CHAPTER 27

It was morning, Sam awoke his head clear, the throbbing pain had gone. 
He looked about him, the sun shone through the shaded windows. 
Everywhere looked clean and as fresh as the new day itself. The nurse 
from the night before swayed quietly into Sam's room, her bright 
African-Caribbean-American voice filtered into the air.
"You're lookin' a whole heap better this morning Sam. How are you 
feelin'?" She stood at the bottom of Sam's bed, hands on hips.

"Great," Sam smiled.

"No head pain?"

"No, I'm feeling good." Sam lifted himself up onto his elbows. "What day 
is it?"

"Monday." She said, moving over to the window and opening the blinds.

The sudden glare made Sam squint. "And the year, what year is it?"

"Oh Sam, don't concern yourself, everything will come back to you in 
time."

"N-no I want, need to know," Sam looked at her anxiously.

"Today is Monday, September 22, 2008. Why do you want to know? Is it 
getting near to the date of your wed...."

Sam didn't let her finish, "No, it's just that I need to know. I can't 
stand it, not remembering."

"Don't let it worry you, there are more important things to think about. 
Dr. Mikowski will be coming to see you soon and your friends said they 
would be back later." She busied herself straightening Sam's bed. 
"You've got a good girl there Sam."

"Yes I know, I can't remember her though, but these feelings I have for 
her, they're so strong."

"Feelings are funny things, you feel them sometimes and you don't know 
why, they can't be explained. I think they seep deeper into the 
subconscious than the memory. When the memory goes, the feelings are 
still there. I certainly can't explain it, I don't think anyone can."

"Do you know when I'll be able to get out of here?" Sam looked at her 
quizzically.

"Why are you in so much of a rush? You've only just gotten here." She 
laughed.

"I've got so much to do, so much to find out. I've got to get back to 
work. It's this, er, not knowing again, it's making me restless."

"Dr. Mikowski will have more of an idea, ask him when he comes, he 
should be here any minute."

She helped Sam lean forward whilst she fluffed up his pillows and lay 
him back down.

He sank into them sighing. "I wish I could remember. All that work, and 
I can't even imagine any of it. It still feels like I've got a long road 
ahead of me, something to accomplish, but I've done it. I can't believe 
it 'cos I've not experienced it. It's driving me crazy."

The door opened, Sam turned to see Dr. Mikowski, two other, younger 
doctors followed him. He stopped about half way into the room and then 
turned to talk to the other two. Sam strained to hear what they were 
saying but their voices were too low to be audible.

"I'll be back with your breakfast when they've gone Sam." The nurse 
walked round the bottom of the bed and gave Sam a wink, said something 
to the doctors and left.

"Right Dr. Beckett, Sam. You've had a good nights sleep, I see?" Dr. 
Mikowski approached Sam's bedside, he introduced the other two who were 
in close pursuit. "This is Dr. Milnes and Dr. Kolenski, my Registrar's." 


Dr. Milnes was young, tall and blonde. His half-rimmed glasses perched 
on the tip of his nose, looking as though he would lose them any second. 
Dr. Kolenski was shorter, slightly darker and very much older. Both held 
small, electronic notebooks and were frenetically pressing keys as Dr. 
Mikowski spoke.

"Dr. Beckett is the quantum physicist, Nobel Prize winner no less. 
Sixteen years ago Dr. Beckett suffered a horrendous attack in which he 
suffered a depressed fracture of the left temporal cranium and 
subcranial bleeding. He made a full recovery. Two day's ago a blow 
caused a fissure, mild unconsciousness ensued but resulted in no more 
than a headache. However, several hours later another blow caused 
extensive subcranial and external bleeding, resulting in extensive blood 
loss causing coma, tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation." Dr. 
Mikowski turned to Sam. "You've got some good friends Sam, that IV they 
devised probably saved your life."

Sam smiled uneasily, he knew what they were talking about, he knew the 
implications, the seriousness of it all struck home. At least he was 
alive, memory or no, he was thankful for that.

"Surprisingly everything is satisfactory, " he looked at Sam's notes. 
"I'll have the tubes removed and if by this evening all is still 
acceptable you can go home tomorrow."

'Home,' somewhere in the back of his mind Sam remembered that word. 
Somehow it was significant with something he couldn't recollect, 'home,' 
he said it to himself once more, but nothing would emerge from the 
wilderness inside his head. "Thank you doctor, I appreciate that. I know 
you wouldn't normally let anyone go so soon."

"I know that you are very aware of the seriousness of your condition, 
you know that if anything changes you must contact me immediately. No 
messing about ignoring anything, and take it easy, no more knocks to 
your head. You do understand that Sam, anything at all, promise?"

"Yes, I understand only too well, and I promise, to keep in touch. 
Thanks doctor."

"Right, I'll see you tomorrow, I'm sure I'll be able to sign the release 
papers for you."

As Dr. Mikowski opened the door Al appeared, followed by the nurse with 
Sam's breakfast.

"My God pal, you're looking great." Al said as he strode over to the 
bed.

"He'll be even better when those tubes have gone." The nurse placed 
Sam's breakfast onto the table and wheeled it over to Sam. "I'll come 
back later when you've finished."

"Core-blimey I didn't expect to see you so well, any news on the old 
memory?" Al pulled up a chair and sat down.

