SUMMARY: A vengeful spirit's attack leaves Dean hypothermic and fighting for life, while a concussed Sam, lost and alone, battles to get back to his brother. Story takes place mid-to-late Season 2, but before the events of All Hell Breaks Loose.

DISCLAIMER: Nope. Don't own Supernatural. Still playing in Kripke's sandbox. The strike is over (happy dance) but I'll just keep playing in this corner until they kick me out.

A/N: Sorry for the delay gang, but this chapter just kept growing until it became this one and the next. Hope you enjoy.

To Heather: a wealth of information and a new friend: thank you for your medical and literary diagnoses.

BRIDGING TWO SOLITUDES

CHAPTER 15:

Agnes's scream echoed across the bridge as the locket slid between the weathered slats and disappeared from sight.

Thrown by Agnes halfway down the bridge, Dean landed heavily. Pain flared in his right side and he groaned loudly as he rolled onto his left, struggling to draw in a deep breath.. His vision swam, then snapped into focus as he saw the locket slip from sight just out of his reach.. Heart racing, he dragged himself forward to the spot where the necklace had plunged from view.

Sam's eyes darted between his brother and Agnes. The spirit seemed frozen in place, staring at Dean, horrified that her one chance to see her daughter again had just vanished beneath the bridge..

Dean lay on his side, still favouring his ribs as he squinted down between the planks. As Agnes's scream faded, so did all other sounds until Sam was aware only of his brother's harsh, shallow breathing.

Dean squinted down between the bridge planks. Daylight was fading and heavy shadows made it hard to see but……No. It couldn't be. Instinctively, he reached in his jacket pocket for the small flashlight he always carried on a hunt then groaned loudly at the pain the sudden movement caused. Biting his lip to push back this latest onslaught of pain, he clicked on the flashlight and shone the beam between the slats.

His harsh breathing silenced momentarily when gold glinted back at him. The gap between the old bridge timbers, warped and twisted by time, was narrower at the base than on the surface. While he could see the chain dangling below the bridge, tossed about freely by the winds that chased the river, the locket itself was too fat to slip straight through.

Dean allowed himself a small smile of relief as he stuck his fingers between the boards to retrieve the necklace. The smile quickly disappeared when he realized his fingers were too wide, denying him a grip solid enough to pull the locket free.

"Dammit." He reached for his ankle, groaning as the movement further tortured his injured ribs, and quickly pulled the knife from the holster he wore there. He slipped the blade between the planks of wood and it easily hooked the chain. Pulling the necklace free he rolled gingerly onto his back and held up the knife, shakily reaching for the locket hanging from the blade.

Agnes beat him to it. Materializing suddenly beside him, she reached out her hand. The locket slid off the knife blade, flew through the air and landed in her waiting palm. She clasped the necklace tightly before lifting her head to glare at Dean. "Where is my daughter."

Dean lay on his back at her feet, his arm once again held protectively around his ribs, his face contorted in pain. His voice was angry but punctuated by loud wheezing. "Look lady, we told her to be here. If she doesn't want to show up that's……."

His snarky response was cut off as invisible fingers clamped around his throat. He glared up at Agnes, coughing and choking as the hold tightened.

Sam, using the bridge railing for support, had been limping slowly toward his brother. The second he saw Agnes reach out and begin strangling his brother he knew keeping his promise to Mary was no longer an option. Dean's life would always come first. Leaning heavily on the railing, fighting the dizziness that threatened to topple him, Sam reached behind him, pulled his Taurus PT-99 from his waistband and shakily leveled the gun at Agnes's head.

"Mother, stop."

Agnes whirled around at the sound of Mary's voice. Her eyes widened as, for the first time in more than a century, she stood face-to-face with her daughter.

Mary stood at the end of the bridge, torn by raw emotion. Any doubts she may have had about the truth of Sam's words earlier, when he had told her what her mother had become, had just been erased. With her own eyes she had seen Agnes strangling Dean; instead of the warm smile she had clung to in memory for so many years and prayed so ferverently to see again, she saw only rage and contempt in her mother's face.

But as Agnes saw Mary, the anger, guilt and resentment melted away, replaced by the pure joy of being reunited with the child so cruelly taken from her.

