A/N: A still hurt and angry Evy confronts her father, mother, and brothers.
"Was it good, uncle Bobby?"
"That was the best dinner I've had in a long time, Baitfish." Bobby said sincerely. He was so used to canned and frozen dinners that Evy's homemade fish and French fries had seemed like a feast. "Where'd you learn to cook like that?"
"I had to. Mommy started complaining about us having sandwiches every night…" Evy said, then stopped, looking down to the floor.
Bobby frowned. It was the first time she'd said anything about either of her parents in a couple of days. Bobby wouldn't let her do the dishes, instead making her sit at the table and talk about anything and everything while he did them. By the time the dishes were done, he could tell Evy had something on her mind, and he could guess what it was.
"What's going on in that head of yours, Baitfish?"
Evy sighed and asked him, "Are you sure they want me back?"
"Yes." Bobby promised her. "I talked to them last night. I told them everything you said. They're really sorry for everything, and they want to make it up to you. All you got to do is listen and talk to them."
"I still feel…" Evy said, trying to figure it out as she talked.
"Feel what?" Bobby asked.
"Bad." Evy said. "Like I can't trust them until they prove to me I can."
"Then tell them that." Bobby said. "You don't have to forgive them yet. They treated you like crap."
"But that's half the reason I'm here with you in the first place!" Evy said. "Because Daddy got mad that I wouldn't forgive him."
Bobby grabbed a chair and placed it in front of her. "I already talked to your daddy about the way he treated you before. I swear to you, he's gonna listen now. If he doesn't, I'll kick his ass for you until he's inside out and upside down."
Evy giggled at Bobby's vivid imagery.
"Baitfish, the thing about your daddy is this. When he's hurt, or scared, or upset, he doesn't know how to talk about it. He yells and snaps because he doesn't know how to deal with it." Bobby said. "Does that make sense?"
"So, when he's mean it's because he feels bad too?" Evy asked, honestly perplexed.
"Yeah." Bobby explained. "I know he's an idjit when it comes to showing you, but he does love you, Baitfish. And your mom does too. With her, you gotta remember this. She lost one husband and kid before. So when your daddy went missing, and your brothers followed him, think about how scared she must have felt."
"I never thought about that." Evy said.
"Just talk to them, Baitfish. Nothing'll get better 'til you start talking." Bobby assured her.
"I'm scared, uncle Bobby." Evy said quietly.
"I'll be right there." Bobby said. "I promise, as long as you want me there, I'll be right there with you."
As if they'd overheard Bobby and Evy's conversation, there was a knock then at the front door. A nervous Evy bit her bottom lip and looked to the floor. Bobby grabbed her arm and asked,
"Do you want to answer it?"
With no hesitation, Evy shook her head. "No."
"Okay. Come on." Bobby said.
Bobby led her into the living room, where Evy took a seat on the arm of the couch. Her family filed in slowly, first Sam, who held a bag on one shoulder, then Dean, who had a box in his hand, followed by Missy and John. Everyone stood awkwardly for a moment, saying nothing, until Missy finally broke the silence.
"Hi, Kitten."
Evy surprised everyone when she jumped off the arm of the couch and ran to her mother for the first real hug they'd shared in two years. John hoped Evy would move on to him, Sam, and Dean, but she let her mom go and walked back towards the couch. Bobby took a seat at his desk, and Evy, at the last minute, decided to walk over and sit with him. Evy turned and leaned against Bobby, who wrapped both arms around her and pulled her closer to him. The close contact seemed to give her strength.
"What are you guys doing here?" Evy asked with tears in her eyes.
John started to say something in response, until he realized that Evy's tone wasn't confrontational; it held no anger, only hurt, pain, and profound sadness.
"You said I couldn't come home until I started summer school." Evy said, wiping her eyes. "So why are you here?"
John smiled a little. "Bobby didn't exactly give us much choice. He told us you were hurt…"
"So uncle Bobby had to call you and trick you into coming?" Evy asked, and that anger that John hadn't heard before was definitely starting to seep out. "You didn't come because you wanted to see me?"
