Moving Forward

by Majestic-MSFC

An old story of mine that reunites the original Sliders. What happens when the Sliders miss the slide and Maggie, Remmy, Colin and Quinn find themselves stuck on a parallel world? How does this effect Quinn and why do Remmy and Quinn wake up to discover things have changed?

Sliders

Moving Forward

Written by Majestic

Quinn walked slowly down the street, dragging his feat in a pit of depression that surrounded him. He turned the corner and looked at the hotel. How could he face them, his friends and family? The Chandler Hotel, on so many worlds it was their only home, now the Chandler on this world was their home.

He sighed and looked up at the clouds, a tear rolled down his face as he drew his fingers across the necklace he had just taken off. He had worn it for a year and had never taken it off, this was the first. But now all hope he once held was gone. He looked down at it, a silver necklace with four small metal blocks, each with a letter. W-A-D-E.

Wade's necklace, his one greatest failure. He finally got her home only to have the Kromaggs take her off to a breeder facility. He flinched at the thought of what those monsters were doing to her now. As much as he liked having a brother and even Maggie along he would give it all up just to have Wade and the Professor back. Another tear rolled down from his eye. "I'm so sorry Wade." He murmured as he looked up at the clouds unaware of the person several floors up looking out the window at him.

Rembrandt sighed. Q-ball, Quinn his longest friend. Brought together by an accident, really more a brother to him than a friend. A man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders, pulling himself through life on guilt and self pity. Rembrandt pulled away from the window and looked at his two other friends, Maggie was on the lounge watching television while Colin, Quinn's real brother was working on making a new timer.

Colin looked up. Rembrandt smiled at him and turned back to look back out the window. "Qball should really be up here working on the timer." Rembrandt thought. It was the logical choice, the man invented their first timer after all, he invented sliding on their world and so many others. It was a mistake true, but a mistake that forged a close bond, of friendship of family and of hope against the Kromaggs. But his family wasn't complete anymore, the Professor was dead and Wade, a girl who was like a sister to him was gone. Taken by the Kromaggs she was, Rembrandt tried not to think about her too much, being rapped by the Kromaggs was too much for him to bear to think about.

"She deserves better." He thought. "So much better." Rembrandt looked back at Quinn. The boy loved her, no two ways about it. The Professor's death drove the two young love birds and best friends apart, Quinn became distant and Wade's abduction and the destruction of their world only caused him to push further away from the rest of them.

He had gone through so much, too much for a 25 year old, too much for any one person to deal with. They'd missed the slide, stuck here for 29 years, unless the Mallory brothers could reinvent sliding. Quinn was too wrapped up with his grief, his failures and his regrets to be of much use. It was all on Colin's shoulders now, but the boy barely understood the timer. He knew more than the other two but Rembrandt could see it would easily take years to complete.

Hope was lost.

What if you found a portal to a parallel universe? What if you could slide into a thousand different worlds, where it's the same year, and you're the same person, but everything else is different? And what if you can't find your way home?

Staring

Jerry O'Connell as Quinn Mallory
Sabrina Lloyd as Wade Welles
Cleavant Derricks as Rembrandt "Cryin Man" Brown

John Rhys-Davies as Professor Maximillian Arturo

Guess Starring

Kari Wuhrer as Maggie Beckett

Charlie O'Connell as Colin Mallory

Tom Butler as Michael Mallory

Deanne Henry as Amanda Mallory

Chase Masterson as Kelly Welles

Allen Williams as Don Welles

Rembrandt came too, he was tired but after a long sleep how could he be? He felt groggy and shook his head. "Damn." He muttered. "I don't remember drinking so much… Wait I don't remember drinking at all."

He took a look around his surroundings. It was a suite at the Royal Chancellor, a hotel they used to stay at for a short time after Logan played with their timer and gave them a 400 mile radius. He took in his surroundings, fighting against the drunk feeling, it felt more like he was drugged than drunk but he was still finding it hard to think straight. Next to him on the bed was Quinn, he was starting to move.

"Hey Qball." Rembrandt whispered. Quinn moved but didn't look up. "Qball, to your right" He repeated.

Quinn finally rose. He felt awful, like he had been drugged. He immediately felt his neck, the necklace, it was gone. His heart sunk, who would of stolen it? It was his last connection to Wade, with the necklace gone all he had was his memories. A tear rolled down his eye, he had to find the necklace as it meant so much to him. He looked over to see Rembrandt starring at him.

"You okay Qball?" Remmy asked.

Quinn nodded. "Where are we?" He asked vaguely looking around.

"I think we are in the Royal Chancellor, though I don't remember how we got here." He answered.

Quinn shook his head trying to fight the drugged feeling. "Neither do I Cryin Man." He answered trying to stand up. He fell off the bed and made a thud.

"You okay?" Remmy asked concerned.

Quinn looked up at his friend. "Yeah man, only my dignity and pride is hurt." He answered.

Remmy chuckled. "Don't worry your secret is safe with me man."

They both heard footsteps. Quinn tried to get up again but fell with another thud. The door to their room slowly opened and a large man stood there looking at them.

"Mr Mallory you should not try to get out of bed so soon." He stated.

Quinn and Rembrandt couldn't believe it. They were both starring mouths wide open, hearts racing. "You're dead." Quinn replied.

"Professor?" Rembrandt asked.

The Professor smiled. "Mr Mallory, you have been drugged. You should remain in bed till they are out of your system." He explained. He looked over at Rembrandt. "You too Mr Brown, don't try to follow our young friend's lead now."

He went to pick Quinn up but the boy flinched away from him.

"I'm not going to hurt you Mr Mallory." He said in response.

"Your dead, I saw you die." Quinn insisted. "I was at your funeral, Remmy sang at it."

The Professor looked over to Rembrandt. He was equally startled. Rembrandt nodded. "You were killed by Rickman, Maggie joined us after that to hunt him down." Rembrandt explained. "You must be a double, we aren't your Qball and Cryin Man."

"I assure you both, that I am very much alive." The Professor explained.

Quinn shook his head and Remmy agreed. "If only Wade was here she would confirm it." He explained.

"Miss Welles am I dead?" The Professor bellowed out the door.

They head another set of footsteps. Quinn felt the lump in this throat, sweet forming in his palms and on his forehead. A figure entered through the double doors and stood there with her hands on her hips.

"Dead?" She asked. "What are you on about Professor?" She asked then looked at Rembrandt and Quinn. "Oh it's good to see you two sleepy heads finally awake." She commented smiling. "I was afraid that the Professor and I would have to drag your sorry behinds through the wormhole in a day's time."

Quinn shook his head and started to panic. "No it can't be." He said.

"Calm down Mr Mallory." The Professor said keeping his distance after last time.

"No, no, no." He repeated. "This is some sick joke." He said shaking his head. "Whatever game this is I'm not going to play it." Quinn yelled at the ceiling. "Whoever you are I'm going to kill you for this." He was going from upset to angry.

"What's up with him?" Wade asked the Professor pointing at Quinn.

The Professor shrugged his shoulders.

"Where's Maggie and Colin?" Quinn screamed.

Wade put her hands on her hips and had an annoyed look on her face. "Who's Maggie?" She asked in an annoyed tone. She never liked Quinn talking about or being with other women. She knew deep down inside that she and Quinn were meant to be together.

"You should remember, you and her never got along after the Professor's death." Remmy said looking at her. He too wasn't taking this game well, but he was talking it better than Quinn though.

"Not you too." Wade said. She turned and started to close in on Quinn.

He screamed at her. "Keep the hell away from me." He was shaking. "Whoever you are, you're not my Wade."

She was concerned but liked how he put the "my" in it. "Quinn it's me, just calm down." She said.

"No stay away." He screamed again. "The Kromaggs took you from me, so whoever you are you're not my Wade."

"Kromaggs?" The Professor asked. "We haven't seen the Kromaggs since we first encountered them almost a year ago." He said.

Quinn pushed himself into a corner. "You two keep away from me." He said. "Don't come any closer." He looked at Remmy. "It's a trick, they most likely Kromaggs playing their mind tricks on us."

"The boy's hysterical." The Professor thought. He didn't like how this was turning out.

Rembrandt started to get tense. Quinn was right he though, it was the way the Magg's worked.

"This doesn't make any sense." Wade said as she turned and started towards Rembrandt.

He started to fidget. "Stay away from me." He yelled. "Get out of my head you Magg devils, you've already destroyed my world and taken nearly everything I care about away from me." He continued to yell.

Wade couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I'm not a Kromagg." She said pushing her hand through her red hair. "You've been drugged."

"Yeah by the two of you and your friends." Quinn yelled from across the room.

She looked to see tears in his eyes. He was breaking down she had never seen him cry before.

"Miss Welles." The Professor said. "I suggest we remove ourselves until they have a chance to calm down."

She ignored him. "Quinn everything you experienced was only a dream, they hooked you both up into a VR world." She explained. "They wanted the secrets of sliding."

