PROLOGUE

Sam felt the first tingle begin to tug at the inside of his abdomen as if he had been on a roller coaster about to top the first tumultuous hill at the beginning of each and every ride and knew that he was once again being called upon to help yet another life.  He didn’t know who it was going to be; yet, he felt one word tug at his subconscious: ‘Home’.  That was the one place that he needed, no – wanted to be for so long that he had finally quit asking the voice, which seemed to be all watchful and just hoped it would happen.

When he felt the feeling subside, he waited for the swimming dizziness to fade with his eyes closed; hoping that anything on the opposite side of his eyelids would wait for an answer if a question had been asked.  He swayed slightly and brought his hands up and out to steady himself.  He opened his eyes to find himself standing in a pitch-black room, seemingly facing a window that was sheltering him from a fierce storm that raged outside.

Sam blinked, took three steps toward the window and slammed his shin into an object before him.  He gasped in pain and leaned forward to lightly touch his shin in response.  He reached out before him to feel a coffee table or an end table.  Using his hands to guide him around it, he headed toward the window.  This time; however, he took it slow and easy not wanting to add another bruise to his leg.

Once he was around the object, he turned to look up at the window just as a bright iridescent light shattered through the night sky momentarily before veiling it once more into darkness.  As the lightning splattered across the sky again displaying its magnificence and glory, a low rumble of thunder answered back in response.

Unknowingly, Sam shuddered uneasily as he took another step toward the window and pressed his hand against the cool glass.  The warmth of his hand formed a foggy imprint around his flesh as he peered out at the rain that splattered against the glass.

In the darkened window, he could make out his hosts outline and some facial features before the rain distorted them, but not enough to see whom he had leaped into.  Another bright array displayed across the night sky, followed by a loud clap of thunder.  The noise itself was deafening and made Sam take two steps back from the window.  Sam’s legs came in contact with another piece of furniture that caught him off guard, and he tumbled backward, the back of his head coming in contact with something hard and un-giving.

Sam brought his hand up to his head with a moan and winced as he felt something wet and sticky.  “Oooooh…” he began in a low achy voice before he added, “boy….” And let the growing aching darkness take him away.

PART ONE

Doctor Samuel Beckett lay sprawled out on the tiled floor of the room near the window he had looked out of last night.  He moaned lowly and rolled over onto his back and realized his mistake in doing so.  Whatever he had hit with his head left a bump the size of Mount Saint Helens.  He raised his hand up and felt a hardened gooey substance and winced.  He slowly maneuvered to sit up on the floor and looked around the room.

The room itself was large.  It was as he had thought – a bedroom, but the bedroom also had a sitting area along with it decked out with a television and even a little office are off to one side.  He glanced behind him to see that what he had indeed hit last night was a coffee table on both accounts.  Maneuvering to his knees, he knelt beside the coffee table and used it to plant his hands on the table before starting to push himself up.  It was then that he heard a sound and turned his attention toward the door.

The sound wasn’t the door actually opening, but it was actually the sound of the key turning in the lock.  'Why had someone locked ‘whoever he was’ in their room?  What was the purpose?  What was going on?' he wondered.

The person that entered the room stood in the frame of the door with his arms crossed over a massive chest and he fixed Sam with a glare.  “Have you thought about what you’ve done?”

“What I’ve done?” Sam questioned back softly as he swallowed and finally came to a standing position.  He squared his shoulders and blinked.

“Don’t act stupid with me, girlie.  Did you…” the massive man took a step into the room and as he did so glanced down at the tile where Sam had risen from.  “What in the hell is that?!” he demanded as he brought one hand out to point at the dried blood on the floor.

“I… I fell last night and hit my head on the coffee table.  I…”

“I don’t want to hear your foolish excuses!  Why haven’t you cleaned it up? What’s the matter with you, child?  Have you lost your senses as well as your virginity?” he taunted.

The questions being tossed at him with the fierceness and displeasure of the man before him told him that he wasn’t one to be reckoned with.  But the last question put to him was the one that piqued his attention.  “My v-virginity?” Sam questioned back softly.  ‘What the hell is going on here?’ he wondered.

