A Leap Into Destiny
The Return
Hours had gone by since they had left Britain. Throughout the whole flight, Sam Beckett could not fall asleep despite the fact that Al had dozed off for a good few hours. It had been years since he had been in his own time and he was now eager to go back home and meet his wife Donna once more.
Finally, the plane grounded in the desert landing pad in New Mexico.
"This is it, Al!" Sam smiled, nudging his snoozing partner.
"Huh?" Al woke up. "Wuzzat?"
"We're here, Al!" Sam exclaimed. "Back home to where it all began!"
"Home sweet home!" Al agreed, unlocking his seatbelt.
As the passengers got off the plane, Sam and Al walked through the ramp into the passengers waiting section.
There was a welcoming party that greeted them there. There were a few of the technicians who worked on Project Quantum Leap, in addition to Donna, Gooshie, Tina, and Sammy Jo.
"Welcome back, Dr. Beckett!" Gooshie smiled, waving at the two.
"Welcome back, Al!" Tina ran up, hugging the project observer.
"Whoa there!" Al was a bit taken aback by Tina's enthusiasm. "Easy now, I'm a married man!"
"We were just worried, that's all!" Gooshie told the former naval officer. "After all, you vanished in that imaging chamber and somehow ended up in England!"
"You know, that's a funny story actually," noted Al. "And if I told it to you, you'd think I was a real Looney Toon."
As Al briefed the others on his experiences with customs and the law in England, Sam stared at the woman whom he had been married to for all these years but yet, could not be with.
"Donna…" Sam looked at her.
After what seemed like forever, tears flowed down Donna's face as she ran forward to greet him.
"Oh Sam!" Donna embraced Sam. "I've missed you so much!"
"I missed you too, Donna," Sam hugged her tightly.
Finally, the two of them kissed as everyone turned to them. Slowly, Al began to clap as the others followed suit.
oooo
"I must thank you, Kairos," Zoey smiled as she sat comfortably at the dining table with him. "Were it not for you, I would still be leaping from life to life, putting myself at risk just to cause havoc according to Wellington's whims."
Kairos stood next to one of the book shelves, dabbling in one of the many books that were available to him now that Wellington was below in the dungeons.
"No, I must give thanks to thee," Kairos replied in a dark raspy voice as he continued reading one of Wellington's books. "In mine own time, I had planned on putting at my mercy both time and space. But it would seem that such a feat cannot be accomplished by mere sorcery alone. Rather, thou hast led me to a world where the know-how exists to make such a feat possible."
"Yes," Zoey got up. "Speaking of which, from which time era do you hail from?"
Kairos put down the book and stared directly at her. The hood covered most of his face but Zoey could still make out a wrinkled and sallow lower jaw.
"I come from the era known to the people of this present time as the Dark Ages," Kairos informed her.
"What was it like from that bygone era?" asked Zoey. "Modern historians only have fragmented knowledge of that time period at best."
"It was a brutal era," Kairos replied brusquely, "but it is nothing that should concern thee in the present."
"Yes," Zoey agreed quickly, not wishing to agitate him. "We only have the future to look forward to!"
Before the conversation could continue, a soldier entered the room and bowed before the two.
"Ma'am," the soldier addressed her. "The operatives who went to America in order to sabotage Project Quantum Leap have returned."
"Ah yes," Zoey recalled. "It was Wellington who sent them. Let them in."
The soldier bowed and opened the door for Constance and Ramirez.
"Zoey," Constance looked surprised. "I hadn't expected you back so soon."
"Yeah," Ramirez added, staring at Kairos. "Where is Mr. Wellington? And for that matter, who is this guy?"
"Mr. Wellington is no longer acting chairman of Project Chronos as of this moment," Zoey told the two.
"What happened to him?" asked Ramirez plainly.
"He has been permanently replaced," Zoey smiled. "As of this moment, you answer to me."
"You're leading this Project?" Constance was incredulous. "You're not even qualified!"
