A Promise of Home


This Quantum Leap™ story utilizes characters that are copyright © by Bellasarius Productions and Universal Studios. No infringement on their respective copyrights is intended by the author in any way, shape or form. This fan fiction story is written solely for the entertainment of the readers and is not for profit. All fiction, plots, and original characters are the sole creations of the author.


Beginning a Brand New Beginning

"Oh, boy." Leaping into women was always trouble, but this had to be one of the worst. Sam Beckett leaped into the ladies room, combing long red hair at the mirror and in the middle of a conversation.

"'Oh, boy?' So I think he's cute. Just because I'm married doesn't mean I'm dead, Jane."

Sam looked at his friend. She was about 50 years old, but had a spark in her eye that let Sam know she made sure life was fun. They were both nurses and apparently, his name was Jane and nurses wear name tags. A quick glance down and he discovered his name was Jane O'Neill. That was good. He knew his name. Nurse friend was Francine Eisenberg.

"No, no, Francine. I didn't mean that you shouldn't look at men."

"That's for sure. Dr. Cavanaugh is simply the most gorgeous doctor on staff and you, dear heart, are certainly free as the breeze. Go for it."

"Uh, uh, yeah. Dr. Cavanaugh. Maybe we should get back to work." Sam said a short prayer, hoping he wasn't there to get Jane together with Dr. Cavanaugh.

"I guess you're right." She lifted her skirt and pulled down her slip. Sam diverted his eyes trying to hide his discomfort. "Okay, Janie, lets go." Sam tagged along with Francine and ended up at a hospital nurses' station. Francine pulled a chart. "Listen, Janie, I took care of Milnes this morning. He's yours now." She handed Sam a file. "Here's his chart. See if he's had his meds and you talk to him."

Sam took the chart. At last, something he knew about and something he could prepare for. The patient named Kenneth Milnes, hospitalized for a re-amputation of his left leg, was a Vietnam vet who lost a foot when he stepped on a landmine. Now, three years later, on August 2, 1975, he was recovering from more surgery on the leg. Sam muttered out loud, "Vietnam, poor guy."

Francine heard him, "Yeah, but at least he came home." She glanced toward the footsteps heard down the hall. The head nurse was coming. Francine pointed discreetly at the brunette who went into a patient room. "She's still waiting for her husband. I got to tell you, Jane, your friend's losing out on life. None of our boys are still alive in Vietnam. She's such a nice person. What a shame." Francine picked up a chart and left Jane alone.

Sam kept reading the Milnes chart, hoping to avoid making any mistakes. He didn't hear the head nurse until she said, "Hi, Jane. You have the Milnes chart there, don't you?" Sam looked up and his eyes immediately went to the name tag the woman wore. It startled him and looking into her face, he gasped. "Oh, my God, Beth, Beth Calavicci."

Beth started to laugh. "Jane, Jane O'Neill. Don't get dramatic on me. I only want to know if he got his meds yet."

Stumbling through the chart Sam said, "Not yet, Beth." When he finally looked up, he couldn't take his eyes from the nurse's pretty, yet sad face. It took concentration to break away. When he did, he saw that she still wore a silver MIA bracelet with "Lieutenant Albert Calavicci" engraved on it. Whispering in disbelief, "Al's not home, yet. It's 1975. He should be home."

Fingering the band of remembrance Beth smiled gently, "He will be. Are you okay?"

He had trouble catching his breath. "I'm sorry, Beth. It's just that reading this chart made me think about Al." A locked cart behind him offered the medications he needed and like every good nurse, the key was attached to his wrist. Preparing for Milnes turned out to be easier than he thought.

The depth of feeling Beth had for her husband reflected in her smile, "When you meet my Al, you're going to love him."

Sam was still thrown by this meeting. "But, it's 1975. They're all home."

Beth quickly put up a protective front. "Please don't start that again. I know Al's coming back. If I told you how I knew, you'd have me whisked off to the psych ward. Al will come home." A sigh followed a brief private recollection of that night at the bungalow when a stranger told her the missing pilot would be returning to her arms. "Make sure Milnes gets his pain meds." Beth walked away and Sam felt his own heart break. Why wasn't Al home from Vietnam by 1975?

