Theorizing that one could time-travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert to develop a top-secret project known as Quantum Leap.  Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the Project Accelerator…and vanished.

He awoke to find himself in the past, suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own.  Fortunately, contact with his own time was maintained through brainwave transmissions with Al, the Project Observer, who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear.

As evil and neutral forces alike do their best to stop Dr. Beckett’s journey, his children, Dr. Samantha Josephine Fulton and Stephen Beckett, continuously strive to retrieve their time-lost father and bring him home permanently.  Despite returning home several times over the last decade, Dr. Beckett has remained lost in the time stream…his final fate no longer certain.

Trapped in the past and driven by an unknown force, Dr. Beckett struggles to accept his destiny as he continues to find himself leaping from life to life, putting things right that once went wrong with the hopes that his next leap…will be the final leap home.

PREVIOUSLY ON QUANTUM LEAP

Sam leaps into Danny Wallace, a homeless man living on the streets of New York City, and is horrified when he comes across someone familiar to him and Al:  Tibby Johnson (“Shock Theater”).  The shifting timelines changed Tibby’s history so that Al never taught him the alphabet and it is now Sam’s mission to find a way to get Tibby off the streets.

Meanwhile at the Project, a much older, deformed Maxwell Connors shows up to foretell a cataclysm that would destroy the universe if somebody doesn’t put a stop to Logan Lanning, the random element in the space–time continuum.  Tom eventually decides that in order to save Sam from dying in 1969 that he must leap.  After Al confirms that he will be Tom’s observer, the Accelerator Chamber is powered up and another Beckett is sent into the mists of Time...

PROLOGUE

The blue light that surrounded Tom quickly vanished as his vision came back into full view.  The first thing he noticed was the large shelf of books on the wall directly in front of him.  At first, he looked around in confusion, not quite sure of what had just happened.

‘We did it!’ Tom automatically thought before his smile quickly became a frown.  ‘Did what?  I... I can’t remember.  I can’t remember anything!  Who am I?  Where am I?’

A small part of his internal query was answered when he suddenly realized that he was in what appeared to be a local bookstore.  ‘Okay, I’m in a bookstore—and a small one, at that.  But, that still doesn’t tell me exactly where I am—or who I am!’  Then, as if Fate itself had intervened, one particular book caught Tom’s eye.  Pulling the book off the shelf and inspecting its cover, he read aloud the printed words on the front.  “Waiting for Godot — A Tragicomedy in Two Acts... by Samuel...Beckett!”

It was at that point that some partial memories came flooding back.  “Beckett!  Sam Beckett is...my brother!  And I’m...Tom Beckett!  I remember!  I leaped!  I’ve actually traveled back in time!”

Before Tom even realized it, a middle-aged-looking man with black hair and a full beard approached him, apparently having overheard the last part of the leaper’s one-sided conversation and exclaimed, “Traveled in time?  Sibby, what on Earth are you talking about?  You feeling okay?”

Startled by the sound of the other man’s voice, Tom quickly tried to cover his blunder but found himself at a loss for words.  “I... uh...”

As the man gave the leaper an inquisitive look, Tom muttered under his breath, “Ah geez...”

PART FIVE

Elk Ridge, Indiana

Monday, December 1, 1969

15:16 EST

Flushed with embarrassment, Tom quickly turned toward the voice of the man who spoke to him and sheepishly replied, “Oh, I, uh...was just reading something from one of these books and, um...I guess I read it out loud.”  There was something familiar about the man’s face, but Tom couldn’t place where he had seen it before.

The other man, who was holding an antique-looking book in his left hand, smiled at Tom’s excuse.  “I’ll admit that I talk to myself, too, when I’m figuring out complex mathematical equations in the comfort of my own lab back in Cambridge.  But in a small-town bookstore such as this one, people might think you’re a bit crazy talking to thin air...and I would hate for anyone to think that of my only nephew,” he added with a wink.

‘This guy is my uncle?’ Tom realized.  ‘He’s got to be at least twenty-five years younger than I am!’  Not knowing what else to say, Tom responded with, “I’ll, uh...I’ll keep that in mind...Unc.”

Tom’s “uncle” just smirked at him as he added, “You don’t mind if I continue browsing around for a little while longer, do you?  I just found an extremely rare first edition of Nietzsche’s The Will to Power, and I want to see if there are any other rare tomes such as this one floating around on the shelves.”

“Uh...no, not at all,” Tom replied.  “I’ll just be walking around, um...browsing, myself.”  As Tom began wandering down one of the aisles toward the back of the store, he noticed a medium-sized rectangular mirror hanging on the back wall.  Upon looking at his reflection, he saw the image of a brown-haired teenager, approximately 5’11” or so, staring back at him.  ‘Why does this kid look so familiar to me, too?’ Tom silently mused as he tried sifting through his Swiss-cheesed brain to locate the elusive memory.

After about ten seconds of attempting—and failing—to remember, Tom decided to rejoin his “uncle,” whom he noticed was now asking the bookstore owner a question at the front of the store.  As he got closer, he could hear what sounded like a news report being broadcast over the small transistor radio situated on top of the counter.

“It’s tragic, I tell ya,” the bookstore owner said to both Tom and his “uncle.”

“What?  What’s going on?” Tom asked.

“It’s that ‘Lethal Logan’ woman,” he answered.  “News reports are saying the local authorities are following a lead that she was spotted just outside of Elk Ridge about a half-hour ago.”

“L–Lethal Logan?” Tom exclaimed, slightly confused.

Giving Tom a perplexed look, the bookstore owner explained, “Where’ve you been, boy?  That blonde bombshell’s been all over the news on and off for the past two or three years.  I would think everyone and their mother would have heard of her by now.  She was known as the ‘Black Widow’ until some investigator who worked for the Navy or somethin’ literally ran into her in D.C. and connected her to about a dozen other unsolved murders.  Once the authorities discovered her past aliases, the media began dubbing her ‘Lethal Logan.’  Her last victim was some college student down in North Carolina or somethin’, named Johnny Olson, I believe.  Same M.O. as most of the others:  naked body was found in a motel room with his limbs tied to the bedposts and blood everywhere.  Poor bastard never knew what was comin’ until it was too late.”

