The night was dark as they ran.  None of the five knew exactly why they were fleeing for their lives.  On this world, it could have been anything.  Perhaps somebody thought they’d seen or heard something, maybe they’d trespassed in gang territory...  For all Quinn knew, they might have just been wearing the wrong color T-shirts.

“The slide?” Wade called as she rounded the alley corner a few paces behind the others.

“Soon,” yelled back Maggie who had the timer.

Glancing over his shoulder as a bullet impacted with the wall, Quinn slowed.  “Wade, come on!”

She tripped, falling onto her knees and skinning the palms of her hands from trying to catch herself.  She hated running.  Before she got up, she dared a look behind her, and instantly regretted it as a sharp pain washed over her.

As Wade cried out, Quinn ran back and started to pull her up.  She'd taken two shots to her chest.  "Oh god!" Quinn gasped, seeing the blood.  He laid her down and immediately tried to apply pressure to her wounds.  "Wade, stay with me," he told her as she closed her eyes.

Wade wanted to open her eyes and look at him, but she couldn't.  The pain she was in was being replaced by a strange numbness.  "Can't..." she mumbled to Quinn as the cold of the ground seeped into her.

"God, no, Wade, come on," Quinn cried in a panic.  "Don't do this to me!"

She didn't respond and he looked to the others.  "Wade's been shot!" he yelled to them as she lost consciousness.  He lifted her into his arms and ran to catch up with the others.  But carrying Wade slowed him down and made him a better target.  He felt the sudden sting in his back as he ran.

Rembrandt saw Quinn get hit as he went back for him.  He'd heard his call when Wade had been shot.  Quinn took in a sharp breath as white-hot pain surged through him from the feel of fire that erupted in his back.  Rembrandt grabbed his arm, then took Wade from him as he started to collapse.

By that time, Arturo had reached Quinn also and supported him.  He gasped in agony and then coughed a few times, trying to draw in air.  Quinn knew it would only be a few moments before he went into shock or passed out from the pain.

"Maggie, stop!" Rembrandt shouted, seeing that there was no way Quinn could keep running.

She turned around and hurried back to them.  "Time's up anyway; let's go!"

Rembrandt took Wade through the vortex at the same time as Maggie jumped in.  Arturo and Quinn stumbled through last.

When Quinn exited the wormhole, Rembrandt had already laid Wade down on the ground.  Quinn tripped as he kneeled beside to her.  Maggie saw the blood that ran down his back.  He gently touched Wade's face.  "Don't leave me," he said before falling and gasping for air once more.  He quickly lost consciousness.

"Mr. Mallory," Arturo said, sitting on the ground beside Quinn.  He cast worried eyes towards Rembrandt and Maggie.

"What are we going to do?" Maggie asked, also dropping to her knees.  The situation looked hopeless.

Rembrandt was checking Wade for a pulse.  He gave Maggie a quick look that needed no explanation, and then began CPR.
 

*****

What if there was a world where the Russians ruled America?
Or where the dinosaurs never died off?
Or where women were in control instead of men?

These worlds do exist.  Same planet, different universe.
My friends and I have found the gateway to reach them.
Now all we have to do... is find a way to get home....

SLIDERS... Infinite Slides....
Based On the Original "Sliders" TV Series
Created by Tracy Torme and Robert K. Weiss

*****
 

*Noise, it's too loud... turn it off.*  Quinn's mind tried to figure out where he was and what had happened as he partially came to.  There was a siren, but they were stopped.  Then more noise - ambulance doors, shouting....  Then he was being moved.

He attempted to open his eyes, finally succeeding but the image was blurred.  Red and blue lights flashed, and there was the ambulance he knew had brought him here.  And Wade.  He saw her.  Nobody was there with her.  "Leave me.  Help Wade!"  His voice was clear in his mind, but his ears heard only an incoherent mumble.

"Oh god, he's awake!"  Quinn didn't recognize the voice.  He tried to move.

"Stay calm... been shot... you're at the hospital... don't try to move..."  That voice was directed to him, explaining things, telling him to relax, but it faded in and out in the constant noise.

Then he saw Rembrandt, still sitting in the ambulance.  He lowered his head into his hands and just kept sitting there.  *What is going on?!*

More movement - he was inside now.  He thought he heard the professor but wasn't sure.  Then commotion, more people, more voices.

"What've we got?"

"Male, late twenties, bullet wound to the lower back..."  Quinn wanted to hear that voice but it was so difficult.  "Extensive bleeding... pulse thready, BP is 90 over..."  Then it faded into the blur again.

"I thought we had two victims coming in."  Quinn's attention snapped to that voice.  "Where's the other one?"  He tried hard to focus.

"She..."  Then those voices were gone.

*No!*  Quinn needed to hear them.  "Wade?"  Again just the mumble.  *Stop, please.  I need to know...*

"Best if we..."  More about his condition?  "...immediately."

"Alright, get him to the OR and prep him."

More moving, more confusion.

"On three..."  Counting, then he was jarred.  A cry of pain.  Was that his voice?

"Put him under."

"No," Quinn tried to protest.  "Not yet.  I need to know if Wade's okay!"

Then he registered somebody holding his hand.  Had they been there all along?

"I can't stay with you any longer, Quinn."

*Maggie!*

"Just try to calm down, 'kay, Quinn?"  Her voice tried to soothe him, but there was noticeably something wrong.  "Everything is gonna be okay..."

His eyes searched for her in the blur, making out her face.  Was she crying?  As he slipped into blackness, she kept telling him that everything was alright, but he realized something that terrified him.  He knew Maggie well enough to know that she was lying.

-----

When Quinn woke up, he was in a regular hospital room.  Arturo was with him.  He pressed the nurse button, noticing that Quinn was coming around.

Quinn looked at the professor.  "What happened?" he mumbled.

Arturo turned as he heard someone enter the room.  Rembrandt and Maggie came in with a doctor.  "What's wrong?" Rembrandt asked Arturo immediately.

"Nothing's wrong," Quinn said, wondering why everyone looked so nervous.  "I feel fine."

Rembrandt finally relaxed somewhat, and looked relieved to see him awake.  "Hey, Q-ball," he said, walking over to Quinn's bed.

The doctor also went over to Quinn.  "Good to see that you've finally come around.  We were worried."

*Major understatement,* thought Maggie about his casual statement.  Quinn had crashed during surgery and they'd almost lost him.  She'd been scared ever since.

The doctor proceeded to check Quinn's IV.  "Do you need any more pain killers for your back?"

Quinn noticed that he was lying somewhat on his side, which he found rather odd, and not quite comfortable.  "No," he replied.  "I can't feel anything; I'm fine."

Rembrandt glanced over at the doctor and they seemed to exchange an unspoken conversation.  He finished checking on Quinn, then excused himself and left the room.  Arturo went with him, but stopped at the door where Maggie remained standing.  They appeared to be very uncomfortable.

"Whoa, what's going on with you guys?" Quinn asked.

"There's some stuff that we need to talk about," Rembrandt told Quinn solemnly.

Quinn shrugged.  "Can this wait 'til after I check on Wade?"

Rembrandt shook his head.  He looked over at Maggie and Arturo, then back to Quinn.  "Q-ball, look, there's some stuff that's happened, and..." he walked over to the window and leaned his hand on the sill, "god, I wish I didn't have to-- I mean, it's so difficult to tell you this."  He sighed deeply and Quinn thought he saw him rub a tear from his eye as he turned back around.

"She's hurt badly, isn't she?"  Quinn was growing more concerned with every passing second.

Maggie choked back a sob at the expression on his face.  He was so worried.  A part of her wanted to leave, to run from that room.  She couldn't stand to watch him go through what he was about to be told.  But she stayed, knowing that she had to.  She looked at Rembrandt with eyes that threatened to tear up all over again.  She was thankful he'd been the one they'd chosen to tell Quinn, not her.

"About Wade," Rembrandt said sadly, "she'd already stopped breathing before we left the last world.  Quinn, we tried so hard to save her, but she..."  He paused, the memory too painful.  This was the hardest moment of his life.  "She didn't make it.  They called her DOA when we got to the hospital.  She's dead.  I'm sorry."

