Chapter 3: A Friend in Need, June 28th, 1991
Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime, Doctor Sam Beckett stepped into the Quantum Leap accelerator - and vanished. More than two decades later, Ben Fuller steps into the Quantum Leap accelerator and vanishes. He awakes to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that are 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 Ben can see and hear. And so Ben Fuller finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time, that the next leap, will be the leap home.
Ben felt his vision fade back in from the void. He looked around the room, noticing the walls were painted in a faded pink color. He looked down and saw he was wearing a white button down shirt with a red vest and a plaid skirt.
"A kilt? Did I leap into Scotland?" Ben asked as he looked into the mirror, and jumped back.
He stared at the image in the mirror, which was the image of a very confused teenage girl. Her brown eyes stared back at Ben with the look of the confusion that Ben felt at that moment. She had long brown hair that she touched with her slender hands as Ben grasped at the air beside his head.
"Becca!" a voice shouted as another teenage girl popped her head into the room, which caused Ben to jump back again. "Are you ready yet, we'll be late for school!"
"Oh... girl." Ben sighed.
"Come on!" the girl shouted as she walked out of the room.
"Just a few more minutes!" Ben shouted back. "Where are you, Al?"
"Right here!" Al shouted as he walked through the Imaging Chamber door.
"So, for this leap, you're-" Al started.
"A girl." Ben said.
"Yes, a girl. Rebecca Summers, Becca to her parents and friends, a high school senior in Jackson, Mississippi. She's eighteen and the year is-" Al said.
"1991. I figured that from her school ID card." Ben said, holding up a purse in one hand and an ID card in the other.
"Good. Now that it's out of the way, we can figure out what you're here to change." Al said.
"Ziggy doesn't know?" Ben asked.
"Ziggy doesn't have the required information yet. We haven't loaded Ziggy up with a lot of stuff from the nineties yet. Sam never really frequented those years." Al replied.
"Al, I'm a girl!" Ben shouted.
"So what, Sam was a girl a ton of times. I remember the first time, how awkward he was doing it, he ended up getting better at adapting, but that first time, wow." Al laughed.
"Look at me! I look ridiculous!" Ben said, motioning to the girl's school uniform on his male body.
"You know, I once knew a stripper in Vegas that dressed like that. Well, the skirt was shorter, and her blouse barely covered her casabas-"
"Al!" Ben shouted. "You're married!"
"That doesn't mean I didn't have a life before marriage. Besides, she wasn't as good as the one with the box routine."
"Al, I can't do this! I can't be a girl!"
"Don't worry. If Sam could do it, so can you."
"Al, I don't know how to act, or how to talk..."
"Ben, relax. It's not that hard, just watch all the other girls and do what they do."
Suddenly the girl from before popped her head back in the room. She looked Ben up and down and sighed.
"You don't even have your shoes on, come on!" the girl shouted, as she picked up a pair of black flats and tossed them at Ben.
He caught them and put them on his feet, grabbing the purse on the bed.
"Good luck." Al said, as he walked back out of the Imaging Chamber.
Ben and the girl started to walk down the street, as a red Chevy Camaro drove up, with two teenage boys inside.
"Hey, Jenny, Becca." the driver said. "Need a lift?"
"That would be great, right Becca?" Jenny asked.
"Yeah." Ben replied.
Ben and Jenny got into the car and the car began to speed off. Ben looked at the driver and the boy in the passenger seat. They were dressed in the grunge style of the 90's with flannel shirts and backwards baseball caps.
"I had a lot of fun last week, Eric. And the week before." Jenny said to the driver.
"Good." Eric said.
"You know, I wanna have fun with you, Becca." the other boy said. Ben cringed at the thought.
"We could do one of those double dates, you know. Me and Jen and you and Wes." Eric said.
"Well, I'd love to, but..." Ben started. Jenny looked at him pleadingly. "I'd love to..."
"Great, how's tonight sound?" Wes asked.
"Perfect!" Jenny replied.
"Oh boy..." Ben sighed.
Ben walked back into Becca's house and dropped his bag by the door. A woman poked her head out of the kitchen and smiled upon seeing him.
"Hey, honey." the woman said.
"Hey... mom." Ben said.
"How was school?" she asked.
"Uh... good." Ben replied.
"Anything wrong?" she asked.
"No, not yet anyway..." Ben muttered.
Suddenly the imaging chamber door opened behind Becca's mom and Al motioned towards the stairs.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. I'm going to go to my room now."
Ben walked upstairs to Becca's room and closed the door. He turned around and Al looked at the handlink in his hand.
"Alright, what's up?" Ben asked.
"Ziggy knows why you're here." Al replied. "And it's not good."
"Give it to me straight, Al."
"We were pumping information into Ziggy... and it turned up something. You know that girl from this morning?"
"Jenny?"
"Yeah, it turned up her obituary. She dies tomorrow night."
"What? Tomorrow?"
"Yeah, we don't have any info on how it happens though, just the obit. Ziggy is certain that's what you're here to change."
"Can we figure out what she died of? It's obviously preventable if it only leaped me in today."
"We're working as hard as we can, but there's not much stuff to go off of. Whatever happened, it happens between today and tomorrow."
