Date: Thu, 19 Jun 1997 19:01:14 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Choices - Chapter 3 Message-ID: Choices by Katherine R. Freymuth Chapter 3 Beth Calavicci looked at Sam with concern. "Of course, it's me." She touched his forehead with her palm. "Al, are you okay? You didn't have another nightmare, did you?" Sam shook his head, getting out of the bed and quickly covering himself with a robe which lay nearby. *White with multi-colored bars*, Sam noted the robe haphazardly. "No," Sam told her. "I... uh... I just have a lot on my mind." *Like why I've leaped into Albert Calavicci. Beth exhaled. "It's Sam, isn't it? You're worried about him." Sam didn't know how to answer that question. *How would Al answer that?* he wondered. *What kind of circumstances am I - the other me - in?* He nearly widened his eyes with apprehension. *What if I have to go inot the Imaging Chamber? I can't, can I? Would I - the other I - see myself as me or as Al? Is the Project running in this time? What year is it anyway?* When Sam didn't answer, Beth nodded with understanding, misinterpreting his silence as answering yes to her question. "Can't keep him out of that lab, can you?" she questioned. *Lab?* Sam thought. *Does that mean I'm in a time before I leaped? Or did the other me leap into a lab?* He laughed slightly, trying to act as Al would. "Well, you know him," he said about himself. Beth smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know. He's a super-overachiever extraordinaire. He tries to reinvent the wheel every five seconds." She looked at Sam carefully and then started to giggle. "What is it?" Sam asked. She took a breath. "You've definitely been around Sam too long. It's not like I've never seen you naked before." Sam looked down at himself and realized what she meant. Al wasn't the kind to cover himself in front of his wife. "Oh," Sam commented. "Well...." Beth laughed slightly. She slipped out of bed and walked towards him, revealing to Sam that she wasn't in the habit of covering herself in front of her spouse either. Sam desperately tried to divert his eyes without slipping out of Al's character, causing Beth to giggle all the more. "If this is an attempt to make me fall more in love with you, Admiral Calavicci, it's working," she told him just before kissing him firmly and passionately on the lips. Sam was completely dumbstruck. He knew his kissing Beth was wrong. It felt wrong. But how would he stop it without hurting Beth, who thought she was merely showing her affection for her husband. Matters became even more difficult only seconds later when Sam heard the Imaging Chamber door open. "Sam! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Sam gently pushed Beth away, hoping she wouldn't be angry with her real husband in the Waiting Room. "Please, Beth. Not now," he told her. He looked slightly to the side to see Al glaring at him furiously. Beth touched his face. "You did have a nightmare." "Yeah and it's name is Sam Beckett!" Al growled. Sam took a breath. "I just need some time alone." Beth nodded. "Okay." She kissed his cheek. "I'm going to take a shower," she told him before walking into the bathroom. Al glared at Sam. "Stay the hell away from my wife or you'll be picking up your teeth from the ground!" Sam looked at Al in astonishment as the sound of water falling came from the bathroom. "Al, first of all, Beth kissed _me_, not I her. Second of all, you know me better than to think that I would do _anything_ like that. And, third of all, she's your wife and I've leaped into you. How the hell do I stay away from her without hurting her and putting you in the dog house?" Al hesitated. He exhaled with realization of the situation. "Okay," he said with a swing of his hand. "I apologize, Sam. I'm sure you handled the situation as best as you could." He paused. "I just love her so much that the thought of anyone - even you - being that intimate with her, even if he looks like me, drives me absolutely crazy." He gave a slow shrug. "What can I say? I'm Italian." Sam smiled. "You're also very human. I understand. I'd feel the same way in your place." Al smiled with thankfulness, knowing that there would be no more incidents like the one he walked in on. "Well, then, I would suggest that you actually _wear_ that robe instead of covering your privates with it." Sam complied with a slight laugh. "Better?" he asked as he tied the robe's sash. Al nodded slightly. "So, what year is it?" Sam asked. "Beth said you couldn't get me away from a lab. Are we building Quantum Leap?" Al shook his head. "No. That was fifteen years ago and Beth didn't know about the project then." "Then, the other me is leaping,' Sam concluded. Al shook his head again. "No, it isn't. Today's March 11, 2006." Sam frowned. "Are you sure?" Al looked at him. "Trust me, Sam. It's only been four months." "Four months since when?" Sam questioned. Al hesitated. *He doesn't remember*, he noted. "Four months since... you... started leaping again," he said slowly. Sam's eyes widened slightly. "I came home?" he asked quietly. Al nodded. "Why do you think I remind you on every leap that you can come home if you really want to? Because you did come home - October 2005." Sam nodded slightly. "So, why am I here?" Al shrugged slightly. "We're not quite sure yet. Ziggy's running through the possibilities right now but she's running out of them fast. Most of what has to be done is going to be done anyway." "By whom?" Sam asked. Al paused. "By you." He exhaledas the shower stopped running. "Listen, I'll