Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: I do not own Quantum Leap.

Note: This is where the timeline catches up with my other story "Gods Complicate Everything." You don't need to read that to know what's going on, just know that Sam's most recent leap put him in crossover territory.

Sammy Jo was in the middle of something when the call came in. It wasn't anything time sensitive and even if it was, there was a decent chance that she would have stopped anyway to go see what was happening. In the year since Dr. Beckett had lost contact with them, they had only had someone appear in the waiting room a grand total of four times.

And now it seemed that they had hit a number five.

In the old days, Dr. Beckett leaping and their being sent the person he had replaced (looking like Dr. Beckett, of course, a fact that always freaked them out when they realized and certainly caused some problems when the person who appeared to be the very male Dr. Beckett started going into labor. Twice) had never really been a very noteworthy occurrence. It did mean that Ziggy, Gooshie, and Al were very busy for however long the leap lasted (usually not more than a couple of days). Well, in the beginning it had been when they had still really believed that every leap would be the leap home. Now no one ever said that they didn't believe anymore but they'd be a lot more surprised if it just up and happened than they would have in times past.

She rushed over to the waiting room. No one but Al (the only one who could see who was really there and not just the aura of Dr. Beckett) and Dr. Beeks ever went inside the waiting room but several people were already there peeking through the window of the door.

"Is Donna here?" Sammy Jo inquired, not seeing the woman around.

Gooshie shook his head. "Today is Dr. Elesee's day off but Ziggy called her so that she might decide to come in if she so chooses."

She would. Even though this was unlikely to lead to them finding Dr. Beckett, Donna wouldn't be able to help herself.

"I really wish that we could tell who's in there," Sammy Jo said wistfully. "All I can see is Dr. Beckett."

"I'm quite happy seeing him – if it is a him – in there," Gooshie told her. "The last time that 'Dr. Beckett' got out of that room, he was a deranged serial killer from 1958!"

Sammy Jo shuddered. "I guess they can't all be lost and deserving souls in need of Dr. Beckett's direct intervention."

"I'm here," Al announced from behind them and they all automatically parted to allow him to pass through.

Gooshie usually monitored what was happening in the waiting room just in case things got out of hand or something happened when Al wasn't there and so Sammy Jo followed him. Gooshie looked at her a little strangely but said nothing about it which was good because, being newfound a newfound friend of Donna and Al's or not, she really didn't have any justification for being in there.

"We're going to start running your program again now that we know that he's definitely in a leap," Gooshie told her. "Although unless he's able to give us something more specific than the previous leapees have done, I'm not optimistic about our chances. I really thought that we would have located him last time."

"One of these days we'll get someone who knows something," Sammy Jo assured him, trying to be positive.

"Yes," Gooshie agreed, no doubt thinking about some of the leapees they'd gotten who had known an awful lot. That one woman who they had to perform a miracle with in order to allow her to testify at her own trial remembered the events of her rape perfectly (though that wasn't exactly a blessing) and when they had Lee Harvey Oswald in there Al said that he seemed pretty clear about who he was and what he was about…even if all he'd do was lie about it. As people working on a time travel project that the government would likely never admit to, most of the Quantum Leap staff were huge conspiracy theorists and some were still sulking about the fact that Al and Dr. Beckett had proven the Kennedy conspiracy – always a popular one – to be utterly false.

Gooshie turned on the screen and volume and Sammy Jo could suddenly see someone who appeared to be Dr. Beckett – but, of course, wasn't – sitting imperiously on the waiting room table in Dr. Beckett's leap suit. Al, dressed as he always was even more ridiculously, was standing in front of him as was Dr. Beeks who was holding a clipboard.

"Hello, please try and remain calm," Dr. Beeks told him. "You are part of a government experiment and will be returned to your home, unharmed, in just a few short days. We ask that you bear with us until then."

'Dr. Beckett' said nothing.

"If you'll please report your name and year," she requested.

"Interesting," the man said slowly.

"What's interesting?" Al asked.

