Standing outside the Waiting Room, Al gave Beeks a tired look. This part was never easy; the people Sam Leaped into were blindsided by something completely outside their experience. At least half the time they thought they'd been kidnapped by aliens and, even if they didn't think that, they were nearly always frightened. Al couldn't blame them for that, but it was exhausting to calm them down. He took a deep breath and opened the door.
Not one of the ones who were frozen in fear, the Visitor was carefully examining the Waiting Room and muttering to himself. When the door opened, he stood up and whirled around. After far too many bad experiences, the door closed too quickly for him to escape, but that didn't seem to bother him. He gave Al and Beeks a big grin. "Hi! I'm the Doctor, and I'm up to five questions. Shall we get to them before I come up with more?"
The grin was contagious; Beeks was smiling as much as Al was. "Doctor," he greeted the Visitor, "I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best."
"Fantastic! Where am I; are my friends all right; what's with the jammies; where's my screwdriver; what are you lot doing with time around here?" After the questions came out in one big rush, he stood still, looking at Al and Beeks for his answers. Al noticed that he was keeping his weight on the balls of his feet, ready to move in an instant.
Hoping he'd stay cooperative, Al answered. "First, I can't tell you exactly where you are. What I can tell you is that you're accidentally involved with a government research project. We need you to stay here until we can return you to your life; that usually only takes a couple of days."
The grin had faded. "What's the longest?"
Damn. "A couple of months, but that was very unusual circumstances." Yeah, it wasn't like Sam to get a break and actually relax into a Leap; he had to keep moving, keep adjusting. Hoping to keep a positive spin on things, and trying not to think of everything that could, and had, gone wrong, Al continued. "As far as your friends go, what happened to you wouldn't affect them at all. I can't guarantee they're safe-they could get hit by a bus or something-but they're not in danger from us." Usually.
The Visitor nodded. He didn't look upset, so Al relaxed. A little. "The 'jammies', and I like that one," Al said with his best ingratiating grin, "just make everything a whole lot easier, so we have to ask you to indulge us. If you're uncomfortable, we'll do what we can to make you comfortable."
"I'm just glad the Captain's not here right now," the Visitor said, sounding amused. "Kinda feeling a bit on display." He was grinning again, to Al's relief.
Beeks held up her finger. "Just a minute, gentlemen." She poked her head out the door and spoke to one of the guards standing outside. A minute later, she said, "Thank you," to the guard. She turned back to Al and the Visitor holding a lab coat, which she handed to the Visitor. He put the coat on and waited.
Right. Three down and two to go, including that one lulu. "As far as your screwdriver goes," Al said, "it should be right where you left it." He shrugged. "Is there something special about it?"
"Yeah, but I wouldn't expect you to understand it," the Visitor said. He was now leaning against the wall, his face neutral.
"As far as your last question goes…" Al had been about to claim ignorance, but something about the Visitor made him think that was a bad idea. "It's classified," he said instead. "Now, I'm Al and this is Verbeena. We have a couple of questions for you and then she'd like to check you over and make sure you're all right medically. I doubt she'll find anything, but we don't want any surprises there."
"You can ask your questions," the Visitor said, smirking, "but I don't guarantee any better answers than you had for me. I'll try to be as honest, anyway."
That was about the answer Al had been expecting. "First of all, you're a doctor; that's great. What's your name? Y'know, for when you have to fill out forms and such. I promise, we won't cause you any trouble, and you'll never hear from us again once you've gone home."
"Y'couldn't," the Visitor said. "Like I said, you can call me the Doctor." He gave Al an amused look. "Ask UNIT about me. If they'll answer you." Then he sighed. "When I have to fill out forms, I usually use John Smith.
"Who's UNIT?" Beeks asked.
"Later," Al said. That wasn't good news; he really didn't want to get involved with the UN. "OK, where were you?"
"Don't know," the Doctor said. Before Al could object, he held up his hands. "I was aiming for Haight-Ashbury, summer of '67, Jack really wanted to see the Summer of Love, but I don't know if I made it. Your super-secret government project interfered."
Before Al could delve into that answer, Ziggy spoke up. "Dr. Beeks, can you please examine the Visitor? I need some supporting data."
The Doctor was smirking again. "Got through to UNIT, did you? You planning on doing anything more than listen to my heart and lungs?" he asked Beeks.
"And take your blood pressure," she said, taking her stethoscope and blood pressure gear from her pockets. "Why don't you have a seat?"
"Why don't you just have a listen first," the Doctor said. "Nothing else'll make sense until you do."