"Little one…" John started to say, before Evy stopped him cold.
"Sorry, I forgot. You have a reason for doing everything you do, so that means you're always right. That means it stops hurting just because you say you're sorry."
John stuttered, not sure how to respond.
"I begged mommy not to make you leave every time you scared me, or were mean to me, or made me feel bad about myself. I loved you more than I was ever mad at you. And I thought you loved me just as much. But the first time I actually get mad at you, you ship me away for it."
Shame coursed through John like poison. "You're right, little one. I'm sorry."
"All of you left me. All of you did. You didn't even pay attention enough to know that my only friend through this whole thing died." Evy said bitterly. "Then after I got here, not one of you called to check on me. Do I really mean that little to all of you? That you won't even check to make sure I'm safe?"
"Kitten, please listen to me." Missy said. "We did check to make sure you were safe. We put something in your bag to make sure you got here okay. We thought you'd still be mad at us, so we decided to let you be the one to decide when you were ready to talk to us."
"None of you even really tried to talk to me. You said you were sorry once and just expected everything to be okay. All of you left me alone and you don't care." Evy fumed.
"Cricket, that's not true. We do care." Sam said. When Evy shook her head and turned away, Sam begged her, "Please come here, Cricket. I want to show you something."
Evy looked at Bobby, who whispered to her 'It's up to you', and Evy cautiously walked over towards Sam. He took out his bag and opened it up, and Evy sat down on the coffee table in front of him. Sam pulled out a handful of spiral notebooks from the bag, handing them to Evy one at a time.
"What's this?"
"Open them up. They're written to you." Sam said.
Evy opened the first notebook and her mouth dropped open.
"Cricket, the whole time we were gone, we all missed you every single day. And when we did miss you and we couldn't call, because we were in the middle of a hunt or whatever, we'd write to you in a notebook. It started off as one and turned into six." Sam explained, then stopped when he noticed Evy was crying again. "Cricket, what's wrong?"
"You guys never told me that." Evy said sadly.
"Told you what, kiddo?" Dean asked. "About the notebooks?"
"That you missed me."
"Little one, what are you talking about?" John asked. "Of course we told you we missed you…"
"No, you didn't." Evy argued. "You said you were sorry and that you had to leave but you didn't tell me you missed me 'til just now."
"Oh, kiddo." Dean said. How the hell could we have been so stupid? "We missed you so much. We thought about you all the time. And I promise, hunting's over. We're all focused on being home now."
"Little one, I'm sorry too. It's hard for me to remember sometimes that I need to tell you things like that. But if you'll give me another chance, I swear I'll work on it."
Evy looked down at the notebooks in her hand. Her mind was starting to turn. She was still upset, but she realized now they'd just gotten caught up in what they were doing. But she'd always imagined them focused on capturing the demon without giving her so much as a thought. The books were clearly evidence that they did love her, that they still wanted her, and that they did want everything to change. Evy looked up at her father, who she knew was the real reason she was at Bobby's now instead of home with them.
"Please don't leave me here." She begged. "Please let me come home. I'm sorry for everything, just please don't leave me again…"
"Kitten, come here." Missy said. She held an arm out and was grateful when Evy walked over and cautiously sat in her lap. "I can't say it enough. We are sorry. You're right. All of us did leave you, including me. I can't imagine how lonely we made you feel, and I'll never forgive myself for not taking care of you." Evy wiped her eyes and Missy asked, "Can I hold you?"
Evy nodded, "Yes, please."
Missy sat back and pulled Evy further into her lap. She could never explain how grateful she was that Evy still fit there. It used to worry her that Evy was small for her age, but for the first time, there was an advantage to it.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for. It's my fault for pushing you into that position. But that's over. You don't have to take care of me anymore. It's time for you to go back to being a kid." Missy explained. "I'm sorry, Kitten, I'm so, so sorry."
"So can I come home?" Evy asked anxiously.
