From: Philippa Chapman (Glastonbury, Somerset, UK.) Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 15:00 +0000 Subject: Gothic Leap, Part 1/3 GOTHIC LEAP Author's preamble: This is a crossover story between QL and American Gothic. Viewers of the latter will know how menacing it could be. I hope to capture that same spirit, whilst hanging on to QL themes. So this may well turn out unsuitable for younger readers. Please be sensible and don't read on if you're at all of a nervous disposition. You could say this is another look at The B**giem*n, guessing at what Sherrif Lucas Buck probably is. But this time Sam has to deal with it/him on a much more personal level..... 'You say, all you need is time. I reach for time, but it just leaves no choice....' Adrian Snell, singer/songwriter: 'Reach Me.' Sam floated gently in the place between the leaps. It was warm, silent and peaceful. His body, his soul rocked gently surrounded by blue and white nothingness. He felt something touch his hand. The touch was gentle, reassuring. Sam opened his eyes. A face looked down at him. "This time's going to be hard, Sam. I know who you're going to face. Watch the boy, Sam....and watch Miss Coombs, too. Be strong until the morning. I'll be there, watching you." Sam thought the voice sounded feminine; tinged with a Southern drawl....but it was so dreamlike here that he couldn't be sure of anything. He felt the Leap surging through his body and reality rushed up to greet him. He was standing with his back propped up against a car. A few golden and red leaves scurried along the road in front of him. Fall, then....but it was still rather warm for October or November. Sam smelt the air. "I'm in the South somewhere....there's a difference in the breeze. it's humid, too." He pulled himself off the car and looked down at himself,"I'm in the law-enforcement business again. No problem with that." Sam bent down to take a look at himself in the overtaking mirror. Brown hair, hazel eyes....a pleasant enough masculine face. It would do just fine. Sam straightened up and looked across the road. 'FULTON COUNTY SHERRIF'S OFFICE' read the sign on the low building in similar khaki brown shades to his uniform. "Looks like I landed outside my headquarters. I'd better go in and see if I can glean any more information before Al turns up." Sam walked across the street and through the door. Another brown-haired man stood up as he came in, but said nothing. [He's a loser. Ben Healy was and always will be a loser.] "You're a loser, Ben." The words were out of his mouth before he knew it. The other man dropped his gaze and sat down, defeated. Sam walked through to the back of the office on autopilot, shocked and disturbed. He looked again in another mirror on the wall of the inner office. [Sorry to surprise you, Sam. I've been meaning to meet you for some time.] "What the *hell*?" Al appeared beside Sam's elbow. He looked tired, harrassed and he was still doing up his multi-colored tie. Sam looked at the outfit: a symphony in emerald green this time and a waistcoat in what looked suspiciously like gold lurex. "No need to swear, Sam. I got here as quickly as I could. The man you Leaped into is unconscious." [Of course. I'm here with you, Sam.] Sam turned to Al with fear in his eyes. "I've got the Leapee talking to me in my head, Al. Somehow he stayed here." [It was nothing. I have good reasons for letting you share my life for a while.] Al punched his Handlink while Sam tried to control his reactions. "According to this, you're Sherrif Lucas Buck, age uncertain...but he's been Sherrif for at least twenty years." Sam looked back in the mirror. "Well, he either started very young, or he ages well." [Very close, Doctor Beckett. Your familiar is spot on with the name, though.] "Good grief, he can hear or see you, Al." Al looked up at Sam, his brow furrowing with concern. [Right on both counts. Give my regards to Ziggy while you're at it. I would be interested in having her help here in Trinity....not that I really *need* it most of the time.] Sam gasped with shock and sat down on the floor. Al hunkered down beside him, his face full of concern. "This isn't going to be easy for either of you, but I'm going to do my best to get you out of this mess somehow." [How gallant. How selfless. I'm sorry, Sam; I want to play house with you for a while.] Sam blanched and swallowed, hard. "Ohh, boy," he whispered hoarsely,"Ohhh, boyyy." Fear started to color Al's face, then anger. "If you screw Sam up, buddy, I will personally take you apart with my bare hands." Lucas' reply spilled out of Sam's mouth. "[You can't touch *me* and that body you've