The pressure on Dean's throat disappeared suddenly when Agnes's attention was pulled from him to Mary. He coughed violently. Breathing was becoming increasingly difficult and he was fighting to stay conscious, fighting to watch the reunion playing out before him.

Sam's finger relaxed on the trigger when Agnes released her hold on Dean, but his gun remained pointed at her as she walked past him and toward Mary. Huffing out a breath of relief, Sam's knees buckled without warning and he slid down the bridge railing at his back, landing on his butt with his braced leg stuck out in front of him.

Hearing Sam's grunt of pain, Dean's eyes snapped from Agnes and Mary to his brother. "Sammy?" His voice was barely audible.

Sam grimaced as he dragged himself to his brother's side, keeping his gun in hand and a wary eye on Agnes. "I'm okay. You?"

Dean frowned, rubbing his throat with one hand and cradling his ribs with the other. "No." His vision slid in and out of focus as he stared at Agnes, who now stood right in front of her daughter. Dean winced at the sharp pain in his chest as Sam helped him sit up. Neither noticed he was listing heavily against Sam, or that Sam's arm remained wrapped around his back to prevent him toppling over as they both concentrated on the mother-daughter reunion.

"Mary Elizabeth?" For the first time since they'd run into Agnes's spirit, the brothers heard a softness in her voice, a warmth that hinted at the loving, caring mother she had once been. Her features softened as she smiled. "Darling…." She opened her arms wide, the locket dangling from her fingers as she beckoned Mary to come to her.

Mary choked back a sob. The bitter, twisted wraith she had just seen melted away leaving behind the mother she remembered. She ran to Agnes, wrapping her arms around her waist and burying her face in her mother's shoulder. Agnes returned the hug, pulling Mary close to her and, for the first time in more than a century, revelling in nothing more than being able to hold her child.

Mary lifted her head and turned to gaze up at her mother. A smile lit up her tear-streaked face. "I thought I would never see you again. That I would never see my family, my home again."

Agnes smiled, tracing her hand gently down Mary's cheek.. "I could not give up. I waited for you. Stayed here, knowing you would one day find your way home. That you would need me here when you did."

Mary frowned as she watched her mother's face harden again as she turned to glare at Sam and Dean. Her eyes still burned angrily as she turned back to Mary and ran a hand lovingly over her daughter's head, brushing her long hair back from her face. "These men who took you, they will pay. They had no right to take you from me."

Mary recoiled. There was such bitterness in her mother's face, such anger in her words. In an instant her mother had faded away, replaced yet again by the twisted being she had seen moments earlier choking the life out of Dean.

Mary shook her head. "No, you cannot hurt them." She grabbed her mother's arm. "They are not the ones who took me. In truth, they are the ones who helped me return here to you."

Agnes smiled placatingly. "No. You are mistaken." She turned and glared at Sam. "He took you from me." She turned back to face Mary, grief now mixing with anger in her expression. "Your father, your brothers – they died trying to bring you home because of what he did. He has to pay for that. He must."

Mary looked horrified. "Father, Thomas, James – they died trying to find me? But, I thought….." She looked past Agnes to Sam, hurt and anger evident in her expression. "You did not tell me this. Why?"

Sam felt Dean tense at the accusation, his brother's harsh breathing the only sound as Mary waited for an answer. "I wasn't lying to you," Sam said softly. "I was just trying to spare you more pain."

Agnes turned to scowl at him but Sam kept his eyes locked on Mary. "Your father, his heart gave out. I think it was broken over what happened to you." Sam heard Dean groan and wasn't entirely convinced it was one of pain. "Your brothers should not have died, not then, but …..' Sam glanced from Mary to Agnes and back again, "they have made their peace with what happened, with what they did, and moved on. Now you need to do the same."

Mary's eyes glistened but she nodded softly. She turned and smiled sadly at her mother. "He is right. We must go. We should not be here."

Agnes frowned at Mary's words, shaking her head and clasping her daughter's face in her hands. "Do not listen to his lies. You are back with me now, where you belong. I will take care of you." Her eyes filled with hatred as she turned to look at Sam. "I will take care of him."