"You bring me here and yet you have no idea who I am," the man continued, not looking the slightest bit perturbed about the admittedly alarming situation that he had found himself in. "I can't decide if I find that surprising or not."

Dr. Beeks and Al exchanged a look.

"Why not?" she asked.

"This guy is seriously off-putting," Sammy Jo complained quietly.

"There are not many places where people do not know who I am so perhaps that can narrow down the possibilities of where I am," the man said thoughtfully. "And while the odds of me being accidentally abducted by people who do not know me remains very low, for numerous reasons, I rather flatter myself that anybody who knew who I was wouldn't dare try something like this."

"Just who, exactly, are you?" Al asked slowly.

"I am Odin Allfather," Odin declared. And that name sounded so familiar. Strange and familiar. She'd never heard of anyone in real life with that name but…

"Well, that's Donna's bat signal right there," Al said, staring at the man. "Are you…absolutely sure?"

The look Odin gave him then could best be described as sincerely wondering why such a trifling person was breathing the same air as him.

"Right, you're sure then," Al muttered.

"How did you manage to kidnap me?" Odin demanded.

"I've already told you, Odin, we didn't kidnap you. We-" Dr. Beeks tried to say.

"You said, I believe, that in a few days I will be returned to my home and the implication is that I cannot leave before then. I will most certainly be leaving before then but you cannot tell me that your intention was not kidnapping," Odin declared.

"Our intention was never kidnapping," Al protested. He paused. "Though perhaps we can concede that the end result does look a lot like kidnapping."

"Do you know what year it is?" Dr. Beeks asked, trying to keep them on track.

"Why wouldn't I know what year it is?" Odin asked suspiciously. "How long have you purported to have held me for? There is only so long that I can be gone before my people tear the realms apart looking for me."

"That does not sound good," Gooshie said worriedly. "Even with Dr. Beckett there pretending to be this Odin, I still do not like the sound of that."

"Neither do I," Sammy Jo agreed. "I can't even imagine what kind of a place he's in. You don't really think he's a Norse god, do you?"

"I'm uncertain," Gooshie replied. "I will need more data. The Admiral will be considering the possibility, though."

"It should be easy enough to prove or disprove given that he's not actually in Dr. Beckett's body," Sammy Jo reasoned. "Although, on second thought, I'm not sure that a, um, demonstration is in our best interests. Gods are kind of hard-core, you know. Or at least so the myths say."

"You've only been gone for exactly how long you've been awake here," Al quickly assured him. "And you won't be gone long, I'm sure."

"No," Odin said with quiet intensity. "I will not."

"Could you please just tell us what year it is where you come from?" Dr. Beeks asked again.

Odin peered down at them contemptuously for a long moment before answering. "No two realms keep track of time the same way. Judging by your appearances and your ignorance of who I am, am I correct in assuming that this is Midgard?"

"Midgard?" Dr. Beeks asked blankly.

"He means Earth," Al translated. "And yes, yes you are."

"Then I believe that it is the year 2011," Odin informed them.

Al and Dr. Beeks tried their best not to react to the news.

Sammy Jo, safe away from the action in the monitoring room, had no such restrictions and drew in a shocked breath. "2011? That's ten years into the future!"

"This is bad," Gooshie noted calmly. "This is very bad. Assuming that that is true, of course. If he is really from another realm then we could not look into their records and him being from the future makes it twice as impossible."

"How can something be 'twice as impossible'?' Sammy Jo inquired. "If it's impossible then won't it just stay impossible?"

"I suppose so," Gooshie conceded. "What I meant was that it's impossible for two distinct reasons now. And if he's lying to us or confused then it's still impossible as we don't know what the truth is."

"How did you manage to capture me and take me to Midgard? Why did you do so? What do you want? And why were you so surprised to hear that it is 2011?" Odin demanded, fury in his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry but at this point we cannot answer your questions," Dr. Beeks said apologetically.

Odin's eyes narrowed. "I see," he said in a tone of cold fury. "Is that your final word on the matter?"

"I'm afraid that it is," Al said grimly.