"Keep me posted if you find any more information."
"We will." Al said as he walked back through the imaging chamber door.
"Ugh..." Ben sighed as he fell back onto Becca's bed.
Later, Ben walked slowly down the stairs as he balanced on heels that Jenny insisted he wear. He felt ridiculous and grimaced in the mirror hanging by the front door, looking over his reflection, who he assumed looked better than he did in the dress. He studied her made up face and waited for Jenny to show up.
"You look lovely." a voice said and Ben jumped, turning around to see Becca's father.
"Oh, hey... dad." Ben said.
"You don't seem excited about this date, normally you're rushing to get ready."
"I'm only really doing this for Jenny."
"Ah, you'd do anything for her. I think it's good that you two are best friends, you're good influences on each other."
A car honked and Ben peeked out the window. He saw the red Camaro sitting outside with Jenny in the front seat next to Eric, and Wes in the backseat.
"Gotta go." Ben said, grabbing Becca's purse off of a table by the door and walking outside.
"You look smoking, Becca." Wes said as Ben got into the car.
"Thanks..." Ben said.
"This place is great, I know the staff, they're going to hook us up." Eric said.
"That's awesome!" Jenny said.
The four teens sat in the restaurant as they looked over their menus. Wes started to move his hand onto Ben's leg and Ben glared at him, causing him to move his arm back to his own leg.
"So, Eric. I have to ask you something... privately." Jenny said.
"Sure, let's go outside. Don't order without us." Eric said.
The two of them walked out and Ben sat uneasily across from Wes. Ben silently wished for a cell phone, and after a few minutes, Jenny walked back in looking like she had recently been crying.
"Jenny, what's wrong?" Ben asked.
"I want to go home." Jenny replied.
"Where's Eric?" Wes asked.
"He left... we had a fight." Jenny said.
"Shit! He's my ride!" Wes shouted as he ran out of the restaurant.
"Let's go." Ben said as he grabbed Jenny's hand and walked out of the restaurant with her.
Ben and Jenny walked down the street towards Jenny's house as Jenny looked absentmindedly away from Ben.
"What's wrong?" Ben asked. "I can tell when you're not telling me something."
"It's nothing, really." Jenny replied.
"What was the fight about? I thought you liked him?"
"Promise not to tell anyone?"
"Of course."
"Remember that... fun I had with Eric two weeks ago?"
"Yeah?"
"He.. uh... didn't use protection. I'm..."
"Oh my god... you're..." Ben started as he covered his mouth with his hands.
"Pregnant."
"Does anyone else know?"
"Just you... and Eric. He didn't want anything to do with me."
"That rat bastard..."
"I don't know what to do..."
"It'll be okay. A baby isn't a big setback."
"I don't even know if I'm ready for a baby yet... what if I can't finish school?"
"Calm down. You have to relax and figure it out slowly. You don't need to freak out. The first thing though, you have to tell your parents."
"I can't tell them, you know how they are, they would ground me for just having sex, let alone this."
"You'll need help, and they'll be the best resource."
"Are you sure?"
"They're your parents and they love you, of course they'll help."
"Okay. I trust you."
They walked until they reached Jenny's house and Ben walked back to Becca's house and kicked off his heels the moment he stepped into the house. He walked upstairs and undressed and crashed on the bed, falling asleep.
The next morning, Ben awoke and set to getting ready, being slightly better at it than he had been the day before. Ben walked downstairs and waited for Jenny to show up. Ben checked a clock and noticed that it was about the time that they had left the previous day. He sighed and grabbed his bag, walking to Jenny's house and knocking on the door. Jenny's parents answered the door.
"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Collins... Is Jenny here? She was supposed to meet me for school." Ben said.
"We have no idea where she is, and as of last night, we no longer care." Jenny's father said.
"What?" Ben asked.
"We no longer have a daughter." Jenny's mother said.
"You know?" Ben asked.
"About her sin? Yes we do. And the lord does not approve, and neither do we." Jenny's father said.
"But she's still your daughter!" Ben shouted. "How could you do that?"
"We do what the lord wants." Jenny's mother said.
"Bullshit! The lord would want you to love your daughter no matter what, not put her out on the streets when she's scared and confused and vulnerable and... oh my god." Ben stopped as he had a realization. He turned away from Jenny's parents and began running down the street. "Al! Get your holographic butt in here!"
Al walked through the Imaging Chamber door with his handlink almost on command and walked up to Ben.
"Al, tell me you have news about Jenny. I think she might do something dangerous." Ben said.
"We have news. We know how she dies."
"How does it happen?"
"She dies of an infection caused by a botched abortion at some back alley place. We can't find an address since the place is closed, but we know she goes there tonight." Al said, somberly. Ben stared in horror.
"That's pretty heavy, Al!" Ben shouted. "I can't make a decision like that for her!"
"You don't have to. Whatever she does afterwards isn't what you're here to change, you're here to save her life. Just stop her from doing it tonight, what she does afterwards is out of our jurisdiction."
"That's fair. Can you lock onto her and tell me where she is?"