"Lies." Quinn said still quite upset.

It was breaking her heart. Wade started to feel tears swelling in her eyes.

"Miss Welles, do come." The Professor said putting his arm around her and leading her out the room. They closed the door behind them.

Wade wiped the tears from her eyes. "Why don't they believe us?" She asked "It's like we're the enemy, we saved them."

The Professor sat her down on the couch. "They have obviously been through a traumatic event, in particular Mr Mallory." He stated. "It may take quite sometime for them to recover… Then again they may never fully recover."

Wade bowed her head. "I could kill them." She said angry at the world that had done this to them.

He patted her arm. "Miss Welles, we should concentrate on Mr Mallory and Mr Brown." He said. "What has been done has been done. We can't change it all we can do is assist in helping them to heal from this traumatic experience."

Wade nodded in approval as she continued to lightly sob.

Rembrandt got up and pulled himself out of bed. He staggered over to Quinn who was still in the corner.

Quinn looked up at him. "This is some sick joke, we must get out of here." He said.

Rembrandt lowered himself on the floor next to Quinn. "Qball, we must find out if it really is a trick." He said.

"You believe them?" Quinn snapped.

"I don't know man." Rembrandt answered. "But we got to stick together, focus on finding the truth." He said. "It would be good if they were telling the truth and everything for the past 2 years was a trick, but I ain't going to believe it till I know more."

Quinn nodded. "You're right." He said trying to pull himself together.

Quinn decided to stay the remainder of the afternoon in the bedroom. He starred out of the window, he had no idea how he got here, nor did he really care all he wanted to know was which reality was real.

The last 2 years to him had been a nightmare, first he lost the Professor a man he thought of as a father. He found it hard to deal with his loss and distanced himself from Wade and Rembrandt, he had come to realize it wasn't the right thing to do but his worst fear was losing them too. As time went on he got closer to Maggie, especially when he got separated from Wade and Rembrandt after he pushed them into the vortex on hybrid world.

He sighed watching the couples hand in hand walking along the street. Loosing Wade was the hardest thing for him, when she was taken by the Kromaggs he had no choice but to close off his feelings for her, leave them buried deep down inside him. He was no good to anyone especially Wade herself if he was mourning for here, the best thing he could do was to continue sliding and try and find a way to save her. He came to realize that getting the anti-Kromagg weapon from his homeworld was the best way of doing it, but it meant giving up on finding her which hurt.

Then there was Maggie, he realized after they missed the Slide he was projecting what feelings he couldn't bury for Wade onto her. He was ashamed of what he had done, he never told the others that he still had Wade's necklace it was more personal than anything and he didn't want their pity.

He heard the knock on the door and it slowly opened. Rembrandt walked in. "How you doing?" He asked.

Quinn looked up at him. "Don't know man." He said. "I've got no idea what to think anymore."

Rembrandt sat down beside him. "Want to talk about it?" He asked.

He nodded.

"I'm all ears." Rembrandt said trying to lighten the mood.

"It's hard." He said. "Seeing them both here alive and well."

Rembrandt nodded. "I know." He answered.

"I feel ashamed." Quinn admitted.

Rembrandt was surprised. "What for?" He asked not sure why the young man should feel that way, it wasn't like Qball. True the boy blamed himself more than anyone in his position should, but ashamed?

"Maggie and Wade." He said. "For the last year I have been projecting my buried feelings for Wade onto Maggie." He said looking back out the window,

"I didn't know." Remmy answered putting his hand on the boys shoulder.

"Neither did I." Quinn replied. "Not until we missed the slide and I had time to think, realizing I may never see her again."

Rembrandt could now understand a bit of why Quinn was so withdrawn, it wasn't because this may be a trick or what they lived could have been a trick. He was feeling guilty over his feelings.

"I find it so hard to look at her." Quinn continued. "I feel ashamed and I don't even know what I am feeling anymore."

Wade looked at the Professor. "Think they will?" She asked.

He looked down at her. "Miss Welles I truly don't know, I hope they do." He answered putting an arm around her.

"I want you to know." She said. "That if they don't I will be staying here with them." He answered. "Quinn means so much to me and I am not going to leave him."

The Professor smiled. "Nor will I." He answered. "Either the four of us go or none of us go."

Wade smiled and nodded.

"So they want us to slide with them?" Quinn asked pretty much repeating what Rembrandt just said.

Rembrandt nodded.

Quinn couldn't believe it, yesterday he awoke and his whole world was turned inside out. Remmy was in the same situation but seemed to be coping better than he was. Hell anyone would be coping better than he was. He was the one that got everyone into the sliding mess, he wished he never invented that damn sliding machine.

"So what do you want to do man?" Rembrandt asked.

Quinn looked back up at him. "We can't just leave. What about Maggie and Colin?" He asked. "If this is a trick they may be out there looking for us."

He sighed. "I know Qball, but what can we do?" He asked. "If this isn't a trick we will be stuck here, if it is a trick it won't be a slide and no real harm done."

Quinn knew his friend was right, he relented. "Alright. Your right."

Remmy put his hand on his shoulder. "Whatever this is, a trick or not we will find out the truth."

The Professor and Wade walked in and both men looked up at them.

"We've decided to come." Rembrandt said as Quinn bowed his head at the floor.

Wade smiled. "You had me scared for a minute." She explained

"I just hope Maggie and Colin forgive us." Quinn muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Remmy patted him on the back. "Come on man, if they are real." He looked up at the Professor and Wade. "And I still think they are." He said then looking back at Quinn. "They will forgive us."

"Who's this Maggie, for the fifth time?" Wade asked glaring at the other two a bit jealous. She wondered why Quinn kept going on about this girl, was she something special to him, what had happened in the VR world? She had to find out.

Rembrandt looked up at her. "A girl we saved and who joined us." He said. "She saved out butts more than once didn't she Qball?"

Quinn looked up at him again. "Yeah she did and so did Colin."

Remmy smiled. "Yeah who can forget Farm-Boy."

Quinn smiled back, the first time he had smiled since he woke up. "I always wanted a brother and there I have one, had one." He said in a depressed voice not sure what to think.

"Brother?" Wade murmured.

Both men ignored her.

"Well it's time." The Professor said as he activated the timer.

Quinn and Rembrandt looked up. "I've forgotten what the old vortex looks like." Rembrandt said.

Quinn nodded and looked into the Professor's hand. "They still have the old timer, that's why."

"Old timer?" The Professor asked.

"Forget it." Quinn said getting up, running and jumping into the vortex, the drugged feeling gone, Rembrandt followed straight behind him.

Wade sighed. "Quinn never goes first."

Arturo looked at her. "My dear, I think much is going to be different from now on, we must be understanding to help them through." He said.

"Yeah I guess your right." She said then jumped in.

The Professor smiled. "At least they decided to slide." He muttered then followed.

By the time Wade was through she already saw Quinn and Rembrandt on their feet scouting the area. She starred at them. "Looking for trouble, you two look like a pair of soldiers." She stated.

"We are what the Kromaggs turned us into." Quinn said coldly looking around.

"Incoming." The Professor bellowed out as he flew feet first out the vortex, Wade ducked just in time to miss getting collected, falling back into the dirt. Rembrandt jumped sidewards as well just getting missed. Quinn looked around to see the Professor landing on the ground and turned his attention back to the surrounding area trying to find any nearby danger.

Wade dusted herself back off after dogging the Professor and walked over to him giving him a hand up.

"Thank you Miss Welles." He said appreciative of her assistance.

She smiled. "You're welcome."

"Anything?" Rembrandt asked.

Quinn shook his head. "No Kromaggs, or Humaggs or anything else threatening." He answered. "So far."

"Humaggs?" Wade asked.

Rembrandt turned to her. "Kromagg Human hybrids, Kromagg women can't have children after Quinn's parents unleashed a weapon on their homeworld and drove them off." He explained. "So now the Kromaggs rape human women after they capture them and place them in breeding camps."

Wade swallowed. "That's sick."

"Their homeworld?" The Professor thought but decided to remain quiet. He knew that eventually the two men would teem them their story.

Quinn turned around. "Well that's where you were taken. I can never forgive myself for that." He said then turned away. "Damn Magg's, I will find that weapon one day and exterminate your entire race." He muttered in vicious anger.

Rembrandt stopped Wade and walked up to Quinn and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Qball, let's get a hotel room." He said turning to the Professor. "How much time?" He asked.

"Three days Mr Brown." He answered.

"Well let's get to the Chandler." Remmy said.

"Chandler?" The Professor asked.

"We usually go to the Royal Chancellor." Wade added.

Rembrandt shrugged his shoulders. "Out of touch." He said quietly. "Lead the way." He motioned to the Professor and Wade. They nodded and started walking, Quinn and Rembrandt took up the rear.

Wade eyed Quinn across the room. Quinn just sat beside the window looking out over the city.