It didn't make any sense, now, but he was still being sort of cooperative, so Beeks indulged him. After listening for a second, she frowned and moved the stethoscope to the other side of the Doctor's chest. She moved the stethoscope back and forth for a minute, her eyes getting wider. The Doctor was now lounging back, with a self-satisified look on his face. "Ziggy," Beeks finally said, "should I expect to hear two hearts?"
"What?" Al shouted as Ziggy answered, "According to UNIT's top-secret archives, an entity known as the Doctor is an alien with two hearts and many faces. They note that, when required to give a name, the one he most often chooses is John Smith, although he has used several other aliases in the past."
Trying to pull enough information out of that to be useful, Al asked, "Many faces? You're a shapeshifter?" he asked the Doctor. "Ziggy, ally or enemy?"
"Ally," Ziggy answered. "In fact, he was employed by UNIT as a consultant for several years."
"Yep," the Doctor confirmed. "And I'm not a shapeshifter. The many faces trick, well, it only happens when I'm dying. So I'd prefer not to demonstrate it, if it's all the same to you."
"Admiral," Ziggy butted in again, "the records also note that his dimensionally transcendent ship can travel in both space and time."
Al and Beeks looked at the Doctor, stunned. The Doctor grinned more widely than he'd managed yet and said, "Yep. I'm a Time Lord."
*
"I am the Doctor," Sam said, hoping Al would hurry up and get here with some useful information. "Why would I do anything with myself?"
"'Snot him," Rose insisted. "Don't ask me to explain it, but he feels wrong. Jack-"
"Pretty snazzy substitution," Jack said, his gun not moving, "but you feel wrong to Rose, and I never doubt a lady's word on such things," he said over his shoulder to Rose. "Intuition can be much more accurate than reason in these matters. So," he turned back to Sam, "where is he?"
Al was showing no signs of showing up and Sam really wanted that gun to go away. Jack's blue eyes were the cold eyes of a predator defending its pack, not someone Sam wanted to mess with. "He's fine," Sam finally said, reasonably sure that was true. "I'm really not supposed to say any more." He thought a minute. "I don't even remember, right now, where he is, but it's somewhere very safe, I promise."
"What do you want to give him back?" Rose wailed.
"You'll get him back once I've done what I have to do," Sam said. "In the meantime, he's being kept comfortable, well-fed, all his needs met."
"So, what do you have to do?" Jack asked. The gun was still aimed straight at Sam's head.
"I don't know," Sam said, sighing. "Yet. As soon as Al gets here-"
"Al?" both Rose and Jack chorused.
"My friend." Sam sighed; they really weren't going to like this. "You, er, won't be able to see him, but he'll come, I'll put right what I have to, and you'll get your friend back again. Safe and sound."
"Put right," Jack said, clearly trying to remember something. "I've heard that before."
"So've I," said Rose, "but it just means to fix something."
"No," Jack was shaking his head. Then, catching Rose's look, he said, "Well, yes, it does mean that, but I've heard it as part of a quote. In the Academy, in a history lesson, what was it?" Looking frustrated, he looked at Sam again, "Is that part of a, let's see, mission statement or something."
"Just what Ziggy thinks I have to do to get home. Or at least Leap-" Sam didn't get to finish his thought. Again.
"Leap?" Jack asked, his eyes widening. "Project Quantum Leap? That's it, 'put right what once went wrong'; you're Sam Beckett?"
To Sam's relief, his gun had dropped, but the ramifications of Jack's knowledge was chilling. Before he could say anything, Rose asked, "Y'mean the playwright? That guy who wrote that crazy play?"
"No," Jack said, putting his gun away, "and I know better. Dr. Beckett, please forget that I said anything and let me know if I can be of any assistance to you." His stance was still that of a soldier, standing at attention, but his eyes were shining.
As Sam said, "I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing," Rose said, "Know better than what?"
Jack answered Rose first. "Timelines, Rose. I know the Doctor's explained how important they are, and how important it is to prevent paradox. So I really can't say anything else to Dr. Beckett. I'll explain to you what I know later." He turned to Sam. "I'm from your future, sir. In the meantime, how do you usually determine your mission?"
Sam made a face at the military terminology, but saw no reason not to answer. "We, that's Al and I, figure out where I am, who I Leaped into, and who I'm with and go from there."
Jack nodded. "Al would be-" He cut himself off. "Never mind. How does he know where, and when, to find you?"
"When?" Rose asked. "So he's a time traveler, too?"
"Please hold your questions till later, sweetheart," Jack said with a smile to Rose. "I can't answer them right now. Yes, Sam's a time traveler, but he works a little differently than we do. So?" He turned back to Sam.
