Pursued

by Doug4

Sam is put in danger when someone wants to follow him in time.

5. Chapter 5

Three Women, One Love (Part 1)

Tingles. That was Sam's first reaction. Tingles from his head to his toes. His whole body had been turned into one massive funny bone connected to the world's biggest elbow. Tingles. Sam bit his lip and almost dropped the fork he was holding. Where was he? He was sitting on a velvet-like cushion with his other hand in his lap. The light was low. Looking up a chandelier gave a soft glow to the dark room of rich greens and mahogany furniture. Only the scrapping sounds of the dinner utensils could be heard made by the children on Sam's right and left and the man sitting across from him. Sam had leaped into the most domestic of situations. A typical family dinner. The boy on his left was seven years old wearing jeans and a Phoenix Sonics tee-shirt busily and eating his rib eye steak with relish or least a lot of catsup. On his right, a slightly early teenaged girl blonde with blue eyes wearing a black "Will Work for Anime" tee-shirt was delicately eating the tenderest part of the meat after a thorough trimming. In front of Sam was a dark haired man about thirty in an expensive suit eating the biggest steak at the table. When he saw Sam looking at him he smiled.

Sam quickly inspected his own hands noting the light pearl polish on his nails. Slightly panicking he realized he must be the mother. He just smiled as he took a bite of the extremely well done meat. Sam preferred his a bit pinker so he switched to the baked potato as Sam saw worried look cross the gentleman's brow. His eyebrows want up as he tilted his head toward each of the children twice.

Sam stared at him with a sheepish grin not knowing the type of signals that had developed between this couple who had been married well over a decade. He tried to not shrug his shoulders as the husband momentarily looked up and then turned to his son on his left.

"So, sport. How'd practice go?" he asked cleaning off his mouth with his napkin.

"Pretty cool. Coach said that I was looking good and I'll definitely get some playing time against MountHolly next week. That'll be neat," he said now smiling.

"That's great! I'm looking forward to seeing you play. In fact, we'll all be out to support you," he said smiling himself.

Sam turned to him. "That's wonderful!" he said remembering his own debut on the basketball team at Harrison Junior High back in Elk Ridge, Indiana.

The big sister glanced at her father and then kept looked down playing with her vegetables "Friday night? I'm busy. I told Amanda we'd hang out that night."

Her father looked very displeased as her brother seemed to have cared less. "Madison, we should all be out cheering on your only brother."

The teenager's voice went up half an octave. "I said I'm busy. Amanda needs some help with her science project."

"It's wonderful that you want to help her out. Maybe you could go over to her house later in the weekend," said Sam quietly still trying to figure out the dynamics of the leap.

Madison threw down her fork and stood up abruptly.

Her father raised his voice. "Madison, your mother and I don't want you to act like that at the dinner table!"

Tears began to form in her eyes. "I promised her! And she's my best friend! Besides, Joey never comes to any of my karate exhibitions or tournaments!"

"He's been very busy with his football practice," explained the father as Joey looked rather bored with the whole discussion.

"That's not fair!" Madison said now visibly crying.

Sam reached over to her as her father said strongly, "That is enough, young lady!"

Sam softly patted her hand motherly. "Do as your father says, Madison."

"This is so unfair!" she said throwing down her napkin and running out of the room.

"Madison! Come back here!" called out her father.

"Stupid girl!" muttered Joey looking down at his plate while trying watch his parents through his peripheral vision.

The father shot a glance over at Joey, but also looking up at Sam. "I heard that, son. And I saw that smug expression on your face. Give your sister a break. She is going through a very hard time for girls. Your mother did the same thing. Right?"

Sam again smiled. "Right! The hormone thing. Really hits us... um women at your sister's age. Let her have some time alone. And we'll call her friend to try and make other arrangements."

Sam's temporary helpmate nodded his head in agreement. "That's fine, pumpkin," he finished.

Sam cringed at the unnecessary condescending endearments.

The boy looked first at his mother and then his father and sighed collapsing in his chair. "All right!" he said reluctantly while still muttering something under his breath.

The room again went quiet except for the sound of the cutlery on the china until a very annoying sound occurred.

"Buzzzzzz!" when sound as a vibration could be felt on Sam's belt. Looking down Sam pulled off a pager that was all lit up in red light and felt like a joy buzzer going off in his hand.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" called out Joey.

"Where?" called out Sam as he stood up abruptly looking around as his chair fell over backwards.

The husband stood up too. "You won't know that till you get down to station. Will you, pumpkin?"

"Station?" repeated Sam as he looked toward the front hallway and saw a pile of brightly colored firefighting gear arranged neatly next to the front door. "Don't worry about Madison. I'll take care of everything. Now off you go, sweetie!" he said handing Sam her car keys, giving him a peek on the cheek and pushing him toward the hallway. "GO!" he said louder in a comical loving fashion. "The public needs you! As do I, Sarah!"

Sam reached the front door, looked at the keys as his purpose became clearer. "I'm a fire lady? OH BOY!"

Phoenix, AZ

September 10, 2006

Sam ran from the white two-story colonial and threw his gear in the back of a red jeep. Looking inside he saw Al Calavicci sitting in the passenger's seat. He gave Sam a slight wave as Sam jumped behind the wheel and started the car.

"Where am I heading?" he asked quickly while backing out of the driveway.

"And a good morning to you too, Sam," replied Al out of the side of his mouth. "Or good night as it is here," he corrected himself pointing to the darkness that surrounded him. "Head down the road to your left. To get to your place of employment go two bocks down; make a right and then half a mile down Thirty-Fifth Avenue. And put that emergency light up on the dashboard. There. Now drive like you're heading to a fire; which we are," said Al with a twist of irony in his voice. The bright blue light lit up Sam and Al's faces and everything else the car passed.

Sam nodded. "What can you tell me, Al?"

Al pulled out his handlink, pushed about a million buttons while humming to himself. "Right! Your current nom de plume is Sarah Ann Mullins."

"And I'm a lady fireman," injected Sam as he turned onto Thirty-Fifth Avenue.

"Firefighter," replied Al. "Everything is gender neuter now. Police officer, not policeman. Actor, not actress. Chairperson, not chairman etc. etc. etc. You are thirty-three years old, married to Ted Mullins for fourteen years. And still very nicely put together. Your two kids are Madison aged fourteen and Joseph aged eight. This place is PhoenixArizona and the date is the tenth of September in the year of our Lord two thousand and six. End of report," Al announced confidently since he had not needed to accost the side of his colorful handlink this time.

"And my mission is?" asked Sam looking unfulfilled.

Sam took a long puff of his stogie thinking for a moment. "Ziggy is still working on that one. At the present time you are on your way to a car fire that is out by the time Engine Company 23, that's your outfit, arrives on the scene. There's the station. Jump out of your car, grab the gear off the hook marked Mullins and jump into the front seat of the hook and ladder. Good luck!" Al said pushing a button and disappearing.

"Bye, yourself," thought Sam as he found his locker and pulled on his fireproof suit and strapped the firefighting equipment on his back. The suit felt bulky limiting his motion and the gear was as heavy as any backpacking grip he had ever used. First he stepped over the Dalmatian who then followed Sam. The dog hopped up on the seat beside him as Sam climbed up into the fire truck and took the passenger's seat. Sam breathed easier, but for only a moment since a gloved hand reached out and shook his shoulder.

"Sorry, Sarah. You're on the back tonight. Didn't you check the rotation chart?" asked the fellow firefighter.

"Sorry," said Sam quietly as he got down, ran to the back of the fire truck and took his place. Sam looked up and Al was sitting in front of him dangling his feet over the side.

Holding on to the vertical bar next to him Sam quietly said, "I thought you said..?"

"So I goofed. I'm only as good as the data Ziggy can get me. Besides I thought they'd give a lady a break. How bad can it be?" asked Al as he lit up another stogie and breathed in a very satisfying puff. "Smooth as silk," he said blowing a couple smoke rings into the cool night air.

Sam looked slightly peeved as he held on. The flashing red lights came on. After a quick jerk Sam felt the fire engine moving out from under him. His arms successfully took up the slack due the acceleration until the turn onto Thirty-Fifth Avenue sending him crashing into the bar. Steadying himself he took the same stance as his companion and held on TIGHTLY. The wind whipped past him as the road raced past very close to his feet at forty miles an hour. Sam's stomach felt not only queasy from the motion, but it also felt every pothole and seam in the street since his legs were very ineffective shock absorbers.

Al looked at the passing scenery enjoying himself immensely. "Great ride up here! What a view! What a dream! That is if you're eight years old! Hoo-ah!" shouted Al with the exuberance of the eight-year-old. Picking up his colorful little handlink he called down to Sam. "Not to worry, Sam. According to Ziggy, the fire is already out. Of course that can't be the real reason that you're here. Ziggy is narrowing down the possibilities, but with all these emergency fire runs it's tough to find the one your leaping assistance. If that's where your supposed to help out. Wow! In six months there's an apartment complex fire that leaves forty families homeless and four dead. Hope you're not here that long!"

Sam nodded in agreement and then just stared at Al's feet above him on the back of the hook and ladder.

Al looked down at Sam sadly. "I don't think this business appeals to you Sam. You look a bit green around the gills! Try riding around on the San Francisco trolley cars. On the outside. Beth and I used to like doing that in our younger dare-doing days. Many, many moons ago. Oops! There your objective. I still see smoke!"

Pulling into a neighborhood of old wooden houses Sam saw an old Chevy that sat on the curve as white smoke bellowed out from under the hood. The fire truck drove by slowly. Al looked on sad at the old car that had all its better days beheld it now. "It's the crusher for you my friend. Sam look! No flames. But with all these old houses nearby the whole neighborhood could have gone up. Jeeze!" thought Al. He quickly checked info node number one. "Nope, all these houses are still there."

Sam breathed easier as a blackened firefighter came over to the driver and waved him off. With a signal from other Company 23 vehicle, Sam's fire truck took off down the street. The truck performed one great slow turn as it pushed aside the traffic and headed back to the barn.

Sam's companion, Dave Sterling, shook his head. "Thank God no one seemed hurt. But it was a waste of our time. Hopefully dispatch will get it right next time! Wish they knew their job downtown!"

Sam just nodded as he held on for dear life. The trip back was slower, but it took a lot longer since he was still the last fire fighter on the truck and the one person closest to the delivery truck that was tailgating behind them.

Dave waved the truck around. He watched the vehicle slowly passing them looking a bit peeved. "Don't they know to stay back?" he called out to Sam who just shook his head. "You all right, Sarah?" he asked noting how pale Sam was.

"Fine! Just a little tired," yelled Sam over the traffic noise.

"You look scared to death, Sarah! It's not like it's your first time. This ain't a trapeze, young lady," he yelled holding on as the fire truck did another long slow turn.

As Sam gulped at the thought Al replied, "You've been there, too. I guess you were always most comfortable flying a desk back here at Quantum Leap," mused Al as he lowered himself next to Sam. "Easy does it. According to Ziggy you will be back at the station in two minutes and thirty-five seconds. And don't get Sarah put on sick call when you may have a job to do here, little missy," Al suggested with a slightly turned up smile.

Sam nodded and then told his companion that he was fine and was just a little nauseous this morning.

"Morning sickness?" Dave Sterling asked looking quite surprised.

Sam's face got one shade paler. "No. It's not what you think," Sam replied as he turned away and tried to look at the horizon and not at the pavement that was rushing below him. He said a little prayer to anyone listening as finally the Company 23 Firehouse came back into view.

At about nine o'clock Sam walked back into the two story colonial and deposited his gear back in the spot she found it earlier. Joey had his homework spread out across the living room floor while her husband Ted walked in from the kitchen.

"False alarm?" he asked giving Sam a kiss.

Sam flinched and then replied that there had been a small car fire over on Jersey Court. "Where's Madison?" asked Sam looking around.

"I'm not going to reply to that!" he said chuckling. "That's an old joke! Our daughter is still upset, but Amanda is free Saturday morning to work on a model of the internal organs of a common frog. Must be a couple of pretty tough girls! Can I get you anything, sweetie?"

Sam shook his head in the negative. "I'm going to change. My shift is over at midnight so I should be home tomorrow," replied Sam who had checked the rotation chart before heading home.

"You do that. You look beat!" he said giving Sam a big hug. "Go take it easy, pumpkin."

Sam smiled weakly and headed to find their room. Sam peeked in the first room and saw Madison lost at her computer. She looked up rather startled.

"Hi, Mom. And no, I won't stay up too late! By 11:30 I promise. The new Inu-Yasha DVD set is coming next Wednesday! Can I get it?" she asked excitedly.

Sam just gave her a "We'll see," and he said goodnight. Sam wandered into the tastefully decorated master bedroom. In the mirror he saw a cute thirty-plus woman with long dark hair, bright blue eyes and a dark smudge on her cheek. She was a few pounds overweight, but could still turn some heads with her understated beauty. Ten years before she had probably been the bell of the ball until a certain (Sam looked over at his dresser and the awards on the wall.) lawyer had won her heart. Sam grabbed a robe and nightgown and headed to bed. He was more tired than usual after his earlier ride on the back of the hook and ladder. Finishing up his nightly duties, Sam lied down and smiled. His bed never felt so good!

Phoenix, AZ

September 11, 2006

The next morning Sam was the picture of domesticity as he got the husband and the children off to work. Dressed in a lightly colored housecoat and very fuzzy pink slippers Sam made breakfast for three very harried people who came down the stairs almost simultaneously.

Madison picked at her breakfast wondering why everything tasted different and grabbed the sack lunch that Sam had offered her. Opening it up she moaned, "Mom, you know I get the natural fruit bars. I can't eat this shit!"