The doors to the room opened up and the Professor walked in with a few books.

"Discover anything?" Wade asked.

"Indeed, this world is quite interesting." He said

Wade smiled.

"It appears that on this world, the south won the civil war, due to this the continent of North America is split into the two nations of the United States of America and the Confederate States of America." He explained. "It appears Canada on our world doesn't exist here and its territory is part of the United States. We are currently in the Confederate States, as it controls much of the west and all of the south including much of Mexico."

He looked over at Quinn. "This is a remarkable world Mr Mallory, something that was very possible in our world wouldn't you agree?" He asked.

Quinn kept his attention at the window. "Wonderful." He murmured with not emotion in his voice. He was not at all interested in this world. All he cared about was trying to figure out with reality was real and which one was the trick.

The Professor's excitement faded. "Hmm… I think I will read up more of this in the next room." He said and left disappointed. Entering the next room he saw Rembrandt watching television. "Ah Mr Brown, anything good on?" He asked.

He looked up. "Um… Not really." He answered. Truth be told Rembrandt wasn't really watching but was spending the time going over everything that has happened.

The Professor sat down next to him. "I understand this is hard Mr Brown and I don't intend to pry but I am concerned about you and especially Mr Mallory."

Rembrandt smiled weakly. "Thanks." He replied. "Look you need to understand it's difficult, everything we thought we knew, we must now have to face never really happened." He explained. "It's pretty hard on me, and extremely hard on Qball, the kid's been through way too much. I'm surprised he is even talking to me much less you guys." He picked up the remote.

The Professor nodded. "I understand it must be difficult, but perhaps if I know more I may be of some assistance to one or both of you."

The television flicked off and Rembrandt looked up at him. "You know, I still don't know what to believe, saying that the most difficult years of your life never happened is hard to swallow, so forgive me if I am kind of short or a bit cold to you or Wade." He stated. "Having your loved ones killed or taken away from you and your world destroy can do that to one. Not to mention what those Magg's did to me, they turned me into a killer and it's a hard habit to break, the survival instinct."

"I understand, the two of you have been through so much in just a few days. In those days you lived well over a year." He said stating the obvious.

Remmy nodded. "Well I supposed it started when Qball was killed on Egypt world…" Rembrandt started telling the story.

The Professor looked back in shock. "Mr Mallory died?" He asked.

Rembrandt nodded and continued with the story.

Wade sat there in the other room just starring. She was concerned about him, he has withdrawn from her, from everyone. He only ever talked to Rembrandt. She understood they went through the same experience but she just wanted to be close, to help him. She still loved him, even though they both put their feelings aside as sliding wasn't a place for a relationship. She could tell he was in pain, lots of pain.

She got up and walked over to him. "Quinn." She said. He ignored her or didn't hear her. "Quinn, can I get you something, a drink, something to eat, a sympathetic ear?" She asked.

He looked up at her, his eyes were red, she could tell he had been crying, Quinn crying? That last world had done so much to him, broken a man that was so strong emotionally. His face was glum, she could see it was full of sadness and guilt, even some regret.

"No thanks." He replied then turned back to the window.

He wanted to be alone, he couldn't look at Wade, she'd being taken from him was the worst thing that had ever happened to him. When he discovered she was taken to the breeding facility he immediately shut off his feelings for her, buried them deep down. It wasn't till they missed the slide and he knew he would never see her again then he finally started to grieve for her, then all of a sudden, he discovered it could of all been a trick and here she was. That or someone was playing a sick joke on him, one that they wouldn't live to tell about. He still wasn't sure what to believe, he wanted to believe it was all a nightmare, but he couldn't just turn his back on his brother and Maggie, they along with Rembrandt had been his family, his emotional support through the hardest time of his life.

He returned his gaze to the city lost in thought and memories, painful memories.

Wade walked back over and entered the other room. She heard Rembrandt was telling the story that she so wanted to hear.

"And then we landed on Maggie's world, that's where it went bad." Rembrandt explained.

"Do you mind if I sit in?" She asked trying not to interrupt.

Remmy looked up. "You're going to hear it sooner or later and I don't think Qball is ready to talk about it."

She nodded in thanks and sat down.

"Yeah we landed in Maggie's world it was about to be destroyed…" Rembrandt continued.

Rembrandt woke up, he heard a rattling noise from his and Quinn's room. He looked over to see the boy working on a nearby desk. Rembrandt rubbed his eyes, removing the sleep from it and rose to his feat. "Damn Qball, don't you ever sleep?" He asked looking at the clock, it was still 6am.

Quinn looked over and smiled. "Sorry Cryin Man.' He apologized. "I haven't slept well in years."

Rembrandt nodded. He knew since the start of sliding the boy never got a heap of sleep, many interrupted nights. The last year was the worst, he was lucky to get 4 hours a night and that was on the safe worlds. "Well I had to get up sooner or later." He answered as he strolled over to Quinn's side. "What ya up to?" He inquired.

Quinn looked up and smiled. In his hands was the timer, the old timer that they discarded on Egypt world, though they had to face the facts that never happened. "Doing some modifications to this piece of junk." He said.

"Come on man, it got us through our first 2 years of sliding." Rembrandt said. He didn't like how Quinn put himself down so much, especially his greatest achievement, the timer.

The boy looked back up at his friend. "Well I'm gutting this old thing and making a better one."

Remmy finally understood what he was doing. "Keeping yourself busy ay?" He asked.

Quinn smiled. "Well not exactly, remember those added features we installed in the timer with the help of Maggie's husband?"

"Yeah, the tracking ability and storage thingies." Rembrandt answered.

Quinn nodded. "Well this timer can't support those, so with this new shell." Quinn said pointing at a half constructed new casing. "We will have all those features back."

Remmy smiled. "Ever the egghead, sure will come in handy again."

"That's it Cryin Man." Quinn replied and went back to his work.

Wade woke up in a pit of sweet. "Only a bad dream." She muttered then looked over to the Professor. It took her a few moments then she realized it wasn't a dream. Normally it was her and Quinn who shared a room or bed when they could only get two beds or two rooms, but with the Professor there she knew her dream was real.

She sighed as she lifted herself out of bed. She could hear voices and noises from the other room. She looked over at the clock. "6:15" She murmured. "Don't those two sleep?" She thought. She rubbed her eyes, the story Rembrandt told her yesterday was still fresh in her mind, they'd had been through so much especially Quinn. Wade walked out and into the kitchen and made herself a Coffee. It was going to be another hard day, she wondered if she should go and see Quinn, get him to talk to her. She had noticed he could barely look at her, always touching his chest as it something was missing. She didn't want to push but she wanted to be there for him, have him back so they could get back on with their mission on getting home.

Wade looked up to see the door open and Rembrandt coming out, she smiled at him. "Hey Remmy, good morning." She said.

He looked up at her. "You're up early, if my memory serves you usually don't get up till nine or ten if you can help it."

She giggled. "Yeah, bad dream or so I thought." She explained. "Not to mention a bit of noise next door."

Rembrandt sighed. "Sorry about that." He said. "He woke me up too."

Wade smiled. "It's okay, what's he doing in there anyway?" She asked him.

Rembrandt sat down at the table. "Building a new timer, well gutting it into a new and improved one." He explained.

A look of worry crossed her face. "Should he do that, what if he screws something up?"

Remmy smiled. "Don't worry, he won't." He answered. "The kid may not be himself, but he hasn't lost his brains, in fact he has done some amazing things in the last year, so what he is doing in there is a breeze."

Wade wasn't convinced. "But?" She said.

Remmy put his hand up in the air stopping her. "It's his way to deal with what is going on." He interrupted. "We both have a lot of healing to do." He explained. "He wants to build a new timer so be it, if it helps him to eventually move on I will support him."

Wade nodded. "You two seem to have a much stronger bond."

Remmy smiled. "Well we are, well we thought we were the two of the family left." He said. "Qball and I came pretty close, even though he was emotionally distant at times." He sighed. "I don't think he will ever heal to be honest, even if he gets us all home tomorrow, he has so much guilt about everything that has happened to us and what the Kromaggs did."

Wade was about to speak but he cut her off. "I know what your about to say about the Kromaggs." He said. "But it happened, at least for Qball and me."

She nodded but said nothing trying to be understanding as the Professor said.

"Qball he lost a father in the Professor, a best friend and maybe more in you and now a good friend in Maggie and a brother in Colin." Rembrandt sighed. "Not to mention our homeworld, his mother and to discover he grew up on the Kromagg homeworld and was abandoned by his real parents."

Wade smiled weakly "Maybe more in me?" She thought. She remembered Remmy telling her and the Professor all this yesterday but never made any mention of anything like that. Should she say something? No it really wasn't a time for such things she decided.

"To top it all off." Rembrandt continued. "He lost you to the Kromaggs when they sent you to a breeding facility and now he discovers it was all a trick with you alive and well standing here with the Professor."