The chance for an answer came almost immediately. A squeal and a flash of white announced the arrival of a holographic Al Calavicci. The dark eyed Admiral quietly whispered, "Give that patient his medicine and then let's go somewhere we can talk." As Sam carried the tiny container of pills to the room across from the station, he saw his friend watching his young bride walking down the hall. He heard the admiral whisper softly, "She's so beautiful."

Meds were taken and noted in Milnes' chart. A supply closet sat down the hall. Sam spoke under his breath, "This way." Al was pale and his energy level was negligible, but he followed his friend into the small room. Sam's agitation ignited too many questions. "Al, what's happening here? It's 1975 and you're not home. Why not? Where are you and why does she think you're still in Vietnam? What the hell is going on?"

Sarcasm seemed the best way to answer the accusatory questions. "Gee, Sam, nice to see you, too. In case you're wondering, you're Lieutenant Jane O'Neill. You're a nurse at Balboa Naval Hospital."

The agitation hadn't abated. "I know that. Beth is the head nurse."

"Yeah, and I know that." The Admiral looked at him with a glare that spoke volumes which he opted not to say. Instead, he told Sam, "Jane is Beth's best friend. They've shared Beth's and my house for the past two years."

"Why am I here? I thought Beth and you were together again. She waited for you, didn't she?"

He rubbed his temple tying to relieve the increasing headache. "Yeah, she waited, but there are always after effects, Sam."

"So, I'm here for Beth?"

"This time," The catch in the Admiral's voice was painful to hear, "Ziggy thinks you're here for me. Personally, I'm not so sure."

Sam's agitation had him spewing question after question, "How can I be here for you? You're not even here. Where the hell are you? Why aren't you with Beth? Did you run out on her? The POWs came home in 1973, Al. Where are you?"

It was more of a statement than a question when he said, "Did you just hear yourself?" Sam was confused. "POWs came home. I wasn't a POW."

Sam was even more confused now. "But, I saw you in Maggie's photograph. You were there when Tom's squad failed on that mission."

When a subject became uncomfortable, Al talked in circles. "You hear, but you don't listen. I wasn't a POW."

It took a few seconds of thought. "You were missing in action. You were MIA, not a POW."

"There are over 2,000 Vietnam MIAs still unaccounted for today, in my time."

"But where are you, where is . . ." searching to avoid more confusion, Sam continued, "Bingo right now?"

"Right now?" He punched at the handlink and bashed it against the heel of his hand. "Right now, I'm waiting for a transport plane in Tokyo. I'll be in San Diego tomorrow morning around 9:30."

"Beth doesn't know it yet?" A smile crept over his face as Al shook his head. "I get to be here when you come home. Al, this is great."

Al's despair was evident in his voice and posture. "Yippee."

An absolute chill traveled down Sam's spine, "What's wrong?"

Without looking up from the handlink, a habit he had when faced with difficult conversation, the weary man barely whispered, "You're here to keep Beth from leaving me after I get back."

"She waits eight years for you and then walks out? That doesn't make any sense." Sam became suspicious. "Are you sure I'm here for you? Remember the last time we met up with Beth during a leap? Did you check any other scenarios?"

Al always learned from his mistakes. Since that horrible leap into Jake somebody, he never failed to run scenarios for everyone Sam might encounter. The accusation hurt. "Not fair. I've run scenarios on everyone Jane comes in contact with for the next 120 hours. This leap is for me and I'm not sure I want you to succeed."

"You're not making sense. I thought you and Beth were the perfect couple. Isn't that what you told me? 'If only she'd known I was alive, my life would be perfect.' I can't keep track of all your love affairs. What do you want from me?" He heard his words and hated himself for saying them.

The Admiral finally looked up and the daggers in his eyes aimed directly at Sam. "Forget it. When you're willing to listen, I'll be back." He practically slammed his code into the handlink and disappeared.