got back at the project is rather necessary to Sam getting home.]" Al's eyes blazed. "You're .another evil Leaper, aren't you?" "[You have no idea, Albert Calavicci. Check the date.]" Al fixed Sam with a stare that held both concern and deep mistrust as he punched the Handlink. "It's 1996...October....Ohmygod....the 31st!" Fear came back into Al's eyes, then they narrowed,"We dealt with *you* before....I think. Wasn't once enough?" "[But this is Trinity....this is *my* town. I'm strong here...]" then Sam's face showed him struggling to regain control of his own will and vocal chords,"Get out of my head....for God's sake, stop this." [As someone once said, it ain't over till it's over.] Sam began to recite thr Lord's prayer,[Oh, very well, you can have your pathetic body back for a while, but I *will* be back, I promise.] Sam looked at Al as Lucas' presence retreated. His face was white and strained. Beads of perspiration dotted his brow as he sucked air slowly into his lungs. He didn't know what to say. "It's okay, Sam. I'll stay right here.....whatever it takes until *he* goes away or you leap." Al's face showed he was scared despite his brave words. "He's gone...or let go...at least for a while. Is he.....I mean, I know only too well what I *think* he is....he certainly retreated at the Lord's prayer." "No idea, Sam. If only I was wearing my cross...." "I have a sneaking suspicion he might not be affected by it. I'll cope, Al. But if I start behaving out of character....or doing things that are positively evil...." Sam gave Al a significant look. "Yeah, I know. I'll do my best to stop you, Sam. I can pray, too." Sam regarded Al carefully, knowing how much that would cost his friend. Sam pulled himself slowly to his feet and went and sat behind the desk. "Okay....have I got anything else apart from *him* to deal with?" Al bent over the Handlink as the door opened and a woman slowly walked in, through Al. He looked up, the traveled back round the front for a better view. He whistled appreciatively. "Wow! This is Ms Selena Coombs, the local school teacher...good grief, if they'd had school teachers looking like her when I was a kid...and she and you know who are lovers....brace yourself, Sam." Selena undulated slowly across the office, oblivious to Al who was drooling helplessly right next to her. Selena parked herself decoratively on the desk and put her feet up, revealing a good deal of her legs. She leant over the desk seductively towards Sam, who was swallowing nervously. "I just thought I'd give you a little down payment on tonight, sugar." Selena's voice was a slow drawl of temptation. Al groaned softly. "Ohhh, that voice.... she could seduce a guy reciting Latin....vidi, vici, vene...." Sam cleared his throat. "I think it's vene, vidi, vici," he muttered, just so Al could hear. Al's grin widened as Selena stroked Sam's face. "I know *exactly* what I said.....and if her kisses are anything like the rest, you'd better hold onto your hat, kid." Selena caught hold of Sam's tie and reeled him in, helpless, like a mouse hypnotised by a cat. She kissed him slowly and thoroughly. Sam tried to be passive, but caved in after a few seconds and kissed her back. "We're going to play apple bobbing later, aren't we, honey?" she whispered against Sam's open lips. "Ohh, my...." Al murmured,"I never thought Halloween could be sexy until now." Sam was on the point of moving in for a second helping of Selena's kisses when his brain caught up with whose lover she was. He broke away firmly, but with some lingering reluctance. "That's enough until tonight, Selena. I am on duty, you know." Selena stood up slowly and gracefuly, smoothing her skirt over her thighs as she did so. Al drank in every move she made. "You sure know how to keep a girl waiting, Lucas. It wasn't always like that, though, was it, sugar? There was a time when you used to lock the door and take me in your arms....." She touched the desk again. Sam's eyes widened as he understood and Al's eyes flashed eagerly. "Oh, Saaaam....if I was in your place...." Selena strolled out of the office and closed the door. "You're forgetting whose lover she is, Al. Would you *really* make love with a woman who might have been with a devil?" Pain sliced through Sam's head and he collapsed on the floor, close to fainting. Al bent over him in concern. "What is it, Sam? Is *he* back?" Sam couldn't speak. He curled up in a foetal position, his head a raging torment of white-hot agony that kept him just this side of unconsciousness. [You will not use that word again, Sam. My name is Lucas. Do you understand?] The pain evaporated as rapidly as it had