Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 16:45:29 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Whale ch 25 Message-ID: Chapter 25 "Good morning!" Donna greeted in a friendly voice. "I'm glad you think so," Al answered sarcastically, passing her without walking. "Something wrong?" Donna followed him into the elevator. "Oh, absolutely nothing! I wake up from a terrible nightmare which I can't understand, find myself in bed with a woman whose name I couldn't remember and who doesn't even remember me, and injure my ribs so much they feel as if they're broken! I'm having a great morning!" "Your ribs are broken, Al," Donna told him. "Where's your wheelchair? Are you going to the infirmary?" Al frowned at her. "I don't remember a wheelchair and, no, I'm not going to the infirmary. I need to go to the Control Room and check on that power problem we've been having." She paused. "Only I don't remember how to get there." "The Control Room can wait," she told him firmly. "You're going to the infirmary." "Donna..." "No excuses," she reaffirmed. "I mean it, Al. We've known each other a long time and I know how stubborn a man you can be." Al laughed. "Donna, the last time I went to an infirmary voluntarily, I went to meet Beth for lunch." A sad expression came over his face with the memory of his first wife. "Al, you have a couple of broken ribs and you're going to have them checked out. Doctor's orders." "Your PhD isn't in medicine," Al reminded her. "So sue me for malpractice," she smiled and guided him off the elevator and into the infirmary. Dr. Daniel MacArthyr looked up from a patient to see Al and Donna enter the infirmary. He returned his attention to his patient, finished wrapping the patient's hand, and sent him on his way. "What can I do for you, Admiral?" Dan asked, facing Al. "Do we know each other?" Al asked. "Well, we're supposed to," Dan answered. "Relax. I can't remember you either but I know the uniform of an admiral when I see one. Now, can I help you?" Donna answered. "Admiral Calavicci received some broken ribs recently and is now having problems with them." "Well, bring him over here and help me get him on this table," Dan told her. She obeyed. Al laid quietly on the table, waiting. "Okay, Admiral, let's just see what the problem is." He undid Al's jacket, raised his t-shirt, and looked at his ribs carefully. He moaned. "It doesn't look good. Tell me if this hurts." He gently felt around Al's broken ribs. Al winced hard, trying to keep from yelling. "Hurts pretty bad, huh?" Dan asked. "You haven't been using a brace, have you?" Al shook his head. "Never needed one." "Well, you do now." Dan turned to Donna. "Help him off with his clothes. I'll be right back." As he left, Donna started undressing Al. Al laughed as Donna helped him with his trousers. "Never thought I'd see the day when I would be undressed by a happily married woman who isn't my wife." Donna stopped, a look of shock on her face. "Married?" she whispered. Al looked at her with concern. "You don't remember marrying Sam?" Donna hesitated. "I'd better get to the Control Room. I'll fill you in on the situation with the power." "Donna...." Al started as she left the infirmary. "Where'd she go?" Dan asked as he returned. Al exhaled. "She had work to so," he told him as he slowly laid down. Dan shrugged and went to work. "Okay, Admiral. I'm not going to lie to you. This is definitely going to hurt," he warned. He gently put his hands on Al's chest and moved a rib into its proper place. Al winced hard, stopping himself from screaming. After finishing moving all of Al's broken ribs back into their proper place, Dan placed an ice-pack on the ribs to reduce the swelling. A memory came to Al which made him smile a bit as Dan began measuring Al for a body brace. He remembered when Sam and he first met. They had been fighting each other, a result of Sam's trying to keep Al from destroying a vending machine with a hammer. Sam had knocked Al out with a kick as a last minute resort. Next thing Al knew, he was in Sam's sleeping quarters and accepting an ice-pack from him. It was the beginning of a fifteen year friendship which Al hoped he would still have after this leap. Dan had gone and returned with the brace in hand. He took the ice-pack from Al and then slowly and carefully placed the brace around Al's body. "Okay, Admiral," he told him firmly. "This should keep you for a while. But I strongly suggest appointments to check on those ribs. And you must use a wheelchair at all times until further notice." Al nodded his head as Dan helped him into a wheelchair. "I'll keep that in mind," he told him with a