“You haven’t thought at all about what you’ve done, have you?  You wrecked this family’s life when you put your butt in that bed and spread your legs to that vermin!  I won’t have it, do you hear me?” the man asked coarsely as he moved to get closer to Sam.  “I don’t know what came over you.  I’m sure it had something to do with the notion that you loved him… isn’t that right?  Love? Love!  You don’t even know the meaning of that word!  Do you?”

“I do…”

The slap that wracked Sam’s head was enough to send him back to the floor.  He hadn’t been prepared for such a vindictive response.  “No, you whore… you don’t!  You don’t know a damn thing!  Now, until you see reason and do away with that… evil spawn inside of you, you’ll stay locked up in this room until you die for all I care.  I won’t have it!”

Sam looked up horrified at the man standing before him and couldn’t believe how hateful and vindictive he was being.  “What do you care?” he asked a little too loudly as his hand found its way to his abdomen.  “It’s my body… my baby.  Why should I give it up for you?”  He wasn’t sure why he had said it, but he did wish that his host hadn’t voiced it.

The anger welled up in the man’s face and before Sam knew what had happened, the man was holding him up by the shirt, and had slapped him repeatedly several times before depositing him roughly on the floor.  “I’m your father!  That should be enough!  I’m the one who gives you the clothes on your back and food for that gut!  I’m also the one who pays for every damn thing that you want to do… but damn, Marla, you shouldn’t have spread your legs for that boy. Not when I’m here.”

Sam blinked up at the man standing before him and watched as he began to unbuckle his belt.  Sam narrowed his eyes at the man when the belt didn’t come of through the hoops of his jeans and his fingers began to unbutton the button at the tops of his jeans.  “If you want to do that… I’ve got just the thing that you want… just like before…”

Before the man got any closer, Sam heard the faint calling of a telephone ringing somewhere else in the house.  He swallowed as the bulky man before him slid down the zipper of his pants, then jerked his head back toward the door as he heard another female voice calling his name.  “Saved by the bell,” he said hauntingly then purposefully lowered his body to lean over Sam where he half-sat, half-lay on the floor.

Looking into the dark beady eyes across from him, Sam knew a new meaning for the word of fear as the man before him glared at him.  “I’m telling you, Marla, you need to think seriously about what you’ve done to this family before I take it out on your hide.  Pretty face or no pretty face, it’s all up to you, Marla.  All up to you.  You figure it out before I do something to you that you don't want to happen... to you or that... demon inside of you.”  The man poked at Sam’s chest hard then stood up when he heard his name being called out to again. “I heard you!  I’m coming!”  he bellowed as he stood up and gave Sam one last once over.

Sam watched him walk out of the room, shut the door and heard the key lock the door once more.  Sam shook his head slowly and reached up to feel his face and winced once again.  He was surprised when he felt tears on his face and he wondered when those had come up and fallen.

Sam sat there sniffling at the tears that had come up so suddenly and was wiping at them with the back of his hand when he heard the Imaging Chamber chunk-zoom open a few feet away from him.  He turned his head toward the rectangular block of white light to see bare legs step through the light.  He blinked at the brightness of the light then raised his hand to block out the light.  When the door closed, he dropped his hand slightly as he continued to feel the swelling that was occurring on his face. 

“Hey Sammy-boy,” Al said cheerfully as he looked down at the handlink in his hands and began to fiddle with the buttons located there.  “I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier.  Ziggy had to have a new component – some kind of do-hicky to give her a boost, but…” Al finally looked at his buddy sitting on the floor and gaped at his friend.  Taking a few steps toward Sam, Al's countenance dramatically changed.  “Sam, what happened to you?”

Sam blinked up into the concerned face of Admiral Albert Calavicci, who was dressed in a multicolored Bahaman style shorts with matching shirt.  Instead of answering his question, Sam asked, “How’s the leapee, Al? Is she okay?”