"Stuff," suggested Sam.

"Yea, whatever," she again moaned still peeved about last night's dinner scene. Grabbing the apple from the bag and two bars from the cupboard, she gave Sam peek and called out, "No practice tonight! I'll be home early!"

Joey bounced down the stairs and ate every bite of the eggs sitting on his plate. He only paid attention to the sports page looking at prospects for this year's Sonics team. Picking up his lunch and books he waved to his Mom and headed out the door. Sam winced as the screen door slammed shut as the young ball of energy headed for his bus stop.

Ted Mullins carrying his briefcase walked into the kitchen kissing Sam on the cheek and wishing his wife a good morning. Sitting down to the table he pushed the newspaper aside and then began to describe how he was going to handle some minor drug violation for the teenaged son of a local politician.

"You do something to these eggs?" he asked looking at Sam while sipping his coffee.

Sam replied, "Yea, I added something my mother used to make ours with."

"That's a pretty good memory since she died when you were three," commented Ted looking very closely as his wife.

Sam had to do some quick thinking. "Oh, my dad used the same recipe," retorted Sam looking away followed by a sip of his morning coffee.

Ted nodded. "That makes more sense. The change is nice, pumpkin," he replied as Sam again winced.

Grabbing his lunch Sam got a very good kiss and then found himself alone in that big two story colonial. Looking around Sam got out a broom and cleaned up the worst part of the mess. Working on the upstairs bathroom Sam heard the friendly familiar sound of the Imaging Chamber door opening. In walked the jubilant Admiral Al Calavicci wearing his white Navy uniform and whistling while looking at his handlink. "Top of the 'whatever' to you, Sam me boy. After fourteen exhaustive hours our multi-functional parallel hybrid buddy who has been remarkably agreeable the last two weeks has his estimates of your work here in the year of our Lord two thousand and six. After the last major diagnostic overhaul, some of her most annoying habits just disappeared. Not one single sarcastic comment. Anyway, tomorrow during a fire at the Grand Pueblo Hotel, one of your firefighter buddies will be overcome by smoke while rescuing some people from a tenth floor window. He passes out and falls from the ladder. And two guests on that floor get trapped up there and don't make it. Your job is to make sure he survives along with the hotel guests."

"And how do I do that without getting dying in the fire?" asked a very concerned Sam.

Al threw out his hands as if it's the easiest thing in the world. "Just back him up. Wait on the ladder with him and make sure everyone gets down. It's his air tank that fails. So don't you fail him!" Al said pointing at Sam as his finger went though him. "You know I still find this spooky even after thirteen years! Jeeze!" Al stuck his hand waving it through Sam stopping after a couple of intense jabs. "Amazing! The alarm doesn't come in until three seventeen this afternoon. The fire truck rolls out at three thirty-one. And you've got you be on it!"

Sam chuckled getting a kick out of his holographic observer. "I'll try and tackle it like that, but for now I've got housework."

Al nodded in agreement. "Get back to the job, Mr. Clean. Or should I say Sarah Ann's job. You missed a spot there in the corner. Arrivederci, senora!" he exclaimed as he pushed the appropriate button on his handlink and the Imaging Chamber door again popped open.

After lunch a tired Sam sat down in the living room perusing an old weekly news magazine reading all about higher gas prices and the never-ending War in Iraq. Around 1 P.M. Sam received a rather urgent phone call.

"Hello? Mullins residence," answered the quantum leaping scientist.

"Hey, Sarah. This is Laura Jean. Laura Jean Gillette," she answered with a slight Southern drawl. "You gotta help me. My car is now dead and I need a ride to the memorial service? Can you give me a lift?"

"Service?" asked Sam who realized that he hadn't read enough of the notices on the bulletin board at the firehouse.

"Land's sake, girl. You can't have forgotten. Full dress blues. You need to look like the city inspector general was going to give you a full inspection, Sarah Ann," explained his new friend in a very stern voice.

Sam realized that the firefighting community took the loss of their own very seriously and that he had to be down there looking Sarah's best. "I'll be there in an hour," said Sam confidently.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be over there in half an hour to check up on my old school chum. You weren't exactly the neatest and best dressed at the academy, hun. Though you sure could find us the hottest dates, sweetie. She you in a few," Laura Jean replied quickly hanging up.

Sam dreaded rummaging through his host's closet looking for her best uniform. Even though he had leaped in her, he was uncomfortable with disturbing someone else's personal spaces. Still he had a job to do and he was determined to do it so he could leap out again. Having no problem finding the uniform, it looked rather silly and short held up to his six foot frame. Grabbing a tie and the remainder of his uniform and some under garments, Sam prepared himself. The final results looked good except for the mop on his head. Nothing seemed to look right with Sarah Ann's straight hair. Sam threw his brush down while the doorbell suddenly rang. And then twice more as Sam ran down the steps.

On the other side of the screen door was a fiery redheaded woman standing no more than five foot two in a spotless blue uniform. Her cheery smile turned sour as she saw Sam. She walked through the door and then did a slow walk around Sam shaking her head and then standing before him with her hands on her hips.

"I thought I'd have to straighten your seams, sweetie. You need some expert help, girl," Laura Jean said in a very disappointed tone.

Sam looked over in the hall mirror and couldn't see much wrong. "What are you talking about, Laura Jean?' he asked looking even more confused then ever.

"Lordy, you look like this is the date you wanta scare off forever, Sarah Ann. You have almost no makeup, no jewelry, and your coat needs a week at the dry cleaners. Don't you worry, big sista is here. And..."

Sam saw her waltz upstairs, go into her room and rummage through Sarah's jewelry box. She brought out two small items hanging on blue and red ribbons.

"Today is the day we all show our accomplishments with pride, sweetie. Two metals of valor. No other she-fighter other than you has got two, sweetie. Stick out that chest with pride," she almost yelled as she pinned them onto Sam. As Laura Jean began to pull and tug and hurt Sam's hair, Sam fingered the two medals and then looked at himself in the mirror. He shook his head looking very impressed at this female fire fighter whom Sam was having a hard time trying to emulate. If anyone had the right stuff to be called a fire fighter, it was this accomplished mother of two.

Laura Jean fiddled with his jacket and mentioned about her strange curves underneath it and then applied several dabs of makeup to Sam's face. "Now ya got the look of one of Phoenix's finest!," she said admiring her work.

Sam looked at a very well made up Sarah Jean, but he truly wondered how it looked on Sam Beckett. But since he never saw himself due to his host's aura, he hoped than everyone found Sarah Ann looking HER best. And for just a moment Sam felt a bit of pride in how she looked.

Laura Jean again made herself at home, grabbed Sam's purse and out they went with Sam in front. "Get a move on, girl. Our public is waiting."

Seventy per-cent of Engine Company 23 stood rigidly at attention in dark blue uniforms, white gloves and hats. Sam stood among four hundred other fire fighters and police officers in front of another one hundred dignitaries including the Arizona Governor, the Phoenix Mayor, various members of the state legislature and other local guests. Under a clear blue late summer sky dozens of American flags flapped in the breeze while hundreds of onlookers wore black armbands and red, white and blue ribbons. Sam could feel the solemnest of the occasion as the Governor of Arizona stood up to speak.

"On a clear day, just like this, came death from the sky. Death came to people, just like us, who gave their all. Going about their daily duties, just like those around us, their lives were cut short. And now they are gone. Not like us. For we are still here. And we are here for a reason. And that reason is to remember them. To remember them as breadwinners and policeman and fireman and emergency workers who were just doing their duty. And now it is our duty to follow their example. To carry on. Almost three thousand Americans died that fateful day. Defending freedom. Defending home. Defending family."

Sam stood up straight and tall as he listened. He listened to an unknown tale of destruction in the great city of New York and the United States' capital, WashingtonDC. He shifted slightly in his position uncomfortably from one foot to another. Unknown names and unfamiliar places were described, but Sam did not remember the story though the speaker kept telling the assembled masses to never forget. Sam wished he could remember. Looking slightly to the right he saw a flicker among the sea of dark blue uniforms. Walking between the emergency workers was his project observer and friend, Al Calavicci. He walked toward him slowly, cautiously, somberly. Sam raised his eyebrows and ever so gently pointed toward the podium with a look of confusion on his face. Al was his source of all knowledge and Sam's heart wanted to know more.

Al looked down, rolled his cigar between his thumb and pointing fingers and then looked up at Sam. "Hi Sam. Thought you'd might be looking for me. Damn shame. A very dark day for the U. S. of A. This whole memorial service," he said waving his cigar around in a big circle, "…is for all the deaths that occurred on 9-11. That's September 11, 2001. Some fanatic Middle Eastern types hijacked four passenger planes destroying the two WorldTradeCenter towers and damaging the Pentagon. Another flight crashed in Pennsylvania when the passengers realized they were just another instrument of destruction. And in your time we're still fighting the aftermath of that black day." Al sighed twice and then took a long puff while staring at the flag display surrounding him.

Sam eyes opened wide showing both shock and loss. He quietly mouthed, "Why?"

"Why? Politics mainly. Us versus them and these terrorist acted as the only way these fanatics can fight. Cowardly attacks where you least expect it. The world has changed a lot since you left, my friend. I only wish that the great travel agent of time could let us change some of these things that went wrong. Three thousand people died including some of them my buddies who worked in the Pentagon. You can try and fight them, find them, stop them, but in this society where we cherish our freedom, you can't turn the old U. S. of A. into an armed camp. I'm afraid it may never end." As his shoulders slumped, Al looked much older. "Well, I've said enough. Just please, Sam. Please try and remember everything you hear today. And if by chance you show up at the right time and place, just try. Try and help. This is something that went very, very wrong," said Al quietly. Sam stood up even straighter as he nodded and accepted this future task. He looked out straight as Al opened up the Imaging Chamber door and disappeared through that great white rectangle. Sam promised Al and himself that this incident, this Pearl Harbor of the twentieth-first century, would not be forgotten.

Project Quantum Leap Stallion's GateNM March 23, 2008

A weary Al Calavicci stepped into the Quantum Leap Control Room. His breathing was heavy and he had his hand on his heart. Taking way too long he stumbled over to the main control console and braced himself.

"Admiral," exclaimed Dominic. "Do you wish me to summon Aurora? You have the look of a man who requires a physician." He took one step from his work station and then Al Calavicci waved him off.

Dominic glanced over at Doctor Stephanie Hartmann and shook his head. Stephie nodded in agreement that the Admiral was not up to par.

"No. I'm fine, Professor!" he said a bit too gruffly as Dominic scowled at him. Al straightened up, pulled down his suit jacket and then walked out. "Excuse me. I'm fine. Everyone back to their stations!" He exited the room and proceeded down the empty corridor.

Tina was the last staff member to go back her desk. With her hand resting on her mouth she was almost in tears.

Just as the Control Room door almost finished shutting a hand shot through the narrowing crack causing it to reverse and then open. There stood Doctor Donna Beckett. She quickly caught up with the slower Admiral Al. One hand placed on his shoulder stopped him in his path.

"Al. What is it?" asked the wife of the time traveling Sam Beckett. She looked into the eyes of a very tired individual. "Please talk to me!"

He looked into her eyes momentarily waving his hand in front of her and then giving up. "Nothing much. Just a long time friend getting tired of observing and seeing what once was. And trying to tell someone about what those cowardly terrorists did and looking into the eyes of the innocent baby faced Sam Beckett!"

"Not Sam," she said with a bit of endearment and a sense of loss. "He may be a Boy Scout, but he's no innocent babe-in-the-woods. I can attest to that."

Al disagreed. "Yes, Sam. Not the ever optimistic scientist who kept us going during the dark early days of the project. He was a rock back than. I mean the time traveling one that starts every leap as innocent as a new born baby," explained Al looking up at Donna and then relighting his ever-present cigar.

Donna looked at Al with a sense of amusement and shook her head tossing her hair around.

Al's voice came back as he tried to make his point. "Oh, all right. He remembers some things from his previous leaps and to a lesser extent from his life before he began his journey. But we've kept him in the dark about what's going on here," he said pointing to the floor, "And what's going on out there," he added pointing to the ceiling and out to the world beyond. "That's what he is innocent about. Just as we all were before you know what. Nine-eleven-oh one."

Donna thought for a moment. "That may be true, but he has to concentrate on his work. He has to save his charge so he can go on and hopefully come home to us. Then he can catch up on current events whether happy or not. Till then it's our job to work keep things working here. You and me and Sammy Jo and Dominic and Aurora and..."

Al nodded gallantly. "Agreed! But I lost a dear friend in Washington that day and then seeing all those people saluting those heroes. It's hard, Donna. A lot of time has passed and I'm getting older and I am very tired," replied Al.

"Sam has an even the harder job, Al. He is there, in the field, doing what he has to do," Donna said. "He always does what he has to do," she said sadly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath wishing he wasn't so damned dedicated.

"You don't have to remind me. Still I'm there living through all those heart wrenching, life and death, pulling at the heart strings leaps and all I can is stand by offering my feeble advice," said Al quietly. "I'm Dear Abby back at the news desk while the whole world waits for my witty clique bits of wisdom."

Donna took each of Al's shoulders and then looked deep into his eyes. "And you've done that very well. More than once you've saved Sam's life for which you have my eternal gratitude and you've improved the lives of hundreds of others."

"Thanks, but one still grows tired of it. I'm heading home. I'll probably feel better about it tomorrow. He doesn't really need me until then. Good night, Donna," he said waving his cigar at her. He headed down the hall with that same tired gait.