"Al talks to the Visitor, back at the site," Sam answered. "And we're linked with the computer somehow, so I think sometimes they use that. See, he's not supposed to tell me what's going on back home, and my memory's a little Swiss-cheesed as a result of Leaping, so I'm not sure of all the details."
"Right," Jack nodded. "Something tells me that the TARDIS interfered with your Leap; two different forms of probably incompatible temporal energy? So, let's find out where and when we are and see if we can't figure it out."
"Where and when?" Sam asked.
"Er, yeah, this is the TARDIS," Rose said. "That stands for Time And Relative Distance In Space, and she's the Doctor's ship. She travels in time and space. It's wonderful!" Her smile was huge, but it drooped almost immediately. "You're sure the Doctor's all right?" she asked.
"Positive," Sam said, giving her his best reassuring smile. "The worst that can happen to him is his getting bored."
Rose winced and Jack sighed. "That could be a problem," Rose said. "He gets into the worst trouble when he's bored."
"We'll let them worry about the Doctor," Jack said. "We have a mission to figure out."
Rose returned Jack's grin and bounded down a ramp to a door. Sam assumed it went to the outside. As he started to follow, he heard the Imaging Chamber's door open behind him.
*
Time Lord! Traveler in time and space! Of all the crazy, cockamamie Leaps Sam had gotten himself into, this one took the cake! Al fumed as he strode to the Imaging Chamber. They were going to try to center Al on Sam without having any idea where he was. It was too much to hope that someone who called himself a Lord of Time would know where he'd been! Or at least where his ship was. Damn whatever it was Leaping Sam around Time.
Before Al could get to his destination, with the Doctor trailing along behind, because God forbid he act like a normal person and stay in the Waiting Room, Beeks put out her hand and stopped him. He turned to glare at her and found her holding a bottle of water and some aspirin. "Although I think a sedative might be better," she said, her smile fond.
"Thanks, Beeks," Al said as he took the aspirin. "This one's going to be a doozy."
"Amazing how you apes figure all this out," the Doctor said, his eyes taking in everything. "Your Dr. Beckett's a genius, and from me that means something. Haveta ask, though; why don't you bring him home?"
"We can't," Al told him, sighing. "When he Leaped the first time, we weren't quite ready and everything went a little . . . kaka. We're not giving up on him," he told the alien firmly.
"Course not," the Doctor said. "You apes, you never give up. "It's why I like Earth so much; stupid, persistent apes."
"Doctor," Beeks said, before Al could turn around and punch him in the nose, "is it necessary to refer to us as apes? We're not calling you an alien, or anything derogatory."
"Who says 'ape' is derogatory?" the Doctor answered. "It's what y'are. Clever apes who couldn't be kept in the trees. Or anywhere else, really. Ooooh, is that your control console?" He went over to Gooshie and Tina and started asking questions a mile a minute. Al thought he'd get more answers if anyone could understand the questions.
"Any luck, Gooshie?" Al asked.
Gooshie shrugged. "I think so, but we're getting some really strange readings. Hopefully it'll be better when you're in there."
Al nodded and headed for the Imaging Chamber. The Doctor appeared to have noticed, because he came up beside Al. "Am I right that I can see if I'm touching you?"
Al nodded, feeling tired. Project Quantum Leap was Top Secret, Eyes Only, Nobody's Supposed To Know. Except for big-eared, too-cheerful aliens, apparently. "Sure, why the hell not?"
It took a while. After the first few minutes, Gooshie asked the Doctor to leave the Imaging Chamber until they found Sam, because he was screwing up the readings. Then Al got to watch the scenery rolling around him while they tried to get a fix on Sam. It wasn't as bad as the time Sam had Leaped without there ever being a Visitor, but it came a close second.
"I think we've got it, Admiral," Gooshie finally said.
The whirling images finally stopped, but it took a minute for Al to concentrate on what he was seeing. The room they were in was huge, larger even the Project Quantum Leap's control room, and round. The support beams looked like bronze coral, almost organic. There was a column in the center that was the only illumination in the room, a weird, green light. The control panel itself, in the middle of the room, was made of that same bronze coral stuff, except where it was made of second-hand stuff. The combination was weird, but it somehow made the room less terrifying than Al thought it might have been otherwise.
There were three people leaving the room through what looked like an outside door: a man and a woman that Al didn't recognize, and Sam trailing behind. Before Al could say anything, he heard the Imaging Chamber door open behind him, and the Doctor say, "Wait! I want to see."