Disclaimer: I don't own Sam or Al, but this situation actually occurred. Everything but the names, dates, and small portions of the dialogue are real-life.
Summary: This is the true story of the time Sam Beckett saved my sister and taught me that all it takes to change a life forever is one little act of kindness.
All It Takes
The familiar, motionless plunging ended and Sam Beckett found himself blinking against needle-sharp rays of reflected sunlight. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust; when he could finally see, all his gaze met was a single, swirling mass of people.
He was inside, he determined quickly. In a food court, it seemed, of some mall somewhere. The sunroof over head was streaming white-gold rays that reflected with vigor off of the chrome-polished surfaces of the tables and floor. The light wavered like sheen off water as the constant flow of people sent their shadows across the metal and interrupted its flow.
He was in a dress, too. That much was the first thing he register, even as his eyes adjusted to the odd lighting conditions of alternating shadow and glare cast by the sunroof's support beams.
Sam blinked one last time, feeling the contact of yet another stranger's body against the one that was, for the time being, his. He had been shoved aside three times already, and he had been in this Leap for what he felt was probably a single-digit number of seconds. Eyes now better adjusted, he serupticiously took in his appearance in a nearby steel napkin dispenser.
Female, as he'd guessed. Mid-sixties, probably, with a kindly, grandmotherly face that vaguely reminded him of his own Grandma, or at least what he could remember of her through the holes in his memory. He wore a cream-colored sundress with elbow-length sleeves and a pair of worn-in moccasins. In one hand he held a bag to some store that he, as Sam, had never heard of before.
People moved past him in waves of varying speed, and Sam tried in vain to get out of the currents of patrons. Instead of succeeding, he fell into a surly-looking man, who glared at him and growled, "Watch it, grandma."
Another person knocked into him on the other side; the woman apologized without even turning to look at him and hurried on like the world was on fire. But for all Sam knew, it could have been.
He sighed, not liking this Leap already. Where was Al? All he needed was to be lost in this mall, surrounded by a thousand people, all of whom had their own problems and all of whom he had an equal chance of needing to help. He didn't know where to begin.
Luckily, though, he didn't have to make the first move. Before he could think of what to go about doing, a little girl of only two or so scuttled past him in a flash of platinum-blonde hair. She was classically adorable, in a little grey jumper with a pacifier affixed between her teeth like a pure version of one of Al's cigars. She was screaming- not crying but literally screaming- as she shuttled by Sam as fast as she could go (which wasn't fact but wasn't a snail's pace either).
Somewhere in the direction the little girl was running away from came shouting. Another girl of about ten with darker hair but bearing a remarkable resemblance to the little one came dodging through the crowds. Every few seconds, someone would pass in front of her, hiding her from view. Still, it only took a glance for Sam to identify her as the little girl's sister.
"Amy!" She yelped, twisting her way through the mob. "Amy, come back! Mom said to wait at the table! Mom said!"
Acting on instinct, Sam dropped his bag and turned in the direction Amy had gone in. She wasn't far away; he caught up to her in only a few seconds and grabbed her gently by the arm once she was within reach.
He winced, expecting her to howl or bite him or something like that. Instead, she stopped screaming altogether and scanned Sam with a critical eye. "Why you wearin' dress, Mithter?" she asked around the pacifier.
Sam laughed, suddenly drained of the initial tension of the Leap, and steered her back towards her older sister. After a few seconds in which Amy continued to stare quizzically at him, the other girl found them. Sam got a better look at her; she was panting slightly, frenzied, and dragging in one hand a girl who was obviously Amy's twin. Upon seeing Sam, securely preventing her sister from bolting again, she heaved a sigh of relief and grabbed Amy by the arm. Then, she looked up at Sam with sincere green eyes.
"Thank you," she said, simply. "Thank you so much." She seemed very mature for an instant, despite that fact that she had obviously just come thisclose to losing her baby sister in a jam-packed mall. Then she walked away, scolding Amy in a voice that tried and failed to be harsh.
Sam grinned, purely happy. "It was nothing," he assured, even though the girl was already probably too far away to hear him above the mall ruckus. For one shining moment, he wasn't in the middle of a crisis situation of any sort. For all the various things he did without any acknowledgement, it was nice to get a little thanks. And best of all, the girl wasn't thanking him because he was… whoever he currently looked like. She was thanking him for what he had done, independent of his appearance.
He didn't hear the Imaging Chamber door slide open, so he started slightly when Al suddenly appeared in front of him, this time in a lavender shirt and shoes with pickle-green slacks, jacket and tie to 'match'.
"Hey, kid," he mumbled, speech obstructed by his cigar. "Listen, I gotta get back in a second but real quick: you're name is Agatha Kurshwood and you're sixty-eight years old. It's March 8, 1999 and you're…"
"It's okay, Al." Sam cut him off, grinning even wider. "I'm here to save a little girl. I know."
Al looked up at him, frowning slightly. "How'd you guess? You're here to save Amy Sanders. She wanders off here today and gets herself lost…"
"It's taken care of, Al." Sam sighed happily. "I got her back to her sister just before you showed up."
"Oh." Al looked slightly dejected. "Okay, Sam, well, if you don't need me…" he brightened and began to grin around the cigar. "I'll get back to what I was… working on…" He raised an eyebrow lecherously and exited into the suddenly-there rectangle of light.
Sam, still smiling, squinted into the crowds of people as the tingling sensation began in his fingers. Thousands of people, all with problems, all with conflicts that he might someday help to resolve… but for now, an easy one. For now, something simple, something he could handle.
Sometimes I guess that's all it takes… he though happily, before the tingling enveloped him and he Leaped.
Yes, I do believe that that woman who grabbed my sister for me all those years ago was indeed Sam Beckett. If she wasn't, she was at least my guardian angel, if only for a second there. So to all the people out there, Leapers or not, who help out others whenever they can, Thank you. Sometimes, thirty seconds of your time is all it takes to change a life for the better.