A mission below

She materialized close to the cell.
"Excuse me, which one of you is Wade Wells?" she asked.
"I am," five virtually identical women said at the same time. She groaned when she realized that this particular cell had five Wades in it--only one of which was the one she was looking for. She took a deep breath then looked up and whispered, "Please guide me."
That's when she noticed one of the Wades was standing by herself and knew instantly that she was the one that she was looking for. She said a silent thank you and entered the cell. Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a key and opened the cell.
"Your friends will be glad to see you again," she said to the Wade standing off to one side.
Wade gave this strange woman an inquisitive look.
"What do you mean?" she asked suspiciously.
"Come with me," the woman said seeming not to hear her.
Wade reluctantly followed her out of the cell.

Wade followed her stunned as she led her down a passage. They stopped in front of another row of cells and Wade realized with a start that they hadn't seen a single Kromagg the whole time.
"Your friends are in the second cell on your left...and no I don't mean their doubles either," the woman clarified.
Wade was startled and not a little suspcious.
"Is this some kind of a joke or trick or something?" Wade asked nervously.
She smiled, "I assure you this is no trick"
She handed Wade a timer.
"You had better hurry if you're to make the slide."
Wade stared. This couldn't be happening! After all this time was she really going to see them again? "But how...?" she started to ask then was startled to realize that the woman was gone. It was almostas if she had disappeared into thin air. But that was impossible...wasn't it?

She cautiously walked to the cell that the woman had told her to go to. She was surprised to see a key already in the slot--and even more surprized that there wasn't a Kromagg in sight. She cautiously opened the cell as they hadn't noticed her yet.

"Ummm...guys?" she said hesitantly.
They all turned to her in shock.
"Wade?!"
They all stared.
"We've only got like five seconds left," she said showing them the timer.
"What--how...?" Quinn asked puzzled.
"Actually, I don't know, but we better hurry or we'll miss the slide." With that she activated the timer.

On the next world

They all landed in a heap.
"Wade, I can't believe it's really you girl!" Rembrandt said giving Wade a hug.
"Wade!" was all Quinn could say as he too gave her a hug.

That's when Wade noticed that besides Maggie there were two others with them one of which was a little child.
"Who...?" she asked questionly.
"Wade, I'd like you to meet my brother, Colin and my daughter, Katie," Quinn said smiling.
"Daughter...brother...since when?!" asked Wade clearly confused.
"It's a loooong story!"

Up Above

She smiled. She was glad that it had all worked out for the best. Two down, one to go...

The next day

Wade was still amazed at all that had happened since she had been gone. The group had quickly filled her in yesterday--and they had also insisted that she got a check-up. The doctor had said that she was fine other than the fact that she had some bruises and minor injuries. She was just glad that the group had found her before...Wade shuddered. She didn't even want to think of what could have happened. She looked over at the group where they were showing Katie the Christmas decorations in the windows.

"Wade come see!" a delighted Katie squealed excitedly.
Wade smiled and joined the group pushing those unpleasant thoughts aside for now.
"3-2-1.."with that Quinn aimed the timer and the vortex opened sending them to the next world...

on the next world

"We're here for about five days," Quinn said after looking at the timer.
Suddenly he glanced back at the timer in surprise.
'This can't be right!' he thought in dismay.
"Um, guys we've got a problem..."
"What now?" Maggie asked annoyed.
He showed them the now blank timer.
"What do we do now?" asked Colin.
"I guess we'll have to find out what's wrong with it," he searched his pockets and looked up confused, "but first we need to go to the hardware store--I can't find my tools."

"I also need a screwdriver..."Quinn started to say as he looked for the tools he needed.
"I'll get it daddy!" Katie said cheerfully as she ran to look for it.
Quinn smiled as he watched his daughter. He was glad she was so happy. She had been terrified when they had been in that Kromagg prison, and afterwards she had been quieter. But now it seemed she was back to her own cheerful self...

The professor grumbled as he picked up some more wires. His arms were already full with various electrical equipment. He sighed as he dropped some of it. Bending over to pick it up he was run into by a little dark-haired girl.

"Blistering idiot!" he mumbled.
Katie looked up, frightened. She was still a little uncomfortable around men--especilly big ones.

"I-I'm sorry," she said helping him pick up the items he had dropped.
"It's quite alright," he assured her.
"I'm just frustrated because I don't think I'll ever get this blasted thing to work!" he said more to himself than to her.
"What are you work'n on?" she asked quietly.
"Nothing that you'd know about my dear," he said, "even I don't fully understand it," he admitted.
"I bet my dad would," she said seriously, "he knows all about that kind of stuff."
"Katie?" a voice called from the next aisle.
She looked up, "I've gotta go," the little girl said hurrying in the direction of the voice.
But the professor was hardly listening. That voice sounded so familar, but it couldn't ?

"Daddy, there's a man in the next aisle getting wires and stuff," she frowned, "do ya think he's working on a timer too?"
Katie looked up at Quinn quizzedly. Quinn smiled.
"I don't think so, angel," he said ruffling her hair.

He was still amazed at her innocence--even after all she had been through--although a little wiser--she was still so innocent. What he wouldn't give to have that kind of innocence again. He smiled.
"We better go pay for this stuff, the others are waiting for us back at the hotel."
"Are we gonna have pizza again?" Kaitie asked.
Pizza was one of her favorite foods--she could eat it every day--which was good since they did eat it practically every day. Suddenly she heard her dad gasp. She looked up and noticed his face had gone white.

"Are you alright, daddy?" she asked worrily.
"I-I"m fine," he said but his eyes were still fixed on the person getting into the check-out lane next to thiers. He shook his head and glanced away. He should have been used to seeing doubles by now...but still seeing the professor--even when he knew it wasn't their professor--surprised him. 'I guess it's because we haven't seen one of his doubles in a while,' he reasoned.

After dropping his purchases on the counter the professor glanced at the next lane and nearly did a double take. There in the nextaisle was that little girl again--but he was more concerned with who she was with. It was Quinn--or rather his double--but at any rate probably much more capable of putting together a sliding machine then he...