-----

Quinn didn't say anything for a long while.  "Tell me this isn't real," he said when he finally spoke.

"I can't."  Rembrandt wished that he could, but Wade was dead and nothing could change that.

Quinn put his face in his hands then ran them slowly and tensely through his hair.  He didn't want to believe this.  "I need to get some air," he mumbled, starting to remove his IV.

Maggie had walked over to him and now placed her hand on his, stopping him.  "Quinn, don't," she said gently.

"Maggie, I'm fine," protested Quinn, removing the IV despite her attempt to stop him.  "I just can't breathe in here.  I--"  He shook his head.  He just had to get out.

"Quinn, you can't."  Maggie squinched her eyes shut for a moment to hold back the tears.  She hated crying.  "There are some things about your condition that you need to know."

"I don't care about that," Quinn interrupted sharply.

"You might," Arturo told him, his voice still calm despite Quinn's harshness.  He was in no mood to listen, and that was very understandable; however, he'd find out soon enough if he tried to get up again.  With a worried expression, Arturo decided to simply tell him before he realized it the hard way.  "Quinn, the doctors say that the bullet hit your spine.  The bone splintered and they didn't get all the fragments removed.  They plan on doing another surgery tomorrow, but the fact that you can't feel anything isn't a good sign."

Quinn almost laughed.  "I'm paralyzed?"

Maggie nodded.  "From the waist down.  But after the next operation, the doctors hope that--"

"This is all some sick joke!" Quinn cut her off mid-sentence.  He grabbed the vase of flowers that was on the table next to his bed and threw it against the wall.  A thousand pieces rained down onto the floor as it shattered.

"Quinn..."  Maggie tried to calm him down.  "If the surgery is successful, there's a slight chance that you might regain partial use of your legs."

Quinn didn't care.  "No surgery can bring back Wade."

-----

Hesitantly, Maggie approached Quinn later that evening and placed a hand on his shoulder.  He made no attempt to acknowledge her presence.  He simply stared out the small window.  From his position, he could only see sky and some wall, but it didn't matter.

"Quinn, you okay?" she asked softly.  He refused to look at her, and she pulled a chair over next to his bed and sat down.

He hadn't talked to anybody since they'd first told him.  He'd asked them all to leave, and they'd done so, knowing he needed some time alone.  They'd had almost a day to cope with Wade's death.  He'd had an hour.

"What are you thinking right now?"  Maggie rubbed his arm gently.

Quinn finally turned slightly to face her.  "Do you know what DOA means, Maggie?"

She nodded.  Dead on Arrival.  That's what Rembrandt had told him they'd said about Wade.  She almost cried again, seeing the tears welled up in his eyes.  His expression was so full of pain and sorrow, and guilt.

"It means that there was never a chance," Quinn continued, his voice dull.  "That making it to the vortex wasn't good enough this time.  It's actually dead.  No hitting the restart button on the next world.  It means another life lost because of my mistake....  Some spin around the universe this turned out to be."

"It's not your fault."  Weak attempt, but it was all she could offer.

"Tell that to Wade."  He turned away from her again.

Maggie stood and walked around his bed, then she sat on the edge of the bed, placing herself between him and the window so that he couldn't ignore her.  She took his hand carefully in hers.  His IV had been replaced, keeping him lightly sedated after he'd thrown the vase.  He was also on some kind of pain killer that was making him somewhat nauseous, although Quinn wasn't certain that feeling was entirely due to the drugs.

"Wade wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself," Maggie told him.  "She would have just been grateful that you're okay.  The type of bullet they pulled out of your back wasn't supposed to leave you alive."

"I think it did it's job well enough."  He glanced up at her for a moment, then looked away.

In that moment, Maggie had gotten a close look at his eyes.  They weren't right.  So empty, yet so much guilt and pain, but also not caring about anything anymore.  She'd seen his eyes that way once before, when she'd first joined the group - when his professor had died.  But this time was worse.  She wasn't certain if he'd ever recover from this.

"Yeah, maybe it did," she agreed as she got up to leave.

When she was almost to the door, she was stopped by Quinn quietly saying her name.  She turned back towards him.  "Tell the others that this is it for me, okay?" he asked.

"Quinn..."

"No, Maggie," he stopped her.  "This world is the end of my journey.  I'm through sliding and you know it.  But I wish you, Remmy, and Max the best of luck.  I truly do."

She shook her head slightly.  "Don't say that."

"You knew this would come up eventually."  Quinn couldn't deny that, and neither could she.  "I can't walk, Maggie."

"Oh god, Quinn," Maggie sighed.  He'd completely given up.  "But we don't even know yet if..."

She let her words trail off.  He'd turned away, once more staring blankly out the window.  She knew this was the end.  "Good-bye, Quinn."

-----

It was late when Maggie entered their room at the Motel 12.  She'd been out for a long time, nowhere in particular.  She'd just been thinking, trying not to think.  She wasn't sure anymore.  Rembrandt and Arturo had returned from the hospital, but she didn't feel like talking to them.

"Where were you?" Rembrandt inquired.

"Nowhere."  She sighed.  "I'm thinking about not taking the slide this time," she added.

"Is this about Mr. Mallory?" asked Arturo.

Maggie shook her head, but then decided that it probably was.  "He's quit sliding because he can't walk."

Rembrandt nodded.  "We know.  But I think his decision would have been the same even if he weren't paralyzed."  Wade's death had really hit him hard.  Much harder than the loss of his legs.

"I'm staying with him."  It wasn't until she said it aloud just then that she was actually sure.  "I've got nowhere else to go.  And I can't lose Quinn."

"I'm afraid you might have already lost him," said Rembrandt.  "Wade meant more to him than his own life.  This isn't something he'll get over any time soon."  He sighed.  He didn't even know when he'd get over it himself.  It would be a long time.

Maggie couldn't argue that.  "But he will someday.  He has to.  He's all I've got."  She paused.  "You guys should stay here also."

"I don't think I'm ready to do that," Rembrandt said.

Arturo frowned.  "Perhaps we should discus this," he suggested.  They couldn't afford to let this world tear them apart.

Maggie was already walking across the room.  "I don't feel like talking right now.  I'm going to bed.  Later... we'll talk later."

-----

Wade was dead.

That single thought stayed in Quinn’s mind and kept him awake.  He was so tired, exhaustion and sedation both tugging at him, yet he didn’t close his eyes.  He couldn’t.  He didn’t want to dream.  Not tonight.  Hell, not ever.

Wade was dead, and it was his fault.  He should have been able to protect her.  Why’d he ever have to invent sliding?  Why couldn’t he have been the one to die instead of her?

There was a physical pain accompanying the emotional one now, but it didn’t matter.  He hurt so badly that he felt he should be in actual pain, it was only appropriate, he deserved it.

He considered calling for a doctor.  In drug-induced sleep, he didn’t dream.  No more suffering.  It was an easy escape, but it wouldn’t last forever.  Yet maybe it would last until the slide.  He didn’t know when that was, but he knew he’d be seeing the others again before that time.

The others.  Three more lives that was responsible for.  No, no he wasn’t.  Just Remmy.  Rembrandt was the only one left.  He didn’t get Maggie and Max involved in this.  They’d come willingly.  It was just Rembrandt now.

Quinn felt himself shake with the sob he was trying to hold back.  Perhaps that was why he felt guilty for all of them.  It couldn’t just be one now.

He didn’t care anymore.  He’d just kill them also.  They were better off without him.  They already were without him.  This world was home now.  Sliding was behind him.  Maybe he could just forget.

It only took him a second to decide against asking for more drugs.  He needed to dream, needed to remember.  He couldn’t just pretend that Wade hadn’t died.  She’d been his best friend.  He’d never forgive himself for letting her die.  Instead he just cried over a past he couldn’t change.

Hours dragging by slowly as he stared at the wall which was only a blur in the dark and through his tears.  Eventually, feeling weak and somewhat nauseous, Quinn finally closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep.

-----

The sound of the phone ringing woke Maggie.  She opened her eyes and gazed across the room at Arturo and Rembrandt who were eating breakfast in silence.  She rolled over and grabbed the phone.