Odin stood up and walked to the door. Ignoring frantic cries to stop, he pulled it off its hinges (as it was always locked from the inside) and marched through it. Gooshie quickly switched the camera they were viewing so that they were just in time to see Odin neatly dispatching of the project's security.

"Oh boy," Sammy Jo breathed.


Somehow, somebody – probably Al – had convinced Odin not to leave the building and to listen to the explanation that they were suddenly willing to give. Miraculously, nobody was dead although there were quite a few broken bones on the part of the people who had been unfortunate enough to go up against Odin.

"If someone had just been willing to explain the situation in the first place then we could have avoided all of this," Odin said reprovingly as if this were all their fault. To be fair, there was a case to be made for that. But how were they supposed to know that Odin's apparent lack of disorientation (and possibly Norse god status) very likely meant that he was immune to the usual Swiss-cheese brain and that they wouldn't be able to keep him restrained?

"Look, I know that you're upset and I quite understand. I don't remember it, exactly, but I know for a fact that I'd be just as upset," Al assured him. "After I realized that it wasn't one big, elaborate prank, that is." He waited for a response.

"Go on," Odin instructed.

"We will explain all the details in a minute, I swear we will, and answer any questions that we can," Al promised. "But first, you have to know that your people probably don't realize that you're gone."

Odin frowned. "How could that be? Have you taken me into the past or the future and plan on returning me to right when I left?"

Al hesitated. "Not exactly. A friend of mine looks just like you and is in your place right now."

Odin leapt to his feet. "What? This is an outrage!"

"I'm sure it is," Al agreed quickly. "But what you have to understand is that he didn't do it on purpose and we are just as eager as you are to bring him back here and to send you back to your time. Unfortunately, in order to do that we need to know exactly when and where you came from."

"Why?" Odin demanded.

"If we don't know where he is then we can't find him and we can't try and speed up his leaving of your life," Al explained.

Odin shook his head. "I don't think I could get any more specific than 2011. It was possibly summer. I generally do not pay a good deal of attention to Midgard and I've had a lot on my mind. As to where, I believe I'll have to show you where Asgard is. If anyone has a star map?"

Ziggy quickly put one up on the display and, working with Odin, located Asgard.

"I do not believe that anything exists up there," Ziggy said unhappily.

"It does," Odin said firmly as if that settled things.

Al turned to go and then stopped. "One last thing…Is there anything important going on when you left that we should know about? Say, any impending tragedies that need averting?"

Odin's eyes widened. While he hadn't forgotten whatever it was, it was clear that his new predicament had pushed his former concerns from his mind. "My sons are hanging off of a broken bridge with only me pulling them up!"

Al's eyes widened. "That…is not good."

"And given our relative strength disparities, I do not have faith that your friend can handle that, much less the aftermath," Odin said, now beginning to sound really horrified. "I must get back there!"

Sammy Jo rather disagreed. She wasn't sure if Dr. Beckett would be able to pull the pair up from the bridge but if Odin really could handle the situation then why had Dr. Beckett been put there in the first place? It seemed like too big of a coincidence for it to have been anything else.

"We'll get you back there as soon as we can," Al insisted. "Donna, I take it that you can explain things to Odin? I want to see if I can find Sam as soon as I can."

Donna nodded although she didn't look very happy at the prospect of having to deal with this mess on her own. Well, she wouldn't be alone but she'd be in charge. "Of course. And you might not want to tell Sam this all at once. He'd not really a believer."

"If it's true then I'll see if I can save time by having him tell me," Al agreed and then he was off. Gooshie slipped away as well.

"What is going on?" Odin demanded.

Sammy Jo didn't even want to know what he'd do if they didn't tell him.

Donna closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. Sammy Jo did not want to be her right now. "You're from the year 2011 but right now it's 2001."

"So I have gone back in time," Odin said, nodding and generally seeming far less thrown by this revelation than he might have been. Even the people who had wholeheartedly believed in aliens and concluded that they had been abducted had been a little more surprised that it had happened to them personally. "I see. I was not aware that the Midgardians possessed such a dangerous technology but I have not been paying as much attention as I could."

