Disclaimer: I do not own Sliders.
His other self was either the biggest idiot he had ever encountered or he was what his grandmother had always referred to as luckier than should be allowed (it might be both). What was other him thinking! He wasn't - that much was obvious. Granted, he had been hoping to instill a little bit of false confidence in his other self. Not too much - just enough to convince him that taking the leap would be fine. It was fine, really it was, he had jumped himself plenty of times and there was no problem as far as general physical safety was concerned. The technology of the travel was perfectly safe - it was what you might encounter at the end of the travel that should give someone pause (also the control over said travel), but his other self was still Quinn Mallory (questionable personal choices aside) and he would be quick on his feet when necessary and methodically careful when it was called for by the situation.
He was helping him along in his quest of going on the adventure of a life time. He recognized it in his other self - that desire for adventure. He would love this life of hopping from world to world. This Quinn Mallory wanted to explore, and he was giving him that gift on a proverbial silver platter. He was even gifting him the ability to continue his explorations guilt free. One couldn't feel that bad about what one was leaving behind when one literally could not go back after all. It wouldn't be the other man's fault that he couldn't return, and he would be able to embrace the adventurous part of himself without having to feel badly about what he was missing in the meantime.
He, unlike this version of himself, didn't want adventure. He didn't want to be traipsing around from world to world getting into trouble and analyzing the differences that the smallest of changes could spiral out to become. He wanted to be settled. He had found the world of his choice for doing that settling. It was as if everything about it had been perfectly scripted for his use - there was still no dad, but he had made his peace with that a long time ago. Here there would be a loving mother who supported him even when she didn't understand. The dead end pay the bills job was easy enough to get rid of - he had already managed to take care of that in a less than ten minute visit. And Wade - he had watched the other him for nearly a week before he had had a chance to make his move. He saw the way that this Wade looked at him - saw the way that the idiot never noticed her looking. He was doing everyone a favor really. He had spent years of effort getting his Wade to look at him like that. He had won her over and been rewarded with what was supposed to be a lifetime of that look from those eyes only to have it utterly destroyed by someone else's irresponsible life choices.
His mother, his wife, and his unborn child had all been gone in the split second that it took an irresponsible excuse for a human being in a hurry to decide that other people's safety was less important than his belief that he could beat another car through an intersection in spite of the red light. It still killed him inside that he had never gotten a chance to tell her how happy it would have made him to know her news. He can see now that she had been dropping hints for days about the news that she would be telling him at the dinner she had been planning for that night. Wade wasn't particularly subtle, but he had been distracted by the final calibrations for his design. Arturo had been lecturing him about potential flaws and he had stayed to try to work through the other man's complaints instead of going to fetch her when she had called him about her car trouble (that blasted battery had been replaced three times in a year and they kept telling them that they couldn't figure out what was causing them to drain so quickly).
She had been stranded in the store parking lot, but his mother had happened to arrive while she was on the phone with him. She had said it was fine - he didn't need to come and get her. She would catch a ride with his mom. It would be better that way - no chance of him trying to peek in her shopping bags and spoil her surprise.
That was the last thing that he ever heard her say - she didn't want to spoil the surprise.
He couldn't even remember if he said "I love you" before he hung up. He knows she knew, but he still would like to be able to remember if he had said it during what would turn out to be his last chance. Only it wasn't his last chance. He isn't delusional. He knows that this is a different Wade. She isn't his - not yet. She isn't a replacement - she's a second chance.
The other him doesn't seem to care that she wants him, so how could it possibly be wrong to give her what she wants? He would make her happy. He would make her so very happy, and he would make himself happy in the process. He had gotten a little ahead of himself with that kiss, but he can't say that he regrets it. She was just standing there looking at him like that and he didn't want to help himself. It had been a promise - that he would make everything okay soon.
He had had a plan. Other him would leave, and he would disconnect the tether. No one would ever know. He would be a devoted son to his mother and become a devoted husband to Wade. Then, other him had to go and ruin everything! What was he thinking taking guests along without sorting out what he was doing first?
He had hovered for hours waiting for them to return from their trip so he could recalibrate his plans, but they didn't come back. They missed the connection, and he knew what that meant. They were either stuck or they were adrift.
This required more than a recalibration; this required a rewriting of all of his hopes and plans. He was never going to forgive other him for this.
