Dusk fell on Golden Gate Park with a peacefulness one usually finds only in a postcard.  Indeed the landscape was picture perfect, creating an illusion of timeless beauty.  Almost as though the world had decided to freeze time before that peace could be shattered forever.

As it was a moment later by a swirling blue vortex that appeared from nowhere and unceremoniously deposited five travelers into a heap at the base of the Lincoln statue.

“Alright!  That does it!  I am never, repeat *never,* entering the vortex first again!” came the indignant voice of Professor Max Arturo from the bottom of the pile.

“Now you know why I always wait before entering,” Remmy remarked with a slight grin.  “So, how long we on this world, anyhow?”

“Ooof.  Looks to be about seven days and change,” Logan said as she dusted herself off, trying to ignore the pained glances the others shot in her direction.  It wasn’t easy.  Logan knew that her very presence here served only to remind them of the friend they’d lost.  And her previous attempts to kill them didn’t make matters any easier.  Logan had reformed since then, and even saved their lives, but that didn’t change things much.

Wade held her annoyed look a moment or so longer than the others, and it seemed as though she was going to snap back at Logan.  But then, almost as quickly, the look faded and she tried to act as though things were normal again, keeping in the routine they’d had for the past five years.  “Well, everything looks fairly normal.  Do you think maybe we’re home, Remmy?”

Rembrandt looked at her in surprise, trying to reconcile the image of Wade he saw now with the Wade he’d found earlier that morning, crying in the rain.  When they slid shortly thereafter, she’d suddenly seemed fine, and he’d not noticed anything unusual during their short visit to the world they just left, but the quick turnaround bothered him.  It just didn’t seem natural.

Still, Remmy was willing to play along with it.  “I don’t know, girl,” he replied casually, “but we’ve got over a week to figure it out.”

“Wow,” remarked Logan abruptly, “when are you guys gonna give it up?  I mean, haven’t you figured out yet that your world doesn’t exist anymore?  Get over it.”

Anger flashed briefly in Wade’s eyes.  “Excuse me?”

Logan sighed.  “You lost your tether, babe,” she explained.  “Snip.  While you’ve been gone, your world has split a thousand times.  Without knowing your home coordinates, you’ve lost the one path it would have followed had you never left.  I mean, you might be able to scan your photon trail or something, but we're talking science fiction now.”

“Yeah, well, before we left our world, the idea of parallel worlds was sci-fi  too.  There’s still a chance,” Wade said stubbornly.

Waving her hand in the air, Logan dismissed it.  “Whatever.  It’s your life.  Keep searching for a world that only half of you belong to anyway.  And even if you find it, you might be splitters.”

Maggie decided to enter the conversation.  “What exactly is a splitter?”

“Either Quinn is significantly less intelligent than I thought, or he was seriously holding out on you all.”

At that, Wade spun and got right up in Logan’s face.  “If it was important, Quinn *would* have let us know!”

Logan shoved her away.  “When you’re in another dimension and it breaks into two because somebody had Fruit Loops instead of their usual Corn Flakes, you’re now two groups, and guess what? Only one set of sliders belongs to your Earth Prime.  The others were born at the time of the split, and their trails will lead straight back to that world, not wherever they call home.  That means there’re infinite yous out there, all looking for home sweet home.  You could be dupes, maybe you’re not, but there could even be a set of you that’s already found your home, and they’re living in your house with your family and petting your puppy dog.  Want me to calculate those odds for you?”

“This is all merely theory, Miss St. Clair,” Arturo replied, trying to lighten the tense situation.  “So, it would be best if we all just forgot about it for the time being.”

Glaring fiercely, Wade managed to refrain from slapping Logan.  Instead, she simply said, “If we’re homeless, so are you.”

She nodded.  “I know, so I’m doing the wandering aimlessly thing with you guys.  I guess we’re explorers now or whatever.  Traipsing around the multiverse.  Could be fun.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Wade practically shouted.  “We’re lost, we never know where our next meal is coming from, we’re always running from something, and the people you slide with are the only world you have... and they die.  What part of that is fun for you?”

