Sam could hardly believe it. He was Madison again! Not only that, he was Madison in exactly the same time and place as before...like he'd never leaped here to begin with! But that was impossible. Had he ever leaped into the exact same situation twice? In addition to being extremely confused, Sam was fascinated by all of the new possibilities. He continued to stare at Madison's reflection with deep interest.

"It's not that bad," Fiona assured him, assuming he was fretting about where she'd burned him with the curling iron. He'd forgotten it had even happened. "I barely got your hairline there. Carl won't even notice!"

"Hey, Fiona, Tia says she needs help organizing the gifts."

"I'm on it. See you at the ceremony!"

This was unbelievable. Everything was playing out exactly as it had before. Sam found himself tongue-tied. "I, uh, I-"

And just as before, Gina fastened his veil on and smiled affectionately at Madison's reflection. "Oh, Madison...you look beautiful." Sam could recall everything as it happened. Misty eyes, grabbing the shoulder puffs, kissing the top of his head. "I'm so happy for you. I'm glad you finally found the one."

Gradually, he found his voice again. "I'm...happy too." And, he suddenly realized, he was. He slowly began to grin. No one had died, because it never happened!

"Are you going to go out looking like that?" Madison's mother, Diane, made her snooty entrance. Too late, Sam remembered her next action as she tightened his corset and knocked the wind out of him. "I told you to lose a few more pounds before the wedding, dear, but we can't change that now. I only hope the family looks decent in the photos."

"Madison will outshine everyone. That's the important thing."

"Hmmm..." She judged Sam's hair haughtily. "You should leave it down. It looks much better down. Of course, it would look even better if you'd gone with-"

"-the blue color scheme. Yeah, I know." Sam chuckled, captivated by the instant replay. When he'd been covered in paint, Diane got her blue color scheme after all.

He might as well have slapped her, from the way Diane reacted. She placed a hand to her chest. "Is that all I am to you? A joke?" Sam couldn't be bothered to be worried about her attitude right now. He was too amazed at what was unfolding before him, simply nodding and pretending to be listening. "You should take this seriously, Madison. This is the most important day of our lives!"

"You mean her life," Gina corrected her in annoyance.

"Whatever." Diane gave her the barest acknowledging wave and returned her attention to Sam. "No one listens to me anyway. Oh, and about the dinner, your father and I will have to skip it. You know how salmon gives me gas. And another thing-"

"Uh, Diane," Gina cut in, "We'd better make sure everything is running smoothly out there. We want it all to be perfect for the big day, don't we?"

"Fine, fine, Gina, I'll go." Diane sighed, raised her eyebrow, and smiled at Sam. "My little girl. What would you do without me? Oh well. Kiss kiss!" She kissed the air beside Sam's cheeks, Gina guided her out with an apologetic look, and Sam was left alone again.

Filled with awe, the stunned quantum physicist carefully rose from his seat.

Al whistled. "Yowza, you're lookin' great there, Sam! White is definitely your color."

Big grin plastered onto his face, Sam spun around. "Al! This is incredible!"

"Yeah, I know, talk about bridezilla," Al said in amusement, glancing at the lavish decorations as he paced the room. He looked sideways toward the door. "Or maybe that's momzilla."

"Al!" Sam repeated in exasperated excitement, motioning to himself, "I'm Madison again!"

Al turned his attention away from a stray bra lying on the couch and raised an eyebrow curiously. "Again?"

"Yeah! Don't you recognize her?" Sam asked giddily, "She was the bride who got stabbed-or I got stabbed-well, one of us or both of us anyway-but I'm back! I can stop the whole thing from ever happening!"

Al was looking at him like he had a screw loose. He stamped his foot and leaned his head back. "Sam, what're you talkin'about? Who got stabbed? You got stabbed?"

Now Sam's expression mirrored his. "Yeah, don't you remember? When I leaped in here the first time?"

"You've never leaped into this woman before," Al told him with confusion. He screwed up his face and shook his head. "And I think I'd remember if you got stabbed!"