Rembrandt turned to watch her as Maggie’s side of the conversation fell quiet.  She just sat there with a stunned expression on her face.  After a minute, she reached to hang the phone back up.  Her hand was trembling and she ended up knocking the phone off the small night-stand.

He and Arturo both stood as she put her face in her hands, trying to hold back a sob.  “Maggie?”

Rembrandt walked over and sat on the edge of her bed.  She was shaking visibly.  It was then that Rembrandt realized the only place that had their number was the hospital.  “Was that Quinn?”

Sad eyes finally turned to him as Maggie seemed to realize that he was there.  She shook her head.  “Quinn died.”

Arturo slowly joined them.  He placed his hand on Maggie’s.

She stared down at the bed sheets.  “Apparently there was some internal bleeding...”

None of them spoke as she trailed off.  The three just sat there in a strange motel room on some unknown world, all sorrowfully realizing that they’d leave this place minus two.

-----

“How can you not have their bodies?” yelled a very upset Maggie, ready to jump over the counter and beat some answers out of the nurse.  Hospitals sucked royally on every world.

The woman gave her a curious look.  “Excuse me?”

Casting Maggie a warning glance, Arturo placed his hand on her arm.  They knew nothing of this world.  It was best if they remained calm.

“You can’t just bury somebody without...”  Maggie ran her hands through her hair in frustration, a habit she’d picked up from Quinn without ever realizing it.  “You can’t do that!”

The curious expression became troubled.  “I assure you we followed procedure.  Burial laws for this sector state that--“  She stopped as she noticed Maggie clench her fists as if in an effort not to strangle her on the spot.  “You’re not from one of those religious cults, are you?”

This time Maggie actually took a step forward, leaning against the counter.  Rembrandt moved a hand to her other arm.  They didn’t need any more trouble.  He turned to the nurse.  “Where?”

She typed something on her computer, understanding his question without needed it clarified.  After a moment, the results were displayed on the screen.  “Lot 218.”

-----

The short grass was damp as Maggie ran the fingers of one hand through it.  On each side of where she sat was a gave, both fresh.  Looking out across the cemetery, she sighed deeply.  Hundreds of small stone markers littered the ground in rows.  They were all flat and simply designed, their purpose being only as a marker.  In the top left corners was the grave number, and the middle held the date.  Not a one revealed more than initials, the deceased all nameless.

A single flower had been placed on the ground a couple lines over.  The smallest of signs that somebody in this damned world still cared.  Yet hope for an unknown world meant little when there was no hope for Wade and Quinn.

Feeling somebody behind her, Maggie looked up at Arturo.  Neither said a word, and she sat while he stood, both still, both in silence.

To their side, Rembrandt was stooped, writing on the stone with a marking pen.  Maggie didn’t know where he’d gotten it and didn’t care.  She just watched his hand move.  Seeing what he wrote, she gave him a slight smile.  “Wade Kathleen Wells.”

Rain would someday wash away those black lines, but for now it was only right.  Rembrandt moved to their other side.  Their friends would no longer be nameless.

Arturo nodded.  Seeing the practically unmarked graves had been extremely unsettling.  This was better.  It was right this way.

His hand paused in its motion as Rembrandt realized he didn’t know Quinn’s middle name.  There was a moment of hesitation as he saw the initials by the date... Somebody had known.  Perhaps they’d just assumed he was his double of this world.  He simply wrote “Quinn Mallory” and left it at that.

Gazing at the two graves beside each other, he gained only the faintest hint of comfort from knowing they were at least together.  Lot #218, numbers 813-7B and 814-7B.  What those numbers meant didn’t matter.  They were together.  He stood and moved to stand next to Maggie and Arturo.

Frustration that they hadn’t been able to prevent this washed over Maggie.  “Well, Quinn, I guess you got what you wanted.”  Her voice sounded odd to her own ears as it broke the spell of placid quiet.  Reaching out, she gently set a lone bullet on the new grass.  “Congratulations.”

“You know that isn’t true.”  Rembrandt spoke slowly.  Nobody had wanted this.

“He gave up.  He never had any intention of surviving.”  She turned away, yet she stopped and stood with her back to them for a minute, not facing them again.  “They died for nothing.”

Maggie then walked away, not looking back.

-----

Somebody was touching his face when Quinn came to.  Other than that, his first sensation was of feeling sick - nauseous, dizzy, and in pain.  He wanted to slip back into the comfortable embrace of unconsciousness.

"Come on, wake up," a woman's voice said.  Then his hair was pushed back from his face.

Quinn was so tempted to let himself simply pass out again, but he needed to know what was going on.  He was lying down on his stomach, and he felt terrible.  His arms were up beside his head, and he tried to lower them but found that he couldn't.  He opened his eyes and attempted to fight the blur.

"There ya go, c'mon," the voice continued.  "Ya back with us yet, Quinn?"

Quinn blinked a few times.  He couldn't see much without being able to turn over.  There was somebody with him, but he couldn't see her face since she was standing next to his bed, placing her face up out of his range of vision.  But he could see his hand.  There was some kind of band on it.  He tugged at it but found that his arm stayed firm.  He was securely strapped down.

"Where am I?" he managed to ask.

"That's better," the woman said.  She pulled a chair over and sat down, now where he could see her.  He guessed that she was at least five years older than himself.  Curly red hair framed her kind face.  "We weren't sure you were going to make it.  A lot of people are going to be relieved."

Quinn moaned and closed his eyes.  He'd been dreaming about Wade, alive and well, and wished he could slip back into that dream.

"Hey, stay with me, Quinn, okay?"

She knew his name.  "Why am I restrained?" Quinn asked her.  It wasn't like he was going anywhere.

"You put up quite a fight when we brought you in," she answered.

"Who's we?" Quinn inquired, then struggled slightly to breathe.

"I'm LeAnne."  She frowned.  "You should just rest now."

Quinn shook his head slightly.  "Who's *we*?" he asked again, ignoring how difficult it was for him to talk.

"I can't tell you that until we're certain what we're going to do with you, Quinn," LeAnne told him.

"Why am I here?"  He started having an asthma-like attack, but it passed quickly.  He wasn't in the hospital anymore and needed to know why.

"Somebody had you brought in," she answered.  "I don't know why."

Quinn started to ask something else, but she silenced him.  "Everything will be explained to you in a little while."  She pushed his hair back again, then left.

Quinn sighed and felt himself starting to drift.  He was almost asleep when he heard somebody enter his room.  Footsteps walked over to the edge of his bed, then stopped.  A hand gently touched his leg.  Quinn was shocked that he could feel it.  It was a strange numb and tingling feeling, but he did feel it.

Fingers lightly trailed up the entire length of his leg, then along his side and came to rest on his shoulder.  Then he heard a sigh.  "Please don't be passed out again, Quinn," a gentle voice said almost silently.

Quinn opened his eyes.  He could only see the waist of the person that was with him.  Whoever it was was dressed in solid black.  "Why am I here?" Quinn asked.

"I had you brought here."  The voice was very familiar now.  She sat down in the chair and looked at him.  "How do you feel, Quinn?"

"Wade?" he asked in shock.

She nodded.  "Yeah.  It's alright, I'm not a double."

He closed his eyes.  This wasn’t real.  “I’m still asleep.”

Shaking her head, Wade answered, “No.”

Opening his eyes and seeing her still there, Quinn tried to steady his breathing before continuing.  "I thought you were dead?"

"I was."

Quinn didn't understand.  He gave her a puzzled look.

Wade hesitated for a moment before partially unzipping her top.  "I'm really not supposed to mess with this."  She pulled it over her shoulder and revealed the bandage, then she pushed up her shirt to show another bandage just above her waist.  "I could show you the actual bullet holes, but I probably shouldn't remove the bandages.  Hopefully I’ll be able to wear a bikini again someday without anyone noticing the scars."

Catching Quinn’s boyish grin, she gave him a scolding look, knowing he’d just been picturing her in a swimsuit.  “Mind out of gutter, Quinn.”

Failing miserably at trying to look sheepish, his smile just grew since he knew she wasn’t buying it.  “Sorry.”

