A/N: I still don't own them, but man that gun case of John Winchester's was wickedly cool. (No spoilers, just admiring hardware.)
A/N 2: Um, well I guess poor Sam's been languishing in the bear's care for more than the seven days; good thing time is relative in fanfic :) Thanks again to Beautiful Ally, Kaewi, Nate and Jake, Ghostwriter, pmsdevil01, pizzapixie, Maygin and rozzy07 for your reviews and to everyone else who is reading :)
Dean had trekked back to the welcome center to the park after the older man and used the restroom to clean up. No wonder the official had been worried-he was pale and had streaks of blood adorning his head. Feeling slightly more human he got some coffee from the machine in the lobby-it was atrocious but it was caffeine. There was also a machine dispensing packets of necessary little items-he got several packs of pain killers and some candy bars for fuel. Popping two aspirins out from a packet he swallowed them down with the coffee and got another cup to go, adding as much sugar as the machine allowed. The park official was on the phone in a side office, turned away from him, and feeling only a twinge of conscience he exited as quietly as he could and made his way to the Impala. Sliding into the driver's seat he started his car and drove as sedately as he could manage onto the main road. He knew the man had meant well, but all the official searching in the previous weeks had turned up zilch as far as the missing hikers went-they were only found when whatever had taken them had decided to let them go.
Once safely away from the park he sped up, driving towards the museum. When he reached it he pulled into a spot under one of the bright street lights and reached across the seat to pick up the diary. He carefully flipped the pages until he got near the end, figuring if anything important happened it would be there. He read that the husband had gone to get supplies and had been in a fatal accident. Elizabeth and her mother and brothers had gone into the city for the burial and then returned to the cabin. Her mother was going to start packing up and they might go to live with relatives in the city.
"The ghost is the husband? Nah, doesn't fit." Dean muttered to himself. He swallowed some coffee and turned more pages, stopping at the next to last page with writing on it. He flipped past the entry, but the other pages were blank, and went back to the one that had caught his attention.
November 8
It was nice out so Josh and Petey and I decided to go for a walk while we still could. Mama was packing and said we are to go to live with her cousin soon. She has been so sad and I don't think she wants to live here anymore. I will miss it, and the fun times we had. But I guess it's not fun for her here without Papa.
We walked further than we had ever gone before and I know we are lost but Josh said he could find the way back. I am not so sure but I am so very tired and maybe the morrow will be nicer. The sky was so bright earlier but it turned dark with rain and has been raining ever since. We walked for hours and hours and I pleaded with my brother for rest. He finally relented and we have taken shelter by a strange-looking tree. Still, the rain is not so heavy underneath it although I am so cold. Petey said he would try to make a fire for warmth but he has not succeeded. I fear it will be a long cold night, but my habit of writing my thoughts before bed gives me a sense of home, though I can barely see what I write and I have to cover the pages with my body so they do not get wet. I will turn in now, but the ground is strangely sticky. I hope I will be able to wash my clothes of it. I am glad I have the bag Mama made for me for my diary as even under the strange tree it still rains upon us. Josh says it is time to sleep, so I will write again on the morrow. Good night, diary.
Dean blinked and sighed. He knew that the children had never woken up, that they had died in their sleep. He began to think out loud.
"Okay, so you and your brothers are in the museum, and you want to get home. I either torch you and set your spirits free, or take your bodies back to where you died and were buried. But why would you be kidnapping hikers if you're not even at the park? And where is Sam? And why is the bear attacking? And who was that spirit that went into the bear and what's its relation to you?"
As soon as the words left his mouth it hit him. The mother. It had to be. The father was buried in the city, the children had been moved from their resting place and then the disappearances had started. The mother must miss the children and was kidnapping hikers as substitutes. It made sense. He thought back to Sam's dream and then reached into the back seat for the journal. It might not be in there, but looking through it always jogged his memory-yes. Ghosts could sometimes possess the living that had gone through a similar trauma. The ghost had lost her children, and the bear had lost its cubs. Three dead kids, three dead cubs.
Dean scratched his head. He didn't think he'd ever heard of a ghost possessing an animal before, but there was a first time for everything. 'Okay' he thought. 'Now we're getting somewhere. I can't torch the kids, because the mother has Sam and the other two hikers and I don't know what will happen with them if I do. So I have to bring them back. Okay, let's hope the security sucks.'
Searing pain woke Sam and he blinked, taking in the dimness around him. The floor was hard and cold and he was leaning against a solid earthen wall. 'I must be back in the cave.' he thought. Then he recoiled as a large paw reached for him, patting something onto his hurt shoulder.
'Huh?' he thought, but the pain seemed to ease a little. Wondering, Sam looked up at the bear, and wise sad eyes looked back at him in the faint light. 'It's the ghost,' he realized.
He swallowed, feeling the dryness in his throat. His head was throbbing but at least the bleeding in his shoulder had stopped. Whatever herbs the possessed bear had put on him seemed to be helping, and Sam was reminded that in the times the ghost had lived in home remedies had been the first attempt at cures as a doctor might not be available.
He decided to see if it could understand him. "Hey," he croaked.
Clearing his throat with difficulty he tried again. "Uh, thanks for trying to help. Do you have any water?"
The bear cocked its head at him, its eyes studying him intently.
"Water." Sam repeated, curving his hand around an imaginary cup and lifting it to his mouth, pretending to drink.
The bear continued to look at him, then suddenly turned and lumbered away. Sam sighed. At least he'd tried. He didn't think he'd be able to get away again, and wondered where Dean was. Then the animal was back and Sam's eyes widened. It had understood! Clutched gently in the bear's jaws was a bottle of spring water that must have been left over from when it had taken the hikers.It came forward and dropped it beside him.
"Thank you." Sam whispered, and tried to make his movements slow and not threatening as he picked up the bottle and opened it, his thirst finally quenched as he drank half of it. He wondered if he should offer some to his captor and held out the bottle, but the bear merely observed him so he resealed it for later.
Sam tried to make himself a little more comfortable and winced as his skull protested movement. Deciding to ignore the pain, he started talking to the ghost, trying to distract himself.
"So you must be the woman I saw in my dream. Elizabeth's mother." he said, and was surprised when the bear growled at him.
Putting up his hands in an appeasing gesture he apologized.
"I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose someone important to you." His eyes took on a faraway look, and then his attention snapped back when the bear nuzzled his hand with its snout. He smiled.
"Sometime I get visions, and can see things that happen elsewhere. I saw what happened to you, and what happened to the bear's cubs. That's why you haven't made me lose my memory, isn't it? Because I can understand you."
The bear snuffled, and Sam risked gently patting it.
'Okay,' he thought. 'All I have to do is keep it distracted until Dean gets here. I hope he gets here soon. I hope he's okay. I wonder if I can set off a signal fire or something.' At the last thought Sam remembered the grieving mother setting herself ablaze. 'Scratch that. Have to find something else, or persuade her to let me leave.'
As he looked into the intelligent eyes he thought maybe he could reach her. After all, she hadn't harmed the hikers. If he didn't try to get away again maybe he wouldn't get killed either.
That's it for now, hope I haven't gone too far beyond the bounds of credibility. But possessed bear? Think I was already way past wacky :) Ah well, maybe this chapter at least advanced the plot a bit. I started this story with a nice opening but no idea where I was going-think I'll fix that in my next fic. Thanks for reading this far, and have a good day.