A/N- Honestly, I think this chapter is my favorite chapter in the entire story, and am anxiously awaiting your thoughts on it. Please review!

PippinDuck- Thanks! I really hope you like this chapter, and I'm glad you liked the paragraph about Al! Sorry there wasn't much more of him in the story. This was mainly because Alia doesn't interact with him that much, and because I don't think I can write Al very well. I think more like Sam does, most of the time. :-)

Deranged Lunatic- No, I won't be going into the next movie/series. The next chapter of this story will be the last. I'm not including the new movie/series for many reasons. First, because it hasn't come out yet, so I don't know what happens in it. Second, because I really doubt that a remake will make it very far, no matter how much I'd like it to. And third, because this story will sort of serve as an alternative to a new movie/series: it fits with the old one, but I don't think anyone is considering going in this direction with the new one. Thanks for reviewing!

Korean Pearl- Um, you really thought that line was beautiful? I think you might have highlighted the wrong lines, or something… go check that review again. :grins: And I'm not quite sure what you mean by continue. I don't think I'm going to continue with Alia, if that's what you mean. But I will still be writing fanfiction, although none of my works are even near being finished at this time.

TesubCalle- Well, actually it isn't Alia that's setting something right… read on, and you'll see what I mean.

PS- Please excuse this author's lack of knowledge on how one goes about signing up for a top-secret project… as I've never had the opportunity to join one, I had to use my imagination with that part.

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Chapter 22- Righting the Wrongs

I've heard it said

That people come into our lives

For a reason, bringing something we must learn

And we are led to those who help us most to grow

If we let them, and we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true,

But I know I'm who I am today because I knew you…

-For Good, from the musical Wicked.

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The jolt of my body hitting the floor awoke me, synchronizing with the beeping of my alarm clock. Dizzily, I sat up, grabbing on to the side of the bed. I must have had one heck of a dream to throw me out of bed like that.

Frowning, I stood up. I couldn't remember much of my dream, but a part of it seemed to be a nightmare… that must have been what caused me to fall out of bed.

Time-travel had been a part of the dream, I remembered.

Then I understood. I was nervous. And who wouldn't be, on the morning of a job interview that might very well change the course of your life? I laughed nervously, trying to release some of my tension, but it didn't work. Would they accept me, or was this just another hopeless dream of mine? Maybe a warm shower would help.

It didn't, and neither did fixing my favorite breakfast. The clichéd 'butterflies in your stomach' seemed to have resided in mine, and nothing tasted good.

Glancing at the clock, I realized I only had a few minutes to spare. The drive was a long one, and I didn't want to be late for this interview. Renee had warned me that all positions on this Project could have been filled by now, but I could still hope- and getting to the office building early might give me a positive edge.

I went back into my bedroom to grab my coat, and when I turned around, I glimpsed a flash of blue coming from the front room. Had I accidentally turned the TV on, or had one of the light bulbs gone out? I didn't think either of those situations could cause as bright a flash as I had seen, though. Cautiously, I walked towards the front room.

And found a stranger in it.

The man was dressed in a white polo shirt and brown slacks. He looked like the everyday sort of guy you see on the streets, and I wouldn't have been afraid of him- had I not found him in my locked apartment. He had light brown hair that was beginning to gray near the left temple, and the most confused expression I had ever seen on his face.

Then he noticed me, and a shock of surprise seemed to sweep over him. "Alia?"

Unfreezing from my shock, I reached for the nearest weapon I could find- a thick book. Belatedly, I realized it wasn't as thick as I would have liked, and wouldn't ward off an intruder for very long. I had never been interested in flowers, and hadn't kept any around the house, but a vase might have come in very handy right about now.

I held the book in front of me, trying to look menacing, but barely managed to squeak out, "Who are you?" Did I… was it possible I had a stalker?

He frowned in confusion. "Alia, it's me! It's Sam…" He trailed off as he realized I had no idea what he was talking about.

