Title: Alas poor Warrick (a Quantum Leap/CSI: Vegas fic)
By: Serenity
Genre: It's a crackfic crossover. So a cross fic. Or a crackover?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with either show. Self-beta'd, so all mistakes are mine.
Summary: Dr Sam Beckett leaps into Las Vegas.
Characters: Nick, Greg, Warrick
Genres: romance, action
Rating: PG13
Warnings: none

Sam felt the warm embrace of the electric blue light as it engulfed him, taking him from this leap into the next.

As the light faded around him, he opened his eyes to check out his new surroundings. He was on his knees in a dark, damp alleyway, nothing to tell him where or when he had leaped into.

Looking down, he saw the lifeless body of a young woman on the ground before him, bright red blood oozing in a circle around her. Lifting his gloved hands, he realised he was holding a kitchen knife, also dripping in blood.

"Oh boy."

Theorizing that one could time-travel within his own lifetime, Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert, to develop a top-secret project known as Quantum Leap. Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding, Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator, and vanished...
He awoke to find himself trapped in the past, facing mirror images that were not his own, and driven by an unknown force to change history for the better. His only guide on this journey is Al, an observer from his own time, who appears in the form of a hologram that only Sam can see and hear. And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next Leap...will be the Leap home...

Las Vegas, Nevada. August 23rd 2007

Fighting the urge to throw up, he stood up shakily and took several deep breaths through his nose to try and calm down. Where the hell was he, and what had he just done?

"Hey Rick, you OK?" came a voice behind him. Sam turned slowly to see a guy walking towards him, a little shorter than him with dark hair and eyes, and a strong square jaw. Good-looking, probably in his late 30's. He was wearing a black vest with 'Stokes' emblazoned on the breast, over jeans and a sweater. He looked friendly enough and his voice had a calming Texan lilt to it.

"What?" Sam stammered, looking down again at the glinting knife in his hand.

"You want me to bag that?" the man asked, holding out a plastic bag and carefully taking the knife from Sam's trembling hand. He quickly sealed it up and initialled the seal NS. "David's going to take the body now, if you're done."

"Thanks.... Stokes." Sam wagered a guess that it was the guy's name.

The man shot him a strange look and indicated to a large SUV parked just outside the alleyway. "Why don't you take five, man. You look as if you've seen a ghost. Me and Greg can finish up here."

Sam walked towards the SUV and climbed into the passenger seat, disposing of the bloody gloves in the trash box.

"What the hell...." he pondered, wondering just what he'd leaped into. At least he obviously wasn't the murderer, which had been his first fear.

"Hi Sam." came a gravely voice from the backseat, making Sam jump out of his skin. He was still feeling particularly on edge. He turned around to come face to face with Al, who was chomping on one of his trademark cigars.

"Al, where am I?" Sam asked desperately. "Why did I have a bloody knife in my hand and a dead body at my feet?"

"Don't worry Sam, it was part of your job. Your name is Warrick Brown, you're a crime scene investigator with Las Vegas PD." Al explained, tapping on the remote that linked him to Ziggy the computer. "It's 2007 and you're working the graveyard shift with your friends Nick Stokes and Greg Sanders."

Sam turned and pulled the rear-view mirror towards himself, checking out his new reflection for the first time. His skin was dark and smooth, like coffee with a hint of cream stirred in, and his eyes were so piercingly green they looked like they could cut glass. A smile revealed two rows of straight white teeth and dimples. He looked down to realise he was also wearing a vest, with 'Brown' stitched in white lettering on the chest.

"So why am I here?" he asked, turning back to Al. "What do I have to do?"

Al switched from tapping the remote to thumping it with the palm of his hand, resulting in some beeps and human-sounding whines from the machine. "Ziggy reckons there's a 69% chance that you're here to save one of your colleagues."

"What happens?" Sam asked as he craned his neck to continue watching Nick working the scene. He was joined by another man, around the same height as Nick but leaner and younger looking, with dark eyes like Nick but hair the colour of caramel. This man was also wearing a vest, he was too far away for Sam to make out the name, but he guessed that this was Greg Sanders. The two men shared a silent joke, and Nick doubled up in obvious laughter and laid a heavy arm around Greg's shoulders. They both seemed like good guys, doing an important job. Sam couldn't bear to think of either one of them getting hurt.