Zoey snapped her fingers. Immediately, dozens of soldiers entered into the room with their rifles at ready.
"How do you feel about my qualifications now?" asked Zoey.
"They look good to me," Ramirez's eyes widened, realizing now that she was undisputed in her leadership.
"I'm… glad you've moved up on the hierarchy," Constance forced himself to smile. "I look forward to working under you."
"I'm happy to hear that," Zoey told them smugly.
Zoey waved her soldiers away, allowing Constance and Ramirez a brief moment of relief in order to come to terms with the regime change that had just taken place.
"So, how did your mission go?" demanded Zoey.
"Unfortunately the mission was not a success," Ramirez admitted. "We failed to download Lothos into their main core. And we were unable to eliminate the people working on Project Quantum Leap."
"What?" Zoey's voice rose. "Your mission was as simple as could be! How is it that it backfired?"
"We encountered complications along the way," Constance admitted. "One of the workers at Project Quantum Leap was able to alert government forces before we could complete our objectives. Another one of them managed to firewall our attempts to download Lothos into their mainframe."
"But before you get angry," Ramirez said quickly, "we were able to gain a small measure of success!"
"What is that, pray tell?" Zoey asked impatiently.
"One of our men was able to install a spy camera in their base," Constance told her. "Now we can monitor their activities and keep tabs on their project."
"Hmm, perhaps your mission was not a total loss then," Zoey stroked her chin. "You are dismissed."
oooo
"So what was it like working in this setting for all these years?" asked Sam as he entered into the headquarters of Project Quantum Leap.
"Oh, busy, busy, busy," answered Gooshie. "We never knew where your next leap would send you to."
"We didn't exactly get many weekends off either," Al admitted. "Monitoring you was a bit of a full-time job."
"Welcome back, Dr. Beckett," Ziggy, the supercomputer, greeted her creator.
"Ziggy, it's nice to be back," smiled Sam. "Al told me there was an attack on the base while I was gone. You alright now?"
"Oh, I'm quite alright now, Dr. Beckett," the supercomputer replied gleefully. "And we have Sammy Jo Fuller to thank for that."
The young woman next to Sam smiled and waved shyly.
"It's good to have you back, Dr. Beckett!" she said cheerfully.
"Sammy Jo!" Sam exclaimed. "I remember you now!"
In the past, Sammy Jo had been the product of Sam's passionate love affair with the beautiful Abigail Fuller in a previous leap to Louisiana where he had leaped into multiple people in her life. It had come as quite a surprise to him when Al revealed that Sammy Jo was not only his daughter, but also someone who worked with Project Quantum Leap in order to bring him back home.
"Remember me?" Sammy Jo was curious. "But we hardly even got to know each other before you began leaping."
Sam froze. He was unsure if it was a good idea in the here and now to reveal to Sammy Jo that he was her actual father. What if she hated him for not being there for her during her childhood?
With a deep breath, Sam finally decided that he wouldn't tell her his knowledge of her true heritage just yet.
"I, uh, remember you," Sam answered, "because Al told me all about the good work you've done here. It was a stroke of genius, preventing that Lothos virus from downloading itself into our mainframe with your state-of-the-art firewall!"
"I knew when I joined this project that I was signing on to something great… something that would change history," Sammy Jo admitted. "It was almost like destiny."
Sam and Al glanced at each other furtively. Sammy Jo signing on for Project Quantum Leap did indeed appear to be the work of destiny.
"We couldn't be more happy to have you on board," Sam smiled, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"Now that you're back, you know what this calls for?" Tina entered the room with several wine bottles. "This calls for a celebration!"
"I agree!" added Gooshie. "A toast to Project Quantum Leap! Hip hip hurray!"
"I need to talk with Al for a second," Sam gestured for Al to come with him. "I'll catch up with you guys soon!"
As everybody else in the room began to partake in their share of food and refreshments Sam and Al entered into a separate room.
"What's up, Sam?" asked Al.
