The leap happened sooner than Sam had expected it. He had just finished saving some people from a burning hospital in 1965. It was the kind of death-defying thing he had been doing recently. Every leap he had been making lately, he had been closer to death than he would have wanted. His mission was dangerous in the first place, saving some people from a burning building, one that had the shoddiest construction since the high rise in the movie "The Towering Inferno". He could have easily died that time, he almost got burned in a short fall, and taken two people with him: himself and the fireman he had leaped into. Bobby Jones, a hard on his luck fire fighter who had only days left to his retirement. Now he had the biggest fire rescue ever on his record, and he could retire to his happy home. Samuel Beckett, Quantum Leaper by trade, however reluctantly, was not that lucky. Years ago, while working on a project that would have helped him leap into people throughout time and place, something went wrong. He had picked the wrong time to go through a test of his ambitious project. He got into the quantum leap accelerator, and vanished. He was not alone on his journey, however. He had a guide from his time, Al, a person only he could see and hear. Well not only him, there were times when either children, or the mentally unstable were able to see him. He helped him on his missions. Missions from god? Could be, something made him go into the tests early and something definately was helping him every step of the way. The rest was history. He had no idea how long he had been making his leaps, he stopped counting long ago.
Sam remembered all this in the seconds he was leaping into his new person. He felt the energy surge around him as he finally finished entry. The person he displaced, as usual went to the "waiting room" in the future, where Al was ready and waiting to let the disorientated person, now in Sams body, know what was going on.
Sam himself felt a little disorientation himself seconds after he entered the new person. Ever since his first leap, his memory has had a swiss cheese effect he had no short term memory at that moment. He looked around quickly. He felt water hitting him in the face. It was hot.
"Ah!" Sam said reaching forward. He looked around the spray of water and searched for the cold water handle. He turned it, and the water cooled down a bit, but not much.
"This is nice." Sam thought to himself as he grabbed some soap. "After that last leap, a long shower is just what the doctor ordered." He stuck his face into the water and let the water pour over him. He took the soap and lathered it up in his hand. He then took the lather and started to run it over his body. He started from the neck and ran his fingers down his body. The soap felt good. He almost was at mid-chest when he felt something weird. He felt the bumpy area of his chest. He took his head out of the shower long enough to look down.
"Breasts?" He muttered. "Oh great, I'm a woman again." He thought to himself. He slightly opened the curtain. He looked over at the mirror that hung over the bathroom sink. He was definately a woman, with all the right parts in all the right places. He was a blond, as he could see in the reflection. It hung over his face in a lumpy wet mess.
"Fine, a woman." He sighed. "I can handle that. I was a beauty contestant once." He closed the curtain. He was about to get back to finishing the shower, she probably had some sort of job to go to, he figured, when the door to the bathroom opened. Sam froze in his place. He listened carefully has he heard the sound of humming beside the shower. Clothes hit the floor.
"Hello?" He asked, hearing his real voice for the first time. "Whos there?"
"Who do you think?" The person answered. The shower curtain flew open. It was a man. Sam instinctively covered part of his body. He looked down, realizing he was covering the wrong part. He moved his hands up a bit.
"Harry Senate, back scrubber at your service!" He said making a mock salute. He climbed in behind Sam. "Hope I'm not too late."
"Oh boy..." Sam muttered his almost-trademark line.
"Whats the matter?" Harry asked. "Lauren?"
"Lauren, so thats my name." Sam thought. "Nothings the matter." He said.
"I thought I would just take a quickie shower today." Sam explained.
"Oh a quickie?" Harry said. "Why didnt you say so?" He tried to grab at Lauren.
"Harry!" Sam said as his voice raised an octave,as he was afraid that he might be grabbing the wrong person. "Please!" He said. "Its going to be a long day."
"All right. Spoil sport." Harry said climbing out. Sam noticed just then Harry still had his underwear on. "Just dont use all the hot water." He said.
Sam sighed. Harry stuck his face through the shower curtain. "No kiss?"
Sam slung soap foam at him. It hit him in the hair. "Okay." He said walking away.