"What are you doing in my apartment? And, more importantly, how did you get in?"

"I'm, uh, I'm here to help you… I think."

"You think?"

He glanced helplessly at the ceiling, then back at me. "Look, this… this isn't what it looks like."

"Then what is it?" I took a step closer, feeling a bit braver, and he backed off.

"Could you just put the book down, and we could talk about this?"

"Not until you tell me why you're here."

He seemed about to laugh at that, but I saw nothing funny about the situation. He changed his mind and held his hands up. "I told you, I'm here to help you."

He said it with such conviction that I lowered my book slightly. "Help me do what?"

"I, um, I'm not sure. But honestly, I'm not going to hurt you."

Strangely, I believed him. He had an honest look about him, and I felt I could trust him. Slowly, I replaced my book on the table I had grabbed it from.

"Okay."

He looked taken aback, as if he hadn't expected it to be that easy. Then, cautiously, he said, "Okay, uh, what year is it?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Who put you up to this? Was it Renee? Or… or are you really a stalker?"

"What?" He didn't seem to understand how we had gotten from the year to stalkers.

"It was Renee, wasn't it? She's the only one who knows how much I like time-travel stories. And because of that job interview I have today, she thought I'd buy it… nice try."

"What makes you think I'm a time-traveler?" He asked nervously.

"I don't think you are. I think this is a very elaborate prank."

He seemed relieved at that. "Ah, well…" Then he frowned. "What did you say about a job interview?"

"Um…" I hadn't meant to say so much. I shouldn't have, really. The only reason I was even getting interviewed at all was because Renee had been involved with the Project. If she hadn't been, I wouldn't even have known about it. And I couldn't just tell a stranger who appeared in my house about a secret government experiment. "It's nothing. Nothing at all, really…"

"No, tell me," he said, intensely.

I wavered for a moment. I really shouldn't say anything, but something told me to trust him. I passed him the form I was to turn in when I arrived at the office building that day, unsure if I was doing the right thing.

He skimmed it briefly, then his eyes widened. He glanced up at me in amazement. "You… you tried to get on my Project?" I stared at him, confused, and he hastily corrected himself. "I mean, uh, I recognize this identification number. They're working on time-travel, aren't they?"

Uneasy, I asked, "How did you know that?"

"I, uh, work with the government a bit."

I wasn't quite convinced that was the whole truth, but I let it be. "Well, yes, actually. You're right. I… I've loved the concept of time travel ever since I was a little girl. I thought… being there, when… if… they ever perfect it, would be something to be proud of. It would be my dream." I smiled a small smile. "Even if I'm just given a small job, like a secretary, or even a janitor, it would still be pretty amazing."

"Yeah, it would be," he said. Then, more intensely, "But how did you know about this… project?"

"I have a friend. Renee. She's really smart, and somehow she got a job with these people. She knows I've always dreamed of time-travel, so she pulled a few strings and got me an interview."

He frowned, concentrating. "Alia, does the name Lothos mean anything to you?"

"Lothos?" I tried the word out on my tongue, but it was unfamiliar.

"Or Zoey?"

"No," I said with conviction. "I've never known anyone named Zoey, and certainly no one named Lothos. Why?"

"Nothing. Just… it's nothing."

"Okay…" I glanced uneasily at my watch. "Look, whoever you are, this interview is really important to me. I really have to get going. If you won't admit this is a prank, fine, but I'm not staying here." I looked at him levelly. "And neither are you."

He seemed to make up his mind then. "I'll go with you."

That was not quite the answer I had been hoping for. "I… really, I just met you this morning. I can't…" I began to walk out the door, not even trying to finish my sentence.

"What if I told you I could get you this job, for certain?"

I stopped. Turned around slowly. "What do you mean?"

"I have a little more pull than your friend Renee probably has. I know for certain they've filled out the positions for this Project already, and if you go there now, you'll never get in." He gazed at me intensely. "But if I asked them to, they'd probably be willing to let one more person on staff."

