Author's Note. I don't own Sam, Al, or Ziggy, Donald Bellasario does. The BBC owns Rose, Jackie, Jack, Mickey the Idiot, and the Doctor. And the Tardis. No infringement etc. and so on is meant. Just enjoyment.

2005

As the blue-white light faded, Sam suffered a moment's disorientation, but he was used to it. He had leaped again, and he had a feeling he was not back in his own body yet. Hopefully, Al would show up soon and tell him what to do so he could leap out. He glanced around the room to try and figure out who he was in the meantime.

Suddenly, a North England accent sliced across his scrambled awareness. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Ricky the Idiot? Not that I mind losing him, but that's a strange transmat, and if someone is about to try and kill me, I'd like to know who it is."

"Er - Kill you?" Sam blinked.

"What're you goin' on about," a female cockney accent screeched. "That's Mickey. Don't know why you keep callin' 'im Ricky, but whatcha talking about, transmat and all?"

Another male voice, one that sounded almost American chimed in, "I notice you don't dispute the idiot claim. But, the Doc's right. That is NOT Mickey."

Sam looked around. "Oh boy," slipped out as he stared at the group around him. They were in a living room. Where he did not know yet. A blonde girl was looking at him warily. Across the room, an older blonde, perhaps the other one's mother, was staring with her hands on her hips, at a leather jacketed man of indeterminate age. A second guy in a white tee-shirt and jeans stood in a relaxed fashion holding a strange weapon pointed straight at Sam.

"Of course I'm Ricky, - er - Mickey," Sam protested.

"Yeah? Then why don't you look like him, and if you are him, then who are we?" the one in the leather coat asked then smiled.

"Er – ah - "

"For that matter, who's that?" his inquisitor demanded, pointing.

Beside Sam, a loudly dressed older man was standing, holding a link box. As it dawned on Al that someone could see him, the hologram gulped. "Er- Sam, we got trouble," he whispered. "I think they see me."

"See what?" the older woman demanded again, stamping her foot.

"Jackie Tyler, SHUT UP," the one in leather sighed. Then, a manic grin appeared again. "I just love saying that."

"Mum, that is NOT Mickey," the blonde insisted. "But, Doctor, why can you, Jack, and I see him an' 'im, and Mum can't?"

"The Tardis," the one called Doctor explained. "Remember when we were around the aliens, Rose, and you could understand them? Same thing here. The Tardis lets you see things as they are. Yer Mum's not been in the Tardis, so she doesn't get the benefits of its translation services. Sam there is projecting an image of Mickey, but he's not Mickey. I don't know where your boyfriend is, but he's not here. The guy in the bad suit is a holo-projection, if I don't miss my guess. I think he stole one of my old suits from my darker period."
"Looks brighter to me," Rose mumbled.

"I paid good bucks for this suit," Al yelled.

"What is goin' on?" Jackie asked again, clearly frustrated. "Has travelin' round in time an' space addled your brains, Mr. Big Ears."

"Oi. My brains are not addled and my ears are NOT that big," the Doctor snorted.

Amid the tumult Al tried to whisper to Sam, "Look, kid, I don't know what the blazes is going on, but I think my first guess is right. You're in the nuthouse. The kid that landed in the Waiting Room hasn't been able to give us his name. His mind's gone gaga. We don't know who he is, what year you're in, or who they are. He just keeps yelling for the doctor and don't turn him into a Slitheen."

"He asked for me?" the Doctor asked. Clearly, his big ears worked well.

"It's 2005. April 11," Rose blurted out. "Er - sorry. I just heard 'm say he needed to know the year..."

"Well, I doubt knowing that can hurt," the one in charge shrugged. "Now, I'd like to know about this waiting room, and still want to know how that one transmatted in, and why. And who is projecting a hologram."

"That's classified," Al snapped. "2005? Sam, how the Hades is Ziggy gonna figure out what you need to do if you're in the present? It's even the same day! She doesn't have any future from your present to work with to project probabilities. Sheesh."

"Al, I didn't exactly pick where I leaped," Sam snarked back. This was getting too weird for his taste. "And I've been leaping that long? It has been long, hasn't it?"

Al hesitated. "I'm not supposed to say. Your rule, Sam."

"Then break it," Sam snapped.

"Yeah, kid. It's been a while," Al looked tired. Then, anger returned to his mien. "Now, would someone tell me where we are? This doesn't look like a loony bin."

"That's classified," the Doctor smirked.

"Why, if I could, I'd - " Al fumed.

"But ya can't, Mr. Hologram," the Doctor grinned. "But, we can hurt your buddy here, so unless you tell us who you are and where you're keeping the idiot – say - of all the people in the world to nick, why him?"

"I didn't pick him, I didn't aim for here. I just - leaped," Sam muttered. "And he and I - switched places."

"But why?" Rose asked. "Mickey's no one important. If you're gonna take someone, it'd make more sense to take 'im." She pointed at the Doctor.

"And I wish someone would," her mother sniffed. "And I still say you're all crackers. I've known Mickey since 'e was a boy. That is Mickey Smith."

With a sigh, Sam said, "Pardon me, ma'am, but no. I'm not. I'm Sam Beckett, and you can't see him, but the hologram is Al. He's my link to - my life. Several years ago, I started a time travel experiment that's gone wrong. Instead of leaping into other times as an outside observer, I keep landing in other people's lives, switching places with them until I - I put right what went haywire in their lives. Then, I leap out again. Al can follow me because we have a neural connection - " he waved his hands, trying to put the highly scientific terms into plain English. "But - I don't control where I go. Ziggy, my computer - she is able to read what happened to the people I leap into and tell me what went wrong so I can fix it. While I live whoever's life, an image of them is projected that most people see instead of me, and they're in a waiting room back where Al works."

