Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 17:58:11 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: The Impossible Dream - Chapter 14 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Chapter 14 "Okay,Al," Verbina said as she placed a small serving of bourbon in front of him. "Start talking." Al picked up the glass, looked at it carefully, took a drink and put it down. "Sam and I just had a conversation." Verbina smiled. "Then he's finally awake." Al shook his head. "No, he's not. He's still asleep. I don't think he realized that I wasn't part of his dreams." "So, he was talking to you in his sleep," Verbina told him. "What's so bad about that? He's slowly making his way to consciousness." Al frowned. He took another drink of his bourbon. "It's not that he was talking to me that bothers me, Verbina. It's what he said." He grinned sardonically. "He said that God, Fate, or Time was a bartender, that everyone looks like someone he's met during other leaps, and that my Uncle Stawpah is a leaper." He gave a brief laugh. "Either Sam's losing it or I am." Verbina paused. "Could you run that by me again?" Al took yet another drink, draining his glass. He took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Verbina everything that had happened in the Imaging Chamber. Verbina took a deep breath. "What you have to remember, Al, is that Sam is dreaming. What you heard from him could mean anything or nothing at all. Don't worry about what he's saying in his sleep. Worry about what he says when he's awake." Al took a breath and exhaled. "But my Uncle Stawpah..." he started. "You told Sam about him before, correct?" Al nodded his head. "Yeah. Sam even met him once. But that was years ago." "Al," Verbina said softly. "He has a photographic memory, remember?" Al didn't say a word for a moment. He leaned back into his chair. "'Bina," he finally said. "Can I tell you something personal?" Verbina's eyes widened. "I think I need a drink. Al Calavicci's about to open up." Al smiled at her sarcastically. "You'd be so lucky," he muttered. "No, it's just that I..." He sighed. "Okay, I'll admit it. Ever since Be4th's funeral, I've felt...empty. And then this happens to Sam." He looked into Verbina's eyes. "Off the record. Just between friends, right?" Verbina nodded. "Always," she encouraged. Al hesitated. He gave a cynical laugh. "I guess I'm afraid I'm going to be alone." Verbina stood up and walked around her desk. "Okay, Al. Worse case scenario. Say something does happen to Sam. You still have Tina, Donna, me, Gushie..." "That's not the same," Al told her, looking into her eyes. "And you know it. There's a difference between a six year friendship and a sixteen year friendship." Verbina didn't reply right away. She sat on her desk in thought. "There may be a difference," Verbina added. "But six year friendships can become sixteen year friendships." Al furrowed his eyebrows slightly, trying to understand her point. "Al," Verbina said softly. "The point is that, no matter what happens, you're not going to be alone." "I know, 'Bina. I know," Al told her. "I guess my age is catching up with me." Verbina smiled and stood up. "You'll always be sixteen, Al," she told him as she left her office. "As long as you want to be." ****************************** Sam was sitting outside of the bar, laughing while inside the miners continued to celebrate. It was amazing! Truly amazing! Here he had been wondering why Stawpah had looked so familiar to him and the answer had been right in front of him. Now, in his mind, he could see the resemblance to Al. Why didn't he see it before? Al the bartender came out of the bar and sat beside Sam with a questioning look. "Al's uncle," Sam told him with incredulity. "Isn't coincidence amazing?" Al replied. "That is, if it is a coincidence," he added. "What do you mean?" Sam questioned. "You tell me," Al returned. Sam stood up in frustration. "Why won't you tell me?" "Because you know the answer, not me." "What do you mean I know the answer and you don't?!" Sam exclaimed. "You're the one who's been leaping me around!" "You're the one leaping you around, Sam," Al told him firmly. "Remember?" "Then, why haven't I gone home?" Sam asked with desperation, a tear starting to trickle down his face. He lowered his head. "Sam," Al said, standing up. "The fact is, if there's one person who can figure out how to get you home, it's you." Sam's head snapped up. *What did he just say?* "THE FACT IS,IF THERE'S ONE GUY WHO COULD FIGURE OUT HOW TO BRING YOU BACK...IT'S YOU," AL THE HOLOGRAM TOLD HIM. "What did you just say?" Sam questioned. Al smiled. "You heard me." "How'd you know my Al had said that?" "Think, Sam," the bartender told him. "Does this feel like a leap to you? Did it ever?" Sam shook his head slowly. "And everyone looks familiar to you. Correct?" Sam nodded. "Does anything feel real about all of this?" Sam shook his head. "Nothing." He hesitated. "Nothing but Al. Every once in a while, I hear his voice. And when he finally appeared, it didn't seem right. But at the same time, it did." Sam looked at Al once again with a frown. "What's going on?" "Only you can answer that, Sam," Al told him as he turned and reentered the bar. Sam sat down again. *How can I know the answer?