From: Kitkin@aol.com
Newsgroups: alt.tv.quantum-leap.creative
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 1996 14:11:21 -0400
Message-ID: <960624141120_337961093@emout16.mail.aol.com>
Subject: WHATEVER IT TAKES 4/9

WHATEVER IT TAKES PART 4

   "Admiral, rise and shine.This is your wake-up call."
Simultaneously Ziggy's voice and the overhead lights assaulted
Al's senses. His eyes snapped open and a sudden fear gripped
his heart, as the thought came to him that today was the day. He
ran through his usual morning routine with a mechanical
numbness. He couldn't afford the luxury of allowing his thoughts
to wander this morning, for they might drift into the deep and
dangerous waters of his imagination. Instead, he poured all of
his concentration into getting dressed.
   Since the Fermi suit had been redesigned along with just about
everything else for this leap, and was now more of a 'cover-all',
he would need something to wear underneath it. He pulled out a
slate grey suit that had a dark teal pin stripe running through it. It
had the style that he liked the best, what he thought of as 'Neo-
Zoot'. A shirt of a neutral color, a vest, complete with watch
chain,and a stylish fedora with a teal band rounded out the
ensemble. He opened a small desk humidor and  removed four
splendid Cuban cigars, and slipped them into a concealed inner
coat pocket. Taking a final look in the bathroom mirror, releasing
a small sigh of resignation, Al turned and walked through the
door of his quarters, and headed to the waiting room to see
Sam.
   He stood outside the door of what used to be the waiting room,
but was now more like an I.C.U.  Ever since Sam had started
leaping, Al had hated coming through this door. He never knew
what, or rather who to expect lurking in there. Today however,
he dreaded it even more, because there was no one at all
occupying the six foot tall and lifeless body, not even Sam.
    The room was dimly lit, except for a reading lamp on the
bedside table. Donna was curled up in the chair beside it reading
aloud to her husband from a book that had been one of his
favorites.
    "Tommy listened as Mr. Lundie explained about the Miracle.
"Now let me warn ya a'fore ah begin, that what I'm gonna tell ya,
ya wil'na believe."Oh that's alright," Tommy assured him, as he
glanced at Fiona."we've already been warned. But why won't we
believe it?"
 "Because what happened in Brigadoon was a miracle," Mr
Lundie explained,"and most folks din'a believe in miracles, for
miracles require faith."
   "I guess a lotta things do." Al said from where he stood. Donna
looked up at Al briefly,and then to Sam, and said "Yes, I guess
they do." She rose from the chair and stretched. "Have a seat if
you want, I was just going to get some breakfast." She bent and
kissed Sam's forehead, then turned toward Al.
   "I know you're going to be leaving soon, and I just have to say
this before you go." She walked up to Al and took both of his
hands in her own. Looking intently into his eyes, as a parent
would a small child  she said," You know, that Sam wouldn't
want you to try this, don't you?" Al's eyes broke from Donna, and
were now on Sam as he spoke, " Well, I sure hope he doesn't
fire me over it, when he gets back." he said in an attempt to
lighten the tension and seriousness of the moment. He even
managed a wry smile for Donna's benefit, as he turned back to
face her once again. She could see however that the smile didn't
touch his eyes.
   "What about Beth Al, are you sure you want to put her through
this?"   He thought to himself, "Believe me, I'm doing this as
much for her as I am for Sam." but what he said out loud was
simply, " She understands."
   Before letting go of his hands, Donna kissed Al on the cheek
and whispered"Thank you." As she headed for the door, she
asked,"Can I bring you anything to eat?"  Running a hand across
his stomach, while making a rather sour face, Al replied,"Thanks
darlin', but I'm already full." To this Donna asked," You've
already had breakfast?" As Al seated himself in the chair, he
said, "Not breakfast dear, butterflies....and they've all got an
attitude." She smiled a sympathetic smile, as she walked out the
door.
   Al sat back in the chair with his elbow propped up on the arm
of it. His chin rested in his palm,as he gazed at the familiar form
in the bed. He was now aware of the various noises coming from
the different life supports, and it gave him uneasy thoughts of
when his father was dying in the hospital. The memory of it
wrenched at his heart, as it always did. And even though he had
made his peace with God, when he had prayed for Sam during a
leap in which, as a priest, Sam  had been shot by some punk,
this wound from Al's past still had not healed.
   Not wishing to linger on the incident, he sat up, and turned his
thoughts to Sam.
   Speaking to Sam aloud, perhaps in the desperate hope that
some part of him still remained, and could hear him, Al spoke
softly," I made you a promise back there at that bar, and I AM
coming back, ya gotta believe me."   He thought of all the times
as a P.O.W. that he had made that same promise to Beth. She
wasn't able to hear it either.
   He leaned forward and took up his best friends' hand. It was
not cold, but there was such a terrible sense of lifelessness
about it. "I don't know exactly where you are right now Sam, but
you hang on, you hear me?"  With his eyes closed, Al brought
his head down until it rested on their joined hands.
   "Please, please, hang on buddy." He begged in a choked
whisper, as he sqeezed his eyes shut tighter. He remained that
way for a few minutes longer, and then, it was time to go. Wiping
at his eyes, he opened the door to leave, but stopped.  Looking
back, he said softly, "See ya Sam." and left the room.
    Various technicians and programmers were busy with their
specific tasks. This was the way it always had looked whenever
Al was about to go into the imaging chamber to talk to Sam.
What was different though, was the fact that all of the key
personel were also gathered here today. On most other
occasions, at least some of them would be off in other sections
of the facility doing other things. But of course, this wasn't like
most occasions, Al wasn't going into the imaging chamber this
time.
   The faces of colleagues that Al and Sam had known since the
inception of Project Quantum Leap, were standing in a little
group, just in front of the acceleration chamber. There was one
among them, who had only become part of it all, as a result of
Sam's tampering with history; Sammie Jo. But, as Fate,(or God
or Time) would have it, Al would not be preparing to do what he
was about to do, if it hadn't been for that tampering. She was the
one who had come up with this new theory to get Sam back. Al's
life had been full of quirky little things like that ever since that
first leap.
   Their expressions ran the gamut from apprehension to
admiration. As Al walked up to the semi-circle they had formed,
Gooshie stepped forward, " Good morning admiral." he said,
handing  over the new model of the hand-link. As he shook Al's
hand, he said with the utmost sincerity, "We'll all be with you sir."
Then, becoming flustered, he added,"Uh, that is ... uh....
figuratively speaking of course."
   Al nodded his appreciation of Gooshie's attempt, as Verbena
stepped from the group. She took one of his hands in both of
hers, and gently squeezed it. "Please, take care admiral." She
said, and then gave his hand one last squeeze. Al smiled, and
replied," Count on it doc." He then drifted over to Sammie Jo and
Tina. Sammie Jo held out the cover-all Fermi suit. Unfolding part
of it, she revealed a small duffle bag attached to the
lining."When you get where you're going, you can take off the
coverall, and then just wad it up, turn the bag inside out around
it, and voila! Fermi in a bag."
    "Cute, very cute." Al commented,  " Uh, what's this?" He
added, as he opened the bag and noticed something folded up
inside. "That's the cover-all for Dr. Beckett." Sammie Jo
answered. "When you are  both ready for retrieval, he'll need
one too. I think that may have been one of the reasons we
couldn't get him back before."Here you go admiral," she said,
handing it over to him.
    "I still think it should be me going instead though." She added.
Al looked at her for a moment thinking,  "So much like your
father." Then shaking his head,he answered,"Nope, sorry.I'm the
one with the missing tissue samples, remember?" She snorted a
small laugh.
   Tip-toeing up in her high heels, Tina grabbed Al's hand, and
opening it up, she dropped a small object into his palm. He
brought the object up to examine it. It was a 1934 penny. He
looked from it and then to Tina, with a puzzled expression. "It's
like for luck." she said and then bent forward to deliver a quick
peck on his cheek. She then sniffed audibly and retreated into
the group once more. Al thought to himself, "She always was a
sweet kid."
   Now, he came to Donna. She had said most of what she had
wanted to, earlier in Sam's room. She simply hugged him, and
whispered,"Bring both of you back safely, o.k?"   Al smiled and
whispered, "Will do."  Then when he pushed away from her, he
asked," If Beth comes back before...."
"Don't worry, we'll keep each other company," Donna answered.
Then noticing the concern still present in his eyes, added softly,
"What is it Al? She'll be fine."  With a small shrug, but eyes full of
emotion, he said,  "Just tell her I love her."
   Al took one more look around at them all and said, " Thanks
everyone, guess we better get this show on the road, huh?" He
then slipped into the Fermi cover-all, as everyone else went to
their perspective places to begin the leap sequence. He stepped
into the accelerator chamber, and just before the sequencing
began, a familiar voice spoke up," Ready Admiral?" Swallowing
hard, Al responded,"Ready Ziggy." As a surge of air started to
ruffle his hair, and he began to feel light headed, he heard
Ziggy's fading voice call out, "Bon voyage, admiral." Then,
brightness, and the feeling of rushing.

