Disclaimer:  Quantum Leap and all related characters are owned by Bellasarius Productions and Universal.  No profit has been made off of the writing or distribution of this piece of fiction.

Author's note:  This is the opening of a planned AU story

Orphan Plot Bunny #3

by:  J.A. Moniz

Home!  It was the one thing that had been his heart’s desire for…well, Sam didn’t know how long it was he’d been gone.  Home had been the carrot dangled in front of him all that time.  It had been his reason to go on.

Looking around the room he was in after the blue/white corona faded there was no doubt that that’s where he was now.  If he needed further proof, the skintight white Fermi suit he had on was another clue and the reflection he saw in the shiny tabletop could be none other than himself.

The final piece of assurance he needed that he was home came in the form of the excited figure that burst in the room yelling out his name.  That figure, Al, grabbed him in a bear hug that he enthusiastically returned.

When the hug was released, he took a step back.  “I’m home, Al,” he said softly.  “I’m really home.”

He saw Al open his mouth but never heard the answer before his body suddenly felt light and weak.  A roaring sound filled his ears drowning out the words and his vision quickly grayed out.  He felt his body start to collapse to the floor but never felt his friend catch hold of him and lower him gently and he never heard the frantic calls for medical personnel.  The only thing he knew was a blank darkness with no sound and no feeling.

Sam wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he next opened his eyes.  He had a feeling it had been a while, though.  He blinked his eyes a few times to clear them and looked carefully around the room he was in.  There was no mistaking the sterile look of a hospital room

He shifted slightly in bed feeling the weakness in his body that spoke to a long period of unconsciousness.  He glanced over to his right and a soft smile broke out on his face when he saw Al there.  His head was down, chin on his chest, snoring softly.  It didn’t surprise Sam that his best friend was there keeping vigil over him.

He watched for a few moments as Al continued to sleep on.  The man had been his one link to home during the time of leaping.  He’d been the anchor that had kept Sam grounded all that time.  He would have even gone so far to say that Al’s continued presence had been the only thing that kept him reassured of his own sanity.  If it hadn’t been for the unconditional trust he had in the man, he didn’t think he would have ever survived the leaping to get home.

Sam’s continued scrutiny must have reached through Al’s slumber because he let out a snort and blinked his eyes open.  He immediately noticed Sam awake and staring at him.  He moved slowly from the chair, put down the safety rail at the side of the bed and sat gently on the edge of the mattress.  He put his hand lightly on Sam’s shoulder.  “Sam?  You awake, Kid?”

Sam nodded his head at the question.  “Yeah,” he said, his voice roughened from disuse.  He cleared his throat and tried again.  “Yeah, I’m awake.”  He peered closely at Al, lines of confusion appearing between his eyes.  “Why are you dressed like that?”

Al noticed how rough Sam’s voice was and reached for a cup of water, holding the straw to his lips while he drank his fill.  “What do mean dressed like this, Sam?” he asked as he returned the cup to the bedside table.  I always dress like this.”

“No you don’t,” Sam said in ever-increasing confusion.  “You never wear your uniform unless something’s up.”  He tried to hitch himself upright in bed to be on a more equal footing with his friend.  “What’s going on, Al?  Why the uniform?”  He paused for moment trying to answer the question himself.  “Has the committee been grilling you?”  He guessed that since he’d come back the committee had probably been looking to Al for answers why.

“The committee?” Al asked.  His confusion was starting to match Sam’s.  “I haven’t heard from the committee in who knows how long.”

“Then why the uniform, Al?” Sam persisted when his original question still wasn’t answered.

Al looked at Sam curiously.  “Did you forget I am a Navy admiral, Kid?”  He waited until Sam shook his head.  “Well, there’s the answer to your question.  They make even us admirals wear uniforms, Kid.”

Sam took in the beige colored mess uniform Al was wearing.  Navy admiral or not, it didn’t suit Al and it wasn’t what he normally wore.  But...he had been gone a while.  Maybe all those times he saw Al wearing civilian clothes – somewhat whacky civilian clothes – when he’d been leaping had been just for his benefit.  Maybe some rules had changed that meant Al had to wear a uniform every day but he hadn’t wanted Sam to know.  After all, there were the rules and they meant there had been a lot of things Al hadn’t been able to tell him while he was leaping.  That was all over now, though.

Setting aside the oddity of Al’s uniform, Sam instead chose to concentrate on the fact that he was home.  “It feels good to be back,” he said a huge grin on his face.

“It’s good to have you back, Sam,” Al responded in kind.  “I was beginning to believe it would never happen.”

“Yeah, me too.  So, how’d you do it?” Sam asked curiously.  Al hadn’t said anything on that last leap that would have lead him to believe they’d figured out the retrieval program.

“How’d I do what, Kid?”

“You know.”  Sam used the controls on the bed to bring the head up completely.  Eagerly, he leaned over towards Al.  “How’d you get me home?  I want to know everything.  I thought I was going to be leaping forever.”

“Leaping, Sam?  What are talking about leaping and what retrieval program?”  Al was genuinely confused and mystified by Sam’s words.

“I leaped,” Sam stated although his voice wasn’t quite so sure.  “I’ve been leaping because the retrieval program didn’t work.”  He looked oddly at Al.  This was information the man should know but from the look on his face, the whole subject matter seemed foreign to him.  “I got in the accelerator before the retrieval program was ready,” Sam explained.  Maybe this was just a test to see how much he remembered.  “They were going to cut the funding and I had to prove that it worked and it did but you couldn’t retrieve me.”

“Sam,” Al said slowly resting his hands on his friend’s shoulders.  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Kid.”  Seeing Sam’s confusion, he quickly explained.  “They were going to cut funding and you did get in the accelerator but you didn’t leap, Sam.  The whole thing went caca because it didn’t work.”

“No, it did, Al.  It did work.  You know that,” Sam insisted.  He felt a frisson of fear as he listened to his friend’s words and wondered why he was saying this.  He idly wondered if, instead of being home, this was just another leap but quickly discarded that.  He was home, there was no doubt about that, and he had been leaping.  He heard Al talking again and concentrated on what he said.

“No, Sam,” Al said firmly.  “You never leaped.  It never worked.  You got shocked or something when you tried to leap.  We’re not sure what exactly happened but you were hurt – hurt bad.”  He paused looking at Sam grimly.  When he spoke again, he spoke very clearly and slowly so there would be no question that Sam understood his words.  “You’ve been here in this room since it happened, Sam.”  He rubbed up and down the frightened man’s upper arms.  “Sam, you’ve been in a coma for the last two and half years.”

“No!”  Sam gasped out in a strangled whisper.  “No, I leaped.  I know I did.”  He saw Al slowly shake his head disagreeing with him.  This was the man he’d trusted all the time he’d been leaping.  Why was he telling him these things now?  But what if…what if Al was telling him the truth?  What if it had all just been a dream while he lay here unconscious?  “No,” he said again softly before sagging back against the pillow.

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