"Night, Al," she said waving slightly to him and then touching her cheek wondering if there wasn't something else in the mind of Admiral Al Calavicci. She never completely understood him, but then woe to the person who did completely understand him. A person like Beth. Beth Calavicci.

PhoenixAZ September 11, 2006

DRUM! DRUM! Dr-rum-rum! Sam tapped away on the dining room table with his left hand while he picked at his food with his right hand. His mind was miles away as he lost any trace of the personality he was supposed to have. If he had much more dissociation with Sarah Mullins, he was going to blow his cover. Even the completely cool daughter was beginning to be freaked out.

"Like where are you, Mom? Didn't you guys used to call it space city?" she asked crinkling up her nose. She shook her head and went back to meal.

Ted looked up with a sad expression. "Mom is fine. Great dinner, pumpkin. Your idea of the picnic was a swell idea!" he said not sounding too convincing.

Sam looked up and tried to smile. "Thanks," he said quickly as he adjusted his position and went back to eating.

Joey could see the worried look on his father's face and then cheerfully piped in, "Yea, Mom. The meal is tops! Never had chili burgers like these before! Super!"

Sam nodded at Joey.

Madison turned up the side of her mouth not looking very pleased. "Just something she threw together from the refrigerator. Tastes like cafeteria food. Yeech!"

Her father threw down his fork. "MADISON! It doesn't matter how long it took to cook it. You can't have filet mignon every night! And you will respect your mother! Now apologize!"

"Sorry!" she said quietly looking down at her plate.

Sam looked up. "It's OK."

"That isn't a proper apology. I would be in contempt of court if I gave that attitude to the judge. Try again," he said sternly to his daughter.

Madison looked down and then tried again. "Mother. I am sorry that I was disrespectful. Dinner is fine. I just don't find it my favorite meal."

Sam tried to smile. "I appreciate your saying that. In the future I will try and make something more to your liking."

"That's better," replied her father. "Now I hope you'll think in the future before you say something that might hurt someone. It's only being respectful."

"I really, really like the burgers, Mom," shouted out Joey trying to top his sister.

"Now that's enough from all of you. This is the dinner table and I won't have the atmosphere disturbed no matter what is wrong with anyone," he said looking up at Sam.

"As long as there are going to be apologies, I'm going to make one too. The memorial service was very moving and unsettling at the same time," explained Sam as he pushed his plate away from him.

"It was a very grave time," said the father. "Not to be forgotten. Now I understand, pumpkin. I'm sorry I wasn't there, but Judge Wilkins wants to move up the Franklin case. Just too many delays from the complainant. I think it's because he has no case. Now enough of that. On to a better topic. What's for dessert?"

Joey's eyes lit up as if it were Christmas morning.

Sam's eyes also opened wide. "Dessert?"

Calavicci Homestead Stallion's GateNM March 23, 2008

Pulling up in his Stingray Corvette 'Bette', Al put on the brake and dragged himself into his house. Even the sound of his finely tuned engine was not enough to improve his disposition. He slammed the car door with the same intensity as own front door after dragging his feet up the stone sidewalk.

Inside his house waiting for him was Beth Calavicci, his ever-patient and ever-loving wife. Now retired she worked three days a week at the Navaho Children's Homeless Shelter examining and working with the pint-size occupants whose parents were on the street or who had abandoned them. Other days she visited with her daughters and their families or watched over the varying moods of Albert Calavicci. Today she was home resting and waiting for her mate of over forty years. She could see by the slouching posture and the absence of a cigar that he was not in a peculiarly happy mood.

"Hello, wonderful! Care for some coffee?" she asked reaching for the pot on the table.

"Hi, Beth," he said quietly giving her a very small peck on the cheek. "No thanks, sweetie." He gave her a very forced smile and then plopped down hard next to her.

"Why the sour expression? Sam doing OK?" she asked now hugging him and laying her head on his shoulder. She felt the warmth of his body, but not the usual cockiness as he slumped against the back of the sofa.

Al put his arms around her and held her tightly though only for a moment.

"What?" she asked looking at him. "It's not just a tough day at the office, Bingo-bango." She thought about teasing him, but decided that he would open up if he wanted to.

Al shook his head sadly. "No. It's not Sam. He's fine. You see, he went to this 9-11 memorial service that occurred two years ago. I kept thinking about how we lost my old shipmate, Ruddy McDonald. You remember him from Patuxent,don't you?" Al asked with a far off look in his eyes.

Beth could never forget any of Al's old drinking pals from his early naval days. He never lost his bachelor partying ways until he was shot down over Sun Bin Yan Pu. Ruddy was also one of the few non-comms that Al buddied around with during his test pilot training days at Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

"Sure, the short redhead. Used to bring that awful avocado dip to our weekend barbeques. He liked Air Force jokes, foxy redheads and had a wicked sense of humor," replied Beth.

Al nodded his head. "That's him. After two drinks he'd stand up straight and never let an officer talk down to him. It just brought back bad memories. I wasn't that close to him, but seeing his name on the Pentagon casualty list made the whole episode much too real for me."

Beth ran her hand down his side and then gave him a sad smile. "Albert. No one is telling you to forget. Just don't let the past consume you. Look at Donna and Sam. She still functions brilliantly day to day even with the piece of her heart missing. I've got you every day and every night, that is unless Sam and his leap have you up working the night shift."

Al turned away now gesturing without looking at Beth. "I know. It's not just that," admitted Al. "A lot of good people were killed that day. There is something else that is bothering me about this leap. I don't know what it is, but it's too pat, too easy. And we're taking way too long to get to the crux of the leap. I know that something is going to go terribly wrong," explained Al. "And I don't know where that funny feeling is coming from." Al preferred to think actively on his feet or quickly from his gut and not from some emotional point that more resembled female intuition.

"Look sweetie, you've been doing this for a long time. Sam's been gone for thirteen years now. Maybe you have developed a second sense," suggested Beth.

Al turned around and squinted looking deep into Beth Calavicci's dark blue eyes. Her forehead was in a relaxed position as a loving knowing smile broke out on her face. "What? Am I getting premonitions? Am I now clairvoyant? A Shakespearian soothsayer? A hokey gypsy in a bandana?"

"No, dear. Just a very experienced observer who's seen a lot. You see? Don't loose that trait, my dear. Now go get some rest before dinner. Go lie down, have a drink and before you know it dinner will be ready. It's just the two of us tonight," she said standing up without letting go of his hand.

Suddenly one of Al's eyebrows went up as the fog lifted around him. Maybe his wonderful wife was right. Maybe he should just take his life one leap at a time like Sam did. Maybe he should just enjoy the moment. An idea of what might happen popped into his highly charged mind.

Al held her hand tighter. "Just the two of us? Hmm! And you want me to go take a NAP? Why don't we forget the rest and go lie down together?"

A sweet little smile came over Beth's face as a warm glow passed through her. "If that's what you really need. I'm right behind you, tiger!"

PhoenixAZ September 12, 2006

Speeding down Adams Street crouched in the compartment behind the driver, Sam and four other fire fighters sat silently while the deafening sound of the siren warned the city of the approach of Engine Company 23. Each of the fire fighters stared off into the distance. Sam stared because he knew the objective of his leap into fire fighter Sarah Mullins was very near. The real Phoenix fire fighters stared because they knew that a fire at the Grand Pueblo Hotel meant a large public structure full of scared people. And scared people made their job even more dangerous.

Pulling up next to the Grand Pueblo, the hook and ladder was directed to the center of the building near the main entrance to the hotel lobby. An Indian pueblo model sat on the awning above the door with the words 'Grand Pueblo Hotel' in beige faux lettering. Bright orange and yellow flames shot out from the third and fourth story windows. Employees and guests had exited the lower floors and the lobby, while other evacuees from higher floors ran from the emergency exits on the corners of the building. Red flashing lights shot across the surrounding buildings for a radius of two blocks giving the neighborhood an eerie glow while the noise of the approaching emergency vehicles could be heard throughout the city. More and more vehicles filled the street in front of the hotel and the adjoining side streets as the four alarm fire sent smoke streaming into the cloudy afternoon sky.

Sam jumped from the cab followed by his ever-present shadow Al Calavicci. The air smelled of smoke as cinders danced in front of Sam. Sam or rather Sarah Mullins was assigned hose duty next to the hook and ladder. He followed the lead of his comrades and helped unload the hoses that were quickly connected to the nearest fire hydrant. The great white ladder lifted up from the back of the truck. Higher and higher it reached and then turned toward the center of the building. Closer and closer the experienced operator moved the ladder toward the smoky building. Sam's companion, Dave Sterling, who had ridden with him earlier climbed up the ladder. Climbing nearly to the top the last few feet to the window were reached by extending the ladder with Dave Sterling hanging onto the top.

Sam squinted through the smoke and haze and saw four adult heads sticking from the window waving at the approaching fire fighter. None of them were frantic. Dave approached the first and exchanged some words. He climbed into the window and then helped the first older gentleman onto the ladder. Slowly he began to climb down the ladder.

Al leaned next to Sam and shouted, "When this guy gets down, you have to scramble up the ladder according to Ziggy. Something happened to your comrade in there. Dave Sterling never made it out of the hotel, Sam. He was probably overcome by carbon monoxide."

"Why's the sight of that ladder making me nervous, Al?" asked Sam staring up at the window.

Al waved his cigar in front of Sam, "Don't ask that. Just look straight at the bars on the ladder and stay inside the cage like we went over earlier. I'll be with you the whole way. Nothing to it. Just keep focused!"

"I hope Ziggy's right!" exclaimed Sam as he helped the first gentleman down and then started up the ladder. The metal rungs felt quite secure, but Sam's knees grew weaker with every floor he passed. Al followed him up. His hanging in the midair without any visible support did not help Sam's nerves.

"Keep going Sam. You're doing fine. Next step. Good," he kept saying repetitiously. His smile was a little forced due to his continued nagging feeling about this leap.

"Could it be Sam's fear of heights?" thought Al keeping the thought to himself. In many situations Sam's lost memories helped him get through his leaps.

Fire fighter Sam Beckett reached the top of the ladder holding on tightly. His fingers ached from his constant grip. He put out his hand and a man and a woman pulled Sam in. The smoke was suffocating. Heat filled the room though no flames were in sight.

Dave motioned to Sam that there were possibly people across the hall and for Sam to get the other guests down the ladder. Sam nodded as he herded them toward the window.

"That could be where he loses his life, Sam," shouted Al. "You get the others down, I'll keep an eye on him and call you if he needs help." Al checked out the hallway by sticking his head through the wall as Dave headed for the door of the hotel suite.

Sam nodded and then calmed down the last male guest who had begun to panic. After Sam's and the two women's reassurances that it was all right that he could go, he headed down the ladder. Sam admired the strength and composure of the two women. "You can go next," shouted Sam as the redheaded woman covered in charcoal and dirt nodded. Her companion stood very close holding onto her tightly.

Dave Sterling struggled with the partially opened door until it suddenly opened. More smoke and heat flowed in the room, but the hallway was free of flame. The emergency lights shone through the haze with no other guests or employees in sight. Al followed him through wall as a static crackling sound could be heard in the adjoining room. It was not the sound of the fire, but some other sound that was accompanied by a stale ozone smell in the air. Together they reminded Sam more of the old emergency electric heater that Sam's Dad ran in the chicken coop on bitter cold winter nights.

Sam and the two women turned around to see through the haze a middle-aged woman with raven black hair and just a streak of gray through across the top of her head. She was wearing a bright white jumpsuit that should have been covered with soot. Her eyes blazed as she walked in and surveyed the room. Her eyes fell on the two women.

The redhead took a step back and gasped. "Jennifer? Jennifer Daniels!"

Sam did not recognize her as Dave Sterling ran back into the hotel suite. Al quickly returned as the ceiling in the hallway came crashing down. Flame filled the hallway as Dave pushed hard and slammed the door shut. He paused momentarily as fear raced up his spine. He had been in the hallway moments before. Al jumped back himself and then realized how quickly death had come to their leaping charge. At least he was now safe as long as they exited the building and steered clear of the infamous Doctor Jennifer Daniels.

Dave ran over to Sam and asked if he was all right.

Sam nodded as Al nervously pointed at the white apparition. "Sam, that's Doctor Jennifer Daniels! You've got to stop her! She shouldn't be here," he yelled as the renegade scientist reached over and grabbed the redhead.

"You're not stopping me this time, Miss Sammy Jo!" exclaimed Jennifer Daniels.

Al nearly dropped his handlink. "Sammy JO!" exclaimed Al who had not recognized his soot covered colleague. "How'd you get here? What are they having at this hotel? A quantum leap convention? Sam, you've got to help her too! She's very important to the project!" Al didn't mention the more important fact that she was also his daughter.

Jennifer tightened her grip on the struggling Sammy Jo and flung her toward the open window. The ladder may have been underneath the sill, but there was still plenty of space between the ladder and the building that one could fall through.

"Please, Jennifer. NO!" she screamed. Trying to kick Daniels' feet out from under her, Sammy Jo stumbled and fell backwards. Her companion tried to stop Daniels, but she was also knocked to the ground.

Dave grabbed at Daniels while Sam tried to help up Sammy Jo. She slipped from the edge of the windowsill and fell onto the ladder clutching tightly to the outside of the cage. Her legs dangled eight stories above the ground while her hands gripped the slippery side of the ladder cage. The building seemed to weave back and forth beside her as the ground far below her was performing a similar exotic dance.

"Help me!" she screamed as Sam leaned through the window and tried to grab her hand which was difficult since she hung four feet from the window sill. His adrenaline surge completely overcame his fear of heights as he struggled with the small hand of Sammy Jo Fulton.