"Mother!" Mary's voice was desperate, insistent. She clasped her mother's hands as Agnes turned back to face her. "This is not the man who hurt me. Believe me. I know that man's face all too well. He has haunted me from the day he took me from you." She pointed to Sam. "This man, Sam, and his brother, they just tried to help me."

She looked down at her mother's hands, at the locket wrapped around her fingers. Gently opening Agnes's hand, Mary picked up the locket and held it before her mother. "Without them, I never would have known this gave me the ability to see you again. To be with you again. This allows me to be here. Without them bringing it to this place, I never would have had this chance to see you again." She smiled warmly at her mother. "But now – now we must go."

Agnes's smile slipped at her daughter's words and she shook her head. "Go? No, we cannot go." She stared at the locket. "Only here can we be together, so we shall stay." She nodded at Mary, encouragingly. "We're together now. I'm going to look after you – always, as a mother should."

Mary shook her head, looking past her mother to Sam. He nodded, encouraging her to do what she knew she must.

"You don't belong here, Mother, any more than I do. You have to move on. We have to. I……" She smiled sadly. "You can't keep hurting people. It's not who you are."

A single tear rolled down Agnes's face. She cupped Mary's face in her hand and, once again, briefly, the anger melted away leaving only sadness in its wake. "It's not who I was, but I had to make them pay. Pay for what they did to you. You have to understand that."

Desperation now replaced the grief. She grabbed Mary's face with both hands. "None of that matters now. We can stay here. Together. I'll look after you. I'll keep you safe. No one will ever hurt you again. If they try to take you, I'll stop them. I won't fail you again."

The spirit spun around to stare venomously at Sam, still sitting on the bridge, with Dean slumped at his side.

Dean fought to get his breathing under control. "Look Aggie, listen to your daughter. She's ready to move on. She's…..

Agnes's angry gaze locked on Dean "You know I can't go with her.".

Dean shrugged. "I don't know that. I don't know what's beyond the light, if you believe in that sort of thing." He smiled at her hopefully. "You should go check it out."

Agnes shook her head. "I committed mortal sin. I took my own life. Even before that, I took the life of another."

Dean raised an eyebrow as he glanced sideways at Sam: "This is new." He turned back to Agnes. "Care to fill in the blanks?"

Mary was shaking her head. She walked forward, placing herself between her mother and the Winchesters. "Mother, what are you saying? In life you could never kill anyone. You…."

Agnes pushed past Mary to glare at Sam, a renewed hatred burning in dark eyes. "That man and his partner were here, on this bridge. He wouldn't tell me where he took you. He said it was too late. We'd never see you again.." She turned back to Mary, grabbing her hands, desperate to make her understand. "I watched your brothers ask him over and over and over again, where you were. James even pleaded with him, begging him to bring you back, but he…" she pointed accusingly at Dean. "He just laughed."

Her eyes darkened at the memory. "He said to forget you. Move on."

Agnes took another step toward Dean, her face growing even colder as the tragedy that had haunted her for so long twisted her mind even further. "He said if we let them go, he'd give us $20 from the money they had taken from the bank."

She glared at Sam, seeing in him the man she had hated for more than a century. "$20 for the life of my child." She turned to face Mary. "I pushed him. I pushed him and he fell off the bridge. He couldn't swim….."

Dean glanced back at Sam, whose eyes widened. This little nugget of information hadn't turned up anywhere in Bobby's research. Thomas Graham, the eldest son, had taken the blame for a crime his mother had committed. Accidently, yes, but in her puritanical beliefs, the cause didn't matter. She had lost control and taken a life.

Then she had allowed her son to take the blame for her crime, a crime which ultimately cost him his life. Agnes turned to face Mary, desperate to make her understand. "I wanted to confess. I did not want Thomas to take the blame but he said I had to stay, for you. You would need me when you found your way home."

But, gradually, Agnes's guilt over killing Shepherd, over not being able to protect her daughter, over her role in her son's death had eaten away at her, destroying the woman she had once been. The deaths of her son had been the final straw; irreparably broken she had taken her own life, committing another sin in the process and failing in her promise to be there for Mary when she finally found her way home. That had led her to the limbo she was now in, further compounding her crimes with each subsequent life she took in a misguided attempt to set things right.

