As Luck Would Have It

by Jason Thompson

The Sliders are finally going home and Quinn and Wade admit what they're feelings are.

Title: Sliders: As Luck Would Have It.
Jason Thompson
E-mail: PiLamSega@yahoo.com
May 9, 1999

Disclaimer: All the usual legal stuff. I didn't come up with the original concepts, characters,
or overlying plot of Sliders. I don't own them either, that honor belongs to the
creator of Sliders, Universal, St Clare Entertainment and the Sci-fi Channel. All I
did was write a story for my and hopefully someone else's enjoyment. I don't
plan to make a dime off this story. I didn't use any actual people or places in this
story, other than the general city of San Francisco, and the names of several
Blues Musicians and Actors. Also, I made reference to Babylon 5, I don't own
that either, that belongs to J. Michael Straczynski and Warner Bros. I didn't ask
permission either. I believe that covers just about everything, legal wise.

Note: I began writing this story a couple of years earlier. While I was writing it, my
computer crashed, I thought it was gone. I found the disk with it on a short while
back. So I used some elements of later in the series. While there are no
Kromaggs, or Rickman, the characters of Maggie, Colin, and Logan St.Claire
(well with Logan, it's pretty much name only) are in the story as local residents of
the world they travel to. So this will take our characters away from the series,
after Post-Traumatic Slide, and it will refer to most of the first and second
seasons, other than the alternates of the characters mentioned above.

Warning: I must warn you, while there is no explicit sex, there are quite a few sexual
conversations, and even some making out. If you don't like that stuff, turn back,
you will not be pleased. There's no violence, there is a touch of swearing though.
If I were to rate this, I'd say a strong PG13.

With that out of the way, let's get to Sliding, shall we...

Part 1

Room 12, at the motel 12.
8:57pm Thursday.
Time remaining to next window 37mins.

"...Stay tuned for Nightline with Kevin Costner, as he investigates Speaker Gingrich's evolvement
with last weeks botched assassination attempt on the President," the quick talking announcer says
between shows on ABS's TGIThursday line-up.

Quinn closed and put down the book he was reading, "A Brief History of the Universe," by
Professor Arturo's double. He had seen the book at the University lab he and Wade had been
working at for the six weeks they had been on this world. Actually, Quinn hadn't found the book,
Arturo had, and had waved it proudly in Quinn's face the first day. He didn't stop waving his
double's success in the group's face the entire time. But Quinn had to admit, this version of the
book was a little more interesting than Hawking's version of the book back home. "Put it on
something else Wade, I hate sit-coms," Quinn said as he checked the timer. "We'll be sliding in
thirty-five minutes, I'd rather not leave in a bad mood."

Wade was a little more interested in the fact that on this world David Lee Roth was the star of
Full House, than in the actual content of the show. She began thumbing through the entertainment
section of the paper and asked, "How about The X-Files?" Since it was the only other television
alternative she could sit through.

"Very well, Ms. Welles, but do hurry. 'Step-by-Step' is just as tedious in this dimension, as it is in
our own." The Professor bellowed from the bathroom as he finished showering and dressing for
the slide.

Rembrandt was doing something of a dance in front of the bathroom door. In the last hour, he had
thrust down three cups of coffee so he could stay awake. He had spent the last six weeks
working as a night security guard, and hadn't gone to bed all day so he wouldn't be tired the next
day. But three cups of coffee tended to shoot through him like a laser. "C'mon Professor, I really
need to use the facilities."

"Be patient, Mr. Brown, I'm almost dressed, but your whining won't hurry me along" Arturo
retorted. The Professor opened the door, as he tied his bow tie.

At that moment the opening credits on "The X-Files" begin, showing the two stars, Brad Pitt and
Sandra Bullock. "I think I've seen this one Wade, although my mother watched the show more
than I did. I think this is the one with the Air Force pilots," Quinn said.

Arturo had finished dressing, and was now eating the last of his MacLeod's fast food dinner.
Although he didn't enjoy the Veggie Burger, food was food, and he was hungry. "I must admit as
to missing the two actors on our version of this show. Brad Pitt isn't quite the same," The
Professor added.

"You're right. I like Sandra Bullock and all, but it's not the same." Wade said in agreement.
"What about you, Rembrandt?"

"Darlin', I just don't care. I didn't watch Fox all that much anyway," he said, coming out of the
bathroom toweling his hands. "What about it Q-Ball, ready to go?"

"Thirty-two minutes. We should probably check out and get going," replied Quinn.

After paying their bills and turning in their room key the Sliders left the hotel, and began walking
towards the park. It was a warm night, at least to our travelers. This San Francisco was a little bit
warmer on average.

As they walked towards the park, they passed the local "Hippie-Industrial District" as Wade had
dubbed it. The district was full of alternative pharmacies, hemp clothing stores, and recreational
pharmacies. Arturo read that the Hippie population that had come to San Francisco during the
sixties had taken complete control of the city. Since then, San Francisco had become totally
immersed in Counter Culture.

Arturo was far from impressed. "I am certainly pleased we are leaving this world. I am tired of
the counter culture, and especially the so-called 'recreational pharmacies.' It's all rubbish. Any
city that would hold 'If it feels good, do it...' as the city motto, is no place for me." Rembrandt
nodded his agreement as Wade and Quinn shook their heads. They had enjoyed this San
Francisco. While neither of them used drugs, they found the relaxed attitude very refreshing.
Also, the two of them had grown closer.

They started to become closer after Quinn had been confronted by "Crazy Kenny" the street
philosopher, although on this world, he was known as "Kenny the Social Prophet." In fact he
made quite a living lecturing in the park. A few weeks earlier Quinn and Wade walked past him
as he had been lecturing on the "Evils" of repressed feelings. Kenny, as his doubles so often seem
to do, singled Quinn out. "Listen to me, boy" he said. "If you wait too long to let people know how
you feel, it will bring you nothing but sorrow." Quinn had tried to play it off, but Wade had called
him on it.

After badgering him all through the park and half way back to the motel, Quinn finally admitted
half of the truth. He had told her that his primary reason for pushing them all on was to get Wade
home. What he didn't admit was that he didn't know how he felt about Wade since their
experience on "Asteroid World," as they had come to refer to it, but he knew he would sacrifice
everything to get her home safely. He would even give his life for that and her. Wade knew how
to pick her battles, so she quit while she was ahead.

As they passed the large statue of Jerry Garcia, Quinn noticed, not for the first time, the plaque
that read "San Francisco's favorite son." On this world, Jerry Garcia was mayor of San
Francisco, however it was more of a title that a position. San Francisco was egalitarian, and there
wasn't much need for a Mayor.

"Ninety seconds, anyone have a spot in mind?" Quinn asked.

"Over by those hedges has generally been a good spot," Wade said.

"I concur with Ms. Welles," Arturo agreed. "Although it never seems to matter, I always end up
braking my backside in the landing," he added in deadpan, then turned his attention to Rembrandt.
"While I am thinking of it, Rembrandt, I want you to go before me."

Rembrandt tried to laugh, but it came out more as a snort. "Forget that, I have no aspirations to be
a pancake."

Arturo didn't take the joke about his weight well. His chest puffed up and his face reddened as he
said. "Do you wish me to give you something to REALLY cry about, Mister Crying Man!"

Rembrandt held out his hands in surrender to Arturo's coming tirade. "Okay, if it's that important
to you, I'll go first. Q-Ball, how long?"

Quinn opened the face of the timer, "Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Now." Quinn pressed the
activation button on the timer and a beam of energy shot from it stopping in mid-air as if sticking a
finger between the stitching of reality and stretching it out. The point of light it formed caved in on
itself, and expanded to reveal the opening of a wormhole. The wind picked up, pushing around
leaves and other debris, and caused just enough of a howl for Quinn to have to raise his voice.

"After you, Rembrandt," Quinn said.

Rembrandt waved at Quinn before taking a running leap into the gateway and vanishing with a
flash and a sound, which was a cross between a thunderclap and someone splashing in a pool.
Quinn handed Arturo the timer, then leapt in himself.

"Ladies first," Arturo said with a slightly overly dramatic bow.

"Why thank you sir." Wade responded with a curtsy before leaping through.

Arturo looked into the wormhole, and with a smirk said, "If there is any justice, I will land on a
mattress," before jumping through.

The gateway then proceeded to seal itself leaving no trace other than some scattered leaves that it
was there at all.

***

The park was rather quite tonight, it was probably the chill in the air. Had anyone been in the park
they would have had quite a treat. It started with a single point of light, which brought on a light
breeze. Then the light warped and expanded to reveal a shimmering blue-gray whirlpool.

With a flash, an older black man shot out of the whirlpool and landed headfirst in the nearby
hedges. Then just as unceremoniously, a young white man shot out doing a flip to land on his
back. He scrambled to his feet and turned around just as the whirlpool flashed yet again, to spit
out a young woman right into him causing them both to slam into the black man, throwing them all
into the hedges. The whirlpool, oblivious to the comedy of this scene, flashed again to throw out
an older larger man, who somehow managed to land feet first.

With it's occupants out, the whirlpool sealed itself, leaving only four people as reminder that it had
been there. One of whom found the scene extremely funny.

***

"Yeah sure, laugh it up Professor. You probably had this all planned out," Rembrandt said as he
pulled himself out from under Quinn and Wade while simultaneously pulling pieces of the bush out
of his collar and his ear.

"Why of course, Mr. Brown. I programmed the timer to throw you all out, while placing me
gently on my feet, you blistering idiot!" He shot back between laughs.

"I thought so!" Rembrandt chuckled, as he began to see the humor of the scene, mostly from
watching Wade lie on top of Quinn, seemingly not wanting to move.

Wade got up finally, and said to Quinn as she brushed herself off, "Thanks for breaking my fall
Quinn, that was chivalrous of you."

For his part, Quinn was in a bit of pain, his head slammed into Rembrandt's back and his chest
was sore from his collision with Wade. "Don't mention it. All part of the job," Quinn croaked as
he tried to force air back into his lungs. "How long, Professor?" He asked as he slowly got to his
feet.

"Seven days, twelve hours," Arturo responded. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just got the wind knocked out of me that's all."

"Well, I'll be damned," Rembrandt said, from over by the statue.

"What is it, Mr. Brown?" Arturo asked as he and Wade walked over to the statue.

"We're definitely not home," Rembrandt said to them.

Wade, upon seeing the statue, began to laugh out loud.

"Not him," the Professor hissed.

"What, what is it?" Quinn asked, as he was again able to breathe. Then he caught a glimpse of
the statue, and couldn't help but laugh.

The statue had been of many people, but this came as total surprise. It was the likeness of three
men: Professor Maxmillian P. Arturo, Quinn Mallory holding the timer, and a third who, even with
his hair pulled back, Quinn and the Professor could recognize as Conrad Bennish Junior. The
plaque beneath their likenesses read, "The Fathers of Sliding."

***

Golden Gate Park, near the statue
9:37pm Thursday.
Time to next window; 7days11hrs57mins.

Arturo was somewhere between tears and a fit of rage. Quinn followed Arturo in his circle trying
to calm him. "Now relax, Professor. Our doubles have a Sliding machine, they may be able to
help," Quinn said, consoling his mentor.

"Relax? RELAX? How can we possibly relax when on this world Conrad Bennish has the key to
sliding?!" He bellowed.

"This is not the only world," Quinn said under his breath.

"WHAT?" Arturo turned slowly towards Quinn, he couldn't believe the young man he considered
his Protégé was implying what Quinn was implying.

"Before my first slide, I left my mother a note. It gave her instructions on what to do if I were to
disappear while sliding. I told her to contact either you or... Bennish," Quinn said half-ashamed.

"God help us. You left our fates in the hands of that, that SLACKER?" Arturo felt betrayed.
"By now, he has probably sold sliding to buy a Bong!"

"Professor, that's preposterous. Not to mention, that in my note, the first thing I told my mother to
do was patent my machine and publish the equation," Quinn spat. "I did that so she'd be protected
against Bennish, or anyone stealing sliding technology. I hoped it would keep her financially
stable." Quinn felt rage at Arturo, to think that the man he thought of as his hero would think so
little of him.

"Guys, all that is beside the point. Your doubles are sliders, and they will probably be further along
then Quinn was, since Quinn's double has been working on it for the eighteen months we have
been lost," Wade interjected.

"You're right Wade. I'm sorry Professor, but you know as well as I do that Bennish is a genius.
You may not like his personality, but you've got to respect his intellect," Quinn said. "We'll head
over to my house, my double may still have the machine in the basement."

"Huh," Rembrandt said, he had wandered away from the argument. He was now looking over at
a flag hanging off the side of Golden Gate Park's Information center.

"What is it?" Wade asked on behalf of the group.

"Look at the flag." Wade's heart sank, for fear that it world be a Soviet flag, or even worse. At
first glance, it looked fine. It took Wade a second or two to notice.

"Sixty," they each said, referring to the number of stars. The subject of what events precipitated
sixty states became the focus of the group conversation.

They walked into the city, recognizing the New Moon Electronics shop. If they had bothered to
inspect the window of New Moon, they would have noticed a piece of equipment along with the
cell-phones, and pagers. In fact it looked very much like a cell-phone. The advertisement beside
it read as follows:

Now only $199.95! The MAB industries model 2-A Sliding timer. Act now for FREE hook up to
local Sliding machines. Six-month or six Slide warranty available.
Copyright 1996, Mallory-Arturo-Bennish Industries.

The timer was for sale. In fact anyone who looked inside would find that this wasn't the only
piece of Sliding equipment you could purchase.

As they passed a newsstand, Quinn stopped them. "Let's buy an almanac. I'd like to see some of
the history of this world. It should help settle our little debate too."

"Why not?" Rembrandt replied.

The proprietor looked out from behind his copy of Time to see that he had a bonified celebrity at
his stand.

"I know you!" He said. Quinn and Arturo began to stammer out a reasonable response when they
realized that the vendor's attention was completely on Wade.

"You're Wade Welles-Mallory, the poet and author aren't you?" Wade began to blush. "I love
your poetry, so beautiful. And your book, 'My Spin Around the Universe: The Hitchhiker's guide
to Sliding,' it was like I was really there," the vendor said between vigorous pumps on Wade's
hand.

Quinn began to go over the vendor's last remark again. Suddenly his eyes lit with recognition.
'Wade Welles-Mallory?' He didn't believe he heard wrong, so he looked to Arturo for
conformation, and he got it.

"Why thank you. It's nice to hear that," she said, a little proud and a lot confused. "I was
wondering, if you had a 1996 World Almanac?" The man rummaged through his stand, and found
his last copy. Wade fished out some money.

The vendor wouldn't hear of any such thing. "I can't except money from you, madam. But how
about a picture?" He asked.

"Sure!" Wade replied. "What's the old cliché, 'anything for a fan?'"

