PART THREE
Sam wandered down the stairs to the kitchen with Al in tow. He looked in the oven and pulled out the plate Beau's mother had made for him: eggs, bacon and toast. Al watched in agony as Sam began to eat.
"Being a hologram is horrible. I never get to eat anything that's been home cooked," Al moaned.
"Hmmm." Sam began. "Al, what do you think I should do about Kassaundra."
"You need to get Beau and Kassaundra back together," Al said looking at Sam with a weird look.
Sam's shoulders slumped and he shook his head slowly. "You know what I mean. How do you think that I should approach her?" Knowing Al's highly sexual oriented mind, Sam knew he would respond with something sexual. Yet, he was surprised by Al's response.
"Call her."
Sam's eyebrows rose as he glanced at Al over his glass of milk. It wasn't like Al to not get in a sexual innuendo whenever he could.
"Yeah, give her a call. You could ask her if you could come over and talk, because this isn't something to yak about over the phone." Al nodded to himself with his lips pursed. He looked at Sam with wisdom.
"Okay," Sam agreed. "I'll call her." Sam nibbled thoughtfully on his toast and looked at Al. "Al, do you know the last time that they've seen each other? That letter had said a long distance relationship. I'm just wondering how long is long?"
Al consulted the handlink. "According to Beau, it sounds like they haven't seen each other since Christmas. It's May now. Wow. That's at least five months of not seeing someone. I bet he was really looking forward to seeing her."
"Yeah. What a way to find out that she doesn't want to marry him, huh?"
"Yep." Al fell into silence as he thought about the time that he and Beth had almost gotten a divorce. In the first eight years of their marriage, they had only spent two months of it together because of separate assignments. He knew how spending months apart hurt a relationship, but every time that he was able to see her, he was always amazed at how their love grew stronger.
Once finished with his breakfast, Sam took his dishes to the kitchen sink and rinsed them. He then looked up Kassaundra's telephone number and dialed the number. The phone rang a couple of times. Just as he was about to hang up, someone answered.
"Wellington residence," A male voice answered.
Sam glanced at Al who was eyeing the family's entertainment center as he said, "May I please speak with Kassaundra?"
"I'll see if she is available. May I ask who's calling?"
"Sa…Beau…Beau Morgan." Sam responded. He rolled his eyes at his own remark. They didn't need to know Beau's last name, he was almost their son-in-law.
"I'm glad you back, Beau," the voice brightened. "I'll get Kassaundra. One moment."
"Thanks," Sam said as he heard the phone being set down. He wondered what he should say. Should he sound angry? Sad? What? The only thing he was feeling at the moment was confusion.
"Hello?" a soft angelic voice asked.
"Kassaundra."
"Beau." She sounded very pensive.
"May I come over so we can talk about a few things?" Sam began.
"Sam, you're being to evasive. If you want to get them back together, you've got to be more blunt than that," Al said as he came to his side.
"Look, Kassaundra, I found your letter on my dresser. I would like the chance to see if we could still be together. Please, may I come over?"
"I don't think that would be wise, Beau," Kassaundra stated anxiously. "There's really nothing to discuss. What's done is done."
"What's done is done?" Sam questioned back amazed. He blinked confused. "This can't be done, Kassaundra. I …"
"Go on, Sam. Tell her that Beau loves her," Al prodded.
"I love you."
"Beau…" Kassaundra started.
"No. Listen to me. I love you. Please, let me come and see you so we can talk this out. Please."
"I'm sorry, Beau, but there's nothing to talk about." Sam could hear the choking back of tears in her voice. "I'm sorry. I've got to go."
"Kassaundra, wait."
"Goodbye, Beau."
"Kassaundra?" Sam heard the dial tone in his ear and slowly placed the receiver on the hook. "Damn." He grabbed the telephone book and looked up her name again.
"What are you doing, Sam?"
Sam looked at the address beside her name in the book and said, "Going to go win her back."
Al nodded and looked at the handlink in his hand. He pulled up the Imaging Chamber door. "Listen, Sam…I'll be right back. I need to check on something." Sam nodded as Al stepped back into the Imaging Room and closed the door.