Dave struggled with Doctor Jennifer Daniels as Al stood by helplessly jumping up and down. "You nutcase! Leave him alone. What the hell are you trying to do? Ziggy. What's Sammy Jo doing here anyway?"

After a brief click over his handlink Ziggy replied very unemotionally. "On September 12th, 2006 Doctor Fulton on leave was visiting her sister-in-law Mrs. Amanda Benet. Amanda Benet is standing next to Doctor Beckett at this very minute. Doctor Fulton was in her hotel room when a fire broke out in the third floor laundry. Both Doctor Fulton and Mrs. Amanda Benet were successfully rescued. Doctor Jennifer Daniels was not at the scene of the fire in the original history."

"No kidding," thought the angry Al Calavicci.

As Sammy Jo's sister-in-law screamed, Sam reached over almost falling himself and grabbed Sammy Jo's wrist tightly. Sammy Jo held onto Sam, but wouldn't let go of the ladder. "Come on, Miss!" screamed Sam. "I'll pull you in. You have to let go and trust me!"

While struggling with Dave, Daniels screamed through the window, "Die, you treasonous tramp. Die!"

Dave Sterling's mind and training made him want to help Sam and the others, but his hands were full with this crazy person. He had been taught to deal with panicked and suicidal people, but not with cold-blooded murderers.

Sam had one of Sammy Jo's wrists, then finally convinced her to give him her other wrist. She swung as her other wrist felt like it was going to come off her arm. Looking forward and not down she slapped her wrist hard into Sam's hand. Now she was hanging like a trapeze acrobat eighty feet off the ground.

"Ah! Oh, boy!" she cried in a hoarse voice. She couldn't completely ignore the height I her peripheral vision. Above her she saw a rather small or average size woman urging her on.

"You're doing fine!" Sam said with a fake smile as he tried not to look down.

Sammy Jo was too far away to pull up to the window. Sam had no one else to help him so he swung her over the side of the cage and onto the ladder rungs. Sammy Jo let go of Sam and grabbed the ladder rungs which were much more comforting than her swinging act. Sam offered to help her into the window, but she just hung onto the ladder hyperventilating and staring straight at the brick wall. "Oh… boy! That… is… the… clos… est… that… I… ev… er… want… to… see… Saint… Pe…ter… for… man… y… years!" she said between her heavy breaths.

Daniels seemed to be losing her struggle with Dave Sterling. Sam pulled himself in the window and tried to help.

"Watch it, Sam. She is bad news!" cried Al who was extremely frustrated being able to only observe.

Daniels looked down at Sammy Jo clinging safely to the ladder, muttered something and then looked toward the direction of Al. "Not this time, Caver-itchy!" she hissed as the door of the suite blew open and fire raced in. "Evacuate! Now!" exclaimed Dave to Sam.

Sammy Jo had climbed halfway down the ladder.

"Come on, lady. We have to get out of here!" Dave called out to Daniels.

The flames leaped through Al who didn't notice as he punched away at his handlink. "Ziggy says that you should leap now. Leap, Sam, leap!" cried Al anxiously. "Come on, Sam. You have to get away from that crazy nutcase!"

As Sammy Jo's sister-in-law headed down the ladder, Daniels exclaimed, "I'm still going to claim that which belongs to me." She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small white device about half the size of an iPod, put it on Dave Sterling's shoulder and shocked him.

He screamed and let go of her, "What the hell was that? You trying to get is both killed?"

Blue white sparkles appeared around Sam as she shocked him into unconsciousness and then disappeared in a blaze of white lightning, static charge and a musty ozone smell.

Al dropped his handlink and ran over to the spot where Sam had stood, looked up to the heavens and cried out, "Where are you? Sssssssss-aaaaaaa-mmmmm!"

Beckett Time Displacement Applications Lab Dunbar, New Mexico January 14, 2041

Zip-zap! White lightning and that musty ozone smell permeated the atmosphere above a sixty by eighty centimeter white rectangle in a laboratory full of apparatuses that present-day man had not yet even dreamed of. Even at this future time man had not solved all the secrets of the universe since some of the gadgets in the lab worked better than others.

A huge tower ten feet tall sat in center of the lab pulsating with energy. Dozens of multicolored blinking lights indicated even to the most uninformed observer that the tower was working overtime. A final flash found Doctor Jennifer Daniels standing on the white rectangle holding an unconscious Sam Beckett.

"Made it!" she cheered as she lowered Sam into a three legged office chair with a strange webbed back. Sam rolled over onto his side and would not fall out of the hammock-like seat. Jennifer pulled out a small colorful device not too different from Al's handlink and walked over to the massive tower. Checking some dials and gauges, she pushed a few brightly colored buttons and then entered a series of numbers on the small black panel. The tower answered with a small high pitched beep followed by a long low moan.

"Energy levels nominal. Good! We can commence on next journey in thirty minutes. Powering up nicely, I see. Marvelous machine," she said patting the blinking colossus. Walking back to Sam she quietly shook her head. "Sam darling. Are you all right? I know the last time I summoned you was a lot harder on you physically. But things have progressed so much since StarBright!"

Sam started to come around. He shook the haze from his brain and looked down at himself. He was wearing the white Fermi suit that he had originally leaped in. Standing above him was the very confident and domineering Doctor Jennifer Daniels looking quite motherly at the moment. The room around him was unnaturally bright and filled with lab benches and shelves holding a large assortment of strange and wonderful black boxes. Sam did not know whether these devices had been conceived while he was gone or whether he had just forgotten what they were and for what they purposes were originally devised.

"Did I leap?" he asked as he looked at his own reflection in an adjoining piece of equipment. He pushed back his white forelock that he had not seen in many years.

"You did finish your last leap, darling. And as an unfortunate bonus you saved that treasonous Doctor Fulton," she replied sounding quite annoyed.

Sam shook his head, "Who?"

She caressed Sam's cheek. "Ah, my poor forgetful sweetheart. Just a little lab rat from the Project. Someone I used to call my friend," she mused. "You need not worry about anything, my darling. I'll take care of you from now on." She cradled his head I her hands as she kissed him passionately.

Sam pulled back and held up his hand, "Wait! Al tried to warn me about something. Let me think. About you. Something about you. Where is he? And WHO are you?"

She walked away and then looked down at him as if she had a secret. "A friend. You have nothing to fear, my darling. Admiral Al will not find either of us by the time I am through. I have a thirty-three year technological advantage over them. And through a little subterfuge, I can make sure we disappear together for all time. So to speak," she said with a cute little smile.

Sam tried to get up as she pushed him back down. Though his mind was cloudy he knew that this was not how his leaps started. Something was terribly wrong and he needed help. "No, I have to contact Al. He's my only link..." he tried to say as she pulled out her small white device and shocked him just enough to immobilize him in the chair.

She shook her head. "Not him. You don't need Caver-itchy. Do not stir, my darling. We will be together like we always should have been," she said looking down now more tenderly. She stroked his cheek as Sam unsuccessfully tried to pull away.

"You and me? If that's true, then why do you keep hitting me with that thing?" asked Sam almost sounding like a weak whine. Sam tried to picture some woman who was his soul mate, but none could come to mind.

Jennifer walked in front of Sam and held up her little white futuristic gadget. "Just a mid-twenty-first century stun gun if you like. Nonviolent. Depending upon the voltage level. And, yes darling, we've have always been destined to be together. You and me. And now we will be once we can leave here."

Sam just looked up and stared unable to move.

Jennifer circled Sam fingering her little white stunner. "It's a long road that brought me to this little way station. And then maybe you don't remember us being there at all. Well, after that little tramp changed places with you and I sent her packing into time, but not far enough, I jumped into the time stream myself. And where do I end up? Not thirty miles from here a few decades in the future. Sick and shaking after transporting through that StarBright meat grinder I ended up in Santa Fe Medical Facility. Medicine has had some monumental leaps since then. A week later I'm as good as new thanks to partly what that Admiral's wife did for you back in 2007. If I hadn't gone forward, I'd probably would have died. That old StarBright chamber worked, but just barely. Nothing like killing the patient. Too bad it didn't kill that little lab rat, SAMMY JO!" she said spitting out the name.

Sam looked up in confusion. The events of his last adventure with her were no longer within his memories. He was completely lost in thought trying to make sense of his time and local. He barely understood the raving Doctor Daniels and her talk of landing in the future.

A bit of a sneer came through Jennifer's gazing down at Sam. "You don't pay much attention do you, darling? The lab rat. Sammy Jo Fulton. My EX-friend back at the project. So at this medical facility I played the amnesia card, something you do so well and they accepted me when I claimed to be from THEIR future. Such ignorant trusting souls. Not unlike you, my dear. One of your best qualities. So to help me with MY memory they tried showing me some of their time traveling inventions. Not the big project, but what they had in development. Since they figured that these devices were closer to MY TIME, they might jog my memory. This place is the Beckett Time Displacement Applications Lab. And now its namesake is visiting it. This place does privately funded research in the practical application of time travel. Izzy works here and is its director."

Sam tried to spell out Izzy since he thought the name was related to his computer nicknamed Ziggy.

Jennifer quickly got the connection. "Don't try and call out, darling. It won't work. Neither the Admiral nor Ziggy nor Izzy is going to hear you. And for your information, Izzy is Isabel, Sammy Jo Fulton's daughter. Another trusting soul. She got so flustered when she thought that I was from ahead. She talked excessively about when she had done the same thing with you guys. Brilliant, yes. Just not too much upstairs compared to me. And using their database on your past leaps I decided that this leap you did into 2006 Phoenix was the perfect time to implement my plan. To avenge myself on Sammy Jo and to finally have you in my life."

Sam stirred just a bit. He slipped down in the chair webbing and could still not move, but he did say one word. "How?"

"With this marvelous device," she said stroking the tower. "A real time machine. Not nearly the power waste that Quantum Leap was. I am able to pinpoint the exact time and place and travel there and return using this handy little portable handlink. Cute isn't it? Still only in the development phase here, but highly accessible and not very well-guarded. They think I'm trying to help improve its capability while I'm really learning so much about THEIR technology. Three times I tested it and traveled back to different eras. Guess who was really standing on the grassy knoll? The problem is that their device only allows round trips though I'm working on that. I'm determined to leave this disgustingly trusting era with you! We better head for our next stop before Ziggy finds you. I'm sure they now check the future now after my last aborted attempt using the StarBright junk. Good. Power levels are fully restored. Time to go, my love," she said again softly stroking Sam's cheek.

Sam looked up and could not move. He wanted to desperately resist as Daniels pulled him up and dragged him over to the white platform.

"We now have full power, my darling. Off we go together!" she said gleefully.

She stood him up and held onto him tightly. Sam shook his head no as she activated her handlink and they disappeared in a flash of lightning off into the river of time.

Episode:

Rating: G

Author: Douglas Laird

Date: March 23, 2008

Location: Stallion's GateNM

Date at Project: March 23, 2008

Leap: Sam must again deal with the lovesick Doctor Jennifer Daniels.

Heart Story: About three women who deeply love Samuel Beckett and the differences between them.

Kiss with History: None.

Writer's Notes: The last in a series of stories about Doctor Jennifer Daniels and follows Like Father, Like Daughter.

Leaping Notes: Sam through a bizarre series of events ends up back at Quantum Leap. Return of Sam Beckett's love stuck nemesis Jennifer Daniels.

Air Date:

Rerun Date:

Summary: Sam must again deal with the lovesick Doctor Jennifer Daniels.

Three Women, One Love (Part 2)

Project Quantum Leap Stallion's GateNM March 23, 2008

Not a sound or a movement occurred in the Quantum Leap Control room. Only the pale blue light from Ziggy's rotating orb casts shadows on the staff that were ever-changing on the walls of the Control Room. Nobody moved. The tension was incredible. Al returned from the Imaging Chamber and joined his waiting comrades. He relit his well used cigar and requested a mission status from Ziggy.

Several agonizing seconds passed. Finally the mystic orb of PQL spoke. "Doctor Beckett's leap into 2006 PhoenixArizona has been completed. Sarah Mullins is no longer in the Waiting Room. She returned to continue his life path. The object of Doctor Beckett's actions, Dave Sterling is alive and living in Arizona."

Donna Becket was the next to speak. "Request the location of Doctor Samuel Becket."

Again several agonizing seconds passed. "Unknown. Doctor Beckett finished his leap, but did not leap. He is NOT on the course of his next leap, Doctor Beckett. This is most distressing," complained the computer sounding more like his chief programmer Professor Lofton.

Al stepped up. "Was that or was that not Doctor Jennifer Daniels who leaped in the Grand Peubelo Hotel with Doctor Beckett?" asked Al.

"There is a ninety-five per cent probability that that person was Doctor Daniels, but there is no quantum evidence that she leaped in. She and possibly Doctor Becket traveled through time through some manner that I am not familiar with, Admiral. They poofed out of existence, I might add," said Ziggy flippantly.

A sour look crossed Al's face. "Poofed? A quarter of a trillion dollars spent on this supped up pocket calculator and all we get is 'Poofed?' Well, so much for loosing her sarcasm," sighed Al while trying to calm himself down with a few puffs on his favorite cigar.

"Any chrontonic action of any type?" asked Doctor Stephie Hartmann. She had checked the available readouts and nothing showed upon any of the sensors.

"Negative unless they have been able to eliminate all traces of their path through hyperspace. There is nothing that even a quantum bloodhound could follow. Not the tiniest particle of subatomic matter, Doctor Hartmann. I am sorry, but there is just no place else to look," apologized Ziggy. Ziggy finished with a noise that almost sounded like a whimper.