She slowly pulled her shirt back and then zipped it again, her expression becoming serious once more.  "I died... I was dead for at least several minutes.  This place saved me.”  She paused.  “But to the outside world, both you and I are still dead.”

“How?” Quinn asked, a million questions running through his mind.

Wade extended a photograph for him to see.  It was of several graves.  The one in the middle had a simple marker.  He slowly read the string of letters and numbers on the small plate.

QRM.1973-2000

His eyes trailed to the grave beside his.  That sequence began with WKW.  He closed his eyes for a moment before looking back at Wade.

“Creepy, isn’t it?”  Wade pushed the photo aside.  “Anyway, this place kinda recruited me.  They need me for a mission where I have to impersonate my double on this world.  I agreed to help them."

Quinn wasn't sure how to respond to that.  "Is this mission dangerous?"

Wade nodded.  "Most likely yes... but they’ve guaranteed my safety."

“Do you trust them?”

She tried to dodge the question.  “I just met them.”

"You don't have to do this, Wade," Quinn said.  "Just because they saved your life, that doesn't mean they own it."

"It's not that."  Wade broke eye-contact with him.  "They have advanced medical technology here.  The deal I made wasn't for me.  It was for you."

"I don't understand," Quinn responded.  "Why?  I was fine."

She looked back at him again.  "You were paralyzed."

Quinn sighed.  "I still can't move my legs, Wade."  He paused.  "Or my arms either now, for that matter."

Wade got up and undid the strap on his wrist.  "I'm sorry.  I told them not to do that."  She reached over and released his other arm also, and after a minute, she continued.  "They said the straps were to prevent you from injuring yourself.  However, I suspect that they just want to make sure you don't go anywhere."

"Then somebody has a pretty twisted sense of humor," Quinn complained.  "I can’t walk."

Wade gently caressed his face and soothed him.  "They did a surgery that should allow you to walk again in time.  You’ll get better."

"But you put yourself at risk."  He rolled onto his side so that he could see her clearly.  "I can't let you do that."

"It's my choice to make, not yours."

He was about to argue some more when he had to close his eyes in order to fight a wave of nausea.  "What's wrong with me?"

She placed her hand on his forehead, then pushed back his damp hair.  "You're still running a high fever," she explained.  "After the operation, you were in a lot of pain... delusional, fighting us.”  She paused, taking his hand and looking into his eyes.  “You didn’t even respond to me.”

He returned her gaze, staring intently at her.  “I thought you were dead.”  He blinked a few times to hold back the new tears.  “God, Wade, I don’t know what I’d do if I really lost you.”

Softly squeezing his hand, she entwined her fingers with his.  She couldn’t lose him either.  She just looked at him for a moment before continuing.  “They had to drug you pretty heavily.  Naturally, you had a reaction to whatever they gave you.”  She shook her head, then smiled slightly at him.  She was beginning to think that he was allergic to just about everything on each new world they slid to.  “You went into shock.  But you should recover quickly.  The ill-effects will pass in a day or so.  I can ask them to give you something for the pain?" she offered.

Quinn opened his mouth to reject, but then just nodded instead.  He at least needed something to help him breathe.

Wade rubbed his shoulder.  "I'll be right back."  She headed for the door.

"Hey, Wade," Quinn said before she could leave.  "Thank you."

She gave him a quick smile and nodded.  His words were simple, but his eyes relayed how grateful he was for what she'd done.

-----

An IV needle was pricking his hand when Quinn opened his eyes.  Wade was also with him again.  "What happened?"  He thought he'd just blinked.

She seemed concerned.  "You passed out, Quinn."

He knew there was more, so he simply waited for her to continue.

"I finally got them to tell me everything," she eventually said.  "I was with you when they first brought you in and a few times after, but I had to be briefed on my mission a lot of the time you were in surgery."  She paused, hesitating.  "Apparently, you almost died.”

Quinn blinked a few times, trying to focus on her.  He was so tired.

“Quinn?”  Wade rubbed his hand which she was holding.  “You still with me?”

“Hmm, what?”  He opened his eyes, not realizing that he’d ever shut them.  Why did he have so much trouble just staying awake for five minutes?  He squeezed her hand gently.  “Sorry, Wade.  I’m just having some trouble...”

She shook her head.  “No, it’s okay.  Go to sleep, Quinn.  Get some rest.”  She stroked his hair as he let his eyes slip closed again.

LeAnne entered the room and walked over to Wade.  “They need you again,” she informed her.

Wade hesitated.  “Quinn’s still running a fever.  I’d like to stay with him.”

“You best go,” LeAnne continued.  “I’ll keep an eye on him for you.”

Slowly, Wade stood.  She bent down and lightly kissed Quinn’s forehead.  He was already asleep.

“Come on,” prodded LeAnne.  “Your boy's gonna be just fine.”

Nodding, Wade gave Quinn one last look and then left.

-----

As she slipped into the empty chair, Wade received a few upset looks.  She knew they didn’t like it when she delayed their plans.  “Sorry,” she quickly mumbled, opening the folder that was on the table and skimming its contents.

When she lifted her eyes from the pages, the gray-haired man she only knew as ‘Mark’ was still watching her.  “Is there a problem?” she asked him.

“Retrieving the stolen data disk is your main objective,” Mark began, moving straight to the point.  Wade knew he was upset with the amount of time she’d been spending with Quinn, but nobody mentioned it, so she simply listened as the disk was described.

“The files can’t be copied,” Mark was saying.  Wade flipped the pages of her report.  They’d been over this before, and she was getting bored.  “Verify that it’s the original.  Your secondary task will be to gain any information on their decryption methods...

“Miss Wells?”  Her head popped back up at the sound of her name, and she realized that Mark had trailed off and was now looking intently at her.  Wade put down her pen and stopped doodling.

The other occupants of the table were all gazing at her as well.  “I’m listening,” she defended herself.

The pen rolled across the table and Mark caught it as it fell off the edge.  He clicked it once before placing it back in the cup.  “These details are important.”

Wade sighed.  “Okay, fine, I’ll read this thingy.”  She tapped the folder.  “But I know the drill.  Get in, get the disk, give the disk to you.  Right?  So who you need to be briefing here are these guys.”  She waved her hand in the direction of the four pairs of eyes which were staring at her.

“Just make sure they know how to protect me if anything goes wrong.”  She stood and pushed in her chair.  “Are we done here?”

Mark nodded.  “Very well.”  He motioned to the man at Wade’s side.  “Escort Miss Wells to her room.”

“I’d rather--“

Holding up his hand, he cut her protest short.  “You will stay in your room for the remainder of the night.”  It wasn’t a suggestion.  “In the morning, we will discus this further.  And after you are prepared to my satisfaction for this mission, you will be able to see your friend.  Is that clear?”

Wade could only nod in reply.  She was really starting to hate this place.

-----

Late that night, Wade slipped out of bed.  She carefully covered the security camera in her room, then slowly exited into the hall.  There were no people in sight, so she made her way to the main room.

Finding a computer, she decided to see what she could find out about her new friends.  It only took her a few minutes to get past the first passwords, and she began scrolling through the files.  Something about this place just didn’t sit right with her.

The search for information on herself was cut short as she came across what appeared to be a folder on Quinn.  She instantly clicked it open.  Inside were several documents.

Opening one, she found it to be a medical file.  A quick skim of the information puzzled her.  The surgery had been completely successful.  Recovery was supposed to be immediate and a hundred percent.

She scrolled down, trying to speed read anything important.  As she was scanning something about the drugs they were giving him, a noise made her eyes leave the screen.  Not wanting to get caught, she flicked off the computer and left the room.

-----

Sleep slowly faded into reality as Quinn noticed somebody was gently shaking his shoulder.  He blinked open his eyes.  “Wade?”

“Yeah, shhh...”  She flicked on a small light, causing Quinn to flinch and close his eyes again.  “Sorry.”

He waited to adjust to the dim light before looking at her.  “What’s going on?”

Wade was glancing around the room.  “Do they have cameras in here?”

Shaking his head, and instantly regretting it, Quinn replied, “I don’t think so.  Why?”