Wade put her hand on his. "You're both been through so much." She said softly. "I just want to help, I understand he finds it hard to look at me but I just want to be close to him, help him you know."

Remmy nodded. "Just give him time, a few more days and he will start to open up a bit to the two of you."

The Professor exited the room. "Ah good morning." He said seeing both Wade and Rembrandt were up.

Wade smiled. "About time Professor, we thought you were going to sleep all day." She said.

"My god what time is it Miss Welles?" He asked in a state of slight panic.

"Oh just 11am." She replied still smiling at him.

Rembrandt smiled but said nothing as he turned is attention back to the television.

"Hmmm… I must have been more tired than I initially thought." He mumbled as he approached the kitchen for a coffee. He turned back to Wade. "Miss Welles, may I enquire how long you and Mr Brown have been up for?"

Wade looked back to him, putting the newspaper that was delivered to the room down. "Oh I woke up just after 6am, same with Remmy and Quinn."

The Professor stroked his beard as he looked around the area. "And where is Mr Mallory, is he doing better this morning." He asked.

Wade shrugged. "He hasn't come out of the bedroom, Remmy is the only one he talks too." She said. "I'm really concerned about him."

The Professor walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "We must just give him time to deal with it in his way." The Professor explained.

Wade frowned. "Does that include ripping the timer apart?" she asked

"What?" He Professor said in a state of shock. "I don't think I heard you correctly Miss Welles?"

Wade looked straight up at him. "Remmy told me he is gutting the timer." She said. "Remmy told me not to worry about it."

The Professor pushed past the table and barged into the bedroom where Quinn was. He looked at the table, parts were everywhere. There shoved to the side was the casing of the old timer.

"Mr Mallory, what have you done?" He asked in a loud concerned tone of voice.

Quinn ignored him as he clipped the back on his new timer.

"Mr Mallory." The Professor yelled. "You had no right to rip the timer apart, especially under your current condition."

Wade walked in and Remmy soon followed after hearing the yelling.

Rembrandt walked up. "Calm down, Qball knows what he's doing."

"Excuse me Mr Brown, but do you know anything about the timer." He said in a belittling tone.

"Well actually, in the last year I have picked up a few tricks." Rembrandt defended himself as Quinn turned around.

Quinn smiled which was a rarity now days. "The Cryin Man makes a good apprentice." Quinn said looking at Rembrandt.

"Funny Qball!" Remmy replied back but could not help to smile.

"I thought so." Quinn replied. He looked over to the Professor, picked up the old casing and tossed it to the older man. "If you want, you can keep that old piece of garbage." He said

The Professor quickly pulled it apart but it was an empty shell.

Quinn picked up the new timer. "Now this is a timer." He stated. The display turned on and lit up showing 24 hours and 23 minutes. "Now this beauty can track wormholes, hold dimensional coordinates and is still linked to the sliding machine back home." He stated.

"So you believe us?" Wade asked.

He looked at her. "I'm starting to." He said no emotion on his face and Wade smiled. "Though I am not completely convinced and I still can't forget what happened with the Kromaggs." He explained. "I am going to find a way to strike back at them for what they did to your world and to you." He said looking at Wade.

"That's my Qball." Remmy said smiling he gave Quinn a high five.

The Professor ignored the entire conversation and took the timer from Quinn examining it. He opened up the case and took a look.

Wade didn't like how Remmy and Quinn were talking about fighting the Kromaggs. "Guys, I know you think it happened, but it didn't. Our world is safe, lets just try and go home you guys need to move on. I understand it's hard but for your sake as well as the rest of us you have too."

Quinn glared at her for a moment then looked at the Professor ignoring her comment.

"My boy." The Professor started. "This is amazing." He continued.

"Well I didn't originally invent the deluxe features, Doctor Jenson did." Quinn said. "We now have the ability to track another vortex's photon trail not to mention return to a world be have been to before if we have stored its coordinates."

Rembrandt smiled.

"By my view you did invent it, bravo Mr Mallory." The Professor said still examining the timer. "And it looks like the new casing will stand up to more punishment while slimmer and easier to conceal."

"I got the idea of the Egyptian timer and added my own touch to it." Quinn stated. He looked over at Remmy and nodded.

"You're sure the timer will still work?" The Professor asked.

Quinn nodded. "I haven't altered any of the sliding parameters, just transferred them and added some new features."

"Astounding!" The Professor commented.

Wade stood there with her hands on her hips. "Would you stop worrying about the timer and concentrate on these two." Wade demanded pointing at Rembrandt and Quinn.

The Professor took his eyes off the timer. "Hmm…" He muttered. "Oh yes, my apologies Miss Welles." He said. He looked at the two men. "We must first focus on you two getting better." He added.

Quinn's mood immediately changed. He got up turned around and headed for the bathroom entering it and slamming the door. Rembrandt watched him go. "Just as I thought it was getting better." He muttered then pushed himself past Wade and headed for the lounge.

The Professor and Wade watch them both leave. They turned to each other with dumb founded looks on their faces.

Wade sighed again. She had realized she had been doing a lot of that lately, and she felt miserable. "I should never of opened my big mouth." She thought. After the timer incident the previous day Quinn hadn't left the bedroom and he would only allow Rembrandt in. She thought he was acting like a child but she remembered how much he and Rembrandt had been thorough and decided not to say anything.

She had done everything she could, even Rembrandt was quiet though he spent his time outside the bedroom usually just watching the television and thinking. "At least he talks." Wade thought. Rembrandt was a close friend of hers but Quinn, he was the one she really wanted to comfort but Quinn barely said two words to her since they arrived in the hotel.

She heard a creak of the door and looked up to see Quinn coming out. She smiled at him but he was looking around, most likely looking for Rembrandt and didn't notice. "Remmy and the Professor went out for a walk." She said.

Quinn looked at her. The pain seeing her again, what the Kromaggs had done to her, or at least what he thought they had done to her. He smiled at her. "Thanks." He replied then turned around to go back in. He stopped for a moment just thinking.

Wade eyed him cautiously.

He turned around and looked at her. He just stood there starring.

"Hey." She said breaking the silence.

"Hey." He replied short of words. He felt awkward. He could feel his heart beating faster and a lump in his throat. He wanted to reach out to her, tell her how much he cared for her but he couldn't it was too soon. He was still fighting the memories of what happened with the Kromaggs. He finally decided to act, he needed to heal and he knew staying in solitude wasn't the answer anymore. "Want some company?" He asked.

A broad smile grew on her face and her face started to glow like she had soaked up too much radiation from the sun. "Sure I'd love it." She replied. He finally wanted to talk to her, this was the highlight of her day, well actually for her last few days.

He nodded and walked over to her and sat down on the coach next to her with a thud. He sat there for a few moments making no eye contact. He could feel her looking at him and smiling so he looked over to her. With no emotion he sat there starring at her. "I'm sorry.' He said.

"What for?" She asked him. She knew what he was going to say but wanted to make out that she didn't know and it wasn't a big deal.

"For everything." He said. "For screaming at you… For treating you like I have… But most of all for losing you to the Kromaggs." He said with emotion, the most emotion he had shown since his screaming session back on the last world.

She smiled. "It's okay Quinn, the Kromaggs aren't going to get me." She answered. "As for the other two I understand, it isn't easy to have your whole live thrown inside out."

He nodded.

"If you need me I am here for you." She said. She could see a tear roll down his eye. She more than anything wanted to comfort him and really hurt the people who did this to him.

Before she realized he had moved and pulled her into his arms in a big bear hug. She returned the hug patting him on the back smiling slightly. "It's okay… It will all be fine." She said. She could hear him sobbing lightly.

The embraced felt like hours to Quinn but only lasted really for about ten minutes. He left go and Wade pulled herself off him and sat down close next to him.

"You know talking about it might help." She suggested.

Quinn looked over at her. He was starting to let go, starting to let go of the nightmare that he thought he lived, starting to realize what mistakes he made in that dream. He made so many mistakes after the Professor's death, so many mistakes he couldn't forgiven himself for, but here he was getting a second chance perhaps keeping a hold of those memories will be a constant reminder of what not to do this time around. This time around? Was this reality or was what he now thought was a nightmare reality?

He looked down at her necklace and smiled. "You still have it." He said touching his chest.

She touched it and smiled. "My necklace, I never take it off." She answered.

"Neither did I, for that whole year it never left my neck." He said quietly.

She smiled. "You had it?" She asked.

He nodded. "The resistance gave it to me, when I returned to your homeworld." He explained. "From that day forward it was my most prized procession, all I had left of you." A tear rolled down his eye.

She now knew why he kept touching his chest all the time. Wade grabbed his hand. "Oh Quinn." She said tearing up herself. "I still remember when you gave it to me, my last birthday." She said with a smile.

Quinn remained silent. "I can't.' he said.

She looked at him.