arrived. Sam's face was grey with strain, but he managed to pull himself slowly upright. "Yes, he's back, Al. He told me not to use *that word* again." "Which...? Oh, I see," Al's eyes narrowed angrily,"A bit too close to the truth, eh? You *nozzle*." Sam gasped as Al collapsed just like he did. He bent over Al with a mixture of deep concern and anger. "Let him go, dammit! He's just trying to protect me...." Al sat up slowly, his face deathly pale. He spoke past gritted teeth. "Sorry, buster. I've known worse pain than that......pain that went on for days. I've already been to Hell.....you won't get me *that* way." Sam knew exactly what Al was referring to. Al's face relaxed as the pain evidently went away. "Are you okay?" It was a dumb thing to ask, but Sam was shocked that Lucas had somehow been able to affect Al. "Yeah, I'm okay now, Sam," Al looked at Sam with tender concern,"Imagine that, trapped in one of those cages with guys being forced to play Russian roulette...." Sam moved as close to Al as he could. "I saw the movies, Al. I can guess what it was like.....I saw it too, remember? I was there for a little while." "Yeah, I know...." Al got up slowly,"Still wish I had my cross...or some holy water or something." "I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to get *near* anything like that, Al." Sam ran his hand through his hair as Al consulted his Handlink. "Apparently, your next task is to pick a young boy called Caleb Temple up from school. The lad was orphaned recently and Lucas has been acting as a kind of father figure to him.....and I definitely *don't* like the sound of that. Caleb has a cousin called Gail Emory who moved here some time ago to keep an eye on him and.....my goodness, the lucky son-of-a- bitch; Lucas has been playing house with *her* too." [A strange title, but I don't mind. Both ladies have their.....attractions. You've seen Selena already. Miss Emory on the other hand...so upright, so righteous, so keen for justice and so *hot* underneath.] "Stop it, Lucas, please." Sam spat the words out. "Boasting of his prowess, is he?" Sam nodded. "Yeah, something like that...but not like you, Al. I don't want you to think I'd put you in the same category as *him*." "I'm older than he is. I've enjoyed the company of far more women, I bet...and they *always* enjoyed mine." [A man after my own heart. And actually, I've known hundreds.] Sam bristled angrily. "Al may well have made love with hundreds of women for all I know, but there's genuine respect and appreciation when he talks about them....your tone of voice is different; it's as if you couldn't care less." "Aw, Sam. I didn't think you'd noticed." [Why should I *care*? You pick a peach, you consume it and throw away the stone.....they all came to me willingly, you know. It's power....such a potent aphrodisiac.] Sam blinked with shock. "My goodness, Lucas is a regular Don Juan....I wonder who his Mephistopheles was." [Actually, I didn't have one of those.....but the analogy is close enough. All the power and women I want and need, right here in Trinity.] Sam walked out to the patrol car and got inside. Al gave him directions to the school, which Sam followed. Lucas seemed to have retreated again. Neither Sam nor Al noticed the large black crows sitting on each telegraph pole, watching them intently as they drove by. Meanwhile, in Fulton County Hospital, Doctor Billy Peel sat slumped with his head in his hands in the Laboratory. Since Selena had gone crawling back to Lucas, his life had become hollow. He'd worked through the pain of rejection and betrayal; indeed he'd made himself go through it for his own sake as well as for the patients under his care. Now all that was left was the space where his heart used to be. "Your heart's still there, Billy. I'm watching you, too," Merlyn drifted unseen through the laboratory and stood behind Doctor Peel,"It wasn't love. You know that now....she was bound to Lucas years ago. I'm doing what I can and so is Sam Beckett. If we hold on, there may be some redemption in the morning." Merlyn gently blew at the pages of a medical journal near Doctor Peel. The journal opened on an artical on his specialist subject, tropical diseases. He picked up the journal and began to read, first almost automatically, then with growing interest. Merlyn watched as he devoured the article, then went back to the beginning to see who had written it. Merlyn heard him read out the name. "Doctor Laura Maclean.....based in M'zola. That's only a few hundred miles away from where I was working. I wonder if she's cracked the bilhartsia problem....." Billy began to make notes eagerly. Merlyn smiled