"I keep remembering bits, not things that have happened though, just 
feelings, intuitions, a sort of de-ja-vue." Sam looked into the 
distance, not touching the food.

"What sorta things?" Al helped himself to the contents on Sam's plate, 
picking pieces up with his fingers.

"Dunno really, Bernie, I can't remember her, but I have these feelings 
for her, they're so strong Al..... And when Dr. Mikowski said I could go 
home, there was this overwhelming feeling," Sam outstretched his arms, 
"that the word 'home' meant something...... something real-ly...... I 
can't put it into words Al."

"Well I can explain the last bit Sam. You were stuck in the past for 
five years, no matter how we tried we couldn't get the retrieval program 
to work. All you really wanted was to come home, and you did, you did 
get home, just over two weeks ago. That's why the word 'home' is so 
important to you."

"There's another thing Al, I still feel that I have something to 
accomplish. I can't remember finishing the project."

"You didn't finish it Sam. That's why you were trapped in time. You 
leapt before it was finished. The government nozzles were about to pull 
the plug, but you showed them Sam, you really showed them that it 
worked, well sorta worked anyways. You only completed the project four 
days ago."

"So does it work now?" Sam's brow creased.

"Yeah, you proved it to Bebrooks."

"Who's Bebrooks Al?"

"He's one of the new sponsors, in fact he's heading the sponsorship."

"You mean the government aren't funding the project anymore?"

"Ziggy lost all track of you in early 2000 Sam. After a couple of 
months, and no trace of you, they withdrew all of the funding. They left 
you out there. They didn't give a damn, you were lost to them, all they 
cared about was the money. After all that, it all boiled down to the 
same thing, money, they sacrificed you."

"How did Bebrooks find out about the project, it was classified?"

"There was an inquiry, the courts were involved and the newspapers got a 
hold of it, and you know what the press are like. Project Quantum Leap 
was on the front page of every tabloid in the country, for weeks." Al 
wiped a hand over his face. "He save the project Sam..... and you."

"Remind me to thank him when I see him."

"You already have, erm, seen him and thanked him. We're just waiting for 
the committal hearing now, see if they're gonna continue the 
sponsorship."

"You mean we're still hanging on a thread?"

"The way of the word pal, the way of the world and....."

Beth rushed into Sam's room the door slamming open. "Al! Al! The TV, 
CNN, it's about Rosie!"

Al reached for the remote control and tuned the television to CNN.

They caught the last of the news report, ".....a single shot to the 
head," the picture was that of Rosie Saint-James. "She was found early 
this morning at the Hilton Embassy Row hotel, on Massachusetts Avenue, 
Washington DC. According to police statements, there were no witnesses. 
And that concludes our news update. Now more on the recent fuel ....."

Al clicked the remote and silenced the television. "What else did you 
hear Beth?"

"Nothing, the sound was turned down, I just noticed the picture." Beth 
was visibly shaking.

"Who was that?" Sam asked.

"Rosie Saint-James, she's the one who attacked you Sam." Beth sat on the 
edge of Sam's bed.

Sam looked from Beth to Al, their expressions gloomy, "What's wrong?"

"She either committed suicide or she was murdered, my money's on the 
second and I bet Peter Saint-James is behind it too. Funny how she 
escaped from us and within twenty-four hours she's dead, shot, in the 
head. Doesn't sound like suicide to me."

"They both have the same surname, don't they? Who's Peter Saint-James?" 
Sam asked, looking from one to the other.

Al looked away, Sam was desperate for answers, 'Why was he always 
explaining? Why did Sam always want to know everything? No doubt Sam 
would be asking for more answers before the day was out.' He stood and 
walked to the window, looking out he was silent in thought. He placed a 
clenched fist against the glass and turned back to Sam, "The 
vice-president of the United States of America, and I bet, as corrupt as 
the day is long. Yeah Sam, Rosie's his daughter, my guess is she didn't 
come up to his expectations, just goes to show what some people will do 
to reach their goals."

Sam's mouth dropped, "You mean he killed his own daughter?"

"Just what I was thinkin' Sam." Al nodded.

The door opened and the nurse entered wheeling a trolley. "Afraid you'll 
have to leave, just for a few minutes. I'm gonna remove Sam's tubes."

"See you later Sam, I'll nip downstairs, get these ribs checked out 
they're givin' me real gyp."

Beth leaned over Sam and kissed his cheek, "Take care Sam, we'll be back 
in awhile."

Al waved as the door closed. The nurse removed Sam's tubes and helped 
him out of bed."

"Can I have a walk around later?"

"Sure Sam, if you stay in your room."

"I need to do some things."

"You need to do a lot of things Sam Beckett and one of them is rest." 
She smiled at him, but Sam didn't return her gesture.

He had to find out about Peter Saint-James, his daughter Rosie, he was 
up to something, Sam could feel it, and he knew that Al felt it too. Al 
didn't like answering his questions, anyone's questions. Sam knew it, 
but if he didn't ask, he would never find anything out. As soon at the 
nurse left, Sam was up on his feet, a little unsteady at first. He 
walked around the room until his legs lost their jelly-like sensations, 
wearing only a bathrobe and slippers, he headed out of the door to find 
Al and the answers to some of his questions.