“I think they might purposefully be making you sick, Quinn,” Wade informed him of her suspicions.

“How come?”

Trying to help him sit, she answered, “I don’t know.  But I think you’re supposed to be fine.”

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed.  “I’m not fine, Wade.”

“I think you are.”  She tugged on his hand slightly, wanting him fully awake.

The look he gave her was exasperated, but she couldn’t tell if he was sad or angry.  “LeAnne tried to help me walk today,” he told her.  “I fell on my ass, okay?”

Her expression was apologetic, yet she continued.  “They’re drugging you, Quinn.  I saw their computer.  They’re giving you something that you’re having a severe reaction to, and they’re still giving it to you.”

Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes.  “I feel like shit.”  He paused.  “Besides, drugs have nothing to do with me not even being able to stand up.”

Frustrated, Wade hit his leg.

“Ouch, Wade!”  He glared at her.

She grinned.  “You felt that, right?”  She held up her hand beside his foot.  “If you’re mad, kick me.”

“Wade...”

There was no way she was backing down on this.  “Humor me, alright?”

Finally doing as instructed, he kicked her hand.  The motion gave him no difficulty at all.  “What the hell?”  Wade simply arched an eyebrow at him.

As she offered him her hand and a new hope, this time Quinn didn’t hesitate to accept Wade’s help.  “Come on,” she urged softly, assisting him in sliding his legs over the side of the bed.

He put his arm around her.  “If I fall on my butt, you’re going down with me.”

“Deal.”  She smiled, waiting for him to stand.  But when he did, he only lasted two seconds before falling.

Wade sat on the floor beside him, his arm still draped over her shoulder.  “What’s wrong?”

Quinn turned his head away from her.  “A bullet hit my spine, that’s what’s wrong.”

Behind the anger, Wade sensed his fear.  She turned him back toward her.  “We’re not giving up that easy.”  She pushed his hair from his face.  “Now what went wrong?”

This time Quinn actually thought about it.  “I was dizzy.  Nauseous, disoriented...  But I didn’t...”  He put his face in his hands.  “Oh god, I think you’re right.”

What he was describing could be caused by drugs.  Wade put her arm around him.  “So we go real slow, and we try again.”

“I don’t know if I can.”  He was exhausted from their last attempt.

“I’ll be right here with you, Quinn.”  She gave him a reassuring smile that he was hopeless to fight.

He just looked at her for a long while before relenting.  “Okay.”

Their next try started out much slower, but Quinn finally got to his feet.  When he almost fell, Wade kept him up.  He didn’t know what he’d do without her support.  He felt like giving up, but she held him.  Minutes dragged on like that.

“You alright?” she eventually inquired.  Quinn’s breathing was fast, and she knew how weak he was.

He kept leaning against her, waiting for the world to stop spinning around him.  “Yeah, I think so.”  He paused a minute, then let her go, only hanging on to her hand.

“I guess now the question is why they’re hurting you,” Wade said after they’d remained in silence a moment.

“But they also helped me,” added Quinn.

Wade frowned deeply.  It didn’t make sense.  “Well, after this mission, they have to let us go.  I want out.”

“When is it?”

She shrugged.  “Tomorrow afternoon probably.”

Gently, Quinn reached up and stroked her cheek.  “Don’t do this, Wade,” he pleaded softly, not liking the idea of her going on a mission for people they couldn’t trust.  “Not for me.”

Leaning into his touch, she allowed her gaze to meet his eyes.  He was staring intently at her, a mix of emotions reflected his concern in that single look.  He didn’t want to let her go.  “I’ll be fine,” she tried to convince him, as well as herself.

He subconsciously moved closer to her, then struggled a bit against the dizziness.  “You have to come back to me.”

His fingers continued to caress the side of her face.  She blinked and shifted her view away from his eyes, but he tilted her chin towards him again.  “Quinn...”

Catching her gaze once more, he held it this time, neither one of them able to look away.  “I’d die if I ever lost you again, Wade.”  She meant everything to him.  He’d never been so close to anyone before in his life.

She could feel his breath as he spoke.  As she began to reply, no words ever came as his lips met hers.  Closing her eyes, she let him kiss her.  She allowed herself to returned the kiss and it became more passionate.

Quinn pulled her close for a long while before finally breaking away.  “Just be careful, okay?”

“I will.”  She bit her lower lip, absently missing the feel of his kiss.

Awkwardly, he stepped back, trying to judge her reaction to his kiss.  It wasn’t like any of the times he’d kissed her before, and he wanted her to know that.  “When this is over, we need to talk.”

“We do?”  She looked skeptically at him.

They always seemed to take comfort in each other when they were in danger.  After the slide, it was usually forgotten.  Wade had started to think of it as vortex amnesia.  Hadn’t they decided that a relationship while sliding wasn’t a good idea?

“I want to start something with you, Wade,” he confessed.  “I know it’s strange with sliding and all, but I really care about you.  I just need you to know that.”

“We might have missed the slide, Quinn.”  Her statement was simple.  He was as aware of that as she was.

“We won’t miss it,” he promised her.  His mind chose that moment to tell him that he couldn’t keep standing much longer, but he ignored the need to lie down.  This was important.

She cast him one of her looks.  “And even if we don’t?  When this world is behind us, this moment will be also.  That’s always how it is.”

“That was your choice, not mine.”

He was right.  Wade had been the one to break it off, but she’d had good reason.  “You had a girl on every world, Quinn.  Where did that leave me?  You always had to play hero to some new chick every week.”

When he broke eye-contact, she knew he had no choice but to admit it.  “I’m sorry,” he finally told her.  “I’d never been noticed on our world.  I just...  I didn’t think you cared.”

“How could I care?” she snapped at him.  “We were just buds, right?”

That comment was a slap in the face to Quinn as his own words came back to bite him.  He vaguely remembered saying that kissing her would be like incest.  “Wade...”

Shaking her head, she added, “Maybe it was you who wasn’t noticing things, Quinn.”

He started to protest, or perhaps apologize.  He wasn’t certain as he suddenly had to catch the edge of the nearby table in order to steady himself as a fresh wave of dizziness hit.  There was something wrong with him, but he couldn’t let this conversation end here.  Not again.  “Wade, I...”

Taking a step back towards him, Wade placed her hand on his arm.  “Quinn?”  She thought he was having difficulty breathing again.

“Just felt a little strange for a second...” he mumbled before collapsing.

-----

When he blinked open his eyes, Wade was staring down at him.  His head was resting in her lap and she was stroking his hair.  Quinn decided that he must have blacked out again.

“I’ve already called for help,” she told him gently, concern apparent in her voice.

He tried to speak but found that he was unable to do so.  He couldn’t even move.  It was an effort just to breathe.

Wade kept holding him, caressing his face as he struggled for air.  She didn’t know what else to do.  “You have a bad way of trying to win an argument, Quinn,” she scolded, attempting to hide her worry.  “This is cheating, you know.”

He gave her a slight smile before his face contorted with pain.  He wondered what was happening to him and recalled being drugged right before he’d fallen asleep.  Wade must have been right about them purposefully making him sick.  There was no other explanation for this.

Wade tore her eyes away from him as Mark and two others entered.  “Why are you doing this to him?”

“Quite the little hacker, now aren’t you?”

Wade simply glared at him, not caring that she’d been found out.

“Yes, we’ve been keeping him sedated.  This was done in case you got...”  He looked at how she was holding Quinn, his disapproval obvious.  “...sidetracked,” he finished.

Anger flared inside Wade.  “This isn’t just sedation.”  It was quite clear that Quinn was in serious pain, and no light sedative would cause that.  “You’re hurting him.”

Mark motioned for the other two to help her with Quinn.  “Try to keep him from going into seizures this time.”

A uncontrollable shudder crept through Wade’s body as one of the men injected Quinn with something and he fell limp.  They then lifted him back onto the bed.

Turning, Wade glared at Mark once more.  “He had this reaction before?”  She couldn’t believe that.  Yet it sounded like this was nothing new, and it had apparently gotten so bad as to cause Quinn to have a seizure once already.  “You knew this would happen and you didn’t do anything?  You just let this happen?!”