"I was wondering," Sam closed the door behind them. "Now that Project Quantum Leap has been proven to be a success, what comes next?"
"You're not planning on stepping back inside the accelerator again, are you?" Al gaped at him.
"No, no," Sam admitted. "It's just that we still have some of those other leapers out there like Zoey. Even if she's not around anymore, those guys probably have an entire organization dedicated to making wrong what we've made right."
"Oh yeah, almost forgot about them," Al frowned.
"They have the potential to undo all the progress we've made," Sam told his friend. "There's got to be some way to stop them."
"Remember Sam," Al reminded him. "We can only fix the wrongs they've caused with you going back into a life of leaping. Do you really want to go back to that again?"
"At first I told myself that getting home was my first priority," Sam sighed. "But over time, I think I got so used to leaping that it became second nature to me. After a while, it really became my heart's desire to make right what once went wrong. Leaping became my life, Al."
"Wow, you're completely serious, aren't you?" Al asked.
"I guess I am," acknowledged Sam.
"So what do you want to do?" Al was curious.
"I'm not completely sure Al," Sam replied. "This may get Donna really angry and concerned again, but I was hoping Project Quantum Leap could work out a way where I could continue leaping but be able to come back home at the end of the day."
"Kind of like a regular nine to five job?" asked Al.
"When you put it that way, yeah… I guess so."
"What you're asking is risky, Sam," Al pointed out. "Remember that it was only a freak accident that sent you back here. Plus even up to now, we still don't have the technology or the know-how to bring back a leaper… you in this case."
"So what you're saying is…" Sam asked inquisitively.
"What I'm saying is that you shouldn't be in a hurry to leap back in there," Al replied emphatically. "You're back in your own time with your family and friends. Cherish those while you still got 'em."
"You're right Al," Sam conceded. "I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe all those years of leaping around in time have given me a hero complex and I don't know when to switch it off."
"Hey, it's perfectly understandable," Al reassured him. "There have been multiple reports of soldiers coming back to civilian life but yet don't know when or even how to switch off the military side of their personalities."
"Yeah, I just need time to assimilate back into my old life," Sam acknowledged.
"Well you'll have plenty of opportunities for that," Al grabbed on to one of his coats. "You and Donna have got some catching up to do. And speaking of which, I gotta get back home to Beth and the kids. Besides, it's taco night… can't miss that."
"I know," smiled Sam as he shook Al's hand and gave his friend a short hug. "Have a good time with your family tonight, Al."
"You too, Sam!" Al said encouragingly.
oooo
"I don't believe this," Zoey looked at the monitor that had just detailed the interaction between Sam and Al. "Most leapers would give an arm or a leg to return to their own time. And yet, here Sam Beckett is… wanting to go back in time again to give everybody their fairytale endings."
While the soldiers they had sent to sabotage Project Quantum Leap had failed for the most part, they did manage to successfully install a few hidden cameras throughout the lab. Thanks in no small part to that, Zoey had managed to catch the conversation that had gone on between Sam Beckett and Al Calavicci.
As Zoey continued on with her angry rant, Kairos sat there contemplatively, seemingly lost in thought.
"I can't believe the nerve of that fool," Zoey finished. "What is your take on all of this, Lord Kairos?"
"Sam Beckett wishes to continue leading the life he so desires?" Kairos got up. "That may easily be arranged."
With that, he turned and walked down the hall towards the main laboratory of Project Chronos.
"Where are you headed?" Zoey ran up next to him.
"Take me to Lothos," Kairos told her plainly.
"Very well, but what do you need him for?" she asked.
"As thou hast told me before, Lothos is the supercomputer who is able to run this entire organization and its operations," Kairos replied. "I have use for it."
Without another word, Lothos walked towards the supercomputer that housed Lothos and all the information he possessed.
"So what now?" asked Zoey.
Taking hold of the hourglass on top of his time staff, Lothos pulled it off and presented it to the woman.
"Take hold of this," Kairos said to her.
