The Last Leap
Sam Beckett sat in the deserted control room, looking around him
with a tired grin. It had been a hell of a party, a hell of a
welcome home. He had been hugged and kissed and toasted by everyone
on the Project, and had hugged and kissed in return. The realization
that so many people genuinely cared about him had been overwhelming
but very gratifying.
"Helluva party," said a gravelly voice across the room, and Sam
looked up with a smile for his best friend.
"Yeah, it was. Thanks, Al," he said gratefully.
Al shrugged and slowly crossed the room. "My pleasure, Sam. I've
been planning this party for the past six years." He paused and
pulled out an item from behind his back. "Been planning this, too."
Sam's eyes widened at the sight of the paddle in his friend's hand.
"Oh boy," he gasped. "Al - "
"You remember this, don't you, Sam?" Al asked, holding it up. "You
should - we bought it together."
Sam swallowed hard. "I remember."
Al contemplated the paddle in his hand. "Funny, but this is one
thing that remained constant during all the changes your Leaps made.
You know, it got so's I was afraid to go into my office after a Leap -
never sure who I'd ended up shacked up with. Or who you were
knocking boots with, for that matter. But this was always in the
drawer where we kept it."
"Al - "
"Remember when we got it, Sam? You'd just had one of your infamous
displays of the Beckett temper - shot the hell out of a financial
deal I'd cooked up to fund the Project. And I was so pissed that I
went on a bender and nearly ended up in the hospital." He paused.
"Ended up married again instead, which was even worse. We agreed
that we were our own worst enemies, and made a pact to help each
other out. You remember that, Sam?"
Sam cleared his throat. "I remember," he croaked.
Al nodded. "Remember how many times this thing danced on my butt
before I stayed on the wagon? Still on it, Sam - despite the fact
that my best friend took a powder for a coupla years." He looked
over at Sam. "And I recall a number of times I had to take this to
your butt, too."
"Al, I don't think - "
"And that's exactly the problem, Sam. Brightest guy I know and you
don't think! Like jumping in the damn Accelerator before we had a
chance to finish testing it!"
"They were going to shut us down, Al!" Sam protested. "All the work
we put into it - it would have been wasted!"
Al gave him a dark look. "You don't know that, Sam. You didn't
give me a chance to work my magic. You didn't trust me, Sam."
Sam's eyes widened. "I trust you, dammit! I trust you with my life!"
"But you didn't trust me with your Project," Al said, glaring at his
friend. "No, only the great Dr. Beckett had the answers! Answers
that took six years of our lives!"
"It wasn't all my fault, Al," Sam protested feebly. "We both felt
there was some sort of - divine intervention at work."
"I'm not denying that, Sam," Al said. "But you weren't supposed to
even be in there to begin with! You were supposed to be out here,
solving any problems that came up. We needed you, Sam, and you let
us down."
Sam hung his head and whispered, "I know, Al. I'm sorry."
"Sorry don't cut it, kid. You know the drill - take 'em down."
Sam flushed. "Here? Anyone could come in!"
"Ziggy, secure the doors," Al ordered. "No one has access till
we're done in here."
"Yes, Admiral. Should I implement sound suppression - in case
Father makes a lot of noise?"
"Ziggy!" Sam yelped.
"Good idea," Al said approvingly.
Sam glared at him. "You are not doing this in front of Ziggy!"
"I think it's perfect," Al replied. "In fact, I want you to bend
over the console while I blister your butt for putting all of us
through hell for the past six years."
Sam's face set stubbornly. "I won't do it. You can't make me."
"I don't have to make you," Al said sternly, his eyes meeting Sam's
angry ones. "You're gonna do it because you know that you earned it,
and because you want to get this behind us."
Their eyes locked for a long moment, then Sam's eyes dropped. He
did feel guilty for what he'd put Al through, for the dark circles he
could see under his friend's eyes. He'd give anything to ease the
pain he still saw lurking inside those eyes, inside the man that he
loved - even in Al didn't realize just exactly how Sam felt about him.