An unconscious sneer appeared on Al's face whenever man's wonderful technology failed to provide him with a suitable answer to his question. With all of this advanced gadgetry he still preferred to rely on human beings. "No place? Fine. Donna forget about Ziggy for a minute. What to YOU suggest?" asked Al as he nervously played with his cigar.

Donna thought for a minute. "We have to find some type of evidence. Let's rerun the data tapes and replay the last sequence in the Imaging Chamber. Maybe we can surmise something we missed during all the confusion of Sam's escape from the fire."

Ziggy replied, "I heartedly concur, Doctor Beckett. The Imaging Chamber is warming up."

Al rushed up the ramp and cried out, "I need everyone on this. SAM where are you?"

Underneath the Acceleration Chamber in a cavern larger than the Acceleration Chamber itself, the air was filled with white lightning and the musty ozone smell which was added to the prevailing damp stale air. The air had the scent of a cave. This large space that had been carved out of solid rock as had been the rest of the Quantum Leap Complex.

Zap. Zip. Zap. The air crackled as Jennifer Daniels and Sam Beckett appeared in the center of the cavern. Jennifer sighed heavily as Sam slipped from her grasp and slumped to the floor. His eyes opened as a dark blue hue surrounded him. Opening his eyes further he saw a large dark blue circular room. Sam had the impression that he was inside a great teapot. The walls were lined with pipes and wires and several massive stainless steel coils. They wrapped the walls and then met together at the apex of the room thirty-five to forty feet above his head.

Jennifer stretched and then walked over to the wall, opened a panel and entered several digits into a keypad. "There. That should clear the air a bit. Notice where we are, darling?" she asked much too sweetly.

"That pattern up on the ceiling," Sam said weakly pointing up. "It looks like .. ah."

"The floor of the Acceleration Chamber. It's just above us. We're back at Quantum Leap. And the date is the present just after you we left your leap in PhoenixArizona. March 23, 2008 to be exact. But you are not walking out that door. The only reason we are at Quantum Leap is that here in the resonance chamber underneath your leaping station is the only place that Ziggy can't find us. The room creates a null energy void space that keeps us out of time and out of the reach of her sensors," she said proudly. "The interior of this place is slightly out of time by a fraction of a second. Now she can search the past and the future and even the present and Sam Beckett will have completely disappeared. I'm here to make sure you permanently stay off her radar. And no one ever comes in here. Should someone decided to leap this place would become very inhospitable to human life," she explained to the forgetful Doctor Beckett. "But no one will be leaping for months."

Sam shook his head nervously, "Then why are we here?"

"Relax, darling," she said caressing his cheek. "I still plan on us being together. But being here allows me some downtime to finish our little scenario. Now let me tie you up for just awhile. For your own good, of course. We can't have you hurting yourself or informing the project staff about our presence here. Now can we, darling?"

Donna Beckett, Al Calavicci and Stephanie Hartmann stood in the Imaging Chamber as Ziggy played back the last few minutes of his final leap. Surrounded by the smoke filled hotel suite Al found it a little disturbing seeing himself again unable to help Sam and prevent his kidnapping. Ziggy backed up the record to where Jennifer Daniels first appeared in the suite.

Donna Becket requested, "Stop it and then advance slowly. One tenth speed."

In the adjoining room the air wavered for a moment as a small black dot appeared. It grew as the white lightning bolts exited from it reaching for every corner of the room. The quantity of bolts increased until a vague shape began to form. The continually changing dull tan shape grew to human size and became Doctor Jennifer Daniels. She looked around as a sly smile appeared on her face. She wore a bright white two piece outfit of some unknown material that resembled a fleece warm-up suit. In her hand was the small handlink-like device that she slipped into her hidden side pocket.

"Some kind of quantum flux disturbance," said Donna thoughtfully looking at the lightning. "Not any pattern that I recognize. Ziggy increase playback by three hundred percent."

Doctor Daniels' movements sped up as she walked into the main room toward Sam and Sammy Jo. Her sister-in-law Amanda Benet stood next to her.

Sammy Jo turned toward the bright white figure and gasped, "Jennifer? Jennifer Daniels!"

Dave Sterling slammed the door on the encroaching fire and ran over to the window as the holographic Al turned around and recognized his hated adversary.

"Sam that's Doctor Daniels! Sam, you've got to stop her! She shouldn't be here!" yelled Al waving wildly.

"You are not stopping me this time, Fulton!" exclaimed Jennifer Daniels.

"Sammy JO!" exclaimed Al. "How'd you get here? What are we having at this hotel? A quantum leap convention? Sam, you've got to help her too! She's very important to the project!"

As Sammy Jo was pushed out the window Donna had Ziggy freeze the tabloid.

"I wish she wasn't out of the country," sighed Donna. "I remember her talking about the fire, but not about Sam and Jennifer showing up. She made it, though the other fire fighter did not." She shivered as she saw the terrified frozen expression of terror on Sammy Jo's face as she tumbled out the window.

Stephie Hartmann looked on. "But appearing with both Sam and Sammy Jo together, Doctor Daniels must have known about this leap ahead of time."

Al looked stymied. Donna began to explain it to Al. "Prior knowledge. She came from the future. Fairly far I'd say," suggested Donna. "She still couldn't have traveled through time with just that little controller thing that she slipped into her pocket." "Who's to say what we will come up on the future," replied Stephie Hartmann. She had some idea what was available in the future since she had worked with future time traveler Teddy Albright.

"The power requirements to push through time will not change. Sam proved that that was a universal constant," explained Donna standing there with her hands on her hips.

Stephie disagreed. "Yes, but in future methods and techniques will change if..."

Al interrupted. "I hate to stop this philosophical debating society, but... Ziggy continue," requested Al through his own present day handlink. "Normal speed."

Dave Sterling wrestled with Daniels while Sam reached over to pull up Sammy Jo.

"Help me!" Sammy Jo screamed as the holographic Al wondered what she was doing there. Ziggy informed Al of her visit to her sister-in-law.

"Come on, Miss!" called out Sam. "I'll pull you in. You have to let go and trust me."

Daniels seethed from her struggle with Dave Sterling, "Die, you treasonous tramp. Die!"

Grabbing both of Sammy Jo's hands Sam swung her over to the ladder rung which she grabbed tightly while she uttered, "Oh boy!" and waved off Sam's offer to climb back in the window.

"Watch it, Sam. She is bad news," cried Al.

Daniels looked in the direction of Sammy Jo cursing. She turned toward Al and shouted. "Not this time, Caver-itchy!"

"That's Calavicci!" screamed the real Admiral.

Donna jumped as the fire shot through the door and flames quickly crossed the ceiling and engulfed the three real human observers. The holographic images of the advancing flames would have frightened anyone. "Let's evacuate! Now!" yelled Dave Sterling. "Come on lady. We have to get out of here!"

The nervous holographic Al looked up from his handlink. "Ziggy says that you should leap now. Leap, Sam, leap! You have to get away from that crazy nutcase!'"

"I'm still going to claim that which belongs to me," muttered Daniels as she shocked the fireman and then knocked Sam unconscious holding onto him tightly. Grabbing her handlink she almost instantly disappeared in a blaze of white lightning.

"Sam!" cried out the holographic Al as the tabloid faded and the patterned walls of the Imaging Chamber appeared. The three humans stood stiffly returning to reality after their extremely realistic near death experience.

"Do you wish to replay any portion, Doctor Beckett?" asked Ziggy waking them up.

"No!" said Al louder than necessary.

"No, thank you Ziggy," Donna replied. "I have seen it enough. Now Ziggy, concentrate all sensor searches commencing from this date. Let's see what the future holds for Sam. Jennifer definitely apprehended Sam BEFORE he finished his leap. That's why there is no one in the Waiting Room. And why Ziggy cannot detect any leaping activity along the space time continuum."

Stephie shook her head. "Previously she used our past from StarBright against us. Now she has somehow entered the future and is using their technology against us."

"She didn't leap into that fire. She just stepped from the stream of time. Just like in H.G. Wells. Who knows for how long she had been traveling or what among of control she had," said Donna. "Or from what era she journeyed from." Donna Becket did envy her a bit since with Project Quantum Leap most of their travels through time were only on a random basis.

"I don't know how she did it. Nothing we saw in her modifications to the old StarBright equipment we left up in StockwellMountain would account for the technology display we just witnessed," replied Stephie. "It's like nothing we never saw before. Nothing registered on our sensors except a bit of chronic flux. Damn!" she cursed crossing her arms and stamping her foot.

"We will just have to develop new techniques to find Sam. Tracking Jennifer will be next to impossible since she worked here and knows how we operate," sighed Donna. "Sam is the key to finding him AND Jennifer!"

"And what is our next step in finding the elusive Doctor Beckett and the crazy nutcase Daniels?" asked Al Calavicci.

Donna shook her head. "I'm afraid trying to find them is all up to Ziggy."

Returning to the resonance chamber Jennifer Daniels brought food and several small electric devices. She dropped them near the door and then pulled out some stale food she had absconded with from someone's forgotten lunch.

She offered a few bites to the secured Doctor Beckett as she munched on a stale sandwich that she found nearly inedible. "It's not much, but eat my darling. Please. Little has changed since I worked here including the storage room down here on level 8. They're also too busy up the Control Room to worry about me scurrying around like an oversize packrat. It's you my dear that they are trying to find and I don't want Ziggy to locate you. Now eat!" she insisted pushing the food into Sam's mouth.

Sam refused. "If you care about me, you'll let me go!" He longed to get beyond that door, but his bonds were tight and he was physically weak from his battle at the Grand Pueblo Hotel.

Unseen by the rogue doctor, tiny blue streaks of quantum energy ran up and down Sam's left side and then disappear. Though Sam could not see them, the tingle in his leg was vaguely familiar.

Jennifer shook her head. "Not very likely. We were always destined to be together and if destiny needs my help, then I'm willing to give it a little push. I will never give up. And if you won't cooperate, then the sooner we get on the better." She pulled out the small stunner device again, adjusted it and then again shocked Sam, but with a much lesser jolt and a different result. Sam went to sleep instead of completely collapsing.

She slipped it back into her pocket. "Fine. Now just a few drops of this psychological treatment solution should make you very agreeable," she said putting several drops into Sam's mouth. "Much easier than using a hypodermic needle. Izzy and company have been very helpful." She waited several moments for the solution to take effect.

Sam moaned slightly and then appeared to sit up stiffly with his eyes closed.

"Excellent. Sam, open your eyes!" she commanded. Sam did. "Now we have to make a few changes. Your name is no longer Sam Beckett. It's Edmund. After my father. Edmund Salinger. Now what is your name?"

Sam spoke without any emotion. "Edmund Salinger."

Jennifer nodded. "Good. You will now forget everything about Sam Beckett. Not one iota. He is now erased from your memory. Everything," she said with a chuckle. "Including how you did this same trick to that leaping bitch Alia. They will NEVER find Sam Beckett because he won't exist. Just like Lothos could never find Alia. Even in your Swiss cheese state you figured that out. That wonderful brain of yours. Now let's provide you with a complete biography. That was more than you did for poor little Alia. A full detailed life that INCLUDES me."

She rubbed her hands together in triumph. "Yes. A life for you and me together. And then it's off to the past. We will stay so deeply buried that there won't be one shred of evidence that we existed. Since we won't disturb the flow of history to the rest of the world we won't even exist. Ziggy and his comrades past and future will NEVER find us! Not one byte of evidence now or in the future!" she said with a stereotypical evil chuckle. She was going to win and there was nothing that Sammy Jo or Donna Beckett or Admiral Calavicci could do would do about it.

Jennifer bent down and began to explain everything to Sam. "Now Edmund. My name is Elizabeth Parkinson. Here is how you and I first met…"

Project Quantum Leap Stallion's GateNM March 24, 2008

Eighteen hours later, Ziggy had searched and re-searched the entire historic timeline and found only the previous traces of Sam Beckett in other leaps. And there were many of them. None of his futuristic searches found a trace of the missing Nobel Prize winner or his crazy kidnapper.

Everyone important huddled around Sammy Jo's cluttered little computer workstation. Sammy Jo had hurried back by Air Force jet from Europe to help find her father.

She shook her head still recovering from a bad case of supersonic jetlag. "It's funny. I still have two sets of memories of that night in Phoenix two years ago. One was waiting for the fire department and climbing down the ladder after that poor man, Dave Sterling, died in the hallway. And then the second set of memories of struggling with Jennifer and dangling several stories high hanging by… by... I still get goose bumps... my fingers from that ladder!" she said trying to catch her breath.

Al interjected, "And saved by Sam."

Sammy Jo disagreed. "And saved by this short female firefighter who wasn't in my first set of memories. And who was apparently my father. That partly explains how that little thing pulled me onto the ladder so easily. I was so scared that she couldn't do it and that I'd fall."

Al replied. "Thank God he was there."

"Or fate or time," Donna reminded him of the various beings that could be responsible for Sam leaping back and forth along the corridors of time.

Al looked a bit confused himself. "That's one I can never figure out. Though I know Sam saved you. Now how do we save him?"

Sammy Jo started to explain. "I'm going to realign the pickup brushes and playback the sensor tapes to see if we can pick up anything unusual in the low end EM spectrum. Anything that is normally below the frequencies that we usually check. There could be activity in that range that could be helpful. And we can recalibrate the internal sensors to also monitor those frequencies."

"There might be a Brownian Motion problem at those frequencies," remarked Stephie.

Sammy Jo agreed. "True. We'll run two sets of data tapes and compensate for that random motion. It should be easy. Could you help my guys modify the existing sensor system?"

"Modify them, yes. But there's one thing. Sammy Jo, we have no idea what we're looking for," explained Stephie.