"You want me to hold this?" asked Zoey.
"Thou art mine apprentice now," Kairos informed her. "In order for thou to learn my secrets, thou must become acquainted with the powers which I alone possess."
"Very well then," Zoey took the hourglass in her hand.
"Consider this a present," Kairos put his hand on the hourglass and channeled mystical energy into the device.
Soon, the device shrunk until it was about small enough to be worn. A leather chord appeared across the pendant.
"Wear this, mine apprentice," ordered Kairos, "and the powers of time and space shall be unlocked for thee."
"I thank you, your eminence," Zoey smiled, bowing to her new master.
With the hourglass taken care of, Kairos turned his attention back to Lothos. He raised his time staff high into the air and began chanting.
"Per vox of sand," he chanted in Latin, "per vox of vicis ipsum!"
At once, red electricity crackled around the sorcerer's time staff. The technicians and workers noticed what was going on and backed away from their work stations as electricity crackled throughout the machines.
"Zoey, what's going on here?" one of the workers demanded.
"Hush now," she smiled. "Let Kairos do his work."
"Ego voco vos, phantasmis of Lothos!" Kairos continued. "Ego voco phantasmis quod infus is per sand!"
Slowly, the time staff floated into the air as it hovered over the computer that was Lothos. Several memory chips and other assorted metals flew into the air, surrounding the time staff of Kairos.
"Fio unus per phantasmis of vicis!" Kairos declared. "Fio unus per vicis baculus!"
At that moment, an all-consuming light blinded everyone in the room. However, once everybody got their bearings again, they saw Kairos standing there with the time staff in his hand. Instead of the wooden carved staff they had seen before, the staff was infused with all the attributes of Lothos. Now composed almost entirely of black metal, the time staff now dotted with a red crystal at its top while silvery metallic plating lined the rest of weapon. Advanced circuitry and wiring also showed through some of the plating.
The combination of both technology and the mystic arts was now complete.
"Lothos and the time staff are now one," Kairos declared.
"I have to say," Zoey smirked. "I really admire your handiwork!"
oooo
At their New Mexico compound, Sam and Donna held each other as they gazed up into the stars and stood together near the balcony.
"It's all coming back to me now," Sam recalled. "Now that my brain isn't Swiss cheesed anymore, I remember coming back here before. Then I had to return to save Al. It's true, isn't it?"
"Yes," Donna held on to him tightly.
"I'm sorry Donna," Sam whispered. "I'm so, so sorry putting you through that again."
"You did what you had to do to save your friend," Donna finally acknowledged. "None of us could ask you to do otherwise."
"I've also been with other women during my leaps," Sam admitted shamefully. "During those times, I had no idea I was married. Why couldn't Al have just told me?"
"Because if he had, you wouldn't have been able to complete your mission," Donna told him reluctantly. "I was the one who told him not to tell you."
"You did?" Sam looked at her quizzically. "Why?"
"Because if you knew that you were married," Donna explained to him, "and the mission required you to romance a certain woman, would you have done it? Would you have been able to leap out of there and gotten one step closer to coming home?"
Sam looked down momentarily, reflecting on what she had said.
"No," he admitted. "I couldn't have done it. If I remembered my marriage to you, there's no way I would have had relations with any other woman. And I wouldn't have been able to leap if romance had been part of my mission."
"You did what you had to do to leap," Donna told him with an understanding look. "As much as it pained me to know there were other women in your life, I also knew that in order for you to come home, sacrifices had to be made."
"I did what I had to do," Sam told her. "But it wasn't truly what I wanted."
He caressed her face.
"I wanted to be with you," he said gently.
"Oh Sam!" Donna cried as tears poured down her face.
"Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?" he asked, hugging her.
"Yes!" she embraced him. "I love you, Sam Beckett!"
"And I love you, Donna Eleese-Beckett!"
The time for talk had passed. Sam clasped her face and entered into a deep heart-felt kiss with his wife.