Tom’s “uncle” listened to the news report and the bookstore owner with deep concern.  “I certainly hope they’ll finally be able to put a stop to her this time.  Because she’s a woman, hardly anyone would ever suspect someone like her to be capable of being a sexual predator.  I keep wondering what could have possibly happened to this woman to make her become such a cold and calculating serial killer.”

In the back of his mind, Tom knew that he somehow knew the answer to that question.  For whatever reason, the answer was eluding his memory for the time being.  Something told him, however, that he would find out soon enough.

Project Quantum Leap

Stallion’s Gate, New Mexico

Thursday, January 25, 2007

08:39 MST

“Did it work?” Admiral Albert Calavicci asked as the Accelerator powered down.

“Affirrrrmative,” Ziggy said distortedly.  “Admiral Beckett’s physical body has replaced someone else’s body in the past, however, I cannot yet pinpoint the exact space-time coordinates my program needs to synchronize our timeframe with his.  Try me again in–in–in—”

“Ziggy, what’s going on?” Marilyn Hines asked worriedly.

“—Four...eight...fifteen...sixteen...twenty-three...forty-two...m–m–min–min–minnnutesssssss....”

“Oh great, Ziggy sounds completely lost,” Commander Fulton complained.  “She’s getting worse by the hour.  This is all that son of a bitch Connors’ fault!”

“Calm down, Daniel,” Tina calmly responded.  “Like, dwelling on Doctor Connors ain’t gonna make things any better.  The poor guy’s suffered enough.”

“She’s right, Daniel,” Al concurred.  “Listen, why don’t you just go home and be with your wife and daughter for a few hours?  Julianna can hold down the fort while you’re gone.”

All eyes were suddenly on Al as every person in the Control Room began to wonder if the Project Administrator had suffered brain damage during his coma.  Marilyn was the one who seemed the most disturbed by Al’s statement.  “Are you feeling alright, Admiral?” she asked.

“Never better, why?” Al asked back, not wanting to let on how he really felt, lest he appear weak in front of his subordinates.

“Well, first of all, I don’t have a wife and daughter,” Daniel explained.  “And second of all, who’s Julianna?”

Now it was Al’s turn to be confused as he turned back to the chief of security and clarified, “Captain Julianna Sherman-Calavicci—my daughter?  And your wife is Doctor Samantha Josephine Fuller.  You both had a daughter named Isabella back in August.”

“Admiral, I think you’d better go back and let Doctor Gonzales look you over,” Marilyn recommended with a small hint of resentment in her tone.  “There’s no one here by the name of Doctor Fuller, and you and Beth only have the four daughters...at least, that’s what you’ve told all of us.”

“Yeah, I’m single, Al,” Daniel confirmed.  “The only woman I’ve got eyes for is Marilyn.  We’ve been dating for a good number of years now.  You’re the one who set us up, Al!”  That statement seemed to turn Doctor Hines’s concerned frown into a reassuring smile.

For a moment, Al thought he was in the Twilight Zone.  Could his memory have been “magnafoozled” from simul-leaping with Sam?  “Ziggy!”

“Yeeeeesssss?” the parallel-hybrid computer asked flirtatiously.

“Give me all information pertaining to Samantha Josephine Fuller, Isabella Fulton, and Julianna Sherman-Calavicci.”

“There are no records of a Samantha Josephine Fuller or Isabella Fulton existing in my database,” Ziggy replied without emotion.  “Likewise, there are no files pertaining to a Julianna Sherman-Calavicci.  If they did exist at one point, that is no longer the case.”

It was at that point that Al’s memories began shifting around again as he came to the startling realization that more of Sam’s changes in Time were coming unglued.  Fighting back the tears that threatened to overpower him, Al looked upward at the swirling blue globe—which now appeared to be growing dim—and said, “Let me know the instant you locate Tom, Ziggy.  I’ll be in my office.”

“As you wish, Admiral,” Ziggy cooed.  As Al stepped into the elevator hatch, everyone in the Control Room looked at each other in worry over the admiral’s sanity.

New York City, New York

Thursday, February 25, 1993

16:09 EST

“Where’d your friend go?” Tibby Johnson asked with wonder in his expression as he stared at the space where the Imaging Chamber door had just closed.  “I ain’t never seen nothin’ like that door before.”

Sam barely heard the question as his mind raced, trying to figure out the complexities of the apparent temporal paradox that apparently threatened his very being.  Al said that he had helped Tibby on a previous leap by teaching him the alphabet, which allowed the now-homeless man to go on and have a decent life.  Now Sam was there, sitting beside Tibido Johnson on a sidewalk in New York City.

When there was no answer to his query, Tibby readjusted himself and faced the leaper, intense curiosity still evident in his demeanour.  “Sam?  Where’d you come from?”

Despite himself, Sam Beckett chuckled at the question and shook his head slightly.  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Sure I would,” Tibby replied.  “You don’t look like the kinda man that’d lie.”

Touched by Tibby’s trust in him, Sam’s smile widened.  “Would you believe me if I said I come from the future?” he asked in a half-whisper.

The homeless man nodded enthusiastically with bright eyes.  “Is Al from the future, too?”

“Yeah, Al’s from the future, too,” the scientist admitted with a slight chuckle.  Then, trying to give a simple answer to Tibby’s first request, he said, “He comes through that door to help me out.”

“Wow!  I wish I had a friend like that,” Tibby exclaimed before his expression turned sombre.  “I been pretty much on my own since my folks left me at the hospital as a kid.”

Sam frowned at the statement.  “Your parents never came back for you?”