Sam turned closed the curtain. He saw a bright light as he heard something open and close beside him. He turned to look as he heard someone say. "Ohh wee. And me without a sponge."
Sam jumped as he saw his friend, Al, standing in the shower.
"Al, what are doing, you're gonna get wet...." Sam stopped himself. Al was a hologram. He couldnt get wet.
"One of these days you'll remember." Al said.
"What are you doing here Al?" Sam asked.
"Besides admiring the view?" Al didnt see Sam, he saw Lauren. "Oh to be you for a day."
"Al?" Sam asked impatiently. "I'm starting to prune up here."
"So get out of the shower." Al said.
Sam climbed over the edge of the tub. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around him. Al simply walked through the tub. He looked visibly disappointed when he saw Sam in the towel.
"Whats my mission?" Sam asked.
"We'll see." Al said holding a device up. It was a gadget that was linked up to the main computer. It told Al everything they needed to know, who Sam was in that leap and what he had to do. "Its not working!" He cursed and slapped it. "Damn it goochie." Goochie was responsible for the important info they needed.
"Al..." Sam said as he heard Harrys footfalls by the door. "He's coming back."
"Harry? Harry Senate." Al said looking at what he found out. "He's a teacher. You are Lauren Davis, also a teacher. You work at Winslow High. You're in Boston."
"Great, tell me what I'm here for." Sam said as he found Laurens clothes. He pulled a bra on, feeling slightly ridiculous with it on. He then pulled on Laurens form fitting pants, and blue blouse. He fixed his hair, putting it up in a twist. He had been a woman so many times now, it was almost old hat. He turned and looked at Al, and realized he had been staring at her the whole time.
"Al?" Sam whispered angrily as there was a knock at the door.
"Oh yea, goochie is really on top of this. He can't tell you what you are here for, but from what he says here, it happens at school." Al said.
"Great. That could be anything." Sam muttered as he impulsively cleaned the bathroom, picking up the towels. "Let's hope its nothing dangerous, I could deal with a nice safe leap for a change."
"I'll come back later." Al said. "Meet me in the girls shower."
"Why the girls shower?" Sam asked. Al tried to give him an answer but the doorway to the waiting closed before he had a chance. Harry came in the door.
"Ready to go?" Harry asked. He was completely dressed this time. Harry tied his tie on. "Guess I didnt need the shower after all." He said patting his head."
"I'm ready." Sam said.
"I thought I heard you talking." Harry said.
"You did?" Sam said. "You did. Uh another rat. Yeah. Rat."
"Great. Well since its my place, anythings possible." Sam blinked at him. They must live together, he thought..
"Want to stop by your place?" Harry asked. Sam sighed. Okay, so he was wrong.
"No thanks. Let's get to school." Sam said.
"All right. I'll get the car." Harry said as Sam picked up Laurens things.
"A teacher." He thought. "Great. I can do that. I've done it a half a dozen times. What could happen at a school?" He asked himself. He looked out the window. "On such a lovely day?"
Winslow High
Dana Poole was entering the school from a back entrance. She was about to open the door when she was knocked aside by a boy in dark clothes.
"Hey watch it, jackass." Dana muttered as she picked her books up. The boy gave her a withering look that actually scared her a bit. He then turned and went through the door, taking care not to hit his bag against the door. Dana shook her head and continued to pick up her things, completely ignoring that the bag the boy carried seemed to contain a gun.
Eight O'Clock
Harry looked at "Lauren" suspiciously as they walked around the school. He seemed concerned. They now sat in the teachers lounge drinking coffee and reading the paper. Sam, having had enough of Harry Senate staring at her, for any reason, decided to finally speak up.
"What Harry?" He said.
"Is there something the matter?" Harry asked. "Something you're not telling me?"
"What?"
"Is there something wrong?" He asked again.
"Oh I don't know." Sam said. "Theres nothing wrong."
"You usually let me hold your hand on the way into school. Today you swatted me off several times like a fly." Harry said. "To me that says somethings up. Come on, we always talk about everything."
"Ask him, what about Tyronne?" Al said appearing at Sams side.
