Martyr
February 2, 1961
Al looks on as the crowd gathered before him wait for the next thing he will say. He is awestruck but then confused. He doesn't remember how he got there and doesn't remember what happened a second ago.
As the leap effect fades Al finds himself on the ledge of a building. He seems to be wearing a superhero costume and he looks down to the four stories below as fire, police and rescue workers surround the building.
"Don't jump! We want to talk about this." The fire chief asks.
Al looses his grip and almost falls, as he utters, "Oh, Boy!"
Al reaches up and regains his grip, as some policeman grab him and bring him back inside the building. He is awestruck how he got there. He tries to remember what the day is but can't. He thinks has been unconscious but looks around and figures out he hasn't.
"Are you okay, Will?" one of the officers ask.
"Will?" Al asks as he tries to regain his bearings.
"My name is Al…All…" as he drifts off.
"I can't remember my name. Today is Sept- no November…"
"Will, it's February. February the second."
"What year?" Al asks.
"It's nineteen sixty-one."
"I've leaped into the past?" he says to himself.
"Leaped into the past. If we didn't save you would have leaped to you death."
Thinking what the officer said Al responds, "Yeah…leaped."
"We'd better get him to a doctor." The second officer says.
"Wait a minute. Just give me a minute." Al says.
"Okay. We'll be right outside."
The officers leave as Al wonders to himself, why he is in 1961. More importantly, who was he and why was he here? He remembers a blast and light, and then a room. He was talking to someone, a middle-aged guy with a gray streak in front. But who was he?
"Sam!" Al remembers. "Thank God I didn't forget Sam."
Meanwhile at project Quantum Leap, Doctor Sam Beckett was enjoying his time back I his own time. It had been four days since Al leaped. He was reunited with Gushie, Tina and all the others. He met Dr. Fuller or Sammie Jo as she was called. He just had a feeling that someone was missing. He was preparing to break the news to Beth, Al's wife, and their four children.
As Sam walked nervously to the lounge where Al's family was he could remember the times so many years ago that he walked these hallways. It was before he leaped. He remembers a time when the where building the control room. At the time it was mostly black surfacing and Ziggy wasn't even built yet. He remembers seeing Al cursing out some plans on a table, which would become the main counsel for Ziggy. Sam laughs to himself as he reaches the lounge.
He looks inside and sees Beth. She is much older than what he could remember. But he didn't remember much since his memory of leaping was fading, and he was remembering his pre-leap memory.
"Beth?" he asks shyly. "I have some…some bad news." He chokes out.
She is in shock that who she sees is the person that Al has risked his life and his livelihood for the last six years. "Sam?"
"Yes. Uh…there's been an accident. You see…Al…well he's…leaping." Sam nervously tells.
A shocked look turns to fear, as Beth fears the worst. "Have…have you found him?"
"Not yet. We're still doing the nano search."
"The what?" she asks.
Sam moves closer and stands behind on of the chairs in the lounge. He notices a coffee maker on the counter.
"Can I offer you a cup of coffee?" he asks trying to be cordial.
"Yes. Thank you." She obliges. Sam moves over to the counter and pours two cups. One has an old symbol for the Star bright project on it. The other has Al's name on it and a date on which is faded out from its use.
"How do you take it?" Sam asks because he doesn't remember. "Cream and sugar." She informs.
Sam makes the finishing touches as he remembers he doesn't drink coffee. He drinks tea. He tries it anyway.
"So…are you going to tell your children?" Sam asks as he gives the cup to Beth.
"Yes. I think I should." Beth responds as she examines the cup. "I gave this to Al on our twentieth wedding anniversary."
"Wedding anniversary. Oh yeah I know, I got this cup when I started the Star bright project with-" Sam tries to remember.
"It doesn't matter. Al's gone now." She cries.
"We'll find him. I swear we will find him and bring him home."
As Sam talks awhile he gets a funny feeling when he remembers the Star bright project. He can't put his finger on it but something isn't right here.
Later Sam is working tin the lab trying to strengthen the retrieval program. Then he looks up and sees Sammie Jo standing there.
"I see you're working late." She says.
"Yeah…I was looking at your theory for the retrieval program. It could work, but there are too many variables. Maybe we could work together on it?"
"I would but I have plans tonight. I'm meeting my mother in town for dinner. Would you like to come?"