"Would you take our picture, Mac?" he said to Quinn, while offering him the camera. Quinn
nodded.

***

The 4100 block of Blue Jay Way
11:57pm.
Time remaining to next window: 7days9hrs42minutes

As they walked down Quinn's street, Quinn was reading the Almanac by the light of a flashlight
Wade had taken to carrying. "Hey, listen to this, '...after the British's third attempt at retaking the
US in 1848, the US was given all the British rights to Canada. The British also gave up their
budding colony in India in the Treaty of Toronto. After the US civil war began in 1857 with the
secession of Mississippi, all the Canadian colonies east of Ontario were given statehood. The
Canadian provinces west of Ontario were given statehood in 1956 along with Alaska and Hawaii,
bringing the number up to 58. In 1976, the US colonies of Cuba, and Puerto Rico became the 59th
and 60th states.'"

"It also says, that during World War II, Patton convinced Eisenhower, and 'Admiral' McAuthur to
take on the Soviet Union. WWII ended with Soviet surrender in 1951. The USSR was divided up
between the US and Britain. After WWII, Patton served two terms as President. Because of
the good relations between the US and Britain, there was no nuclear arms race. The US and the
Greater United Kingdom, have kept strict tabs on the spread of nuclear weaponry."

They stopped in front of Quinn's house.

Upon inspecting the mailbox in front of 4159, Quinn was happy to see it still said Mallory. "Well, it
is *my* house. Care to see if I'm home?" Quinn asked. As he opened the gate it let out an
almost comforting squeak. It would have been comforting if it weren't for the simple fact that
they weren't home. They quietly walked up the steps, and knocked on the door. After a minute
or so, the light came on, and the sound of someone walking down the stairs could be heard. The
door swung open to reveal someone Quinn had never seen before, although he looked familiar. If
Quinn were to see this man at home, he would guess the man was a cousin.

For his part, the man at the door recognized Quinn. "Quinn, I thought you and Professor Arturo
left this morning on another slide/business trip. Dad! Dad, Quinn's here."

Quinn heard a noise at the stairs as his father came down. "Quinn, did something go wrong on
'Sorcerer World?' Your sister is at a movie and your mother should be back from her bridge game
shortly. Colin and I were having a guys' night in." He stopped when he noticed Quinn and his
companions.

"Dad this is going to take a little explaining. But to be blunt, I'm not your Quinn."

"Of course, you're doubles. It's been quite a while since one of Quinn's doubles has shown up on
our doorstep. How long have you been in this dimension?" he asked as he ushered them in. On
any other Earth, that question would sound like they were being patronized. However, on this
earth, however, it had a "How about the weather?" air about it.

"About two hours. This is where things get tricky," Quinn said as he stepped aside to let the rest
in. "It began about a year and a half ago. Wade, the Professor and I were preparing to go on a
slide. There was a power surge, and the wormhole grew to fast for me to correct. Apparently,
the wormhole escaped my basement, opened out onto the street, and enveloped Mr. Brown as he
drove by the house." Quinn paused to swallow.

"We found ourselves on a world that was in a second Ice Age. That would have been fine since
we were only going to be there five hours but unfortunately, an ice tornado bore down on us..."

"You advanced the timer." Colin finished.

"The result has left us at the mercy of the Helix Spiral." Arturo continued. "We must slide each
time there is a window between worlds." He paused, considering the alternative, shivered and
said. "If we miss a slide, we will be trapped on that world for thirty years. The next window is a
week away, we plan to use your Quinn's machine to accelerate us as close to home as we can get
at that time."

Michael leaned forward, "I'm sorry for your plight. The prototype is still in the basement...but it
hasn't been in working condition for almost a year. The one they use is at the Lab."

"Then that's settled. Quinn and I will go to the lab tomorrow and start working on the necessary
adjustments to the equipment. We should all get some sleep," Arturo said.

Colin stood up, "I can take you, I have work to do there. I may not be as much help as Quinn,
Bennish, or Professor Arturo, but I have been helping Quinn since the beginning."

"That's kind of you," Quinn paused trying to remember his name. "Colin, right?" Colin nodded.
"Sorry, on my world, I was an only child."

Michael stood, "Well, on this world, we had three children. You and Colin were about two years
apart, and your sister Logan is 17, she started at Cal last month." Michael rubbed his hands
together as if to warm them. "The couch pulls out, and Quinn didn't take his bed when he and
Wade moved across town. There's also a cot Quinn kept in the basement. Wade, I'll show you to
Quinn's room."

With all their questions answered for the night, they each retired for the evening. Arturo on the
pullout couch, Rembrandt on the love seat in the living-room, Wade in Quinn's old room, and Quinn
on a cot that the local Quinn had left in the basement.

Quinn didn't really sleep much. He spent most of the night looking over the local Quinn's
equipment. Wade was right; this Quinn was further along. After looking over everything, fatigue
finally set in and Quinn went to bed.

***

The Mallory Residence
10:05 am Friday.
Time remaining until next window: 6days23hours29minutes.

Quinn was awakened by a noise upstairs and a scent he never thought he would experience again,
his mother's cooking. Of course, his guilty memories shattered the brief illusion that he was home.
"At least, I can have a home cooked meal. Even if it isn't home," he said to the dormant sliding
machine. As he was climbing the steps he heard Remmy retelling one of his favorite stories. He
watched as the Cryin' Man wove his tale to his double's family, and a very annoyed Professor.
Namely, the story of the time he was the King of Rock.

"... There I was, in front of a sold-out stadium and pay-per-viewers around the world. Just as I
was starting though, my backstabbing double double-crossed me. But for that moment, when all
eyes were on me, I was happier than I had ever been and I have Q-Ball to thank for that."

Quinn was leaning against the doorway to the kitchen waiting for the professor's traditional tirade
that followed this story. He didn't have to wait long, even though this tirade was toned down.

"Mr. Brown, please for the sake of their continued hospitality and my continued sanity, kindly
refrain from telling these tedious stories."

Amanda Mallory was playing the perfect hostess, right down to the coffee set in front of her
guests. She seemed to find Rembrandt's story quite interesting. Every time Quinn looked at her,
his heart sank as he wondered how his own mother was taking this. How sliding had gotten so
wide spread was what Quinn really wanted to know. He sat down at the table. "Well, you know
our story, now I'd like to know this world's, how long has this world had sliding?"

Colin took the question as a cue, "Well, Quinn had just finished his undergraduate program, his
thesis was on the Grand Unified Theory. He had put together some initial equations when he
stumbled on the solutions. He showed the equations to dad, as well as Professor Arturo. Six
weeks later Quinn was published and six months later he won a Nobel Prize. He began to work
on building an anti-gravity machine but accidentally invented sliding instead. His favorite joke is
that he doesn't discover anything, but falls ass-backwards into things. With Bennish, Professor
Arturo, and some help from Dad and I, we perfected it. The three of them met up with another
Quinn. This double had amassed a master co-ordinate list and had formed some trade routes. So
Mallory-Arturo-Bennish, or MAB, Industries was born."

Michael picked up the story from there. "The products from other Earth's advanced medicine,
technology, even literature MAB topped the Fortune 600 in just eight months. Early last year,
Quinn and Bennish opened a tourism division. It was originally guided slides for the rich. But like
anything, the equipment became easier to reproduce, and sliding has become somewhat ordinary."

"You've formed an inter-dimensional trade network? But some worlds would most definitely have
non-compatible currency, we've run into that." Quinn said.

"Well, that was a problem at first," Colin responded, "Until Dad recommended that we use a gold
standard. See most of the industrial trade is done between a relatively closed circle of worlds. In
addition, a lot of bartering is done, equal trade in goods and so forth."

Wade had decided to enter into the conversation, "You mentioned 'Sorcerer World' last night.
Was that a world dominated by the occult?"

"Yes, that was one of the first worlds Quinn and Colin traveled to. Have you been there?"
Michael asked.

The Professor responded, "A few months back Quinn's double on that world tried to help us get
back home."

Rembrandt remembered something of their experience with that Quinn. "You know Q-Ball, the
other Quinn mentioned something of a trade network. Maybe this world was part of that trade
route?"

Quinn nodded, he remembered that remark as well. "That would make sense. That Quinn was
even further along than this Quinn, well, at least from what I've seen."

Quinn really wanted to get his hands on the equipment now. He had begun to doubt whether or
not the world that Quinn's double had sent them to, was actually home. However, he never
voiced that doubt. Just as he was about to ask Colin to take him to the lab, he realized he really
needed a shower, the basement was rather dirty "I was wondering if I could use the shower
before we went to the lab? The basement was kind of dusty."

Amanda responded, "Of course, you already know where it is, there are towels in the cabinets."

"Thanks."

***

The shower had helped to clear Quinn's mind. The equations he had gotten a look at the night
before made sense, the problem was the circle of worlds Colin described was pretty closed so it
wouldn't be as simple as importing the co-ordinates. But, he had an idea. The only problem he
saw was that it was an all or nothing shot.

As he was toweling off, he tried to figure how the group would react. He didn't think their
reaction would be positive. While they would all jump at the chance to go home, the prospect of
being stranded if he was wrong would be quite a deterrent. By the time he was dressed and
ready to go, he had decided to keep quiet for the time being.

He walked down the stairs and noticed Colin on the phone. "... Right, right. Send the recall
signal, we'll be right down. Thanks Maggie. Bye." He hung up the phone, and noticed Quinn
coming down the stairs. "That was Maggie Beckett, our chief of security at the lab. She usually
runs the place when we're not there. She's gonna send the recall signal to Quinn and Max.
Hopefully..."

Quinn cut him off. "Sorry, but recall signal?"

Colin grabbed his coat, "I'll explain on the way." He raised his voice so Arturo could hear him in
the kitchen. "You ready Professor?"

Arturo walked out of the kitchen with a bagel in his mouth nodding.

"Great let's go."

***

As they drove down the street in a '96 Pontiac Sunfire, Quinn noticed just how uncomfortable his
large friend was in the passenger seat of the small car. Quinn smirked, but noticed he wasn't
much more comfortable himself.

Just as he was about to continue his conversation, the Professor spoke, "Mister Mallory,"
Referring to Colin, "how can a man of your height drive a car of this size?"

Colin merely chuckled, "This isn't my car, it's Logan's. My Blazer is in the shop, something's
wrong with the transmission. Sorry Professor, if it's any comfort, I'm in just as much discomfort
as you two."

"Yes, small comfort indeed."

Quinn chuckled, "Colin, you mentioned a recall signal?"

"Oh yeah, it's something new we've been working on. Hopefully it's a way to advance the timer
from this end. We worked out an emergency recall from the other side, but this is a little newer
and a little more difficult problem to solve. Conrad and I have recently worked out the problem,
we hope."

Colin pulled into the drive of MAB Laboratories, flashed his security card at the gate, and they
were sent through.

"This isn't the primary lab, but this is where we run more of the experimental equipment from.
The equipment and staff here is more suited to our needs than the primary facility which is used
mostly in production."

They pulled into a parking spot and after something of a struggle on the Professor's part to get out
of the car and went in.

As they walked through the corridors leading to the lab, Quinn noticed what appeared to be
mementos from past slides. Many of them were almanacs or some piece of currency. There
were a few pictures as well. Quinn noticed one of his and the Professor's doubles with Carl Sagen
and a standing healthy looking, Stephen Hawking. The caption read: "Slide no. 13 Date:
December 18, 1994." Quinn noticed he had lagged a bit behind and jogged to catch up.

Colin was continuing his tour explanation. "...Quinn and Arturo do most of the mathematics, while
Conrad and I do a lot of the engineering. But Logan, despite her being younger than the rest of
us, has made quite a few contributions. In fact right now, she's working on ways to track
wormholes in case we lose people during a slide. I am not sure, but I think she's trying to use
photon trail signatures. She's almost as secretive as Quinn."

With the last comment bells and whistles went off in Quinn's brain. "That's it!"

When Arturo and Colin stopped, both of them recognized the look in his eyes. It was a look of
astonishment, excitement, and discovery. Each of them had heard their own Wades describe it as
Quinn's "Mad Scientist" face.

"Don't you see? We can use our own Photon signatures to determine our home co-ordinates.
From there, we can slide home!" He barreled past them into the lab. They followed close behind.

"Where's Logan, or at least her notes?"

"Logan is in class, her notes are in her office. Why?"

"I know what I want to do, the question is how." It was at that moment Quinn heard the sound
similar to grinding stone that he associated with the opening of a vortex. He turned around to see
a bright blue whirlpool and noticed that it looked different than he was used to seeing. Unlike his,
it seemed to have depth. Where the light at the center of the gate would be on the vortex they
traveled through, this gate actually seemed to show the beginning of the bridge. The gateway
flashed once and the Arturo of this world walked through. The local Quinn Mallory followed him;
both men wore suits and carried briefcases.

The visiting Arturo leaned over to Quinn. "It appears our doubles have also perfected the
landings. Perhaps we should ask how they did it?"

The local Quinn upon seeing Colin walked up to him and with a punch on the arm said. "Well, it
looks like your recall program worked Colin. Who are our new friends, beyond the obvious of
course?"

Visiting Arturo stepped forward, "Quinn and I, along with Wade Welles and Rembrandt Brown
slid onto this world last night. We've been traveling randomly for the last eighteen months and
were hoping to use your equipment to help get us home."

The local Arturo stepped forward, "Well, my Quinn and I have had our fair share of near disasters
while sliding. I suppose helping you out is fair, and as Mr. Mallory's young wife would probably
say, it can only help our karma."

Local Quinn loosened his tie, rolled up his sleeves, and with a clap said, "Let's get cracking, huh?
Where's your timer?"

The visiting Quinn produced the device.

"This is the same basic design I used originally, although I pissed mom and dad off when I
cannibalized his cell phone and half the remotes in the house." The two Quinns shared a good
laugh.

The Arturos followed a bit behind, the visiting one starting, "I noticed you and your Quinn solved
the problem of the rough landings. May I ask when and, more importantly to my backside, how?"

The local Arturo responded with a booming laugh, "My dear counterpart, that was the first
problem I worked on. Believe me, I broke my backside plenty as well."

***

The Mallory Residence
2:33pm.
Time remaining to the next window: 6days19hours1minute.

Wade and Remmy had decided that with Quinn and the Professor gone for the day they would
enjoy some more of the Mallory's considerable hospitality by watching a little television. They had
just settled in for a local trash television show hosted by Howard Stern when a knock at the front
door came. "What should we do, Remmy? I mean they all went out for the day?"

"Don't worry about it girl. I mean, we ain't in any trouble on this world, so what's the problem?"
he said as he hopped off the couch and headed for the door.

Wade set down the popcorn and followed Rembrandt to the door. "I guess you're right. I'm just
so used to trouble knocking on our door."