and vanished. Meanwhile, Sam pulled up outside the school. Ms Coombs slinked out of the front door and held it open for the children. "I don't care if she's Lucas' lover, that woman is sheer temptation." "Al, we're here to pick up the kid, remember?" A young boy of around 11 or 12 came over to the car. He had dark brown hair and eyes and black eyebrows set in what looked like a permanent frown. "You come to pick me up, Sherrif?" "Yes, that's right. Are you going trick-or-treating tonight?" "I might." Sam tried again. "Well, have you got a costume, son?" The eyebrows lowered completely. "I am *not* your son!" Sam nearly choked and Al consulted his Handlink. "Er....well, we've got nothing on that, Sam. His mother died in suspicious circumstances after he was born.....he had an elder sister, Merlyn, but she died too...their father killed her." [He's my son, alright. A chip off the old block.] Sam covered himself by concentrating on driving the car. Leaves piled up around the wheels of the car, then were sucked away into patterns on the tarmac. If Sam or Al had looked at the patterns closely, they might have recognised certain arcane symbols of power, including pyramids, pentagrams and the all-seeing eye..... By the time Sam had pulled up outside the boarding house where Caleb lived, he was feeling tired. Lucas' presence in his mind felt heavy; it was as much as he could do to concentrate on one thing at a time. Sam and Al followed Caleb into the boarding house. A striking African American woman met them. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Sam. "I don't think you ought to be here, Sherrif." Sam's vocal chords responded without his conscious control again. "[And what are you going to do about it?]" "I have my ways....Now get out of here, please." "[You're not even going to offer me a coffee?]" "You delivered the boy safely, for which I am grateful. I have to cook extra for Ms Emory. She only just got out of the Hospital, Sherrif." Al consulted his handlink while watching Sam. "Sam, please....you're starting to act out of character. Try not to let him have control..." Sam turned to Al with a supreme effort, the muscles and sinews in his neck straining under the tension. "I'm trying, Al." He spat the words out before his head was wrenched savagely back. "You stop your tricks in my house, Sherrif." "It says here that Gail Emory just had a miscarriage....it was Lucas' baby." "[It was my son she was carrying. I think that gives me a right to see her.]" The landlady lifted her broom up defensively. "No-one sees Ms Emory until I say so." Caleb turned and began kicking Sam's shins. "You said I was your son! Why did you have to get Gail pregnant too?" Sam felt and saw his left arm snake out and pick Caleb up by his shirt collar at the back of his neck and hold him up, kicking and screaming at arms' length. "[I wasn't sure you'd want to follow in my footsteps. I gave myself a little insurance policy.]" Sam felt a strange thrill of power running through his body as he continued to hold Caleb up effortlessly. The feeling was seductive; he felt capable of anything. [YES! That's it, Samuel Beckett. Feel what it's like to have real power. Think of all the good you could do here in Trinity with power like that.] Sam looked at Caleb. He could see *inside* the boy's body. His medical mind scanned every organ, blood vessel and nerve from the toes in Caleb's feet to the tip of his head, pausing only briefly on the way to prevent appendicitis, tonsilitis and several childhood diseases from ever affecting the boy. He slowly lowered Caleb to the floor, knowing that he'd done his best to keep him alive and well for the forseeable future. Sam didn't question how he could do these things, his eyes had already moved to the landlady. She tried to resist, but Sam held her helpless with just a look of his eyes. There was more wear and tear to deal with, including the potential for brittle bone syndrome and uterine cancer, but all melted away even as he detected them. The lanlady sank to the floor, fanning herself as Sam raced up the stairs towards Gail Emory. Al followed, trying to get through to Sam, but he was deaf to everything but the adrenalin-like rush of power and doing good running through his body. Gail was in her room asleep in bed. Sam bent over her gently. "She's *beautiful*." Gail's dark brown hair spilled over the pillow, her face pale in the semi-darkness. Sam's eyes searched through her body, mending the last of the after-effects of her miscarriage, then up to her mind. Gail was lost and troubled, disturbed by her helpless attraction to Lucas. "My goodness, she loved him, Al." Al