Al frowned.  With the handlink in hand, he pressed the largest button to call up the holographic image of Ziggy.  The shimmery multicolored matrix appeared and turned to face her creator.  “Dr. Beeks has been trying to glean more information from the young woman in the Waiting Room.  As soon as she leaped in, she was terrified.  She curled up into a fetal position, rocked herself back and forth and wouldn’t talk.  The only bit of information that Dr. Beeks was able to ease from her was her name: Marla Danielson.  That, in of itself, was the only way we were able to find you.”

“What have you found on Marla Danielson?” Al asked inquisitively as he glanced down at the representation of the parallel-hybrid computer.  He didn’t like how Sam looked at all and instinctively knew that this leap was going to make his stomach turn.

Ziggy’s holographic form turned toward the Admiral then said, “Marla Danielson is presently in a mental institution.  According to the records at Farquar and Henneth Mental Hospital, she was found in her room after trying to self-induce an abortion and trying to commit suicide.  Her father was the one who…”

“I don’t want to hear anymore,” Sam said defiantly as he shook his head.

Both holograms looked at Sam.   

“I don’t.  I don’t want to hear one more filthy word.”

“Dr. Beckett, it’s the…” Ziggy tried to clarify her viewpoint from the data that she had been able to acquire on the leap itself.

“It’s a lie.  It’s all a lie.  She didn’t want to have an abortion and she sure as hell didn’t commit suicide,” Sam said adamantly as he stood up and made his way over to the couch and flopped down onto it.

“Sam.  I know that you just leaped in and…”

“No, I leaped in last night during a lightning storm.  I fell… and busted my head on the coffee table.  This morning, I had a run in with her father.  That man…”

“Harold Danielson,” Ziggy supplied the name of the person Sam was talking about.  “He is an industrial worker at Jenkins and Marlow construction.”

Sam couldn’t help but shiver when he thought about the beady-eyed man who had placed a fear in him that he couldn’t quite understand.  “I know what I’m talking about.  This…” Sam pointed to his face, “was not self-inflictive.  Her father did this to me; and with the way that he was acting...” Sam ran his hand over his mouth as he glanced about the room searching for a way out of it.  “I’ve got to get her outta here.”

“Sam?” Al questioned seeing a far away look enter into his friend’s countenance as he turned off the holographic image of Ziggy.

Sam’s hand went immediately to his mouth, his fingers playing with his bottom lip uncharacteristically.  “I’ve got to get outta here, before…”

“Before what, Sam?” Al frowned not liking how Sam was acting.

The answer to Al’s question was the key turning in the lock once more.  The moment the large unwieldy man sauntered into the room, Al even took a step back in utter astonishment.

“Marla, have you thought about what you’ve done?” Harold Danielson snarled.  “Why did you do it?”

“Because…” Sam began then swallowed not really wanting to answer the question for fear of the reprimand that might be given.  “I… I love him.”

Al looked between the two other men and immediately saw the psychosynergizing appearing in Sam.  ‘No, Sam,’ he thought to himself.  ‘Come back…’  "Sam..."

“You what?!”

Before anyone could react, Harold Danielson pounced.  He grabbed at his daughter’s throat and began to squeeze.

“No!  Get off of him!” Al yelled then immediately changed tactics.  “Sam!  Kick this nozzle!  Don’t let him do this to you!”

For a moment, Sam was unresponsive to Al’s demands before he was able to defend himself.  He was getting lightheaded from not getting enough air; however, he forced his arms up between Harold’s arms and stepped forward into the chokehold.  The move was enough to throw his attacker off guard.  Pushing at the man before him as well, Sam twisted and managed to get a chair between the two of them as he gulped in precious amounts of air.

“Don’t…” Sam said as he saw the man come toward him once more.  “I won’t… give this baby up… not for you.  Not for… him.  It’s my baby!”

Al blinked instantly apprehensive at his friend’s words.  “SAM!”

“MARLA!!” Harold raged at the little girl he saw in his eyes and swiped at the chair knocking it out of the way as he began to approach his disrespectful, insolent and disobedient child.

“I said no!  Don’t you get it?!” Sam yelled back at him. 

“Sam!  Don’t antagonize him…” Al began to say as Harold’s right hand whipped back to slap as Sam backed himself into a corner of the room.  