The dilemma of the other leap was still on Al's mind. He couldn't quite understand why Sam would leap into to someone's life for only a few minutes and be able to save them from an untimely death. He just couldn't comprehend it. He ran his teeth over his bottom lip and went to the Waiting Room.
Once there, he stopped inside the door as he saw Beau sitting on the bed swinging his legs lazily. He looked completely bored and Al approached him with a slight grin. "Hello, Beau."
"Hello, Al. Any progress in getting me home?"
"We're trying Beau. We really are." Al accessed the handlink wanting to be able to add any information that he could for when he went back to Sam. "All right, Beau. I need you to try to remember something for me."
"Okay, I'll try." Beau leaned forward on his knees looking at Al now with interest.
"Did you know that Kassaundra had been mugged?"
Beau's face fell. His mouth opened and his eyes blinked dumbfounded at Al. "Kassaundra was mugged? When? By whom? I'll kill him. I swear to God, I'll kill him. Did she get hurt?" Beau hopped off of the bed and grabbed on to Al's arm.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on there, Beau. Kassaundra was mugged back in January. She didn't tell you in any letters or anything?"
"No. She didn't. I don't know why she didn't tell me that. She usually confides in me about everything. We tell each other everything, Al. Was she hurt?"
"The police report said that yes she was hurt, but that she's fine now."
Beau nodded and sighed as he let go of Al's arm. He shook his head confused. "I don't understand, Al. Why didn't she tell me?"
"I bet that she didn't want you to worry about her, Beau."
"I guess so." Beau sat back down on the bed with a concerned look on his face.
"Beau, tell me something. If you knew that there was a chance that you could lose Kassaundra to someone else, what would you tell her?"
"Lose Kassaundra?" Beau's mind went into overdrive. "Are you telling me that this guy," Beau pointed to his body, "has done something to where I've lost my relationship with Kassie? Please don't tell me that, Al."
"I'm not saying that, Beau. Tell me about Kassie."
"She is the most beautiful person there is. Gorgeous dark blue eyes, petite nose, great figure, but that's not only it, Al. She is the most kindest person, sweetest, loving person around. She has a positive attitude on life. Ya know, I fell in love with her body at first, I mean, who wouldn't. But, her inner beauty makes her glow. Last November, she went to go to a modeling agency and they said that there was a chance. She's awesome. I love her. I love her more and more every time I get a letter, or a card. She expresses her love to me in so many ways, Al, it scares me to even think of losing her."
Al thought of Beth back in his quarters as Beau talked. "I do understand what you're saying Beau." Al took a few steps back toward the door and said, "Thanks Beau. That's all I needed to know."
Sam pulled Beau's 1983 dark blue Mustang into the Wellington's driveway and sat there a moment before turning off the ignition. He knew what he had to do – to get them back on the right track again. He was very nervous as how to handle the situation. Nodding to himself, he opened the car door just as Al popped in beside him, startling him. "Gosh, I really wish you wouldn't pop in beside me like that," Sam said as he shut the door.
"When you tell me how to fade in carbon-quartz, then I won't startle you anymore. You'd think that you'd be used to that by now," Al said with a small grin on his face.
Sam gave him a sideways glance and shook his head slowly. He looked up at the Wellington household and sighed. As he ambled up the sidewalk to the door, Al briefed Sam on what Beau had just told him in the waiting room. He then rang the doorbell and looked at Al who bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, his hands deep in his pockets.
A moment later, the door opened to reveal a tall, muscular gentleman who looked to be about twenty-seven years old. He positioned himself in the doorway, almost acting as a blockade between Sam and the household itself.
"Beau."
"Ahm…" Sam began as he looked toward Al for help for a name.
"Derrick Wellington," Al said quickly as he accessed the handlink. "He's Kassaundra's brother."
"Derrick is Kassaundra home?"
"Kassaundra doesn't want to see you, Beau. She just told me that you tried to call her awhile ago. Don't you get the hint? She doesn't want to see you." Derrick's tone turned harsh as if Sam was the one to blame for the relationship failing.
"I need to talk to her. I can't let her go without even trying to fix whatever needs to be fixed. I can fix this." Sam wasn't sure what this he was referring to, but he needed to see her to try to fix it.
