From: kitkin@aol.com (Kitkin)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.quantum-leap.creative
Subject: WHATEVER IT TAKES 1/9
Date: 10 Jun 1996 11:51:04 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Message-Id: <4phg98$ld5@newsbf02.news.aol.com>

  Hi all, I've written a few very short fan-fics before, but this is my
first looooong one. It didn't start out this way, and I hadn't
intended for so much of it to deal with Al. (Could this be one of
the early warning signs of Al-choholism? :) Any way, it's one of
those post MI pieces, and was inspired during the most recent
onslaught of MI related posts on the newsgroup. Since I haven't
read any of the others, I hope it doesn't end up sounding like
someone elses. All standard disclaimers of characters, and the
rights to them apply. Here goes. ( 9 PARTS )

                           "Whatever It Takes"   PART 1

............whatever it takes, I'll get you out of
this........................
   Al Calavicci awoke with a start from a particularly non-restful
night's sleep. He had that unmistakable feeling that something
had changed. It was the feeling he sometimes had whenever
he came back from seeing Sam, in most cases, right after Sam
lept. He might walk into his own office at the Project, an office
that only by his handprint on the security panel, would allow
access to it's interior ; and find a desk piled high with books or
blueprints, which had'nt been there the last time he had walked
out the door. Or, he may find that Tina, who had been his lover
when he left to meet with Sam, was now dating Gooshie when
he returned even if he'd only been gone 20 minutes. But this was
the disturbing part. Had Sam lept yet? He could'nt seem to
remember.He propped himself up on one elbow, and thought
with a sigh,"Oh great, now I suppose I'm swiss cheesing."
    While Al contemplated the answer to his question, he heard
the sounds of someone moving around in the the next room.
"Who's in head?," he wondered silently. Then, correcting himself
out loud, he said, "Bathroom."  The military really ingrained itself
on some things. The answer came to him, that it had to be Tina,
for when the door opened a crack, steam from the shower
billowed out. On the warm cloud of mist though, there also came
a  lovely floral scent.
    "Wow," he thought, if Sam had to change something this time
around, he was glad it was Tina's loud perfume. This was soft
and subtle, and gave him a comfortable sensation that
washed over him like warm memories on a cold night.
     She entered the bedroom, her hair done up in a towel. She
was just tying the sash of her robe as she stepped from the
misty aura surrounding her while the steam slowly disapated.
"Did you say something about the bathroom honey?"
      Al stared without saying a word, because no words would
come to him. Beth looked back at him with a puzzled expression.
"Al, are you all right?"
      Al's mouth opened and closed, but still no words issued
forth. Beth crossed her arms over her bossom, and with a wry
grin said," Why mister Calavicci, I didn't know I could still get that
kind of reaction out of you just by wearing a bathrobe. To think
what would've happened if I'd come out wrapped in a towel!" She
smiled sweetly, still under the delighted misconception, that
her husband's look of blank astonishment was the modern Italian
equivilant to " But soft, what light through yonder window
breaks.."
    She stolled over to Al and as she kissed the top of his head,
he felt an overwhelming desire to pull her close and never let go.
However, that urge was mixed with an equally strong one to jerk 
away from her touch. As a frustrating compromise, a single tear
tracked down his cheek as he closed his eyes at her tender kiss.
Luckily for them both, with Al's head bent down, the tear went
unnoticed by Beth as she gave his sleep jumbled hair a playful
tousle, and left to return to the bathroom to put on her make-up.
When she later  emerged from the bathroom, Al was gone.

   It had been a difficult ordeal for Al to come home from Vietnam
after years of torture and degredation at the hands of his
captors, only to find that his beloved Beth was no longer
his. Nights of barely wanting to stay alive had been survived by
thoughts of her warm brown eyes and the taste of her lips. He
often found himself repeating over and over again, as someone
reciting a Rosary, "I'm coming back Beth, I'm coming back"
When he finally did come back, he found out that she had given
up on him. On them. She had married someone else after
having Al legally declared dead, and  a strange metamorphosis
of emotions had taken place. Love turned to hurt,hurt to anger,
anger to resentment, and from there, it just sort of disentegrated
into self pity.
     It had taken its tole on Al, but nothing that he had endured
while seperated from Beth as a POW,nor during his agonizing
period just after his return home when he knew he had lost her,
had prepared him to deal with the conflicting emotions that had
bombarded him upon seeing her in his quarters that morning. It
was only through sheer determination of will,  to not let on that
something was wrong, that had gotten Al through the awkward
situation.

     Back in 1990 or so, just at the nadir of his self destruct
process, while beating up a vending machine at the "Star Bright"
project, along had come Sam Beckett to rescue him. And now,
God love him, apparently Sam had done it again, but at what
cost?  To Sam, quantum leaping was a balled up piece of string,
but from Al's standpoint, it always seemed more like a spider
web.
    Concentric circles, each one connected by small threads to
the next one. Whenever Sam changed something drastically
enough, you left the circle you were on and  walked along that
little connection to the next circle. You'd see the same people,
same places, but it would be a different version. Sort of like the
same cast of characters all on the same set, but with a new
script to learn.
    Well, this script was a doozie! Here ya' go kid, lets see what
ya' can do with this. You awake to find your ex-wife that you
havn't seen in decades, coming out of the bathroom, but
get this---to her, it's as if you've never been apart since you got
back from that hell-hole called Vietnam! NO DIVORCE, NO
DECLARATION OF DEATH, NO DRUNKEN BINGES, just ' and
they lived happily ever after'. A helluva nice ending, provided you
got to participate in all the stuff that had come after 'once upon a
time.'
    Al contemplated all of these things as he paced aimlessly up
and down the unfinished and abandoned tunnel that would have
become more living quarters if funding had allowed.This was
his sanctuary. A place he could go to whenever he felt the need
to be alone, completely alone. Ziggy didn't even have a
connection to this place.They had just never gotten around to it.
He came here when he was too tired to think clearly, or when a
problem arose that needed his un-interupted concentration. After
Beth had dissappeared back into the bathroom, he had gotten
dressed as quickly as he could and came straight here, for if
ever he  needed un-interupted concentration, it was now.
..........................................................................
.........................
                                    March 1969