Sam's hand went slowly to the front of his jeans, unbuttoning and
unzipping them. He pushed them down and, after a moment, pushed down
his briefs as well and shuffled forward to bend over the console.
"You'd better grab onto something, Sam - this may take awhile."
Sam swallowed hard at the grim tone in his friend's voice and
grabbed the other side of the console, holding on tightly. A moment
later, when the paddle cracked down across his exposed backside, he
was glad that he had.
"All right, Sam. What's this for?" Al asked, following the ritual
they had started so many years ago.
"For foolishly risking myself on an untested project," Sam said
quickly. "For jumping into the Accelerator without discussing it
with anyone, especially you." He gasped as he felt the paddle crack
down again.
"Damn straight," Al said, administering several stinging swats as he
talked. "You knew I'd say 'no', that you were too important to the
Project to risk. Hell! Too important to me to risk! You risked
your sanity, your life just to thumb your nose at us and prove that
you were right. Unacceptable, Sam."
Tears were forming in Sam's eyes already, both from the spanking and
his own guilt. "I know, Al. I'm sorry."
"Sorry don't cut it, pal." Al smacked him a couple more times.
"What else, Sam?"
"Um - "
"Okay, I'll help you out here. What about disregarding your
Observers instructions and interfering where you shouldn't have?"
"I did what - what I thought - "
"Dr. Beckett knows best, huh?" Al said furiously, laying down a
couple more smacks. "You didn't listen to me, Sam. You took risks,
altered things that you weren't supposed to. Do you know what a
shock it was to step out of the Imaging Chamber and find I suddenly
had a new boss? Your wife? Who, incidentally, hated my guts for
being closer to you than she was and blamed me for the whole mess!
Do you have any idea what I had to go through? The staff around here
was changing faster than I could keep up with! And then suddenly
your daughter showed up - and I told you not to screw around like
that, didn't I? And you'll admit that I know what I'm talking about
when it comes to screwing around!"
"Al - " Sam choked on a sob. "Sorry - so sorry - "
Abruptly, Al turned and hurled the paddle against the wall.
"Dammit, Sam! You have no idea what I went through - " He turned
away abruptly, folding his arms across his chest as if that would
keep him from coming apart.
Sam realized that the spanking was over, although it was unlike Al
to end so abruptly without any of their closure rituals. He stood up
and painfully pulled his jeans back up, wiping his face with the back
of his hand. He glanced over at Al and saw that his friend's body
was shaking. Anxiety made him ignore the pain movement caused and he
went to stand behind his friend, tentatively placing a hand on Al's
shoulder.
"Al?"
"You don't know what I went through," Al repeated, not looking at
him, but Sam could see the silent tears running down his cheeks.
"Every damn time I came outta the IC after a Leap I was scared, Sam.
Things would change - little things, big things. And no one noticed,
no one knew, no one remembered the way it was before. Just me."
He made a sound between a snort and a sob, and Sam began to rub
soothing circles on his back. "Hell, I've got so many timelines all
jumbled up inside my head, it's a miracle I know who I am. There was
one time when I decided to go back to our place instead of sleeping
in my quarters here - only it wasn't there. And then I remembered in
that timeline, we never were two bachelors sharing a house - that you
were married to Donna. Shocked me so much that I stayed on site
after that."
"I'm sorry, Al," Sam said softly. Hesitantly, he said, "Beth?"
Al shook his head. "Thanks for trying, Sam, but she disappeared a
couple Leaps later. Remember that hijacking you stopped? The
hostage who was shot but didn't die because you got the guys to give
up? Beth was his nurse in the hospital and they ended up fallin' in
love."
"I'm sorry," Sam said again. "I hoped I could help."
"You did, but we were havin' problems - even when she stayed with me
the whole way, I spent more time here and with you than with her.