"Damn, this is going to be hard." Sam exited the supply closet not sure how to handle his friend. Al's moodiness was legendary. Rather than talk out his inner battles, he clung to them for dear life. It was a pattern formed by years of having no one to depend on except himself. For Al, accepting generosity of spirit from friends was far more difficult than fighting his demons alone.

At the moment, Sam had to be Jane O'Neill, Beth Calavicci's best friend. Problem was Sam Beckett was Al Calavicci's best friend. This was going to be very, very awkward.

Back at Quantum Leap, Al walked out of the Imaging Chamber fully expecting the project shrink lying in wait for him. It was a relief to him that the Control Room was empty - save for Gooshie. Saying nothing, he dropped the handlink on the console and entered the elevator. Al was the only human being involved in the project who had full recall of all the time lines Sam created. Even Sam couldn't remember all the changes, but Al, for whatever reason, a glitch in the system, an error in the Imaging Chamber design, his own uncanny aptitude for detail, Al remembered it all and, unlike Sam, had to survive the repercussions.

The Admiral's head hurt. Sleep for the past month or more had been minimal so his headache was very old by now, but this leap was going to give him more pain than he had in decades.

Sam was writing notes in a chart, grateful that he understood Jane's job well enough not to do any damage to the patients. Still, he was equally grateful that the hospital was filled with professionals who could take over in case he felt uncomfortable making a decision. His natural curiosity and interest in medicine kept his eyes focused on the chart in front of him. Concentration snapped though when Beth tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, kid. Time to go home. You don't have to impress the head nurse, you know."

"I heard she was a real witch."

"Oh, she is and she's getting hungry and older by the minute. Get your stuff. Its time to move."

A few minutes later, Beth was behind the wheel of a convertible heading home. Sam sat beside her, staring alternately at the scenery and Beth. Al's taste for the flamboyant was absolutely denied in this woman. Beth certainly was beautiful, but her beauty grew from her soul, not just her dark brown eyes and pure complexion. A recognizable noise clued Sam into Al's appearance behind him. Hoping to remind Al of the depth of his wife's devotion he asked, "Beth, what made you fall in love with Al?"

Beth's face reacted to the question with a quizzical expression. "What brought that on?"

Sam glanced at the back seat. "Oh, I don't know."

Al wasn't pleased with the intrusion. "Sam, let it alone. That's between me and Beth."

But Beth wasn't going to let it alone. Most people didn't talk to her about Al and she missed telling stories about her knight in slightly dented armor. "Why did I fall in love with Al? He was so different from the other jet jocks. He's got beautiful eyes and his eyelashes are so long, well, you've seen his picture. And I love his voice. It's deep and has just a little gravelly sound in it, but sometimes it's real high. And he has this laugh that cuts through everyone else's laugh." The smile on her face brought her a moment of peace. Her imagination had him alive and she felt him there with her, at least she thought she did. "Oh, and he's smart. Did I ever tell you that he's a genius?"

Sam lifted an eyebrow for Al to see. "Bright maybe, but a genius?"

Talking about her husband lit up the nurse's face and she looked like a high school girl talking about her first crush. "Certified and everything. The Navy tested him. Al's IQ is 157."

The fact stunned the physicist. "Really? 157?"

Al chuckled at Sam's surprise. Al murmured, "Makes you wonder about the statistical validity and reliability of the tests, doesn't it?"

Beth kept right on talking. "But he's not what you expect a genius type to be, you know, shy and awkward."

Al found his opening. "Gee, sound like anyone you know?"

Sam whispered "Funny."

"Al's got the best sense of humor. He can make me laugh at the littlest things. No one knows how to have more fun. And imagine this - he loves to dance and he's got the romance thing down pat. I never had any man pay attention to me the way Al does. Oh, and his hair I wish the Navy regs allowed for longer hair. He hates it, but it's soft and so curly. When we make love,"

Al muttered, "Oh God. Don't Beth."