Rembrandt didn't say anything, but all the times they had gotten into trouble on slides made him
jumpy too. He opened the door to reveal Wade's double, immediately he noticed the differences.

For one, this Wade had rather long red hair in an elegant hairstyle. She wore khakis and a blue
blouse, which reminded Rembrandt of a clerk at his local Video Metropolis. Rembrandt would
have wondered why she wore such plain clothes for a woman in her position, until he noticed the
biggest difference. Namely the two-year old son of this world's Quinn and Wade.

The child was a good blend of the two, he had thick brown hair, which acted very much like
Quinn's, but his face had many of Wade's features. His eyes were the same deep blue of
Quinn's, and they had the fire of both parents burning in them. The fire was fueled with a child's
incredible wonder. Rembrandt could see the same spark of greatness that he saw in both Quinn
and Wade, and it proved his theory, if his young traveling companions ever formed a family of
their own they would have very lovely children.

"Uh, hi. You must be Rembrandt? I'm Wade, Quinn's wife." Rembrandt shook her hand. She
noticed her double, "Well, I guess introductions aren't in order." She extended her hand and
smiled, "It's always nice to meet another me."

Visiting Wade returned the smile, "Same here." She kneeled down in front of the child holding his
mother's hand with one hand and using the index figure of his other hand as a pacifier and with a
more childlike voice said, "And who's our little friend here?"

Local Wade beamed, "This is William Thomas Mallory. Say hello to our new friends William."
The child either didn't notice the resemblance between the woman in front of him and his mother,
or was unimpressed by this rather magnificent feat of science, because he merely pulled the finger
out of his mouth and waved at the people.

What he was impressed by was the charm necklace Wade wore. He reached out and grabbed
hold of the necklace. "Pretty nekess. Willy want!" The child declared.

"William NO!" Local Wade tried to stop her son, but visiting Wade enjoyed the child's attention.
She scooped him up, and began to dance the boy around. "I'm sorry Wade, he seems to like
people's jewelry. He's always grabbing hold of people's necklaces or watches."

"It's alright, I think it's cute. Quinn said pretty much the same thing when I bought it. It wasn't as
cute then though." They all laughed, even Will, but mostly because of the sound of laughter
around him.

She danced her: she couldn't decide on the term that fit so she settled on nephew, around the
room. The entire time she talked to him, or hummed a little tune.

Rembrandt leaned over to local Wade, "How old is he?"

"He just turned two."

"He speaks well for two."

"Quinn never baby talks to him, even though he has the cutest voice when he talks to his 'little
Chilly Willy' he always uses the real words. Will learned to talk early, and he walked early too."
Rembrandt had seen many of his friends' wives go into "mommy mode," but there was something
a little freaky watching Wade, ANY Wade, go into mommy mode. Maybe because he thought of
his Wade as he would of a baby sister, and therefore thought of all Wades that way. He looked
over at his Wade who was very affectionate with the child, at the moment she was rubbing noses
with him. He realized he had zoned out for a moment, he concentrated on what Wade was saying
again, "... And Quinn is trying to teach him how to read, but I still say it's to early. I'm sorry Mr.
Brown, I tend to ramble on about him, but you know how young mothers can be, I don't doubt."

He waved off her apology, "Oh it's alright, child. It's just a little different listening to any Wade
talk like that, that's all."

"I know what you mean. Watching her with my son is kind of like watching videotape of myself,
a bit freaky. Are she and Quinn close on your world?"

"That's a good question. Sometimes I wonder if they're the only ones who don't see how much
they connect. Other times, I'm afraid that if it meant getting Wade home, the Professor and I
might be Shit Outta' Luck, as the saying goes," he said with a chuckle. "So what about you and
your Quinn?"

"Well, he started working at Doppler Computers with me when we were juniors in College. I
followed him around for months, he didn't seem to notice. He invited the Professor and me to his
basement one night, and he and Colin showed us the sliding machine. We went on a slide to a
world where San Francisco was this tropical paradise. We started dating a couple of weeks later.
About a month before he went public with sliding, we got married. Then, two years ago, we had
Will. That's about it."

"Huh, figures, your first slide is to 'Hawaii World', mine is to 'North Pole Land'. It's just the Cryin'
Man's luck." Rembrandt laughed again. "So, is there any particular reason you stopped by?"

Wade snapped her fingers, "Oh yeah, it slipped my mind. My Quinn called. He wanted me to
bring you two down to the lab, but I thought I'd show you around my San Francisco first. Maybe
get you two some clothes, you can't wear that stuff all week."

"That is really kind of you." Rembrandt turned his attention to his Wade. "Hey Wade, it seems
like we landed on 'Hospitality World'."

Visiting Wade walked over to them with Will, whom she had managed to get to sleep. "Shh.
What's that Remmy?" She said in a whisper.

"Wade came by to take us down to the lab. But first, she's gonna give us a tour, and..."

"And take you two shopping. But I suppose I should take this little man and put him in the car."
She said as she took her son. "C'mon." Wade and Rembrandt followed the local Wade to her
Cadillac.

Rembrandt whistled as he observed the car, "That's quite a car."

Local Wade smiled, "One of the perks of having a husband who's one of the ten richest people in
the world. I can have a nice car instead of bumming rides off my older sister." She quickly
amended, "No offense guys."

The two visitors looked at each other, "None taken." They climbed into the car, and rode off for a
tour of San Francisco.

***

MAB Experimental Laboratories
3:30pm.
Time remaining to next window: 6days17hours4minutes.

The two Quinns and Colin had finished making some basic upgrades to the visiting slider's timer.
They had started by importing a lot of the programming and circuitry from the old timer into a new
housing.

"This new stabilizer should make your landings a lot easier. That, and the power rebalancing we
did should allow for easier travel for the four of you." It was at that time that the Arturos came
back in.

After two attempts where they spoke simultaneous, the visiting Arturo waved the floor to his local
counterpart. "Well, we have just finished the initial equations for the signature analysis. We
worked off of Ms. Mallory's equations. How are you three coming with the initial modifications to
the timer?"

Colin laughed, "I've noticed these two doing stepping on each other's words too. Maybe it comes
from working with your double for long periods of time?" Upon receiving twin glares from the
Professors, Colin went on with his explanation. "We noticed some of their timer's circuitry was
either shot, or cannibalized beyond use, so we installed what was salvageable into one of our new
timers. We replaced the old spectrometer. According to Quinn, they burned up the original a few
months ago. I don't doubt it 'cause it looked pretty banged up. We then started upgrading the
older circuitry. They can now choose the co-ordinates of their slides, or slide randomly. Next we
rebalanced the power for four, and added a new stabilizer at Professor Arturo's request. That's
when you guys came in."

He held up the new timer. It was a sleeker design that didn't have the cannibalized look they had
come to recognize in the last year and a half. The readout was just above the number pad, and
the old dial was replaced by several power readouts. All in all it looked like something out of Star
Trek.

"The only thing left to do is make sure it still works," Colin said. He pressed the power button and
watched as the readouts did a self-calibration. The timer readout blinked to life to show that they
still had just over six and a half days left until the next window.

Upon seeing this, the visiting Quinn slapped his "brother" on the shoulder, "Well now that we're
done with that, the real fun begins. Let's see what we've got professor." They pulled out the
notebook they had written the new equations on and got to work.

That's how they were found four hours later when Maggie brought Rembrandt and the Wades
into the lab. They had transferred the equations from the notebook to a blackboard; local Quinn
and visiting Arturo were in a debate over the exact way to proceed.

"Professor, I still say the best bet is for you to get your matter signature here. The equipment
here would work a hell of a lot better with these equations," Quinn tapped the blackboard with his
chalk for emphasis. "Compared to anything we could add to your timer."

"Mr. Mallory if we stay here, we will miss the window, and should we miss the window, or if our
equations are just a bit off. As you said earlier, with every moment we are here any number of
new universes form, and with each new universe our chances of getting home fall exponentially."

Visiting Wade looked around the table. Her Quinn was sitting at the table ripping his hair out,
Colin was playing with a pen and rubber band, the local Arturo was leaning back in his chair
looking very much like he wanted to explode, and Logan, who according to Maggie had arrived
three hours ago, rested her head against the table dozing off.

She walked over to her Quinn, and removed his hands from their vice grip on his hair. He looked
up and smiled upon seeing her. "Hey. How long have they been at it?" she whispered, looking
over at the fighting pair.

"About two hours. It's my fault really. I mentioned the alternative of missing our window in order
to take our best shot at home and the Professor just won't hear of it. I'll give my double this, he's
as stubborn as the Professor is. I probably would have given up by now."

Wade smiled, "I wouldn't be so sure, you're as stubborn as he is." He took her hand from his
shoulder, and held it in his. Wade felt chills run up and down her spine and looked around again.
"You mean, you've been stuck on this one point for two hours?" Quinn merely nodded with a big
sigh.

Local Quinn had had enough, "You know what Professor? I'm tired, hungry, and I'd really like to
say hi to my wife and son. You've got six days here, let's adjourn for dinner. I'll get you four the
best suite at the Dominion, some new clothes, and a rental car. We'll have a good time and come
back to this with a fresh look tomorrow." He threw the chalk at the tray under the blackboard and
watched it clatter on the floor.

The visiting Professor sat down, and rubbed his eyes, "You have a point Mr. Mallory. Let's
adjourn for the night. I, too, am exhausted."

Visiting Quinn's face curled into a very large and slightly wicked smile and said into his Wade's
ear, "Let's get outta here before they change their minds." He grabbed his coat. "Well guys,
Wade and I are outta here. See you and the Professor at the Dominion, Remmy." Quinn grabbed
his Wade by the arm and pulled her out of the lab. Wade noticed Rembrandt looking at her and
she only shrugged as she was yanked out the door.

Upon Quinn's exit with Wade, Rembrandt walked over to local Wade who had a rather interesting
grin. "What's up?" he whispered.

"Nothing, that's the same smile my Quinn had on his face the night he proposed." When
Rembrandt's eyes bugged out she laughed. Local Quinn walked up behind his wife and embraced
her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Hi," He said as he kissed her on the cheek. "Mr. Brown, it's nice to meet you. Quinn's told me a
lot about you." He reached out and shook Remmy's hand. "Where's my little boy?"

"He's asleep in your office. I see you guys had a lot of fun," she said sarcastically.

"Oh yeah. What about you guys? You show them a good time?"

"She sure did. Did you say something to Q-Ball to get him all riled up? He looks like the cat that
ate the canary."

"I didn't say anything, other than tell him some of the horrible times I've had with Wade here."
Wade playfully elbowed him in the ribs. "He seemed to have something going in his mind
already." Quinn paused, then addressed the entire group. "Well gang, since we're all in need of a
good meal, why don't we have dinner downtown?"

Upon hearing a discussion of food, the visiting Professor was interested. "A splendid idea Mr.
Mallory."

"Great. Wade and I know this place..." He said as he guided the group out of the lab.

Visiting Arturo walked up to his traveling companion and asked in a secretive volume, "Mr.
Brown, what happened to Mr. Mallory and Ms. Welles?"

Rembrandt sighed, a knowing smile spreading across his lips. "I don't know Professor, but
wherever it was they went, I'm sure they don't want us there."

***

Quinn had lead Wade out of the lab, down the street, and was now walking towards downtown.
He was holding her hand while keeping a leisurely pace. Wade finally decided to find out what
was up. "Quinn, where are we going?"

Quinn continued walking. "I don't know, where would you like to go? While I'm thinking of it, did
you change?" She was no longer wearing the jeans and sweatshirt she had worn the night before.
She now had a more flattering outfit on, consisting of a form fitting sweater and black pants, the
whole outfit gave Quinn ideas he never allowed himself to think. Wade realized the affect she
was having. Subconsciously she had picked it out for him. Well, maybe not that subconsciously.

She let go of his hand, and did a little fashion turn for him. "Yeah, do you like it?"

"Very much, you look great. If I didn't know better, I would think you had a hot date." He said
with a smile.

Wade's face curled into smirk. "You caught me. Rembrandt and I have been dating since 'Texas
World'."

Quinn laughed. "Well, I'm sorry for keeping you from the Cryin' Man. You know, I've been
thinking of what Crazy Kenny said on the last world. The part about keeping feelings bottled up?"
Wade just nodded so Quinn continued. "Well, listening to my double talk about how he felt about
his Wade, I realized I felt the same way about you."

He stopped, causing Wade to stop too. He took her other hand, "Wade, I love you. I have for a
long time, even before we started sliding. I guess I was just afraid to do something because the
last time I told a girl I loved her she moved away and I guess I never recovered from it." He had
tears in his eyes and Wade felt tears bite at the corner of her eyes too. "Wade, I know you didn't
want to pursue a relationship while sliding but one way or another we'll soon be done with sliding,
so I wanted you to know."

Wade didn't know what to do. She wanted to cry and laugh, but the only thing she was able to do
was leap into his arms and stay there. After a while, she finally found the strength to speak, "Oh
Quinn, you don't know how happy I am right now. I love you too. I've just waited for you to say
it to me. I don't know why, I've never been the shy type. You just do something to me."

Quinn finally quieted her. "Don't talk, we've said all we need to say. Let's just hold onto this
moment for a while." They stayed there, in the middle of the sidewalk, holding each other for a
long time. Each crying tears of joy for their shared love, tears of shame for not having the
courage to say it earlier, and tears of hope for what was to come.

After a while, Quinn wiped his eyes and cleared his throat. "Well, when do you want to tell
Remmy and the Professor?"

Wade pulled back and reached to wipe her eyes. Quinn stopped her by wiping the tears away
with his thumbs and keeping his hands on her face. "Later. For right now let's play the whole
couple thing for a while."

Quinn smiled, "You mean this?" He leaned down and kissed her lightly. Wade's hands rested on
his chest.

After they parted she smiled, "No, I mean the whole 'dinner and a show' deal. But since you
brought that up." She stood on her toes and returned his kiss and then some.

***

At that exact moment, the Professor and Rembrandt rode by in local Wade's car. Arturo noticed
first, he tapped Rembrandt on the arm. "Mr. Brown, look," he said as he pointed out to the scene
before them. "I guess you were right, wherever they were going they most definitely didn't want
us around."

Rembrandt responded to his gawking friend, "Quit looking Professor, they'll tell us when they're
good and ready."

In the front seat, local Wade leaned over to her husband as he drove. "Remember our first kiss?"

"How could I forget? It was electric."

***

Quinn pulled away from the kiss. "For a moment, I thought we were being watched." He didn't
say it, but his entire body was tingling. The kiss was electric, even better then when they had
kissed on 'Asteroid world.'

Wade wrapped her arms around his neck, "You're just being paranoid. Why don't we get some
dinner? My double told me about this great little restaurant." She reclaimed Quinn's hand and
hailed a taxi.

