A/N: I was really into Quantum Leap back in the '90s and since the last couple seasons showed us that Sam could leap outside of his own lifetime (although the whys and wherefores of that are a bit iffy; possibly only if it's one of his ancestors), I thought it would be really cool if Sam leaped back into one of the Xena or Hercules characters. I chose Joxer.

The premise: Sam leaps into Joxer, who's teamed up with Autolycus. He then finds out that he's there to stop Autolycus from being killed during a robbery of one of Ares' temples. He's also there to get Autolycus and Joxer together. Strife keeps popping up during the whole time, taking an odd interest in "Joxer."

It really was a great idea.

I started off by using something from the last season or two of QL, where Sam's memories get mixed in with those of the person he's leaped into. It made writing the story easier, moved it along faster, but eventually I realized that it was too easy. In fact, it was sloppy writing, so version 1 was abandoned.

In version two, Sam is left entirely on his own (except for Al's help, of course) to figure out where and who he is, and what's going on around him. There are no "helpful" memories of Joxer's for him to "access" to tell him about relationships or other things Autolycus would expect Joxer to know; Sam has to fake it and stumble along as best he can.

I do think this was a great idea, really cool possibilities in there and I've always known exactly how I wanted it to end. (One of those "twist" endings my fic used to be known for.) But will I ever actually do it? I doubt it. I worked more on it back in '03 when I got back into fandom, but I haven't touched it since and that's a definite sign.

Beware of lurking epithets in the first version, for they are copious and prone to hitting you over the head like the proverbial anvil.

Pairing(s): That's tricky. It's Autolycus/Joxer, and yet not. Let's try: Autolycus/Joxer(Sam Beckett). It was eventually supposed to go to Sam/Strife.

Leap, version 1 || Leap, version 2