Mark nodded.  “Once, yes.”  He pulled Wade back as an IV was hooked up to Quinn.  “However, he was unconscious most of the time.”

Looking at Quinn who was passed out, it didn’t comfort Wade much to know that he’d been asleep during the experience before.  It should never have happened at all.  “What the hell kind of game are you people playing?”

“Complete the mission,” Mark stated.  “Then your friend will be taken care of.”

Wade moved back to Quinn’s side and took his hand.  They clearly had no intention of helping him unless she played by their rules.  But it would be almost a day before all this was over.  She prayed she was doing the right thing as she pinched the IV line, putting a kink in it.  He’d hopefully be better off without their drugs.

Mark turned to leave.  “Take Miss Wells to her room,” he told the two men as he exited.  “And lock her door this time,” he added.

-----

Wade flopped back on her bed and stared at the ceiling.  She’d been given another folder to study, but they hadn’t let her out of her room since the night before.  Her gaze moved to the security camera.  “Can I at least get a TV or a radio in here?”

There was no reply as usual, and she flipped the camera her finger.  At that moment, the door opened.  “Bored, are we, Miss Wells?”

Hopping off the bed, she strolled over to Mark.  “How’s Quinn?”

“Your boyfriend is fine.”  He handed her a stack of clothes.  “Put these on, and be ready to leave.”

Wade stared at his back as he left, then she looked at the outfit she’d been provided.  Black leather pants and a top that was probably a couple sizes too small.  “I’m not wearing this!” she shouted at the closed door.

After just standing there for a minute, Wade pushed a chair over to wall and climbed up on it.  She yanked the camera cord free, then began to change.

-----

It took him a long time after waking before Quinn was finally able to push through the haze caused by the drugs.  He slowly sat up, then decided to remove his IV.  He spotted the kink in the line and silently thanked Wade.

The sun was low outside the window, setting, so Quinn knew he’d been out for quite a while.  Hopefully not too long.  He carefully got out of bed, still having difficulty standing, but the dizziness wasn’t as bad this time.

Needing to find out what had happened to Wade, he exited the room.  The building probably had several wings, Quinn figured.  He wished he had some clue of where to go.  He walked down the hall, keeping one hand to the wall to steady himself.

As he turned a corner, he spotted LeAnne.  He instantly ducked back into the hall from which he’d come, planning to hide in one of the rooms.  His attempt failed as he moved too quickly and stumbled, falling to his knees.

Luckily, LeAnne went the other direction and never saw him.  Quinn slammed his fist against the wall before pulling himself back up.  Struggling from the simple effort it took just to walk was incredibly frustrating.

Dodging people proved to be his hardest task as he made his way out of the medical wing and into what appeared to be a storage area.  There was a computer, and Quinn smiled as he checked for the phone cord and found it.  All the computers were probably networked.

He found a chair and sat down, then booted up the computer.  He could probably navigate his way through their system with some work, but he couldn’t help but wish that Wade was there.  She was always better at this stuff than he was, even through he tried never to let her know that.  He hoped she was okay.

-----

Mark opened the van door and handed Wade a set of keys.  She climbed out and walked over to the sports car.  She’d be on her own from this point.

“Since you seem to have such a problem with big brother, I thought I’d inform you that once on the grounds, you will be under constant surveillance.”  He gave her a harsh look.  “Please do not disable any of the cameras since you supposedly own them.”

She returned his look.  “I know the plan.”  She unlocked the driver’s side door of the car and opened it.  “I’ll see you later.”

Once she’d gotten into the car, she flicked on the radio and tuned it to an alternative station.  There was a tap on her window and she rolled it down.  “Just getting into character,” she explained to Mark, slipping on a pair of sunglasses to shield her eyes from the glare of the setting sun.  She gave him a quick smile as he turned away.

Wade instantly cranked up the volume and was satisfied to see Mark pause in his step.  Before he had a chance to turn back around, Wade shifted into drive and quickly excellerated to above the speed limit.

It would be so easy to just leave, yet she knew she couldn’t do that as long as they had Quinn.  She had no choice but to play their game.

-----

It only took Quinn fifteen minutes to get the information he wanted, and he wasn’t at all happy with what he’d found.  Wade had already left, but she’d been right not to trust these people.  They had been purposefully making him sick.  He discovered that was their way of keeping him out of the picture while setting Wade up for a suicide mission.

She was supposed to fail.  The disk had been a plant all along.  It contained false information, and they’d let it be stolen, sending Wade to retrieve it in order to make it look real.

Quinn figured he was lucky he’d left his room when he had.  Now that Wade’s mission was in play, they no longer needed him.  Quinn ran his hands through his hair, pondering what his next move should be.

He had to run, there was no choice in that.  He wasn’t safe with the information he knew.  But he still had to go after Wade, and to save her, he’d need help.

-----

Getting inside the mansion had been all too easy.  Nobody had even suspected that Wade wasn’t her double.  She went up stairs and decided to find her room.  This place was beautiful.  Maybe stealing files wasn’t such a bad career move.

Wade shook her head.  That’s what she was doing, and she didn’t have her own body guards and a cool car.  Wade decided that must go with the illegal side of things.

Upon reaching the master bedroom, Wade let herself in, pleased that she hadn’t gotten lost.  Now she just needed to locate that disk.  She headed for her double’s desk but suddenly stopped in her tracks.  Why did she feel as though she were being watched?

Turning, she spotted the dog which approached from the other section of the room.  If anyone could see through her false identity, it would be a dog.  Damn it, why hadn’t they warned her about this?

“Good boy,” she whispered, holding out her hands.  “Please don’t bark.”

The dog took a few steps closer.  He looked like Henry.  He cautiously sniffed her hands.  Then he wagged his tail.

His acceptance of her surprised Wade, but she smiled and scratched his ears.  “Good dog...” she mumbled, resuming her search of the room.  If she was herself, where would she hide something?  That thought made her laugh.

She ran her fingers along the underside of the desk, checking for a secret compartment.  Nothing.  Perhaps under the mattress, or in a shoe box?  No.  This room was completely unfamiliar.  Her double was probably nothing like her.

Sighing, she felt hopeless.  She was way out of her league.  Her double obviously walked on the wild side.  The artwork was all abstract and her clothes said ‘tie me up and spank me.’  Frustrated, she flopped down onto the large bed and looked at herself in the mirror on the ceiling.  Definitely hopeless.

Then she noticed something very out of place.  She sat up and looked across the room.  In one of the chairs sat an old teddy bear.  Mugsy.  Wade had once had that same exact toy.

She went to the chair and picked up the stuffed animal.  Surely this was way too cliché?  Turning it over, she spotted the zipper in its back.  After unzipping it, Wade removed the contents and spread them on the bed.  Folded documents, a necklace, a roll of bills (all hundreds), and a disk.

Wade picked up the disk.  Piece of cake.  She was home free.

“Looking for something, Kate?”

Or not.  She glanced over at the door to see a man standing there.  “Ryan?”  She was unable to hide the shock in her voice.

He took the disk from her, then grabbed her wrist.  “Who are you?”

“Who do you think I am?”

Ryan pulled her from the room and dragged her with him down the stairs, the dog following behind them.  When they reached the main room, they were surrounded by guards.  Wade wondered if Ryan could feel her pulse quicken.

“Come here, puppy,” Wade’s own voice said and she spotted her double.

The dog remained sitting at Wade’s ankles, but as Ryan walked over to Kathleen, he followed.  Wade wondered which one she’d actually been calling.

Kathleen took a step forward and studied Wade.  “They’re getting better,” she remarked.  “But still not good enough.”

-----

Maggie flipped the timer over in her hands.  “Three hours.”

Rembrandt looked across the table at her.  She hadn’t eaten anything for dinner, but he hadn’t been very hungry himself.  “We’re all agreed that we’re going, right?”

Placing his cup back on the table, Arturo nodded.  “We’ll still have the coordinates.  If we ever find your world, we can return.”

“It just doesn’t feel right.”  Maggie stood, pushing in her chair before starting to pace.  She been restless for the past few days.  Counting down to the slide made her feel guilty.  “It’s like we’re abandoning them.”