Sam ran his hand down his face as he walked away, his mouth agape again as he tried to fit all of the pieces together. "Then to you...this is happening for the first time..."

"What?"

"You still have your mustache."

"Huh?"

"You still have your mustache," Sam said again, stepping back toward the hologram. He pointed toward him like he'd discovered a vital clue. "You're trying it out for Tina, right?

"Yeah, she read about it in-" Al stopped. "Hey wait a minute, how do you know about that? You haven't even seen my mustache before!"

"You told me the first time we had this conversation."

"Saaam, what's goin' on with you?" Al was getting gradually more concerned. Sam was pacing again, speaking to himself as he puzzled out the situation.

"I'm the future me, but you're still pastAl..."

"No, Sam, you're in the past, and I'm in the future!"

Sam halted and scrunched up his face. "I must have leaped back into myself...overwriting the old leap!" His eyes widened in fascination. He paid no attention to Al, who was frenziedly punching the handlink buttons.

"Gooshie, we've got a big problem! Tell Ziggy to-Uh-oh." He frowned at the screen.

Fiona poked her head in. "We're about to start. Get ready!" She giggled excitedly and shut the door.

Sam remembered what had happened the first time, but now he was ready. Al assumed his sudden tenseness was because of the announcement. "I wouldn't worry about that, Sam, because you don't get married. According to Ziggy-"

Without even looking behind him, Sam grabbed Bud by the arm and flipped him over his back. The heavy man hit the floor with an oof!, dropping the chloroform rag. Al's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"Sam! How did you do that?!"

Sam grinned. "I told you. I-"

"Oh, look out!"

The warning came too late. A second pair of hands grabbed him, placed another rag over his face, and he was out again.

-

"Hey! Rip Van Winkle! Rise and shine!"

Sam grunted as he returned to consciousness, once again tied and blindfolded in the rancid coffee apartment. "Ohhh, not again..." he whined.

"You alright, kid?"

"Yeah," Sam sighed begrudgingly, "I can't believe this!"

"Now don't panic. You're in an apartment in downtown Chicago right now. You've been kidnapped by-"

"I know, I know," Sam cut him off, "I heard you the first time."

"Are you still goin' on about that? Sam, Ziggy doesn't have any records of a prior leap involving Madison Antonelli! Not to mention, I've never seen her in the Waiting Room before. And believe me, I'd remember a 10 like that."

"That's because it's the same leap, Al!"

"The same leap?" Al sounded skeptical.

Sam wiggled to face the hologram's general direction. He did his best to ignore his itchy nose. "Half a day ago, I leaped into Madison just before her wedding and got kidnapped. I know everything that's going to happen, because it happened to me already. I leaped back into myself, which is why you don't remember it! To you, this still hasn't happened yet."

"That's impossible. You can't leap into the same situation twice!"

It looked like Sam would have to prove himself. With certainty, he began to list what he knew. "I'm engaged to Carl Kingman, the Hot Dog King. The men who kidnapped me are named Bud Turner and Sturgis Fitzburg. They want to hold me for ransom, but before they can get the money, Madison disappears."

The handlink shrieked, and Al gave a stunned pause as he read the information. "Ziggy says you're right! How could you possibly know that before we did?"

"Because I keep telling you, Al, I've done this leap before," Sam insisted, grinning in satisfaction. He loved imagining the puzzled look on Al's face, mixed with indignity at being shown up.

"Holy cannoli..." Al breathed, "But why would you do the same leap again? That doesn't make any sense."

Sam grew more serious. "Because I failed. Madison got killed. I think this is my chance to save her this time!"

"Like a...do-over of a do-over?"

"Exactly!"

"This is too weird, Sam." The handlink made several new noises Sam didn't recall hearing before. "Ziggy's having a conniption fit over this one!"