And what did that mean? Sammy Jo wondered if in ten years, assuming Odin remembered any of this which he probably would since he remembered Asgard perfectly now, they'd have to worry about being invaded and having all of their time travel equipment destroyed. She hoped not. It really would be such a waste.

"As far as we know, we're the only people who have the ability to travel in time right now," Donna informed him. Not that 'right now' meant much when it came to time travel and she couldn't be the only one who remembered hearing the horror stories from Al about the 'evil leaper.' Sure, she apparently turned good and vanished and her former observer was shot and killed but what kind of a project would only have two people on it?

"Is your project known to your people or do you have a secret project?" Odin asked reasonably.

"It's a secret," Donna admitted. "But not to the government. And if any problems come up we will deal with them."

"If you are time travelers then why am I here?" Odin inquired.

"Here at Project Leap, the idea was that someone could travel in time as long as it was within their own lifetime. They were supposed to be able to just pop up in the past, do whatever they were going to do, and then come back," Donna explained.

"And just what were they 'meant to do'?" Odin asked suspiciously.

" 'Set right what once went wrong'," Donna said, obviously quoting something. Al used that phrase a lot, too. It might as well be their motto. "Unfortunately, it didn't work the way that we thought it would. For various reasons, Dr. Beckett was forced to test the project sooner than we would have liked. He was still ending up in years that were within his lifetime but he was taking the place of someone else. He would go in their life and they would go in his. When he fixed whatever needed fixing, the person from the past would go back to their life not remembering their trip to the future and Dr. Beckett would leap somewhere else."

Odin was quiet for a moment, absorbing that. "How does he take the place of these people? And why is my reflection not my own?"

"No one actually switches bodies," Donna informed him. "But in order for Dr. Beckett to be able to set right what once went wrong, he has to convince people that he is the person who is uniquely situated to fix the problem. If he didn't look like them he would not be able to do it. You and Dr. Beckett are wearing each other's auras. Except for Admiral Calavicci, the man you were speaking to earlier, everyone who looks at you sees Dr. Beckett."

Odin nodded. "When you say that this Dr. Beckett of yours leaps somewhere else does that mean that he does not return here first before heading out again?"

Donna looked down. "As I said, he tested it before we were ready and so we've been trying to retrieve him for some time now. But not to worry, our inability to retrieve Dr. Beckett has nothing to do with your chances of going back. You will go back soon enough. I believe that the longest that Dr. Beckett has been on a leap was two weeks."

"Two weeks," Odin repeated. "I simply cannot afford to be gone for two weeks."

"It's usually significantly shorter," Donna reiterated. "Generally it's only a few days."

"I can't afford to be gone for just a few days, not right now," Odin insisted. "You people could not possibly have caught me at a worst time, not since the war ended."

"That is usually when Dr. Beckett leaps in," Donna said gently. "You mentioned that your sons were dangling from a bridge? There must be a story there."

Odin stilled. "Are you…are you insinuating that this Dr. Beckett of yours can fix my family situation better than I can?"

"I didn't say that," Donna assured him even though everyone was thinking it. It was nothing against Odin but that was simply how leaping worked.

"What can this human who knows nothing about my family possibly do that I can't do?" Odin demanded. "These are my sons and I don't think that the situation has ever been more dire! And now I'm told that I can't even be there for that? What difference does it make to this Dr. Beckett if my sons are lost or driven mad or whatnot?"

"Dr. Beckett cares," Sammy Jo spoke up quietly. "Dr. Beckett always cares. Maybe not as much as you do but, as you said, these are your sons. Dr. Beckett will do the best he can and he's had six years of experience doing this. If you have to be stuck here while someone else tries to save your family then you couldn't ask for a better substitute than Dr. Beckett."

Donna was looking at her like she was touched which didn't make that much sense. Everything that she was saying was true and, if it weren't for the fact that she didn't know Donna before, she would have said the same thing even if she hadn't known that she was Dr. Beckett's daughter.

