Disclaimer: Unfortunately, the characters of Supernatural do not belong to me. The original character Evelyn Winchester does.

A/N: So, I've read a lot of Winchester sister fanfiction. Some of them were quite good, most were okay. I like the idea, so I decided to take a stab at it. But this story is a bit different. I've noticed that in most Winchester sister stories, the sister is closest to Dean. Being a hardcore Sam girl, I decided to change that. My character Evelyn loves Dean, she's just closer to Sam. Evelyn is also more involved in hunting than most of the little Winchester sisters are. As far as John goes, in the first few chapters of this story, John can come across as an insensitive jerk when it comes to how he treats Evy. Not abusive, just kind of clueless that Evy is a little girl and needs a bit more care and attention than he gives her. He sorta, kinda redeems himself right before his death. But I'll leave it there. Don't want to give too much away.

This story pretty much follows the storyline of Supernatural. Some minor details from the episodes are changed, but the basic story is the same. For example, in one episode, I can't recall the exact one, Sam said that he and Jess were together for a year and a half. In this story, they're together for more than three years when Jess dies. Nothing I changed dramatically alters the story in any way.

Finally, I wanted to proofread this story more carefully before posting it, but I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow and wanted to have it up before then. I did do a quick read through for spelling and grammar mistakes, but if I missed any glaring mistakes, please feel free to let me know. I hope you guys enjoy reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter One

Sam packed his third and last pair of jeans into the duffel bag, moving on then to his sparse possessions. Packing had become second nature to Sam, so he was able to think as he filled the bag. The whole house was ghastly quiet. Everyone had barely spoken two words to each other since the fight two days earlier. Sam ran his father's words in his mind over and over again. If you leave, Sam, do not come back. Sam could hear his father and Dean in the kitchen, discussing in low tones their next hunt. Sam felt a strange longing to go in there with them and help them with planning, but a soft knock at the door broke Sam of his thoughts. Sam jumped, then smiled and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was just his little sister.

"Hey, Cricket. Come on in."

Eight year old Evy was dressed in pink coveralls, a white tshirt, and light blue sneakers. She was clutching in her hands her stuffed cat, Squish, which Sam had given her the day she'd been born. Squish was old and battered and missing an eye, but Evy loved him. She held him as she slept, as she played, as she traveled with the family. She was holding him close to her now as she walked in and climbed up the edge of Sam's bed. She didn't say anything, just watched Sam as he packed. Sam kept one eye on what he was doing and one eye on Evy.

She was deeply depressed, that much was evident. Her normally cheerful disposition was gone, and she looked scared and lonely. She had been crying, probably alone in her room to avoid reigniting the feud between her father and brothers. Sam felt his heart start to ache. From the day of her birth, Evy had been attached to Sam at the hip. Her quiet, shy nature was at odds with the eldest two members of the family. Though Sam felt certain that John and Dean loved Evy, they seemed oblivious to the fact that Evy was a sensitive little girl who needed constant reassurance. Throughout her whole life, Sam had been the one she came to when she was scared, hurt, upset, or just in need of a little attention. Evy was the only one in the house Sam felt completely guilty about leaving. John had basically driven him away. Sam loved Dean, and didn't want to hurt him, but Dean didn't really understand his need for a different life. If it came down to it, Dean would side with Dad. Unable to stand the silence any longer, Sam stopped packing and bent down to Evy's eye level. He grabbed her chin gently and made her look at him.

"Talk to me." Sam said. Though it was phrased like a command, Sam's voice was soft and gentle.

A clearly brokenhearted Evy responded in almost a whisper, "Do you have to leave?"

Evy's voice hit Sam like a truck. She was terrified. The tears started to fall again, and Sam tried to wipe them away from her face as he talked.

"Oh, Cricket. We talked about this. I have to go." Sam told her.