“It’s mine – you bastard!  Mine!  And you can’t have it!”  When Sam reached the corner, he felt something leaning against it – something thin and heavy.  With a quick glance down, he saw it was a fireplace shovel.  In the same moment that he grabbed a hold of the handle the heavy-laden palm landed against his cheek making his head spin with the impact of it.

“Don’t you do that again!” Al called out to the man as he approached his friend who seemed to be in more distress.

Without thinking, Sam brought out the fireplace shovel from behind him and whipped it up into the air. 

Harold Danielson glared at his little girl.  “You don’t have the guts to hit your old man,” he said with a smirk. 

Sam hesitated, his mind filling with the thoughts of his host.  Her thoughts of the child inside of her and how much she loved and wanted it; how much she loved the boy she had slept with and wanted to leave the hell hole she was living in.

“Sam!”  Al called to his best friend who stood ready to slam the blunt of the shovel against head of the one before him.

“You’re just a little girl who doesn’t like it when you’re daddy tells it like it is.  You’re going to get rid of that kid.”

“But… I want this baby…” Sam said as his arms began to get lax as tears began to fall down his cheeks.  “Please, daddy… I…”

“If you want one so badly…” Harold’s hand went back to his blue jeans as he began to undo his belt once again.  His hands unbuttoned his jeans and his eyes narrowed as he looked at his daughter up and down.  “I’ll do whatever it takes…”

“You will?” Sam asked, his mind focusing only on bits and pieces of what Harold was actually saying.

Al’s face grimaced at the sight and sounds that he was hearing.  “Sam!  Don’t listen to him!  Listen to me!  Cold cock this nozzle!”

Harold continued, “… to… keep it in the family.”  Harold reached out his hand toward his daughter with only one thought on his mind as he began to push down his jeans with his other hand.

“SAM!”

Al’s words finally reconnected with the leaper and Sam tightened his hold on the shovel.  Knowing that he could trust Al, Sam swung – his aim right on target.  The shovel caught Harold Danielson right against the side of his head and with a resounding twang, the man collapsed to the floor; knocked out cold.

Al watched from where he stood and nodded appropriately when he saw the man fall.  He looked up at Sam asking, “Are you okay?”

“I gotta get outta here,” Sam said to him as he dropped the shovel a few feet from where Harold lay then raced toward the door.

PART TWO

Sam rubbed his head as he lingered outside of the room he had just escaped.  “Al… where do I go?” he questioned as he glanced down both ways of the hallway and didn’t see an end in sight.

After consulting the handlink, Al said, “Go left Sam.  Open the last door at the end of the hall.” 

Sam hurried down the hallway and followed Al’s instructions.  Seeing steps, he started down them quickly, tripped, and with a yelp rolled down the rest of the steps. 

“Sam!” Al yelled as he saw the tumble. He quickly relocated himself beside Sam where he lay on the floor at the end of the stairs.  “Sam, are you okay?”

Sam groaned and raised his hands to his head.  “I’ll be okay once I get out of this house,” he said plainly.  Blinking, Sam slightly turned onto his side, closed his eyes; then immediately one of his hands went to his abdomen.  "Al, she didn't just lose the baby, did she?" Sam asked softly.

Al glanced down at the handlink and shook his head.  "I don't know, Sam.  History is changing."

"Damn right, history is changing.  I'm getting outta here," Sam said as he turned his head to look up at his friend.  He was surprised when a lady stepped through Al and looked down at him.  Sam immediately ducked his head in fear of a slap or an abusive hand when the woman leaned down toward him.  However, feeling the soft tender caress of his cheek, then a hand on his chin turning his head, he opened his eyes and looked up into the woman's green eyes and bruised face.  

“Marla, are you okay?”

“M-mom?” Sam said softly, hesitantly as he looked up at her caring eyes.  He searched her bruised face and shook his head.  He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Al took two steps to the side as he consulted the handlink.  “Yes, Sam.  This is Marla’s mother – Jennifer.” Al shook his head as he looked at the woman now standing beside him and wondered himself why women tended to stick it out with men who beat them.  He just couldn't understand it.

“Baby… what happened?”