Tibby shook his head sadly.  “Too many kids, not enough food.”  The leaper’s frown increased and the vagrant quickly added, “But I ain’t mad at ’em:  they did what they had to do.  I’m just grateful to be alive.”

“Your family never tried to find you?” queried Doctor Beckett as a large group of noisy teenagers passed by.  The hobos that accompanied Tibby called out for some change but received no recognition whatsoever as the crowd meandered further down the sidewalk.

“Nope, I ain’t seen any of ’em since they put me in Havenwell,” he said in response, moving his gaze toward the street.  “For all I know, I could be a great-uncle.”

The leaper let out a sympathetic sigh through his nose.  Remembering that he himself was a grandfather and feeling appreciative that he at least knew that he had a granddaughter—or at least, as far as he could remember—Sam wondered if maybe he was here to help Tibby... again.  Neither Tom nor Al had said why he had leaped into Danny Wallace and Ziggy had apparently ruled out the prevention of the bombing at the World Trade Center’s parking garage.  With the conflicting histories between his current reality as Danny and that which he remembered, the time-traveling quantum physicist could only wager that Ziggy was unable to precisely predict what events needed to be changed.

“Do you want me to find out for you?” Sam proposed.

“You can do that?” Tibby questioned with amazement.

Doctor Beckett nodded.  “I can try.  When Al comes back, I’ll ask him to find out about your family... that is, if you want to know.”

The homeless man looked thoughtful for a moment.  Before he could answer, a passer-by placed a five-dollar bill in Tibby’s upturned hat and distracted him from the conversation.  “Thank you very much!” he called after the anonymous donor, who continued to walk away without a backward glance.  Tibby picked up the bill and shoved it in his pocket, giving Sam a glowing grin.  Sam thought that he recognized the form of the slightly overweight person but shook his head, chalking it up to his Swiss-cheesed brain playing tricks on him.

“How’d you end up on the street, Sam?  You don’t look like you’ve been homeless for very long,” Tibby pointed out.

“Well, Tibby, like I said, I travel through Time.  I’m only here for a little while,” the leaper responded.  Normally the fact that he was a time traveler was one of the last things he would reveal to somebody, but since Tibby was already aware of Al and could see Sam for whom he was, Sam saw no risk in giving away his real identity.  Beyond that, Tibby was living on the streets – even if he went around telling people about a man travelling in time, he wouldn’t be believed by many.

Tibby rubbed his shirt and scratched his head—greasy fingers smearing shabby clothes and messing up salt-and-pepper hair—then pursed his lips.  “Why did you come from the future?”

Again, Sam couldn’t help but laugh lightly at the intrigue that the vagabond held for him.  Although Sam had many reasons for stepping into the Quantum Leap Accelerator, he decided to go with the one that topped his list.  “I wanted to help people, Tibby.  People like you.”

“You’re here to help me?  You came all the way from the future to help Tibby?” he asked excitedly.

“That’s what I think,” Sam answered.  “That’s why I have Al:  he tells me what went wrong in somebody’s life and then I try to fix it.”

Nodding eagerly, Tibby continued his line of questioning.  “But Al said you already helped me before.  He taught me the alphabet, he said.  Why don’t I remember that?”

The almost casual ambiance of their conversation disappeared at the reminder of the paradox and Sam’s expression became serious.  “That’s a very good question.”

Noticing the sudden air of gloom that enveloped Sam, Tibby swallowed and looked away, feeling a little guilty for upsetting his newfound companion.  He winced for a moment while a brief flash of pain surged through his brain, foreshadowing one of his recurring headaches.  The years had not been good to Tibido Johnson, but here was a man before him who said he was there to help him.  “Who else have you helped, Sam?  I’m not the first person, am I?”

“No, Tibby, you’re not the first,” the scientist replied.  Being modest by nature, Sam really didn’t want to go into detail about how many lives he had affected during his years of traveling in the past.  “I’ll do what I can to make things better for you, Tibby.  I promise you that.”

Elk Ridge, Indiana

Monday, December 1, 1969

15:42 EST

Nearly thirty minutes had passed since Tom had found himself living someone else’s life for the first time.  It was definitely a surreal experience for him, looking into a mirror and seeing a different reflection staring back at him.  How had Sam not lost his mind over the course of the past twelve years?  For that matter, how was he able to deal with constantly forgetting important details about his own life?  For the first time, Tom truly understood why Al and Donna never wanted to tell Sam about his family.

Coming out of his reverie, Tom walked back over toward his “uncle,” who now seemed rather fascinated with a science book he had discovered dealing with quantum physics, of all things.  Still seeing the bookstore owner listening intently to the radio report about the woman named “Lethal Logan,” Tom gently nudged his “uncle” and asked him, “Are you going to be here for a while still?  I thought I might step out for a few minutes and check out another store or two.”

“Oh, by all means, don’t let me stop you, Sib,” the younger man said.  “Let me guess:  you want to make sure I’m not around when you buy my Christmas gift so that you could surprise me with it before I head back to Boston, right?” he added with a wink.

“Uhh, yeah, something like that,” Tom answered with a nervous chuckle.  “I’ll just be a few minutes.”  Giving a friendly nod to the bookstore owner, he opened the glass door, which made a chiming bell sound as it opened and closed, and stepped out onto the main street.  For a moment, Tom just stood there looking around at the people walking up and down the sidewalk.  He was experiencing an incredible feeling of déjà vu about the small town he was in, but his slightly Swiss-cheesed brain still couldn’t sort through all the details.

Suddenly, the rectangular white door of the Imaging Chamber opened, revealing the visage of Rear Admiral Albert Calavicci.  “Oh, thank God, it worked!” he announced as he stepped all the way through and punched one of the three buttons on the sleek Stephen Beckett model handlink to close the door shut.  He still looked a little weak from his coma, but being the stubborn admiral that Al was, he pushed his discomfort aside and put on a good face.  “Hi, Tom.”