“Hey!  I was just trying to look on the bright side, okay?” Logan quickly defended herself.  “You want me to be depressed like you?  Fine!  I had a reason for my slides.  Somebody still knew my earth’s coordinates.  I had a home!  When Quinn died, you’re not the only one who lost her world.  I literally lost mine!”

Without waiting for a reply, Logan headed down the street at a fast pace, not caring whether or not the others were following her.

Rembrandt took a deep breath.  “Let’s find the Dominion and check into a room.”

He didn’t even mention stopping at the bar afterward, for clearly that was what everyone had in mind anyway.  Recently, most of the slides had been like hell, and Remmy knew he’d be perfectly happy to forget about things for a while.

Quinn’s death had been a massive shock to them.  Sure, each of the sliders knew that death was a possibility.  They’d been in more life-and-death situations than any of them cared to count, and their Arturo had certainly proven that they didn’t always come out on top.  Still, Quinn had cheated death so often that the situation they were in now just didn’t seem real.

But it was real, and the unstable life of sliding hadn’t helped any.  They’d barely gotten a chance to catch their breath after escaping that world, and then everything went crazy again.  No one had really adjusted to the fact that Quinn was gone, dead.  And then, to encounter another bunch of sliders and to watch him die again…

Remmy shuddered at the thought.  Watching anyone die like that was bad, but the fact that it was Q-ball only made it worse.  Resolutely, Rembrandt tried to push the thoughts out of his mind, but they were like a bad movie stuck on constant replay.

“You know,” Arturo said, helping to jolt Rembrandt back to the present, “there’s another point we have to consider.  Supposing Miss St. Clair is wrong and we do find your world, how can you know for certain you’ll recognize your home when you see it?  You’ve been gone for five years now.  A great deal can change in that period of time.”

Distraught, Wade and Remmy exchanged a look.  Oddly enough, even after everything they’d been through, and even with Logan’s little speech, that fact had never occurred to them.

“Max,” Maggie whispered, pulling him aside, “you’re not helping.”

-----

What if there were alternate realities of Earth?  Same planet, different dimension.
A world where the Internet is a way of life?
Or where the Russians rule America?
Or where your worst enemy is your own self?
Worlds where your dreams can come true, or your nightmares can haunt you…
These places do exist.  My friends and I found the gateway to reach them!
Now the only problem is… finding a way back home…

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

-----

*Funny,* Wade thought as she gazed around the hotel room.  *It looks exactly the same as the room on the last world when we stayed here.  Even the pattern on the bedspread is the same.*  In an odd way, Wade found such consistency comforting.  After all, so much of her life had been turned upside down lately.  And with Quinn gone…

*Stop it!* a loud voice in her brain snapped.  *It’s one thing to think about the loss of a friend.  It’s an entirely different matter to let my grief dominate my life.  That’s the last thing Quinn would have wanted, for any of us!  Quinn would’ve wanted us to move on without him.*

However, moving on was the last thing Wade felt able to do.  It was almost as though her heart had been ripped out of her chest, and she was about to die at any moment.  After tracing the pattern on the bedspread one last time, she stood up.  “I’m going down to the bar,” she announced.  “Feel free to join me if you want.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when the other four started heading toward the door.

-----

“Here you are, ladies and gents.  Five beers,” the bartender said as he placed their drinks before them.

“Thanks,” Maggie mumbled.  She hadn’t felt much like a beer, but she could tell the rest of the group really needed one.  She probably did too.  Besides, it was either this or stay in the room by herself, and somehow being alone with her guilt just didn’t appeal to her.

*It was my fault,* Maggie thought once again.  *If I’d only gotten there sooner, Quinn wouldn’t have died.  Even then I still could’ve saved him, made him keep going.  Regardless of bad HMOs, the world we landed on right after that could’ve at least kept him going, and the people on the next world could’ve saved him.  We managed to save Wade and she was almost as messed up as Quinn was at that point.*  This train of thought had become a constant companion for Maggie lately, but it didn’t bother her half as much as what caused it.  Deep down, Maggie could never forgive herself for losing Quinn like that.  After everything he’d done for her after she began sliding, she owed him more than just leaving him to die.

Shaking the thought away, Maggie returned her attention to her beer.  She had her glass halfway to her mouth when she heard Wade gasp.  Like any good soldier, she automatically followed Wade’s gaze to see what the problem was, and upon turning in her seat, Maggie let out a gasp of her own.

