PART TWO

Still curled on his side, Sam Beckett was asleep, his mouth slightly open and his breathing still deep and regular. Slowly, though, he rolled onto his back as he began to wake. He became aware of something on the bed with him. It slowly came up the length of his body then crept up onto his chest. It made a circle on his chest then sat looking at him. Sam softly moaned in his sleep. It responded to the moan with a rough sandpaper lick on Sam's chin.

Sam opened his eyes quickly to find a small Siamese kitten on his chest. It cocked it's head to the side looking at Sam. Sam grinned and gently began to pet the kitten. In response to the love it received, the kitten began kneading Sam's chest with it's sharp claws. Sam quickly placed the kitten to the side and rubbed his chest gently. The kitten hesitated only a moment before climbing back onto Sam.

"Stubborn little cuss," he muttered, as he put the kitten to the side again and turned back onto his side.

The kitten, however, would not be dismissed. It walked around Sam's feet and made it's way up Sam's body again. Its movement were slow and methodical. The movement stopped. Curious, Sam opened his eyes. He sat eye to eye with the fur ball. Knowing now that he wasn't going to get any sleep with it around, he began petting it once more.

Slowly, he became aware of his surroundings. He found himself in a rather large room. To his right was a nightstand with a reading lamp and a clock. Not too far from that placed on the side of the wall, two chest of drawers stood with a closet in between them. On the wall in front of him, the door to his room stood open. Not but a few feet away from the door, a large handcrafted oak desk sat with an elaborate computer system on top. The whole left side of the room held a complete entertainment system and exercise equipment. The walls themselves held few pictures, one of a family (supposedly his host's family), one of a mountain stream and one of a beautiful long black haired lady (possibly a girlfriend).

He sat up in bed and took in a deep breath. He looked at the clock. It read ten forty-five. He blinked at it surprised. He never slept late. To an Indiana farm boy to sleep late was a sin. Yet, this Indiana farm boy was traveling through time, and he needed his rest. He stretched out his arms, yawned, and climbed out of bed.

He meandered over to the chest of drawers and searched for something to wear. He pulled out a dark blue tee-shirt and a pair of black denim shorts. As he opened the top drawer to find a pair of socks, he spied a letter propped up by one of his host's trophies. The only thing written on the envelope was a name: Beau.

Curious, he picked up the envelope and carried it with him to the bed. He hurriedly dressed, sat and picked up the letter once more. On inspection, he found that the lapel of the envelope was placed inside – it wasn't sealed. He opened it. He found a letter and an antique diamond ring. Frowning slightly, he took out the letter, unfolded it and began reading it.

It read:

Beau,

By the time you read this you'll be on your summer vacation. I hate that I have to do it this way, but I think it's for the best. I'm terribly sorry but I can't marry you.

With you at U of H, I've had time to think about things. Long distance relationships are difficult and they become more difficult when you've met another person as I have.

I know that I'm hurting you, but I am terribly sorry. I hope that you'll find it in your heart to someday forgive me. I think it would be best if you accept this and not try to see me again. It would hurt too much. I am truly sorry.

Kassaundra

Sam's frown deepened as he realized what he was here to do, to get Beau and Kassaundra back together. He glanced at the letter once more. 'Another person. This may be difficult,' he thought. He picked up the engagement ring and sighed. "Oh boy."

Placing the ring and letter on the nightstand, he stood to start making the bed. The kitten, feeling playful, began swatting and pouncing on the sheets as they moved around it. Sam grinned and picked up the kitten wondering what its name was.

From behind him, he heard the Imaging Chamber door open and close. He turned around surprised and pleased to see his holographic friend.

"Hi Sam," Al began punching the hand link as he spoke. Sam had learned to read Al's colorful ensembles over the years, but what he wore was unusually restrained; somber even. Sam took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worst.

"What's wrong?"

The question startled Al and his eyes darted between the hand link and his friend. "Oh, uh, nothing, unless you know something I don't." Seeing the kitten in Sam's hands, he said, "Cute cat."

"Nothing?" Sam repeated ignoring his comment about the kitten. "You stand there looking gloomy and foreboding and I'm suppose to think nothing's wrong?"