"Its about time you came back." Sam muttered low under his breath. "What about Tyronne?" He said taking Als advice. "You didn't tell me everything about that!" Sam stopped. He had no idea what he as talking about. He swung his head to the side to make himself look like he was fixing Laurens hair. "I have no idea what I'm talking about." He muttered. Al gave him a sign, he would tell him later.
"Lauren, you know I made a promise to Tyronne not to tell anyone what was going on." Harry said as he went to get some more coffee. "I thought we were done talking about this thing." Harry sighed.
"Well obviously we're not." Lauren said as another man entered the room.
"Okay." Al punched up his device. "This is Scott Guber. Vice principal."
"Morning." Scott said getting his coffee.
"Morning Scott." Lauren said.
"Lauren, hi." Scott said to her. "How are you?" He said coming over to where Al was standing.
"I don't know about you, but I get 'military background' from him." Al said.
"Oh I'm great." Sam said. They looked at each other for a minute. Scott seemed fixated on something. Sam squirmed a little. What was he looking at? Sam knew it couldnt be his non-existant bustline, but thats not Scott saw. He looked down. "Oh geez." He had not buttoned his shirt all the way up to his neck. It was habit, he hadnt had anything to cover for a few leaps now. "I'm sorry. I must have been in a hurry dressing."
"Well...." Scott stammered as he realized what Sam was talking about. "See that it don't happen again." He said quickly. He turned quickly and trhough Al and almost walked over Harry on his way out of the room. "Good day." He said quickly to Harry.
"How come you didn't tell me my blouse was open?" Sam said to Harry who was now laughing. "I would tell you if your fly was open!"
"I'm sorry, but that look on his face was classic. That would be a great plan. Everytime he gets mad at me, you flash him your breasts." Harry suggested.
"And what about when I'm mad at you?" Sam asked.
"Hmm. Good point." Harry said. "I think we'd have to sneak into Mr. Licks office for that."
"He's not being weird, by the way, thats a real teachers name." Al said looking at his device. "This Harry has been very frisky lately."
"Well, when I see who hes dating, I think I can understand." Sam said as Harry went back to his seat. Sam looked in the window and saw Laurens troubled face looking back at him. "What am I here for?" He whispered.
"We still have no idea." Al said. "But I'll wager a guess we'll find out soon."
Sam sighed and looked at Al. It had been a long time since they had dealt with a leap in which he had no idea what he was doing here.
"I'm a teacher." Sam thought. "I've done it before. I'm sure once classes are over with, I'll find out my purpose." He heard the door open. "Morning Louisa." Harry said. Sam looked up. There was an attractive brownette at the door.
"Morning Harry." Louisa said. "Lauren."
"Hi." Sam weakly waved.
"Steven wants to see you both, now." She said.
"Steven..." Al said. "Steven Harper, principal."
"All right." Harry said. Louisa left, leaving the door open. "What gives? I havent had a chance do anything wrong yet?"
"Maybe he wants to nip your behavior in the bud." An older man said coming in. "It suits you right too, after all you did in this last year alone."
"Harvey Lipschultz." Al said reading his device again. "We ought to go see that principal before I have to introduce any more teachers." He noted.
"I'll meet you in the office." Sam said before Harry had a chance to think of a smart aleck quip for Harvey.
"All right. Let me get some more coffee. I got a feeling it'll be a long visit."
Sam went out the door, with Al close on his heels. "What did Harvey mean, after all he did this year?"
"According to Gooshie, Harry got transfered to the classroom as known as the dungeon this year. The cream of the crap, so to speak. Badly behaved kids. One day he shot off a gun in class to get their attention. They were blanks, but no one was pleased. He kissed a student, covered up a students crime, and many other things."
"A contender for man of the year, hes not." Sam deducted. Al nodded.
"The office is that way." Al noted.
Sam went to open the door but Harry beat him to it.
"I can open my own door Harry." Sam said. Harrys eyebrow raised. "But you can get it this time." He added quickly saving his own butt.
"Okay..." Harry said. Sam went inside, Harry eyed him from behind.
