Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 17:38:05 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Choices - Chapter 5 Message-ID: Choices by Katherine Freymuth (Copyright 1997) Chapter 5 Sam stared at Al in complete shock. "What? Al, you're talking about murder!" Al glared at Sam. "It's not murder, Sam. It's granting a dying man his last wish." "It's wrong!" Sam exclaimed. "Is it as wrong as taking Josepf Washiki to the Indian reservation so he could die in peace? You granted Joseph's wish then. Now, you have to grant Alex's wish." Sam looked at Al firmly. "It was different then," he told him, vaguely remembering the leap to which Al was referring. He didn't remember much of that leap, only the last few minutes of it as he carried the dying Joseph across a river to find that Joseph had died. But he hadn't been the cause of Joseph's death; he just took him home. Al was asking him to actually cause Alex's death. "Was it really that different?" Al questioned. "Everyone deserves to die with dignity, Sam, and there was very little dignity in the way Alex died. He never wanted to die in a hospital. He didn't want his friends to see him slowly waste away. He knew it would grieve them and just that knowledge was more painful to him than his dying." He paused. "He wouldn't allow anyone in his hospital room except me and that only because I'm the closest thing he had to a family. I was by his bed when he died." Al exhaled. "It's very hard for me to describe this, Sam. He just slowly wasted away and there was nothing I could do about it. I could see the frustration and emotional anguish in his eyes." He took a slow breath. "He knew his death was grieving his friends - was grieving me, his family." Al looked at his friend with emotional eyes. "Just before he died, he told me that he wished you hadn't prevented him from going into his lab that day." He lowered his head and closed his eyes. "And so do I." Sam shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you just said that. I saved his life!" Al looked at Sam firmly. "And he was meant to die then." Sam shook his head again, this time with determination. "No. I can't believe that God, Fate, Time, or Whatever has brought me here to commit murder." "He's going to die in four months anyway, Sam," Al said firmly. "At least this way he won't die slowly and painfully in a hospital bed." Sam looked into Al's eyes. "I think you're just trying to change it so that you won't have to be in that hospital when he does die four months from now. You are so hurt by his death that you would do anything to keep yourself from being by that bed." Al closed his eyes, obviously hurt by Sam's implication that Al's motives were truly self-centered. He opened them slowly and looked at Sam with hurt as he opened the Imaging Chamber door. "You'd better go back in," he commented, trying to hide his emotions. "You're going to miss the rest of the concert." He took a slow step back through the door and closed it, leaving Sam alone in the hallway. Sam closed his eyes, ashamed of himself for the hurt he'd cause his friend. He never wanted to hurt Al but he couldn't believe that he had leaped into his friend in order to make sure another friend died before his time. The other times he had had to kill someone, it was in self defense. But this... It felt wrong. It was wrong. It was murder. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to return to the concert as if nothing had happened. He certainly didn't want Beth to think that anything was wrong. Al exhaled once he had left the Imaging Chamber. It was tough but he had to admit that there was a touch of truth to what Sam had said. Al didn't want to have to be in the hospital by Alex's bed when he died. It was so painful to be there - to watch his dear friend die so slowly and painfully. However, he hadn't lied to Sam; Ziggy gave it a ninety-two percent probability that Sam had leaped into Al to make sure Alex died in the explosion. Al just hoped he would find a way to convince the physicist of that reality. "He didn't take it well, did he?" a female voice asked him. Al smiled slightly at the woman who stood at the foot of the ramp to the Imaging Chamber. He was glad it wasn't Dr. Verbina Beeks standing there. He didn't think that he could handle being psychoanalyzed on this leap. Byt Genine Strickler was different. She didn't analyze; she just listened. "He took it as well as I thought he would," Al told the Naval Captain. He exhaled. "Better than I'm taking it, that's for sure." Genine frowned. "Terrific. Do you want me to take this one? It