explain everything later. Right now, though, you need to take a shower and reschedule a doctor's appointment. You can't possibly take my pllace for a visit to a cardiologist.'" Sam looked at Al with concern. Al smiled at him reassuringly. "It's nothing, really. I have had to see one annually since my heart attack five years ago. You know - the one induced by the bullet I got right under my heart, during the Burke raid," he added. Sam exhaled with a little relief. He vaguely remembered when General Albert Whitefeather Burke held control of the complex. He certainly remembered seeing Al being shot and feeling deep sorrow when he thought that Al had died. He was thankful that his feelings had been wrong. The door to the bathroom opened and Beth came out wrapped in a large light blue bath towel. She walked over and kissed Sam gently. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked with concern. Sam nodded slightly. "I'll be okay," he assured her. "Call her 'mia capitana'," Al suggested. "It'll reassure her even more." "Mia capitana," Sam repeated, making Beth smile. "I'm going to take a shower." He went toward the bathroom while Beth watched him with a concerned loving smile. Sam closed the bathroom door and turned to Al, who had followed him in. Al was frowning slightly. "I don't think you said that quite right, Sam. Normally, she laughs at that." "Why?" Sam questioned. "What does it mean?" "My captain," Al told him. "That's her rank in the Navy. She hasn't retired quite yet." "You said you were going to expolain everything," Sam said quietly so Beth couldn't hear him through the wall separating them. Al nodded. "Okay," he said, slipping his hands into the pockets of his white trousers which matched his white jacket. Under the jacket he wore a plain blue dress shirt accented by a solid silver tie. "This is going to take a bit of time to explain so you might as well shower while I talk.{" Sam nodded and obeyed while listening to Al closely. "Last October, we were able to retrieve you and, for the past five months, you've been working on perfecting the retrieval program. I mean, the other you in this time. Hell, let's just call him Dr. Beckett," Al told Sam. "Anyway, there is going to be an explosion in Lab 8G on March 13, 2006." Sam frowned. "Two days from now," he commented. Al gave a brief nod. "Right. The explosion killed three people and severely injured one. Dr. Beckett felt guilty because he was working on the electrical system that indirectly caused the explosion." Sam had a distant look in his eyes. "So I leaped to save your lives. I remember." Al looked at Sam with concern. "Everything?" Sam exhaled. "If you mean Donna and Jim, yes. I remember she had dies in the explosion and you were the one injured. I remember changing history so no one was hurt and I remember leaping to prevent a paradox." Al nodded slightly with understanding. "So, you can see how difficult it is for us to figure out why you're here. We have timeline after timeline overlapping each other, making it hard for Ziggy to determine what needs to be done this time around." He took a breath. "I'll let you know the moment we have even the remotest possibility but, until then, Ziggy says that you have to do exactly what I did - except for two things. One: no cardiologist. That would _really_ mess up the timeline if, for only one yearly visit, I had the health of a man twenty years younger than me and with a perfect heart." He gave a slight smile. He raised two fingers. "Two: absolutely no physical contact with Dr. Beckett. None," he emphasized. "Remember, he's a leaper too and if you two touch and he sees that I'm really a future version of himself.... Well, I'd hate to think of what kind of psychological effect it would have on him." Sam nodded wuith understanding. "Okay. No physical contact. So, what do I need to do?" Al exhaled. He scratched his head slightly as he dug through his memory. He then counted off the items on his right hand as he said them. "Cardiologist. Grocery shopping. Cook dinner. Christy's choir concert at the university and..." He paused. "Okay. Three things you can't do." Sam smiled slightly at the look on Al's face. "What's the third thing?" Al looked firmly at Sam but his eyes were kind. "Making love to my wife." Sam laughed slightly. "Yeah, well, I don't think you have to worry about that." "I don't know, Sam," Al commented. "Beth can be extremely... energetic... when she's interested." "Is she going to be interested tonight?" Al raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember," he told Sam as the leaper dried himself. "It was four months ago, after all." Sam frowned. "And what if she is interested?" Al shrugged slightly. "Tell her you have a headache. Works for her." Sam lowered his eyelids. He shook his head with disbelief. He then slipped on the rainbow robe and left the bathroom to see Beth dressed in her uniform whites. She was pulling her purse over her shoulder while looking at a clock on the nightstand. She turned her head towards Sam and smiled. "I have to go," she told Sam as she approached him. She kissed him lovingly. "I'll see you tonight. Don't forget Christy's concert." "I won't," Sam assured her. She smiled at him before leaving the bedroom. Sam looked at Al, wondering how he reacted to Beth's kiss. Al was rubbing his right temple with his right forefinger. He exhaled loudly. "Boy, this leap is going to be tough on me," he commented. Sam exhaled in accordance. "That makes two of us." Chapter 4 coming soon. Katherine Freymuth Copyright 1997