Footsteps signaled the arrival of Sturgis and Bud, who removed Sam's blindfold. Sturgis waved. "Heya, girlie. Sorry about the blindfold. We weren't sure when you were gonna wake up, and we didn't want you gettin' any bright ideas about escaping on the way here. We don't wanna hurt you. So just play nice, and we won't have a problem. Right, Bud?" Bud gave his trademark rotten grin, and Sam recoiled with Al. Even knowing it was coming, it was still a horrific sight.

"I'll do whatever you want," Sam said softly, pretending to be nervous. Sturgis gave him the whole spiel, handed him the phone, and the leap continued to play out just as it had before, albeit with a far more confused Al and Ziggy. This time around, however, Sam had a more solid plan. In fact, he felt more prepared for this than any other leap. He already knew what to avoid and why he was here, so all he had to do was play this out until he needed to make his move. This was going to be a piece of cake!

"You wanna watch TV?" Bud asked with a horrid smile.

"Actually, I'm really hungry. Do you think you could make me something to eat?" Sam batted his eyelashes, knowing his plan would be successful.

Al frowned. "Saaam, this is no time to be thinkin' about your stomach!"

Sam resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Bud answered, got up, and asked what he wanted to eat. "Surprise me."

"One surprise comin' up, little lady!" Bud exited into the filthy kitchen.

Al covered his nose at the imagined stench. "Yuck! Thank god you're not really eating anything comin' outta that kitchen! What're you doin', Sam?"

Already on his feet, Sam was perusing the apartment, searching for any sort of sharp object. "I'm looking for something to untie myself with. You mind helping?"

"Oh. Uhhhh..." Al stuck his head through the wall, pulled out, and waved him over. "Wait! How about this? There's a platform outside this window. You can get out there and flag down some help."

Sam shook his head and continued to search. "I tried that before. It didn't work. All it did was almost get me killed faster." He shot a blaming look toward Al, since it had been his plan after all

"Oh." Al screwed up his mouth and smoothed out his mustache as Sam found a glass ash tray. He smashed it on top of the desk, secured a large chunk in the drawer, and dragged the rope across it until he was free. Al stood there uselessly like a plank of wood. "What am I even doing on this leap? Seems like you've got things pretty much handled."

"Well I know what didn't work, at least." Sam studied the door leading to the front in thought. "What does Ziggy say about this leap?"

Al shook the handlink and shot the wall a look of frustration. "She isn't saying anything. She says she can't run scenarios for a situation that can't exist."

"Lot of help you are, Ziggy," Sam complained, "I guess I've gotta trust my gut instinct on this one."

Al raised his eyebrows with worry. "You told me that the last time you were here, you got skewered. So how're you gonna stop it this time?"

"I'm gonna get the knife away from Sturgis."

"What?!" Al shrieked incredulously, "Isn't that just gonna get you killed again?"

"No, I got stabbed because I tried to intervene in a fight," Sam explained, "If I confront him directly this time, I'll have the advantage."

"So why don't you just stop the fight before it happens?"

"That's what I'm trying to do," Sam explained, straining not to sound irritated. Steeling himself, he took a deep breath and started for the door.

"Oh! You're gonna need a weapon!"

Sam stopped in annoyance. He wished Al wouldn't yell when he didn't want to draw attention to himself, even if he was the only one who could hear him. "I don't wanna hurt him, I just want to get the knife away," he said in a low voice.

"You still need to defend yourself, Sam," Al explained to him with a roll of his eyes, "He's not exactly gonna like that his hostage got loose." He gestured his cigar at the desk. "Take that can of air freshener. I can guarantee they've never used it." He curled up his lip in disgust. "You can spray him in the eyes. No permanent damage, and it's nice and effective."

"Good idea," Sam had to agree. He picked up the can.

"Worse comes to worse, whack him with your heels. I've had a few wives use that trick." Al chuckled, and Sam pursed his lips. He decided not to respond, focusing instead on his plan. He stepped to the side of the door and called out.

"Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!"

"What?" Al tilted his head. Sam shrugged.

