." Sam said. "Look, we did it. We killed the demon. It's over."

"Nothing's over, Sam." Evy seethed. Sam flinched; Evy only called him Sam when she was irritated with him. "You three can't just disappear for close to two years, show up when you're done, and expect everything to be okay."

"Kitten, come on. I know you're upset, but everyone's home now…" Missy said.

"Yeah. That's great for them." Evy said, snatching up her backpack and angrily throwing it over her shoulders.

"Evelyn!" John barked, though he noted with distinct displeasure that she didn't jump. "Stop it with this selfish tantrum right now…"

Evelyn Winchester was a soft, gentlehearted person. She was slow to anger and quick to forgiveness. She believed everyone deserved a second chance. But she was tired, angry, scared, and hurt. She had been abandoned by her entire family for months, done everything she could to keep the house together, and she was the one getting chewed out. Anger coursed through her like poison, and Evy took her backpack and flung it at the table near her. The lamp on the table shattered, and every person in the room jumped, including John. The family watched her, mouths agape, as Evy spoke in a low, dangerous voice. She was shaking with anger, her breaths coming in pants, hands balled in fists at her side.

"I'm selfish? I'm the one who's been here every night listening to my mother crying for you! I'm the one who's kept the house running and made sure that she ate and halfway took care of herself while you were gone. I'm the one who sat here wondering if you were alive or dead almost every day and night, only to find out three months ago when Sam just happens to mention that he saw you that not only are you alive, but you three were working together. How could you talk to them but not me?" Evy asked, angry tears coursing down her face. "Not a phone call, not a five minute visit, nothing. Do you have any idea how bad that hurt?"

"I…I'm sorry…I thought it was too dangerous…"

"You thought it was too dangerous." Evy said, wiping her face. "So, all times mommy called you, you couldn't take thirty seconds to tell us that it was too dangerous to talk? Instead it's okay to leave your wife and your kid alone with no word at all?"

"I didn't say it was okay…" John tried.

"I'm done." Evy said in a way that ended the discussion on all fronts. "You finally did it. I needed you. And for the millionth time, you weren't here. Not only were you not here, but neither were any of you." Evy turned the focus on the rest of her family. "I needed all of you, and you weren't here. And I'm not just gonna move past it this time."

"Kitten, please, I know you're angry with your father, but this is a good chance for us to start over…"
"No. It's not just them. I'm mad at you too." Evy said.

"Me? But I was here the whole time, why are you mad at me?" Missy asked.

"You were in bed the whole time." Evy spat. "You didn't even…" Evy stopped, not wanting to relive the bad memory.

"Didn't what, Kitten?" Missy asked.

"Do you know where Sugar is?" Evy asked.

Missy looked around, and it dawned on her she hadn't seen Sugar in a long time. "I don't know. Where is he?"

"Unbelievable." Evy said. She ran a hand through her hair and exhaled hard when she felt her heart sting. "Sugar's been dead for months."

"What?" Missy asked. "How could you not tell me Sugar was dead? What happened?"

"I tried to tell you Sugar was dead. I came into your room crying and begging you to help me bury him. He got hit by a car. You know what you said? Nothing. Because you were asleep, and when I woke you up you told me to leave you alone." Evy said. "So I did. And I took Sugar in the backyard and I buried him. All by myself. Just like I've done for months."

Evy picked up her backpack from the floor and turned to face everyone. "I'm going to my room to do my homework. After that, I'm going to sleep. Because I've done all the chores in this house every single night, and I'm exhausted. So when you guys are ready to be my family again, let me know." With that, Evy went to her room, leaving the rest of her family standing there, their hunting victory suddenly seeming empty and shallow.

Next chapter: Everyone tries to make up with Evy, but when they discover what she's been doing while they were gone, the relationships between everyone cracks even further.