Donna shook her head. "Oh, yes we do! We're looking for Sam Beckett!"

Deep in the resonance chamber, Jennifer Daniels was finishing up with the 'new' Sam Beckett or 'Edmund Salinger.' Sam nodded to each and every suggestion. Unlike his trick to make Alia think that she was the female prisoner she had leaped into, Sam was given a vast amount of detail so that his mind did not feel as empty as Alia did. He really believed that he was this Edmund Salinger person through a much stronger hypnotic method than he had previously used on Alia. Jennifer Daniels had learned her lessons well during her time spent in the future.

Jennifer continued loading Sam's memory banks. "And you were born February 26, 1863. We're going to disappear into 1910 in the city of East St. Louis. Perfect really. Most of their town records were destroyed in a courthouse fire in 1932. We can live out the remainder of our lives there, Edmund darling. Understand, darling?" she asked as Sam merely nodded.

"Instead of teaching all that high level physics, we'll both get jobs at Miss Welling's private school. They need both a math and science teacher. And I'm sure you can fill that position. And don't forget how you feel about me. You and I are engaged to be married. You love and adore me. More than life itself. And we will be man and wife real soon. Forever and ever," she said dreamily. Her heart fluttered thinking how soon they would be finally one couple together for good.

Sam now smiled as he nodded as his thoughts turned toward his intended. "He did love her so. They would never be truly happy unless they were together," thought Sam.

"Good, my sweet. Sleep for awhile. Sleep. Dream about our new lives. I have some other business to attend to," she said as she grabbed an electronic gadget, unsealed the door and wandered down the empty corridor to the main maintenance shaft.

"How did they ever get this danged project started?" asked Justin Martin, one of Sammy Jo's trusted and talented colleagues. He lay on his back with Stephie Hartmann inside a large access panel with their feet sticking out into the hallway. "Look at those old components. And that loose soldering hanging off the thing. It shoulda broken down years ago!"

Stephie tightened the hex bolt and then pushed her hair out of her eyes. "It's been pushing twenty years since these sensor junctions have been installed. Al Calavicci has been more worried about getting Doctor Beckett back than checking on a system that was working well no matter how archaic it is. And we have to make these adjustments to Sammy Jo's specifications. There. No wait. That wiring is way too exposed. Nuts!" she cried out laying the wrench next to her. She stretched out her tired leg muscles wishing that they were finished. "You are probably right about this old network. They should pull out the whole system and upgrade it with fiber optics and a microprocessor relay system. But that wire!"

Justin checked the gap length. "No problem, Doctor Hartmann. I'll go pick up a new sheave right away. No sense shorting out the whole dang thing just because we played around with it a bit. BE right back!" he said enthusiastically while he pushed himself out into the hallway and then headed for the electronics lab.

Stephie checked the last of her work as a bright light spilled across her face. She shielded her eyes for a moment and then saw two white shoes appear next to her. Looking up she noticed a bright white formal suit, white tie and a very familiar friendly face looking down at her.

She pulled herself further into the access tunnel and looked up at the ghostly holographic image of Teddy Albright, her mentor from Napa ValleyCalifornia. She had worked with him for ten years until Sam Beckett and Sammy Jo Fulton joined her to get the 'lost in time' scientist back to the future.

"Teddy!" she screamed as she pulled herself all the way into the tunnel and then stood up next to the holographic image. "I wish I could hug you. You made it home quite successfully. That is wonderful!"

He bowed slightly to her and smiled. In his pleasant and quiet voice that crackled a bit through the holographic projection he greeted her. "It is pleasant to see you again Stephanie my dear, though is not a social call. My purpose here is to provide a warning. Doctor Samuel Beckett has been kidnapped by an unstable person who is traveling through time with possibly disastrous results."

Stephie stood up straight. "I know. Jennifer Daniels. We are trying to locate both of them now."

He continued. "I believe that I can be of assistance. She presently resides in your current time. Her present location is in the.. um.. null energy chamber underneath your time transport device," he said stumbling trying to find the right words.

"Hmm. Let me think. Do you mean the Acceleration Chamber resonance chamber?" she asked as her eyes opened wide.

Teddy cocked his head to one side and then consulted an unknown assistant. "That is correct! That would be using your native terminology!"

Stephie always enjoyed listening to Teddy's unique vernacular. "Thank you. Though one point. Doesn't this contact violate some of your noninterference policies?"

"Not when this situation leads to the destruction of everything known here in the future. Your rogue traveler is causing time to deviate. She is a very random element, Stephanie my dear, not related to the natural progress of time. And unfortunately I must point out that she is accomplishing these feats by the misused of some experimental time displacement devices that were developed by my own family."

"Am I…?" she hesitantly asked.

"Related to me? No, my dear, but you will play an important role at the Quantum Leap facility over the next several years. Oh dear. I've let my fondness for you cloud my better judgment. My staff here is about to discontinue this transmission. Be very weary of this random element. She will use any methods to reach her goals. The entire project is in danger. Farewell, dear one," Teddy said holding up his hand and waving.

He disappeared before Stephie could reply. "Bye, Teddy," she said waving at the space he had occupied. She looked at her feet and Justin Martin's head stuck out of the panel.

"What up, Doc?" he asked as she loomed over him. "Nothing in here that can help us."

"You'd be surprise from where, whom and when inspiration may strike. Crawl back out. I need to contact Admiral Calavicci," she said sounding confident.

Standing in the middle of the large resonance chamber Doctor Jennifer Daniels was busy working on her portable time travel control device. She seemed happy with the buzzes, clicks and figures generated until one bad signal was emitted. The handlink sputtered a couple of times and then a little white lightning reached out and harmlessly zapped her.

"Damn this thing," she cursed under her breath not knowing that the intricate futuristic circuitry was beginning to breakdown. Her connection to the machine in the future was no longer stable creating a poorly formed dimensional gateway into hyperspace.

Anger crossed her face as she twice hit its side and the errand figure cleared. Her diagnostic check was successful for at least three of the four simulated time trips.

Her face lit up. "Better. That one gremlin better not show up again. Everything else checks out. My little adjustments work perfectly. We can use the handlink this time to send our signals back to the main tower and then use it as a mirror to bounce backwards to 1910. That will eliminate a chance of detection should someone come across us in the future. It will be close taking all the extra mass," she said looking at about half a dozen small devices surrounding her feet. "No reason to make 1910 too primitive. At least we will finally be together, Edmund," she sighed looking over at the unconscious scientist. She sighed again. "Together. Forever. Safe from the prying eyes of Ziggy and the rest of this time traveling carnival act." She sneered looking around the resonance chamber.

While lost in thought the door that she had so securely locked rumbled for a moment and then blew off its hinges. In ran two Army MPs in flak jackets with rifles pointed straight at her. Two more ran in behind them, ran along the walls and met in the back.

"Left clear!" one MP yelled.

"Right clear!" yelled the other one.

Jennifer stood her ground surveying the four armed soldiers whom each had their rifles pointed straight at her.

Afterwards in walked Admiral Albert Calavicci with his pistol drawn while Sammy Jo, Donna and Stephie followed without the same military bearing or the same 'Dirty Harry' look in his eyes. Three more guards and a few other Quantum Leap personnel waited outside the chamber door.

"Hands up, Daniels!" Al ordered with his pistol aimed straight at her head. "Donna?" he asked nodding his head toward Sam.

Donna rushed over to Sam who was sprawled out on the floor. "Sam is breathing and unconscious. Come on, darling. Wake up!" she called out shaking him gently. Sam made a few grunting sounds, but did not regain consciousness. She sat down and cradled his head in her lap while keeping a close eye on the rogue scientist. She had waited many times as Sam came back into her life again and left again. But he was in her arms now and she would hold him so tight that he couldn't leave again. Since he had arrived this time without leaping maybe, just maybe, this was his last stop on his long journey through time.

Jennifer looked over at Donna and then sneered at Al Calavicci. Glancing at the number of intruders into her secret sanctuary; she tried to take a step toward Sam Beckett.

"Stop!" ordered the closest MP as her checked his rifle and took a closer bead on Daniels.

Jennifer Daniels froze. After she realized that she couldn't approach Sam, she glanced at her connection to the time traveling tower and grinned a smile that would make the Grinch quiver.

"Drop that ... um ... device!" yelled Al not removing his sight on the rogue doctor. His hand shook as sweat rolled down his brow. Being a pilot he seldom saw his target so close-up and so human.

"Hardly. No matter what you do, I can come back and win. My options are endless," she boasted. "Time allows me that. How would you like to be wiped from existence, Caver-itchy. Do not doubt me! I will be back to collect my beloved Sam!"

"Over my dead BODY!" seethed Doctor Donna Beckett as she held tightly onto her limp husband. She was willing to do anything to hang onto him this time. "Hmm. That can be arranged, Donna Beckett. But my love will never end. It can literally pass through the ages as easily as you walk from room to room in this antique establishment. The endless possibilities of time are my home now," she said with a hint of egomania.

"You don't have the exclusive market on his affection, Jennifer. We all love Sam, too," replied Sammy Jo who stood safely behind Al's pistol.

Jennifer snapped her head around. "Shut up, you little lab rat! You should be dead, you interfering maggot. One of these days I'm going to stop you DEAD!"

Stephie yelled, "Stop it! Stop it! I can't stand this any longer! You all care for Sam. But I really love Sam!" she said as Donna Beckett looked up shocked.

Daniels also looked quite surprised. "Really? Then you're just like me, Hartmann. We both fell in love him. Sam Beckett is MY one true love."

Stephie nodded. "Yes. I admit working with him in Napa I found out what a wonderful man he is. But he has a wife and son. And a mission brought on by the almighty. I know that and unlike you I'm moving on. I still have my work and my friends and colleagues here at Quantum Leap," she said nodding toward the group in the vast chamber.

"Well, that's your cross to bear. And that's where we part company. I lost all of that and all I have left in life is Sam. And if you'll excuse me, I must retreat and regroup," she said beginning to play with her handlink.

Al reiterated his threat. "For the last time Daniels drop that thing or we'll drop you!"

She smirked at Al. "Never Caver-itchy! Good riddance to you all! Remember I have all the time in the world. Even if I never succeed you will all pay the ultimate price for what you've done to me," she proclaimed laughing as she pushed the final button to leave their time sphere.

Small specs of white lightning crawled up and down her body growing in intensity until it danced off the walls and ceiling. She glowed bright white as Al fired on single shot that seemed to pass through her. Her face smiled in triumph and then turned into pain as the lightning took on a garish yellowish glow. The prototype time device was suffering from multiple time jumps and was being to breakdown. Her dimensional time vortex no longer provided a safe passage for the frail human body. She began to twitch inside the glowing orb.

The guards, Stephie and Al backed off as the temperature inside the chamber increased. Donna covered Sam with her body as the she began to glow like the sun. Through Al's fingers he could she Daniels' handlink glow a bright red and then explode. Daniels screamed a high pitched wail as her body burst into flames and then fell to the floor. The temporal light show vanished. She lay on the floor twitching in her last spasms of life.

Stephie rushed over and found no pulse. "She's gone," she said sadly about her former colleague. She could have just as easily been herself or at least her friend. Jennifer had let her own obsessions consume her. The difference was that Stephie had regained her life after Napa and cherished it. And she was looking for her own Sam Becket. Somewhere. Sometime.

Al barely glanced at his former adversary and then walked over to check on Sam and Donna. "You O.K?"

Donna looked over herself and Sam. The uncontrolled temporal event had not injured anyone else. The temporal lightshow was all brightness and the high heat levels had not injured those who had move to the walls of the resonance chamber. She nodded to Al. "He is O.K and unconscious. Let's get him to the infirmary."

Sammy Jo and Stephie covered up the body of Jennifer Daniels with an old tarp.

"Why? Why would all of this happen?" asked Sammy Jo.

Stephie thought for only an instant. "Who wouldn't fall in love with Sam? Those big puppy dog eyes and that wonderful boyish manner. He's warm and sensitive and funny and …"

Sammy Jo looked a bit astonished. "You still have it bad! You really are in love with him."

She shrugged. "I know, but I still have all of you. And together we loved him enough to try and get him home. Now Donna can take over from here. That's her job," she said as they looked over at Donna still cradling and babying Sam.

"And I will do it for the rest of my life, my darling," she said to him quietly kissing his forehead and squeezing his hand. She had never remembered being as happy as she was at that very moment. Never. Never.

A little blue energy dance up and down his legs for a moment, but no one noticed.

Wheeled on a hospital gurney, Sam Beckett now awake stared up as one overhead light after another passed by. Donna and Al followed behind him as two infirmary orderlies rushed the good doctor to the Quantum Leap sickbay. He turned the corner and was wheeled into the main examination room which looked like any other emergency room facility.

Dr. Aurora Lofton, the Quantum Leap chief medical officer, leaned over and looked at the confused Doctor Beckett. He did not recognize one person, place or thing between the resonance chamber and the infirmary. His mind was devoid of everything that was Sam Beckett.

Aurora asked using her best bedside manner, "Good morning, Doctor Beckett. We've gotten together here before haven't we? Now what seems to be the problem?"

Sam looked even more confused. "I don't know how I got here. And who is Sam Beckett?" He looked over at Donna and Al as they appeared worried to him.

A quick glance showed no other obvious injuries or head trauma to Doctor Lofton. "Reasonable answer. Then please tell me your name."

"Edmund Salinger!" Sam announced confidently.

Aurora nodded and Donna looked quite distressed. "And where and when were you born?"

He replied. "St. Louis in 1863. February twenty-sixth."