might be better if I was the Observer for this." Al walked down the ramp towards her. "Better for whom, me or Sam?" He shook his head. "No, I'd better do it. If there's anyone who can talk Sam into doing something he doesn't want to do, it's me. Thanks, though, Genine. It's very thoughtful of you." Genine smiled at her former commanding officer. "Thoughtfilness had nothing to do with it. I just want to make sure our leading man is up to par." Al laughed slightly. He exhaled. "I'm not so sure that I am but, at the moment, I'm the only one for the job." He paused and looked towards the Waiting Room. "How am I... I mean, how is HE holding up?" Genine smiled slightly. "Well, one thing is certain. He's definitely you. The first thing he did when I went in there was to demand to see you." Al frowned. "Why me?" "So he could yell at you for letting Sam leap after Sam promised he wouldn't." Al exhaled. "Well, I didn't have much of a choice on that one." Genine nodded. "I did my best to explain that to him." Al looked at her with concern. "You didn't tell him about the accident on Level Eight, did you?" She looked at Al with slight shock. "Of course not. I gave him the customary runaround and told him that you were otherwise engaged on important business at the time of Sam's leap. Of course, your younger self ranted about that, knowing that I was covering something." She exhaled. "You know, I've known you for six years now and I never realized what an impatient and stubborn man you can be until now." Al huffed slightly. "Thanks." Genine took a deep breath. "Naturally, he wants to known why Sam's leaped into him. He's pacing the Waiting Room like a caged animal." She paused. "Don't worry. I didn't tell him anything. We're keeping him in the dark on this. He isn't very happy about it but he is accepting to very gracefully." Al nodded. "Good. I know that, if I were in his position, I'd be very upset to learn that Sam was in my place to make sure a good friend of ours dies." He closed his eyes. "I wish Sam had to do anything else but this. It's hard enough as it is on me. Can you imagine how hard it is on him?" Genine lowered her head slightly, not having an answer. She looked at Al again. "I know this is hard but we have to keep telling us that we're doing the right thing. We're changing Alex's history for the better." Al tilted his head slightly. "You sound like Verbina." Genine shrugged slightly. "You and Sam are not the only ones having trouble with this leap. I'm just repeating what she told me. We're all having a tough time with this." Al nodded with understanding. Unlike Genine, Al had never gotten used to the idea of going to the Project's psychiatrist for help. However, the knowledge that he wasn't the only one bothered by this leap helped as much as going to see Verbina would help. "I'm having Ziggy continue with her search for information," Genine put in. "If she can't give us another possibility, she can certainly help us in trying to get this leap done and quickly and as painlessly as possible. This leap will probably haunt us for a long time regardless." Al nodded again. He knew she was right. He didn't think he would ever forget this leap, even though he already wished he would. "Well, let me know if she has anything for us," Al told her. "I'm going to grab some coffee and go to my office." With that, he left the Control Room, Genine watching him leave before she turned her attention to Ziggy and the task she had given the computer. There was an uncertain knock on the door. Zoe stood from her seated position at a desk in the hotel room, walking over to answer the door. "Mr. Aptheker," she greeted gently as she opened the door. "You are precisely on time. I'm impressed." Dana walked into the room, obviously nervous and yet, at the same time, curious. Zoe briefly noted that the reported had taken time to change his clothing and smiled with delight at the memory of why the change of clothes was necessary. She slowly closed the door behind him as he walked further into the room. She then locked the door, causing Dana to quickly turn around with a nervous look in his eyes. "What I have to show you is very confidential," Zoe told him, approaching him slowly. "I wouldn't want anyone outside of this room to learn about it. Yet." "Yet?" Dana questioned, uncertainty in his voice. Zoe nodded. She motioned him to sit down at the table in the room. As he did so, she retrieved a large binder from the desk and brought it to the table. Sitting beside him, she place the binder on the table in front of him. "I had my colleague fax me this and I've