***

Nino's Italian Restaurant
8:17pm.
Time remaining to next window: 6days12hours17minutes

Local Quinn and Wade brought the Professor and Rembrandt to a lovely Italian restaurant. When
they got there, they met up with Logan, local Arturo, Colin, and Maggie, who seemed to be acting
like a young couple as well. Colin and Maggie were a little further away from the rest, and were
paying a lot of attention to each other. Rembrandt and Arturo sat down by Logan and the local
Arturo, and Quinn put Will in a high chair. Rembrandt was seated facing the door, so he noticed
the next two people enter the restaurant.

***

Quinn and Wade got out of the taxi, still laughing that the driver was down and out former
computer store manager, Michael Hurley. Hurley recognized them too, so Quinn took great pride
in giving him his tip. "Here's a quarter, you stuck up dick. And Hurley, don't spend it all in one
place." He slammed the door, and Hurley peeled out. Quinn was still laughing when Wade hit
him hard on the arm. "Hey?"

"That was a little mean, Quinn."

"I seem to remember someone taking a lot of pleasure in making Hurley miserable on 'Soviet
World.' Besides, I got fired for telling him off at home when I never did. I figured it was only fair
that I told some Hurley off," he said as he took hold of her hands.

Wade broke into a smile of her own, "You're just lucky I happen to like you, Quinn Mallory."
Quinn took the opportunity to steal a kiss on the cheek. "This is the place, 'Nino's Restaurant' I
hope you like Italian, Quinn."

"Only 'like?' Five minutes ago, we professed our love for each other. I guess love fades.
Anyway, it's not the food I'm interested in, it's the company. But hey, we'll have pasta and carbo-
load for a little..." He then whispered into her ear his plan for the evening.

Wade blushed as red as Quinn had ever seen a person blush. "Quinn Mallory, you are horrible,"
she hissed. To emphasize her point she elbowed him in the ribs. "You're really pushing your
charm to its breaking point. Can we go in please?"

Quinn let go of her hands but placed his arm around her waist. "I hope they have a table, luckily
all we'll need is one chair," he said waggling his eyebrows.

As he reached out and opened the door for her, she asked, "What has gotten into you?"

"I don't know, maybe...it's Rembrandt."

"What does Rembrandt have to..." She had noticed Rembrandt too. Remmy was trying not to
notice them, but his not noticing them caused Logan to look up, so they were stuck.

Quinn whispered into her ear, "Let's go, maybe they won't all look this way." By the time he had
said it, Logan had waved and the rest looked over. "Too late." They awkwardly waved and made
their way to the table.

Logan was oblivious to Quinn and Wade's awkward demeanor. "Hi guys, you took off in such a
hurry we couldn't tell you where we were going, I guess it's just luck you showed up here too."

Visiting Wade smiled. "Yeah luck, and Wade told us about this place. Quinn was hungry for
something with pasta," she stopped as Quinn stifled a laugh, "So we came here."

Rembrandt looked up from the menu he had become incredibly interested in when Quinn laughed.
"What's so funny?" he asked, genuinely interested.

Wade responded while squeezing Quinn's hand hard enough for him to quiet down. "Nothing
Remmy, just a little inside joke." Rembrandt watched a look pass between them. He really would
like to find out what the inside joke was since he doubted it was wholly in good taste.

The Local Professor spoke up next. "Well do sit down, we were just about to order."

Before Wade could sit, Quinn spoke. "Uh, actually, Wade and I have some things to discuss." He
winked at Rembrandt. "We'll just get a separate table. Besides this table is pretty full."

Local Arturo responded, "Well, if you two want some privacy, I understand." As the two walked
off, he added, "Enjoy yourselves," and chuckled to himself. "'Some things to discuss' indeed." He
then leaned over to his Quinn; "Do they think they're fooling anyone?"

Quinn just smiled. It was the visiting Arturo who responded. "My dear colleague, I don't think
fooling anyone matters to them at this point." He lifted his glass. "My friends and I started our
journey with a toast, so as we near the end, I'd like to propose another toast. To home wherever
it may be..."

Rembrandt picked up his glass, "And here's to you guys, for helping us along our way..."

Local Arturo finished the toast, "Finally, here's to you making it home and finally finding
happiness." The rest of the group picked up their glasses and responded with "cheers" or "Here,
here."

***

Quinn pulled out Wade's chair then slid his seat over beside Wade. Quinn was amazed at how
comfortable he suddenly felt around Wade. It was as if denying what he felt was a piano on his
back. Now that he had said it he felt that the weight was lifted. He took both of her hands in his,
"I like this Wade."

Wade interlaced her fingers with his, "Quinn, I have a question."

"Shoot."

"You said, 'one way or another, we'll soon be done sliding,' what did you mean?"

Quinn sighed, "Quinn offered me a job, if this doesn't work that is."

"You're thinking about staying? It's always been you pushing us along. You're always saying
'we'll get home.' I'm surprised that you're considering staying."

"Wade, I'm not saying we'll stay here, but this shot is all or nothing. That's why Quinn and I want
to risk missing the window, we want to take the best possible shot at home. Wade, if this doesn't
work, if we can't get the right co-ordinates..."

"Quinn, I have faith in you. We all do. If you say this is our best shot, it's our best shot. What
else is bothering you?"

"I don't know, Wade. I just feel like I'm paying some sort of penance, but I don't know what I'm
paying for. The worst of it is, I've been dragging you all along on this voyage. I know we all
could've stopped long ago since you've all found worlds you could make your own. Hell, we even
came to a world we could have lived on that was just like home, but I've always pushed us along."

She squeezed his hands to break him out of his guilt, but Quinn continued to stare at their hands on
the table. "Quinn, if this is where you want to stay, we'll stay, but don't give up. They know a lot
about sliding here, and you guys seem to be on to something. Give this a shot, I've got a good
feeling about it. Heck, maybe the only reason we haven't gotten home yet is because of you and
I. Maybe something put us here to get us together?" Quinn looked up. "You know I'm a big
believer in fate, Quinn. You and I seem meant to be. When we were home, for reasons of our
own, we were both afraid of saying how we felt. Since we started sliding, we've seen all these
wonderful things. Now, we're both ready so it's the perfect time to go home."

Quinn had to laugh. Usually it was he who broke people out of their misery. "Well, I don't know
about you, but I am hungry. Where's the waiter?" Quinn raised his arm and the waiter from the
other group's table came over to them. It was the first time Quinn noticed the place was pretty
deserted except for all of them.

The young man smiled as he stopped at their table, "Hello, my name is Chris, I was just informed
by Professor Arturo that you're meal will be paid for." Quinn lifted his head as the local Arturo
raised his glass to them. Quinn waved and mouthed 'thank you.' Chris continued, "Here are some
menus and I'll be back with some water."

As Chris walked back to the kitchen, Quinn opened his menu so they could both look at it. In
addition, he opened it so the others couldn't see them. "Quinn, are you sure that you didn't open
that menu for some ulterior reason?" Wade asked with a smile. When Quinn merely shrugged
and smiled, Wade took the opportunity to give him a kiss on the cheek. "You know what? I like
this too." She started to look over the menu.

"Well, what looks good to you?" Quinn was looking over the menu but nothing was jumping out at
him.

"Why don't we split an order of Lasagna? Remmy and I ate before we came to the lab, so I'm
not too hungry."

Quinn had become aware of Wade's foot on his calf, especially the circular motion it was making.
He felt something on his thigh as well. Doing a quick count of hands he noticed one of her's was
missing. His body temperature was sky rocketing and she was driving him out of his mind. They
had both become playful since they laid their cards on the table, but what Wade was doing was
putting his suggestive talk and eyebrow tricks to shame. The clincher was that the whole time she
was doing this she had her "sweet little girl face" on. Quinn decided that he was in love with a
truly evil woman. He had to clear his throat before he said, "Sounds good. Anything to drink?"
His voice still cracked as he said it though.

"Some sort of wine, we'll just ask the waiter to decide," she said as Quinn set down the menu.

"Well, I guess all that leaves is small talk." Quinn noticed Wade had a rather strange smile on her
face and he guessed, by the way her shoulders were shaking a little, that she was trying not to
laugh. "What?"

She leaned in very close to his ear and whispered, "We're being watched." But to Quinn's
surprise she didn't pull away. Instead she began to kiss the side of his neck. If the kiss on the
street was electric, the feeling of her lips on his neck was positively nuclear. Quinn risked a
glance to the other table. They were all trying to look like they weren't looking but were failing
miserably.

"Um, Wade." He was surprised at how thick his voice was. She hadn't let up either. There were
atom bombs exploding in his brain. He felt like he had far too much blood in his body, and it was
going to rather embarrassing places. He was sure that at any moment he would burst and leave a
big mess on the floor, walls, and all the patrons. He tried to clear his throat twice, but still felt the
lump. He closed his eyes, and his next words came out in a groan. "Do you have any idea what
you're doing to me right now?"

She pulled away, and Quinn didn't know whether to grab her by the hair like a caveman and drag
her back to the hotel, retaliate with an attack of his own, or beg her to continue. Wade's smile
was evil. "I had some idea." She leaned in close again and for a glorious moment Quinn thought
she would go back to trying to give him cardiac arrest. "What are they doing?" she asked.

Quinn leaned into her ear and paused to take in her scent. Whatever perfume she was wearing
was reminiscent of oranges and Quinn was intoxicated by it. "Well, Rembrandt is busy picking his
jaw up off the floor, Quinn and Wade have gone back to their menus, and I think our Professor is
busy trying to lower his blood pressure." Deciding that the opportunity was too good to pass up,
he decided to see what Wade's neck tasted like. He was rewarded two-fold; first the look of
surprise on Rembrandt's face was absolutely priceless, and second, the slight gasp Wade let out
let him know she was enjoying the attention.

"Having fun down there?" she managed to whisper as he felt her hand clamp on his thigh.

'You have no idea how much,' was what he intended to say, it came out, "Hmmph."

"You keep this up and you'll spoil your appetite for dinner. In the process, you'll spoil me too."

Quinn stopped before talking again and moved back up to her ear, giving her a playful nibble
before speaking. "That was the intent. Besides, you deserve to be spoiled. You should see
Remmy's face. I think he pulled a muscle in his jaw it's dropped so far." Wade laughed, even
though she tried not to. Quinn decided to wave to his friend from over Wade's shoulder.

***

When Quinn waved to him, Rembrandt threw his napkin to the table. "They were doing all that for
SHOW? I can't believe those two, I ought to go over there and give them a piece of my mind."

Colin chuckled, then slapped Rembrandt on the shoulder. "What'd you expect Rembrandt? You
were gawking like some teenager." The rest of the table laughed at the comment. After
Rembrandt figured out how he must have looked, he laughed too, but his laugh sounded more like
a cough.

"I guess you're right Colin. I have just gotten used to them acting a certain way. Then to see that,
it's more than a little surprising." Rembrandt took a drink of his water. "So, before we were
interrupted by the 'floor show,' we were trading slide stories. I guess it's your turn Maggie."

Maggie had taken a drink of her own water. "I've never been sliding. I've kind of got this thing
about it."

Rembrandt was a little surprised. "So you're telling me that you were a chopper pilot for the San
Francisco Police, and you're afraid of sliding?"

Maggie blushed a little, "Well... yeah, I guess."

"Believe me sweetheart, I was afraid the first couple of times too. But after a while, it turns out
to be a blast."

Colin leaned forward, "You're wasting your time Remmy, we've all tried to get her to go. She's
just a big old chicken." Maggie slapped him on the chest playfully, but hard.

"Hey? I just might get offended here." The rest of the group just laughed. The pleasant
conversation continued when the dinner arrived, and on into the night.

***

It was almost ten o'clock before the conversation died down. Colin and Maggie had left earlier,
and the local Arturo had paid his bill and was putting on his coat.

After watching his son nod off twice and land face first into his dessert, Quinn decided it was time
to leave. He leaned back in his chair, found the waiter, and drew a check in the air, recognized on
every world he traveled to as meaning, "Check please." He then glanced over to the other table
and noticed that his double and Wade had apparently ducked out. "Well, I guess they actually
managed to slip out without making a scene. Will here really needs to go to bed, so Wade and I'll
be heading home. Rembrandt, Professor, we'll take you to the Dominion. That is if you want a
ride?" Rembrandt and Arturo looked at each other and nodded their assent. Quinn paid his bill,
and picked up Will, who merely murmured in his sleep.

A little while later when they pulled up to the Dominion, Quinn turned around to his passengers.
"Listen Professor, I'll send a driver from the lab over here around noon tomorrow for you and
Quinn."

The two exited the vehicle, and started to walk away from the car. With a smirk on his face,
Quinn said. "Oh, and Rembrandt. There is a common room between your suites, you might want
to look for a belt on a doorknob or something. You don't want a repeat of earlier tonight." Just as
Rembrandt was about to respond. Quinn waved and drove off.

Rembrandt turned to Arturo, who was laughing himself. "Well, I guess he's too much like our Q-
Ball."

As Arturo ushered him into the Dominion he said. "Come along, Mr. Brown. After a good night's
sleep you'll feel a lot better." They spent much of the trip to their room in silence.

As they entered the suite, Rembrandt finally admitted, "I'm not upset Professor. It's just a little
unsettling to watch two people whom you know so well do something unexpected."

Arturo looked at his friend as though he'd grown a second head. "Unexpected? How often have
you said to me that you'd wish they would quit pretending and get together? How can this be
unexpected?"

Rembrandt laughed, "Alright, so it's not unexpected. It's just what they did in the restaurant, when
they were playing a joke on us, it... they... I. Oh, I don't know."

Arturo's face softened, "Mr. Brown, I must admit to a certain amount of surprise myself, but they
are our friends. I am happy for them, and I know you are too. Despite the fact they were
unexpected in their timing, and that they did take advantage of your voyeurism, this is what they
wanted."

"Your right Professor, I just don't like to have tricks played on me." Arturo responded with a
roaring laugh and after while Rembrandt joined him.

***

About the time Arturo was trying to cool Rembrandt off in their hotel suite, Quinn and Wade were
enjoying another walk along the streets of San Francisco. Quinn was carrying the doggie bag in
one hand, and had his other arm around Wade's shoulders. They were still laughing about the
earlier scene at the restaurant when they came to the entrance of the Dominion, which on this
world was a high-rise hotel.

Quinn looked at the hotel, sighed, and turned to Wade. "Well... huh. I was about to say that old
line, 'Here we are.'" Wade chuckled. Quinn sat down on the steps and pulled her down beside
him. "Part of me really doesn't want to go in. I don't think Remmy was too happy with my little
wave. Not to mention that after tonight things will be different between the four of us." He
sighed again and asked, "So now that we've had a little time to process this, what do you think?"