slightly humorous smile. "Thanks." He was about to leave the infirmary when the door opened, allowing Donna and a Marine corporal to bring a limp woman into the infirmary. They quickly placed her on the nearest bed. "What happened?" Dan asked, going over to his new patient. "I'm not sure," Donna answered. "She was working on the communication lines when she simply collapsed on the floor." "Were there any warning signs?" "She was feeling a little faint earlier but nothing that would account for this." Al slowly wheeled himself closer to the bed as Dan looked her over. "I can't see anything wrong with her," Dan finally said, "but I'll see what I can do. You go on. I'll take care of her." Al was now close enought to see the form on the bed, whose green eyes flickered and whose body softly rolled as if energy was slowly being drained from her. "Sammy Jo," he whispered as Dan covered her and started to tend to her, trying to find the answer for her sudden weakness. He rolled up to the scientist's bed and looked up at Dan. "How is she?" Dan shook his head. "I've never seen anything like this before. She's not showing any of the normal symptoms for her condition. Hell, I'm not even sure what her condition is." Al hesitated. "Mind if I talk to her? Just to lift her spirits?" Dan shrugged. "It can't hurt her. That is, if she can even hear you." Al nodded his thanks and went closer to the head of the bed while Dan stepped back to let Al and Sammy Jo have some privacy. Al gently touched Sammy Jo's hand, causing her to look in his direction with weak eyelids. She had a confused look on her face what faded a little when she noticed Al. She smiled weakly at him. "Hey, kid," Al said with a friendly smile. "How're you feeling?" Sammy Jo's smiled faded slightly. Al noticed how pale her complexion had become and how the light in her eyes was slowly going out. "Hi, Al," she answered quietly. "I'm okay, I guess. I just feel so tired, so weak." She closed her eyes, exhausted from just speaking to the Admiral. Al suddenly realized what was happening. Sammy Jo was Sam's daughter. Thereforem the closer their time came to the time that Sam may be killed, the weaker Sammy Jo was becoming. If Sam died, Sammy Jo would never be born because Sam would never meet Sammy Jo's mother in the past. "Don't worry," he told her with a reassuring smile. "Everything's going to be okay. I bet before the day is over, you'll feel like your normal self." Sammy Jo smiled. "Is that so, Dr. Calavicci?" she taunted softly. "Well, at least you still have your sense of humor," Al commented. He took a breath. "Just hang in there, kid." He kissed her hand and smiled just before wheeling away from her bed. Donna and Dan looked at him with curiosity. "Take good care of her," Al told Dan. "I will," Dan assured him. A moment later, Al left the infirmary, motioning Donna to come with him. The two went down the hallway together, both silent for a moment. "Al," Donna started. "I want to apologize for leaving the infirmary like that. It's just very hard to deal with all these time changes, having memories of pasts that never happened." "It's understandable, Donna. Believe me. Sometimes I think I should be behind a desk somwhere in Washington or...." He took a deep breath. "I don't know. I'm not sure where I'd be if Sam is killed." Donna wetted her lips. "I keep seeing myself in a lab but it isn't any of the ones in the complex. And I'm alone." She took a breath. "Al, I need to ask you something." Al stopped his wheelchair and looked at Donna's concerned face. "What is it?" She hesitated. "Were Sam and I married before we created Quantum Leap?" Al frowned at her. "What do you mean?" "I mean," she said slowly, "would Sam and I be married if Quantum Leap never existed?" Al took a deep breath but didn't answer the question. Donna nodded. "I see. We wouldn't, would we?" Again, Al didn't answer. "Don't just sit there, Al. Answer me," Donna ordered. Al paused before speaking. He shook his head. "No, you wouldn't be married to Sam. You would have left him at the alter." Donna shook her head with disbelief. "How could I do that, Al? I love him. I can't remember being married to him but I do love him. How could I abandon him like that?" Al hesitated. "Sam loves you, Donna, no matter what you did or didn't do in any timeline. You're not going to lose him, Donna. I promise. That timeline will not happen and we probably will never have had this conversation." Donna lowered her head. "Maybe. But if we do have this conversation, thank you." Al raised his eyebrows. "For what?" She smiled at him. "For letting me really see just how much Sam does love me."