Stevens office
"Ah, Lauren and Harry. Sorry to keep you waiting." Steven said after leaving them to wait in his office for five minutes. Al had gone back to the waiting room to talk to the real Lauren. "I need a favor from you today Lauren."
"What?" Sam asked.
"I need you to sit in on Harrys class in the dungeon today." Steven said. "There is a transfer student in his class that we want to keep an eye on." He explained.
"Transfer student?" Harry asked. "Why wasnt I told?"
"Because I knew you wouldn't approve and that you would say something." Steven said. "It's only for one day."
"One day?" Harry said. "You're not moving him permanently in my class are you?"
"Hopefully not." Steven said. "They want to see how he acts in a different envrionment. They meaning the school he came from."
"What about my class?" Sam asked.
"You're just giving a test right?" Steven asked. Sam blanked out. How was he to know Laurens lesson plans?
"As far as I know." He replied.
"I'll watch your class for you." Steven said. "All right?"
"Fine." Sam said.
"Its almost time." Harry said. "Let's go." He said. "You know I always wanted to get you in my class." He said to Sam on the way out.
The Dungeon
Sam sat in front of the class on a stool. He sat up there very confortably, crossing and recrossing his legs so that nothing would show.
"All right, wouldnt you say that most of American history, the major fights and even wars, took place over drinks?" Harry asked. "The Boston Tea Party was one of the incidents that brought on the American Revolution. Can anyone else think of a time when something to drink was the cause of major controversy?"
The class raised their hands. Everyone started to talk, but Sam ignored most of it. Someone sitting next to a student all in black brought up prohibition. The student in black fidgeted a little bit. It was almost as if he didnt want to be seen, or for anyoone to see what he was doing. Sam scrutinized him. Harry looked at him.
"What are you thoughts Lauren?" Harry asked him.
"What?" Sam asked. "Oh yeah, what about Jim Jones?" He said. "He brought a whole cult of people to a faraway country and eventually killed them all with cool-aid."
"Must have had Gubers recipe." One of the students cracked. Everyone laughed, and eventually Sam did too. He started to relax. Maybe nothing was gonna happen.
Al appeared in the back of the room. Sam saw him but couldnt talk to him in front of everyone. Al waved frantically, but he couldn't hear what he wanted to tell him.
Suddenly, the kid in black stood up. He dropped his bag on the floor. He had pulled a gun out of it. He pulled the hammer on the gun.
"Nobody move!" The kid yelled. Everyone got up and ran out of the room. So much for not moving. The commotion confused the kid. He started to point the gun around the room looking for an easy target. He finally settled on one, Lauren.
"Oh my god." Sam said, realizing he was in the line of fire.
The kid moved his finger on the trigger. He started to pull back on it. Sam felt someone push him roughly aside. It was Harry. As he did this, there was a loud pop heard in the room. Harry felt himself fall back, hit by the bullet. The kid dropped the gun and ran from the room. He was shortly tackled in the doorway by a couple of security guards and Scott. Harry crumpled to the ground. Sam caught him befoer he hit the ground.
"Oh my god. Harry." Sam said. He moved Harrys shirt to look at the wound. He could see the bullet hole, but there was no blood. Sam brought his/her hand from behind Harrys back, and saw that it was covered in thick red blood. "Oh my god."
"No worries, Lauren." Harry said slowly, some blood coming out of his mouth. "It doesnt even hurt anymore...." His words trailed off. He was unable to talk anymore. Sam looked at Harry laying in Laurens/his arms. He stared blankly at him. He stopped breathing.
"Oh my god." Sam said. "I've failed." He felt the familiar energy form around him. "I failed, but why am I leaping?" He asked himself. He left Laurens body. Lauren quickly returned to her own body. "Oh my god, Harry, whats going on?" She said tears pouring down her face. "Please answer me, Harry....Harry!!!"
Scott and Steven stood in back of her.
"She's in shock." Scott said. "She doesnt even know what happened."
Monday April 23, 2001
Sam completed his leap. He was lying down in bed. He got up and briefly ran his hands over his body. He was a man again. He looked up in the mirror. A familiar visage looked at him.
"Oh boy...not again..." He said.