Wade sighed too. For someone who was supposed to be a genius, it sometimes amazed her that
Quinn had a self-esteem problem. "Quinn, I'm happy. What did you think, that after an hour or
two I'd say, 'what a horrible mistake?' C'mon, let's go in. We can handle an angry Cryin' Man and
they'll probably be in bed anyway, if they've even gotten back from the restaurant yet. Besides,
you and I are happy. Why does it matter what they think?" She pulled Quinn to his feet.

Quinn looked down into her eyes and smiled as he pulled her close to him. "It does matter, Wade.
For the last two years they've been our only link to home. Even if we're going home at the end of
this slide, they're family. Besides, if we don't make it home, I'm the one who still has to share a
room with them."

A wicked smile spread across Wade's face. "Well, I guess you and I could share a bed...I mean
share a room."

Quinn laughed, "Now who's horrible Wade?"

"I am." Was all she said before pulling him down into a kiss.

***

Quinn and Wade stepped inside, walked up to the desk, and picked up their room key. "I can't
believe Quinn paid for the presidential suite. My double must be making cash hand over fist,"
Quinn said on the elevator ride up. He watched Wade start to nod off and caught her as she
began to sway. As he pulled her in close he whispered, "Hey, I know I'm not the best company,
but don't fall asleep on me."

Wade's eyes snapped open. "Hmm? Oh, I'm sorry Quinn. It's just that between the wine and two
heavy meals, I'm a little tired." She patted his hands, which were resting on her stomach. "You
are definitely NOT bad company."

The elevator came to a stop on the top floor and Quinn used his key card to open the door. The
common room was palatial. It had a kitchen, a dining room, and two large couches. There were
four doors, two on either side, which lead to the bedrooms. Quinn assumed that the two open
doors led to their rooms. Quinn also noticed they were on the same side of the suite.

"Well, good night Wade. I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed. I'll see you in the morning."

Wade nodded, and Quinn kissed her on the cheek.

Upon entering his bedroom he noticed it contained a dresser and closet with some clothing in
each. There was a note beside the phone on the nightstand from Quinn and the hotel manager
stating he would be provided with clothing suited to his tastes in the morning. On the bed were a
set of Pajamas and a robe. Quinn grabbed the Pajama pants and the robe and headed into the
bathroom.

As he ran the water to let it heat up, he looked around. The bathroom was also well stocked, but
what caught his attention was that the bathroom was connected to Wade's room as well as his
own. He stepped into the shower, let the water take his stress away, and let himself drift off.

***

Quinn came out of the bathroom toweling his hair and completely ready for bed. Upon entering
his room he thought at first he had gotten mixed up and ended up in Wade's room. He then saw
his coat and other clothes on the floor by the dresser and shook his head. Wade had come into his
room, gotten into his bed, and fallen asleep. He stood in the dark debating exactly what the
consequences of his next action would be. After a while, fatigue finally whispered into his ear
about the merits of a good night's sleep. He took off his robe, grabbed a T-shirt out of the dresser,
because she was wearing the PJ top, put it on and crawled under the covers.

Wade must have felt him get into bed. She rolled towards him and wrapped her body around his.
Her head came to a rest on his chest, her right arm fell across his stomach, and her right leg
intertwined with his. Quinn slipped his right arm around her, placed his left arm under his head,
and slipped off into sleep. He would be surprised in the morning to realize that for the first time
since this journey began he hadn't had any nightmares.

***

The Dominion hotel presidential suite.
9:30am Saturday.
Time remaining until next window: 5days23hours7minutes.

Arturo was looking over the incredible breakfast the hotel provided for them. It had fresh fruit,
toast, muffins, jam, waffles, and oatmeal. "Mr. Brown, the main benefit of having doubles who
are among the richest people in the world is most definitely the room service. Especially after the
vegetarian cuisine of the last world," he said with a chuckle as he spread jam on his toast.
Rembrandt was enjoying a blueberry muffin, and the music magazine he bought the day before at
the mall.

He finally found out the status of his double on this world. "Listen to this Professor, '...Blues
legend 'Motor City' Rembrandt Brown recently released his fifteenth album. Collaborating on the
album were such blues superstars as B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and Kenny Wayne
Shepherd.' It appears that on this world the time I spent in Detroit as a teenager got me into the
Blues scene. I've won Grammies on this world, and recently joined B.B. King on MTV's
Unplugged. I always liked the blues scene in Detroit. It goes on to say, 'Brown's biggest hit was
the song 'Cry Like a Man.' The song was one of his mainstream hits and was recently covered by
Dave Mustaine and his band 'Metallica.' Mustaine called Brown one of his biggest influences.
What do you think of that Professor?"

"Very good Mr. Brown."

Rembrandt got up and retrieved the other things he bought the day before. "I bought one of my
CD's too. It's a greatest hits CD." Rembrandt opened the case, put the CD into the player, and
looked at the back of the case. "Let's see, 'Cry Like a Man' featuring B.B. King, live Detroit 1981'
track 6. I just want to hear the difference." He set the player for track 6 and pressed play.

He heard the applause of a small audience, followed by his doubles voice. "This song is one of my
favorites, and I hope it's one of yours. But first I'd like to bring out a long time friend of mine.
Give a Motor City Welcome to Mr. B.B. King." The crowd applauded again and Rembrandt
listened to the familiar sound of B.B. King and Lucille. The initial notes of the song were played,
followed by the crowd applauding, and then local Rembrandt began singing the familiar lyrics.

Our Rembrandt merely listened as the song played. It was familiar yet different at the same time.
He found himself swaying and snapping his fingers. "What do you think Professor?"

He looked over at his friend and, to his surprise, found Arturo tapping his hand on the armrest of
his chair with the rhythm of the song. "No offense to you Mr. Brown, but this version of your
song is very powerful. Perhaps it's the sorrowful sound of the instruments? I like it very much."

The recording had gotten to the climax, "I'm gonna cry like a man. Hard as I can." While the
cadence was different, it was very powerful.

Rembrandt merely folded his arms across his chest and sighed, "I do too. Maybe I should have
listened to the producer when I recorded this and done it as a Blues song. He had sheet music
prepared and everything, but what's past is past. Besides, when we get back home, I could give
Blues a try. Who knows?"

"That's the spirit Mr. Brown. Maybe you should get hold of the sheet music." Rembrandt merely
nodded. The pair then returned to their respective breakfasts.

***

Wade woke up first. Her head was resting on Quinn's chest, and Quinn held her protectively.
She could hear him snoring softly, and his mouth was slightly open. She had seen him asleep in
the past but she had never seen his face not twisted from some nightmare. This morning he
looked peaceful. She slowly untangled herself from him.

Watching his open mouth, an idea, originating in the same part of her brain that had motivated her
in the restaurant the day before, occurred to her. She thought of acting as a human alarm clock
for Quinn but changed her mind and decided to watch him sleep for a while.

After a few minutes, she carefully slid out of bed. She was worried for a moment that she had
awakened him, but Quinn merely murmured and rolled over. She looked at herself in the mirror.
Admiring herself in Quinn's Pajama top, she felt better after this night's sleep than she had in a
long time.

Wade heard blues music playing in the other room. She slowly opened the door and entered the
common room, carefully closing the door behind her. She looked at her other traveling
companions and smiled sleepily. "Good Morning, guys." The two waved at her from their reading
materials. Arturo was reading a textbook on sliding that his and Quinn's doubles had written while
Rembrandt was reading 'Music Today,' this world's equivalent of 'Rolling Stone.' Wade then saw
the layout for breakfast, decided she was hungry, and sat down to eat.

As she was putting some fruit on her plate, Arturo put down his book. "So Miss Welles, did you
get a good night's rest?"

"Yes. How about you Professor?" She said with a smile.

Before Arturo could respond, the door to Quinn's room opened again. Rembrandt and Arturo
looked up to see Quinn walking out of the same room Wade had come from just a few moments
earlier. He yawned, ran a hand through his wild hair, and rubbed his right arm. Wade guessed he
might have a serious case of 'honeymoon arm' after last night. He spoke through a yawn, "Good
Morning, guys."

Wade looked at both Rembrandt and Arturo who looked sufficiently stunned.

However, Quinn was seemingly unaware of their stares. As he walked by Wade to the coffeepot
he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "Good Morning, Wade."

Arturo shook his head and walked over to his young friend.

As Quinn grabbed the pot and a mug, he smiled at his mentor. "What's up, Professor?"

"Mr. Mallory, may I have a word with you?"

Before he could respond, Arturo put a vice grip on Quinn's arm and ushered him back into his
bedroom. Quinn didn't even have a chance to put down the coffeepot.

Once inside the room, Arturo closed the door. Quinn noticed for the first time that Arturo was
red-faced. "Of all the irresponsible things you and Ms. Welles could do... Care to explain
yourself Mr. Mallory?"

Arturo's words took a few moments to sink in. "Now wait just a minute..."

Arturo was pacing the room. When Quinn tried to talk Arturo slammed a fist on the dresser.
"No Mr. Mallory, YOU will 'wait just a minute.'" His voice rose in intensity with every word. "If
you and Ms. Welles wish to pursue a relationship that's fine, if you two wish to make asses of
yourself in public that, too, is your prerogative. But for you two to rush into a physical
relationship..."

Quinn's anger rose with every word Arturo spoke. "That's ENOUGH! First, Wade and I didn't
do anything and second, even if we did, it's none of your business. We're adults Professor, it's not
your place to dictate our behavior." Seeing that he had sufficiently put the Professor down a
couple of notches, he continued in a less intense voice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to
have breakfast."

As Quinn was turning to leave, he felt a hand catch him. "Mr. Mallory, I..."

Quinn smiled, and put the hand holding his still empty coffee mug on Arturo's shoulder. "No need
to apologize. If I had been in your place I would've assumed something like that too. Nothing
happened, you have my word. I came out of the shower and she was in here asleep, that's all."

"Mr. Mallory, you must admit that your behavior was quite a surprise last night, and even more so
this morning."

"I know. It's as though once we had taken that first step we kept moving faster. It's like going
from a crawl to a run. I'm kind of surprised myself, but it feels so natural to be that way with her.
I really can't explain it. All I know is that when I'm around her now, I feel the need to show
affection. What we did at the restaurant, while it was partly for show, it was like I was drawn to
that course of action."

Arturo smiled warmly at his young friend, "Mr. Mallory, it sounds to me as though you two are
very much in love. Now, how about you and I get breakfast before we have to go back to the
lab?"

***

Wade could hear the rather intense discussion in the other room. She looked over to Rembrandt,
who looked every bit like he was having a stroke. It was a look her father had given her once
when she was fifteen and he caught her with a boy on the front porch. Her father's look had put
her on the defensive then, and Rembrandt's look had the same effect now. "We didn't do anything
Rembrandt."

"Girl, if I had a dime for every time I've heard someone use that line... What were you thinking?"

"We didn't DO anything Rembrandt. I was tired and I didn't feel like sleeping in my room. I was
already asleep when Quinn came out of the shower. Why would I lie to you?"

Her words seemed to be getting through, "I guess you're an adult. It's just that after all we've
been through I kind of think of you as a little sister. I'm just looking out for you, that's all."

Wade smiled, "That's sweet, Remmy, but this is Quinn we're talking about. He'd be more likely to
grow a second head than hurt one of us."

Rembrandt softened, "So, what did you say to each other on your way to the restaurant to cause
all that stuff."

Wade started to go over their conversation on the sidewalk the night before. "We just told each
other how we felt. It was kind of weird, once we said it I felt like we were comfortable with each
other. I didn't think we had so much between us until it wasn't there anymore. You know what I
mean?"

Rembrandt smiled, "I think I do. You know, the Professor and I used to wonder how long it would
take you two to get together." Rembrandt looked over his shoulder, leaned in close to Wade, and
whispered, "The Professor's a big softy. He thought you two would have gotten together on
'Asteroid World.'" The two of them laughed at the idea of the Professor being a romantic.

It was about that time that Quinn and Arturo came back out. Quinn was pouring himself a cup of
coffee and sharing a laugh with Arturo. With the misunderstanding resolved, the four friends and
traveling companions sat down to breakfast.

Wade was the first to speak. "So, has anyone thought of what they want to do if we get home?"

Quinn didn't respond as he had a mouthful of muffin. Arturo took his reading glasses off and got a
thoughtful look on his face. Rembrandt swallowed his orange juice. "I had a couple of thoughts."

Wade leaned forward. "Well, let's hear it Remmy."

"Well, you guys might think it's silly. I was just thinking that since we started sliding I've learned
so much about science and stuff like that... Well once we got home, I thought I might take some
Physics classes at the university. Heck, I may even go for a degree or something like that."

Quinn smiled, "Well Remmy, it'd be nice to actually see a familiar face in class. Most of my
classmates will probably be gone."

Arturo smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Mr. Brown, I would be honored to see you
in the halls of the Science Department. I will even volunteer to be your advisor."

Wade laughed, but when she noticed the hurt look on Rembrandt's face she explained. "Remmy,
how could you think we'd think you wanting to take classes would be silly? To tell the truth, the
same thought had crossed my mind too."

Arturo laughed, "Well, well. If I can reacquire my position at the university it seems I'll have a full
class load. What about you Mr. Mallory?"

Quinn leaned back in his chair and took a sip of coffee. "Well, if we get home? After I complete
the sliding machine I'll most definitely finish my classes. I'll probably apply for my Doctoral
degree and write a paper on the equation. Other than that, who knows? It's hard to think of what
I'll do. I've concentrated so hard on getting home that I've neglected thinking about what to do
when I get there."

Wade reached out and took Quinn's hand and looked towards Arturo. "That brings us to you,
Professor. What are you going to do if we get home?"

"Well, I'd like to help Mr. Mallory perfect the sliding machine. However, I too have thought of
doing something outside of my normal field. I've written textbooks, but I've thought of writing a
novel based on our experiences. I've even thought of a title..." He continued in a booming,
dramatic voice. "'A Gateway to Adventure.' Maybe even a series of novels. The heroes of
course would be a dashing and brilliant university professor, his prize student and inventor of the
gateway, a lovely young woman friend of his young protégé, and the professors' unlikely best
friend, an R&B singer. They have adventures on brand new earths, all the while dealing with
their new family on the way back home." As he described the hero of his novel his jaw moved
forward and he titled his head up. The four laughed at Arturo's show of ego, but Wade was
touched by his description of her and the others and noticed Rembrandt's eyes brighten as Arturo
described him as his best friend.

As Wade was regaining her composure she noticed Quinn looking at her. "What?"

A smile spread across his face. "Well, that leaves you Wade. Other than joining Remmy in 'Intro
to Physics', what are your plans?" As he asked he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Well, like the Professor, I wanted to give writing a chance, although mine will be more of a true
story than the Professor's ego bloated fiction. I also want to spend time with my family," she
looked over at Quinn as she continued, "maybe go out on a date or two. Other than that, try to
regain a normal life."