Al glanced at his clothes. "Oh, this? I just didn't feel colorful, that's all. Haven't had a lot of sleep lately, you know, with everything going on," Al said evasively.

"Oh," Sam replied impishly.

Al continued to access Ziggy through the hand link. "Let's see, you've leapt into Temple, Texas. It's May 31, 1985. You're Beau Morgan. You're a twenty-two years old and a student at the University of Houston where you have a scholarship for your entire college career. Impressive."

"Does Ziggy know why I'm here?"

Al waved his hand fleetingly. "Doesn't have a clue."

"I think I know why," Sam responded. He reached over and grabbed the letter as he placed the kitten down. "I found this on the dresser." He opened it as he explained the jest of the letter. "It's a note from Kassaundra, his fiancée. She broke their engagement because she found someone new. I bet, I'm suppose to get them back together."

Al programmed the suggested outcome to Ziggy. The hand link blinked back the percentage to that outcome. "A ninety-one percent probability. Ziggy says that Beau ended up a lonely, bitter man. He must have just accepted it. Guess in a way he just thought that they weren't meant to be together."

Sam placed the letter back in the envelope. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"Let what happen?" a voice questioned.

Both hologram and leaper turned toward the door. A young woman stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. Sam's mouth sagged as he looked at her. Wearing only a gray sports bra and spandex shorts, both could see her lean, muscular body. She had long black hair, a model's face and beautiful green eyes.

Realizing what he was doing, Sam looked away and asked, "What?"
"Woooow," Al breathed as he moved closer to her.

"Let what happen?" she repeated.

"Oh, uh, I found this on my dresser." He held out the envelope to her as she entered the room.

Her face fell as she read it. She went to him, sat beside him and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh, Beau, I'm so sorry."

"Honey, you're hugging the wrong man," Al moaned. While in the embrace, Sam mouthed who is she to Al. He shrugged his shoulders then consulted Ziggy. "This is Isabeau Morgan. She's your fraternal twin sister."

She released Sam and sat back on the bed as she picked up the kitten. "I knew this would happen. I don't mean to say I told you so, but…" She let her sentence fade.

"I told you so." Sam finished her sentence for her.

Isabeau flinched even as he said the words. "I'm sorry, Beau. I really am."

Sam nodded not responding.

"Mom still has some breakfast saved for you. She knew you'd sleep late your first day home. It's in the stove." She placed the kitten on the floor and stood. "Gotta go. Eric is taking me to the gym." She walked to the door then stopped, and turned to him once more. "I really am sorry." She glanced down at the kitten who nuzzled on Sam's feet. "Come on, Al, I'll feed you before I leave."

Both the kitten and Al perked at their name being called. Sam felt the laughter coming up inside him. He caught it in his throat, making only a choked sound: "Ummph."

Isabeau had left the room and they could hear the calling of "here, kitty-kitty" only to watch as the kitten raced out of the room. Al turned to Sam who sat smiling. "Don't." He pointed a finger toward him. "Just don't."

Sam stifled his laughter then questioned, "Do know anything about Kassaundra?"

Al punched an inquiry to the hand link, his eyebrows raised in interest. "Her name is Kassaundra Wellington. She was Beau's girlfriend through high school. They were engaged to be married after they graduated from college. But that's all we got …" The hand link squealed loudly. Al's bushy eyebrows knitted together from the data he saw. "Ziggy found a news article in the Temple paper. It says that Kassaundra Wellington was mugged January 30, 1985 and was severely cut and found by police in an alley. She was rushed to Scott and White and she was in stable condition."

"I wonder if Beau knows about it."

"No data."

"But she's okay, right?"

Al questioned Ziggy. "Oh yeah, obviously she's fine or she wouldn't have found someone else, now would she?" Al placed the hand link in his pocket. "So, what do you plan to do?"

"I'm not sure, Al. Guess I should go see her."

Beau slowly woke. He stretched his limbs and relaxed again wondering if he could return to sleep. He had the strangest dream. An attractive brunette named Sammy Jo had been asking him questions about himself and there were things he just couldn't remember. Ridiculous. He grinned as he opened his eyes.

His grin faded as he saw the familiar high blue ceiling. It wasn't a dream. He sat up quickly feeling fully awake. He glanced around the room. He was alone. H nervously licked his lips and took a better look around the room.