Derrick smirked at him. "You were the one that found someone else. And you expect her to come running back into your arms after you slept with someone else? I don't think so. You need to leave."
Sam glanced at Al confused. If this is what happened, this shed new light onto the whole situation. Sam didn't know what to say. He felt like a jerk as his mind began to run over new information. He glanced down toward the floor his mind going into overdrive trying to desperately think of what he needed to do.
"Sam, Sam, there she is." Al pointed in between Derrick's massive arms at a figure that was moving in the room. "That's Kassaundra."
Sam looked around Derrick's mass to see the slim figure trying to escape the room. Knowing that he probably couldn't get through Derrick without a fight, he called out to her hoping that hearing Beau's voice in the doorway would stop her. "Kassaundra, please. Talk with me."
"Don't you get it?" Derrick asked shifting his body weight to where Sam couldn't see Kassaundra anymore. "You've hurt her enough. Go home, Beau."
Sam found a newfound determination. "Move, Derrick."
Derrick's head bobbed back surprised at Beau's change in attitude. He smirked again as he took a step toward Sam intending for his size alone to rid himself of this pest. Sam took a step back as well knowing that he was going to have to do whatever it took so that he could see her. He mentally prepared himself for the oncoming fight.
"Come on, Sam, give him a flying noodle kick and go and talk to Kassaundra," Al responded as he glanced inside to see her look toward the door.
"The fight's not with you, Derrick," Sam said as he held his ground making sure that he was still in sight of the doorway. He knew now how he'd get to see Kassaundra, and he wasn't looking forward to it at all.
Derrick stepped up just as he reared back with his right hand. He swung with a force that felt like a sledge hammer as it hit Sam's head popping it back. Sam staggered from the blow and shook his head trying to fight off the dizzy spell that was overtaking him. "Well, it is now."
"Sam! What are you doing?" Al said in complete confusion. He turned away from the door and went to Sam. "Hit him and go talk with her."
Sam looked at Al just as Derrick's fist came up again and slammed into his jaw, making him crumble on the sidewalk. Al's mouth fell open. "That wasn't fair! You weren't looking at him, Sam. Come on, get up and fight this nozzle!" In his hand, the handlink squealed. Al looked down and begins to read the information it is giving to him.
"Stop it!" A feminine voice says from the doorway. "Derrick, stop it."
Derrick turns and goes to her quickly. "Kassie… go back inside. I've got this taken care of out here. He won't ever bother you again."
Slowly Sam picked himself off the sidewalk and looked in her direction. Derrick was still blocking the way to his goal. 'I really don't want to get hit again,' he thought to himself as he began to go up the sidewalk to him.
"Sam… ahm, there's something here that I need to tell you about Kassaundra. Remember when I told you that she was mugged? There's more to it that Ziggy just found out in another article from the Temple Times. Ahm…"
Derrick moved to the side as he talked quietly with Kassaundra about taking care of her. Sam could plainly see the right side of her face. His mouth fell open as he looked upon her.
"The mugger," Al continued, "had taken the knife he used to hold her up with and proceeded to cut an actual V into her face. The police report said that it started from the right side of her face right below her temple went down her cheek to her chin and back up the other side. The report also said that the knife that was used was serrated so that the cuts weren't even clean neat cuts." Al couldn't look at her. "Ohmigod, Sam. The papers in the Times said that she was going to be a model. I bet she was so beautiful."
Sam couldn't take his eyes away from her. "She still is."
"What did you say punk?" Derrick said as he turned to Sam. Derrick saw how Sam was staring at his sister and took two steps to reach him. He picked him up by his shirt collar, but Sam was still able to see Kassaundra and couldn't take his eyes off of her.
Kassaundra finally turned fully to face Sam and her brother. "Derrick, I said stop." Kassaundra laid her hand on her brother's arm resulting in Derrick placing Sam back down. "Go on, Derrick, I can handle this, okay?"
Derrick laid a kiss on her forehead. "If you need me sis, just holler." He leered at Sam then went back into the house.
Kassaundra looked down and away from Sam. She couldn't fully meet his intent gaze. He knew immediately that this had nothing to do with another person in her life or in Beau's life. This had to do with the scarring that was left on her face. She lifted one delicate eyebrow and shifted her long black hair behind her ear. "So, have you had your fill yet?"