Wade suddenly watched the smile on Quinn's face fade. "Professor, I agree with Quinn."
Arturo's smile faded as he said it.

Arturo's faced hardened as he said. "Mr. Mallory..."

"Hear me out Professor. Our doubles have equipment that they have been designing for this type
of procedure. This is our best shot."

Arturo stood and started to pace. "I have been thinking of this for quite a while, Mr. Mallory, and
I suppose you are right. Besides, if I continue to resist, it will waste more of our time. If you two
would have sat at our table, instead of providing Mr. Brown with a heart attack, you would have
witnessed my double convince me of that very point."

As he said it, Wade watched Quinn blush deeply and she felt her own cheeks burn with
embarrassment. It amazed her last night that they had been so bold, especially in the restaurant.
They had jokingly propositioned each other on several occasions but deep down, this was who
they were.

As if reading her mind, Arturo spoke again. "You two are quite amazing." He paused to smile
warmly. "It is good to see you two acting normally again. I am glad, as Mr. Brown will certainly
agree, that you two are not as shameless as you appeared to be last night."

Wade reached across Quinn to take his cup of coffee. As she was taking a drink she noticed
Quinn's attention focus on her wrist. "What?"

Quinn took her hand, and turned her wrist over until he could read her watch. "It's almost eleven.
I gotta take a shower so I don't stink up the lab today." As he rose from his chair he placed
another kiss on the top of Wade's head.

A smirk formed on Wade's face. "Stink is right Quinn," she said as she jokingly waved a hand in
front of her face. Quinn gave her a dismissing wave as he made his way to the shower.

Arturo took out a strawberry from the tray of fruit and, before popping it into his mouth, said.
"Well, I must follow Mr. Mallory's example and prepare for what will no doubt be a very long and
grueling day of equations and designs. Not to mention Mr. Bennish will be joining us today, so I
will likely have to endure Korn or Metallica played at ear bleed level."

Wade was surprised that the Professor had knowledge of Heavy Metal Music, but her surprise
turned quickly to disgust as she remembered her first run-in with one Conrad Bennish. With the
others gone, Rembrandt returned to his magazine. Wade ate her breakfast in silent thought of the
previous night and what the next week would bring.

***

MAB Laboratories
8:30pm
Time Remaining to next window: 5days12hours7minutes.

While the Professor's premonition about the day was mostly accurate, he and Quinn were
pleasantly surprised to find that Bennish was actually tolerable. While he did share most of their
Bennish's annoying quirks, such as his constant head bobbing to unheard music, he was far more
reserved than they were used to. Quinn guessed that it was from working in close proximity to
Arturo for long periods of time, while Arturo felt that it was the many amazing things sliding had
probably shown Bennish. Arturo knew better than anyone did how much sliding could change a
person.

As far as the work they accomplished, they made a lot of progress. By the end of the day, Logan,
Colin, and the local Quinn had began constructing the machine that would read their signatures
and determine the co-ordinates of their home earth. Colin and the local Quinn felt the machine
would be finished the next day, and they even felt they'd have at least a partial co-ordinate set in
time for the window. Visiting Quinn found out his concentration had an eight-hour time limit.

He had pushed himself hard when he built the sliding machine back home, spending every free
moment on it. It was the only thing in his world, it spoke to him, beckoned him to enter the vortex.
It sang a siren's song to him and, in the end, it tricked him. The siren sent him on a journey that
was one part adventure, one part nightmare, and one part penance for the sin of changing the laws
of reality. Quinn had been determined to beat the siren, and now with a little help it seemed he
was about to succeed. After all, Quinn Mallory, any of them, had the kind of courage it took to
redefine the world, he was starting to see that. He shared one trait with all his doubles; he had
found a path and had stayed committed to finishing that path. The question was, "if he was so
committed to getting home," he thought to himself, "why couldn't he concentrate?"

As his thoughts asked the question, they also supplied the answer. Now there was somebody who
had as much hold over him as the machine did, if not more. Okay, definitely more hold over him, a
lot more. Perhaps it was why he'd considered staying on this world. He still wanted to get home
for her sake, for all their sakes, but now if he found a world he could call home he'd do it, because
he had Wade.

Once he started thinking of Wade, his concentration was shot. He started thinking about every
little detail about her; her face, her smile, her eyes, how she looked when she was happy, how she
looked when she was sad, how cute she looked when she slept, how sexy she looked in his
pajama top, how she fit perfectly into his arms, and his life... He started to imagine what they'd do
when they made it home. He'd ask for his grandmother Mallory's engagement ring. Wade may
have wanted to give dating a go, but once Quinn was put into motion, he was a juggernaut, he was
ready to settle down, ready to be married, ready to have children, ready to be with her for the
remainder of his time on his or any earth.

He looked at his watch, it was around 8:30pm, time to stop working. He stood up from the table
he and the Professors were working at, said his good-byes, and made his way to the door. The
guy at the security gate brought one of the cars from the lab around. After asking about little
things like red lights still meaning stop, and if people here drove on the right side of the street,
Quinn drove back to the hotel.

During the drive, Quinn continued to let his mind drift to what home would be like. Maybe while
he was gone the Sharks won the Stanley Cup or the Clippers turned things around. Maybe Mark
McGwire had lead the A's to the World Series. Stranger things might have happened. Like Tom
Selleck being elected president for instance. It would be interesting to find out. Maybe his mom
went back East to be with Aunt Peggy and Uncle Ron (his father's brother) in Michigan. Uncle
Ron offered to take him and his mother in after his dad died, he always said it was a standing
offer.

He thought about his friends and what they might have done in the last twenty months. Bennish
might have started to search for them; he would have enough of the necessary knowledge to build
a timer. Maybe Wing had decided to go to Law School, or Montague finally spoke in class. Any
number of things might have happened, and probably did. He pulled up to the Dominion and had
the car parked by the Valet.

He found Wade in the hotel room watching some show about a space station called "Babylon 5"
on the Sci-fi channel. She had been watching it all day. Wade said it was some sort of marathon
leading up to the third season finale and caught him up on the story. Quinn remembered the show
from back home. He and Wade had watched a few of the episodes in the first season and had
liked it. The only problem Quinn had was that the television station never kept it at a stable time
slot, and he never had the chance to really get into the show.

The Captain, played by Bruce Boxleitner, was named Sheridan. Quinn seemed to remember the
Captain's name being Sinclair, and wasn't Bruce Boxleitner the guy from "Tron?" Other than that,
most of the cast seemed to be the same from what he could remember. Quinn watched the last
half of one episode and the whole of the third season finale.

On this earth, the show must have been in the climax of the story. The episode was called
"Z'Ha'Dum." In it, Sheridan had gone to a place called Z'Ha'Dum with his seemingly dead wife,
Anna, to confront his enemies, the Shadows. At the end of the episode he is confronted by Anna
while overlooking a huge chasm and forces his ship to crash into the surface with two nuclear
bombs. At the last second, however, he hears the voice of Kosh telling him to jump, and leaps into
the chasm below. In addition, the station's security chief is abducted by the Shadows. All in all,
Quinn was very impressed by the story. He especially liked that at the end of the episode the
character of G'Kar did a narrative, it gave the show a story book feel. He would have to find this
show when he got back home.

He invited Wade to dinner and a movie. The movie they saw was a slapstick comedy staring
David Spade and Kevin Bacon. Quinn thought the movie was lousy, and Wade didn't like it any
better than he did. For dinner they decided to have Chinese. While they ate, Quinn filled her in on
the work he had done that day.

***

As Wade was eating her vegetable stir-fry, she asked. "Quinn, I've been wondering about
Quinn's co-ordinate system. How does it work?"

Quinn took a drink of his soda. "Well, it's three sets of numbers. The first two sets are groups of
fifteen. You remember our roulette wheel example?" Wade nodded. "The first two sets of
numbers are the slot number of our earth. Quinn was able to determine groups of similar worlds
as well. The Earth group is determined with the first set of numbers. The second set of numbers
is the exact dimensional location of our earth. The third set of numbers is a simple XYZ spatial
co-ordinate."

Wade thought about it a moment, "So you mean, not only can this Quinn choose his slide
destination, but the actual location we end up at?" Quinn nodded. "That is very cool. How many
plotted earths does he have?"

"Well, with all the explorer groups they've sent out, he has managed to plot over 900 earths, which
he has broken down in twelve world groups. That's why the co-ordinate groups are so large. He
figures as more earths are found, or created, they'll have to add another number group or two."

Wade was stunned, "900?"

"That's why I'm hoping our earth has already been plotted. If it has, our co-ordinates would come
up almost immediately. If not, it could take as long as two weeks to a month to go through all the
possible number combinations."

She was genuinely confused. "But you said we might have a partial co-ordinate set in time for the
window. How could it take a month?"

"We can definitely get the first co-ordinate listing locked in by the window. But we'd still have to
determine that second group. Without that second set of numbers there would still be a staggering
amount of worlds left to eliminate."

Wade decided to step into a giant trap. "How many?"

She watched Quinn do the calculations in his head, "Over a Quadrillion. You know, a thousand
times a trillion?"

"That's an awful lot of sliding. I'm glad you changed the Professor's mind. How are they going to
get our signature."

"We're going to melt down the plastic casing of our timer. To cross check that, I'll be giving a
bone marrow sample. I'm going into the doctor's tomorrow and then I'll have to stay around the
hotel for a couple of days. They said I'll be fatigued and, to top it off, it's supposed to hurt like
hell." A smirk formed on his face, "I guess I'll do just about anything to keep from working
another day at the lab."

Wade sighed dramatically, "And I suppose you'll want me to take care of you while you're
recovering? I'll bet this whole dinner and a movie deal was just to butter me up, huh?"

Quinn held up his hands in mock surrender, "You caught me. I'm just doing this as an excuse to
get pampered."

After a while of sitting in silence, Quinn leaned forward onto his elbows and with a smirk spoke
again. "So, you're gonna take some physics classes? Maybe you'll finally be able to read that
book you borrowed from me."

Wade felt her cheeks heat up with embarrassment. Quinn was hinting at one of her early
attempts to get Quinn to notice her. She had taken Quinn out to coffee after she helped him at the
computer store before he worked there. She was a junior at the time, over coffee she found out
Quinn was studying Physics. For weeks, she studied any Physics text to try to impress him, and
then she asked to read one of the books he was using for research. She had read five whole
pages when she realized that she didn't have a hope using physics to impress Quinn. She had also
gotten an idea of just how smart Quinn really was.

She stammered for a minute before she was finally able to respond. "Quinn, that was a long time
ago. Besides, I could bring up some of the stupid things you've done since we met."

Quinn laughed, "I thought it was cute, Wade."

"So that's why you gave me a book written in Sanskrit? I only read five pages, and that took me
an hour. I had to look up half the words in a dictionary."

"It wasn't that bad, Wade. Besides, that was the most mainstream book I had at the time."

"So you knew I was chasing after you?" Quinn merely nodded. "Why didn't you say so?"

"Like I said, I thought it was cute. Anyway, if we had gotten together at that time, it wouldn't
have lasted." Wade cocked her head questioningly. "I was obsessed with the equation and
walked around in a constant daze. The equation was all that mattered to me. Sometimes I'd
even write pieces of the equation on my jeans, my mom would yell at me for that though. When
we get home you can ask my mother."

A smirk crossed Wade's face, "Right, like you're a real catch now?"

"Well, I seem to have reeled you in."

She leaned back in her chair, and said with a sigh, "Well, my standards have never been that high."

"Gee, thanks."

Wade looked over her plate, she hadn't eaten it all but she was full. She looked to Quinn's plate.
He was busy pushing the same mushroom around he had been pushing during most of their
conversation.

"Well, I'm full. You ready?" Quinn nodded and waved the waiter over. He paid their bill,
assisted Wade out of her chair, and on with her coat. It was another warm night and the
Dominion wasn't far, so Wade felt they should walk.

They walked back to the hotel in relative silence, but Wade didn't think of it as awkward. In fact,
she enjoyed it. They'd occasionally look over to each other, or try to steal glances when the other
wasn't looking. They didn't spoil the atmosphere by speaking because as the old saying goes 'the
silence spoke volumes.'

***

Quinn enjoyed the quiet walk back to the hotel. When they got to the suite, they found the
Professor had turned in for the night and Rembrandt was dozing in front of the television in the
common room. Now and then, a snore would escape from him. Quinn sat down on the couch
and took half-hearted interest in the movie Remmy had been watching. Wade, however
immediately grabbed her journal, sat down on the couch and opened it to a blank page.

Quinn watched her write, noting the look of concentration on her face. Her brow was furrowed
and every once in awhile her mouth would pull to one side. Quinn could only guess that at those
times she was looking for the proper word or phrase. He imagined that his face made similar
movements when he was working on an equation or piece of equipment. He was starting to drift
off into another world when he was kicked in the shin.

Rembrandt had stirred in his sleep and kicked him. Quinn snorted. While Quinn's sleep was
plagued by nightmares, Rembrandt's sleep included tossing, turning, and in times where they were
sleeping in close quarters, kicking the others. Quinn stood up and carefully tapped Remmy on the
shoulder. Rembrandt jerked and his eyes snapped open. "Huh?"

Quinn leaned over and whispered, "You were sleeping Remmy. Why don't you go to bed?"

Rembrandt rubbed his eyes, stood up, and stretched. "Nah, I'm just gonna go to bed," he said
around a yawn.

As Rembrandt walked back to his bedroom he waved to them both. After the door closed Quinn
chuckled to himself. This wasn't the first time Remmy had fallen asleep in front of the TV.
Quinn had sent him off to bed in this manner on several occasions. Remmy was like a kid that
way. Quinn looked back over to Wade, she was still writing. He sat down lightly so as not to
disturb her. He just sat there watching her write for about twenty minutes. He counted five
pages before she finally closed the book. She looked up at him, and softly asked "What?"

He smiled as he moved to sit beside her. "Just admiring the view." He waved towards her
journal. "Writing about your day or just bad things about your friends?"

Wade stretched and put her arm around Quinn's shoulder.

Quinn smiled in response. "I'm not that kind of girl, Wade. You can't just take me out to dinner
and a movie and expect me to put out."

Wade burst out laughing, and quickly covered her mouth.

It took a moment for Wade to regain her composure, "Well, I guess I'll have to get you drunk next
time, won't I?"

Quinn pretended to wipe a tear from his eye and in an emotional voice said, "Is that all I am to
you? A cheap thrill? Wham, bam, thank you, Quinn? What about my needs? What about my
desires? What am I going to get out of this relationship, Wade?"

"Hey baby, trust me. I'll still respect you in the morning." This time, it was Quinn who burst out
laughing.

