And the miracles begin...

A swirling blue vortex opened and dropped out the four sliders. Quinn Mallory--boy genius, Colin Mallory--his brother, Rembrandt Brown--an R & B singer, and Maggie Becket--an ex-marine.

The four sliders got up and looked around. That's when they noticed a little girl staring at them. But when she saw them looking she ran away.

"Well, I guess we should probably look around and check into the Chandler," Maggie said.
"Yea, I guess," Quinn said absently.
He had only glimpsed the girl momentarily, but she had somehow seemed familiar. He shook his head, thinking that he must have been imagining things.

The city, they soon found out, was pretty much in ruins.
"The Kromaggs!" Maggie hissed.
"Well, at least it looks like they're gone for now," Quinn said, looking around.
"When do we slide?" Colin asked.
"We're lucky we slide in only four hours," Quinn answered.

They were glad they were leaving this wrecked city so soon--they still had the image of Earth Prime in thier heads. It too had been taken over by the Kromaggs. That was when Quinn had found out that he was from a parallel world and that he had a brother. It was also the world in which Wade had been captured. Not exactly what they had pictured thier return home would be like.

"Well, it's time to slide!" said Quinn.
Colin put into words what they were all thinking-"Finally!"

Quinn pointed the device at the wall and a swirling blue vortex appeared. Colin, Maggie, Rembrandt and Quinn jumped into the vortex that would lead them to the next world. No one noticed as one more person jumped into the vortex...

The sliders landed in a heap on the next world.
"Man, can't you do somehing about those landings?!" Rembrandt complained.
"You know I can't..." Quinn started to say when he suddenly noticed the little girl. His eyes widened.
"Did you follow us?" Quinn asked kneeling down to her level.

The little girl just looked up at him withwide eyes.
"Now what are we going to do?" Maggie asked, throwing up her hands.
"We can't just leave her here!" Colin said.
"I guess we'll have to take her with us--for now," Quinn said sighing.
"What's your name?" he asked.

The little girl just looked down. He held out his hand to her, but she took Maggie's instead (much to Maggie's obvious annoyance). They walked into town and immediately noticed the elaborate decorations.

"Man, I didn't even realize it was Christmas time already!" Rembrandt commented looking around.
"At least this world seems somewhat normal!" Maggie said as they checked into their usual suite at the Chandler Hotel.

"You hungry?" Quinn questioned the little girl. She shook her head.
"Quinn, can you hand me a soda?" Colin asked.
At that, the little girl looked at Quinn startled.
"Quinn what?" she asked quietly.
They all turned to look at her.
"What?" Quinn asked confused.
"Your last name--what's your last name?" she asked quietly.
"Mallory," he said, "Quinn Mallory"
She gasped, "That's my daddy's name"
"What?!"
The little girl looked down.
"He was a slider too," she said quietly.
"So you know about sliding?" Colin asked.
"My mommy told me about it," she said softly.

Quinn was staring at her wide-eyed. He suddenly realized why she looked so familiar. It was her eyes...they looked just like...
"Oh my God!" Quinn whispered.
"Umm, what's your name?" he asked
"Katie," she said shyly.

Quinn reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. He searched through it till he found what he was looking for--it was a picture.
"Katie--is this your mom?" Quinn asked showing her the picture.
"Uh huh," she said wide-eyed.
"Q-ball?" Remmy said questionably.
Quinn ignored him."Come here," he said.
She walked over to him.
"Are you my daddy?" she asked, looking up at him.
"I might be," he said quietly, " I just might be..."
"Did your mommy tell you anything about your daddy?" he asked.
"Uh huh," she said, " He was a slider and she said that he gave her a miracle. She said he helped her have me and that he had to leave though 'cause it wasn't safe on our world for boys."
Suddenly Quinn smiled wonderingly. He gazed at her with new eyes--the eyes of a father.
"My little girl," he said amazed.
She lookied at him with wide eyes. "Really?"
"Yes, really!" he said, giving her a hug.
The others were shocked. Quinn turned to them.
"Katie, I'd like you to meet Remmy and Maggie...and your Uncle Colin."

Two days later

"So, Katie, how do you like sliding?" Quinn asked his daughter. "
It's fun!" she said grinning.

They had been lucky, the worlds they had landed on had been fairly normal lately. He was still amazed at this little person that he had helped create. And he was happy--happier then he had been in years. The others took quick notice of his change in attitude.

"I've never seen Q-ball act like this before!" Rembrandt said smiling looking over at Quinn who was holding up a laughing Katie. It seemed that Katie was just what the group had needed to lift thier spirits. The four doted on her and Katie took a quick liking to all of them.

Up Above

She smiled down on them from high up above. The group had been long overdo for some happiness. One miracle down; two more to go...

Back down below

When the group slid to the next world they knew immediatly that something wasn't right. For one thing, they were now surrounded by computers and electrical equipment...not to mention some very ticked off looking Kromaggs.

"Umm...guys this doesn't look good!" Rembrandt said looking around.
Quinn instictivly tightened his grip on Kaite who was now as white as a ghost.
"Those are the monsters who killed my mommy," she whispered burying her head in Quinn's jacket.

"How did you get that sliding device!" one of the Kromaggs asked.
"I uh, invented it," Quinn said too stunned to make something up.
"Liar! Humans know nothing of interdimensional travel!" another Kromagg scoffed.
Maggie rolled her eyes--Kromaggs could be thick as boards. It seemed that every time they encountered them theyhad to explain about the timer--and even then they still didn't entirely believe them. It looked like they would be spending Christmas in a Kromagg prison...

Up Above

"Oh no!" she groaned.
The first one had been so easy--just direct their wormhole to the right earth. But this time...'Why did they assign me to this one!' she thought. In her opinion they deserved better then that. She was way too new at this. "I guess just dropping them off on the right earth isn't enough," she whispered.

Now to think of a way to help them find another member of thier group--and more importantly get them out of that prison. Christmas in a prison--especially a Kromagg prison--just would not do...