    As the bright light faded and he was able to slowly discern the
shapes and colors of his surroundings, Al noticed for the first
time since his departure, that he was actually breathing. "Boy,
it's a good thing no one's around to see me in this get up, they'd
think they were being invaded." Al whispered aloud. He took off
the Fermi suit, wadded it up, and stuffed it into the small duffle
bag, along with it's twin, and using the draw-string as a carrying
strap, pulled it up to hang over his shoulder.  It was late in the
evening and there was a light ground mist. The streets were wet
and everything was quiet. He pulled the refurbished hand-link
from his coat pocket,and  glanced around one last time to make
sure he was alone.
  Since he would not merely be standing in the imaging chamber
on this leap, it would not be possible for him to simply yell out
instructions for Gooshie or Ziggy. This required a slight alteration
in the hand-link. It now had a small keyboard that would allow
him to type in a brief message if the need arose. Carefully, he
typed in the words: MADE IT. Then after a moment, a green
cube flashed, signalling that his message had been received.
After another brief pause, across the small screen came: GOOD
LUCK,GOD'S SPEED. Al looked at the words and thought to
himself, "Amen to that."
   Always before, Al would have read whatever messages were
sent over the hand-link to help Sam, and not think anything of it.
Now he read a simple salutary remark and felt his skin go into
waves of gooseflesh. This was so different than what he was
used to.He was able to feel the dampness, smell it, even taste it.
As a hologram, he had been insulated from all of these
things.Sometimes, that had been a distinct disadvantage, like
when Sam had been Jesse Tyler and was cooking the chitlins
and collard greens. His stomach growled at the
thought,reminding him that he hadn't been able to eat a thing
before he had leaped this morning.
........................CONTINUED IN PART 5.........................