“D-dad,” Sam explained.  “He… doesn’t want me to… have the baby.  He - he wants to give me an… abortion.”

Jennifer’s mouth slowly opened in response.  “A-abortion?” she asked as she turned her eyes to the stairs.  “Your father …” Jennifer shivered then helped her daughter to stand up.  “You... you need to go back to your room, Marla.  You know how your daddy can be... but he takes care of us.  H-he knows what's best for us."

"No... Oh no, Sam..." Al said as he looked at Jennifer.

"No, he doesn't, mom!" Sam insisted as he grabbed at her arm.  "He's wrong!"

Jennifer shook her head as she moved away from Sam.  As she moved away from him, a sound seemed to follow making both Sam and Al locate the sound.

Al, who was the first to see the noise from where it came from, gasped and his eyes widened in response.  "Oh God," he said softly as he pointed it out for Sam.  

Sam's eyes finally fell on the chain that was shackled to Jennifer's ankle.  His expression quickly readjusted as he looked back up at her.  "Mom?"  Sam asked as he approached her. "Wh-what's going on?"

Jennifer Danielson reached up and pushed her hair behind her ear.  She lightly ran her hand over her bruised cheek and winced.  "Where... where is your father?"

Sam ducked his head then cut his eyes to her before dropping them to the table.  "I... knocked him out with the fireplace shovel."

Jennifer blanched at the news.  "Oh God. When he gets up... he'll be angrier than ever."  A far away look came into her eyes and she leaned back against the wall and hugged her arms to herself, her shirt sleeves rising to show the massive bruising on her arms.  "You... you have to go back to your room, Marla.  I... I don't know what he's going to do when he wakes up."

"No, mom.  I'm not staying here.  I'm leaving... and if I had a key to get you outta here," Sam said as he stepped toward her.  "You'd leave with me.  Why... why is he like this?"  Sam asked as he watched her begin to shake her head.

"You don't understand," Jennifer stated.  "Your father loves you.  He loves both us and wants to do what's best for us..."

"No, mom!" Sam yelled at her.  "He doesn't love us.  He controls us.  He uses you... and me."

Jennifer Danielson's demeanor slightly changed.  "What?  What do you mean... uses you?"

"Sam?" Al questioned as he looked at him a bit confused.  "No... don't tell me that he...."

Sam's eyes lowered slightly as he remembered Harold Danielson's words from earlier.  “If you want to do that… I’ve got just the thing that you want… just like before…”  Sam swallowed and gave Al a terse nod making Al squirm and say something in Italian.  "He's r-raped me, mom."

Jennifer ducked her head then turned away from Sam as she brought her hand up to her mouth.  For a long moment, she was quiet then she shook her head.  "He... he said that he'd never do anything to you..."

"Wake up and smell the coffee, honey," Al said softly.

Sam took a step toward Marla's mother.  Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her to face him.  “Mom, he has in the past and he’s going to continue to do so if…”

“Go ahead Sam,” Al nodded his consent.  "See if you can."

“If you don’t stop him.”

Jennifer searched her daughter’s eyes for a long moment before she pulled Sam to her for a hug.  “I... I didn't know.  I've been down here so long.  He said... oh... god..."  Tears quickly fell from her eyes as she hugged Sam to her.   There was a long moment before she said, "He’ll never hurt you again, baby.”

“That a girl,” Al said brightly.

For another moment the two hugged then split apart.  Jennifer then went into the kitchen, dragging the chain around with her, got some ice from the freezer then put it in a towel for Sam.  Walking back over to him, she said, "Take this into the living room, then... bring me the phone.  I c-can't reach it.  But ... I’m going to do something that I should have done some time ago.”

Sam nodded to her words and did as she requested.  Pausing in the doorway to watch as Jennifer Danielson took the phone from him and dialed 911. 

Sam listened to the one-sided conversation from the other room, listening to how Jennifer was explaining to the dispatcher that her husband had abused them and kept her on a chain.    