Plowing on through the unheard admonition, Beth confessed, "I love to run my fingers through his hair. He likes it too, but he won't admit it."

Sam was composed in front of Beth, but his eyes were flashing with all the new ammunition Beth was spoon feeding him. "Al sounds a little too perfect to me."

The car waited at the stoplight. Beth threw her head back and laughed out loud. "Perfect? I don't think so. He brags maybe a little too much, but he never lies. And he thinks he's God's gift to women, but he's as harmless as they come."

Sam wanted to laugh at that comment. It had been Sam's feeling that Al was more talk than action and Beth just confirmed it. Looking back at Al, Sam admitted. "He's one of a kind."

"Janie, he's already survived so much. His childhood reads like a Dickens novel. His mother abandoned him. His father died. His sister was born with Down syndrome. Then she died. It's more than a child should have to live through."

Al hated stories about his childhood. "Sam, I'm not hanging around for this. I'll see you later." He vanished into white light without telling Sam why he had shown up in the first place.

Sam knew Al had been orphaned, but now he was Jane. "Really? Must have been rough."

Beth kept going, revealing secrets Al never had intentions of sharing with anyone, even Sam. "The orphanage where he was dumped was pretty bad. They labeled him incorrigible and tried to get the juvenile authorities to take him. He used to run away a lot. He kept trying to find his sister. She got sent to an institution, a real hell-hole. God knows how he managed to get an education. It's a good thing he's smart. That's what saved him. Can you imagine how smart he would have been if he had a loving home, parents who cared for him? A mind like his needed encouragement. He got punished for it."

Remembering his own Norman Rockwell childhood, Sam had trouble understanding why anyone would punish someone for being bright. "That doesn't make sense."

Beth knew these private facts were painful for Al and he told no one except her of his tormented childhood, but now she needed to talk, to make this good friend of hers understand who this missing man was and maybe then convince Jane that if anyone would come home, it was Al. "It doesn't make sense to punish someone for being bright, but I guess when you house a couple of hundred kids, you need some kind of order. Thing is, he was neglected and abused. It's amazing he turned out to be kind and good."

Sam's comprehension turned off after hearing Al was neglected and abused. "Al was beaten?"

"He doesn't like to talk about it much. From what I could get from him, most of the nuns were really kind. One especially, Sister Benignus used to tell him he was going to do great things, but a few used to hit a lot of the kids. When he was 10, he ran away and when he got sent back, the mother superior beat the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. She really gave it to him. She took away his shoes. He was only allowed to wear them when he went to school. It was a way to keep him from running. Then they took away all his books and reading privileges. Can you imagine? They punished him by not letting him read. He wasn't allowed to talk. A couple of times, they wrapped him up tight in sheets like a mummy so he wouldn't sneak off. On the weekends, they left him like that. He was so small he ended up with pressure sores. That's when Sister Benignus got fed up. She pulled him from there and placed him in another orphanage."

Sam's stomach churned with the picture Beth painted of Al's life. "That's child abuse. How could they get away that?"

"No one cared too much for older orphans. They weren't adoptable." Realizing she probably told Jane more than Al would want her to know, Beth changed the subject. "You're going to love him, Janie. He's this little guy who could never be ordinary even if he grew up with the Cleavers. Al is so cute with the best chocolate brown eyes this side of heaven. Anyway, he is a very complicated, very wonderful man."

"I guess you love him, then, huh?" Sam smiled.

"How could you tell?" Another stoplight gave Beth a chance to look at Jane. Her voice took a softer quality, "There was a time a few years ago when I thought he was dead and I even started dating a guy, a lawyer, but I found out Al was still alive and I had to hold onto the thinnest thread of hope he would come home to me. I have to admit, Janie, the thread is getting pretty frayed." The car behind them honked and Beth rolled her eyes. So the light turned green. Give her a chance to put the car into gear.

Sam knew Al would be in Beth's arms in less than 24 hours, but he wasn't going to do anything to spoil the surprise. "Beth, if you believe Al is coming home, then he will. I have a feeling about that husband of yours. I think he's alive."