"We can't lock on for some reason, some sort of interference. It was hard enough locking the signal onto you. I'd have been here sooner if it wasn't for the issues we had."
"I need to find her, Al!"
"I know, but we don't know where she is. The only guarantee is that she's somewhere in the neighborhood."
"You keep trying, I'm going to keep looking." Ben said as Al stepped back towards the Imaging Chamber.
"We'll do everything we can." Al said as he stepped back into the door and disappeared. Al walked out of the Imaging Chamber and crossed to Gooshie, who was standing over Ziggy's console.
"What's the word, Gooshie?" Al asked.
"Not good Admiral, we still can't get a lock on her. We've been feeding Ziggy the city zoning plans to see if we can get a lock on the abortion clinic, but... it's been more than twenty years, there's no guarantee." Gooshie said.
"There's gotta be, or else we're going to leave Ben trapped in that girl's life. And I never let that happen to Sam, and I won't let it happen to Ben." Al said. "Call me as soon as we have something."
Ben walked down the street and saw a familiar red Camaro sitting in front of a convenience store. Ben stormed into the store and saw Eric standing near the slush machine. He walked up to Eric, glaring at him.
"Oh, hey Becca." Eric said. "What's going on?"
"You know very well what's going on, you bastard."
"I see Jenny told you the details about our fight last night."
"How could you? She needed you, and you just abandoned her?"
"Listen, I don't want to be tied down with a kid! Jenny's nice and all, but she's not the type I want to settle down with."
"That's not your decision any more! The kid is half of your genetics, and you just don't care about it?"
"Come on, I..." Eric started as Ben grabbed him by the collar and pushed him into a wall. Eric looked surprised at the strength that Becca apparently had.
"Listen to me, whatever it is you think you did or didn't do, you created a potential human life, a child and it's your responsibility to stand up and be a man and own up to what you did. And if you can't do that then... you're just the type of person I thought you were when I met you." Ben pushed Eric away and silently walked out of the store.
That evening, it began to rain as Ben ran into Becca's house and slumped by the door in frustration.
"What the hell am I going to do? Even if I find her, what will she do then? How do I get her a safe place to live?" Ben asked.
He got up and walked to the living room where Becca's parents were sitting on the couch watching T.V.
"Hey honey, you're home late." Becca's mother said.
"Yeah..." Ben replied as he got an idea.
"What's wrong, honey?" she asked.
"Well, you guys... you'd love me no matter what, right?"
"Of course!" Becca's father said.
"Even if I... got pregnant?" Ben asked.
"Honey... are you..." Becca's mother asked.
"No, no... But Jenny is... and her parents..." Ben replied.
"Kicked her out? That's terrible!" Becca's father said.
"She could stay with us, right?" Ben asked.
"Of course, you didn't even have to ask." Becca's mother replied.
"That's good." Ben said as he started to relax.
Suddenly Al burst out of the Imaging Chamber door, waving the handlink.
"Ben! We have the address and we're almost out of time. Ziggy puts it at a ninety percent probability that if we don't stop her in five minutes, it'll happen." Al shouted.
"We need to go! Now!" Ben shouted as he hopped up and Becca's parents looked at him shock.
"What's going on?" Becca's mother asked.
"Jenny! She's about to do something terrible! We need to leave now!" Ben shouted.
"I'll get the keys." Becca's father shouted as he ran for his car keys.
They got into the car and began driving as Al barked directions that Ben shouted at Becca's father, who continued to drive the car, unsure about where his daughter was getting the directions from. They pulled up half a block away from the clinic and saw Jenny standing hesitantly near the door of the clinic.
"Let me go first." Ben said as he stepped out of the car, followed by Al and they approached Jenny.
"Go away." Jenny said.
"Listen, you don't have to do this." Ben said.
"Last time I listened to you I got disowned by my parents. I'd rather make my own decisions." Jenny said.
"This time I'm prepared. If you need a place to stay, my parents have okayed it for you to stay with us." Ben said. "I know this is scary and tough, but I swear if you go in there, you'll regret it. You don't have to keep the baby, or you can keep it, it's your choice. But a choice you can make when you're not in this state of mind. You need to be in a stable state of mind to make a decision that could potentially change your life."
"I don't know what to do." Jenny said.
"Then let me help you." Ben said as he held out his hand. Jenny embraced him in a hug and Al gave a thumbs up as he looked at the handlink.
"You go on ahead to the car. I need a minute." Ben said as Jenny started to walk towards Becca's parents.
Al walked up next to him as they watched Becca's parents comfort Jenny.
"How does she turn out?" Ben asked.
"She's alive. We don't know anything else, but... she's alive." Al replied.
"And the potential baby?" Ben asked.
"Ziggy couldn't find any information about it. I'm sure everything works out."
"Me too, Al. Me too." Ben said as he was engulfed by blue light and began to leap.
Ben's vision faded in and he saw a figure in medieval knight armor brandishing a sword in front of him.
"Halt thief!" the knight shouted.
Ben looked around frantically and then looked at his hand, which was holding a small leather pouch. He looked back at the knight and started to step backwards, hitting a wooden structure.
"Oh boy..." Ben sighed as the knight began running towards him with the sword in front of him.
To Be Continued...