A/N: Yeah, I know I'm evil for making you guys wait for so long! I know, I know! But, forgive me? Please?
Okay, I don't really have anything to say about this chapter. The only thing I'm saying is that I love the show Quantum Leap. It is sooo awesome! nods
Thank you for all of your kind replies, I'm so glad that you guys are having as much fun with this fic as I am. Click on the banner for previous chapters and enjoy the update!
I Dare You – Part 3/5
Jason turned his car off, wasting no time in climbing out and shutting the door behind him. He jogged around the back of his precious silver Ford Mustang and made a beeline for the front door. He rang the bell and waited for Elizabeth to answer.
He smiled as he remembered how nervous he had been yesterday. After school he had went home and started thinking up what to say to her parents when he showed up to pick her up for their date. And once he had arrived at her house he had spent a good five minutes pacing on her porch arguing with himself on whether to ring the bell or not.
Tonight was their second date and he was a lot more calm and collected that he had been the night before. Of course, it helped that he knew her parents weren't home. He had lucked out yesterday when she answered the door and informed him that no one was home, not even her brother and sister. He had never felt so relieved in his life.
"Hey Jason." Elizabeth smiled at him as she opened the door wide enough for him to enter. "You're early."
"I know." He smiled back as he walked past her, being sure to brush his body against hers in the process. "I just wanted to see you."
"Aw." Elizabeth reached her hand out and cupped his cheek. "You are so sweet."
Jason arched a brow in response. "If you say so."
"I do." She dropped her hand from his face. "I'm almost ready, I'll be right back."
"Okay." He watched as she turned and fled up the stairs. "I'll wait forever if I have to." He whispered to himself.
"Hey Jase." Steven Webber clasped a hand on the younger mans shoulder. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing." He shrugged. "I'm just waiting for Elizabeth."
Steven nodded his head in understanding. "Do you want something to drink? It may be a while." He smirked.
"Sure." Jason followed him into the kitchen.
"What would you like to drink?" Steven asked as he grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and set them on the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Is iced tea fine?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Jason was agreeable, he really wasn't all that thirsty anyway.
"You know," Steven started as he filled the two glasses with iced tea. "The other day when Jesse told me that you and Elizabeth hooked up, I was surprised to say the least."
"Oh yeah?" Jason looked over at him as he leaned against the island, settling his arms on top of it. "Why's that?" It shouldn't have surprised him that Jesse told him. His older brother was notorious for letting things conveniently slip out of his mouth. Add that to the fact that Steven and Jesse were best friends and…well, you'd have a catastrophe on your hands.
"Well it never occurred to me that you and Elizabeth were that close." He finished pouring the drinks before setting the iced tea pitcher back in the refrigerator.
"We aren't."
Steven glanced at him curiously. "Then why are you two going on a date?"
"Because." He shrugged. "I asked her out and she said yes."
"Yeah but didn't you two go out last night?" Steven's gaze met his. "At least that's what AJ said."
AJ! There was another winner, Jason scoffed. "Yeah we did, but we decided to go out again tonight." For a second there he had forgotten that there was a third member to the terrible twosome. He didn't know why he had forgotten. Jesse, Steven and AJ had been best friends since before he could remember.
"Oh." Steven glanced down at his drink, staring at it as if just realizing it were there. He took a greedy gulp while he tried to think of something to say to his best friend's brother who was now going out with his sister. Twice in one weekend. God, didn't they have anything better to do? Friends to hand out with? Puppies to kick? "I don't need to give you the big brother routine do I, Jason?"
"No, you don't." Jason assured him. "We are just going out to dinner to catch a late movie. After the movie is over, I'm driving her home. That's it."
"Are you sure?" He glanced at him skeptically. He had known Jason way back when he was in diapers. Hell, he had probably changed a few of them. He knew that Jason wasn't a bad guy, they had spent many a night just handing out with each other since Jason's older brother Jesse was his best friend. They had also competed in basketball often…which, unfortunately, Jason usually beat the two of them at. Jesse and him usually chalked it up to Jason being a cheater, but they new it wasn't true. Jason was the better athlete, plain and simple.
"I'm sure."
Steven gave him the stare down. He wanted to trust him, but this was his baby sister he was talking about here. When it came to her, all bets were off. "Alright."
Jason let out a relieved sigh. He really hadn't been in the mood for the older brother routine tonight, much less from Steven – the guy who had spent more time at his house than he cared to admit. "I'm glad we got that out of the way. I just knew it was coming, too."
"Yeah well, Elizabeth is my sister and I'm just trying to look out-"
Elizabeth cleared her throat from the doorway to the kitchen. "Jason, are you ready to go."