"I can't let those memories go." He finished.

"The ones you and Rembrandt have?" Wade asked.

He nodded. "It's who I am now, a killer and a monster." He answered as he looked up into Wade's brown eyes, he always loved her brown eyes. "I am become death, destroyer of worlds." He said quoting from the Bhagavad-Gita.

Wade put her hand on his and held it tight. "Quinn you're not a killer nor are you a destroyer of worlds." She replied heart felt by his remorse. "You're Quinn my Quinn you're a good man. It's the people who did this to you that are the killers." She explained. "They hurt a good man, two good men, you and Rembrandt… Quinn I will help you through this." She said as tears rolled down her face.

"I'm not going to let them or anyone else take you away again." He promised thinking about the Kromaggs. "I'm going to get you home." He said. "I will get you home and this time I will be coming with you."

She smiled. The door opened and Rembrandt and the Professor entered. They stopped dead in their tracks when they saw what was happening. Quinn hid his face not wanting the others to see he had been crying. Wade put her arm around him.

Rembrandt smiled and motioned for him and the Professor to leave. "Hey Professor did you remember the take away." He said nudging him in the rib.

"Ouch." He muttered lightly. "Um no Mr Brown we must have forgotten due to our haste and excitement of researching this world's history." He said.

"Well be better go get it, I'm starving." Rembrandt replied dragging the Professor out the door.

Wade smiled and turned back to Quinn. "There gone." She said.

Quinn only nodded. He pulled himself away from her. "What am I doing?" He asked himself. "Sitting here crying like a kid!" He muttered.

Wade frowned. "Quinn you've been through a lot." She answered. "It's totally natural for anyone." She said.

Quinn shook his head. "Remmy seems to be doing alright, he ain't in tears and he is the Cryin man."

Wade smiled at the comment. "You know Remmy, crying at the most unusual time and dried eye when he should be crying." She swallowed. "Plus you have been through a lot more than him, you feel guilty for everything that has happened." She said.

He looked up at her.

"Remmy told us." She explained hoping not to get him in trouble.

Quinn smiled which surprised her. "Well it's true I am guilty, I invented that monstrosity called sliding." He said. "I am guilty that you got home and I wasn't there to protect you against the Kromaggs." He slumped back in the sofa. "I'm also guilty that I was more focused on finding my homeworld than rescuing you." He finally admitted looking up at her. "And I am guilty for pushing my feelings I have for you deep down inside and projecting what few I didn't onto Maggie."

Wade just sat there not sure what to say.

"I'm sorry." He whispered then looked away in shame.

She grabbed his hand again. "Quinn you have nothing to be sorry about." She finally said still taking in what he just said. "If you didn't take me along sliding I would of regretted it, I'm here with you." She said. "I would of lost my best friend if I stayed at home and that is worst than sliding from one world to another lost and do remember I wanted to come."

He nodded it was all he could do.

The four of them entered the park. It was the last time they would see it, thanks to Quinn's tampering with the timer he managed to reset the 2 mile radius by building a new laser gyro geometric stabilizer replacing the whispering gallery gyro stabilizer that Logan swapped around.

"Good riddens to Los Angeles." The Professor boasted as he activated the timer.

"It works." Wade said after she saw the vortex form.

Rembrandt smiled. "Of course it does, Qball after all made it, twice now." He said patting the boy on his back.

Wade smiled at Quinn and ran and jumped in. Rembrandt was about to but Quinn stopped him and ran and jumped in himself.

"What was that about?" The Professor inquired over Quinn's actions.

Remmy smiled. "He lost her once, he ain't going to let it happen again." He said then jumped in himself.

The Professor smiled and followed his friends in.

The Slide was normal, with the standard twist and turns, the light approached and bang the Professor flew out of the vortex and landed in the usual uncomfortable way. He groan as he got up.

"Mr Mallory you rebuilt the timer but you didn't try and get a more comfortable landing, why?" He asked.

Quinn smiled. "I'd miss it too much." He said.

"You'd miss falling on you butt?" Wade asked in surprise.

He slowly nodded. "It reminds me I am alive and not in some dream." He said looking at Remmy.

Remmy smiled.

"Well we have just under a day here." The Professor stated. "Perhaps we should take a look around and see if this is indeed home or if it isn't perhaps finding a method to get home." He said

Wade smiled. "Yeah." She said

"What ya think Qball? Remmy asked. "It's nice being an adventurer again and not fighting for our lives on every world."

Quinn didn't move. "Qball you okay?" He asked concerned.

He looked around. The trio looked back at him.

"What's wrong my boy?" He asked.

Quinn shook his head. "Nothing guys… Except…" He said.

"Except what?" Wade asked.

He sighed. He was hesitant about saying this.

"Come on Qball it can't be that bad." Rembrandt said.

"It can be." Quinn answered. "Considering how it happened last time."

They looked at him in confusion.

Rembrandt walked up to him. "What?" He asked quietly.

Quinn looked at his friend then at the other two. He looked back at Rembrandt. "I owe it to them and you, I just don't want to lose her again."

"What are you two whispering about?" Wade asked approaching them. The Professor followed.

Rembrandt looked at Wade then back at Quinn. "Qball she ain't going anywhere."

Wade smiled. "Yeah, you're stuck with me guys, so spill it." She said.

Quinn nodded. "I know how to get home… All I need is a sliding machine and a few hours to work."

Wade's smile got bigger, excitement racing within her. "Are you serious?" She asked.

He nodded with a glum look on his face. Wade didn't notice it.

"How Qball?" Remmy asked. "We couldn't before." He added.

Quinn looked at him. "I had a long time to think, after we got home the first time and went looking for the Kromagg weapon." He answered. "Since we still have our original timer, or at least the guts of it."

Rembrandt scratched his head. "I've pick up a few things up in recent years but you're making no sense." He said.

"I have to concur with Mr Brown." The Professor stated.

"The original timer." He said. "It's still hooked up with the machine back home, using another sliding machine I can link the timer to it and get our home coordinates through the timer from the machine back home."

Wade looked at the Professor.

"My boy." He said. "You've done it, why didn't I think of that." He said smiling.

"So it's possible, we can go home?" She asked. "What if the machine back home isn't working?"

"Indeed, all we need is another sliding machine." The Professor said. "And the machine back home is still operational otherwise the timer would not function." The Professor added. Wade ran up and hugged him.

The Professor smiled.

Wade released him and then ran up and gave Remmy a hug. "We're going home." She said.

Rembrandt just smiled. "Been there done that." He thought. As Wade let him go.

Quinn was slowly walking away.

"Hey where do you think your going?" Wade yelled.

Quinn turned around to see Wade jump in mid air and into his arms for a hug.

"You ain't going to get rid of me that easily, especially after what you've just told me." She said hugging him and giving him a peck on the cheek.

Quinn blushed slightly.

Rembrandt grinned and chuckled.

Quinn was quiet as the four sliders walked onto Blue Jay Way and crossed the street. Wade was by his side but was too busy chatting about getting home to notice the look of nervousness on his face. He had gotten them home before, but it was a war zone, Wade was taken, Remmy had been captured and he found out his real parents had abandoned him.

He looked up to see his house come into view.

"Look there it is." Wade said excitingly pointing ahead. She started to pick up her pace.

Rembrandt smiled slightly and walked up to Qball. "Come on man." He said. "It's going to be okay, this time it will be different."

Quinn looked at his friend and nodded not really sure if he was right or not. He walked up to the gate and opened it, no creak sound was heard. He started walking up the path when the door opened.

"Dad?" He thought as Michael Mallory exited the house.

The older Mallory looked to see his son. "Oh hello champ." He said. "Did you forget something?"

Quinn just stood there, he had seen doubles of his father before but it still got to him. This time was no different.

"Sorry I can't hang around as I'm in a rush, going to be late for work." He said "We'll talk when I get home this evening." He said. He looked over to see Wade. "Hi Wade, how's the experiments going?" He asked.

Wade smiled. "Oh good." She replied. "Experiments?" She though. "What was that about?" She wondered.

"That's good to hear." He said. "See you later." He said then opened the car door hopped inside and drove off.

Quinn followed the car with his eyes into it left his view then looked up to see a figure standing at the door, it was his double.

Alt-Quinn walked down slowly. "You're me." He said looking at Quinn.

The Professor decided to step up. "Mr Mallory." He said looking at Alt-Quinn. "My name is Professor Maximillian Arturo." He said introducing himself formally. "Now this is going to sound like science fiction but we are from a parallel dimension, the man you see before you is you just a different you." He said

Alt-Quinn smiled. "So you're saying the machine works?" He asked.

Arturo smiled. "Yes indeed, that is why we have come." He said.

"Why did you come here?" Alt-Quinn asked in confusion.

"You don't keep it in the basement?" Rembrandt asked.

Alt-Quinn laughed. "Don't be silly." He said.