“There’s nothing we can do,” replied Rembrandt.

“I know.”  Maggie sat back down.  She knew this was harder on Remmy than her or the professor.  She needed him to justify their leaving.  She wanted to promise him like Max had that they’d come back, yet part of her knew she never would.  This world held nothing but despair.  Once gone, she wasn’t planning on ever looking back.

A knock on the door made them all glance up, but none of them moved to answer it.  After a minute, Maggie got up again and went to open the door.  When she did, she just stared until Arturo and Rembrandt came over to see what was going on.

“Hi guys.”  Quinn stood in the hall, waiting for them to let him inside.

Rembrandt gaped at him for a moment.  “You’re supposed to be dead.”

“Isn’t the first time.”  Quinn smiled at his friend and found himself enveloped in a hug.

Rembrandt patted him on the shoulder before letting him go.  “Good to see you, Q-ball.”

Arturo was the first to notice that Quinn was exhausted, and he decided to be the voice of reason in this little reunion.  “Do come in and sit down, my boy,” he instructed.

Gratefully accepting the offer, Quinn practically collapsed into a chair.

Maggie perched herself on the edge of the table.  “You look like shit, Quinn.”

He just stared at her.  Upon finding out that he wasn’t dead, those were her first words to him?  Same old Maggie.  “Thanks.”

Rembrandt was watching him carefully now.  There was something he needed to ask.  “So Wade would be...”

“Alive but in a hazardous situation requiring our assistance,” Quinn finished.

“Same as usual then,” Arturo stated as he, Rembrandt, and Maggie retrieved their jackets.

Rembrandt tossed a coat to Quinn.  “Let’s go.”

“Right behind you,” mumbled Quinn, reluctantly leaving his chair before even getting a chance to blink.

Rembrandt put his arm around Quinn, supporting him as they left without a plan to go help Wade before time for the slide.  Things were definitely back to normal.

-----

It was almost an hour before Ryan entered the room in which Wade was being held prisoner.  The dog followed happily beside him.  “Good news,” Ryan told her.  “Kathleen has decided not to kill you until we know who sent you.”

Wade didn’t move from where she sat on the floor with her arms crossed over her knees.  She just glared at him.

He shoved a plate of food in her direction.  “Hungry?”

“Aren’t you traditionally supposed to torture me now, not feed me?”  She continued her defiant stare.

He raised his eyebrows at her.  “It would be rude to torture you on an empty stomach.”

“I’ll pass.”  She slid the plate over to the dog.  “There you go, Henry.”

Stooping down, Ryan grabbed her chin.  “How did you know his name?” he demanded.

“What?”

He released her but never took his eyes off her.  “My dog.  How did you know his name?”

His dog?  Wade didn’t know how to respond to that.  “Because I named him,” she finally blurted.

“Shit.”  Ryan kicked the plate across the small room.  The noise startled Henry and he moved over to Wade.

That dog didn’t like anyone but him.  He laughed.  “Wade?”  She nodded.  “Of course,” he said in annoyance.  “Damn it, you are a slider.”

This time Wade did stand.  “How do you know about sliding?”

“I hitched a ride off my world once.”  He leaned against the wall and sighed.

“Lottery winner?” Wade dared to ask.

“Yeah.”  He frowned.  “How’s this for irony?  I suspected you were a double all along, but I never thought that...”

Odds were they’d just had a similar past, so Wade decided not to say anything more about it.  If he thought she was his friend, he might help her.  “Small multiverse.”  She shrugged.

Looking over at her, he asked, “What are you doing here, Wade?”

“They saved my life.”  She looked back at him.

“Who?”

She shook her head.  “Government, FBI or something.  I don’t know.”  She hoped he’d believe her.

He paced the room a few times without saying anything, so she finally did.  “And you?  Why are you here, Ryan?”

The pacing stopped.  “I love her.”  He didn’t need to say who.

“You’re whipped,” commented Wade.  He gave her an odd look.  “Well, you are.”

“I know.  But at least she’d have me.”  He smiled slightly, then frowned.  “How’s Quinn’s shoulder?”

“You saved his life,” Wade said softly, chancing to catch his eye.

He just looked at her for a while before breaking eye-contact.  He seemed almost sorry to do it.  “Sliding saved mine, so we’re even.”

-----

“So how are we supposed to find Wade?” Maggie asked.

“I borrowed this.”  Quinn held up a small device.

She grinned at him.  Somebody had put a tracker on Wade and he was homing in on it.

Arturo wasn’t certain he liked this plan.  The tracking system wasn’t all Quinn had borrowed.  Before he’d put on his jacket, he and Rembrandt had both noticed the gun which Quinn was carrying.

Rembrandt seemed to sense the professor’s concern, but he didn’t mention it.  He just hoped they wouldn’t end up in a fire fight like so many times before.  He hated how they’d all gotten comfortable with that.  He could still remember the world where Quinn had first been forced to use a gun.  That was also the first time Rembrandt had ever seen him get drunk.

-----

“You still owe me one.”  Wade stopped Ryan as he opened the door to leave.

“And how do you figure that, Wade?” he asked over his shoulder.

She glanced down at Henry who was licking her hand.  She patted his head before looking back at Ryan.  “You stole my dog.”

Sighing deeply, he looked from her to Henry then back at Wade again.  “Alright,” he relented, holding out his hand to her.  “Come on.”

-----

When they reached the gate at the edge of Kathleen’s property, Ryan stopped.  “You’re on your own from here, Wade.”

Nodding, she replied, “I know.  Thank you.”

He gave her an apologetic look.  “I guess you also know that I have to do this.”  He reached over to a panel on the gate and activated the alarm.  “I suggest you run.”

“One thing first.”  Wade caught him completely off guard with her right hook and she successfully knocked him unconscious.  She rubbed her fist.  That really hurt.  How Maggie managed to do it so often, she’d never know.

She bent over Ryan and searched his pockets, pleased to discovered that he still had the disk.  “Now we’re even.”

-----

Wade spotted the black van as she approached the place where she was supposed to meet Mark.  He got out of the vehicle and walked over to her.  “You’re late.”

“I had to walk.”

“You retrieved the disk?”

“Yes.”  She removed it for her pocket and handed it to him.

He slipped it into his vest.  “That’s unfortunate.”  He drew his gun and aimed it at her.

Wade glanced around.  They were alone at night and away from main streets.  This didn’t look good.  “I did what you asked.”

“Yes, you did.”  His finger moved on the trigger and she closed her eyes.  Then there was a gunshot.

Slowly opening her eyes, Wade realized that she was surprisingly not dead.  Mark, however, was lying on the ground.

“Is he dead?”  Wade turned towards the voice and spotted Quinn and the others.  Quinn had a gun still trained on Mark.

Maggie walked over to Mark.  “He’s still alive, barely.”  Quinn’s shot had been almost perfect and from a fairly long distance.  She normally would have been proud, if Quinn’s excellent aim wasn’t somewhat disturbing.

Quinn stooped over Mark and checked his pockets.  He tossed the van keys to Maggie.

Wade stared at his body.  “I don’t understand.”

“You didn’t fail.”  Quinn shoved the gun in his waistband before grabbing her hand.  “Come on, we have to go!”

He opened the van door for Wade.  “How’d you...” she started to ask as she climbed in.

“I can’t let anything happen to you, Wade.  Never again.”  He looked back at Mark, then left the van and went back to the man’s side.  Finding his cell phone, Quinn dialed 911.

Arturo cast him a reassuring smile.  “We should go now, my boy.”

Nodding, Quinn slowly left Mark’s side and walked with Arturo back to the van.

-----

They ditched the van in an old warehouse district and decided to keep going on foot.  “How long before the slide?” asked Wade.

Maggie checked the timer.  “About an hour.”

Pausing, Quinn leaned against the ally wall.  “They’ll find us by then.  And both Wade and I are breaches of security.  They’ll kill us on sight.”  He looked over at Wade who’d also stopped to catch her breath.  “I’m sorry, Wade, but um... you’re gonna need to take off your clothes.”

“Excuse me?”