shrugged. "Well, it takes all sorts. I guess Lucas could have any woman he wanted." "Yes, but *love*, Al?" Gail's eyes flickered open and Sam gazed into their dark brown depths. She flinched a tiny bit, then smiled. "You made me better, Lucas.....now please go away. I need to sleep." Sam drew away and went out into the dark corridoor with Al. Suddenly, to his surprise, Sam could see inside Al. "Al, I can see inside *you*....but that's not possible is it? I mean, you're not really here..." Al backed away nervously. "You may well have the power to heal people, even me; but I don't like where it's coming from. I'm not sure if I want to be grateful to you- know-who." "Don't be silly, Al," Sam smiled warmly,"I can finally do something for you....for that potential stomach ulcer and your lungs....no more tar, Al. They're as clear as a newborn baby's now. And as for the scarring on your body....it's gone," Al tried to back away, but Sam had all the hypnotic power of Lucas at his disposal and Al couldn't move,"Your liver's back to normal and now the scars in your mind...." "You stay out of my mind, Sam. You may be my best friend but there are some places I'd rather you didn't...." Al was cut short as Sam closed in eagerly. Sam was beginning his 'treatment' when Merlyn drifted slowly through the wall and Al almost yelled. Sam's attention was immediately diverted to Merlyn. "That's enough, Sam. You're doing more harm than good." "Who or what in holy hell are you?" Merlyn smiled beautifully at Al. "I'm Merlyn, Caleb's sister. I'm watching over him, just like you're watching over Sam." Al's eyes narrowed speculatively. "But you're *dead*! You can't be a hologram!" Merlyn laughed softly. "Not exactly, no; but there's no need to be afraid. I can't and won't hurt you." Sam recovered himself. "Why can't I heal Al? He's helped me and saved my life more than once. I owe him a lot....it seems only fair that I should reward him." "Yes, Sam; but not this way. The power you're using to heal people is having repercussions. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Sam. It's started raining already. Look out of the window, Sam. Those illnesses and afflictions had to go somewhere and now they're outside, in Trinity." "Do I know you? You seem incredibly familiar." Merlyn smiled. "Be strong until the morning, Sam." He looked intently into Merlyn's huge dark brown eyes and remembered. "So there *is* a heaven..." She shook her head. "Not heaven, exactly. A place from which you and I and the other Leapers can return." Sam stretched out his hand experimentally, but it went straight through Merlyn and her white dress. "You're not a Leaper...are you?" "No, Sam; but there are other Leapers. You are not alone. Look out of the window, Sam." Sam drew aside the net curtain and crouched down to look. It certainly was raining....indeed it was virtually hailing. Hard white hailstones bounced off the sidewalk and the tarmac of the road amongst the raindrops. As Sam watched, the ratio of hailstones increased dramatically until the street outside was deluged in hail, which grew larger and larger. "I don't think the kids are going trick-or-treating in *that*," Al commented. The hail clattered down tirelessly and unceasingly. Then the wind got up and huge drifts were blown along the street, almost like snow flurries. Random patterns evolved and displayed themselved momentarily on the tarmac. "That looks like a fern...no, it's a DNA double helix....now it's trying to look like a Mandlebrot set....or the labyrinth in Chartres Cathedral." Merlyn looked at Sam significantly as the patterns began to resemble more religious symbols. Al goggled as he recognised some from his Catholic background and his time married to Ruthie. "Sam, this is really spooky...I saw a Menora a minute ago, then the Star of David, then the cross of the Knights Templar....what the hell is happening here?" Merlyn crossed over to stand closer to Al, who hovered uncertainly between trying to be gallant and moving away. "Hell is part of what it is, Al. The forces of light and darkness are using this time and place as one of their battlegrounds. Keep watching." "*Are* you a ghost?" Merlyn smiled warmly and reached out a slender hand and *touched* Al, who jumped as though he'd been stung by a wasp. "How in the name of....how did you *do* that?" "I'm outside time, just like you, Al. It's lonely, having no-one to hold, isn't it?" Al looked at Merlyn, still very warily. "You're young enough to be my gran....my daughter. Anyway, I've gotta keep my eyes on Sam and that *nozzle* he's doing time-share with." "[Speaking of whom...]" Sam's head was whirled away