spent some time making it more manageable. As you can see, it is quite large." "This is the record you were talking about?" Dana asked with suppressed excitement. Zoe nodded before opening the binder and flipping through it. "During the past ten years, Dr. Beckett and Admiral Calavicci have changed history over five hundred times. Few of them had no positive impact on the lives of Dr. Beckett, Admiral Calavicci, or those who know them. We did a bit of research and found the first major change they made was in 1972 when Dr. Beckett reunited his former fiancee with her estranged father. This caused history to change in Dr. Beckett's favor. Instead of leaving Dr. Beckett at the alter, Donna Elesee married him." Dana frowned incredulously. "Dr. Beckett arranged his own marriage by changing history?" Zoe smiled at him - the same loin-melting smile she had given him earlier that day. "That is just the first incident, Mr.. Aptheker. There are literally hundreds more. For example, in 1970, he prevented the death of his brother in Vietnam at the cost of the life of a reporter who hadn't died in the original history." She paused. "Tell me, Mr. Aptheker. Would you consider that ethical behavior?" Dana didn't answer for a moment. He needed to pull his eyes off of Zoe's ill-covered body in order to think straight. "He killed someone to change his own history," he concluded. Zoe raised her eyebrows. "That's not the only time he has killed someone, Dana darling. Believe me. The number of people he has killed would insure him the death sentence in any country." She leaned towards him slightly, making Dana shutter with yearning. She gently touched his knee and moved her hand up and inward along his thigh. "Dr. Beckett is a very dangerous man. Who knows who else he will kill just to satisfy his self-centered view of the world?" She placed her lips near Dana's ear. "He must be stopped, Dana, and I have a feeling that you're just the man for the job." Dana looked into her eyes and was instantly entranced. "W-why me?" he asked. Zoe smiled at him seductively. "Because you know a good story when you see one." She paused. "Because you're always searching for that one story that will show your worth as a reporter. Because you want a Pulitzer so much you can feel the award itself in your hands." She looked into his eyes. "And this, Dana darling, is your chance to get that Pulitzer - to blow the lid from this cover-up and show to the world Dr. Beckett's self-centered project known as Project Quantum Leap." Dana took a slow, calming breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "And what do you want?" he asked with curiosity. "I mean, you gotta want something in exchange for this information. Money?" Zoe laughed gently. "No, not money. Something much better than money." She looked at him firmly. "Don't worry about fulfilling my part of the take. Just take this binder and win your Pulitzer." Dana looked at the binder and then at Zoe. There was a knot in his stomach, for some odd reason. Despite - or maybe because of - her beauty and allure, Dana wasn't sure she could be trusted. He wasn't sure he trusted someone who gave information, but not for money. Still, if she was telling the truth about Dr. Beckett travelling in time to change his own history - heck, just the idea that he was travelling in time! - it was a Pulitzer worthy story. Who knows? He might actually get this woman in bed with him. As if an answer to his thoughts, Zoe kissed him passionately on the lips, squeezing gently in an area much lower on his body. When she slowly pulled away from him, Dana couldn't look her in the eyes. He was breathing a little heavily, trying even harder than before to control his hormones. "So, what do you say?" Zoe asked silkily. Dana hesitated, trying to force his mind to work rationally. "Umm... Let me look through this copy and I'll let you know," he said quietly. Zoe nodded slightly. "I'm sure you'll make the right decision, Dana." She stood and escorted him to the door. She opened it before turning towards him and gently stroking his chin with her right fore-finger. "I'll be here all day tomorrow. Let me know what you decide." Dana didn't fight the urge anymore. He quickly grabbed her and kissed her passionately. Zoe gently pushed him away. "Later, Dana darling," she told him. "Later." Dana nodded slightly, wanting to undress her right there and then. "I'll let you know then," he said quietly before leaving the room. Zoe closed the door with a malicious smile. She laughed evilly. "I've got you now, Sam Beckett," she said with glee. Chapter 6 coming soon.