    "Hello?"
    "Hi Dirk, it's me, Beth." There was a slight quaver to her voice
as she spoke into the phone.
    "Oh," he cooed sensually, "I was just thinking about you. We
still on for Mexican tonight?"
Beth didn't quite know how to begin to break the dinner date they
had planned for this evening. After all, Dirk Simon was a
wonderful man, kind, caring and quite good looking, but after last
night, she just didn't know if she could be comfortable in his
company.
    "You know, I was going to surprise you after dinner," he
continued, not waiting for her answer
and apparently not noticing that she sounded the least bit
shakey. " but, I thought I'd take you for a moonlight sailing trip
around the bay afterwards.Then..."
    "Dirk, I'm not going to be able to go to dinner with you." Beth
finally interupted him. A dissappointed pause was followed by
Dirk's equally dissappointed reply,"Why, what's the matter? They
have you working a double over at Balboa again?"
    Being a nurse at Balboa Naval Hospital did keep Beth busy
more often than not, so it wouldn't have been out of the ordinary
for her to be asked to work a double shift. She was tempted to
take the easy way out and just tell him yes, but decided that a lie
would not be fair to him, and it simply was not her style.
    "No," she hesitated. " I just don't think it would be right,
I'm....I'm still married you know, and I just...well, I shouldn't have
led you on like I did. Oh Dirk, I'm so sorry."
     Not willing to let this lovely woman he had just met a week
ago get away from him, he said,"C'mon Beth, it's not like we
were sneaking off to some sleazy hotel, it's only dinner after
all...uh..and...well,we don't have to take the moonlight sail
afterwards you know, I mean if it'll make you feel more
comfortable"
    Feeling tears beginning to threaten over this whole situation,
Beth answered with determined conviction, " I just can't."
    "But Beth,.." Dirk began to argue, "can't we.."
"I'm sorry Dirk, good-bye."
     As soon as she had hung up the phone, the tears came. And
why not? She had been married to Al Calavicci for 8 years, yet
they had actually only spent a handful of them together. The rest
of the time he was off on one naval assignment after another,
and taking that extra tour of duty in Vietnam had nearly caused
them to divorce. Instead, it now caused her to live a neverending
nightmare of dispair, loneliness, and the anxiety of not knowing if
Al were dead or alive. She was tired of being alone, and now she
had just broken a wonderful dinner date with Dirk. Not only was
he a successful lawyer, but he was charming and fun to be with.
   Charming and fun to be with. Beth was suddenly drawn into a
wistful memory of how charming and fun Al had been the first
time they met.Ensign Calavicci was feeding coins into a juke
box, when she first laid eyes on him.
    It was back in 1960, when she first became permanently
assigned to Balboa. She and another nurse, Patty Jablonski, had
just come off of working their first grueling double shift at the
base hospital. It was late when they had finally gotten off, and
they both felt that they deserved a little R&R. Patty drove them
to "The Barbary Coast." It was a fairly classy place in San Diego,
that featured a combination bar, restaurant,and dance floor. At
least it beat the Officer's Club on base.
   Preferring to sit in the restaurant rather than the bar, the two
women found a table and ordered a couple of beers and club
sandwiches.
   "Be right back Pat," Beth said, as she picked up her purse and
headed toward the ladies room. The restrooms were located in a
small alcove, which ran between the restaurant and the dance
floor. As she was passing through the dance area, she noticed a
jukebox near the alcove's entrance.Beth made a mental note to
stop on her way back, and pick out some music to listen to.
    When she approached the jukebox on her return trip, she saw
a dark haired ensign who was busy making a number of
selections. Beth stepped off to the side a bit to wait her turn.
Holding her coin up in one hand, while her purse dangled from
her arm, she used her other hand to rumage through it's
contents in search of a cigarrette. When the insign finished
making his final choice,  he suddenly turned and looked straight
into Beth's eyes.
   With a smile, he asked in a slightly graveled,  almost
whispered voice,"And what'll it be for you, angel?"
    If that line had been delivered differently, Beth would have
meerly said,"No thanks" and returned to the table, waiting for a
better opportunity to make her selection. But there was
something, almost mesmerizing about his style. His dark eyes
were locked on hers, with an intensity that was softened by his
gentle smile. Still holding out the coin she was going to use,
and still caught in the grip of his gaze, she said,"Ray Charles?"
   Taking the coin from her fingers, Al turned, dropped it into the
slot, and made the selection. Once their eye contact had broken,
just as if a spell that had been cast had now lost it's power,
Beth was able to make her escape, and hopefully avoid a
continuation of an already awkward situation, which had left her
feeling embarrassed. When Al turned back around, she was
gone.
    "What kept you, Beth? I was beginning to think you'd fallen
in." Patty said with a chuckle.  "Oh, nothing really, I just met an
incredibly cute insign with eyes like brown velvet and a smile
that turns you into a warm puddle of goo." she said to herself.
Out loud, she said simply,  "Stopped off at the jukebox."

......................CONTINUED IN PART 2..............................