QUANTUM LEAP - REUNIONS
ACT 1A
INT. QUANTUM LEAP CONTROL ROOM - THE FUTURE
Everyone is busily attending to various jobs. Gushie
is at the controls frantically trying to take care of
something. Al enters with Dr. Beeks; they are talking
about Sam.
GUSHIE
Admiral.
AL
Just a minute, Gushie. I'll be right
with ya.
Now, Dr. Beeks, I don't quite
understand how the stress
syndrome thing has...
GUSHIE
(Interrupting Al with
great urgency in his
voice.)
Admiral! I need you right now!
It's Dr. Beckett. He leaped over 2
minutes ago.
Al
What? Ah, nah, nah... NO! We
can't lose him now. We just can't.
He needs our help! ...Can you
track him? Where is he? Is there
anyone in the Waiting Room?
GUSHIE
No one, Admiral, and no indications
showing traces of momentary leaps
into individuals which would
indicate he is bouncing around
through time. We do not know to
where, or when, Dr. Beckett has
leaped. It is quite probable he has
again leaped as himself.
And, if that is the case, Ziggy will
have to do another NANO search in
order to find him which, I'm afraid,
requires your participation.
Al
Isn't there any other way?
GUSHIE
No, I'm afraid there's not....
Admiral? You wouldn't happen to
have any "feelings" again about it
being his birthday, or where to
look, would you?
Al shoots Gushie an exasperated, irritated look.
GUSHIE
I'm sorry, Admiral. I was just
hoping. But.... Well, it is the only
way to find him.
AL
(with fatalistic
resignation)
God, I hate to go through that
again. Sam, 'ol buddy, it's a good
thing you're worth it.
CUT TO:
Al stands in the whirlwind.
CUT TO:
Sam leaves Beth's house. He picks up a newspaper off
a yard, takes it out of the plastic bag, opens it, and
looks at the headlines.
SAM
(Voice-over as he reads
through the paper)
During all these years of leaping
through time to help put right
what once went wrong, we all
thought there was a higher power
leaping me around; whether it was
God, or Fate, or Time itself....
I can hardly believe I'm the one.
I'M doing it. I'm leaping myself
around within my own lifetime,
helping others, righting wrongs.
I am achieving my dreams.
Sam closes paper and looks around. As he speaks, he
folds the paper up and places it back in the plastic
bag.
SAM
(states out loud with
conviction)
I can't go home yet; there's so
much going wrong in the world
every day; so much to put right.
Who knows what I can accomplish
before I'm done.
Sam drops the paper where he found it; leaps.
EXT. Shot of mountain used during series
Caption: "Stallions Gate, New Mexico - 5 years later".
FADE TO:
INT. QUANTUM LEAP COMPLEX - THE FUTURE
Al and Donna are walking through the complex toward
the control center.
They pause and look through a glass partition at
Sammy Jo (Sam's daughter with Abigail) as she is
working.
AL
(conversational, upbeat,
looking at Sammy)
Sam's daughter's doing great.
Thank God she was able to
synthetically duplicate my
neurological output so I don't have
to stand in that damn whirlwind
while Ziggy does the NANO search
for Sam. Now we can search non-
stop; 24 hours a day.
Al glances at Donna as they resume walking.
AL
Is she any closer to figurin' out a
better way to bring him home when
we find him?
DONNA
(distant, as if quietly
musing; not looking at
Al, but rather at an
unknown point in space,
quietly stresses the
second "if", as though in
a dreamy state:)
You mean "if", Al... "if" we find my
husband.
AL
(stops for just a moment
and turns to Donna with
a serious look of
concern; Donna keeps
walking)
Donna?
(catches up with Donna
and then continues
walking with her and
speaks her name a slight
bit stronger)
Donna!
As Donna stops and turns to face Al, he examines
Donna's face during his next line and throughout her
reply with his way of skeptically eye-balling a
situation when he feels something is not quite right.
AL
You're not still bitter about Sam's
daughter workin' here with us, are
you?
DONNA
(visibly composes
herself, but replies as if
nothing had happened)
No, Al. I'm not bitter about Sammy.
(she and Al continue
walking)
She has some bright, new ideas.
But I don't think she has
developed anything that has
adequately increased the odds.
Ziggy is still only projecting a 32%
chance of a successful retrieval.
AL
(tries to elicit a positive
reaction from Donna)
Yeah, but don't forget the odds are
goin' up every day....
(now with more concern)
Donna, I'm worried that's not the
real problem. Are you sure you're
OK with all of this?
DONNA
I'm fine, Al. Really. Really fine....
Really. I mean... well... actually no.
No, I'm not fine! I'm miserable.
But it's not Sammy... not exactly.
(stops and turns to face Al)
If you really want me to be
completely honest about it, I'm
bitter about Sammy's mother, and
every other woman Sam has been
with since this terrible nightmare
started.