Quinn was surprised by his doubles mannerisms. "Was I like that?" He thought "Before the war with the Kromaggs."

"So you keep it elsewhere, perhaps at the university?" The Professor asked.

Alt-Quinn looked at him funny. "No it's at Wade's." He said looking at Wade. "So you're from another dimension too?" He asked.

She nodded. "We all are, but why is the machine at my double's place?" She asked in confusion.

"You did invent it." Alt-Quinn answered.

"Me?" Wade asked.

"Her?" The Professor said

Alt-Quinn nodded. "Why? Didn't you invent it on your world?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No Quinn did." She said.

"Oh wow." He said looking at his double excited.

"Can you take us to Miss Welles's residence?" The Professor asked.

Alt-Quinn smiled. "Of course, anything to see Wade again." He said. "She's so wonderful." He added.

He ran inside.

Wade blushed and Rembrandt grinned at her.

Seconds later he was back on the veranda with some keys. "Come on pile in I'll drive you." He said to the group pointing at the car.

They all piled into the old BMW, the same car Quinn drove around in back on Earth Prime. The Professor climbed in the front and the other three in the back, Wade in the middle and the car took off.

"So Mr Mallory, how do you know your Miss Welles?" Arturo asked.

Alt-Quinn smiled. "We work together at Doppler Computers, I'm a sale clerk and she is one of the maintenance technicians." He explained. "We're both there only to pay our way through college or university." He added.

"So what are you both studding?" Wade asked interested. She already realized that on this world it seemed that Quinn had her job and he hers.

Alt-Quinn looked in the rear view mirror for a second before turning his eyes back to the road. "I'm doing Literature and Prose and Wade is doing Quantum Physics or something like that." He answered. "I can never keep up with her techno talk." He said and smiled. "She is as smart as she is beautiful." He said

Wade blushed red while Quinn starred out the window.

Rembrandt grinned. "So it seems you two have swapped roles on this Earth." He said looked to his right.

"Yeah sounds like it." Wade said. She looked back to the front. "So you have a thing for your Wade don't you Quinn?" She asked Alt-Quinn.

He blushed. "Yeah, I've loved her since I first saw her when she started working at Doppler's." He admitted. "She just sees us as buds though and says that it would be like incest."

Wade looked at her Quinn who was still starring out the window. "Where have I heard those words before?" She muttered.

Quinn heard but ignored her. This was the last thing he needed, to see another Wade. He was still trying to deal with everything that happened over the last week and finding his Wade alive and well.

Rembrandt grinned and chuckled. "Talk about your mirror opposites."

Before long the car pulled up at Alt-Wade's house. Wade looked out the window. "This is where she lives?"

Alt-Quinn nodded. "Yep." He said getting out.

Alt-Wade opened the door after she heard the doorbell ring. "Just when I'm about to do an experiment." She thought. There standing there was Quinn. "Oh hi Quinn, sorry but I am in the middle of an experiment at the moment.' She explained.

"Wade I got some people you might want to meet." He said pointing down at the footpath. "They're us from another universe… Pretty cool huh?"

Alt-Wade looked down. "Oh my…" She said looking at her double and another Quinn. "Come in everyone." She yelled waving them to the door.

The group moved in and Alt-Wade starred at double. "So." She said. "You actually managed to cross the dimensional barrier?" She was amazed. "So the Einstein-Rosen-Pudalski Bridge is crossable?"

Wade smiled. "Well actually I didn't invent sliding." She answered.

"Really?" Alt-Wade replied. "Then who?" Looking at her double's companions.

Wade pointed at Quinn who was starring out the window in the door.

"So you invented it?" Alt-Wade asked Quinn who was still looking out the window in the door. "Of course parallel worlds, there are bound to be divergences."

Wade whispered into her ear. "He's been through a very traumatic experience recently, he is not himself and very withdrawn." She said then moved over and nudged him.

Quinn looked around to see the entire group looking at him. "Sorry." He said.

"That's okay." Alt-Wade smiled.

"Miss Welles." Professor Arturo said getting her attention. "Would you mind if we use your machine, we are trying to get home and linking our timer to it we believe we can get our home world's coordinates." He explained.

"Of course." She answered. "I don't know what a singer would know about physics though." She added smiling.

"Don't mind me." Rembrandt answered with a grin.

Alt-Wade looked at Rembrandt. "I was referring to our opera singer here." She point pointing at Arturo. "Not you Professor Brown."

"Well mirror's indeed." Rembrandt said looking over at the Professor. "Opera?"

Alt-Wade looked confused. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Rembrandt smiled. "In our world the Professor here is the Professor in Physics and I am a singer, though not in opera, R&B." He said grinning. He was loving this, this was something he would never let the Professor live down.

Wade smiled and walked over. "I thought you only sang in the shower Professor?" She said giggling.

The Professor ignored it and looked at Alt-Wade. "Miss Welles if you please?" He said.

"Of course." She said smiling herself. "This way."

The group entered a room full of machines simular to what Quinn had in his basement back home.

"Beats your basement doesn't it Qball." Remmy said smirking.

He nodded.

The Professor started to look over the machines and pulled out the timer. "This may take a few hours." He explained.

Alt-Wade smiled. "Mind if I help, I know these machines better than you."

Arturo nodded and decided not to take offence from the comment. "That would be appreciated."

Alt-Wade looked at her Quinn. "Quinn would you mind taking my double and Professor… um Mr Brown upstairs and get them comfortable." She said. "This may take sometime."

Alt-Quinn smiled. "Sure thing Wade." Then lead Wade and Rembrandt upstairs, Quinn just stood in the corner away from Alt-Wade.

It had been hours, the Professor and Alt-Wade were still working. Quinn had done very little he was too distracted to concentrate, he just had to open his big mouth. He was trying to cope with putting the past two years behind him and getting to know Wade and the Professor again which was hard enough. But now to have another Wade and having to work closely with her was too much.

He got up. "I'm sorry." He said out of the blue. "I… I can't do this." He said then bolted out the room.

"Quinn." Alt-Wade said but it was too late he was gone. She started to get up.

The Professor grabbed her arm. "Miss Welles." He said. "I suggest you leave him. He is sorting thorough a lot of feelings and false memories at the moment." He explained.

"Perhaps I can talk with him." She said concerned.

The Professor disagreed. "I believe being in here with you is the problem." The Professor explained. "He thought he lost her, your double." The Professor said as Alt-Wade started to sit back down. "He loves her, though he won't admit it."

Alt-Wade was surprised, she knew her Quinn had feelings for her but she dismissed them, too busy with her own experiments. But to have another Quinn love another of her, a Quinn that was the complete opposite, it was eerie.

"Right now he is doing all he can to keep himself together." The Professor continued. "Mr Brown went through the same ordeal but he didn't blame himself for everything like Mr Mallory has."

"What about my double?" She asked. "Does she return his feelings?"

The Professor looked back up at her. "Young love." He thought smiling. "Miss Welles, your double has the same feelings and has had them before I even met her." He explained. "Before even Mr Mallory knew he had them."

Alt-Wade was surprised and was thinking about her and her own Quinn. Sure he was handsome and was a really good friend, but she didn't feel the same. Perhaps if she spent more time with her Quinn it might change.

"Does all my and Quinn's doubles have the same feelings?" She asked.

The Professor once again looked up from the timer. "From the ones we met who know one another, I would have to say yes." He answered. "It's almost a universal constant, we have even encountered doubles of you and Mr Mallory that have indeed married and have a family." He added. "Quite amazing really, seems love has no boundaries."

Wade had headphones on and was smiling when Rembrandt walked up. "What ya listening to?" He asked.

She removed the headphones. "Sorry didn't hear you." She said.

"What tunes are you listening to?" He asked.

She smiled. "The Professor's double… He has quite a talent for opera."

Rembrandt grinned. "Oh I got to hear this." He said.

"You can't miss out on this." She said handing him the headphones.

"I think I might take a copy of them with us when we leave." Rembrandt said as he started to listen.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Quinn, her Quinn run past the door and from the looks of it was heading out the front door.

Alt-Quinn walked in. "Wonder what that was about?" He asked.

Rembrandt hadn't noticed to busy smirking at what he was listening to.

"I will find out." She said. "You might want to check on Wade and the Professor." Wade said.

He nodded and smiled.

Quinn sat down on the veranda, his head in his hands. He heard the door open the shut again, someone had followed him. "Great last thing I need." He thought.

A body sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulder. "You okay?"

Quinn knew it was Wade but which one?

He looked up to see it was his Wade. He tried to smile but was having a tough time, he was never good at self deception or convincing others he was okay when in fact he was the exact opposite.

"Yeah I suppose." He said

She smiled. "Quinn it's me." She said.

"That's the problem." Quinn said

She wasn't offended. "How so?" She asked.

Quinn sighed. "I should be in there helping them." He said.

"The Professor and my double can work it out." Wade replied.