Dean looked again at Agnes. He might feel sorry for her if she wasn't so determined to kill him and his brother. Once again she was staring at the two of them.

He leaned heavily on Sam as he struggled to push himself to his feet. He teetered unsteadily when he was upright, but his stare was unflinching. "Look Aggie, whatever you did, you can't stay here hurting innocent people." He glanced down at Sam and rolled his eyes. "You need to – I can't believe I'm saying this – walk into the light."

Agnes's smile turned icy. "I see no innocent people here. Only men who took my child from me. Took my children, my husband and left me with nothing."

Mary moved quickly, again placing herself between her mother and Dean. "Mother, please, I beg you – you cannot hurt them. Please." She backed away from her mother until she was beside Dean. She turned, clasped his hand and placed the locket she now carried in his open palm. She closed his fingers over the necklace, and held her hand over his. She turned and smiled sadly at Sam before lifting her eyes to meet Dean's. Thank you. Do what you must."

Sam's eyes darted between his brother and Mary, and Agnes, who carefully tracked her daughter's actions. Her eyes narrowed in anger as she saw Mary hand off the locket to Dean

Agnes knew the locket had allowed Mary to come to the bridge. It seemed pretty clear to Sam, she'd figured out if she kept control of the locket, she could also keep her daughter with her. Forever. But, especially given what she'd just revealed about killing Corrigan's partner, if Agnes and Mary moved on, it likely wouldn't be together. Mary was an innocent victim; Agnes was a victim of circumstance, but hardly innocent.

Sam wondered briefly if Mary could convince her mother to accept her fate but when Agnes dissipated, reappearing right in front of Dean and pushing Mary out of the way, he had his answer. Agnes knew the only way she could stay with Mary was here on the bridge, and the locket was the key to keeping them together. She also considered the locket in the Winchesters' hands a major threat to those plans.

Agnes grabbed Dean's arm and reached to pull the necklace from his hand. Dean held on tightly, even as Agnes smashed his arm down on the railing of the bridge. Dean let out a cry of pain, but didn't let go.

Agnes ignored Mary's horrified plea to stop. She smiled cruelly at Dean. "Give it to me."

Before the smartass retort even formed in Dean's head, Agnes waved her hand at Sam, picking him up and throwing him half-way down the bridge.

Dean's eyes flashed with rage. "Don't you touch him again, you bitch." He glanced down the bridge at his brother. "Sammy?"

Sam groaned as he pushed himself to sit up. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Mary, horrified at her mother's actions, appeared at her side and grabbed her arm. "Mother stop. They have done nothing to hurt you."

Agnes glared at her daughter "He's trying to take you away from me again. Don't you see that?"

Still holding Dean's arm, she smashed it again on the rail. Dean stifled a groan and glared again at Agnes but the attack loosened his hold on the necklace and, with a sudden grab, Agnes tore it from his hand.

She smiled triumphantly, wrapping her fingers around it and squeezing tightly. Turning to Mary, she clutched the locket even tighter. "Now no one can separate us. I can watch over you always."

Mary grasped her mother's arms. "No. We can't stay. Please.. We must….."

The shrill ringing of Sam's cellphone pulled their attention to the youngest Winchester, lying on the bridge where Agnes had thrown him. He'd pulled his cellphone from his pocket and stared dazedly at the text message it displayed. He looked up, breathing heavily, and dropped his phone to the ground. He turned so his eyes met Mary's and nodded.

Mary tilted her head, puzzled, than a look of sudden understanding crossed her face. Sam had told her they must salt and burn her mother's remains as they had done hers. His simple nod told her it had been done. Now the only thing stopping them from moving on was the tiny braid in the locket. She smiled at Sam then turned to her mother. She reached up and cupped her mother's face in her hand, the anger and bitterness fading in Agnes's eyes as they met the hope burning in her daughter's. "These are not the men who hurt me. But, for us to truly stay together, you must find it in your heart to forgive those men, and ask forgiveness for what you have done."