On closer observation, the only other object in the room was a rectangular frame with leaned against the far wall by the flight of stairs. Curious as it what it was, he stood and made his way to the stairway. He glanced around fleetingly. He wasn't sure what was going on, wherever he was, but he was going to be wary of others.

He studied the rectangular frame. He knew that what he was looking at was the back of a picture or mirror. Mirror? He quickly turned it around and leaned it up against the wall. A mirror. 'Why would they keep a mirror in this room?' he thought to himself as he glanced at the image in the mirror.

He blinked unbelievingly. The image he saw in the mirror wasn't his own. The image was of an older man, somewhere in his early forties with brown hair and green eyes. He shook his head slowly, and the image mimicked him. "Oh shit." He ran his hand through his hair and again the image mirrored him. "Sammy Jo!" He took a few steps backward, stumbled and fell on his rear.

Sammy Jo raced down the stairway and went to his aid. Instead of helping him up, however, he pulled her down to him.

"What in the hell is going on here? You told me I'd be safe." His glance flickered from the woman he held to the mirror. The older man's image was still present. "That is suppose to be me in that mirror not… not him."

"Beau, listen to me. You are in a delicate situation."

"Delicate?" he questioned sarcastically as his grip tightened. "Yeah, I guess you can say that."

"Please, Beau, you're hurting me. Please, let go." He released his hold slightly but still held her. "Listen, what I'm about to tell you is going to sound far fetched but it is the Gods honest truth. Okay?" He nodded mutely. "All right. You're in a time travel experiment that has gone a little out of kilter. You have been . . ."

"Wait. Did you say time travel? Time travel as in H. G. Wells type of thing?"

"Not quite." Sammy Jo sighed. Usually Verbena handled the explanation if they had to come to that point. But with Verbena away for the next hour, Sammy Jo knew that she was going to have to explain the situation in a calm, rational manner. "If you can remember, H. G. Wells wrote of a man making an actual time machine that he rode. In our quantum physics experiment, a good friend of ours got trapped in time. The result is that you've switched places."

"Wait." Beau said as he raised his hand to her. "Switched places? What do you mean? He's in my body and I'm in his?" He had seen movies where the characters had switched places and had made messes out of each other's lives and had learned a lesson from it. But this? This wasn't a movie. The image in the mirror proved that to him. He stole a glance to the man in the mirror. 'Would he make a mess of my life,' he thought.

Knowing that talking about auras and the quantum leaping process would probably get all jumbled in his mind, Sammy Jo just let it go. "Well, uh, yes," Sammy Jo replied not knowing exactly how he would react. "He has to take care of a few things. Once he does that, you'll switch back and you probably won't remember anything about it." Of course, she wasn't quite sure of that last part, but she had remembered the Admiral saying it before to one of their visitors.

"What things?"

Sammy Jo began to feel the pressure that she was sure the Admiral felt at all times. She slumped just a little as she said, "I don't know. We're trying to figure that out. That's why I was asking you questions last night. We needed information from you."

"And once you figure it out and he does whatever he needs to do, I'll switch back. Right?" Sammy Jo nodded. "And when I switch back everything will be fine, right?"

She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped. "Not always, but mostly everything goes back okay. Usually, it's better than it was before."

Better than it was before. Beau let go of Sammy Jo and sat back. How could this be? Switching places, time travel? It all sounded preposterous but the evidence of the reality stared back at him from the mirror.

"Well, who's he?" he asked looking at the older man in the mirror.

"That I, uh, I can't tell you." Beau turned to Sammy Jo as he raised his eyebrow curiously. "If we succeed in getting you back, you may remember."

Beau chewed on his lower lip wonderingly. He was stuck in the man's body and this older man was stuck in his body. The only way to restore things to normal is to answer questions they ask. 'If they need information,' he thought, 'what harm could it do?'

His gaze went to the image in the mirror. He closed his eyes and sighed only to turn back to Sammy Jo. "Look, I want to get back home, so, uh, I'll do the best I can to remember."

"That's all we're asking, Beau." Sammy Jo placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and gave a slight grin. "That's all we're asking."