Date: Mon, 5 Jan 1998 15:44:52 -0700 (MST) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Choices - Chapter 21 Message-ID: Quantum Leap Choices by Katherine R. Freymuth Copyright 1998 Chapter 21 - Epilogue "Hey." Alex looked up at the man standing over him and smiled slightly. "Hey," he said quietly. "How are you feeling?" Sam questioned. He stood to Alex's right with Al beside him. Both had genuine concern in their eyes. "Tired," Alex replied. "I have a slight headache but the Chief assures me it'll pass." Sam smiled. "The Chief says you're going to make a complete recovery." "So he got it out," Alex said quietly. Sam took a breath. "The RAM chip, yes. The Chief wants you to fully recover before taking out the converter in you eye. He wants to make sure you're certain you want it removed. It could mean losing the eye." Alex nodded slightly with understanding. "I know. I'll consider my options in the meantime." He paused, closing his eyes to gather a little strength. "I'm fairly sure, though, that I'll go through it. I'd rather lose my eye than keep it in me." Al looked at Alex with deep concern. He hoped what he was thinking wasn't true. "Sam, does he remember?" he asked quietly. Sam didn't have to ask what Al meant. He took a deep breath. "Alex, do you remember what happened to you?" Alex nodded slowly. "Yes, Al. I remember. Not as strongly, not as clearly, not as realistically but I do remember." Al closed his eyes to keep the tears from showing. "I'm sorry, Alex," he whispered. Alex smiled at Sam's sorrowful face. "Don't feel sorry for me, Al. It's just another obstacle to conquer in my life's journey. And I will conquer it. You know I will." Sam smiled slightly at him. "I know you will. Get some sleep," he told him before leaving his side. Sam and Al slowly left the infirmary together but didn't speak to each other until they arrived at Al's office. "You took your time in getting here," Sam commented as he sat down. "I would have thought you'd be in the Imaging Chamber the moment the operation was over." Al exhaled. "I would've too if I didn't have to prod information from Ziggy. She says history's changed." Sam smiled. "We don't need Ziggy to know that." He hesitated with a frown. "Alex is going to be okay, isn't he?" Al nodded, raising the handlink. "He'll be fine. He went to 'Bina to help him cope with his memories so he, 'Bina, and Genine are the only ones who knew about someone leaping into him until now. He goes through the other surgery and does lose the eye, though. Right now, he's confined to a wheelchair and is going through extensive out-patient therapy for his AIDS and his polio." Sam smiled slightly. "He's still alive." Al nodded. "It's incredible what a person can do when he has self-confidence and trust in others. It all was very different this time around." He shook his head slightly. "It's weird remembering both histories." Sam's smile widened. "I can imagine. Believe me." He took a breath. "If everything is okay, now, why haven't I leaped?" Al frowned at him. "Because everything is NOT okay. Ziggy says the project is still going to be shut down in four hours and I'm going to be arrested for murder." "What?" Sam exclaimed in shock. "Who?" "Aptheker," Al told him. "Somehow someone got a hold of my pistol and shot him six times. They probably broke into my house when I was here at the complex. The only reason I'm still here with you rather than in a jail cell is this is government property so the police can't just come in and arrest me. Plus, Weitzman is feeling unusually generous by letting me have until noon." "You didn't kill him, though," Sam stated. Al looked at him with shock. "You think I'd risk everything by doing that? I have family and friends to consider." Sam smiled at his friend with assurance. "I know you didn't do it, Al. I'm just trying to figure out how all of this is still happening when that chip is out of Alex. I mean, how else could Zoe have gotten that chip or any other information to shut down the project?" Al thought about Sam's query, fiddling with the handlink as he did so. He shook his head. "I don't know. It had to have gotten out of the complex somehow. I just wish I knew how." "What matters now is that we get that chip and put it in a secure place or destroy it," Sam told him. "Wouldn't the Chief still have it?" Al nodded. "He should." Sam looked at Al knowingly. "Then let's get it from him and get rid of it." Al lowered the handlink and nodded in agreement. It wasn't difficult getting the chip from the Chief. He had been holding after he had erased it, hoping that they could use it elsewhere. When he learned that the chip was not erased, as he had thought, he willingly handed it over to Sam for the security of the project. Thus it was with great pleasure