Story Parts and Links!
on the set >>
It was night when Sam leaped again. It was autumn, Sam could tell. He did not know what time it was, but it did not feel like it was after midnight. Always a little disorientated following a leap-in, Sam held still as he tried to figure out where he was and who he had to pretend to be.
Looking at him was a young woman, not older than her early twenties. She had short brown hair and wore a dark jacket that covered her small frame. Her pretty eyes highlighted an attractive face. There was a light breeze that made her dark hair dance a little in her face. The young woman was standing in front of Sam. She looked at him, tilted her head slightly and smiled sweetly. She looked away quickly, then fixated her eyes on him.
"You know, for the longest time, I thought that was what I wanted," she began to say before she sat down next to him. "For the boy across the creek, my best friend, to see me as beautiful. But this is just cosmetic enhancement...and hairspray."
Sam noticed a sparkle in her eyes. My girlfriend, Sam questioned in his own thoughts.
"I'm still the same old Samantha," the young woman continued. "The girl who resides on the wrong side of the creek, and if you look closely, Wade, you'll see. It's just me." She stopped, looked away again quickly, smiled and asked, "Is that kind of what you had in mind?"
Sam did not know how to respond to her since he had no idea what she actually meant by the question. Sam simply stared at her in response.
Behind Sam, a man said, "Cut!"
Sam turned to face the man, and saw that he was on a movie set. It was either a movie set, or it was some kind of film production, Sam reasoned.
The man shook his head and looked somewhat upset and tired. The man put his hands on his hips and asked, "I know you're the star of the show, Mister Van Der Beek, but you're thinking of changing the ending of the scene again, aren't you?"
In response, the only words that Sam could think of were the first words he always says after a leap-in.
"Oh, boy..."
"Please don't go changing lines on me again," the director said. "You are going to say the correct line next time, I hope?"
"Huh? Oh, sure," Sam said, then realizing that the man standing there was the director. He noticed that there was a script in hands. Opening the script, Sam quickly tried to find the correct page with the correct line.
"The right line's here somewhere," Sam said as he looked through the pages.
"Very funny, James," the director said. "Put down that prop script and take a five minute break in your trailer. By then, we'll have the cameras rearranged for a better angle and I'll need you and Rachael back to finish the scene."
"Okay," Sam replied. Rachael must be the young woman's name.
Al, Sam's observer on the Quantum Leap project, greeted his friend. "Hey, Sam, who's the knockout?" Al motioned to the young woman still sitting next to Sam.
"I'm going to the snack trailer," Rachael said. "Do you need anything?"
"Al replied, "Yeah, cutie. Your phone number... and for you to take off that jacket for starters."
Even though Sam knew Rachael could not see or hear Al, he gave a mean glare in Al's direction and scolded, "Al!"
Rachael seemed a bit confused by the sudden hostile tone. "What?"
Sam, trying to cover, said, "I'll... have a diet soda. Thanks."
"Sure, Rachael said, slowly standing up. "I'll be back in five."
"Okay," Sam replied, smiling at her as she walked away. Sam noticed that he and Al were standing in front of a white house that had all the lights on.
"Sam, the director told you to take a break in your trailer," Al reminded him as he continued to watch Rachael walk away.
Facing the house, Sam looked over his shoulder. He noticed there were several people running around, placing lighting fixtures and cameras behind him. Under his breath, Sam asked Al, "Would you mind telling me where the right trailer is, Al?"
"Hm? Oh," Al said, not realizing Sam had no idea where to go. Al raised the hand-link he was carrying. The hand-link was Al's connection to the super-computer that ran Project Quantum Leap. Al punched a few keys on the hand-link.
"Gooshie," Al said to the Project coordinator, "center me on James' trailer." Since Al appears to Sam as a hologram, Al then disappeared from sight and reappeared almost a hundred feet away from Sam and shouted, "Over here, Sam!"
Approaching Al, Sam said, "Just once, you could just point to it."
Al replied, "This way is more fun."
"So who did I leap into, Al?"
"Read the name on the trailer," Al instructed, pointing at the nameplate.
Sam read aloud, "James Van Der Beek. The director called me that last name just after I leaped in. The name doesn't ring a bell, though. When Rachael called me 'Wade', I had hoped I leaped into Wade Boggs."
"Nope. Sorry, pal," Al said.
"What am I here to do?"
"And who is your cute co-star with the beautiful eyes," Al added. "you said her name was Rachael, correct?"
"I didn't catch her last name," Sam informed.
Looking down at the hand-link, Al relayed to Sam the information that Ziggy, Al's name for the project's super-computer, was feeding to him through the hand-link. "Your name is James Van Der Beek, you already know. You are on the set of a show called 'Dawson's Creek'. You play the lead character Dawson Leery. You were born on March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut. Your parents are Jim and Melinda. It is currently November, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and we are in Wilmington, North Carolina. Your co-star is Rachael Leigh Cook, who recently finished filming a movie called, 'She's All That'. She sure is," Al added as a side-bar. "She's portraying a college student named Devon in this episode of 'Dawson's Creek'."