The figure that’d just staggered through the door had to be one of the most disheveled individuals any of them had ever seen.  His clothes were rumpled as though he’d been wearing them for a few days, and judging from the expressions of the bar patrons near him, they probably smelled that way too.  There was a good three-day’s worth of stubble on his chin, and his hair stuck out at all angles.  Despite all that, the identity of the man could not be mistaken.

“No,” Wade whispered, tears starting to form in her eyes.  “It can’t be him.  It just can’t be.”

But it was.

“Hey, Mallory,” the bartender yelled, confirming the sliders’ suspicions.  “You’re here early tonight.  What’s wrong?  All your other early night haunts closed tonight?”

“Shaddup, man,” Quinn Mallory slurred.  “Ya know whats it is I wanta.  Th’ usual n’ leave th’ bottle.”

“You gonna pay up your tab first?” the bartender asked, not budging from his place.

“I’ll get yer money, I’ll get yer money.  I jest don’t got it ons me now.”

“Mallory,” the bartender said softly.  “We’ve been over this before.  Until you start paying off your tab, I can’t serve you.  I’m sorry, but I have to ask you to leave now.”

A flicker of understanding flashed across Quinn’s face, and after a moment, he staggered out the door.

The loud screech of a chair being shoved back pulled the sliders’ attention back to their own table.  Abruptly, Wade stood.

“Where do you think you’re going, girl?” Remmy asked.

“After him.”

“Wade, don’t, please,” Maggie pleaded.  “It’s not him.  No matter how much you want it to be.”

“I know that,” Wade snapped, glaring at Maggie.  “But I can’t just let him walk out like that.”  And with that, she left.

Logan sighed irritably, almost wishing the others had gone to the Motel 12 and not joined her at the Dominion.  She really didn’t need this right now, but...  “Come on,” she said, grabbing her coat off her chair.

-----

Wade Wells was upset.  It was hard enough, she thought, to come to terms with Quinn’s death without seeing his face on every other world they landed on.  Angrily, she reflected that they’d gone for months before without seeing a double of anyone. Yet now that Quinn was gone, they saw him everywhere.  It only made things harder.

But Wade had never seen him like this before.  Sure, she’d seen him drunk.  On Wild West world, he’d gotten plastered after believing he’d killed a man, and on Oil Refinery world, Quinn had almost been hit by a truck because the ale was so strong.  But never had she seen him this far gone before.  This Quinn Mallory couldn’t even walk straight.

“Hey,” she shouted as she rounded the corner.  Quinn was staggering against the wall, trying to stay on his feet.  Quickly, Wade jumped in and slipped under his arm to give him support.  She suppressed a gag as the strong stench of sweat and alcohol nearly overwhelmed her.

Then the others were there, helping her to support him.  Arturo slipped under Quinn’s other arm, and the two of them managed to get him to a bench.

Quinn’s head rolled around awkwardly for a moment.  Then his unfocused eyes stopped on the faces in front of him.  Slowly they widened, as though they couldn’t believe what they saw.

“Wade?  Professor?  But how is that…?” he trailed off as he suddenly slipped from consciousness.

-----

“Look,” Logan snapped as she paced across the hotel room, “I know you feel sorry for him, but he’s not some little lost puppy to be taken care of!”

All the others just glared at her.  After he’d passed out, Remmy and the professor had dragged Quinn up to their hotel room.  That’d been hours ago, and while Logan understood their concern, she didn’t really want to get involved with another set of doubles just now.  The last ones they’d ran into caused the group enough misery.

“Logan, he’s been out for a long time,” Maggie stated.  “What were we suppose to do, leave him out on the street?”

“Yes!” Logan replied with an icy glare.

“You little…” Wade exploded.  “This man is your double!  Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

“Easy, girl,” Remmy said, putting a hand on Wade’s shoulder.

“So what if he is!  Why the hell should *I* care?” Logan snapped with narrowed eyes.  “Each of us has run into doubles of ourselves in the past, and not all of them have been a picnic to deal with.”

“Yeah.  Present company included,” Wade mumbled.  Rembrandt elbowed her in the ribs to silence her.