Dean, standing beside the two spirits, could see the emotions at war within Agnes; the woman she once was fighting a seemingly losing battle with the twisted wraith too long in control.

Dean glanced at Sam, who was reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a lighter and a folded piece of paper. Transferring the paper to his other hand, he flicked on the lighter and glanced at his brother. Dean nodded encouragingly, then turned a wary eye to Agnes.

Sensing Sam's actions, Mary and Agnes both turned to face him. Sam watched Agnes carefully as he brought the lighter and paper together, setting the paper ablaze.

In Agnes's face, there was anger and confusion as she stared at the burning paper. She turned as she felt Mary's hand pull on her own. Mary smiled as as gently tugged the locket from her mother's grasp. Prying it open she stared at the photos it contained. The faces of her family smiled back at her but, in sudden comprehension of Sam's actions, she realized the tiny braid, made by Agnes just before Mary's first birthday to symbolically link mother and children, was gone.

Mary turned to Sam and there was genuine gratitude in her simple words. "Thank you."

The paper now burning in Sam's hand contained the locks of hair once preserved in the locket. Sam had pulled them from the necklace on the way to the bridge, folded them inside a scrap piece of paper with some rock salt, and shoved them in his pocket, ready to destroy once, as he had promised, Mary said goodbye to her mother.

Mary had tried her best to reach out to Agnes, get her to repent, but too many years of anger, bitterness and guilt had eaten away the woman she once was. With the text message from Bobby, saying Agnes's remains had been destroyed, there was no longer any reason to wait.

Mary tried one last time. She held up the open locket to her mother. "Please. For us – your family. Ask forgiveness so we might all be together again."

But Agnes's focus was solely on Sam. Whether she understood what his actions meant, he wasn't sure but she definitely perceived them as a threat. She screamed as the paper caught fire, blinking out, then reappearing right in front of him. She pulled the paper from his hand, but it was too late; the flames caught fully, it blazed brightly for an instant, then fell as a shower of bright sparks onto the bridge in front of Agnes.

Mary reappeared suddenly at her mother's side, grasping Agnes's hand just as the two spirits dissipated one last time. Dark and light swirled together and then in one brief but brilliant flash, both were gone.

Left alone on the bridge, a few dying sparks from the burning paper tossed around them by the breeze, the battered Winchester brothers turned to face each other. Sam groaned as he tried, and failed, to stand up, his head spinning from the physical and emotional toll. Dean, cradling his battered right arm around his injured ribs, stumbled toward his brother. Reaching his side, he patted Sam on the shoulder.

"Don't get up on my account, Sam. Besides…." He closed his eyes against the dizziness that suddenly washed over him. "I really need to sit down."

He slid down wearily next to his brother, grimacing at the increasing tightness in his chest. He offered Sam a tired smile. "Your plan worked."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, classic bait and switch."

Dean shot Sam a look. "Only next time, new wrinkle. We switch roles. You be the bait."

Sam's smile faded as he looked at his battered brother. "You know, you really didn't have to try so hard to protect the locket. You knew I had the braid. Agnes could have done whatever she wanted with the necklace and it wouldn't have mattered."

Dean frowned at Sam. "What Agnes wanted was to toss our asses over the side. As long as she was concentrating on that locket, or Mary, she wasn't fully concentrating on us. That's what mattered."

Sam's smile returned. "Thanks

"Yeah, yeah, yeah….." Dean waved off Sam, coughing as he fought to draw in a deep breath. He frowned suddenly. "She didn't bring my gun back."

"What?"

Dean gestured to where Mary had first shown up. "Mary. She didn't bring my gun."

Sam rolled his eyes, smiling. "What? You expected her to show up here, shotgun in hand, and blow away her own mother?"

Dean shrugged. "No, not really – but I wanted my gun back." He stared at the spot where the two spirits had disappeared. "Which way do you think they went?"

Sam glanced at his brother who made an up and down gesture with his hand. He smiled tiredly. "Like I said before, Dean: all I've got is hope – that Mary has found peace. As for Agnes, I don't know. If she…." He frowned as he saw Dean listing to one side "Dean, what's goin' on with you?"