"No." Missy answered and felt Evy tense up. "But only because we're not going back either."
"What?"
"Your daddy and I talked a lot last night." Missy said. "He found a job here at the garage in town. We're gonna stay here for a while. That is, if your uncle Bobby will have us…"
"I think I can make some room." Bobby said with a grin."
"And it's time for you to make one more decision." Missy said. "The news has gotten around in Palo Alto about what you did at school."
"I'm sorry…"
"Shh. Just listen. Your principal is still willing to let you come back to school. But we were thinking about moving back here. Staying with your uncle Bobby until we find a place of our own. What do you think?" Missy asked.
"You're letting me choose?" Evy asked.
"Yes." Missy said. "You can think about it for a while if you want…"
"I want to stay here." Evy said with no hesitation.
"Okay. There's just one thing." Missy said. "You might have to redo your ninth-grade year. We can go talk to the local high school next week if you want, but I was thinking we use the five months until school starts next fall and spend some time together."
"What about Sammy?" Evy asked. "Aren't you going back to Stanford?"
"I have to go back in the fall and finish my last semester. But I'll be back here as much as I can. I'll graduate in December, come back and apply to law school here." Sam explained. "But until September, I'm all yours."
"Don't we have to go back and pack up the house?" Evy asked.
"You let me and Daddy worry about that." Missy said. "When we do go back to deal with the house, we'll take you if you want to go. But you let me and Daddy handle it."
"Kiddo, we've got something else for you too." Dean said. He opened the bag he had brought in with him and started handing Evy some wrapped presents. "What's all this?"
"The birthdays and Christmases that we missed." Dean said.
"Guys, I just wanted you back. You don't have to…"
"Little one, we bought these while we were gone." John explained. "Your mom wrapped them last night, but we got them on the road."
"We were always thinking about you, kiddo." Dean said. "We're just sorry we didn't let you know."
John took Evy's hand and squeezed. "Hunting's over. If you give me a chance, all I want to be now is your daddy."
"And me your mom, and Sam and Dean your brothers." Missy said.
Evy jumped out of Missy's lap and into John's. "I love you, Daddy. Please stay with us, please don't leave again."
"Never again." John swore. "Never again."
"What about what happened at school?" Evy asked. "Am I still in trouble for that?"
"No. Clean slate for you. And if you agree, clean slate for all of us."
"Deal." Evy said, arms still around John's neck. After close to a minute of just holding on to John, Evy grinned. "Daddy?"
"Yes?"
She tried to sound like she was complaining, but she couldn't pull it off. Laughing, she said, "You're squishing me!" The rest of the room laughed, finally breaking the thick tension in the room. "Seriously, though. Let me go, please. I want my presents."
John laughed and kissed her cheek. "I love you."
"Love you too, Daddy."
With a quick hug to Sam, Dean, and Missy, Evy turned to the coffee table and starting ripping up the presents. After the presents were open, paper littering Bobby's living room floor, Evy was on Bobby's couch, nestled between her parents. Sam and Dean had kissed and hugged her goodnight earlier, and Evy slept with her head on John's lap and her feet in Missy's.
"You two should go to bed." Bobby said quietly. "It's been a long day."
"Yeah, it has. But it's been a good one." John said.
"We're okay, Bobby. Let her sleep." Missy said. "Good night."
Bobby brought over a blanket, wrapped it on top of Evy, then told them both seriously, "You two got another chance here. Don't screw it up."
"We won't." Missy said. "We promise." Bobby left, and Missy turned to John. "Do you want to put her to bed?"
"No. We'll sleep right here. Good night."
"Night." Missy said, then turned to Evy. "Good night, Kitten. Mommy loves you."
"Daddy does too." John said. "Sleep well, little one. Daddy's right here for you."
A/N: This is NOT the end! There's one more chapter coming. Be patient with me, please-I'm in the last week and a half of school. I have two papers due in the next ten days, so it might be a while, but I promise I'll be back. I have other Evy stories planned, so there is more coming this summer. As always, stay tuned!