Evy started crying again, harder, and she reached out and wrapped her arms around Sam's neck. Sam picked her up and put her in his lap, sitting on the edge of the bed with her. He rocked her, shushing her and rubbing her back to calm her, much as he had done when she was an infant. Though Evy calmed down a little, she was still on edge and highly upset. Sam wiped her face again, brushing tears away with the back of his thumb. When she had finally stopped crying completely, Sam asked her,

"Hey, do you know how much I love you?"

For the first time in two days, Evy smiled. She nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah? How much?" Sam asked her, smiling.

"To the moon and back."

Evy's small and innocent answer made Sam laugh. Sam had told her that multiple times a day, every day, since she was old enough to recognize him and this was the first time she had ever answered him.

"That's right, kiddo. To the moon and back." Sam brushed back a stray hair on her head. "And I promise, I'll call while I'm on the road and the second I'm settled in at Stanford. I'll try and write you too. And you can call me every night if you want. This changes nothing, Cricket. I'm still your brother and I still love you more than anything else in the whole world. Okay?"

Evy said nothing, just grabbed Sam's jacket and buried herself deeper into it. Sam sighed and looked at the clock on the wall. He realized that if he sat here much longer, holding a crying Evy, he might never be able to leave. Sam picked her up and put her back down gently, then picked up his bags and headed for the front door. Evy was following behind him, dragging Squish with her. When they reached the kitchen Sam put his bags down, and shared a short, brief goodbye with John and Dean.

"Bye, guys."

John said nothing, and Dean just waved briefly at him. Sam turned back to Evy, who was waiting underneath him holding onto his leg. Sam picked her up again and told her sincerely,

"I love you, Cricket."

Evy then asked Sam a question that made his heart stop for a moment. "Will I ever see you again?"

Though this thought had not occurred to Sam, he realized that with John's iron fist on the family, and Dean's own attitude towards him at the moment, there was a real possibility that he might not be able to. Sam gave John an imploring look. Though John didn't look up, he seemed to sense what Sam wanted to say. John shocked everyone with what he said next.

"You'll see him again, little one. I promise."

Sam felt Evy relax in his arms. She started wiggling to get down, so Sam set her back on the floor. With a quick "Wait here, Sammy", she turned and ran back down the hall. Sam turned to John, grateful at his father's unexpected show of generosity.

"Thank you, dad."

John never looked up from what he was working on. "I'm not going to punish her for something that's entirely your doing, Sam."

Sam's heart dropped. He knew it was too good to be true. "So that was just to get her to stop crying for the moment. You're gonna keep her from me."

John finally looked up from the table. "That's entirely up to you, Sam. You want to see her, you're gonna have to make the effort."

Before Sam could respond, Evy came running back into the room. She handed Sam a folded piece of paper, which he opened and examined. It was a crayon drawing with two stick figures, a larger one and a smaller one. The larger one was labeled 'Sammy' and the little one was labeled 'Evy'. At the bottom was a message of 'Love you Sammy'. Sam fought back tears of his own now. He had never been apart from Evy longer than a day. How was he going to do this? Would she be okay? Smiling to hide his worry, Sam told her,

"It's beautiful. Just like you." And with that, Sam got his first genuine smile from her in day. He decided to end on a high note. "Give me the absolute biggest hug you can."

Evy happily obliged, grabbing Sam's middle and squeezing as hard as she could.

"You're gonna miss your bus, Sammy."

Sam fought the urge to tell John to go screw himself, not wanting to mess up the opportunity to see Evy that John had given him. Evy let him go, and Sam bent down to kiss her forehead one more time.

"I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

Evy nodded and smiled. She gave him a whispered "Okay, Sammy", and Sam finally started walking towards the front door. He was doing it. He was really leaving; leaving behind everything, everything about the life he hated, including the person he loved the most.

"Sammy?"

Damn it, Sammy thought. He'd been so close. Hoping that she wasn't crying again, because he doubted that he'd be able to leave if she was, Sam turned back around.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

Evy gave him a sweet smile. "I love you, too."

Relieved, Sam smiled, blew her a kiss, and walked out the front door.