Sam looks around and realizes he can't work on an empty stomach. "Sure." He takes off his lab coat and goes with here.
They pull up to a restaurant in the town near the project. Sam puts away his wrist-link to Ziggy. They both walk in and Sam sees a tall woman who looks a lot like Sammie Jo, just a bit older.
"Dr. Beckett I would like you to meet my mother…Abigail."
"Nice to meet you mam." Sam says.
As they go to sit down and eat Sam gets that funny feeling again that he thinks something is wrong.
"So…where did you grow up, Sammie Jo?"
"Pottersville, Louisiana." She responds.
At that moment Sam remembers someone. He remembers a crowd of people, and a gun blast. And he sees Abigail there. Then it fades. Then he remembers another women, the one from the Star bright project.
"Donna?" he finally remembers.
Sammie Jo is shocked. "How did you-I mean you weren't supposed-"
"I have to go." Sam says. "It was nice to meet you Abigail."
"My pleasure Doctor."
Sam hurries out and goes to the project. How could he forget Donna, the woman he loved the woman he married. He grabs the wrist-link.
"Ziggy?"
"Yes, Dr. Beckett."
"Where's Donna?"
There's a pause and then, "I'm sorry to tell you Doctor, but Dr. Elsie left the project almost two years ago."
"What? Where is she now?"
"I don't know Doctor. She swore me to secrecy."
"Who else knows?" Sam asks.
"Admiral Calavicci."
As Sam hurries back he is frustrated. He enters the control room and goes to activate Ziggy.
"Ziggy…have you found out what Al is there to do?"
"Yes Doctor. He is there to stop the man, William Cabbot from ending his life in as a martyr for his cause of stopping racism in Birmingham Alabama in 1961."
"Is the Imaging Chamber ready?"
"In 32 seconds Doctor." Gushie respond.
Sam grabs the handlink from the control panel and walks toward the Imaging Chamber door. He looks at everyone in disdain that they could let Donna go.
As Al is trying to figure out what is going on, he wonders about the man he remembers. Then he hears a familiar sound. And then he sees the man he remembers.
"Sam!" he yells out.
"How you doing, Al?"
"I don't know. I am in 1961 with a mind like Swiss-cheese, and everyone thinks my name is Will."
"Well…what do you remember?" Sam asks.
"Not much. My name and your name, but that's it."
"Have you looked in a mirror?" Sam asks knowing what the outcome will be.
"No." Al says. Then he goes over to one in the room and is shocked that the reflection isn't him, but that of a young black man.
"What the hell?" Al says shocked.
"You're part of an experiment; one that deals with time travel. You have switched places in time with …" Sam punches some buttons on the handlink. "Will Cabbot. You are trying to stop the racism going on here in Birmingham, Alabama."
"Trying too?" Al asks.
"Yeah…you see he's killed in five minutes when some people try to punish him for trying to change the town."
"That's what I'm here to do? Change his life for the better?" Al says.
"Yes! Exactly."
Just then the police barge in with some townspeople, and take Al out of the jail cell he is in.
"This is it Al. You've got to stop them!" Sam yells as people pass through him.
"How?"
"Uh…I don't know. Escape!"
Just then some black people from the town fight the white people and a brawl ensues. Someone pulls out a gun and tries to shoot Al. But a white man gets in the way and takes the bullet instead. Al catches him as he falls, and everyone stops. The man is the mayor of the town and everyone begin to disperse.
"For you…" the mayor says as he dies.
"Why?" Al asks Sam.
Sam looks at the handlink and says, "I don't have an answer."
Sam kneels down next to Al. They both look at each other when Al leaps out.
Later Sam is sitting in the lounge wondering why Donna left. He is wondering why he remembers Sammie Jo's mother. He also wonders why someone else died instead of Al's host.
"Looking for answer?" Beth says as she walks in.
"Trying to figure out what to do now?" Sam says as he gets up to leave. "I don't think Al can handle this."
"I think it would be easier if he remembers on his own." She tells Sam.
"What do you mean?"
"You're not to tell him about us; about me and our children. Ziggy's orders." She informs handing Sam a list.
"I'm sorry for you and Donna. She was a good woman."
Sam nods his head in thanks and she leaves.
'Where ever I time you land, what ever you're there to do, we'll get you home Al. If it's the last thing I ever do.'