* He rubbed his face in frustration but stopped. Something wasn't right. He turned around and looked back into the bar. The scene was different. A moment ago, the bar was full. Now, it was almost empty again and yet no one had left it. Al was waving goodbye to Ziggy as he headed out the door. He then knocked twice on the right side of his head. Sam stood up in shock. *Of course!* he thought. *Why didn't I see it before?* He hurried into the bar and went to the counter. "You're Dr. Ernst!" Sam told Al firmly. Al looked at him. "No, I'm Al." "But you are also Dr. 'Weird Ernie' Ernst, aren't you?" Al tilted his head. "The gentleman you met in your first leap? Part of me, yes." "But how?" "You did it, Sam. You did all of this. The bar, the people -- everything." "Why didn't you tell me before?" Sam demanded. "Because you didn't know before. I already told you I can only tell you what you already know." "Because everything here is part of my subconscious," Sam realized. Al nodded. "Correct." "So, I'm dreaming?" "Correct again." "Then, why haven't I waken up?" "Good question," Al told him. "You know this is a dream and you want to wake up. So, why haven't you?" Sam squinted his eyes in frustration. "I don't know." "Let me put it this way, Sam," Al told him, coming around the bar and sitting on a bar-stool beside him. "Why'd you create Project Quantum Leap?" "To put things right that once had gone wrong," Sam answered. "To make the world a better place?" Al asked to confirm. "Yeah," Sam said gently. "To make the world a better place. But not one life at a time." Al gave a cynical laugh. "I've got Mother Theresa here! You really think that all you've changed is a handful of lives?" Sam looked at him with regret. "Yes." Al turned to see Sam better. "At the risk of over-inflating your ego, Sam, you've done much more. Those lives you've touched, touched others. And those lives, others. You've done a hell of a lot of good, Sam. And you're going to do more." "But, if this is just a dream, how do you know I'm going to do more?" Sam asked. "Because you know, Sam," Al told him. "You know what I am. You knwo who I am." Suddenly, everything made sense to him. "This whole dream was my unconscious reminding me, wasn't it? A reminder of whom I've touched: Moe Stein, Frank and Jimmy, Don Gino, Jake Dorleac..." He gave a smile. "'Weird Ernie'. I've touched all of them - everyone who was in this bar." He paused. "Except Stawpah, Al's uncle. I've never even met him." "Well," Al told him, "actually you have." "I have?" Sam frowned. "Certainly," Al told him. "It was during a trip he had made to New York City. You and Al met him at the airport. Remember? Cranky old man? Twisted up like a pretzel?" Sam's eyes widened. "I remember! But if everyone is someone I've helped, why is he here?" "Because you've helped Al and thus touched Stawpah. And because he's a cranky old man. Notice how only he and I seemed to know more than the rest? It's because we're you, Sam. I'm your courage and knowledge. He's your fear of failure." Sam nodded. "He's my subconscious fear of being helpless - crippled," he added with realization. "Like Stawpah." He looked at Al. "And Al? What did he represent?" Al shook his head. "That was the real Al Calavicci, Sam. You were hearing him and you manifested him into your dream." "So, I really did hear his voice?" Al nodded. Sam exhaled. "But what does it all mean? Why is my unconscious trying to remind me of all of this now?" "It's all about you, Sam," Al told him. "What you've done, who you've helped, who you've touched. And it's about you finally listening to yourself. You've been answering your own question for years but you've kept ignoring the answer." "Who's leaping me and why?" Sam voiced the question. Al nodded. "And now you know the answer." Sam lowered his head. "I've been leaping myself to make the world a better place." "You've got it," Al told him. "But how can I be helping people I've never even heard of if I'm leaping myself?" Al took a breath. "Sam, if you were a priest..." "I have been," Sam told him. "So you have," Al corrected himself. "If the priesthood had been your chosen profession, you would be expected to go wherever the Church assigned you." "Are you saying that God, Fate, Time, or Whatever is showing me where to leap? The way the Chuch instructs priests?" "That's exactly what I'm saying, Sam." "Even priests can quit," Sam pointed out. "True," Al consented. "But they can also take sabaticals, especially before departing on a difficult mission." Sam looked at Al with curiosity. "Are you saying the leaps are going to get harder?" Al nodded. "Where would you like to go, Sam?" "Home," Sam answered softly, wiping a tear away. "I want to go home. But I can't, can I? Not yet." Al shook his head. "No. Not yet." Sam looked at Al carefully. "How much longer will I be leaping?" "As long as you feel you need to, Sam," a weak voice replied, sounding hazy. Sam looked around. Al the bartender was gone. The bar was empty. "Jack?" a voice said softly. "Can you hear me?" Sam smiled. He knew it was time. -------------------------------- I know it sounds like it's close to the end but there's still another 3 chapters to go so stay tuned. Kat