Squinting his eyes in deep thought for a few seconds, Tom finally said, “Al?”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Al replied, “Well, you remember me.  That’s good, Tom.  You’re already doing much better than Sam did on his first leap; he couldn’t even remember his own name.  It took them a little over an hour to do, but somehow, Dom and Ziggy managed to recalibrate the Imaging Chamber to switch back and forth between you and Sam without losing the neural link to either one of you.  Of course, it’ll take up enough power to light up Las Vegas for the next year, but they did it.  There are two people in the Waiting Room, just like when Sam and I leapt together.  The kid that you replaced finally arrived here about a half-hour ago.”

Before the time traveler had a chance to say anything more, an attractive teenage girl with short curly blonde hair walked through the holographic observer and almost bumped into Tom, interrupting their conversation.  “Oh, excuse me, I didn’t...”  Whatever else the girl was going to say was cut off when she looked at Tom’s face and immediately recognized him.  “Oh, Sibby, it’s you!  I didn’t realize you’d be in town today.”

“Oh, well...me and my uncle were just, uh, doing some shopping before he goes back to Boston,” Tom explained, repeating what he had been told earlier.

Nodding at Tom’s response, the girl continued, “I’m doing some shopping myself before I head home.  Only twenty-four shopping days left until Christmas, after all.”  Lowering her head for a few seconds, she shyly looked back up into the time traveler’s eyes and asked, “Um...I was just wondering...has Sam asked about me by any chance?”

Tom did a double take upon hearing Sam’s name being mentioned.  ‘Is it possible she could be referring to my brother?’ he pondered.  “W–why would he be asking about you?”

“Well, I did kiss him after you guys won the game against Bentleyville last Friday,” the girl supplied, blushing with embarrassment.  “When I saw him in school this morning, he still acted shy like he didn’t remember anything about it.”

Both Tom’s and Al’s eyes lit up when the girl mentioned Sam’s game against Bentleyville.  “Oh, hey, Tom!  It’s Lisa Parson!  I thought I remembered seeing her somewhere before; it was when Sam leaped into himself to win that game, which was only...wow, three days ago from your perspective.  She’s a real cutie!”

“I’m back in Elk Ridge!” Tom finally realized, forgetting that Lisa was still standing there.

An odd look crossed over Lisa’s face as she replied, “Of course you’re in Elk Ridge!  Are you okay?”

Shaking his blunder off, Tom answered, “Yeah, I’m fine, I was just...thinking about the game and how, um...me and Sam and the rest of the team are all probably going to be playing against other teams in Indiana now that we beat Bentleyville.  So...we might be doing some traveling to other counties, and I was thinking how nice it’ll be to come home afterward and say, ‘I’m back in Elk Ridge!’”

“Boy, you were really reaching with that one,” Al commented sarcastically.

Seeming to accept Tom’s explanation, Lisa smiled as she took out a slip of paper from her purse and said, “Well, if you see Sam, could you give him my phone number and tell him to call me?”  She took Tom’s hand and passed him the paper with the number scrawled on it.

“Sure,” Tom simply replied as he put the paper in his pants pocket.

“Thanks.  I guess I’ll see you in class tomorrow.  Bye!” Lisa finished, waving goodbye with her fingers as she continued on down the street.

“I can’t believe it,” Tom whispered to Al.  “That was Lisa Parson!”

“Wild, huh?” Al told him with a slight chuckle.  “Now you know how Sam felt when he first leaped back and got to see all you guys again.  You know, if it hadn’t been for Sam’s winning shot, Bentleyville would’ve moved on to become the state champs instead of Elk Ridge and Lisa would’ve married that nozzle, ‘No Nose’ Pruitt.  It appears as if the ‘new’ history is still intact for now.”

“‘No Nose’?!” Tom exclaimed.  “You’re kidding, right?”

“What, you think you’re the only one whose life was changed by that overgrown Boy Scout brother of yours?”  Al took one last look at Lisa walking down the street before turning his head back toward Tom and commenting, “She seems like a real sweet girl, though; sort of reminds me of my third... fourth... no, my third daughter, Vicki, the younger of the two twins.  Huh, that’s funny, why would I be thinking I had five daughters?”  For a split second, Al had a fleeting memory of...something.  Shrugging it off, he continued, “Well, anyway, she was always a bit shy when she was a teenager, but not shy enough to stay out of trouble when it came to approaching the boys, if you know what I mean.”

“Al,” Tom stressed, trying to get his observer’s attention.

Unfazed, Al continued to drift off.  “Kept me and Beth on our toes, that’s for sure.  I wasn’t too thrilled when she married that stripper, Mitchell Davidson... no, wait a minute, she’s married to Jeff Stephens, they even have a kid together.  But she still has that foot injury....  How is that possible?”

“Al!” Tom shouted this time, not realizing the significance of the inconsistency with Al’s daughter.  “If you don’t mind?”

“Hmm?  Oh, right, sorry about that,” Al apologized as he looked back down at the multi-colored “gummi-bear” model handlink he had been holding and began reading off the information that scrolled across its small screen.  “Let’s see here, your name is...Sibby Lo... Lo....  Damn, I can’t make it out.”  Straining his eyes to read the small words, Al reluctantly gave in and took his reading glasses out of his shirt pocket, placing them on the bridge of his nose.  He then smacked the side of the handlink for good measure, producing a squealing sound.  “Ah, that’s better:  Sibby LoNi...gro....”

Both hologram and leaper looked at each other in disbelief as the full name was read off.  “LoNigro?” Tom practically shouted.  “Oh, geez, I thought Sibby’s name sounded familiar.  Sibby LoNigro...he was one of Sam’s best buddies during high school.  Him and Herkie.”

“Herkie?” Al asked in bewilderment.  “Who in their right mind would name their kid ‘Herkie’?”