It was when Sam heard a crash from upstairs that he realized that Harold was awake and now obviously in a very bad mood.  Sam looked up at the ceiling as he heard the heavy footsteps as they moved from one part of the house to the other.  “Mom!” Sam called out to her to see her peer around the corner of the doorway.  He pointed up to the ceiling, to let her know that her husband was awake.  He didn’t want her to be caught unaware as she was still on the phone with the dispatcher.

Even as Jennifer’s eyes reached the ceiling, she whispered into the phone, “Ohhh God, I’ve got to go.  He’s awake now and I can tell that he’s madder than hell.”

It was in that moment that Harold’s voice blared, “Jennifer!  Where is that tramp!?  I’ve got to teach that brat a lesson!”

“I’ll teach you a lesson…” Al began as he snarled up at the ceiling.

“Please,” Jennifer whispered into the phone.  “Please… I don’t want my daughter to get hurt anymore.  Please…” After a moment of hesitation, Jennifer answered, “Okay… please, get here quick!” then hung up the phone just as the door at the top of the stairs opened.

Tossing the phone back onto the couch where it had been located, Jennifer then moved to the doorway of the living room.  She pointed to the front door then frantically looked at her daughter.  “Leave, baby.  Leave now…”

“But mom… we should both…”

“JEN!  I’m talking to you!  Where is your daughter!?”

“Go!” Jennifer hissed at her daughter then stepped back through the door to look at her husband as he held his head coming down the stairs. 

Sam nodded his head and started toward the door.  He looked back the blonde haired woman who was giving him a chance to get away and shook his head.  She shouldn’t have to deal with the brute alone. Yet, he had seen the look in her eyes and obeyed her words.  Before he shut the door behind him, he heard her words to her husband and the abusive words back as he dropped to his hands and knees to crawl along the windowed front porch.

“You told me that she was grounded!  Not that you’ve been beating her - raping her!  You said that you wouldn't ever hurt her!!”

“Shut up, Jen!  That girl deserves what she gets.  She just knocked the shit out of me with a shovel, for God’s sake.”

“Good!  Did she knock some sense into you?” Jennifer shot back at him.

“We can all hope,” Al said as he snarled at the man, and then winced as Harold Danielson reared back and slugged his wife, sending her to the floor unconsciously.  "You lousy son of a….” Al paused as he looked at the man before him carefully as the man reached behind him to reveal a .357 Magnum revolver.

Al’s face blanched and he quickly re-centered himself on Sam.

Sam was racing toward the road as he heard the police sirens coming toward the house and began to flag them down as he prayed that they weren’t here too late for Jennifer Danielson. 

One of the police cars had pulled to a sudden halt in front of the house and Sam took a few steps toward it as he said, “He’s… he’s in there!” Sam pointed toward the house. 

Al reappeared at Sam’s side, pointed toward the house and yelled, “GUN!”

Sam reached out to touch the police officer on the arm saying, “He abused me… and my mom!  You gotta help her!  She's on a chain!”

When Sam didn’t respond to him, Al yelled at him once again, “GET DOWN!  GUN!”

“Gun?” Sam questioned as he slightly turned toward Al. 

A sudden gunshot rang out and Sam felt earth shattering pain assault him, his eyes growing wide as he felt as if someone had pushed him backwards.  He landed on his side on the sidewalk and heard scrambling as police officers began to pull out their guns and take cover.  Looking down, Sam saw blood begin to spread darkly across his chest.   

"SAM!!"

“Al…” he managed to get out before the world went dark around him.

PART THREE

The air was thick and humid and the darkening sky wasn't helping Al's thoughts as he stopped in pacing and looked out the window at the storm that was preparing to break.  He watched it for a moment as the wind seemingly picked up and began to blow leaves up against the corner window.  Al turned away from the window and began to pace once more.

He was extremely worried, as was everyone else in Project Quantum Leap, about the man lying in the bed who had gotten shot just right of his heart.

Even though Al was normally squeamish where blood was concerned, he had stayed with Sam as they raced him from the Danielson’s house to the hospital as well as into the operating room.  He had stood to the side, praying as they took out the bullet and he had heard their optimistic views on their patient.