from the window and he looked at Merlyn as Lucas spoke through him,"[I should have guessed that you'd turn up sooner or later]" Fire came from Sam's eyes and hit Merlyn in her midriff. The force of the blast carried her across the room and plastered her against the wall. "You keep your hands off her!" Al shouted at Lucas/Sam. "[I see you've overcome your aversion to dead people.]" "Just let her go, dammit!" As Merlyn slowly slumped down to the floor, she raised her right hand and Sam went down, pushed or dragged across the carpet by unseen forces until he reached the top of the stairs. He groaned softly and sat up, holding his head. "Lucas has gone....I think. Thank-you, Merlyn. I went a bit crazy there for a while, didn't I?" Al looked at Sam, then Merlyn. "You're not kidding! What happens now?" Al's hands were shaking slightly as Sam went back to the window. "By all that's holy....what on Earth is going on out there?" Al and Merlyn made their way over, but now Al kept Sam between himself and Merlyn, just incase. The hailstones had been formed into huge random piles in the street, which undulated softly in the growing gloom. All three pairs of eyes were drawn to the nearest pile, which seemed to be throbbing and emitting a dull, regular glow of faint white light. Al clutched his Handlink like a talisman. One of the largest hailstones at the top began to crack apart with agonising slowness. "As long as it isn't the 'Alien' in there, I don't mind." "Shush, Al. Whatever it is, I don't think we can stop it." Both Sam and Al spoke without taking their eyes off the scene. The hailstone continued to crack and split, then suddenly fell apart. The three onlookers gasped reflexively, then bent closer to the glass. From out of the hollow in the middle of the hailstone came a green tentacle, which waved blindly in the night, then crawled out slowly down the pile and into the drain. "Ugh, green worms! Well, it could have been worse, I suppose..." Sam could tell that Al was barely covering his fear with a veneer of joking. As they continued to watch in horrid fascination, more of the worms hatched out all over the street and disappeared. The second they were all gone, the hailstones melted away like frost in Springtime under bright sunlight. "I've got to go now, but I'll be back, Sam. Keep an eye on Caleb for me." Merlyn vanished through the window. As hard as they both looked, neither Sam nor Al could see her anywhere in the street. "I really don't know how I'm going to write *this* leap up for the Senate committee." Sam grinned inspite of the knot in his stomach. "Yes, you'd better watch it, or Verbeena will have you thrown in a padded cell." "As long as I get a cute nurse to give me bed baths every day, I reckon I could cope with that!" Sam shook his head, even as he felt himself laughing. "You just keep hanging on in there, Al. Halloween's not over yet...." "Yeah, I know...don't I know it. It's barely suppertime...traditionally this should all end around midnight when we go through to All Saint's Day. I hope we can make it till then." "So do I, Al. So do I." Sam slowly picked himself up and walked back downstairs. Caleb and the rest of the household were eating supper as if nothing had happened. "I'm keeping the boy here, Sherrif." It was the landlady, her tone fierce and defiant. "Er...you do that. I don't think anyone should go out tonight; there's been reports of adverse weather about." It didn't help Al much that he was trying to light a cigar to calm his nerves at this point. "Adverse weather, indeed! Ha! That's a good one, Sam!" he spluttered. Sam was going to get into Lucas' patrol car when he got outside, but one look at the two streets near the house showed that this was not a good plan. "That wind must have been stronger than I thought...." he began, as he surveyed the trees uprooted across the road,"Funny....I don't remember *hearing* the sound of falling trees." "I didn't either, Sam. We're going to have to walk it to Lucas' house." "Is that wise?" Sam hesitated, uncertain. "That's where Ziggy says you've got to be next." "I don't like the sound of that, Al. I mean, his house...he'll probably be able to *get* me there." "Yes, I'm ahead of you on that one. It's this way, Sam. I'm right here." "I wish you *were* right here, then you could at least knock me out if I tried anything really nasty," Sam turned to where Al was pointing anyway and set his jaw into a determined lock,"Well, if he wants a fight, a fight is what he's going to get." The two men walked together towards the nemesis that awaited them. Above them, the slate-gray and black clouds boiled and raced in the evening sky.