that Sam gave the chip to Captain Mark Davalos, the Chief of Security. The moment he gave the chip to Mark, Sam disappeared in a flash of blue light, though no one saw him do it. At the project in the future, it was twelve o'clock noon. Donna Elesee entered Project Quantum Leap using her own security clearance and smiled when she found Al hadn't deleted her file from Ziggy's security systems. She hadn't been to the complex for years. The only reason she was here now was to see her ex-husband. It had been a long time since she last saw him and their son James was beginning to worry about him. Finding on one to greet her except Ziggy, she took the elevator down to the tenth level to go to Sam's lab, where Ziggy said the physicists was. Little did she know that this visit would sever their relationship again and permanently. She would never again see Sam Beckett or talk to him, though James would talk about him often. Sam Beckett was going to leap, certain that the Retrieval Program would work and knowing that he had to leap to prevent a cataclysmic paradox. He would be correct that the program did work but he would not come home in time to heal the rift between him and Donna. He would not come home yet... ...because his true home was Time. Al came out of the Imaging Chamber with a yawn. "What's the sttus, Ziggy?" "Project Quantum Leap is running smoothly, as it should, Admiral." Al exhaled with relief. "So, Weitzman isn't here to shut us down." "That is correct, Admiral." Al thought for a moment. "What do you have on Dana Aptheker?" There was a long pause. "Dana Aptheker is currently trying to attempt to write an article about Dr. Beckett's redisappearance; however, he currently has had no success in linking your comment in the Albuquerque bar to Dr. Beckett's leap." Al slowly and loudly exhaled. "Terrific," he muttered at the reminder of the comment. "Senator Weitzman is currently in the process of diverting Mr. Aptheker's attention to anothe subject," Ziggy informed. Al frowned with curiosity. "What subject?" "There have been several UFO sightings in Montana." Al huffed. "Sounds right up his alley." He paused thoughtfully. "Is the chip we took from Alex still intact?" "Yes, Admiral." "What are the chances of it getting into the wrong hands like it did in the other history?" "There is a thirteen percent chance that the chip would enter into the hands of a person who could cause the sutdown of the project." "Thirteen percent?" Al questioned. "That's a little high for a secured chip, don't you think?" "There will always be a thirteen percent chance as long as the chip exists in any time," Ziggy told him. Al exhaled in slight frustration. "Sp, no matter what happens to the chip in this time, as long as it existed, there will still be a chance of a breach in the project's security because of the chip." "That is what I said, Admiral." Al tilted his head slightly. "Then we'll just have to keep a very close eye on that chip." "How are you doing?" Alex smiled as he sat in his wheelchair, facing his computer. "You have a bad habit of entering without knocking, Al." "So I do," Al replied, walking over to his friend. "Sorry." "That's okay. I've gotten used to it after all these years." He turned his wheelchair slowly around and smiled at Al. Al pulled up a chair and sat down. "You didn't answer my question." Alex nodded with assurance. "I'm okay. It's hard getting around still but the doctor thinks that I'm going into remission." Al looked carefully at his friend. He had seen him before but the last leap made this feel like it was the first time ever. Alex had finally lost all of his hair. His skin was wale and his body was thin. He wore a patch over his right ete from the surgery performed four months before. Still, his face was bright and lively, a great deal different from Al's memory of Alex in the hospital, a history that no longer existed. Al smiled at him. "That's great," he told Alex. "You just might outlive us all yet. Obviously, the treatments seem to be working." He took a breath. "What about your sessions with Beeks?" Alex laughed. "Nostalgic," he joked. "It's getting a little repetitious but I suppose that's good." He looked at Al with a smile. "I'm fine. Really. Like I said before, life is just a series of challenges. I've beaten and surpassed the emotional challenge and I'm winning the physical one. I'm more spiritually alive than I have been for a long time so, if I do die, I won't be as bitter as I might have been." Al returned Alex's smile. "Glad to hear it. Just keep fighting." "You know I will," Alex assured. Al nodded. "Good. Now, how about we go home early. I'm exhausted." "And you look like you are too," Alex commented. "Sure. I'm getting tired of looking at computer screens anyway." THE END