Wade leaned against his shoulder and Quinn rested his head on top of hers. "To answer your
question, I was just putting some thoughts down as usual, and I wrote about my day. Just usual
journal stuff. Didn't you ever keep a journal?"

Quinn thought back, "I did keep an experimental journal before I bought my camcorder, but it was
just experiment notes. I never wrote any personal stuff in it. Of course, I'm not a writer, you
are."

Wade adjusted her position so she could look at him. "Well, I may be able to write about our
experiences, but you made them possible. I think that makes you pretty creative."

Quinn just shook his head. "I stumbled into it, my double solved the equation. Even though his
meddling kind of put us on this path, I still owe him gratitude for showing me a side of myself I
didn't know existed. He said that I should have thanked him, and now that I think about, I guess I
should. He taught me how to be bold."

A playful smile crossed Wade's face and he returned it. Wade then asked, "When did he teach
you that? When he got the Professor to blow up at you, or when he kissed me and got you fired?"

His playful smile faded some, and a far away look made its way into his eyes. "A part of me was
envious of him. He was a pompous jerk but he was living his life. He was so much like me, only
he pushed when I stopped. I thought if I could be that way maybe I wouldn't be so caught up in
my own guilt." A smirk crossed his face. "On second thought, I don't think I could trade
emotional freedom for being an asshole."

Wade poked him in the stomach. "Who said you would be trading? According to Remmy, you're
already an asshole. I happen to agree with him."

"Hey you keep it up and I won't take you home." Quinn thought about her comment for a
moment. "When did Remmy call me that?"

"That slide before 'Spider-wasp World.' Remember when he and the Professor landed in the
Dumpster?"

Quinn thought about that slide. "That's what he called me? I was too busy listening to the
Professor yell at me. I caught you right out of the vortex, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you were just lucky the Professor didn't follow you through. It would've wrecked that beat
up knee of yours."

Quinn laughed, "I'm pretty sure I would've dived out of the way for him or Remmy." He thought
for a moment, then cocked his head. "Then again, I proved how cat like my reflexes were at the
start of this slide, didn't I? I was REALLY lucky that you went next that time, wasn't I?"

"I guess that's why you and the Professor prefer to slide last all the time?"

Quinn stifled a yawn.

"Your tired, we should go to bed. After all, you've got a date with a big fat needle tomorrow."

Quinn shuddered at the thought of his doctor's appointment. "Yeah, let's go to bed." They went to
Quinn's room and resumed their sleeping arrangement from the previous night. The next morning
Quinn gave the sample of his bone marrow. True to the doctor's word Quinn was in a lot of pain,
and he limped around the suite for the next couple of days. The four travelers went to bed the
third night still without word from the lab.

***

Quinn woke the next morning quietly. At least he was quiet, he heard very loud snoring coming
from the small woman sleeping next him. "When did this start?" He said to himself. He didn't
remember Wade ever snoring before. He knew the Professor snored, and Rembrandt snored if
he fell asleep in an uncomfortable position. He tried the trick they used on the Professor when he
snored too loudly, he lightly touched at her nose. It worked. Wade waved at his hand, rolled
away, and remained asleep.

Quinn chuckled, then slid out of bed. As he stood, his right hip screamed out in pain. "Well, that
settles that," he thought, his hip was still sore. He walked gingerly out into the common room and
looked at his watch; it read 6:30. The others weren't up yet, so he turned on the TV. After
flipping through the channels for twenty minutes he settled on the local Fox sports channel. It was
a sports highlight show like "SportsCenter" at home. In fact, it was very much like SportsCenter,
Craig Kilborn and Keith Olberman were the hosts. They went through the highlights making jokes
occasionally. The difference was that they weren't just covering the sports of this world, but other
Earths too. Quinn even watched in surprise as a double of his was being profiled for a Mindgame
story. This Quinn wasn't the same double he took the place of in "Smarter World," but his world
was very similar. "Jeez, things have got to be hard to keep track of on this world." He said to the
television.

Quinn laughed at their jokes. He had come to miss watching sports since sliding started. He had
tried to watch sports programs at first, but it had become frustrating because the sports or teams
or players were always different. But since the prospect of home was becoming more and more
real (and to his hip, more painful) he was starting to settle back into the mindset of someone who
lived a normal life. He would soon be out of the dimension hopping game, and onto the scientist
life. He was brought out of his thoughts by the ringing of the telephone. He walked over to the
phone as he checked his watch; it was ten 'til eight. He picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

On the other end was the desk clerk, "I'm sorry sir, Professor Arturo requested not to be
disturbed, but they said this was important..."

Quinn smiled, "Don't worry about it, put them through." Quinn heard clicking, then the desk clerk
said for the other person to go ahead. Quinn felt a pair of arms slip around him. "Good morning,
Wade. Phone wake you?" The only response was a muffled yawn

"Quinn?" It was Maggie's voice on the other end.

"Hi Maggie, what can I do for you?"

She laughed, "You got it backwards, your co-ordinates came up ten minutes ago. We're running a
crosscheck that'll take an hour or so. Thought you'd like to know."

Quinn couldn't contain himself, "That's great Maggie! I'll be down in about fifteen minutes. See
ya then." Maggie said goodbye and Quinn heard a click. He hung up the phone and turned to
Wade. "Get dressed, we're going down to the lab." He kissed her on the forehead. "We're going
home, Wade. Today!" He charged into his bedroom to get dressed.

***

Quinn and Wade got dressed in record time, then left a note for the Professor and Rembrandt
saying where they went. Quinn decided to make sure on the co-ordinates before he told the
others. He and Wade made their way down to the garage. The initial shock was wearing off of
Wade and she was becoming more excited at Maggie's news.

"I can't believe it. I mean suddenly it all seems real that we're going home. I mean I knew we'd
go home after this slide, but now that they have our co-ordinates I can actually believe it."

The smile that formed on Quinn face when Maggie told him had yet to fade. "I know, it finally
feels right." They pulled out of the garage and made their way to the lab. "Do you want to leave
today?"

"No, I think one more day here. You and Quinn can go over stuff and we can say goodbye
properly. Besides, we've waited two years, we can wait one more day." She reached over and
touched Quinn's cheek with the back of her hand. Quinn turned his head just enough to kiss the
back of her fingers. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the timer, briefly noticing the
numbers continue their march towards zero.

"We could wait until the window, it's two days away. It'd give us plenty of time to prepare." He
looked at the timer in his hand. "And plenty of time to make sure the data is correct."

Wade reached over and took the timer. She hadn't taken a close look at the timer since it was
upgraded. She giggled and put the timer up to her mouth. "Beam me up Scotty. Jeez Quinn, did
they add enough bells and whistles?"

Quinn chuckled, "No. I wanted them to add a death ray but the death rays were on backorder."
They pulled into the lab and passed through the security gate. As they got to the door, they met
up with Logan and Colin, who said that Quinn and Bennish were already inside. They made their
way into the lab where they found Bennish looking at a computer screen and listening to music on
his headphones. Looking closely, Quinn saw that there were two sets of numbers. The top set
was locked; it read "Co-ordinate reading." The bottom set was changing rapidly, that number set
read; "Verification reading." Bennish looked over his shoulder and smiled as he pulled off the
headphones.

He pointed to the top number set. "There it is dude. Another few hours and we'll know for sure.
Shh-eah." He continued bobbing his head to the beat of the music playing. Quinn clapped him on
the shoulder then continued his search for his double.

The local Quinn was busying talking to Maggie. Visiting Quinn made his way over to him. Local
Quinn smiled when he noticed his double, "Good morning." He raised his cup. "Coffee?" Visiting
Quinn shook his head. "Let me guess, you're more interested in knowing how the co-ordinates
came up so quickly. Well, it turns out that earth 854 is a daughter world of yours," said Local
Quinn as Wade made her way over to them.

She shook her head, "Daughter world? Like an offshoot of our world? How did that help us?"

Visiting Quinn answered her, "Well, daughter worlds would have very similar signatures to parent
worlds, right?" Local Quinn nodded. "Since I've been hobbled up for three days I'm just guessing,
but that would mean the co-ordinates would be really close, four or five numbers at most. That
would bring the possible number combinations down a lot.

Local Quinn added, "The first thing we did was check against worlds already logged into the
system. Too bad it wasn't a parent world of say earth 4. Of course, we should feel lucky with
results this fast."

Wade nodded her agreement. It seemed that after two years of the worst type of luck anyone
ever had, they were getting a BIG break.

Wade reached over and took her Quinn's hand. "So how soon could we go?"

Local Quinn smirked, "After we run a cross-check, whenever you're ready. Quinn and I are
going to go over some schematics so he can perfect the machine once you're home." Local Quinn
walked over to the large conference table where most of the Sliding machine's blueprints were.
Quinn and Wade followed and the two Quinns went over the blueprints. First the visiting Quinn
explained how far along he had gotten, and from there local Quinn showed him all the
improvements and modifications he had made to the original design. Wade, who had become
overwhelmed by the complexity of their discussion, sat down and eventually dozed off at the table.
By the time the two Quinns finished their explanations it was three in the afternoon.

Visiting Quinn looked at his watch, "Jeez, we've been at this six hours." He looked over at the
sleeping form of Wade. "Can I ask you something?" Local Quinn nodded. "Does your Wade
snore too?"

Local Quinn stifled a laugh, "Let me guess, you and she have been sleeping in the same bed
recently?" Visiting Quinn nodded. "Yeah, my Wade started snoring about a week after we
moved in together. She said it has to do with her feeling safe. I'm gonna tell you what my Wade
told me, and what your Wade will tell you if you ask her 'Take it as a complement, and never tell
anyone about it.'"

This time, visiting Quinn swallowed his laughter. "You know, I wouldn't believe she could snore
that loud if I hadn't heard it myself." He leaned in and lowered his voice to a conspiritory volume.
"She snores louder than the Professor." Visiting Quinn nodded as they leaned back away from
each other. This time they weren't able to stifle themselves. Wade stirred when she heard them
laughing.

She blinked hard to get the sleep out of her eyes. "What did I miss?" The two Quinns shared a
look, then laughed again. Wade blushed as she suspected she was the cause of their laughter.
"What?" She said more forcefully this time.

Visiting Quinn leaned against the table. "Nothing. I'll tell you some other time."

Local Quinn wandered off to do other things.

"Fine, you better tell me though. How long was I asleep?"

Quinn looked at his watch again, "About six hours. They're still rechecking the co-ordinates."
Just as the words escaped Quinn's mouth Bennish jumped from his computer laughing.

He yelled, "Checks out! The co-ordinates are locked and confirmed. You're dead on." Upon
hearing Bennish's words, Wade leapt out of her chair and into Quinn's arms. Quinn spun as they
laughed together. "Someone call Remmy and the Professor. We're going home Wade!" Quinn
leaned down and kissed her passionately. He broke off the kiss when Bennish started clapping on
him the shoulder. Quinn turned and shook his hands. Wade hugged Bennish and gave him a kiss
on the cheek. Quinn, Colin, Logan, and Maggie came over and they all hugged or shook hands
happily.

***

Arturo and Rembrandt made their way to the lab as soon as Wade called them. After discussing
it between themselves, Rembrandt managed to convince them that there was no time like the
present. The Local Wade, with Will in tow, came over to lab to see her new friends. Quinn's
parents also made their way to the lab. They were all saying their good-byes while visiting Quinn
was looking over the timer with Colin, getting some last minute instructions.

"I've set the timer for your earth, and set it for forty-eight hours. If the timer malfunctions, and it
turns out not to be your earth, you'll return here. If something goes really wrong, this earth's co-
ordinates, along with the fifteen primary worlds in our network, are already loaded in the timer.
Worst case scenario, the timer will pull one of those co-ordinates from the list and take you there.
Now, when it turns out to be your earth, press this button." He pointed to a green button on the
number pad, "That will shut down the timer. Then just retune the timer to your machine. We'll
get the shut down signal and Quinn and I will come out to help you work on the machine."
Visiting Quinn smiled.

"Thanks Colin." He looked at the timer display. "Well, five minutes everybody. You guys
ready?" His three traveling companions nodded.

Rembrandt came up to him.

"This thing is all set?"

Quinn nodded, "Yep. All set to go." The timer read four thirty. "Colin and I set the spatial co-
ordinates for the Park. I had thought about setting it for my house, but this'll make it easier for us
to figure out if we've made it home."

Rembrandt reached out his hand and Quinn took it. "Well Q-Ball, I take back every bad thing I
ever said about you. Tomorrow, when we're all home again, these last two years will have been
worth it."

Quinn was touched, "Thanks, man. I'm glad I have a friend like you Cryin' Man." They pulled
each other into an embrace. Four minutes.

Arturo came up to them. "Mr. Mallory, I, too, would like to thank you for this journey. I count
you three among my closest friends. You are my family."

Quinn watched Rembrandt wipe at tears and felt them sting at his eyes as well. "Thank you,
Professor." He turned to his mentor and hugged him. He then said, "You've been like a father to
me." With that comment, Arturo began to tear up.

Quinn turned his attention to Colin and Maggie. "Thank you Colin, Maggie."

Colin smirked, "No Problem. What are brothers of your double for?" The two of them laughed
and embraced. "I'm glad I could help you. All of you."

Quinn turned to Maggie. "Maggie, you and Colin have got to come visit us. Believe me, you'll
love sliding."

Maggie smiled. "I will, Quinn. You just get home so Colin and I have someone to visit." Quinn
shook hands with them and said his good-byes to Bennish, Logan, and his double's parents.
Checking the timer he noticed he still had two minutes. He walked over to his Wade.

"You ready?"

Wade smiled. "For two years now. Thank you, Quinn."

Quinn smiled. "For this little adventure?"

"That, and for finally telling me how you felt. I really love you." She stood up on her toes and
kissed him on the cheek.

"I love you too, Wade. When we get home, there's something I want to give you." Wade was
about to ask what when Quinn kissed her on the lips to stop her from asking. "I can't tell you.
You have to see it."

He checked the timer again, "Twenty seconds. Everybody get ready." He watched the readout.
"Five, four three..." At zero, he activated the Wormhole. It opened like so many other times, but it
felt different. He yelled over the rising wind. "The vortex will close once we're all through.
Remember, don't leap in, just walk through, the new stabilizer will make the ride easier."

Arturo held his arm out for Rembrandt. "After you, Mr. Brown."

Rembrandt shook his head, "No after you man."

Arturo nodded once and stepped up to the vortex. "Thank you for all your help, I'll see you three
on the other side." He then stepped into the vortex.

Wade spoke up. "Your turn, Remmy."

"Thanks, Wade." He turned to the others. "It's been real." He then ran into the vortex.

Wade walked over to the local Quinn. "Thank you. I'll see you around."

Local Quinn smiled. "You can count on it."

Wade smiled and walked up to the vortex but didn't step through. Wade turned and waited for her
Quinn.