"What're you makin' all that noise for?" Sturgis grumbled, opening the door. Swiftly and efficiently, Sam lifted the can and sprayed.

Only nothing came out. It was empty!

"What the hell?!"

"AL!" Sam shouted angrily. Al threw his hands up helplessly as Sturgis lunged at him. Twisting out of the way, Sam meant to hit him with a roundhouse kick, but his feet got tangled up in his train. With all the grace of an electrocuted cat, he came toppling to the ground. Somewhere in the melee, his veil had twisted itself around and blinded him.

"Watch out, Sam! He's got the knife!"

Sam felt like an idiot. Even with a warning, he'd somehow messed this up. Knowing death was getting closer with each passing second, he struggled with the veil, yanking it off of his face and tossing it aside. He got rid of it just in time to see Sturgis brandishing the knife at him. The other man sneered.

"Why don't you play nice and we'll get ya tied up again?"

"What's goin' on here?" It was Bud. He had reentered the room with sandwiches.

Sturgis tightened his jaw. "You almost let our meal ticket escape!"

"She said she was hungry!"

"'She said she was hungry,'" Sturgis repeated in a mocking imitation of Bud's falsetto, "You can be so stupid sometimes! No wonder Sherry left you!"

Now Bud was angry. He threw the plates onto the table in a fit. "You take that back!" he demanded, shoving Sturgis aside. The other man stumbled and threw out his hands to catch his balance, nearly swiping Sam in the process.

"This doesn't look good, Sam," Al cautioned fearfully, "Ziggy's spitting out all sorts of data! She says now Sturgis is gonna accidentally kill himself!"

"Why you-!" Sturgis leaped at Bud, and they began to grapple.

"I've gotta stop them!" Sam yelled. Now it was like he hadn't changed anything!

Al was shaking his head and wildly waving his arms. "You can't jump in there, or you'll get-!"

Thwack! Madison's stiletto sailed into the back of Sturgis's head, dazing him and causing him to roll over.

Feeling rather proud of himself, Sam smiled at Al. "I did it. I saved him without getting killed!"

Al wasn't so optimistic. "Uh, well, you saved one of 'em..."

"What?" Sam followed Al's eyeline to Bud, who laid motionless on the floor. The hilt of the knife was sticking out of his stomach. "No!" Sam wailed, crawling over to him, "This wasn't how this was supposed to go!" He checked his pulse, but it was too late. He was gone. Sam lowered his head mournfully.

"I'm sorry, Sam," Al consoled him, lowering his eyes, "Maybe you were only meant to save Madison."

If this was a victory, it felt awfully hollow. How could he repeat this leap to save Madison, only to get someone else killed instead? Kidnapper or not, it wasn't a fair trade. Sam had more questions than answers. He was only left feeling confused as to why God, Time, Fate, or Whatever had even bothered starting this leap over again. With that emptiness inside him, he allowed the light to engulf him and send him to another time.

-

Sam's vision cleared and he blinked, wondering what new problem he'd been thrust into. Strangely enough, his last leap was still clear in his mind, unlike the usual swiss-cheesing erasing huge chunks of it from his memory. This was one time when he wished he didn't remember, because it made him feel depressed and heavy.

Then something burned his temple. "AH!"

"Jeez, Mads, I told you to stay still!" No way. It wasn't! Sam's eyes grew huge as he stared at Fiona again, who fussed with his hair. "Hang on hang on hang on, don't sweat it. I'll just rearrange your bangs and no one'll even notice!"

"It's you!" Sam exclaimed in astonishment.

Fiona put a hand on her hip and huffed. "It's not my fault you can't sit in place!"

Sam wasn't listening. He was gaping, once again, at Madison in the mirror. Somehow, some way, he'd been given another chance! "Oh boy..." he breathed.

It was that moment when he realized that his deja vu was more than just a fluke. This leap was turning out to be more than he bargained for.

He had no idea how much of an understatement that was.