"Which one?" he asked with trepidation.

Al typed some information into the remote and sighed deeply. "As the three of you are driving home from this crime scene you stumble across a robbery. Shots are fired, Nick is injured but survives. Greg is killed instantly. Nick never returns to work and within a few years... he drinks himself to death."

"My God." Sam shook his head. "So I guess I'm here to make sure we don't go anywhere near that robbery."

He looked back towards the guys to see them packing their things into what looked like silver suitcases, Greg unwinding a camera from around his neck and placing it carefully in the case. Nick leaned across to say something to him, and Greg's entire face lit up in a smile, although Nick had already turned his back to Greg and missed the reaction, but Sam noticed that he too had an almost wistful expression on his face.

The men threw their stuff into the trunk and clambered into the SUV, Sam had to stifle a laugh as Greg sat directly on top of Al, making the hologram roll his eyes and disappear through the brightly lit doorway to the imaging chamber. The chuckle died in his throat when he remembered what Al had told him about Greg, and what was to come in a matter of hours if he wasn't able to stop it.

Nick started the engine and expertly reversed the SUV out into the road. "Do you guys mind if we make a quick pit-stop before we head back to the lab?" he asked.

Sam felt a shiver run down his spine. "I'd rather just get straight back."

"I really need to use the bathroom and the Speedystop is only a couple of minutes away." Nick explained. "Sorry Rick. I'll be quick I promise. That OK with you G'?"

"No problem." Greg nodded in the backseat. "I could do with grabbing some candy or something, I'm starving."

"What about you Warrick, need anything?" Nick asked as he pulled into the parking lot of the Speedystop and killed the engine.

"No, I'm fine." Sam shook his head. He scanned the parking lot for other cars, but it was empty. This mustn't be the time. If they could get away quickly, they'd be OK.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Nick asked for the second time that night. "You're just.... You seem a little off or something. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something....."

"I'm cool." Sam shook his head. "Just... be quick, OK? I don't want to hang around here too long."

"Gooey-cups, here I come." Greg grinned, jumping out of the backseat and rifling in his pocket for his wallet.

Nick gave Sam a long look-over before shrugging and climbing out of the SUV to join Greg. "Come on then Greggo." he chuckled, his hand casually placed on the small of Greg's back. "Although how you can eat anything named gooey-cups is beyond me."

"You just don't appreciate good taste." Greg countered as they walked towards the store.

Sam sighed and leaned back against the headrest. Normally in his leaps he had time to find his bearings before whatever he had to change happened, but this leap was going so fast. He knew that the robbery was going to take place tonight, and he had to find some way to stop it from happening, some way to save Greg from dying and to save Nick from giving up on life. The two men seemed to have a strong bond, which made him wonder if there was anything more than friendship between them. Why else would Nick take Greg's death so hard?

He looked up to see Nick returning from the store alone. "Where's Greg?" he asked as the other man climbed back into the car.

"I left him chatting up the assistant." It was obviously an attempt to sound humorous, but it had the sharp tang of jealousy. "But you know Greg, everything with a pulse, right?"

As they talked, neither of them noticed the beat-up Ford that pulled up right outside the automatic doors of the store. A man looked around nervously before exiting the vehicle and slipping inside the store.

"You and Greg...." Sam began. "Is there something... you know, going on?"

Nick made a strange noise in the back of his throat and blushed furiously. "No." he said tightly. "Jeez, what is taking that guy so long?" he fake-laughed as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel nervously.

"Sam!" Al screamed as he appeared outside the windshield of the SUV, his legs disappearing into the engine. "The robbery is going down right now! You gotta get Greg out of there!" He waved his cigar around wildly, gesturing towards the Speedystop.

"Now?" Sam gasped and grappled for his seatbelt.

"What?" Nick asked, confused.

"Just stay here, promise me you won't get out of the truck no matter what." Sam called back, running towards the doors. He could see Greg using his body to shelter the young female assistant as the robber pointed a gun at them, gesticulating wildly with his free hand, ranting about something or other. He could see that Greg was trying to placate the man, using an open body stance to try and reassure the robber that he wasn't carrying a weapon. Sam looked down to his own right hip and realised he was carrying. Pulling the gun quietly, he crept closer to the door, avoiding the sensor that would open it and give away his position.