Jason couldn't answer her right away, he was too busy giving her a once over. She looked beautiful. Her pink nail polish peeked out from the end of her sandals and as he looked closer he realized it was the one she just had to have last night.
After their movie had ended, they realized that it was still early so they took a trip to the mall. While they were there she had found a Strawberry Shortcake nail polish that was entirely took pink if you asked him. But, she had wanted it so he gave in and bought it for her. The packaging claimed that it smelled like strawberries and he had to wonder if it was true.
The yellow skirt she had on ended halfway between her knees and ankles. It had all different kinds of flowers on it in various colors, mainly white. Her fitted t-shirt was also yellow but it had nothing on it. Not even flowers, he smiled. And as he looked at her hands, he saw the same nail polish that was on her toes. Maybe she'd let him smell her hands later and he could get his answer.
Let you smell her hands? What's wrong with you Morgan? He cursed himself. For some reason that sounded wrong on so many levels.
At that moment, Steven interrupted his thoughts by elbowing him from across the counter. He glared at him before looked up at Elizabeth who was still staring at him, waiting for an answer. "Y-Yeah, I'm ready to go."
"Good." She smiled.
Jason stood from the counter and walked over to the sink, emptying his cup down the drain and leaving it there before he walked over to Elizabeth. "Thanks for the drink, Steven."
"Anytime, Morgan." He watched as his little sister smiled at Jason and placed her hand in his, laughing at something he had said as the two left the room and a minute later, the house.
Steven sighed as he walked over to the sink, emptying his own cup before turning on the water. He might as well do the dishes while he waited for them to come back. Of course, afterwards he'd have to find something else to keep himself occupied. He was waiting until Elizabeth got home, there was no way around it. He trusted Jason, just not with his sister.
"Looks like you'll be spending half the night alone, waiting for your sister to get home from her date, pal." He muttered to himself.
Maybe he'd finally get around to cleaning his room. After all, it was long overdo…
"So what movie do you want to see tonight?"
Jason finished swallowing his food as he pondered the thought. "I'm not really sure. What would you like to see?"
"Jason." She sighed, taking a sip of her soda. "You let me pick last night. It's your turn."
"How about…." He reached for his own soda, taking a long gulp as he continued to think. What movie would be suitable for her?
"How about we go back to my house and watch a movie there?" She suggested when he never finished picking a movie.
"Well that depends." Jason grinned.
"On what?" She stared at him, her brows scrunched up in confusion.
"On what movie you want to watch."
"Here." She handed him the bowl of popcorn as she paraded into the room. "Did you pick a movie yet?"
"No, not yet." He smiled up at her. "You have a lot of good movies."
She giggled. "Some would say I'm a movie buff…"
"You have at least triple the amount of movies I have." He glanced sideways at her. "No wonder you've never had a boyfriend, between school and your movies…you never would have had time for him."
Elizabeth stared at him in shock for a moment before she blushed. "Yeah, he would have been really neglected, huh?"
"Definitely." He nodded.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing I never gave any of those guys at school a second glance then, huh?"
"You mean other than me right?"
"Yes," She blushed again. "You were the only guy at school I was interested in."
"Really?" His eyes widened in surprise.
"Well other then the guys I am friends with…"
He grinned at her. "Good to know."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes as she grabbed the remote nearby and turned on the TV before making her way over to the DVD rack and searching through her DVD's.
…Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator and Vanished...He woke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.…
"Oh!" Elizabeth squealed, moving away from the DVD rack to stand in front of the television. "Quantum Leap! I love this show!"
"Quantum what?" Jason scowled at the television. "What is this show?"
"It's such a good show, Jason." She gushed, walking over to him and sitting beside him on the couch. "It's about this guy named Sam. It's set in the future…" She glanced at him to make sure he was still paying attention. "Sam is into Quantum Physics and believes in time machines and stuff. He actually builds one and leaps into other people. Then he has to figure out what he has to change in their life and once be does…BAM!" She clapped her hands together. "He leaps into the next person."
Jason frowned. "Let me get this straight – this Sam guy leaps around in time?"
"Yes."
"And he changes time? Isn't that messing with the future?"
"Jason, it's a TV show." She laughed. "And you can't forget about his sidekick Al. Al is such a pervert…but he is so funny!" She laughed again.
…Oh, boy…
"Oh my god!" Elizabeth squealed again. "This is the one where Sam actually gets to go home and meet his wife Donna! Oh this is such a good one!" She frowned suddenly. "But then it gets sad because he has to go back to save Al and he forgets about Donna all over again."
"Elizabeth."