He looked into her eyes, as hard as it was. "I'm the one that got us into this mess, it should be me not them." He said. "Its just hard working near her." He said.

"Because she is me?" She asked.

He nodded looking away. "I don't know what is going on anymore, what is real and what isn't." He explained. "I now have two different life times of memories, one where everything went bad and this one where I don't even know what I am feeling or what is really going on."

She patted his shoulder but said nothing.

Quinn remained silent not speaking.

"Once we get home we will sort this all out, I'll still be there for you." She said.

Quinn looked back up. "It's just I don't know if I want to go home." He said softly.

"Don't you want to see your mother again?" She asked, surprised by his comment.

"Of course, but is she my mother, not just the double that raised me?" He asked. "Can I readjust to a life where I hold a 9 to 5 day job where I am not running or having to look over my shoulder very five minutes for danger? The Kromaggs are still out there." He said.

"We've been sliding for three years, five for you with those memories." She said. "It isn't going to be easy to readjust for any of us but we will adjust like we did when we first started to slide."

He put his head back in his hands. "I just don't know. I wasn't a killer back then."

"Look Quinn." She said. "If you were a bad person you wouldn't be so affected by this and all that you were forced to do." She explained. "Together we will work through this it's just going to take sometime. And don't worry even though we will be back home I still plan on seeing you everyday to help you." She added. "You're still by best friend, after all this I can't just leave."

Quinn looked up to see her smiling and he nodded.

"What happened?" Alt-Quinn asked as he entered the room.

Alt-Wade looked up at him. "Oh Quinn." She said then realizing it was her Quinn. "He just needed sometime alone." He answered. "He's going through a rough time."

He nodded. "Maybe I can help him." He suggested. "I'm not a scientist but we are the same person."

The Professor looked up at him. "That is very generous Mr Mallory but I do believe the best thing right now is to just give him space." The Professor said returning his attention to the timer.

Alt-Quinn nodded and walked out the room.

"Hey Quinn." Rembrandt yelled seeing Alt-Quinn walking towards him.

Alt-Quinn smiled. "Yeah?"

"Do you mind giving me a lift down to a record store, I have a couple of CD's I want to buy." He said smirking.

"Sure." Alt-Quinn smiled as he picked up his keys. He was glad he was going to be useful.

Rembrandt turned off the player.

"Let's go out the back way." Alt-Quinn suggested.

Rembrandt was confused but nodded in agreement.

Quinn popped his head in to see Alt-Wade and the Professor. "Just going down to the shops with Rembrandt for a while."

Alt-Wade looked up and smiled. "That's great Quinn, see you later."

Alt-Quinn smiled. He turned to Rembrandt. "Let's go."

"Well here goes nothing." The Professor said as he flipped the switch.

It had taken him and Alt-Wade more time than they thought to hook the timer up and make sure the sliding machine wouldn't overload the timer stranding them here. The Professor knew it would have been a lot quicker if Quinn was here to lead the endeavour but under the current circumstances he knew it really wouldn't be much use.

"Let's hope this works." Alt-Wade added as she watched the timer.

They stood there in silence for several minutes just waiting and watching. The machines were buzzing and lights were flashing. The suspense building then the timer beeped.

The Professor walked over and picked it up. "I've think we have done it." He said disconnecting the timer. "I can't be sure though, Mr Mallory will have to look at it." He said.

"Well let's find him." Alt-Wade said leaving the room. The Professor followed.

Quinn was sitting down on the sofa. Wade was next to him, she felt this was where she needed to be to help him through anything that he needed. She was much happier that Quinn was now talking to her and she felt he needed to talk to her, it made her fell useful.

Wade was still thinking about Rembrandt, he had almost fully recovered, he still wasn't over the ordeal but he was well enough to laugh, play games on them and even talked to her and the Professor like he did before the VR world. She couldn't wait till Rembrandt showed the Professor his new purchases.

"Mr Mallory." Bellowed a voice from the hallway.

"Yes." Alt-Quinn answered back. He too was sitting in the same room watching the television.

The Professor entered. "Ah Mr Mallory." The Professor repeated as he headed for his Quinn.

Quinn looked up.

"Could you check the timer to see if we have a lock?" He asked. "I am afraid I am new to this technology." He admitted.

Quinn took the timer and examined it for a few moments. He pressed a few buttons and sat there for a few more moments.

Wade and Rembrandt were both in suspense. The next minute would tell them if they would be going home or continuing on their journey through the multiverse.

"Hmm…" Quinn murmured as he continued examining the timer.

"Come on Qball." Rembrandt encouraged getting impatient.

Quinn looked up at him. Smiled and then looked to Wade then to the Professor. "Good job Professor." He said. "You and Wade have managed to fix my screw up." He said handing the timer back to the Professor and resumed to looking out the window.

"So… So we're going home?" Wade asked to no one in particular.

The Professor smiled. "It would appear so Miss Welles." He replied. "In 13 hours we will be going home."

"Home… Never thought I would see it again." Rembrandt commented.

Wade grabbed and hugged Quinn. "We're going home." She said.

He just looked at her worried what might be facing them. She gave him a kiss. "Don't worry, we will arrive together and then you and I can sort all this out." She said still holding him close to her.

The Professor turned to Alt-Wade. "Miss Welles, I would like to thank you for all your hard work." He said.

Alt-Wade smiled. "Not at all, perhaps once I get my machine fully operational and safe for human travel I might visit." She said.

"You would be most welcome." The Professor replied. "Just do one thing."

"What's that?" She asked.

"Never advance the timer under any circumstances. Otherwise you will end up like us." He replied.

Wade held tightly Quinn's arm as they entered the park. Alt-Wade and Alt-Quinn came two to give the four sliders a send off. Rembrandt held the small assortment of CD's in his right hand.

"Mr Brown, may I inquire what those CD's are you are carrying?" The Professor asked.

Rembrandt smirked. "Some souvenirs Professor." He said showing the Professor. "The very best of Maximillian Arturo." He read aloud.

Quinn smiled and Wade giggled.

"Oh my." The Professor replied. He knew that Rembrandt would never let him live this world down.

Remmy grinned. "I couldn't help myself Professor."

"We've got 5 minutes." He stated attempting to change the subject. "Hopefully he will land on them when we arrive." The Professor thought.

Wade walked up to her counterpart. "Thanks for everything, it means so much to all of us." She said as she gave her a hug.

Quinn walked up to the Wade's and gave the Alt-Wade a hug as well. "Thanks for helping to fix my screw up. If only we met under different circumstances I may have been more help." He said.

Alt-Wade smiled. "It's okay, you're both welcome." She replied. "You've both shown me a few things that I really need to think about." She answered.

Wade smiled at her. "I think I know." She said. She walked over to Alt-Quinn and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks Quinn." She said.

He blushed. "No worries, hope to see you again." He answered.

Quinn shook his double's hand. "Keep her close, look out for her and don't let her go." He said quietly to him.

Alt-Quinn smiled and nodded.

Quinn and Wade moved away while the Professor and Rembrandt made their goodbyes. "So?" Wade asked. "What are we going to do when we get home?" She asked.

He looked down to her. "Two things." He said. "Go into to Dopplers and quit." He said smiling.

Wade laughed. "Oh I can't wait to see Hurley's face." She said. "I so have to come, I'll do the same I think." She added.

Quinn nodded.

"And the second?" She asked.

"Deactivate the sliding machine and start a new project." He replied.

"And that would be?" She asked.

"Find a defence against the Kromaggs." He replied.

Wade knew he wouldn't give up on that. She knew she would have to get him some help when they got home.

"Ready?" Rembrandt asked

Wade and Quinn both looked up. "You bet." Wade replied and Quinn only nodded.

"3.. 2.. 1.." The Professor said out loud then activated the timer.

Rembrandt was the first in. "See you at home." He yelled as he disappeared.

Wade followed at his heals and Quinn wasn't far behind.

The Professor turned to Alt-Wade and Alt-Quinn. He nodded then followed his Sliding family. Moments later the vortex closed.

"That was so cool." Alt-Quinn muttered.

Alt-Wade smiled. Now she knew that the machine could work perhaps she should take a break. "Hey Quinn." She said getting his attention. "Doing anything tonight?" She asked.

He smiled. "I'm free." He replied.

She smiled. "How about dinner?" She asked.

He nodded. "Wait a second… dinner?" He asked. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Wade grabbed his arm. "I suppose I am, do you accept?" She asked blushing.

"I sure do, what time you what me to pick you up?" He asked as they slowly walked out of the park.

The Professor flew out the vortex and landed squarely on Rembrandt. He smiled. "Finally a soft landing." He muttered. "And a little payback."

Quinn smiled he actually landed on Wade after coming out. He got himself up and helped Wade up.

"Will you get off me." Screamed Rembrandt in obvious pain.

The group laughed as the two young Sliders assisted the Professor to his feet then Rembrandt.