I began to tremble. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I think… I think this is what I've been sent here to do." He smiled half-heartedly. "And my gut instinct is rarely wrong."

Was he telling the truth? I didn't even know him, and yet… he seemed familiar. A flash, and I recognized him. He'd been in my dream last night. He'd protected me from someone, something bad.

You can trust him.

"Okay," I said finally. "I don't know why I'm doing this, but… okay. It's a two hour drive, though," I added.

The half-hearted smile grew into a full-grown grin. "I don't mind," he said as we exited the apartment.

When we reached the car, I stopped. "Hey, uh, what did you say your name was? You already seemed to know mine."

"I'm Sam. Sam…" He paused, reconsidering. "Well, just Sam."

"Okay, Just Sam. Pleased to meet you."

He insisted on driving, and I was still too nervous to disagree. Halfway there, I realized I hadn't even given him directions to the building, but he was going the right way anyway. And I began to wonder…

At first I'd thought it was just a trick played on me by Renee, but she hadn't appeared, and I remembered- she was in New Mexico by now, already working on the Project. Was he a guardian angel? He'd appeared in my apartment in a flash of blue light, said he was there to help me, and he seemed to know about me… Samuel was even a Biblical name.

I had turned the radio up at the beginning of the trip so that we wouldn't have to talk, I'd had no idea what to say, but now I turned it down again. Sam glanced at me.

"What, don't like that song?"

"No, it's just that… no." I took a breath. "Who are you?"

"I told you already. I'm Sam."

"No, I mean…" Just say it, Alia. "Are you an angel?"

He chuckled softly to himself. "Angel Sam and Angel Al."

"What?"

"Nothing, just something I heard from someone. But no, I'm not an angel."

"Then what are you?"

"A friend."

He wasn't willing to talk more on the topic, it seemed, so I switched tactics. "So do you believe its possible?"

"What's possible?"

"What they're working on. Time-travel."

He glanced out the window for a long time before answering. "Yes. It's possible. Did you ever hear of the String Theory?"

"No," I said, suddenly interested. "What's that?"

"They're using it to explain time-travel. Say your life is like a string. One end is your birth, the other, your death. If you tie the ends together, your life is a loop. Then you can ball the loop, and the days and years of your life touch each other, but out of sequence. So you can Leap from one part of your life to the other."

I thought about that. "What about farther back? To before you were born?"

"Theoretically, its impossible."

"Too bad. I guess we'll never get to see the dinosaurs."

He laughed. "It seems pretty unlikely." He paused. "Why did you want to travel in time, Alia? What makes this so important for you?"

Now it was my turn to look outside the window. "I… I don't know. I guess it's always been an obsession for me. There's really nothing my past I want to visit anyway…" I laughed mirthlessly. "If I could change the past, I'd probably change things so that my parents split up sooner. Seeing as I wouldn't be able to change who my parents actually were, anyway."

Sam glanced at me, concerned. "Why would you want your parents to split up earlier?"

"So I wouldn't have to grow up with my dad. He was an alcoholic, and… well, you get the picture," I said, not wanting to talk about it more.

"What happened?" He persisted, and I sighed.

"It's not like he hit me. He just… he told me I'd never be important, I sure wasn't important to him." A lump rose in my throat, and for a minute I forgot I was talking to a stranger.

Sam thought about that for a while. "So you decided to join something important to prove to yourself, and your father, that you really were important."

"No!" I said, a little too hastily. "It's just… no. I'm interested in the topic, that's all. That's all." I could see he wasn't convinced, but he let the subject drop. I turned up the radio again, and there was no more conversation for the duration of the car trip.

We pulled into the city finally, drove into a parking garage, and stepped out of the car. Sam hurried to open my door for me.

"Thanks," I said, a little too shyly.