Al smacked his head. "Sam, Sam, Beeks is gonna kill me. You're just spilling the whole nine yards here."

"Time travel? But - that's what we do, and we don't turn into other folks," Rose said in wonder.

"They don't have a Tardis," the Doctor shrugged, crossing his arms. A look of disgust filled his face. "Humans. Won't you ever stop playing around in where you don't know what you're doing? My people spent centuries perfecting how to travel in time and space, and still seldom did it. It's too dangerous for small brains like yours."

"Sam has an IQ off the scale," Al protested indignantly. Blast it, he was so mad he couldn't even take time to appreciate the scenery. If he were ten years younger, he'd see if Ziggy could find Rose's address.

"A human one," the Doctor looked unimpressed.

"What are you, a Wookie?" Al snapped.

"No, a Time Lord, from Gallifrey. I've been moving through eternity for about nine hundred years, depending on whose calendar you use."

"Got it," Jack exclaimed, looking at some kind of device that Sam would love to get his hands on. "Doc, I've got a lock on the signal. We can trace the hologram signal back to the point of origin and get Mickey out of there."

"And you'll kill Sam," Al yelled. "Look, if Sam got leaped into Mickey, then something in Mickey's life needs fixing. Just let him do it, and then he'll be gone and you'll have your friend back."

"You said you can't extrapolate what went wrong in Mickey's life, though I do have a few suggestions that go back a few years, " the Doctor drawled. "So, how can he fix it?"

"Well, I haven't worked that out yet," Al admitted. "But you can't just go yanking Mickey out of here early. It might K.O. both of them, permanently."

"We can't risk it," Rose said. "Look, Sam said somethin' went wrong with 'is experiment. Couldn't you fix it, and he'll be able to go to 'is 'ome, an' Mickey'll be rescued too?"

"She's got a point," Jack noted. "Twenty or twenty first century Earth tech, even I could fix it in a snap."

"And where are you from, Laughing boy?" Al asked. "Vulcan?"

"Fifty first century Earth," Jack replied. "Former Time Agent. So, I know a thing or two about this stuff myself. Enough to know that no one needs rank amateurs mucking around in time and space."

"Fine. You say you've got coordinates?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep."

"Okay, Al. Put on a pot of tea. You're getting company." Without preamble, he grabbed Sam's arm and began to lead Sam, Rose, and Jack outside.

Al looked on in amazement. Then, turned his head to Jackie who was just staring at the door. "I'd ask you out for a drink, but you can't hear me, and I've got a base to lock down." He paused, then yelled, "Hang on, Sam. I'll get the security team alerted that we have a bunch of fruitcakes on the way, then I'll be back to - help you." With a frown, the admiral stepped back into the Imaging Chamber.

XXX

Al had just turned to yell for Gushie to get a security team stat, when a whining, wheezy sound filled the Quantum Leap base. Before his stunned eyes, a blue police box like ones he had seen in England in the fifties appeared near Ziggy. Muttering a word he hoped none of the ladies present heard, Al charged forward, though he had some idea of what he'd see when the door opened. He was not overly started to see the group from where ever he had just been holographically pour out. He wondered how the heck four people had gotten in there, not to mention where it came from, how it got there so fast, and a hundred other things.

"Al - it's amazing in there!" Sam's eyes were lit up. "The technology - !" Then he saw old friends milling around with stunned expressions. "Gushie! Tina. Great to see you. It's me, Sam!"

"Admiral, what's going on?" Gushie asked.

Wincing, Al stepped out of the line of fire of Gushie's breath. "I have no idea."

"We're here to fix your time travel machine," Jack announced. "Looks like you'll get to use your sonic screwdriver, Doctor."

"Told you it was handy," the Doctor said. "Look, if you're worried about my credentials, call UNIT, over in Britain. I'm the Doctor, just that. The Doctor. I can't recall if Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart is still there, but someone will know me. I have every kind of security clearance on the planet."

"Do it," Al commanded Gushie.

"Admiral," Ziggy purred. "I have done so, and the Doctor's service record to UNIT is most impressive. I'm sure that he can fix things so that Dr. Becket can remain home this time. In fact, there is a ninety nine point nine to the one hundredth power that there is nothing wrong with Mr. Smith's life, but that Dr. Beckett leaped into him so that the Doctor could come and fix the project."

"See?" the Doctor grinned. "Now, stand aside and let me work."

XXX

In an amazingly short amount of time, the Doctor and Jack had the Quantum Leap device repaired, allowing a starkly terrified Mickey to leave the Waiting Room.

Sam could hardly believe it, he was home to stay. His mission had ended.

After Mickey was safely put aboard the Tardis, the time travelers walked over to Al and Sam.

"I didn't 'kill' Ziggy, she reminds me of the Tardis," the Doctor said. "But, you won't be able to leap anymore. Time is no place for tyros."

"Uh, yeah. Thanks," Sam coughed. It felt good to be back in his own self.

"You've done great things, Dr. Beckett," the Gallifreyan continued. "Fantastic things, but it's got to end now. You'll go on to better things, in the future. Trust me on that, but do it from home. I think you've got a wife and daughter who'd like to know you again."

"I do?" Sam asked. The Swiss Cheese effect had not worn off completely.

"Yep. So, cherish what you've got. Now, I've got an idiot to take home."

Still feeling overwhelmed, Al, Sam, and the rest of the team watched as their guests entered the box, it glowed blue, and vanished.

The End.