Quinn kneeled down in front of Will. "Good bye, Willy. You take care of your mommy and
daddy, okay?" Will nodded. Quinn then stood up, and looked at his double's wife. "Thank you,
Wade."

She looked at him questioningly. "What for?"

"For helping Quinn show me what an idiot I was being."

She smiled, "Well, then you're welcome." She reached up and hugged him. "Take care of her."

"I intend to." Quinn stepped back, one last good-bye. "Well, that just leaves you. Thanks, Quinn."

His double smirked. "Hey, it was the least I could do. Thank you for helping me."

Visiting Quinn smiled, "Hey, if by helping you I could make it home, I was only too happy to.
Good luck to you."

"To you too." His double looked over to visiting Wade, "By the way, you're welcome."

"Thanks for that too." Quinn walked up to the vortex and took Wade's hand. "Let's go home."

They took a step into the vortex.

***

Arturo and Rembrandt watched the vortex ripple for over a minute waiting for the others.

"What's taking them so long?" Rembrandt asked to no one in particular.

"Patience, Mr. Brown. The vortex is set for four. It won't close until we're all through."

As if on cue, their other two companions came through the vortex. They stepped through and
took a couple of stumbling steps.

The vortex closed behind them and Wade giggled. "That was probably the easiest slide ever."

Quinn nodded.

Rembrandt looked around the park, his eyes finally settled on the statue near-by. "Well, it's good-
old Abe again." He looked off to the bridge on the horizon. "The bridge is orange, what's next?"

Quinn thought for a moment. "Well, we could try each of our houses?"

Arturo held up his hand. "Perhaps we should try the library first, it's only four thirty, and then we
could try our own homes." The rest nodded. That seemed to be the most logical plan.

They were at the library for three hours researching this Earth's history. It was dead on. Quinn
went through newspapers from about the time of their disappearance, and they had indeed
disappeared the same day. Quinn read that after the equation was published, he was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics but there was no mention of the sliding machine, however. He had also
read a memorial scholarship was set up in his and Arturo's names by the university. They had
decided that this world was home, but they were still cautious. They decided to continue to
research, when they were convinced one way or the other, they would decide. They all traded
phone numbers so they could call as soon as they got settled, and with that, Rembrandt and Arturo
left for their homes leaving Wade and Quinn alone.

They were standing outside the library and watched Rembrandt's cab drive off. Quinn looked at
his shoes trying figure out what to say next.

"So, what's this you wanted to show me, Quinn?" Quinn smiled, she had made his decision for
him.

"Well, it's at my house so let's go." Quinn held out his arm for a taxi and held out his other hand
for Wade. The cab pulled up to the corner and they got in. "4159 Blue Jay, please." The cab
pulled off the curb into traffic. He looked back to Wade. "When we get to my house, you can
call your parents. While you're doing that, I'll go find your surprise."

Wade looked at him suspiciously, "What are you up to Quinn?" At the mention of Quinn's name
the driver looked over his shoulder.

"Mallory? Welles? Is it you?" The cab driver was Michael Hurley. Wade and Quinn were
struck by dé-jà vu. This was far too much like the other night. Hurley for his part was actually
glad to see them. "I can't believe it, I felt so bad when you were missing."

Quinn managed to recover first, "Michael, what are you doing driving a cab?"

Michael's face twisted in embarrassment. "I was fired about a week after you guys disappeared.
Seems you two were better employees than I gave you credit for." He tried to laugh, but it turned
out to sound like a cough. Quinn started to feel his pity rise up but he held it at bay. He settled on
just saying that he was sorry to hear that. Wade nodded. She didn't like Hurley anymore than
Quinn, but she also didn't like to see people lose their jobs. The rest of the ride was filled with an
awkward silence. At the end, they paid their fare, and this time Quinn gave a more reasonable
tip. Wade was looking around the neighborhood while Quinn's attention focused on the gate. He
was at the gate without registering the steps he took. His hand was at the latch and he felt
Wade's hands on his shoulders. He opened the latch and pulled on the gate. It made no noise, no
noise at all. Quinn knew this was home. Everything was right but he had to admit that something
felt wrong without the ever-present squeak.

"Quinn, they may have oiled it. This still feels like home."

Quinn looked at her. "It just feels like an old friend was missing."

Wade smirked. "The same could be said of us." Quinn laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm not ready to give up yet. I still think we're home, it's just that I had always
wanted to fix the gate." He took her hand. "Come on, let's go in."

They made their way up to the front door. Out of habit, Quinn reached for his keys. After fishing
through his front pocket, he remembered that he had long since left his keys behind. He looked
over to Wade. She was biting down on her laughter.

"What? It's habit." He then rang the doorbell. He listened and heard the vacuum going. He rang
the doorbell again. This time the vacuum stopped and he heard a muffled reply. The door swung
open and Amanda Mallory nearly fainted. "Hi, mom."

His mother stood there, tears flowing. Quinn reached out and pulled her tight. After a few sobs
she managed to say, "Oh thank God. I always knew you'd make it home, Quinn." She returned
his embrace and Quinn looked over to Wade. She was crying too. Quinn reached over and pulled
her to him. They stood there, at the front door, hugging for what seemed like days. Finally they
separated and wiped at their eyes.

"Come in, please."

Quinn reclaimed Wade's hand as they entered his home. His mother raised her voice from the
kitchen. "Where are the others?"

Quinn was confused for a moment, recognition lit in his eyes after a moment. "Rembrandt and
Professor Arturo? They went back to their homes. I'm going to call them in a little bit."

He turned to Wade. "Why don't you call your parents," He showed her to the phone in the
kitchen. He noticed his mother making some iced tea. "Mom, Wade's going to call her parents. I
hope it won't inconvenience you if they came over."

Finally his mother gave a smile that wasn't watery. "No problem. This is a celebration, the more
the merrier."

Quinn returned her smile, "Great there's one other thing..." He ushered his mother out of the
kitchen. Just as they were out of the kitchen they heard Wade.

"Mom? Mom it's me, Wade..."

Quinn smiled, "Mom, where's Grandma Mallory's ring?"

His mother started to walk towards the stairs. "Well, it's up in my room..." Recognition lit in her
eyes. "You mean, you and Wade?" Quinn nodded, "Oh Quinn, I'm so happy for you." She
hugged her son.

Quinn laughed, "She doesn't know yet though. So if you could get it, and not say anything..."

His mom nodded then went up stairs to get the ring. Quinn smiled and returned to the kitchen to
listen to Wade's conversation. "... I know, I know... Yeah, 4159 Blue Jay Way. Yes *that*
Quinn. I'll see you when you get here. I love you too, Mom... No, let me call Kelly. Thanks
mom, Bye." She hung up the phone and looked at Quinn. "Where did your mom go?"

Quinn just said. "She went up stairs to get something. How did your parents take it?"

"Good, they were in shock. They're on their way over now. I have to call my sister, though."

"Alright, when you're done, we'll call the Professor and Rembrandt." Wade agreed then picked up
the phone to call her sister. Quinn walked up behind her and put his arms around her. Wade
smiled and leaned into him.

When her sister picked up on the other end Wade said, "Kelly? It's Wade." Both Wade and
Quinn jerked their head away from the phone when her sister screamed on the other end. It took
a while for Kelly to calm down. "No, it really is me... We just got here... I already called them...
Yeah..." Quinn kissed the top of her head. "Listen Kelly, I want you to come over here... No I'm
at Quinn's house... Yes 'that Quinn.'" Quinn smiled, her phone conversations were really inflating
his ego. "Yeah, 4159 Blue Jay... I'll explain everything when you get here... Because it's too long
and drawn out to explain on the phone... I'll see you in a bit, bye." She hung up the phone and
turned in Quinn's embrace.

Quinn smirked. "So, should I change my name to 'That Quinn' Mallory?" Wade pushed him.

"You're a jerk. Can I help it if they remember you? You want to call Remmy and the Professor,
or can I?"

"Go ahead. You're on a roll." Quinn looked over to his mother who was waving the ring box.
"After your done, I'll show that surprise." Quinn pulled back. "Here, I'll hang up your coat." He
took her coat, and hung it up in the front closet with his. He grabbed the ring from his mother on
the way to the closet. He looked at the Diamond engagement ring. It was just like he
remembered it, even the nick on the ring from when his mom accidentally banged it on the kitchen
sink. He waited for Wade to finish up on the phone. When she did, he took her hand and led her
up to his bedroom.

Wade took in his room. His mother obviously didn't redecorate, although it was cleaner than
Wade imagined Quinn kept it. She looked through his CDs which covered a wide range from
Beethoven to Beastie Boys, but what caught her eye was "Rembrandt Brown and the Spinning
Tops" CD. She pulled the CD out and put it in her pocket, she'd have to show Remmy. His
Metallica CD was still in the player, and she assumed everything was where Quinn left it. Quinn
pulled her to the bed and they sat at foot of it. Quinn fumbled with the ring in his pocket and
Wade smiled. "I like your room, Quinn." Her eyes came to rest on the poster of the Milky Way
galaxy, with the little arrow that read "You are here." "It fits you."

"Thanks. Listen Wade, I wanted to umm..." He felt his courage faltering. With the last of his
courage he got down on his knee and pulled out the ring. "Wade, will you marry me?"

Wade started crying and her hand went to her mouth. She didn't say anything for a long time.
Finally she nodded while saying, "Yes. Of course I'll marry you." Quinn put the ring on her finger
and Wade slid off the bed and hugged him. After composing herself she asked, "Where did you
get the ring?"

"It was my Grandma Mallory's. My dad proposed to my mom with it, and now it's my turn. Let's
go tell my mom," Quinn said while pulling her off the floor. They went down the stairs and found
Wade's parents already there. Wade ran across the living room and clutched onto her parents.
Quinn's mother just went over to her son and Quinn put his arm around her shoulder.

"They came in while you two were upstairs. What did she say?"

Quinn wiped at his eyes for a moment.

"She said yes, mom."

His mom pulled Quinn in. "I'm so happy for you Quinn. But I'm even more happy that you're
home." She looked over to Wade's parents. "It was hard on them. They used to come over here
every day for the first six months hoping you would come up from the basement. But we never
lost hope."

"Neither did we, mom. When Remmy and Arturo get here we'll have so many stories to tell you."

Wade finally pulled away from her parents. "Mom. Dad. This is Quinn."

Wade's father reached out his hand and Quinn took it. "Thanks for bringing our daughter home,
Quinn."

Quinn blushed, "I'm sorry for taking her away from you."

Wade's mother hugged him. "You got her home, that's what's important." Wade grabbed hold of
Quinn's hand.

"Mom. Dad. Quinn proposed, we're engaged." She held out her left hand, displaying the ring.
Her mother took Wade's hand, inspecting the ring. A knock at the door came, and Quinn went to
let in his other traveling companions.

Quinn looked at Arturo and said one word. "Well?"

Arturo understood the question; "We're home." Quinn laughed and clutched his mentor. "It
seems you've started the party without us."

Quinn stepped away from the door to allow Arturo and Remmy to come through. Wade ran up to
Arturo to show him the ring, Arturo hugged Wade.

Remmy looked at Quinn, and said "Yeah, we're home Q-Ball. You might as well stop the timer.
That way your double will come, we can perfect the sliding machine, and let the whole world
know." Quinn smiled and pulled the timer from his pocket. He looked at it, then pressed the
green button. The timer beeped, a beam of energy shot out, and then the beam consumed itself.
The readout went to zero and the stand-by light came on. Rembrandt was watching over Quinn's
shoulder. "Was that supposed to happen?"

"Yeah, that was the signal to them." Wade walked up to them and pulled the CD out of her
pocket.

"Remmy, look at what I found in Quinn's CD collection." As soon as Quinn saw the CD, he
blushed. He had bought the CD when he was seeing Daelin. She had loved Rembrandt's music
but Quinn had totally forgotten about having the CD.

Rembrandt laughed. "Q-Ball, you didn't tell me you were a fan."

Quinn tried to grab the CD but Wade pulled it out of his reach. "I forgot I had it. My ex-girlfriend
in high school liked your music. C'mon Wade, give me it."

A wicked smile spread across Wade's face. "No."

"C'mon Wade."

"No. Make me!" Quinn snatched at it, but Wade charged out the door while handing Rembrandt
the CD. Quinn chased her outside into the front yard. Quinn caught her. Both of them were
laughing uncontrollably. They wrestled to the ground, and somehow Wade ended up on top.

Quinn managed to stop laughing; "You're a maniac, Wade." He sat up and Wade moved so that
she was sitting next to him. "Sometimes, I don't know whether to kiss you or kill you."

"Well, I don't want to die, so why don't we try that other plan?" She leaned over and kissed him.
It was the first time they had kissed since Quinn proposed. Wade's sister chose that moment to
pull in front of Quinn's house.

"Wade? Wade is that you?"

Wade pulled away, jumped up, and ran to her sister. "Kelly!" she yelled. Quinn got up a little more
slowly. Wade pulled Kelly and Quinn into the house. They all sat in the living room reminiscing.

***

Quinn's mother and Wade's parents caught the four travelers up on everything that had happened
since they were gone. The sliders then spent much of the evening telling of their travels, ending
with the story of how they finally made it home. It was Rembrandt who finished the story. "So
the Professor, Quinn and their doubles came up with the plan of using our matter signature to get
our co-ordinates. The co-ordinates came up this morning and we slid in early this afternoon. I got
to my house and found that my Brother, who lives in Oakland, had been keeping up my house. I
tried to get him to come out here but he wasn't home."

Arturo leaned forward. "Well, since my housing was provided by the University, they had kept
my things in storage. I called the head of the Physics department. Needless to say, he was very
surprised when I called, but I was lucky enough to regain my teaching position at the University.
By the way Mr. Mallory, your Nobel Prize is on display at the University, and the Dean will
probably be calling you for a teaching or research position. He's very interested in talking with
you."

Quinn smiled.

"Well, actually Professor I was hoping to finish the sliding machine before worrying about that.
Besides, Wade and I've got some plans to make."

***
Epilogue

The next morning, Quinn's double and Colin arrived. They worked on the Sliding machine for over
two weeks, but it was finally completed and perfected, and they were able to patent the new
design. True to their word, Quinn and the Professor, with help from the University, then went
public with a press conference. They formed Mallory-Arturo Importing Corporation, and made
their way into the trade network. Rembrandt used the publicity from sliding to get a recording
contract. He made a blues record that gave him his first gold album in twenty years.

Once they were settled into their new lives, Quinn and Wade got married. It was a small
ceremony that included their families, Quinn and Wade's doubles, Colin, Logan, and Maggie.
Arturo and Rembrandt served as Quinn's Best Men. Quinn and Wade had their first child a year
and a half later, a boy they named Colin. Rembrandt and Arturo were the boy's godfathers.