The interview was scheduled to take place on the seventh floor of the office building, so up we went. Then we spent fifteen minutes just sitting around, waiting for someone to see us. I guessed that getting there early didn't matter after all.

Finally we were admitted into an office. A man in an important-looking suit and tie continued to fill out papers while speaking in a monotone voice, not looking up at us. "Miss Heaton, I regret to inform you that all positions for this Project have been filled. Since you have already signed the legal forms necessary for you to even know about this Project, and have agreed to keep the information secret, there is nothing more for us to do here. Remember, if you take your story to the media, you can and will be arrested. Thank you for your time today."

I glanced at Sam desperately. Now what?

He leaned forward, placing his hands on the desk, forcing the man to look up. The man's expression started out as annoyed, then melted into awe as he looked at Sam. I was confused.

"She's a last minute addition to the Project," Sam said smoothly. "We couldn't contact her on time for the original applications, but now that she's here I figured we could get this all cleared up."

The man looked very startled. "I'm… I'm sorry, Dr. Beckett, I had no idea about this… is she a personal friend of yours?"

It took all the acting skill I had acquired not to drop my jaw and just stare at him for about a year. Renee had told me who she was going to be working with, and I'd seen his picture about a million times on the cover of science magazines… but I hadn't even recognized him. I kept my face blank, thankfully.

"Yes," he answered

The man glanced at me a bit skeptically. "What position is she going to fill, sir?"

"She's going to be my secretary."

"You never asked for a secretary."

"Well, I am now. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No, Doctor. Nothing at all. There are just some forms you will need to fill out… and we'll have to make arrangements for her to move to the Project…"

It was all so easy. I couldn't believe it. We filled out about a mile of paperwork that afternoon, but it was worth it. It was definitely worth it.

By the end of the afternoon, they had looked up my records, saw that I was an upstanding citizen so far, and booked me a flight for New Mexico. It was going to be in the next two days, but for some reason Sam went white at that and insisted on delaying the flight for a week. I had no idea why, but I guess because he was a genius they humored him. Finally, it was done.

As we walked outside the building, I turned to him. I was about to ask where he came from, why he wanted me for his Project, and why the heck didn't he tell me he was the Project Director in the first place? But there wasn't any time. He was looking behind me at someone, and I turned around.

There was a woman in a business suit there. She had short red hair and more make-up than was prudent, but there was nothing outstanding about her. Yet Sam was staring at her as if she were a tiger waiting to pounce.

As we passed her, he put his arm around me protectively. The woman gave us a strange look as we passed, but then ignored us and went about her business. Sam hurried me away.

"What was that for?" I whispered, shrugging myself out from under his arm.

"Nothing," he said, looking embarrassed. "It was nothing. Just a feeling."

I glanced back at the lady. Looking again, I thought that maybe he was right… there was something in her eyes, they way she searched the crowd… maybe it was good we'd avoided her.

We reached the parking garage finally, and stood next to the car. Before I could open it, Sam said, "Well, I guess this is it."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"It's time for me to go."

"But… you just got here." I couldn't explain the feeling I was getting, that if he left, I'd never see him again…

"I know. I never stay in one place long." He smiled, but it was a tired smile. "I did what I was supposed to do. I helped you achieve your dream."

"But there's just so many things that I need to ask you…"

He laughed, then, and said, "And with luck, you'll be able to ask them. But not now." Bending down slightly, he kissed me lightly on the forehead and turned away.

"Sam…" I called helplessly as he walked slowly down the line of cars, towards the edge of light. Then a flash of blue light enveloped him, and electricity seemed to course through his body, and Sam vanished.

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"What's going on here, Al? Huh? What's going on?"

"I don't know, somehow we've lost two days!"

"What, are you telling me that none of this ever happened?"

"No, I'm not, Ziggy is telling the both of us."

"Where's Alia?"

"She's…she's gone."

"She's not gone, Al. Alia is not gone." –From 'Deliver Us From Evil', Sam and Al.