“That was his nickname, Al.  Can’t remember his real name offhand.  But anyway, yeah, I remember Sibby.  He and Sam hung out a lot, both on and off the basketball court.  His uncle was the professor I met up with before I shipped off to ’Nam, the one who told me that Sam had the kind of brain that comes along once in a generation, or maybe even once in several generations.  Oh my God, that means that my uncle back there in the bookstore is—”

“Doctor Sebastian LoNigro!” Al finished for him.  “I can’t believe it!  It’s Bobby!  I never knew he had relatives in Elk Ridge.  He must have been here for the holidays.  Ziggy says that it’s Monday, December First, Nineteen Sixty-Nine.”

“Nineteen Sixty-Nine,” Tom interrupted.  That was the trigger for Tom’s brain to kick back into full gear.  “Al, I just heard something on the news about Logan.  They’re calling her ‘Lethal Logan’ in this era.  There’s supposedly some kind of manhunt going on for her right now.  She’s been spotted in the Elk Ridge area, but I don’t remember ever hearing about any kind of incident with her.”

The observer relayed the information to Ziggy via the handlink and waited for a response.  Five seconds later, he got it.  “Okay, according to Ziggy, we’re approaching the first temporal junction.  Ziggy’s having trouble pinpointing the exact location where it’s gonna go down, but she gives it a ninety-one point four percent chance that Logan is gonna strike sometime within the next two hours.  She can’t find any info on Sam’s whereabouts in this time, though.”

“Well, why can’t Ziggy just activate—?”  Tom stopped as he looked at Al’s handlink with confusion.  “Wait a minute... what happened to the other handlink?”

“What other handlink?” Al asked in equal confusion.

“The one that Stephen— never mind.  It’s not important,” Tom replied, just as another memory came flooding back.  “Actually, we don’t need Ziggy.  I know exactly where Sam is.”

“You do?” Al asked.

“Yeah, he’s with...me!” Tom exclaimed.  “I mean, the young me!  I remember now, we were both in town looking for gifts for the family, seeing as how I wasn’t going to be there for Christmas that year.  Plus, he wanted to spend some more time with me before I left for ’Nam.  In fact, I don’t think we’re— um, I mean...they’re too far from here.”

“Well, go back and get Bobby, or tell him you need to leave, I don’t care, but find Sam and stick to him like glue; Ziggy says the odds of Sam getting killed have just gone up to ninety-five percent!  If it reaches one hundred, it’s all over.”

“I know what’s at stake, Al,” Tom shot back annoyingly.  “Look, I can handle this for now.  Have Dominic go back and check up on ‘our’ Sam, see how he’s holding up in Ninety-Three.”

“Alright, I’ll do that,” Al agreed, as he pressed the button on the handlink that opened the door leading back to the future.  “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”  With that, the observer stepped through the door as it closed behind him.

Tom proceeded to run back into the bookstore without a moment’s delay.  Unbeknownst to him, if he had waited a few seconds longer, he might have caught Logan walking quickly down the street wearing a gray trench coat and a hat to match, with her hands in her coat pockets.  But alas, she continued to make her way down the street undetected, hoping to elude capture once again.

PART SIX

New York City, New York

Thursday, February 25, 1993

18:00 EST

Somewhere in the distance, a church bell rang off the hour, telling Sam that it was six o’clock.  Darkness had fallen on the city and the temperature was dropping, bringing with it some light flurries.  Sam was thankful for Tibby and his supply of blankets, but all he really wanted was for Al to return and inform him of his mission.  It seemed like helping Tibby to some degree was a certainty.

“You’re here to help me?  You came all the way from the future to help Tibby?”

The words played in the leaper’s head over and over, and he kept hoping that he was right.  At the very least, he would have his observer check the census records and find out where Tibby’s relatives had ended up.

“Where are you, Al?” Sam Beckett whispered to himself.

“Don’t worry.  He’ll come back,” Tibby said cheerfully, overhearing the leaper’s musings.

“I know he will.  I guess I just get impatient sometimes,” replied Sam with a weak grin.  He was actually amazed with how optimistic the homeless man was, considering the hardships that life had handed to him.  As if being abandoned by his parents at a mental institution when he was a child wasn’t traumatic enough, not being properly treated at the hospital landed him a prime spot at the bottom of the poverty scale.

The chill of the air coursed through Sam’s being and he shivered involuntarily.  “How do you survive in this weather?” he questioned of the vagabond.

“Warm thoughts,” Tibby replied knowingly.  “Just imagine that you’re in a big, comfy bed somewhere, even if you’re here on the sidewalk under an old blanket.”

“You must have a big imagination,” Sam rejoined.  “Haven’t you ever thought of staying in a shelter?”

The suggestion seemed to hit a nerve with Tibby as he suddenly took on a dejected expression.  “I–I can’t stay in shelters,” he stuttered.

“Why not?” Sam asked curiously.

Tibby fidgeted with his fingers and worked up his mouth for a moment as the sound of the Imaging Chamber door opening distracted them.  The white light illuminated the two men on the sidewalk and Sam watched, in surprise, as Project Quantum Leap’s head programmer Dominic Lofton stepped through, the “gummi-bear” handlink gripped in his left hand.

“Dominic?  Where’s Al?” demanded Sam, getting to his feet.  “For that matter, where’s Tom?”

Dom had prepared himself for the question that he figured he would face first when making contact with the leaper.  “I’m afraid I can’t discuss it, Sam,” he said evenly.  “They’re both involved with something else here at the Project.”

“Anything serious?” Doctor Beckett asked.

The programmer shook his head and forced a convincing smile.  “No, it’s just an administrative thing.  Don’t worry, I’m just temporary.”

“You have another friend from the future?” Tibby proclaimed, also getting to his feet.

“Dom, I’d like you to meet Tibby,” Sam said with a grin.  “Tibby, this is Dominic.”

“Right, Al told me about Mister Johnson,” Dom replied as he looked at the vagabond.  Again, Tibby offered his hand to Sam’s holographic observer.  Acting on instinct, Dom reached out and realized his mistake when their hands passed through each other.  Tibby blinked a couple of times as his jaw dropped.