"That makes two of us, then." Beth turned the corner. They were half a block from the house when Sam noticed a car in front of their address. Beth's face blanched.

"What's the matter?" He looked at Beth and then the car. "Someone you know?"

"That's a Navy vehicle." She tried to cover her anxiousness. "Wonder what they want?"

Sam wanted so much to tell her, but all he could provide was support. "Probably nothing at all." Beth said nothing. She pulled the car into the driveway. As she got out of the car, she moved toward the back door. "Beth, they're at the front."

"They can knock." Beth had a disappearing act almost as good as Al's. Sam followed her inside.

"I'm going to let them in."

"No, Janie. Not yet. Give me a minute."

Sam put an arm around the frightened young woman. "Listen, you go to the bedroom and come out when you feel you can, I'll let them in and we'll wait for you."

"Thanks. It's probably nothing at all. All this talk about Al is making me . . . They're here to tell me they found his body." She gave Sam a hug and didn't let go. Sam could feel her body shaking with fear. He wanted to tell her there was no reason to be afraid. Beth finally pulled away and slipped into the house.

Sam walked through the living room and looked over at the fireplace to see if Al's picture was still there. It was and next it was the Pulitzer photo that Maggie Dawson had taken the day Tom Beckett's life was saved by Al's sacrifice. Sam opened the door and found a Navy officer about to ring the bell; his hat properly tucked under one arm. He looked official and foreboding. Sam knew Al was alive, but even he was feeling afraid. "Hello. May I help you?"

"Good afternoon. I'm Captain Roberto Velez. Are you Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Calavicci?"

"No. I'm her roommate Jane O'Neill."

"Is the Lieutenant Commander in?"

"Yes, Captain Velez. Please come in and sit down." Sam escorted the handsome captain into the living room. "Beth is in her room. She'll be out in a few minutes. Please have a seat." The captain smiled warmly and sat on the couch. Sam asked, "May I offer you anything? Coffee?"

"No, thank you, Miss O'Neill. I'll just wait for Lieutenant Commander Calavicci."

Sam didn't want to pry, but he was Sam. This guy was here about Al. He felt a responsibility to pry. "Do you have news about Al? Lieutenant Calavicci?"

While trying his best to be the professional career military, Velez let a small smile pop briefly before he said, "I'd like to speak to the Lieutenant Commander first."

"Certainly. I'll see if I can speed her up any." Sam practically ran to the bedroom. He knocked and opened the door a crack. "Beth? Can I come in?" Without waiting for any response, he peeked inside and entered. Beth was sitting on the floor in the corner of her bedroom. Sam walked over to her with a huge smile on his face. He put his hand out to help her up. "Go talk to him. It's all right."

"Al's alive?"

His hand still stretched in front of her. "He didn't say, but go talk to him."

With Sam's help, Beth pulled herself to her feet and straightened her skirt, more than a little embarrassed. "Come with me, okay?"

"Try keeping me away." That was the truth too, Sam never imagined he would be privy to this moment in Beth's life and he wasn't going to miss it for the world.

When they reached the living room, Sam saw that Al came to witness the moment as well. The Admiral stood in the shadows, his hand rubbing his face. Captain Velez rose when Beth entered. Sam introduced them. "Captain, this is Beth Calavicci. Beth, Captain Roberto Velez."

Beth saluted, "Lieutenant Commander Elizabeth Calavicci, sir."

The captain returned the formal salute. "Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. May we sit down?" Beth sat next to Velez on the couch. Sam moved toward his holographic friend and sat in a chair near him. "I have some news for you, some very good news." Tears started running down Beth's face. "Lieutenant Albert Michelangelo Calavicci has been found alive."

Sam was practically jumping out of his skin. He looked up at Al and didn't understand why his face was sad and melancholy. His questions were spoken to Beth, but meant for the Admiral. "Are you okay? Did you hear what he said?"

Needing to hear it again, Beth whispered, "Al is alive."