She said I was more married to the Project -she couldn't compete."
He gave his friend a half-smile. "And in all the timelines since
then, Beth 'n me stayed together right up to Starbright. Kept me
from goin' completely into the toilet, y'know?" Sam nodded silently,
remembering the drunk and angry man he had first met. "We parted
amicably - still friends as a matter of fact. So only one ex-wife -
thanks to you, kid. And my wallet's really grateful, not havin' to
pay out all those alimony checks."
Sam managed a small smile. "Tina?"
"Nah. Not in this timeline - she and Gooshie are married and
expecting their second."
Sam's heart contracted painfully, torn between sadness that his
friend was alone and a selfish gladness that no one stood in his way
for a change. "You don't have anyone?"
Al gave him an enigmatic look. "I wouldn't say that." He moved
away, not looking at Sam. "You won't remember - 'Bena says that the
memories from this timeline will gradually work their way in with
your original memories."
Sam frowned, concentrating. "You're with someone?"
"In a way." Al bent over to pick up the paddle he had thrown
against the wall, relieved to see that he hadn't busted it. He set
it down on the table and put his hands in his pockets, fiddling with
the box in it. "It's someone I've known for a long time, someone
who's been a good friend, long before we became lovers."
"Sounds serious," Sam said, trying to swallow the painful lump in
his throat.
"Yeah. Apparently this other me had decided to do something about
that just before you Leaped." He pulled his hand out of his pocket
and looked at the box in it. "I found this in my desk drawer after
one of the Leaps after Beth disappeared. Been carrying it around
with me ever since."
Sam's heart started to pound painfully. "Can I - can I look?"
Al shrugged and held out the box. "Be my guest. It was for you."
Sam took the box, recognizing that it was a jeweler's box. He
opened it with hands that shook slightly and stared at the pair of
rings inside. Men's rings. He picked up one that appeared to be his
size and saw that it was inscribed - "Sam - P P F - Al"
"Past, Present, Future," Al translated quietly.
"We're - we're together?"
Al shrugged. "Ain't that a kick in the pants? On the QT, of
course, but after I retire - " His voice trailed off. "Of course
you don't remember any of this and I won't hold you to it if you
don't feel the same as the Sam in this timeline - "
Sam was still staring at the ring. "I remember the first time you
kissed me," he said, a little dazed by the "memories" that were
slowly surfacing. "We were wrapping up Starbright and talking about
ideas for the next project."
"We had ordered in pizza," Al said softly. "We were lyin' on the
floor with papers and pizza boxes scattered all around us. Your gave
me your 'string speech' and your eyes were glowing and you were just
so incredibly beautiful - "
"And you leaned over and kissed me," Sam said, smiling. He looked
over at Al wistfully. "I wish I knew how that felt as me - this me,
not the other me's memories."
Al let out a relieved sigh, then fixed a leer on his friend as he
moved closer. "I think I can help you out with that."
Sam grinned and wrapped his arms around Al. "You think?"
"Yeah," Al said, and pulled his taller partner's head down so that
he could kiss him. It was a gentle kiss, a mere brushing of their
lips together, but both of them could feel the electricity sparking
underneath. The second kiss was longer and more intense, and both
were breathless when they pulled away.
"Oh boy," Al murmured, resting his forehead on Sam's shoulder.
Sam laughed and squeezed his friend, his partner, his lover. "Come
on - let's go home."
"Home," Al breathed. "You don't know how long I've been waiting to
hear those words, Sam."
"I think I do," Sam said softly. He winced as a movement reminded
him of the tender condition of his backside. "And when we get there,
I think I need a little TLC."
"That reminds me." Al picked up the paddle from the table. "I
don't want to leave this lying around. Besides, if that gleam I saw
in your eye when you and Gooshie were talking earlier means anything,
I'm gonna need this soon."
"Al!" Sam protested as he followed his lover out of the control
room. "I gave you my word! Al!"
End