He heard heavy footsteps behind him, and turned to see Nick speeding towards the store, gun already in his hand, mouth open to shout a warning. Sam reached his free hand out and pulled Nick to the side before he could go tumbling through the doorway, getting them all shot.

"Let me go, that son-of-a-bitch is going to shoot Greg!" Nick hissed, struggling to get free.

"Yeah, and he's going to shoot you too if you go thundering in there!" Sam warned. "Now calm down and we'll think this through. Go back to the SUV and call for back-up. Get an ambulance too, just in case."

"But Greg's in there! I can't leave him. Please, Warrick?"

"Just trust me Nick, OK?" Sam asked, knowing that Nick's training was forgotten in his concern for Greg. "Go call for backup, now."

Nick nodded and slipped silently away. Sam turned back towards the store and saw that Greg was still talking to the man, but the assistant was now filling a bag with the store's takings. "That's it Greg, keep it calm." he muttered to himself.

"Sam, there's still a 69% chance that Greg dies here." Al warned, appearing beside him. "I don't know what goes wrong, but he still gets shot."

"And Nick?"

Al punched the remote, and it emitted a high-pitched groan. "Ziggy says that Nick doesn't get shot.... But Sam, he still leaves his job and dies a few years later. That doesn't change."

"So to save Nick, I've got to save Greg." Sam mused, watching the robber carefully. He pointed his gun at the man's back, noticing how much his hands were shaking. "God help me."

He stepped forward and the doors opened with a whoosh. "FREEZE, LVPD!" he shouted, training his gun on the robber again. The man flinched and automatically pulled the trigger, but Greg had tucked and rolled behind the counter, taking the assistant with him. The bullet impacted harmlessly into a bottle of soda, sending sticky fluid flying into the air.

"Drop the gun!" Sam shouted, and the man turned. Sam could see it in slow motion, the robber's gun making a 180 degree arc and coming to rest pointing at him. The loud crack of a shot rang out.

Sam gasped and looked down as his chest, expecting to see blood pouring from the bullet wound he was bound to have. But instead it was the robber who was bleeding, dropping to his knees on the floor. Sam whirled around to see Nick behind him, gun held aloft in a steady hand.

The squeal of sirens filled the air as Nick holstered his weapon again and ran to pick up the robber's discarded gun, making it safe. "You OK Rick?"

Sam nodded, still touching his chest, not quite believing that he was still standing.

"Greg, you OK?" Nick called out, and Greg's head appeared from behind the counter.

"Thanks to you and Warrick." he grinned, but his voice was shaky. He helped the assistant up from the floor and she hugged him gratefully before being escorted outside by a uniformed police officer.

Sam stood bent over with his hands on his hips, trying to get his breath back. "You OK Sam?" Al asked, appearing beside him but watching the rather cute backside of the assistant as she left the store.

"Eyes on me, Al." Sam scolded. "I'm fine. So, is everything OK now? Did I do it?"

Al checked Ziggy's latest update. "As far as we know, both Nick and Greg are still alive and working for the Crime Lab." he smiled. "You did it, Sam."

"So why am I still here, why haven't I leaped yet?" Sam wondered. He looked over at Greg, who was being checked over by a medic, and at Nick who was standing alone in the corner of the store, pale and sweating, his eyes glued on Greg.

"I think you know, Sam." Al puffed on his cigar. Sam nodded and walked towards Nick.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked.

Nick looked up at him, his brown eyes damp, his mouth pink and slippery, a tell-tale sign of trying to hold back tears. "I could have lost him, Warrick. I could have lost him and he doesn't even know I..... I....."

"So tell him." Sam advised, rubbing him gently on the shoulder. Nick nodded and pushed himself off the wall. He walked towards where Greg was standing, taking the other man's hand in his and saying something that Sam couldn't hear. Greg's eyes brightened and he cupped the back of Nick's head in his free hand, drawing him in for a kiss, chaste, gentle and full of tenderness.

Sam smiled, knowing that what was meant to be had finally come to pass.

"Bye bye Sam." Al waved as the warm electric blue light engulfed him again, taking him to his next leap.