“H-how’d you do that?!” the homeless man exclaimed as he backed away.

Sam put his hand on Tibby’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down.  “Dominic comes from the future, just like Al,” he explained in a soothing tone.  “They communicate with me using a holographic image – he’s not really here.  That’s why your hands couldn’t make contact.”

Wearing a slightly embarrassed expression on his face, Dom nodded in agreement with hopes that he hadn’t frightened Tibby to the point of not cooperating.  “I’m sorry, I should have...” the programmer started.

“It’s all right, Dom,” Sam said, stopping him from continuing.  “Do you have anything about why I’m here?”

Nodding, he turned to the handlink and pressed a couple of keys.  “Ziggy says that even with the current...instability, there’s a sixty-four percent chance that you’re here to help Tibby adjust to living in a homeless shelter,” he started, then seeing an adamant shaking of Tibby’s head at that, added, “and an eighty-three percent chance that you’re here to help Tibby find his family.”

“So you are here to help me!” said Tibby in a whisper.

“Have you ever tried finding your family before?” the leaper asked, immediately forgetting the mention of living in a shelter.

Tibby nodded and replied, “Yeah, but there’re so many Johnsons in the phonebook, and I ain’t tried in so many years....”

“Well, then you’re in luck, sir,” Dominic piped up.  “Your older sister, Jeany, lives right here in Manhattan.  She’s been retired for six years after her career as a secretary.  Her husband, William King, spent his life as a janitor until he won the state lottery in December of Eighty-Six.”

Amazed at how his sister’s life turned out in comparison to his own, Tibby opened his mouth in astonishment and quickly covered it with his hands to keep himself from making an outburst.  Not only had Sam and his futuristic friends found his sister, she had ended up rich!

“Is it far from here, Dom?” Sam queried.  Then, lowering his voice, he quickly added, “And is Ziggy sure that Jeany and her husband will accept Tibby after all these years?”

“No to both questions, Sam,” answered the former professor, also in a hushed tone, “but the odds of getting Tibby together with his family are too good to pass up.  There’s always convincing him about shelters if it fails.”

Agreeing wholeheartedly, the time traveler turned his attention back to the homeless man.  “Tibby, do you want us to take you to see your sister?”

Tibido Johnson was practically beside himself.  He had told himself to not get his hopes up when Sam said he could put him in contact with his long-lost family, but actually meeting one of his siblings sounded almost too good to be true.  “You know where she lives?” he asked, looking between the leaper and the observer.

“It’s about a thirty to forty-minute walk from here,” replied Dom.  “I’ll gladly show you the way.”

Still moving his gaze between the two time-displaced men before him, Tibby weighed the pros and cons of the situation.  The worst that could happen was that his sister would turn him away and he’d be back where he was that morning.

“Please, Dominic, lead the way!” he eventually cried out.

King residence

New York City, New York

Thursday, February 25, 1993

18:48 EST

Despite our appearance, I managed to convince the doorman to allow us into the building, under his condition that one of the security guards accompanied us.  We took the elevator up a number of floors to the apartment of Tibby’s sister and were led to a door—a door that would hopefully lead Tibby to a new life.

The four men—Sam, Tibby, Dom, and the guard—stood outside of Jeany and William King’s apartment.  Tibby was hesitating to knock on the door as butterflies began fluttering in his stomach.  “I dunno about this, Sam,” he said quietly.  “What if she doesn’t recognize me?  It’s been over fifty years.”

“This is totally up to you, Tibby,” the leaper replied in an equally hushed tone, “but you’ll never know unless you try.”

Pressing his lips together, Tibby raised his hand to knock on the door, hesitated as he swallowed the lump in his throat, and then rapped his knuckles against the wood.  “Who’s there?” came a female voice.

“Great work, Sam,” Dom put in as he tapped at the sleek handlink that Stephen had developed.  “Ziggy says the chances of this working out are high, but it’ll depend on your helping Jeany remember her little brother.”

While Dominic was speaking, the guard identified himself and said that the doorman had allowed the two men to speak with her.  The leaper mentally nodded at his observer’s words before feeling a wave of disorientation flow through him.  When the sensation passed, he found Tibby standing beside him as the door slowly opened to reveal an elderly woman in very fashionable wardrobe.

“May I help you?” Jeany King asked, looking surprised to see two destitute African-American men standing at her doorstep with an armed accompaniment.

“J-Jeany?” Tibby stuttered out.  “Is it really you?”

The woman creased her brow in confusion and nodded.  “And you are?”

Sam glanced over at Gooshie for a brief moment.  When the observer gave him an encouraging nod, the quantum physicist decided to jump in and steer the conversation.  “Ma’am, this is your brother, Tibido Johnson,” he stated in a calm voice.  “He’s been looking for his family for the past forty years and we finally found you.”

Disbelief crossed Jeany’s face as her head shook slightly.  “Tibby?” she squeaked.

“You look just like Mama,” Tibby commented with a grin.  He wanted to give his sister a tight hug, but something about how close Sam was standing to him made the vagabond hold back his emotions and wait for his sister’s reaction.

Squinting her eyes, Jeany took a few steps toward her long-lost brother.  “Tibby....  My Lord, it really is you!  You’re the spitting image of John and Kelvin!  If you ain’t my brother, then may God strike me dead right now!”

Brother and sister finally let down the barrier of hesitance and embraced each other.  Gooshie couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene:  a homeless man hugging a millionaire.  “What a touching scene, Doctor Beckett,” he commented before poking at the thin calculator-style handlink.

When the two let go of each other, their hands clasped together, Jeany turned to Sam.  “And who might you be, bringing my brother back to me?” she questioned with tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, this is my friend Sam.  He helped me find where you live,” Tibby interjected with a wide grin.

Figuring more explanation could wait, the older woman then turned her attention to the guard.  “I think I can handle things from here,” she said with a smile.  Tipping his hat, the security guard left the family to their reunion.