Al slapped his head wondered where all these hokey answers were coming from.

"What year do you think it is?" asked Doctor Lofton.

Sam replied a bit less confidently. "1910. That is the last year I remember it being."

She suppressed a chuckle and replied, "No, the current year is 2008. That would make you 145 years old, Mister Salinger."

Sam shook his head. "Then that can't be right! No one lives that long."

"I would have to agree with you on that point, Mister Salinger. You seem to make logical conclusions," remarked the chief medical officer.

Donna put her hand on her quivering lip. "Oh, Sam. At least we know where Jennifer was taking you. But emptying his head? For what possible purpose?"

"Easy," replied Al. "She must have checked out all our leaping records and found that when Sam was being chased by Zoë, he played with Alia's mind in a similar fashion. She made Sam think he's someone else and Ziggy couldn't zero in on his mind. And that just might have worked. At least in our time."

"We'd find him eventually. There are other methods, Al," objected Donna. She would never give up trying to find Sam even if it took the rest of her life.

Al rolled his cigar between his fingers and then took a quick puff. "Not if they completely cut themselves off from society. Live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Disappear from the record of human existence. That is possible," explained Al. "Ziggy doesn't have access to all information everywhere especially prior to Sam's birth. Her plan I am afraid to admit was very well thought out."

Donna held onto Sam's hand as he looked on unaware of his own wife. "That's incredible. Sam's surer of himself as this Edmund character than when he usually has just started a leap. And he is curious enough to consult with you Al."

Sam turned back to Donna. "Excuse me. Salinger, mam. Edmund Salinger," replied Sam turning her loving caress into a healthy handshake and giving her a big Beckett grin. "It is such a great pleasure to meet you."

Donna moaned. "Aurora. You have to do something!"

Aurora looked on helplessly. "There's not much I can do. It's not a physical problem. HE should probably talk to Verbena Beeks. Maybe start a treatment program. She could help him try and find his life and himself. Though for now, Donna, I'll run a blood analysis. Corpsman. Please help me here."

Down in the bellows of the project below the Acceleration Chamber Sammy Jo looked at the mess left from Doctor Daniels' aborted temporal departure. A sickening burnt smell filled the cavern as she scrapped off a sample of the residue on the walls and then pushed it through her portable spectral analyzer. The lights blinked on it as her readout appeared on a wristwatch size screen.

"Hmm?" she pondered as Al wandered up behind her. She was so engrossed with her little investigation that she cried out, "Whoa!" when Al barely touched her shoulder.

"Excuse me. Your mind must have leaped somewhere else," Al said sounding whimsical.

Sammy Jo nearly dropped her analyzer and reached up putting her hand over her heart. "AL! Wholly Christmas! You must have been in the Navy Seals with those stealthy skills. I NEVER heard you coming!"

Al nodded in disagreement. "No. Never slipped in anywhere unnoticed. Not as a pilot with two big beautiful engines with 18,000 pounds of thrust bellowing out of each one. Racing through the skies that …um. Sorry. Sam gets tired of my Navy stories anyway. What did you find out?"

Sammy Jo was still breathing hard as she exclaimed, "Coffee. I'll explain them to you over a cup of caffeine or whatever your pleasure is. Right now. At a minimum this whole chamber needs to be refinished. The reflective surface and its texture have to be completely redone. No one is leaping anywhere for at least the next two months. Turn on the chamber now and you'll wipe out Stallion's Gate," explained Sammy Jo.

Al pointed all around them with his cigar. "All that from a big empty nothing?" asked Al.

Sammy Jo held back a smile at the Admirals' comment. "Al. This big energy nothing or void helps stabilized the entire chamber in hyperspace just like a skyscraper is embedded in the solid bedrock to keep it stable during earthquakes, blasting or similar disturbances. It'll take us years to figure out what kind of energy this was," she said scraping at the surface with a screwdriver. "It melted all the syndicate particles embedded in the metallic reflective compound."

Al looked over at the center of the room. "And what in the name of Newton's apples is that mess?"

Sammy Jo crossed to the mess and then kicked at the remains of a jumble of electronic circuitry and burnt out metal containers. "Just a bit of comfort for her trip to back to 1910," explained Sammy Jo Fulton.

"Nice of her to drop in a steal some time with us," said Al flippantly. "What exactly is all this crazy stuff?"

"I'll have Stephie run a check on everything stored on this level. I don't think Jennifer had free access to all levels at the project. She didn't appear on any of the higher level security cameras. Guess we'll have to extend the security system to the "basement" level too," suggested Sammy Jo.

"Who would have thought we needed it 150 feet below the New Mexican desert? This facility is supposed to be secure. Carry on," said Al as he headed back to check on his recently returned friend and colleague.

Doctor Lofton looked at her computer screen shaking her head. "This is incredible. There are chemicals in his blood that I never saw before. We can run a spectral analysis and find their basic chemical composition, but I have no way to begin to define what the drugs are and how they are affecting Sam's body."

"Then how do we unscramble his brain?" asked Donna as she looked through the lab report.

Aurora shook her head. "Like I said before, Bena's is going to have to help him with that treatment. Sam just may have to jumpstart his own brain. And being in familiar surroundings should also help Sam."

"I can't believe he's home," she sighed. "Well at least physically. And it took one of his enemies to do it. I sincerely don't think that Jennifer had had this as part of her plan."

Aurora switched off the toxicological report and went back to Sam's case file. "He is quite stable. Take him home Donna. But don't baby him. Make him think for himself. Help him find himself. If anyone can do that, I know that you can."

"Thank you, Aurora. You are one in a million," she said touching her arm. She left with an orderly who helped her take Sam back to their house in Stallion's Gate.

Sammy Jo was in her own little computer nook far from other distractions in an old maintenance closet deep within the project. Working on her repair specifications for the Acceleration Chamber resonance chamber a fast moving figure ran in the door nearly falling on top of her. Sliding into her cubical was Stephie Hartmann with a well marked up inventory list.

"Oops. Sammy Jo! We have a problem! Running through the inventory of those lost items, first it looked like she was going camping. A room heater and a food oven. Some basic science devices. Then I came across a neutral phase inductor," she explained still huffing from her run down the long seldom used maintenance corridor.

"What good could that possibly be to someone a hundred years ago? You need a huge power plant to run it!" remarked a very worried Sammy Jo.

Stephie looked up a bit sheepishly. "When I was adjusting the sensor network I had a holographic visitor. My old mentor, Teddy Albright, sent me a cryptic message that WE were in danger. Once she was dead I felt that the danger had passed."

"Another intrusion from the future? Fooling around with time has made us the switchboard for Time Travel Central. Fine. So she took this neutral phase inductor and what could she have done with it?" mused Sammy Jo. She brought up the schematic for the device on her computer. "Hmm? If perverted this seemingly harmless regulator if connected to the ..um. WHAT?" she said raising her voice and busily banging her keyboard looking for more information from other system schematics.

Stephie stepped up right behind her and stared at the screen. "A particle regulator? The particle accelerator that controls our hyper-dimensional connections. The neutral phase inductor could bypass the safety controls and cause it to run wild. Those high energy zenon particles are very unstable in large quantities. That's why we need to regulate them."

Sammy Jo nodded in agreement. "And if too many of them congregate at one of the static junctions, the resulting explosion could send this place into the stratosphere!"

"And that would be her final revenge. She did threaten us just before her death," Stephie reminded her. "All she had to do was to disable the cameras along the accelerator tubes."

Sammy Jo punched the comm-link strap on her arm. "Ziggy check all the zenon particle connections. Status? Hurry!" she pleaded.

Sammy Jo tapped her foot innocently while Ziggy was taking a long time even considering her computational capability. "I do see your urgency, Doctor Fulton. There is an unexplained increase at the AE34 junction."

"Shut it down!" snapped Sammy Jo.

Ziggy immediately complied, though she sounded a bit hurt. "It's not working Doctor Fulton. The buildup is marginally increasing. Based upon the initial Quantum Leap safety studies of 1997, this situation could result in a 4 megaton detonation within seventy-five minutes. I do recommend a complete evacuation of the facility and relocation to a safe distance. And a transfer of all essential computer data to the Mooreland supercomputer at the NASAJohnsonSpaceCenter in Houston."

A chill ran up Sammy Jo's back for she knew due to the number of people, the primitive nature of the surrounding roads and the possibility of panic, that not all of her colleagues could not reach a safe distance before Quantum Leap disappeared in a tactical level nuclear explosion. And that many others were at risk depending upon the direction the wind was blowing afterwards.

"Ziggy sound the alarm! Mass emergency evacuation. Commence your data transfer. Turn this place into a ghost town! Fast! Have Al, Dominic, Donna and Justin Martin meet me in the Control Room. Everyone else OUT!" yelled Sammy Jo.

"Doctor Donna Beckett will be safe since she has left the facility with Doctor Samuel Becket. I on the other hand may be turned into microscopic bytes," Ziggy replied sadly.

"No you won't. At least Sam and Donna can be safe and start over somewhere. Come on, Stephanie. We've got seventy-five minutes!" she said grabbing her arm.

"Actually I have seventy-three minutes," replied Ziggy sadly. "…to live."

Red warning lights flashed up and down the crowded corridors as the complex emptied level by level. Topside employees streamed out of the old warehouse that acted as Quantum Leap's entrance and reception center. The four elevators were busy as were the four sets of stairs that allowed people out onto the grounds of Mitchell Airbase. Though not truly panicked, the mass of people did run between the ancient rusted and paint-pealed buildings on the surface. More and more employees poured out of the warehouse. Running for their cars, the employees skipped the now empty guard house and drove frantically down the dusty roads that lead to Stallions' Gate, New Mexico. Less than a mile away two frantic cars ran together completely stalling the line of cars that formed almost all the way back to the front gates of Mitchell Airbase. Two PQL security cars with red lights blazing tried to get through the mess to the front of the traffic jam. A few cars in front of them tore down the dusty road. Only Donna and Sam who had left before the alarm had sounded were safely beyond the potential zone of destruction.

Standing around the Control Room console, Sammy Jo Fulton and Stephie Hartmann could barely communicate with Al who was red-face, without a cigar and heading for another heart attack.

"No. This is my facility and I am staying. If you have a problem then it is my job.." he said waving his arms and pacing back and forth and back again.

Sammy Jo interrupted him. "The problem is you aren't technically knowledgeable in particle connection science. Justin Martin is. Stephie is one hell of a practical electronic technician after all her years working in Napa. I'm the senior scientist in this room. You, Sam and Donna started this place and you can carry on. We're relative newcomers."

"No, I'm not leaving you, Sammy Jo. I've known you for too long," he said slightly calmed down.

Sammy Jo looked deep into his eyes. "Al this is NOT the Navy and you're not the captain of a doomed ship. I want you to survive. For your family. For the project. And now. For Sam Beckett! Now get going, Calavicci," she said with a slight smile and a peck on the cheek. "The copter is waiting for you on the pad."

He stopped pacing and looked down at his feet. "All right. Only because I don't want to distract you from saving the day! And you better! Good luck, Sammy Jo," he said looking around and grabbing a pack of cigars from his cubical. "See you SOON!" he said not wanting even to jinx them with a final goodbye.

"And take care of Dad.." Sammy Jo called off to Al.

"Dad?" asked a surprised Stephie.

Sammy Jo let a small smile break her worried look, "Sam Beckett is my father. That's another long story for afterwards. Dominic, keep an eye on Ziggy. We can't have her freezing up or getting flustered at this time."

Dominic bowed slightly. "Zigzag and I will faithfully serve you to the very end which may that be long from now, Doctor Fulton. Good luck to you both."

Sammy Jo grabbed her tool kit and called to her colleagues. "Let's head for the junction AE35. We HAVE to get this right! Come on, Stephanie. Justin!"

Taking the stairs down two levels to avoid the mass evacuation, the empty hallway echoed as their feet hurriedly traveled down the hall. Pulling off an access panel nearest to the acceleration tubes, Stephie, Sammy Jo and Justin crawled in. The aluminum sheet in the dusty shaft bent and sounded like a deep base drum with every knee or hand that pushed it down. The imprint of Daniels' hands and knees could be seen in the dusty tunnel ahead of them.

"Time to detonation?" asked Sammy Jo.

Ziggy replied with a nervous stutter. "T-t-this is really just a g-g-guess D-d-d-doctor Fulton." She was beginning to get nervous while contemplating her own demise.

"Best guess," Sammy Jo quickly asked.

"Twenty-th-th-three minutes unless the hyp-p-p-pothetical buildup doesn't reach its logical conclusion," replied Ziggy. "It's b-b-been a pleasure working with you D-d-d-doctor Fulton. D-daisy. D-daisy give me your answer do. I'm half cr-cr-crazy all for the l-l-l-l-love of you."

"Ziggy. You're starting to scare me!" she called out. Quietly she thought. "Great. And I thought Dad always had the excitement!"

"Dominic, what's wrong with Ziggy?" asked Sammy Jo over her comm link.

"Miss Zigzag is still operating at peak efficiency. She is just a bit nervous, mam. I am a bit too staring into the face of eternity," he replied.

"Just keep her running, Dom. I'm proceeding down the shaft," she reported. "Come on, guys" she called out to Stephie and Justin.

She began to crawl through the shaft along side the accelerator tubes. The tubes had a very low hum as the particles ran parallel to their path. Crawling on hands and knees in a confined space she wondered out loud, "Can you catch claustrophobia like a cold?"

"Just look straight ahead, Sammy Jo," called out Stephie. "You OK, Justin?"

"Fine and dandy, Doctor. Ma brothers and I played in the storm sewers underneath the Main Street back in Bluebell Alabama," he said proudly though he still looked up at the roof above him cautiously dragging the tool kit behind him. "Don't botha me at tall."

