(*Author's Note: I just want to warn you all that this may be eternally unfinished. I ran out of inspiration but I just felt that the story had real potential. I'll try to finish it, but it might take a long time. I hope that you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Oh! And if any of you are following my other work in progress (Leaper, Don't be a hero [plug, plug]), rest assured that a new chapter is on the way- I just need to wait to hear from my beta reader.)

A Leap for Lenore

When the light of the leap faded, Sam came to himself just in time to duck. The knife sailed swiftly, and harmlessly, through the air where his head had been and Sam stared in shock at the person that had to have thrown it.

It was a little girl, no more than eight, standing about six feet away from him, her features hidden in shadow. She dropped the knife she held, her voice clearly showing her surprise. "You're not Mr. Gosh!"

She picked up her knife "Who are you?" Her voice sounded strange, raspy. As she waited for an answer, Sam considered his position.

He decided quickly that he really had no choice but to be honest. After all, what was the point in claiming to be someone when she could see that he wasn't. Besides, she didn't seem very fond of this "Mr. Gosh" person if the knife he had just ducked was any indication.

He also wanted to get that knife away from her before she hurt someone.

"I'm Sam. Who are you?" He asked with what he hoped was a friendly smile.

She stepped into the light, a small smile planted on her thin pale lips. "I'm Lenore."

After Sam got the other knife away from her (which had proven quite a task) and was able to get a good look at her, he was convinced that she was the one he was here for.

She looked like she was deathly ill. Her skin was pale with an odd . . . bluish tinge to it. Her eyes, which might have been brown, looked glazed over and cloudy and sunken in her small face. She also appeared not to have much of a nose.

At the very least, she needed a doctor.

But, despite how sick she looked, she was certainly as hyperactive as any other child he had ever seen. She gushed about everything that she wanted to show Sam- she was especially excited to show Sam her kitties and introduce him to 'Ragamuffin'.

Sam smiled good naturedly and let her lead the way. A few moments later, he wasn't smiling anymore.

The first room she had brought him to was a room filled with cats and kittens. This would have been fine if it wasn't for the fact that they were all dead and in varying states of decay. The smell was oppressive.

Sam stared down at the girl who smiled up at him. "Lenore," he asked, trying very hard not to throw up, "what happened to all of these cats?"

Lenore sighed. "They went to sleep."

Sam had always hated that particular euphemism for death. In his experience, it either made children think that it was temporary or made them afraid to fall asleep. "Then why are they in here, shouldn't they be buried?"

This idea seemed to genuinely upset Lenore. "No, I can't do that to them! What if they wake up? They'll have to crawl out like I did!" Then she began to cry.

While Sam didn't know what she meant, he knew what he should do. He wrapped her up in a hug. She seemed to like that.

Sam, however, wasn't quite as pleased. She was very cold and she had an odd smell, like freshly turned soil. It wasn't a bad smell, but it wasn't, generally speaking, a smell he equated with little girls . . .

He released her and she looked up at him sadly.

What had she wanted to show him? Oh yes, something called 'Ragamuffin'. Maybe that would take her mind off of whatever it was that was upsetting her. "Why don't we go see Ragamuffin."

She seemed to like this idea. She smiled and grabbed his hand. It felt like ice and it took every bit of Sam's self control not to tear his hand out of hers.

She pulled him out of the house and he breathed in the fresh air gratefully.

After he recovered, he asked, "Where are your parents?" thinking that surely her parents wouldn't let something like what was going on that room go on too long if they knew.

She frowned, thinking. Then she shrugged. "I don' know. They don' come to see me anymore."

What did that mean? That she lived by herself? "How long have they been gone?"

She stopped and her cloudy eyes blinked rapidly for a moment. "They didn' love me. Af'er I woke up." She shook her head and smiled as if their conversation had never taken place. "Ragamuffin will like you!"

She pulled him along a little while longer before dropping his hand and gesturing grandly towards the back yard. "He's back there."

Sam looked and saw a small table covered with tiny cups and surrounded by tiny chairs. Sitting in one of the chairs was a small rag doll that had obviously seen better days.

Still smiling, she tugged on Sam's sleeve and had him sit in one of the chairs. While Sam had been sure that the chair would break under his weight, it seemed to hold him well enough.

Lenore took a seat across the table and began pouring "tea" from a little tea pot. The liquid was dark and lumpy, Sam decided that it was probably mud.

She handed Sam a cup and offered him a muffin (which looked burnt, but might have once been real food). Sam took one and was about to put it on the little plate when he heard a voice.

"I wouldn't eat that if I were you."

The muffin fell to the plate with a resounding clunk. Sam stared agape at the source of the voice.

The rag doll was staring at him. "It's probably poisoned."

Sam found himself very glad that Al hadn't shown up yet. The last thing he needed at the moment was a hysterical hologram.

Lenore stood and introduced Sam and the doll (Ragamuffin). Then she sat back down and acted as if there was nothing peculiar about a doll that talked and moved by itself.

The doll looked at Sam with what appeared to be suspicion. "Where did he come from, Lenore?"

She shrugged like it was unimportant to her. "Don' know." Smiling she bit into one of the supposedly poisoned muffins with a loud crunch.

Sam felt concerned, after all, the doll (as unbelievable as that was) had warned him that the food was poisoned. Some of that concern must have shown on his face for the doll shook its head. "Don't worry about her- it doesn't matter if she eats poison."

"Why not?" Sam asked, forgetting in his curiosity that he was talking to a doll.

"Can't you tell? She's dead."

As Sam tried to digest that piece of news, he heard the Imaging chamber door open. It would figure that Al would choose that moment to arrive.

"Oh boy, Sam. You won't believe this."

Tearing his eyes off of the talking doll and the little dead girl, Sam stared at his friend. He smiled wryly and half chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure about that Al."

(* End Note: The scene at the beginning was taken from Lenore #1. Also, I've only read two of the compilation books (#1 and #2) so if I've gotten anything wrong- that's why. While we're on this vein, Lenore and all of the other crazy creatures in that series belongs to Roman Dirge and Sam and other Quantum Leap related items belong to . . . The Quantum Leap people. Don't flame, don't sue and don't pursue legal action. Thank you.)