Now, the steady beep that Al heard from the cardiograph monitor helped to alleviate his distress as well as the IV tree that dripped clear liquid into Sam’s system that his buddy was going to be okay.  Hearing a low moan, Al quickly went to the bed and looked down at leaper.  “Sam?”

Sam’s eyes slowly opened tiredly.  “A-al?”

Al grinned with tears wetting his eyes.  “Course it’s me.”

“What happened?”  Sam asked softly looking up into his friend’s eyes as Al wiped at them.

“Danielson shot you.  It just barely missed your heart, but, the doctors say that you’ll be just fine, Sam.  Danielson's dead.  He turned the gun on himself after you went down.”

Sam nodded his head lightly. Sam was quiet for a long moment as he gathered his thoughts on what he had seen in the house.  The way that Jennifer had been chained up in the house.  "Why, Al?  Why are some men like that?"

"I don't know, Sam.  I just don't know.  Verbena told Marla that her father was dead.  She sobbed in relief and finally started talking.  She told Verbena that Harold hadn't always been abusive.  That a few years ago, he lost his job and when he got the job as a construction worker that he began drinking heavily.  Marla said that her father had been so drunk one night that he thought that she was Jennifer and that's when he raped her.  And that after that, Harold was convinced that Jennifer would leave him when she found out, so, to prevent her -- even if she found out -- that he would chain her in the house.  She could get everywhere... except to the phone.  Sad thing, Sam, is that Jennifer loved that son of a bitch."

Sam closed his eyes and shook his head at Al's words.  "So... what happens to them, Al?"

Al pulled out the handlink from his pocket and gingerly hit the side of the handlink to make it work properly.  “Jennifer and Marla move to a new house in South Bend, Indiana.  In a new town and state, they go on to lead fruitful lives.  Marla’s daughter, Renee is already eight years old and is on her way to become the next best thing to Elena Zamolotchokova.”

“Who?” Sam asked with a perplexed look on his face.

“She’s an Olympic gymnast, Sam.”

“Oh,” Sam said with a grimace as he shifted slightly on the bed.  “So, why haven’t I leaped yet if everyone is okay?”

“I don’t know, kid.  Maybe you just need another lightning storm to help you on your way.  You know… kind of like Mary Poppins did with the change in the wind?”

It was in that moment that rain began to splatter against the window of the hospital room and Sam looked at Al a bit skeptically.  Even as a bright array of lightning splattered across the sky with a low rumble of thunder answering back, Sam felt the warm, numbing tingle of the leap take him.

EPILOGUE

Blue haze turned to darkness as Sam Beckett took a few moments to get his bearings.  It was a beautiful late spring evening judging by the temperature, and the coolness in the air made him realize he was outside.  The moon was out in full, casting its light on whatever it could but to no avail as the buildings around him quickly gobbled up the moonbeams, laying darkness on the streets and alleyways below.  Off to the west, storm clouds were quickly rolling in as flashes of lightning flickered far away in the distance.  The city was strangely quiet save for the occasional low rumble of thunder.

Trying to turn his head to look around, he discovered that his movements were somehow hindered by something he was wearing on his head, and whatever it was, his hair was becoming very itchy.  His vision was slightly obstructed by two slits he was peering through as he looked down at the tight dark blue costume that covered his arms.  On his chest was a white circle with a picture of a liberty bell on it.  The handles appeared to form the letters C and L on both sides, one side normal and the other reversed to give the impression that the liberty bell had handles on it with the L situated smaller inside the C.  The bell itself had a white star field on blue for the top one-third, while red and white stripes adorned the rest of it.

Lowering his head, Sam checked out the rest of his costume, somewhat amused as to what he had become on this particular leap.  That amusement turned to fear as his eyes met with his feet.  They were secured snuggly inside dark blue boots that rode up to his dark blue tight-fitting pants, but more importantly they were somewhat starting to dangle over the edge of the roof of a tall building.

By reflex, Sam began to lose his balance.  In vain, he tried to lean himself back and grab something to pull up with, but momentum and gravity finally won out and he toppled over the edge of the roof, falling towards the alleyway below as his dark blue cape fluttered out to both sides of him. 

"Ohhhhh, Shhhhhh-- --....!!!"