“Now, why don’t you two come on in?” Jeany offered, stepping out of the doorway to let them inside.  Tibby didn’t hesitate and walked on in.  “You too, Sam.”

He was about to protest, but realizing that Gooshie hadn’t said that the mission was a success yet, the leaper nodded.  “Thank you, ma’am,” he replied, crossing the threshold and allowing Tibby’s sister to close the door behind them.  Jeany then led them to a red-toned sofa and told them to wait while she brought them some tea.  After she disappeared into the kitchen, Sam turned to Tibby.  “Now, remember, you can’t tell her anything about me being a time traveler or about Gooshie or how we got the information.  We don’t want to give her the impression that you’re—”

“Crazy?” Tibby finished for him.  “Don’t worry, Sam.  I know how crazy it sounds.  I may be a little slow, but I’m not stupid.”

The leaper chuckled and nodded.  “Okay, you’re right.  I’m sorry.”

Tibby brushed off Sam’s reservations and watched as Jeany returned with a serving tray containing three steaming cups of tea, placing the tray on the glass-top coffee table that sat between the two couches.  “Tibby, why in the world did it take you so long to find me?  Mama and Papa put you in that hospital so long ago... they never told us what happened to you,” she said sadly as she sat down on the opposite sofa.

“After they left me at Havenwell, I never heard from anyone,” Tibby answered with equal melancholy.  “I tried to find you folks when I got out, but everyone had gone from Pennsylvania.  I been on the streets ever since.”

Jeany shook her head, wondering how she had such a good life while her brother endured homelessness.  “At least there are plenty of shelters here in the City,” she put in.

The younger Johnson shook his head vehemently and again Sam asked, “Why can’t you stay in the shelters, Tibby?”  Quickly, he moved his attention to Jeany and added, “He has been literally on the streets, ma’am.”

Tibby chewed at his lips for a moment as the other three people in the room stared at him expectantly.  “Well, they remind me of the hospital.  I feel much better under the stars,” he replied.

“Well, you won’t have to worry ’bout that anymore, Tibby.  Will an’ I can set you up with a nice apartment...” Jeany said, trailing off when she saw a perplexed look on Tibby’s face.  “That is, if you want us to.”

Tibby shook his head.  “I didn’t come here to take your money, Jeany.  I just wanted to find out what happened to my family and know that I wasn’t the last one of us still alive.”

Jeany let out a slight chortle and waved her hand at her brother.  “Tibby, I changed your diapers when you were a baby an’ looked after you when Mama was too busy with the other kids.  It’s a big sister’s duty to take care of her younger siblings.”

“But I’m a grown man, Jeany.  I should be able to take care of myself,” Tibby replied, though very grateful for his sister’s charity.

“I won’t have it no other way, Tibby!  If you could take care of yourself, you wouldn’t be beggin’ on the streets, now would ya?”  The younger Johnson’s face softened as he realized that, despite the half-century of being apart, his sister still cared deeply for him.

“If you’re sure it ain’t too much trouble...” Tibby said before he started to choke up.  Jeany rose from her seat and embraced him again, ignoring the musty smell that emitted from both of her visitors.

“What about your husband?” Sam asked.

Jeany looked at the time traveler and smiled.  “Oh, Will’s just out on some errands.  Believe me, we have more money than we know what to do with.  He ain’t got no family, so he’ll be glad to meet another of mine and help him out.”

Gooshie pressed some keys on the handlink as it made its characteristic noises.  “Doctor Beckett, you’ve done it.  Tibby gets an apartment in this building and lives out his days in a very close relationship with his sister,” the temporary observer interjected, his holographic image flickering all the while.

Nodding at both Tibby’s sister and his holographic aid, Sam got to his feet only to receive another dizzying feeling.  He sat back down and received worried glances from the Johnson siblings.

“You all right, Sam?” Tibby asked.

“Yeah, just felt a little lightheaded,” the leaper replied with a reassuring grin.  Again he got up from the couch.  “Well, thank you for your hospitality, ma’am.  I’ll be on my way now.”

Jeany stood up and grabbed his arm.  “Sam, I don’t know how or why God sent you to help my brother find me, but you can’t just walk away and say, ‘My work here is done.’  You have to be rewarded, you know.”  The woman spoke with a kindness that warmed Sam’s heart.  It was a great feeling to know that there were people in the world that were extremely wealthy and yet didn’t allow it to change their attitude toward life.

“I couldn’t accept a ‘reward’ for just helping my fellow man,” Sam replied, placing his hand on the one that was holding his arm.

“Tsk,” Jeany retorted with a grin, “will you at least clean yourself up?  We got three bathrooms here.  I think the first thing you two need is a warm bath and some clean clothes.”

Tibby took no time to stand up and give his sister an energetic hug.  “Please, Sam, do as my sister asks,” he said with a smile.

Rolling his eyes in mock annoyance, Sam nodded and allowed Jeany to lead the way.  She took each man to a separate bathroom, each fully equipped, and left them to their business.

“Well, Sam, Ziggy’s not sure why you haven’t leaped yet,” Dominic said as the door closed behind them.  “You’ve got Tibby well on his way to enjoy the rest of his life in luxury, which was a bonus to having him reunite with his sister.”

“Does it have to do with Danny?  Or the bombing at the World Trade Center?” the leaper asked as he stripped down to Danny’s long johns and tee shirt.  “Until I came across Tibby, all she could come up with was that I wasn’t here to prevent the bombing.”

The programmer shook his head unhappily.  “Ziggy says that Danny dies in a few days from natural causes.  There’s nothing you can do to help him except maybe make his last few days comfortable.  I guess the best thing to do would be to wait and see what Tibby’s sister can offer you in the way of accommodations.”

Shrugging, Sam crossed his arms and gazed at the floor.  “Well, why don’t you go back and talk to Ziggy.  I think I need a long, hot bath,” the leaper said with a smirk as Dom nodded in understanding.