Sam knew that she was talking about his stare. He couldn't help it. She was breathtaking. Her physique was one that most women craved for, an almost perfect "Barbie" figure, the long thick black as ebony hair, the full lips, the long eyelashes, the high cheekbones, petite nose, -- the perfect models package. Sam was sure even as he knew his physics, that her personality was the plus to the package. Beau may have first fallen for the outside package, but the inside was probably more beautiful than the outside.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me that this happened?" Sam put his index finger under her chin to make her look at him. "Why?"
"Who'd want a scarred freak?" She turned away from him and quickly walked toward the door.
Sam caught up with her just as Al turned around. Listening to their conversation, Al quickly caught on to where Sam was going. Sam stopped her from entering the house, turning her slightly to face him. "I do."
"So you do think I'm a freak."
"No!" Sam stated emphatically. "You aren't a freak, Kassaundra. You are so beautiful." Sam reached up to caress her cheek. She turned away from his caresses.
Al popped in behind Sam to look at Kassaundra for the first time. He blinked in awe. He was shocked at her beauty more than by the scars that threatened it. "You're right, Sam. She is beautiful."
"Please leave, Beau. There's nothing to our relationship anymore." Kassaundra went inside the house and Sam followed close behind her.
"I'm not going anywhere, Kassie. I know that somewhere here is our relationship and I'm going to find it here with you," Sam said the words very gently as he followed her through the living room. He walked behind her as she went through the kitchen and out the back door to the porch. "Don't you understand, Kassie, that I fell in love with the person inside as well as the person on the outside?"
"You can't expect me to believe that," Kassaundra said as she sat down on the porch swing.
Sam knelt down in front of her and took her hand just as Al popped in beside him. "Okay. You're right. I did fall for the beautiful young woman in high school. I did. You took my breath away. Hell, you took everyone's breath away and yet, you chose to date me. I know that I'm not God's gift to women, but I can hold my own. But still, you choose me over all the other guys." Sam took her other hand in his as he looked up into her face. "And since then, I've fallen so much more in love with you. You told me your secrets. You put your trust in me and I put mine in yours. Being away from you and getting your letters, I was able to learn so much more… love so much more. I …"
Kassaundra's eyes began to tear up and she quickly took her hands away from him and walked toward the gazebo that stood about ten feet away from the house. Al stood up beside Sam as he stood. "You're getting to her, Sam. Since we know that Beau doesn't know about the scars, I'll go tell him about them." Al pulled the Imaging Chamber door open with a push of a button on the handlink and waved to Sam. "Good luck, Sam."
Sam nodded to him and listened as the Imaging Chamber door closed behind him as he walked up to Kassaundra in the gazebo. He went to stand in front of her so that she could look into his eyes. "Kassie, look at my eyes, please."
Kassaundra looked into his eyes and saw them begin to tear up as well. "I'll make this easy for you. If you can look me in the eyes and honestly tell me that you don't love me anymore, that you don't want to see me anymore, then I'll walk out of here right now, and never bother you again."
Kassaundra looked into his eyes and her bottom lip began to quiver as her emotions began to take the better of her. Tears began to cascade down her cheeks. She looked away from him, but Sam brought her face back up with his hands, making her look back into his eyes once more. "I… I love you, Beau."
Sam took her into his embrace and hugged her deeply. "I love you, too." Suddenly, Sam turned sideways to see someone coming up to them dressed in an officers uniform and released his hold on her.
"Jacob," Kassaundra said as he approached wiping the tears away.
Officer Hendson smiled at her as he gave her a quick hug. "We've got some good news, Kassie. We arrested the "slayer" this afternoon. We've got him and he's confessed to doing this to you and to mugging a lot of other people. He's going to be put away for a long time."
Sam looked at Officer Hendson oddly. "Have we met before?"
Officer Hendson shook his head negatively. "I don't believe we have son. I'm Jacob Hendson. My partner, David Mitchell and I were the officers that found Kassie when she had first been mugged. If I hadn't been there, she'd have died."
Sam recalled the previous leap just as the enveloping feeling came upon him. His extremities tingled as he took the officer's hand in his. "Thank you, Officer." And he leapt.