Sam jumped, caught completely off-guard by ``his'' youngest sister.

``Jeez, Mariah!'' Sam exclaimed, not entirely sure where the words were 
coming from.  Was he ``merging'' with Tracey?  Hopefully not!  ``Don't ever 
*do* that!''

Marie rolled her eyes, the classic exasperated 12-year-old.  Well, she was 
*almost* 12.  ``Trace!  Why do you refuse to call me by my *name*?''

``Huh?'' Sam asked, back to his normal self.

``Mariah, Mare, Munchkin, Shortcake...I could go on for-freaking-*ever*!  
My name is Marie.''

``You know, you're cute when you're irritated,'' Sam quipped, slipping back 
into Tracey's persona--and quite involuntarily!  This was gonna get real old 
real fast...Sam adored Tracey, but he didn't want to go around acting like 
her without having any say in the matter--especially considering that she had 
picked up her father's over-enjoyal of the opposite sex...  

That just wasn't something Sam needed in his already screwed up life.

<<>>

Al had just now stopped laughing.  His little girl--or not so little anymore, 
she was 23 now--was being played by Sam Beckett...his best friend.  Too funny.

``Yes, Admiral,'' Ziggy's slightly vexated voice replied, ``we all think it's 
nothing short of hilarious.  Now would you please tend to the 18-year-old 
version of your child?  She's in the Waiting Room, remember?  And she's 
driving poor Jack Kalians crazy.''

``You know, you're cute when you're irritated,'' Al told her, laughing.  
``Okay, okay, I'll go talk to her.  `Hey, Trace, the Project works!  Welcome 
to the future!'.''  He chuckled again.  ``And I'll just bet she's giving 
Kalians a run for his money.  This is my *daughter* we're talking about!''

(Continued!)