Donna was always trying to make that out to be more than it was and she was starting to make Sammy Jo wonder if maybe it weren't worth a try after all.

"That may be so," Odin said slowly. "I do not doubt your sincerity. Just the same, he is not me and he could never be. I would not accept any in my place in such a circumstance."

"Respectfully, I don't see that you have a choice," Donna told him. "We can't send you back."

Strictly speaking, that wasn't quite true. Once when Dr. Beckett had leapt into a younger Al, they sent Al back to try and fix something that had gone wrong before Dr. Beckett had even shown up which would in turn lead to the prevention of something that Dr. Beckett hadn't known about in order to stop. They had even managed to send Al back with instructions not to let his accidentally murderous friend out of his sight the entire evening and changed history that way.

If Odin didn't have his Swiss-cheese memory and was sent back to when things first went wrong, perhaps he really could fix it. But they couldn't be sure that even with a second chance Odin could get it right and they might be making an even bigger mess for Dr. Beckett to try to clean up. And that wasn't even counting the possibility that he'd succeed and Dr. Beckett would immediately leap and be lost to them again right after they'd – quite possibly – found him again after so long.

"Is that really true, though? Am I stuck here?" Odin asked shrewdly.

"What do you mean?" Donna asked carefully.

"I can understand why you need to hide what is going on here from your people but on Asgard people are a bit more…open-minded about strange occurrences, especially since my son Loki decided to dedicate himself to mischief," Odin said fondly. "If I contact Heimdall, who sees all, and get to the Bifrost then I can return to Asgard today. I would need to wait ten years until my past self is gone and resume my place as king of Asgard."

"You can't do that!" Donna immediately protested.

Sammy Jo contemplated the possibility with dawning horror. He…he just couldn't do that.

"Why not?" Odin asked impatiently. "It's not an ideal situation, I will admit that, but I do not seem to have any other options."

"Even if you can get past the complication of having two of you up in Asgard, you're going to continue looking like Dr. Beckett," Donna pointed out. "You'll still be you but everyone will continue to look at you and see him. And we've never had anyone stay with Dr. Beckett's aura for years before. What if the aura ages? If you're who you say you are-"

"Of course I'm who I say I am!" Odin interrupted, insulted.

"Then you've lived for hundreds if not thousands of years and will likely live for more," Donna continued without missing a beat. "What will happen as Dr. Beckett's aura ages? Will you one day appear to be his ancient and rotting corpse? And what happens when enough time passes that he'd be finished decomposing? Would anybody even be able to see you at all?"

Odin was looking quite horrified at the possibility.

From what Sammy Jo understood of what Al had informed them all of after the evil leaper's former observer had been shot and killed, the person who had been replaced returned looking no worse for the wear seconds after the leaper had died. But they couldn't very well tell Odin that because not only would it not convince him that his plan was a bad one (compared with forever – or something like it – what was a few decades spent looking like a stranger?) but he might even kill Dr. Beckett to switch back faster.

"And all of this is quite unnecessary as Dr. Beckett will leap back really shortly," Donna promised.

"Well if he can leap back shortly then why can't I try my plan?" Odin challenged. "I'm sure that my past self would be more than willing to send Dr. Beckett, or the next hapless soul stuck with his aura, back down to Midgard."

"It won't work like that," Donna said, shaking her head.

"And why not?" Odin demanded.

"Unfortunately, Dr. Beckett will not be able to leap out and you leap back in unless you're physically in the waiting room at the time," Donna explained. "That's the reason that we normally have people who Dr. Beckett has leapt into wait there."

Well, that and the fact that they would just be in the way elsewhere on the project seeing things that they were not meant to see and might even remember when they returned and thus cause all sorts of problems. And letting them actually leave was just out of the question. Look at what happened with the one man who did! The fact that that man was a serial killer already was completely besides the point. He had reportedly not adjusted well to the present and voluntarily returned to what he knew was a hopeless situation back in the fifties for the sake of escaping the present.

