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fandomweekly2022-02-05 02:30 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2022-02-05 02:30 pm
Entry tags:
[#124] Dependable (Quantum Leap)
Theme Prompt: #124 – Best Friends Forever
Title: Dependable
Fandom: Quantum Leap
Rating/Warnings: PG / None
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Without his best friend giving him information and keeping him on track, Sam would be lost.
Al told me once, maybe more than once, that I helped him at a time when no one else would. That I eventually brought him onto Project Quantum Leap, gave him a job and a purpose when he really needed both, and I guess I kinda remember that, just in bits and pieces, thanks to my Swiss cheesed memory. I’m not sure how much I’m actually remembering from my past and how much is from what he’s told me, but maybe in the end it doesn’t matter.
What I DO know is that we’re friends. I don’t believe anyone anywhere could have a more loyal, dependable, helpful, not to mention crazy, friend than Admiral Al Calavicci. Sometimes it seems as if he knows everything and has done most things at one time or another. No matter what situation I find myself in, I can count on him for advice, even if its sometimes a little… off-the-wall.
He's always there for me, and usually joking, but deep down something tells me he’s not really happy. He puts on a good show, but he seems lonely; he goes through wives the way other people go through shoes, or cars. Has one for a few years, then trades her in for something more stylish, or a newer model. I guess with each one he’s trying to recapture what he had with his first wife, Beth, but none of the others measure up.
I wish I could fix that for him, or fix him, or something. I’ve fixed so many other lives, so why not his? But he’s older than me by… what? Twenty some odd years? Maybe what went wrong for him was before my lifetime, and so out of my reach. It’s too bad. If anyone deserves to have their life changed for the better, it’s Al. The things he’s been through…
Not that I think the people I’ve helped weren’t deserving, because all of them have been. That’s the whole point. But if I can’t help the one person who’s helped me the most… It doesn’t seem right. I owe Al more than I can ever repay. Most days I get the feeling he’s all that’s keeping me sane as I bounce around through time, in and out of other people’s lives and bodies.
He drives me up the wall and round the bend, getting a straight answer out of him can be like… I don’t know, think of an almost impossible task and go with that as an analogy; I’ve got too many holes in my memory to come up with one on the spur of the moment. Point is, no matter where I go or who I leap into, I can always count on Al to show up with his loud shirts, his fat cigars, and his tall stories, to guide me through whatever it is I’m there for. Not physically, guess I can’t have everything, but I know he’ll be there, and he’ll help me in whatever way he can; that’s what counts. I’m always glad to see him, even if sometimes it might not seem that way. Like right now.
“You’re never going to guess what happened today.” Those are the first words out of his mouth, not even remotely helpful.
“You’re right, I’m not gonna guess. In fact I’m not even sure I want to know.” Leaping makes me a bit snippy at times, but Al puts up with my moods, because that’s what friends do. “I’d rather know who, where, and when I am, and what I have to do to leap outta here!”
“Don’t know, don’t know, don’t know,” Al’s counting his replies off on his fingers! “And… Don’t know. Yet. Relax, Ziggy’s working on it, and you’ll be the first to know. Or the second, after me. Or is that third? Ziggy, me, you, so third. Anyway, where was I?” He takes a puff on his cigar. “Oh yeah, you’re never going to guess what happened today.”
“I’m not guessing. Didn’t I say that already?”
“Oooh, snippy. Probably hormones. You’re a woman again, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I didn’t, I see me, unless I look in a mirror, and there isn’t one.” I look down at myself. “And what am I wearing?”
“It’s cute, you have a bunny tail. And ears!”
“Oh boy. I’m a Playboy Bunny?”
“Maybe not, could be a Halloween costume or something. Anyway, I was trying to tell you. Gooshie asked Dr Beeks out on a date!”
Okay, that’s unexpected. “You’re kidding!”
“No, seriously. I mean, she turned him down, but still. I never thought he’d have the nerve to… Oh, hold on, I think Ziggy’s got something, if I can just…” Al’s shaking the handlink, slapping at it. “Okay, here we go.”
That damn handlink never works right, but somehow Al always manages to bludgeon it into submission. Where would I be without him? Adrift in time, fumbling through other people’s lives without a clue, I guess.
Al’s more than just my best friend; he’s my anchor, and if I ever get back to my own time and my own body I’m gonna make sure he knows just how important he is to me. He says I helped him all those years ago, but he’s more than repaid whatever I did for him. I couldn’t do any of this without him. I’ve been so many people, I’d have lost myself long ago if he wasn’t around to remind me of who I am, and to keep me on track.
“Thank you, Al.”
He looks up from the handlink. “What’re you thanking me for? I didn’t tell you anything yet.”
“I know. Thanks for sticking with me through all this craziness.”
“Ah, you’d do the same for me.” He brushes it off, but I can tell he’s touched. “Right, so your name is Bethany Cole, you’re twenty-three, and…”
Al has my full attention now. Swiss cheesed brain or not, between us we’ll figure things out. We always do.
The End
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It seemed particularly apt writing it today since mum loved the show, and Al, and today would have ben her birthday, so it's like a tribute to her as well as to Dean Stockwell.
Really glad you enjoyed it.
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It seems like it's QL day. After seeing your story, I found a couple of new, great videos posted on AO3 recently. Loving seeing the new QL stuff!
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And that's awesome. Good that new QL fanworks are still being created.
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I recently read that we lost Dean Stockwell last year, and I HATE that! We've lost so many greats lately!!!
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It was only a matter of weeks ago that Dean Stockwell passed, another sad loss of someone I liked, admired, and respected. Seems like every time I turn around we lose someone else who's been part of my life for years.
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And bonus points for the fact they're opposite genders. I'm a huge sucker for platonic male-female relationships. (Edit: I had to reread a certain paragraph, because I didn't get the hint that maybe your lead wasn't originally female. Regardless, love the non binary nature of them.)
Thank you for writing this!
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Yes, Sam is actually a guy, but often finds himself stuck in a female body.
Quantum Leap was an 80s series, and it was so much fun. Sam Beckett is a scientist who theorised it was possible to time travel within one's own lifetime. Unfortunately, when he tried it, he found himself in someone else's body, having to fix something that went wrong in the past before he could leap again, into someone else. Al appears to him as a hologram only Sam can see and hear, helping to figure out what he's supposed to do each time he leaps. See my icon for a picture of the guys. Sam is on the left.
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It was very sad indeed. I was a big fan of Dean's, not just for Quantum Leap.
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