"Hmm?" She looked up at him.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." His eyes met hers. "I've never seen this show before."
"I know." She smiled. "That's why I'm trying to explain it to you."
"No, you weren't. You were giving me an overview." He paused. "Explain this to me as a person who has never seen this show before."
"Okay..." She cleared her throat as she glanced at the screen.
Do you have any Sweet 'n Low? Or Equal?...Sweet 'n low? Equal?...No, no, no, no, no. They didn't have any artificial sweetener in 1945. Okay? But boy, did they have women with big kazooms!
Elizabeth laughed. "In this episode they are opposites so Al is Sam and Sam is taking over the role of Al. Al is usually the pervert but since they got struck by lightening during the leap…they kind of meshed. And that's why Sam is in the imaging chamber and Al is the one that leaped."
"Imaging chamber?" Jason shook his head and closed his eyes in frustration. "You lost me again."
"Sorry." She smirked as her eyes met his now open ones. "The show is about traveling in time, like I said. Sam has to change whatever is wrong in the person's life that he leaped into – save them from death, help a friend, whatever is wrong – and then he can leap into the next person."
"Okay, so he changes people's lives…" Jason nodded his head slowly. "Continue."
"Even though he was the head of the whole time machine project, there were a few other people involved as well. And his friend Al was one of them. Al is in the imaging chamber in the future and he appears in the form of the hologram to Sam. Sam is the only one that can see him and even though Al sees Sam as Sam and not the person he leaped into, everyone else can only see the person Sam leaped into and not Sam. Did that make any sense?"
"So whoever Sam leaped into is what people see him as?"
"Yes."
"And Al can see Sam as Sam and not who he leaps into?"
"Exactly."
"Okay, I think I get it." He nodded in understanding.
"Good." Elizabeth's eyes twinkled. "If you want, we can watch this instead. I have the first two seasons."
"Really?"
"Yes." She nodded. "I need to pick up the next two this week. I had to order them since they didn't have any copies left at the video store. Apparently season four came out last year and I didn't even know it."
"We can watch this if you want."
"The first episode will explain it better than I did." She laughed. "I promise."
"Okay." He smirked as she pulled out the DVD and placed it into the DVD player.
"Okay..." She sat down beside him on the couch. She was close enough that that she was near him, yet far enough that they weren't touching.
Forty-five minutes later Jason had his arm around Elizabeth and she was leaning into him with her head comfortably lying on his shoulder.
….Where the hell were you?...I was at the Laker game. It went into overtime…A ball game? I nearly died because you were at a ball game?...It wasn't just a ball game. It was a play-off game. At the party later, I met this dish named Martha…I guess I can thank God you didn't spend the night with this Martha…Well, I did….
The duo laughed out loud at the television screen.
"See!" She smiled pulling her head off of him to look him in the eye. "I told you it was a good show."
It all started when a time travel experiment I was conducting went... a little ka-ka. In the blink of a cosmic clock I went from quantum physicist to air force test pilot. Which could have been fun... if I knew how to fly. Fortunately, I had help. An observer from the project named Al. Unfortunately, Al's a hologram, so all he can lend is moral support. Anyway, here I am. Bouncing around in time, putting things right which once went wrong. A sort of time traveling Lone Ranger, with Al as my Tonto. And I don't even need a mask. Oh boy.
"What's this?" Jason squinted at the screen before looking down at the watch on his left arm. "How long are these episodes?"
"An hour each." She answered as she placed her head on his shoulder once again. "Why?"
"It's been an hour already, hasn't it?"
"Yeah." She nodded.
"Then what's this?"
"This is the way it comes on. The first episode was different because the first episode of every show is. This is the way the beginning sequence will be throughout the entire show."
"Oh." Jason moved his head slightly so he could see her in his peripheral vision. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." She laughed at the screen as Al popped in on Sam once again. "Isn't this a great show? I love it!"
"Yes."
She frowned and pulled back far enough to meet his gaze. "You're not having fun are you?"
"Yes, I am." He attempted to reassure her.
She groaned and placed her head back on his shoulder as he tightened his hold on her.
He was having fun, he smiled to himself. Doing nothing with her was fun. She could light up an entire room with that laugh of hers. And just being in the same room as her was entertaining enough…
We can talk about this later. Come on, I hate to miss the game…You already know how its going to end…I knew how it was going to end when I took Brenda into the filing room. I still took her.
Elizabeth laughed at the television and clapped her hands together as she leaned forward on the couch, staring at the screen intently. "I love Al! He's so funny!"
Jason let out a chuckle himself as she fell back against the couch before leaning into him again. He placed his arm around her and she snuggled closer to him.
Now, this was fun.