There. I've said it. I shouldn't
have... didn't intend to.... but I'm
glad. I'm glad I said it. Now you
know. But... Well, I'm glad it's out
in the open and now you know.
Donna and Al resume walking. Al is sympathetic.
DONNA
I could forgive all of it and I could
wait forever, if I could feel some
sense of hope that we will ever be
able to bring him home again. But,
Al, I don't believe it matters what
the odds of a successful retrieval
are, I still don't think we're ever
going to find him to try to retrieve
him!
What's he doing out there? I've
been over the tapes and
transcripts of your last contact
with him a million times and it just
doesn't make any sense. If he IS
the one leaping himself around,
why hasn't he come home?...
Either he can't... or he just doesn't
want to.
AL
Donna, Sam isn't the one leaping
himself around.
DONNA
I'm not so sure anymore.
AL
Well, I am.
Donna looks at him quizzically, searching for
reassurance.
AL
If he could control it, he'd be here.
He'd come home.
DONNA
(with a slight smile)
I wish I could be sure you were
right, Al.
(the smile fades)
I couldn't handle it, if he was the
one doing it and he just didn't
want to come home. I have to
believe there's some other reason
keeping him away. But that's like
a double edged sword... if there is
some other reason, that means he's
in trouble.
AL
Donna, everything'll be alright.
You'll see.
DONNA
I'm not so sure, Al; he told you he
was the one leaping himself....
AL
Donna... he told me a BARTENDER
told him he was the one leaping
himself around through time.
DONNA
(sheepishly)
Well, yes. I keep forgetting... and
the Bartender saying it does make
a difference... in the general
concept.... But I get so scared and
full of doubts....
Al, I have this terrible feeling that
it's all true; that it really is Sam
that's doing it... and maybe that
he's been doing it all along.
AL
Donna, it hasn't been Sam! It's
been the experiment; the Quantum
Leap Project... run by a computer
with the biggest ego in the
universe! And you know that Dr.
Beeks says the last time we saw
Sam he was probably suffering
from an overload of exasperation -
sort of like delayed-stress-
syndrome... like he'd been at war...
and he was inventing reasons he
hadn't been able to come home.
Donna
All the more reason to try and help
him. If he's not the one leaping
himself around, then something
has gone terribly wrong and he's
probably no longer able to leap
into someone else.
They walk in silence for a moment, each with looks
indicating they still believe their own point of view,
but obviously each has a nagging suspicion that the
other may be closer to the truth of the matter.
Donna
(to herself)
I'd almost rather that were true!
Oh, dear God, please forgive me
but I'd rather he were in trouble.
(spoken to Al)
I know that could mean disaster
for him, but I'm afraid I could
handle that easier than him just
not wanting to come home to me.
But, Al, if he is in trouble...
Al, Sam needs our help. We're
going to have to go get him.
AL
Donna, we've already been through
this a gazillion times.
They arrive at the control room and enter.
AL
It's just too dangerous.
GUSHIE
(looks up from his work
at the controls)
What is too dangerous, Admiral?
AL
Donna's back on her kick about
wanting to play Rescue Team to go
fetch our boy.
GUSHIE
Oh, Doctor Alissie, I still strongly
advise against such action.
DONNA
(argumentative)
It's been 5 years! Sam is going to
be stranded out there forever
unless we go get him!
GUSHIE
I disagree. We have come quite
close to locating him on numerous
occasions. True, we have not been
successful in getting a complete
lock on his location to allow
Admiral Calevichi to contact him
before he leaps again; but I am
confident that we will eventually
be successful. But, these things
take time.
DONNA
I feel like I have no time left.
AL
Donna, we've just got to keep
scanning all years until we find
him. And we will find him.
GUSHIE
And don't forget, when Dr. Beckett
leaps into someone rather than
traveling through time as himself,
we will immediately be able to get a
lock on him.
DONNA
That's just it, I don't think he can
leap into someone. But I think I
can go to him; I can leap to him.
I've been working on the program
to convert it to my...
AL
Donna, Sam is alright. Hell, he's a
hero! And, think about it! With
Fate, or God, or whatever-it-is
that's been leaping him around
through time letting him be himself
to the people he has helped or
saved over the last few years:
that's got to be like a reward to
Sam. Believe me, Donna; even if he
never leaps into someone again,
we'll find him. Like Gushie said, it
just takes time... and patience.
GUSHIE
Please have faith in the Project,
Doctor. We will find him; and when
we do, we will bring him home.
But, please believe me, it's just too
dangerous to try to send another
traveler.
Donna looks away from both men and gazes up at Ziggy.
DONNA
You both know as well as I do that,
even if we find Sam, we'll never be
able to bring him home again.=1A