"Don't worry." Rembrandt said. "The CD's are intact."

The Professor signed at the comment. "Just my luck." He thought them turned to take in the local surroundings. "Isn't that your house Mr Mallory? "The Professor asked.

The group looked over. "It is.' Wade said "Let's go and see if this really is home." She dragged Quinn along with her.

The Professor and Rembrandt followed. "Miss Welles I assure you that it is." He replied.

It only took a few minutes for the group to reach the gate. They three of them turned to look at Quinn.

"It's your house Mr Mallory." The Professor stated. "You do the honours."

Quinn smiled the unlatched the gate and opened it. It was silent.

"No squeak." Wade said.

"I always knew that test was over rated." Rembrandt added with a smile.

It finally dawned on him, the sorcerer. He may of actually got them home, but with such a short window they couldn't risk it.

"You sure this is home Professor?" Rembrandt asked.

The Professor checked the timer. "Indeed Mr Brown, I am certain." He answered. "In any case we have three weeks to find out." He was glad that it was a long slide after all and handed the timer to Quinn. "I do believe this belongs to you, now let's go see your mother."

Quinn took the timer and stashed it away in his pocket. He look a moment to look at his friends. Rembrandt, his longest travelling companion and a man he thought of as a brother, the two of them had shared a different lifetime with each other something that would haunt them and also leave them with a special bond. He was also the only one who did not choose to come along and was one of the most forgiving people he had even met. He then looked over at the Professor, a man who is his mentor, teacher and father figure. In many ways his death in the other reality was as painful to him as his own father's death. He was just so happy that the Professor was still alive and here with him. He then looked over to Wade, his best bud, longest friend and the woman he loved. He smiled as having her back meant more to him than getting home, more to him than his own life. Knowing she was safe, happy and how at home meant everything to him.

Wade noticed him starring at her. "Shall we?" She asked taking his arm. Quinn nodded and together they walked up to the veranda and knocked on the door. It took a few moments before they heard movement from inside. The door slowly opened and Amanda Mallory stood there. "Quinn?" She asked.

Quinn smiled. "It's me." He said

She pulled him in for a hug, finally after all these years Quinn had finally came home to her.

Wade smiled as did Rembrandt and the Professor.

Amanda left go of Quinn.

"Please everyone come in." She stated.

After a few minutes explaining everything Quinn took Wade to the phone to allow here to get in contact with her family.

Before the hour was out there was a gathering at the Mallory house, Wade's parents, sister and fiancé had arrived, along with Mrs Mallory and the four Sliders. Quinn felt uncomfortable with the Welles's, especially Don Welles who kept giving him glares.

"Yeah and that's how we finally returned." The Professor stated taking a sip of his drink.

Rembrandt patted the Professor on the back. "Yeah this guy he pulled us out of more trouble than anyone." He explained. "He and Qball make a great team."

"Thanks Remmy." Quinn replied. Wade hadn't let his side the entire afternoon after her family had arrived.

"So Kelly where are you and Ian here getting married?" Wade asked excited about her sisters upcoming wedding.

Don butted in. "This coming October, of course you would know that if your life wasn't taken away from you in some irresponsible science experiment." He coldly replied.

Quinn face immediately showed pain. Memories of everything he had done come to the surface, especially the Kromaggs. Quinn should fell the pain growing inside him and could feel tears starting to swell in the corners of his eyes. He immediately dropped his drink which hind the ground and shattered, and burst out the front door slamming it loudly.

Wade glared at her father. "How could you." She said. "You're such a jerk."

"I'm sorry sweetie." Don replied after seeing what had happened and the pain on his own daughters face because of it.

"You should be saying that to him not me." Wade yelled "He has been though so much, lived with his guilt for over three years and the second he gets home you lay into him giving him death glares." It wasn't the home coming she expected.

Rembrandt walked over to her a put a shoulder around her. "I'm sure it was just an honest mistake." He added.

Wade herself was now in tears. She noticed Amanda heading for the door. "Mrs Mallory." She said getting her attention. "I should go."

"But he is my son." She added.

"He won't talk to you." Rembrandt stated. "He barely talks to me know, Wade is the only one with any luck to get through to him." He explained.

"I am sorry." Don said again at his daughter.

Wade looked back at him. "I really don't care." He answered. "I love him and what you did also hurt me." She said gave her drink to Rembrandt then bolted out the door after Quinn.

The Professor walked up to Mrs Mallory. "Mrs Mallory, perhaps Mr Brown here should tell you the story of the experience he and you son experienced just under a week ago."

"Sure, I think after that you all really should know." Rembrandt said as they group started to sit down.

Wade left the house, she was finding it hard to see out of her own eyes. She whipped her tears away looking for Quinn but couldn't see him. "Quinn." She yelled as she left the property. She started walking down the street but she was unsure which way she should go. "Quinn." She yelled again but there was no response. She decided to head to a few places that she and Quinn used to go both before sliding and during their adventures and headed for the main street to hail a cab.

It took her almost an hour but she finally found him. He was sitting on a bench at Golden Gate Park starring out over the bay. She walked up to him and sat down beside him, at first he didn't register it. She put her hand on his and he jumped, he looked over to see her. "I'm sorry." He said. "I should not of acted like that, I ruined your home coming."

Wade was upset, not at Quinn but her father. "No Quinn, my father did not you." She said. "He was acting like a jerk." She explained. She could see Quinn had again been crying, blaming himself for yet another thing he had no control over.

Quinn said nothing but just looked at her. She smiled up at him. "Look where home, let's just enjoy ourselves." She said holding his arm.

He smiled and nodded. "Now you and the others can resume your lives that I took away from you through my irresponsible behaviour." He muttered.

She smiled up at him. "You got us home Quinn, like you said you would, we can all resume our lives, you too." She replied.

He starred into her brown eyes and her into his blue ones. "All this guilt Quinn, you can let it go." She said. "None of us blame you, you got us home, let it go."

He nodded. It was time to let the last three years, five years go. The Kromaggs were still a threat and he will find a way to defend Earth Prime against them, perhaps if the Professor helped him they could find a way. He got them home like he said he would, it was all over.

"Thank you Wade." He said

She smiled. "What for Quinn?"

He smiled back. "For being here for me, being my best friend both while sliding and before we left." He replied. "You're the one person on this trip I couldn't of done without, that year I lived where you were gone was the hardest year of my life." He admitted.

She smiled. "That's what friends are for." She replied.

He swallowed. "You're more than that Wade." He finally said. He couldn't believe what he was about to say. He knew he had to say it now as he might not have the courage again. A barely spoken "I love you." Came out.

Wade smiled, she had only just heard it but she knew after everything that had happen to him, saying how he felt was difficult. She put her arms around his neck. "I love you too." She said then together they moved in for a passionate kiss. Together they let go, their bottle up feelings for three years released, the passion they felt for one another, Quinn's guilt it all left them. Here on this bench was where they were going to be starting their life.

Epilogue

Wade and Quinn returned some hours later where Don Welles apologized to both Quinn and Wade. From there things started to move along smoothly, Quinn deactivated the sliding machine and together he and Wade returned to Dopplers and to a very surprised Hurly to tell him where to stick his job.

Rembrandt eventually went back to his career and made a big come back in the music. He realised his first gold album in 30 years and soon platinum albums were common he often teased Arturo that he should try his hand at Opera.

The Professor went back to his teaching but eventually left and joined Quinn in creating the Sliding Institute, backed by the FBI the two of them successfully developed sliding and a defence against the Kromaggs. Quinn won a Nobel prize for his discovery of Sliding and both Quinn and the Professor were declared international heroes after stopping a small Kromagg incursion.

A year after returning Quinn asked Wade to marry him, and 3 months later they were wed. A year after that they had their first child, a son they named Michael after Quinn's father. They eventually had three children and lived in relative peace keeping in weekly contact with the Professor and Rembrandt. The four of them never went sliding again.

Authors Notes

Well this is my take on how to correct the errors done since mid season 3 on wards. A little twist having Arturo and Wade back and on the original mission of finding home.

The aim behind this story was to get the original 4 back together, have Wade and Quinn ending up together and finally having them finally getting home. I must admit it is a little rushed at the end but I was getting bored and knew if I didn't conclude it this afternoon the story would have been left unfinished.

The reader only needs a passing familiarity of Sliders to be able to follow this story as much is explained. Visit .com for a detailed episode list and summary if you are not as familiar as you might want to be.

Well that pretty much sums it up as far as why I wrote this story.

Comments are welcomed as always, either email me or PM me on my forums or post in the fan fiction section in Creative Medium.

Disclaimer

This above story is intended for entertainment purpose only. Some characters, elements of the story and the Sliders rights belong to St Claire Entertainment/Sci-Fi Channel and are used without authorization. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit or money is made from this story. This story may not be re-hosted on any site other than Majestic Sci-Fi Central without the direct permission from the author.