The length of a football field later Sammy Jo found among the disturbed dust the missing neutral phase inductor at junction box AE35. It was wired into junction box and connected to another futuristic device that had fiendishly blinking red lights. Sammy Jo reached up to the device and felt an electromagnetic field or something around it.

The other two members of the repair team joined her in the larger alcove where the maintenance tunnel widened.

"Definitely some kind of energy field around it. I don't know whether it's an active or passive sensor," explained Sammy Jo looking to her colleagues for some help.

"Darling, you don't know what's in that litta fella. It could blow the place or send ya careening through time," suggested the quantum tech.

Sammy Jo shook her head. "No. She wanted to get us and not bless us with the means to follow her. This is some kind of explosive device. I don't know its capacity, but even if it just blows a hole in the accelerator tube coils it will turn Quantum Leap into a huge crater. Concentrate the particles efficiently and we could end up the maximum nuclear scenario. Stephie, what do you think?"

"The neutral phase inductor is wired into our little futuristic friend. If we could fool around with it," mused Stephanie who used her eyes instead of her hands.

"Only if we had the time, Steph. Ziggy! Time check," called out Sammy Jo into her wrist comm.

Ziggy quickly replied, "S-s-s-seventeen m-m-m-minutes. Give or take a few."

Sammy Jo bit her lip. "I could use a little more exact figure, Ziggy," she pleaded.

"Now I'm h-h-h-hurt," Ziggy said almost crying.

Sammy Jo rebutted. "You'll be more than that if we don't stop this bomb. It will be the end of all of us including one self-absorbed macro-intelligence, learning capable hybrid hard-wired abacus. Now you got me sounding like the Admiral! Enough!" she cried. "Dominic, please help her out!"

"Indubitably!" agreed Justin.

Sammy Jo turned to her friend Stephanie. "OK, my little junkyard Einstein. What do you think?"

"That the only person who can defuse this correctly is dead. Building bombs is not my specialty and neither was it the specialty of Jennifer Daniels. SO no common bomb disposal techniques will work. Ziggy. Check my snapshots of the bomb. Any suggestions?"

Ziggy quickly replied. "L-l-l-leaping somewhere else?"

"Ziggy! Cut out the sarcasm now! Can you analyze this mess that Jennifer has left us?" asked Sammy Jo as she nervously twitched her left eyebrow."

"According to the Homeland S-s-s-security Explosive Device D-d-d-database. This device has triple circuit protection, no wire color c-c-c-continuity. Four hours to trace and analyze. Minimum. Fifteen m-m-m-m-m-m-minutes to go, D-d-d-d-octor Fulton," Ziggy reminded her.

Stephanie got real close to the explosive device. Let's see. It kinda like an old analog control system. But who knows how this future gadget is entwined in it," thought Stephanie out loud. Her eyes opened wide as she stared at it taking in every iota of its complex structure.

Sammy Jo asked, "How would you do it?"

She shook her head looking most distressed. "Not like this. Her mind worked on a different level than mine. Or most of us. When she combined her and Sam's quantum signatures so they would leap together, she jumped way beyond our technological capabilities. Ingenuous."

Sammy Jo agreed and continued. "When you take a giant step in technology isn't that known as a quantum leap? But that is why Jennifer could easily use all those futuristic gizmos. She was way ahead of her time."

"Makes me feel kinda inadequate," said Stephie as she lost her train of thought. "What she was able to accomplish at StockwellMountain was awe inspiring."

Sammy Jo agreed. "And then she double ran every control through a diagnostic cycle twice when she jury-rigged the old StarBright equipment. Pure genius. I have to really admire her creativity, Stephie."

"Thirteen minutes to go, D-d-d-d-octor Fulton," Ziggy reminded her.

"THANK YOU, ZIGGY!" Sammy Jo snapped. "And she was doing double shifts at the complex. Twice the work."

"Twice the ego," remarked Stephie.

"Twice the love for Sam Beckett," added Sammy Jo.

"Or maybe she had a split personality over laid by each other," said Stephie.

"Twelve m-m-m-minutes to go, D-d-d-d-octor Fulton," Ziggy said sounding more nervous.

"My point is maybe there's a double feedback loop since her whole personality seems twice as much or does it double back on itself?" asked Sammy Jo.

"Her psychological profile determined how she would design her bomb circuitry?" asked the nervous technician.

"If she was in a hurry and this was a last minute desperate act, she would be working on an almost subconscious level using her most basic instincts," explained Sammy Jo talking rapidly with her hands as Sam sometimes did.

Stephanie swallowed hard. "And when did you get your doctorate in behavioral psychology, Miss Quantum Physics?" She glanced back at the jumble of wire and then tried to decide if Sammy Jo had lost her reason.

"By hanging out with Doctor Beeks and trying to understand the mind of Doctor Jennifer Daniels knowing that we would encounter her again. I hate to have someone beat us just because she is brighter than us or at least more creative," she said. "Take another look at that mess, Stephie."

Ziggy bleeped in. "Eleven minutes to go!"

Stephie looked up toward the speaker, took a deep breathe and then continued to stare at the wires trying to form a geometric three dimensional picture in her head. Looking over and under and getting as close as she dared without disturbing the force field she thought as the clock ticked down to nine minutes.

"Stephie!" exclaimed the nervous redhead.

Justin concurred. "Doctor Hartmann?"

Even Dominic broke to find out if the danger had passed.

Finally in her head among the jumble of wires she saw two sets of wires wrapped around and through each of the critical points. "Son of a gun, Sammy Jo. I see it. You were right!" Stephie traced the two sets of wires showing them to her colleagues.

Sammy Jo reached over to Justin. "Good. Now hand me the wire cutters." She worked around and found the beginning of the systems and waited.

"Do it!" said Stephie urging her on.

"I se-gest we do something, Doctor," pleaded Justin Martin.

Sammy Jo winced. "Are you sure?"

Ziggy broke in. "Eight m-m-m-minutes!"

"Yes!" said Stephanie. "It's now or .. well forget the alternative, Sammy Jo!"

Sammy Jo picked up the pliers, the wires and shook her head. "Here goes nothing!"

"Three…"

"Two…"

"One…"

"Cut," she exclaimed as the wires snapped apart.

The slight humming sound stopped. Nothing.

"Good," sighed Sammy Jo until the sound started up again. At a higher pitch. The timer was going faster.

"Sheeeeet! Ziggy? Time?" asked Sammy Jo.

"Four minutes and d-d-d-decreasing, Doctor Fult-t-ton," stammered Ziggy.

"Damn! The double loop had a second trigger," remarked Sammy Jo.

"Now cut the other wire set and we can pull the device off the neutral phase inductor," pleaded Stephie.

Sammy Jo snipped the wires and then pulled the device off the neutral Phase inductor.

"Half done. Ziggy? Particle stability?" asked Sammy Jo.

"Less than th-th-than three minutes, Doctor," replied Ziggy.

Stephie looked at it cautiously. "OK, the bomb is off. How do we pull off the neutral phase inductor? It's still limiting the particle flow."

"Justin, go down and shutoff the particle flow before they reach us. Then we'll have to be quick because if it's shut off too long, that could cause another overflow," Sammy Jo reminded him.

"Yes, Doctor." He back crawled twenty feet and then reached behind the flow tube. Though not harmful, he could feel the electromagnetic flux passing through his arm.

"I found it. Tarning it off. Done, Doctor Fulton," explained the quantum technician.

Sammy Jo rubbed her two hands together. "All right. We'll pull it out."

"Clockwise or counterclockwise?" asked Stephie with her hand on the indictor.

Sammy Jo started to play with her hands as she had to think on the most basic physics level. "Up the vector goes out and right handed cross… No. I'm left handed. Stephie?"

"What? Think of the particle flow and cross the motion vector to it. I need to concentrate. Damn. Nothing like a little life and death pressure!" complained Stephie as she tried to figure the bundle out in her head.

"T-t-t-t-wo minutes," said Ziggy barely audibility.

"Flow from right. Don't bruise the batter. Random axial spin. Negative quantum constant. Counterclockwise. Definitely counterclockwise," said Stephie almost shouting.

"And that's?" asked Sammy Jo.

"Toward me! You don't know?" asked Stephie sounding a bit more nervous.

"Just double-checking. I'm not an athlete with lightning reflexes. You grab the top and side.." said Sammy Jo.

"Got it!" exclaimed Stephie.

"On three! READY…"

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three…"

"It's stuck!" exclaimed Stephie breathing hard.

"One minute. Maybe," said Ziggy.

Sammy Jo tried to wiggle it. The flow is still too great. We have to cut down the backpressure. Justin. What angle is it at?"

"Bout thirty degrees, Doctor!" he yelled over the hissing sound.

"Turn it back. Just a tiny bit, Justin," called out Sammy Jo.

"Thirty seconds," said Ziggy. "Tis a far, far b-b-b-better thing I do than I have ever done. It's a far, far better rest I go to th-th-than I have ever known!"

"Quiet, Ziggy!" yelled a very nervous Sammy Jo.

"How much?" asked Justin.

"10 degrees!" yelled back Sammy Jo.

"Done!" the tech yelled back as he closed his eyes to make peace with his maker.

Stephie rocked it. "NO! It's stuck!" "Let's both get it. There. Now it's starting to come," said Sammy Jo joyfully.

"Fifteen seconds," said Ziggy. "Farewell!"

"Hear that hiss? The pressure is lessening. I can feel a jiggle!" yelled Stephanie.

"Pull harder!" yelled Sammy Jo as with all their strength it popped out. Both women fell backwards as the device fell on top of them.

"Justin. Turn it back on! Quick!" Sammy Jo yelled down the maintenance tunnel. With a contorted flick of his wrist the flow resumed while the hissing sound stopped.

"Ziggy? Status!" asked Stephie Hartmann.

"I am still here," she replied.

"No. The particle flow! You overrated overtaxed oversexed slide ruler!" cried out Sammy Jo Fulton.

"Flow is well below catastrophic levels and decreasing. My congratulations Doctors Fulton and Hartmann. I always knew that you could do it!" replied Ziggy.

Sammy Jo sighed heavily as Stephie squeezed her hand in appreciation. "Thank you, Ziggy. I think. Contact the Admiral to meet us in the Control Room. I still want to check over the rest of the complex for any surprises before we let everyone back in!"

The gravel screeched as Stephie Hartmann pulled up to the once futuristic looking home of Sam and Donna Beckett. Ringing the front door bell she found Donna answering the door.

"Thank God, you're all right!" she said hugging her tightly.

Stephie sighed. "We didn't know that till the very last second. Quite a suspense builder. How is Sam?"

"Wide awake and confused, but he is used to that condition. He was fooling with the loose number six of his house number that hasn't worked since we built the house back in the 1980's. That he did remember," said Donna happily.

"So Sam is doing better?" Stephie asked

"Come on in and see!" replied Donna.

Inside she found Sam playing chess with his son Steven. Al was looking on approvingly.

"I'd move your white knight next, Sam," he said as Sam then moved his bishop to defend his king.

"Stephie isn't it?" he asked looking up. "Donna was telling me about all the wonderful work you do at the Project."

Her heart skipped three beats. He remembered her. "That's right. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good. This is my home. I don't think I've been here in a long time," said Sam. "But I'm feeling very comfortable. Steven has been telling me all about his school and his interests. Not too far from my own. At least I think so."

Donna heard the comment and hugged him. "Oh, you get back here from time to time. And now you're staying!"

Steven came over and hugged him too. "It's good to have you back, Pop!"

Sam nodded his head as Stephie fought back some tears. "I seem to remember some things, Donna. This place, these arms, these lips..." he said kissing her.

Al looked on with approval. "I'm glad you're doing well, but I think I need to get back to my Beth!"

Sam's arms tightened around Donna and gave her the kiss of a lifetime of love.

"Maybe someday, me too," Stephie mused as Al heard her.

"There ain't many love stories like theirs!" remarked Al who took a deep puff. "Or Beth and mine!" he added smiling to himself.

Blue specks of energy began to dance up and down Sam's back and sides. He looked up recognizing the feeling as he tried to say something to her. Finally in a burst of brilliant bright blue quantum energy Sam vanished from the arms of his beloved Donna.

Donna felt, but did not see the light display as Sam seemed to lose his form and then vanish in her arms.

"Oh, Sam!" she cried as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I guess this last leap hadn't really finished. He still has work to do," she sighed.

Stephie nodded as tears filled her eyes. "Jennifer must have just put his leaping journey on hiatus. He stayed around long enough so we could rescue him."

Al looked up to the sky. "And then he left us. Again. Best of luck, kiddo!" he said giving him a quick salute.

Checking on her wrist communicator Donna inquired, "Ziggy has Sam leaped again?"

"Doctor Beckett is back to traveling though time, Doctor Beckett. His essence has reappeared in the Waiting Room. All systems are nominal. My sincere apologizes. I will… miss him… too!" said Ziggy as her voice cracked.

Donna wiped her own tears. "Thank you Ziggy. He's just gone. I'm used to that. Steven and I will have to carry on. Again." She walked out of the house and looked up at the stars.

Stephie and Al followed her out to the front yard. Stephie offered Donna her hand. Donna held onto her tightly. She felt her heart reach out to Sam wondering what the future would bring her.

Donna called out choking on her words. "Sam! I know you're out there somewhere. May you bring others even a fraction of the joy and happiness you have brought me. And all the others you meet and touch. God Speed, my one and only true love. God Speed!"

And the two women who loved Sam Beckett embraced and looked up into the night sky.