He extended the tracker for her to see.  “They must have tagged you somewhere.”

Exasperated, Wade sighed.  “Damn them.  And I was just getting used to the feel of leather.”

“That is a cute outfit,” commented Maggie.

“Ms. Beckett, that get-up is not ‘cute.’  In fact, I should think it requires a warning label: contents under pressure.”

As Wade turned a bright shade of pink, Rembrandt was hesitant to break up their banter.  He’d missed this, but he tapped his watch.  “They are still following us, you know.”

“Yeah yeah,” mumbled Wade as she started to strip and then glared at Quinn and Rembrandt, both of whom were still watching her.  “Guys, do ya mind?”

“Not at all.”  Quinn grinned.

“Mr. Mallory,” Arturo scolded, “do at least pretend to be a gentleman.”

Quinn held his hand in front of Rembrandt’s eyes.  “Better?”

“Quinn!” Wade practically shouted.

“Okay, okay...”  He and Rembrandt both turned around.  “But you do realize that you have nothing to change into, right?  So you’ll still be naked when we turn back around, and for the rest of this slide actually.”

Removing his jacket, Arturo held it out behind him for Wade to take.  “Thank you, Professor.”

Maggie sighed.  She’d been enjoying watching the guys tease Wade.  Maggie never could imagine how she’d survived being the only girl in the group for so long.  She really didn’t give Wade enough credit for that.

Zipping up Arturo’s jacket, Wade started their conversation again.  “So if I was being set up this whole time, why did they ever help you, Quinn?”

“They needed me to make sure you’d do whatever they wanted.  I don’t know, maybe if I’d played dumb, they would have let me go.”

“Well then, thank you for not being dumb, Quinn.”

As she strode past the two, picking up the pace once more, Maggie added, “Jury’s still out on that one.”

-----

Fifteen minutes later, they were all hiding in an abandoned warehouse.  They’d decided that lying low until the slide was the best course of action, or rather lack thereof.

Quinn was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall.  Wade was also sitting on the floor and leaning against a wall.  She was watching Quinn as he sat on the floor and leaned against the wall.  Okay, so this was boring as hell.  She was tempted to go talk to him.

The conversation about their relationship had ended with them fighting again.  She wondered if they’d ever get things sorted out between them.  She also wondered if he’d meant what he’d said, or if everything would be forgotten once more with the slide.

Quinn noticed Wade staring at him.  She probably thought he was a real jerk.  He still couldn’t believe he’d passed out in the middle of their conversation.  There was always some excuse for them not talking.

Past kisses had been easily written off as New Years or the heat of the moment.  It was becoming habit.  Kiss Wade, then make a lame joke or run off to save the world from some impending doom.  He sighed.  It did seam as though he were avoiding her.  Well, not this time.

He got up and walked over to her.  She raised her eyebrows at him questioningly, then waited.

“Alright, I’m just going to say this,” Quinn told her.  “When I’m done, you can agree with me or slap me or whatever.  We just need to get this out in the open and then deal with it.  I know we have a date for making out whenever the Earth is about to be destroyed, but maybe we could change that to like Saturday nights or something?”

Wade couldn’t help but smile at the way he’d so elegantly put that.  Had he just asked her to go steady?

“Hey guys!”  Maggie’s call from across the large room interrupted them.

“WHAT?” they both shouted in unison.

Maggie stopped in her tracks.  The two of them looked ready to bite her head off.  She held out the tracker which she’d been tinkering with.  “Is this thing supposed to still be flashing?”

“What?” Quinn asked again.  He walked over and looked at it.  “The signal is still active.”

Pushing herself up, Wade moved to join them.  “That’s not possible.”  She paused.  “Wait, they gave me a shot.  You don’t think that...”

“Let me see,” Quinn requested.

Wade pulled the jacket sleeve over her shoulder and removed the small band-aid.  There was a dark spot under the skin.  “You think that’s it?”

“Has to be.”  Quinn took a closer look, then turned to Arturo.  He and Rembrandt had both already figured out what was going on.  “What do you think, Professor?”

The chip didn’t seem to be very deep.  “Either we keep running, or we can attempt to remove it.”

Noticing them all looking at her, Wade quickly made her choice.  “Get the damned thing out already.”

Arturo nodded.  “Mr. Brown, I’ll require the use of your pocket knife.”

While Rembrandt passed it to him, Maggie fished out her lighter.  Wade flinched as they ran the blade through the flame to sterilize it.  This was going to hurt like bloody hell.

Quinn put his arm around her.  She took his hand.  “Let’s just get this done, okay?”

“Very well, Miss Wells,” said Arturo.

Tightening his hold on her, Quinn placed his other hand on Wade’s shoulder.  She knew that he was bracing her.  Closing her eyes, she buried her face in his shirt.  She almost cried as she felt the cut, but Quinn kept her still.

Feeling Wade’s sharp gasp as Arturo removed the small chip, Quinn tensed.  He hated having to keep her from pulling away from the pain.  It was necessary that they hurt her.  She’d be worse off if she were still being tracked.

“You okay, sweetheart?” Rembrandt asked when they finished.

Still trembling a bit, Wade replied, “Yeah, it’s not that bad.”

Seeing the blood that trickled down her arm, Quinn placed his hand over the cut, applying a slight pressure to stop the bleeding.  Wade leaned back against him again.  He kissed her hair before resting his cheek against her head.

Maggie walked to the other side of the room and Arturo and Rembrandt followed her.  “Something’s up between those two.”

Rembrandt smiled.  “It’s about time.”

Glancing back over at the couple, Maggie disagreed.  “If you ask me, sliding should follow military regulations.  I don’t see anything good coming from this.”

“They’re happy,” remarked Arturo.  “Leave it at that.”

“Yeah, we’ve got other things to worry about,” added Rembrandt who was standing beside the window.  A black van had just parked on the street below.

Also spotting the van, Maggie grabbed the timer off the table and shoved it into her pocket.  “Time to go; we’ve got company!”

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”  Wade looked at Quinn.  “Did anyone try changing the frequency on--“

“We destroyed the chip thingy,” Maggie said.  “The signal is dead.  They’re not still tracking you, Wade.”

“She didn’t mean her.”  Quinn ran his hands through his hair as he glanced at Wade.  “It’s me.”

He quickly removed his jacket then ripped the sleeve of his shirt.  “We don’t have time for this.  You guys take the fire escape and go out the back.  I’ll stay here.  I’m too tired to run anymore anyway.”

“We’re not leaving you behind,” argued Wade.  “Besides, it’s Saturday, so you’re required to spend tonight with me.”

Quinn almost smiled at that.  He nodded and they all started running.

They made it down the fire escape and got a couple blocks without any trouble.  “They must have sent a small team,” commented Quinn, already out of breath.  “Or we’d be dead already.”

Noticing that Quinn was fading fast, Rembrandt pulled his friend’s arm over his shoulders and supported him as they kept moving, but they didn’t get very far before Quinn collapsed.

“Quinn, we have to keep going,” insisted Maggie, helping Rembrandt pull him back up.  He looked about ready to pass out.

Quinn knew he was just slowing them down.  “You can still leave me.”

“First rule of sliding, Q-ball, we never split up.”

“I thought that one was never slide early.”

“Alright,” Rembrandt relented.  “Rule two then.”

“With them still tracking me, we don’t have a chance.”  Quinn moved his gaze to Arturo.

As he got out the knife, Wade turned away.  There wouldn’t be time to even sterilize it, and she didn’t want to watch.

It only took a minute this time, and Quinn was bleeding considerably more than Wade had from having to remove to chip so fast.  He tried to ignore the blood.  “We still need to move.”

-----

They’d managed to make a fairly good distance before Quinn had passed out.  Deciding there was no chance of being found now that they weren’t being tracked, they’d sought shelter.  They were done running.

Maggie walked over to where Wade was sitting beside Quinn.  “Slide’s in ten minutes.  Should we try to wake him?”

“No.”  Wade shook her head.  They were finally safe, and they’d be on a new world soon enough.  There was no need to wake Quinn just yet.  She gently stroked his hair.  “Let him sleep.”
 

THE END