“Sure thing, Sam.  I’ll be back as soon as I can.”  The door into the Control Room opened and Professor Lofton stepped through only to find Al waiting for him.

“Disengaging lock on Doctor Beckett,” Ziggy’s voice said silkily.

Giving the handlink to the other observer, Dom grinned and asked, “Changing of the guard?”

“You might say that,” Al replied, simply to humor the programmer.  Knowing that the minutes were counting down until Tom would have to encounter Logan, the admiral was not in a good mood.  It didn’t help matters any that Ziggy had privately informed him about various discrepancies and time anomalies which were continuing to cause ripple effects in the chronological flow of time.  Apparently, there were some fluctuations occurring that both Sam and Tom were unaware of from their ends of the timeline, and others that both Al and Ziggy didn’t notice.  The idea that even he and Ziggy weren’t immune to reality shifting around them without their even knowing it was unnerving to the admiral.

Dom nodded as he passed the handlink over and headed to the main control panel while Al stepped into the Imaging Chamber.  He stood in the middle of the large, blue room and waited as the swirling tornado of images spun around him.

“Engaging lock on Admiral Beckett,” Ziggy announced as the hologram formed in front of Al’s eyes.  What he saw before him was indeed a surreal sight.  Tom Beckett, Leaper, was standing next to Professor Sebastian “Bobby” LoNigro outside of a record store, and coming out through the front door directly in front of them was the young twenty-three–year-old Lieutenant Tom Beckett, Navy SEAL.

“Hi, Tom, I’m sorry I couldn’t get back here sooner, but Dom was helping out Sam,” Al offered.  “I see you’re about to come face-to-face with...yourself!  Kick in the butt, ain’t it?”

“You can say that again,” Tom whispered as his younger self approached the two men with a surprised look on his face.

“Well, what do ya know!” the young Tom said, grinning widely.  “How’s it going, Sibby?  Great game you guys played last Friday!  I can finally die in peace now that you guys helped me get my revenge.”  Then, he turned toward Bobby and extended his right hand.  “Professor LoNigro, it’s an honor to meet you again!”

Bobby accepted Tom’s offer of a handshake and replied, “The honor is all mine.  Sibby’s been telling me you’re going to be shipping off to Vietnam soon to fight for our country.”

Chuckling at the comment, Tom responded, “Well, not for another day or two.  Sam is just helping me get some gifts for the family since I won’t be here.”

At the mention of his friend’s name, Al inquired aloud, “Speaking of Sam, where the heck is he, Tom?  I thought you said that you and he were together.”

As if on cue, Bobby asked almost the exact same question.  “Where is the genius anyway?  I’ve heard so many great things about him from you, Sibby and his teachers, but I’ve never had the chance to meet the young man personally.”

“Oh, he’s still inside looking for a gift for Katie,” Young Tom answered both questions.  “She’s a huge Beatles nut.  Sam said there’s a new album that came out not too long ago called Abbey Road that she still doesn’t have yet.”

Al began punching some more keys on the multi-colored handlink as new information came scrolling across the tiny screen.  “Something’s wrong, Tom.  This doesn’t make any sense....”

“What doesn’t make any sense?” Leaper Tom whispered, placing his hand over his mouth to cover for talking to “thin air.”

Before Al could explain any further, a gunshot fired from inside the record store.  Immediately, all four men simultaneously shouted out, “SAM!!”

Racing through the door, they saw the record-store owner lying dead on the floor, a huge gaping gunshot wound in his chest.  Standing over the man’s corpse was a blonde woman in a gray trench coat with her hat on the floor, and holding the still-smoking gun.  Before anyone even had time to react, she reached over and pulled the shocked Sam Beckett close to her, using him as a human shield.  She then pulled a butcher knife out of her inside coat pocket and held it against his neck.

“Oh my God, it’s her!” Bobby exclaimed.  “‘Lethal Logan’!”

“Damn it, history’s changing, Tom!” Al announced.  “The odds are rising that Sam still dies, but now Bobby dies trying to save him, too!”

Tom’s eyes opened wide with fear as he said, “Aw, hell....”

PART SEVEN

Elk Ridge, Indiana

Monday, December 1, 1969

17:15 EST

“No one come any closer,” Logan ordered with malice in her eyes, “or this kid won’t live to see another sunrise!”  To stress the point, she applied pressure to the knife against the teenage Sam’s neck, drawing a trickle of blood.

For a moment, Tom was speechless.  Here he was, his little brother in the flesh, completely unaware of the destiny that awaited him—or at least, would await him if he made it through this alive.  He couldn’t help but wonder if Sam would be able to see beyond the aura of Sibby and subsequently see Al as well.

“Shit, Al, what do we do?” Leaper Tom whispered in horror.

Frantically punching the keys on his handlink to get more information, Al did a double take when he read off what Ziggy supplied.  “This is odd, Tom.  Ziggy says that history is changing again.  Sam no longer dies today!”

“What?!” Tom nearly exclaimed in relief.  “Well, that’s great, Al!”

“It’s not that great,” Al countered.  “Now there’s an eighty-nine point five percent chance that Sam will die four years from now...on August Eighth, Nineteen Seventy-Three.  My God, that’s his twentieth birthday!  That was only a couple of days after he and Bobby worked out the String Theory.”

Tom’s smile quickly turned into a frown as he realized what the deaths of both Bobby and Sam meant.  “That would mean that...the String Theory never gets proven.  Project Quantum Leap will never get developed!”

“Logan is so consumed with revenge, she doesn’t even understand that her actions are causing a ripple effect in Time.”  As the handlink made a sudden chirp, Al looked down at it again and his face turned as white as a ghost.  “Oh, no....”

“What now?” Tom asked worriedly.

“It’s...Beth,” Al answered sadly.  “She and I are...no longer married.  It’s changed back!  My daughters...they never existed.  Damn it!