Sam pushed the conversation. "Don't you want to know when he'll get home?"

Her brain was overwhelmed with the enormity of the news. "Of course, when will he come home?"

"Lieutenant Calavicci is on his way here to San Diego right now. He will be arriving at Balboa tomorrow morning at nine thirty."

"Tomorrow? When did you find him?"

Captain Velez told the story explaining it to Beth in heroic terms. "He was found at a detention center 12 days ago along with another sailor."

Al muttered, "Detention center. That's a load of crap."

Beth was a confusing mess of emotions. It was painfully obvious she didn't know what to feel, "Is he all right? I mean, is he hurt or anything?"

"I have limited information regarding his medical status. Both men will need medical attention, but I understand your husband is ambulatory and doing pretty well considering how long he was incarcerated."

Al's hand pressed against his forehead trying to push all the memories back into the hiding place he left them decades before. "That's a lie. When I got home, I weighed 87 pounds and couldn't sit up on my own."

Sam acted on Al's prompt. "Are you sure he's okay?"

"That's what my report indicates, Miss O'Neill."

Al walked to the corner of the room. "The report is a damn lie. Sam, I was in the hospital for six months when I came home and I wasn't really okay until another five months after that. His report is screwed up." The growing headache was almost beyond bearable. "Dwight Robertson walked out of Nam. I didn't. The Navy must have got our names mixed up." His anger was building. "Now it starts to make some sense. She was expecting me to be okay. Damn it. Damn it!" and he was gone.

Sam moved closer to Beth. "Thank God, he's coming home, Even if he's in not so good a condition. He's home and you can help make him healthy again."

"Captain Velez said he was fine. Al is coming home tomorrow and he's fine." The tears were pouring from her eyes. "Jane, I can't believe it." Beth grabbed Sam and her tears finally found a voice. She held Sam with all her might, her tears filled with joy. Eight years of doubt and pain exploded from her. Sam unexpectedly found himself crying too. Al was coming home. Five years had passed since Tom Beckett survived because of Al's sacrifice. Now, the horror of those years was over for Al and for Sam, too. Clenched in each others arms, Al's two dearest friends rejoiced in his homecoming.

Captain Velez let them cry a bit. He stood up and walked to the fireplace, "I am very honored to have received this assignment. I know of Lieutenant Calavicci through this photograph." He pointed to Maggie's last picture. "He inspired a lot of men. It's great he gets to come home."

Beth wiped her eyes and laughed. "He's coming home. Jane, he'll be home tomorrow." Suddenly the reality of the time frame hit her. "Oh, no. I have to get the house ready. I have to get his clothes out. Al is very particular about how he dresses. Things have to be ready for him."

"Why don't you hold off a little. Al may have to stay in the hospital for awhile."

Sam's words made sense and Beth nodded. "Okay, you're right. I'll just get a couple of pairs of khakis out and maybe I can buy him some new shirts. Let's go to the store, Jane. I want to get him some new things."

Captain Velez started toward the door, "Well, I think you have some plans to make, The Navy will send a car and driver for you tomorrow at nine bells."

Beth took Velez's hand. "Thank you, Captain. Thank you very much. I won't forget you." She gave him a little kiss on the cheek and closed the door behind him. Turning back to Sam, "I'm too excited to eat dinner, Jane. Would you go with me to the store? You have such great taste. I have to get him some new clothes."

He didn't want to ruin her joy. Al was coming home battered and needing a lot of medical attention. New shirts wouldn't be needed. "How about getting something new for you to wear when you see him? I bet he'll like that even better than a new shirt."

"They sent a Captain here! That's amazing. Al's coming home is going to be a huge thing for the Navy." She started pacing. "I don't know what to do. I can't think straight."

Sam took her hands in his, "Then let me do the thinking. Let's go looking for the prettiest dress we can find,"

"I'm so glad you get to meet him now. You're really going to love him. He's the best."

The smile Sam wore was incredibly real. "Al is the absolute best there is." He hugged Beth again, "And he's got the best taste in wives."