"So unless I return to the waiting room and trust that you people know what you're doing and this Dr. Beckett can succeed in navigating the landmine that is my current family dynamic then I will be stuck like this forever," Odin said finally, his tone completely flat.

"That is the situation, yes," Donna said, relieved that he seemed to finally get it.

"What if he fails?" Odin asked quietly.

"Then he leaps anyway," Donna replied. "But he doesn't fail."

Odin nodded. "You have three days to fix the situation or I will handle it my way," he threatened before turning abruptly and leaving the room.

Everything was quiet for a moment.

"Well, that's something, isn't it?" Sammy Jo asked finally.

Donna sighed heavily. "Something? It sounds like Sam has to fix Odin's family issues! How do you fix family issues in three days? Even family issues that aren't as explosive as Thor and Loki's! Assuming that's even who they are!"

"Perhaps he just needs to get them talking," Tina suggested.

Donna shook her head. "We can only hope. Everyone, let's try to get back to work. We have a deadline and if we miss it then we might lose Sam for good."

Everyone did their best to get back to what they had been doing earlier but it was difficult when they all knew that there was nothing they could do to stop Odin if he decided to leave. If bullets even affected him then they still couldn't shoot him because then Dr. Beckett would be trapped. Probably. They had no desire to test that out.

Sammy Jo wasn't sure quite how long it was later that she got a message on the communicator informing her that Al was back and requesting her presence in his office.

When she got there, she found Donna already waiting impatiently.

"I have good news and…well, maybe not so good news, we'll see," Al declared.

"You found Sam?" Donna asked hopefully.

Al nodded and smiled at her. "I found Sam."

"H-how is he? Is he okay?" Donna asked hesitantly.

"He's wonderful," Al promised her. "He was even up to complaining about having to play therapist to Odin's kids."

"Did he do okay?" Sammy Jo asked.

"Oh yeah, piece of cake. He basically just assured Loki that he didn't think he was a monster and let Thor do the rest," Al replied. "I think Sam was sent in because neither of us are really clear on just what happened even now, just that it had something to do with adoption and genocide. Odin likely would have reacted more situationally-appropriate and that was not what Loki needed just then. Maybe he deserved it but that wasn't what Sam was there to fix."

"Then what's the not-so-good news?" Donna asked anxiously.

"I said possibly not-so-good news," Al reminded her. "He was getting a little frustrated with me for not being a Norse myth expert and I started to say that that was your job and-"

"Al!" Donna protested, scandalized.

"I stopped myself before I said your name or that you were his wife!" Al assured her. "But, well, I guess it jogged his memory. You are the Norse myth nut."

"He…remembers me?" Donna couldn't believe it. "He never remembers me."

"He remembered you," Al confirmed. "And he got mad at me again for not telling him. And…then I accidentally reminded him about Sammy Jo." He looked worriedly at her for her reaction.

Sammy Jo shrugged. "I never said you couldn't tell him about me. After all, while I can kind of see Donna's reasoning there's no reason why knowing that he has a daughter out there should affect his ability to do his job."

"What didn't you tell him this leap?" Donna demanded, annoyed.

"I really thought he'd remember," Al defended himself. "He seemed so certain that he would on the leap where we found out."

"He can't control what he can or cannot remember," Donna argued.

"And to be fair to me, this is the first time I got a chance to talk to him in a year," Al pointed out. He smiled again. "He was really happy to see me."

"Of course he would be," Donna said warmly. "You're his best friend. His guardian angel."

"That was Angela," Al corrected absently.

"Angela?" Sammy Jo repeated blankly.

Al shook his head. "Never mind. But if you wondered why I went around saying 'I'm not crazy, I'm Puerto Rican' for a few weeks afterwards despite the fact that I'm not Puerto Rican, I would blame her."

"So was that everything?" Donna asked.

"Almost," Al said solemnly. "Sam leapt but he's not back here and no one is in the waiting room. I think that we've lost him again."

"We don't know that," Donna objected. "It always takes a few days for Sam to leap again, even back before we lost contact."

"I really hope that you're right, Donna," Al told her. "Because otherwise…I don't even know."

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