Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 21:56:38 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Mirror - part 3 Message-ID: Quantum Leap Mirror of Deception by Gary Marsh and Katherine Freymuth Copyright 1998 Part 3 His head was pounding as he sat up in his bed. He didn't remember driving home and yet here he was sitting on his bed, hungover. He had to have gotten home somehow. It was only when two soft arms wrapped around his chest that he remembered he had taken a taxi, with Cathy in his arms. "Come back to bed, Al," she told him. "It's too early yet to be up and about." Al looked at the clock, exhaling. 1124 hours. *Too early?* he questioned. *I should have been at the complex hours ago.* He exhaled slowly, holding his throbbing head. "I have to get to work," he told her but didn't move to get ready to leave. "To a place filled with people who really don't understand you?" Cathy questioned. "When you can stay here with me? Spend a little more time in each other's arms?" She slowly and gently kissed the back of his neck. Al exhaled as he closed his eyes. It was tempting - very tempting. It was almost too tempting. He might have actually accepted the offer if a thought hadn't occurred to him. It was nearly noon and Ziggy hadn't once tried to contact him. He pressed a button on his nightstand to find no response. Cathy moved around him so that she was beside him, completely naked and in easy view. "We disconnected the phone last night, remember? You said you didn't want us to be interrupted by a loud female voice." Al rubbed his face slowly. Last night was coming back to him slowly. Fortunately, with every passing moment, he was certain he had said nothing more than that in respects to the project. "So we did," he agreed with Cathy. She slipped into his lap and kissed him as she gently stroked his chest. "Let's go back to bed, Al," she whispered seductively. "I promise you won't regret it." Al gave into his hangover and the feel of Cathy's skin next to his. He wrapped his arms around Cathy and pulled her back onto the bed. "Do you have any idea what time it is?! We've been trying to get a hold of you all day!" Al nodded slightly as he entered the complex. "And good morning to you as well, Dr. Beeks," he replied with slight sarcasm. "What was the emergency that required you to try all day to contact me? I know Sam hasn't leaped yet." Dr. Verbina Beeks, a lovely black woman with bright brown eyes, looked at Al with concern. "You could've at least told someone your were going to come in fourteen hours late," the project psychiatrist told him. "We were worried that something had happened. Ziggy says your line was disconnected." Al stepped into the elevator and requested the tenth level as Verbina followed him into the cab. "One:" Al told her, "I didn't know I was going to be this late. Two: I disconnected the line myself because I didn't want to be disturbed." Verbina hesitated a moment before she spoke. "You didn't drink yourself to sleep, did you?" Al smiled slightly. "No but close enough. I did have one too many." There was a moment of silence. "I'm sorry about you and Tina. She and Mark are really worried about you." Al frowned at her words. "Did you know about their relationship before?" Verbina shook her head. "I learned about it last night." Al huffed. "Then you probably also know that Tina and I have nothing left to say to each other." "That may be true for you but it isn't for her," Verbina pointed out. "You really should talk to her. Smooth all the ruffled feathers on both sides." Al nodded as the elevator opened. "I'll think about it," he told her as he exited and went to his tenth level office. Verbina followed him to the door. "You'll think about it?" she asked incredulously with a hint of sarcasm. Al opened the door and turned to her. "I'll think about it," he repeated. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to catch up because, as you pointed out, I'm fourteen hours late. Good night, Dr. Beeks." With that, he closed his office door. Verbina exhaled slowly. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Al." Al had trouble concentrating on the pile of paperwork on his desk. His mind continually drifter to the thought of Cathy. Her soft skin. The scent of her hair. The touch of her lips against his. He rubbed his temples. *What's the matter with you?* he told himself. *She's just another woman and it's not like you've never had a one-night stand before. You'll probably never even see her again so get a grip on yourself.* Still, she was the first woman in a long time who seemed to know the real Al Calavicci, beyond his facade of the carefree playboy who was more street-wise than book-wise. Sure, he had learned a lot from his street-roaming childhood, like how to box, but few people knew that he was technically a genius. Not even his genius best friend knew. But Cathy knew and it wasn't completely from history books either. She and Al seemed alike: both intelligent, both living out facades for the world to see, both hiding themselves to avoid being hurt. Both alone. *Yes*, Al admitted to himself. *I'm alone. Have been for years. Have been since Sam leaped. He was the only one in this crazy complex who understood me, even if he didn't know my IQ. He was the only one I could go to. And now, when I need him most, I can't even see him in the Imaging Chamber. How many times has this happened in the past five years? Too many.* He exhaled, trying to focus his attention back to the paperwork he had to finish. It took him three hours to finish an hour's worth of papers and he had more to go. When he left his office finally, it was almost two o'clock in the morning. Al was exhausted, too exhausted to drive back to his house in Stallion Springs. He therefore went up to the quarters he kept at the complex and laid down fully clothed. He was asleep within minutes.