Dean grimaced as the pain in his chest sharpened and he started to feel dizzy again. "I, uh, think I'm gonna lie down for a bit." He slid down slowly, screwing his eyes closed.

"Dean?" Sam's worry deepened.

Dean peeled one eye open to look at Sam. "Hard to breathe..."

The sound of running footsteps momentarily pulled Sam's focus from Dean. He glanced up to see Bobby and Doc running toward them, each lugging a small duffle bag. He smiled down at his brother. "Hang in there. The cavalry's here."

"Sam?" Doc glanced worriedly from one brother to the other as she knelt down beside them.

Sam gestured to Dean. "He can't breathe."

Doc nodded. It didn't take a medical professional to see Dean was in trouble. His eyes were glazed as he struggled to stay conscious. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he fought to pull in air. She frowned at the blue tinges around his mouth. She glanced over at Sam as she grabbed a stethoscope from her bag. "How you doin', Sam?"

"I'm fine. Just help Dean."

Doc frowned, glancing from Sam to Bobby. "There's two canisters of oxygen in that bag you're hauling. Pass one to me, then put the other on Sam there. Get him wrapped in a blanket, then check him out for me, will you?

Bobby nodded but Sam shook his head. "Don't worry about me, just….."

Doc cut him off. "Uh-uh. No arguments. You two and Bobby called the shots from the hunting end of things but, medically speaking, I'm pulling rank. When I'm not around, you two can patch up each other with Crazy Glue and duct tape to your hearts' content, but, right now, we're doing this my way. Got it?"

Dean offered a brief nod as Sam mumbled, "Yes, ma'am."

As Doc listened to his heart, frowning at the too rapid beat, and rolled him gently onto his side to listen to his lungs, Dean peeled his eyes open to look at his brother. His voice was barely audible "And you….. call me bossy."

Sam smiled. "Yeah, you two are a lot alike."

"Are not."

"Are too."

"Bite ……..me."

Bobby pulled out blankets from the bag he carried and passed one to Doc before opening the other and wrapping it around Sam. "I take it you boys got the job done?"

Sam nodded. "Mary showed up. She was able to see her mom one last time. She…." His eyes snapped back to his brother as he heard Dean choking. "Dean?"

Dean's face was contorted in pain. "I….."

Dean was really struggling now, the oxygen mask fogging over quickly as he fought to pull in air. His eyes widened as he looked up at Doc, a silent plea for help.

Sam looked on in alarm, pulling the oxygen mask from his face. "What's goin' on with him? Doc?"

Doc pull the stethoscope from her ears after listening to Dean's lungs again. "His rib is broken and it's punctured his lung. It's collapsing."

She reached in her pocket, pulled out her phone and dialed 911. "Yes, My name is Dr. Kelly Caine. I need an ambulance for two patients at the old bridge over the Crooked Arm River.

Sam had been dizzy before Doc and Bobby arrived. Now his head was spinning. He listened with increasing horror to Doc's conversation with the 911 operator, words like 'tachycardic' and 'pneumothorax' scaring the crap out of him. But nothing scared him like the look on Dean's face. His eyes were losing focus as his struggle just to breathe grew harder and harder.

Dean looked at his brother and Sam was shocked to see fear in his eyes before they rolled back and slid closed. Now Sam's heart was racing. "Doc…" There was a pleading tone to his own voice that Sam didn't recognize. "Help him."

"Damn it, his lung's collapsed." Doc reached into her medical bag and pulled out a large syringe with a long, large bore needle. She glanced at Sam as she ripped the plastic packaging from the syringe. "The air is building up in his chest. I need to relieve that pressure before it puts too much stress on his heart."

Sam's head was pounding. The safety lights on the bridge suddenly developed a strange halo around them. He heard Bobby say his name and he sounded far away. He wasn't though, because it was Bobby who caught him as he slumped sideways. Against his will, Sam's eyes slid closed but the last thing he saw was Doc kneeling over Dean and raising the needle over her head before plunging it into Dean's chest.

To Be Continued……..

A/N: Another cliffie, what can I say? There is no cure for what ails me. Hope you're still enjoying this tangled little tale. Thanks for reading and, please, let me know what you think.