“Fine,” Logan said, fuming.  “You want to help the guy, that’s fine.  But maybe you should try something a little more productive than a wet rag on his forehead!”

“Unfortunately, Miss St. Clair has a point,” Arturo said, joining the discussion.  “Did anyone see if he had a wallet on him?”

-----

Max Arturo had never been to the house of his Quinn Mallory, had never even known the boy in fact.  They just never crossed paths.  Maybe the Quinn of his world had gone into a different field of study or something.  For all Arturo knew, there might never have been a Quinn Mallory on his world.  But he knew that his double, the one who’d been sliding for so many years, had always been at home in Quinn’s basement lab, even though most of the times he’d visited it they were on a different earth.

Arturo himself had only been to the Mallory house once during his slides, but that time the basement was dedicated to medical purposes, with very little sliding research.  He hoped this time it would be different, for he’d always wanted to see this lab.  The very ability to create something as wondrous as sliding in a mere basement was something he’d marveled at.  His own prize pupil, Bennish, had needed to use some university equipment to pull this off.

The thought of his old pupil struck a sorrowful note in Arturo’s heart, a note that was mirrored by the one triggered at the thought of Quinn.  It pained Arturo to remember that two students of his, two friends of his, that were so brilliant had their lives cut short in the effort to save friends.  And all because of sliding.  Arturo shook his head.  When he’d agreed to slide, he’d had a lot of expectations.  Death every step of the way just hadn’t been one of them.

As Arturo and Rembrandt carried the now semiconscious form of Quinn toward the house, Wade rushed forward and opened the front gate.  It opened with a loud screech.  Wade smiled.  “Guess some things never change.”

For a moment, everyone just stood at the door, fidgeting.  Then Maggie took charge of the situation and rang the bell.

After a minute, the door was flung open by a blue-eyed teenage girl with brown hair.  The sliders instantly recognized her as Rachael Mallory.  Coming toward them in the hallway was another familiar figure, this one a male who closely resembled Quinn.  Colin Mallory, the brother their Quinn never had.

“Oh, thank heavens!” Rachael exclaimed.  “I was starting to get worried.  I was afraid we’d find him at the hospital again.”

“Well, we actually found him last night,” Wade began.  “It just took us some time to figure out what to do with him.”

“Yes,” Rachael said, looking at the group closely for the first time.  “And you’ve come a long ways.  Why don’t you just come in and relax, sliders.  Colin and I would love to hear all about you.”

-----

“How’d you know?” Logan demanded as they sat down in the Mallory living room.

“How’d I know what?” Rachael asked cautiously.

“Don’t give me that!  You know exactly what I mean!  How did you know we’re sliders?” Logan snapped.

“Oh, that,” Rachael said with a grin.  “Let’s just say it’s pretty obvious to someone who already knows most of you on this world.”

“Wait a minute,” Arturo said.  “You speak as though running into us is no shock whatsoever.  Do you mean to tell me that on your world sliding is a common practice?”

“Well, not exactly a common practice,” Colin said as he sat in the chair next to his sister.  “Only a few people are allowed to.  Bunches of scientists and explorers mostly.  But since Quinn invented sliding, he’s in charge of who gets to go.  I’ve lost track of how many worlds we’ve been to.”

“Hold on,” Rembrandt interrupted.  “Are you trying to tell us that the drunk passed out in the next room over there invented sliding?”

“Leave him alone!” Rachael snarled angrily.  “You have no right to judge him!”

“Easy, Rachael,” Colin said, putting a restraining hand on her arm.  “Quinn hasn’t always been like this.  Back when he invented sliding five years ago, he didn’t have the same problems he has now.”

Although his words were sympathetic, Colin’s voice had taken on a slightly more mocking tone than was appropriate.  Unable to think of any response to this, the room became very still.  Awkwardly, Maggie tried to change the subject to something a little more pleasant.

“So, Rachael, why’s it so obvious we’re sliders?  Do we look different or something?”

“Well...  Hmmm.  Most of you look enough like your doubles for me to recognize.  The only one I can’t place is you,” she said, indicating Logan.  “Maybe I just haven’t met you yet.”

“Or maybe you have and you just don’t know it yet,” Wade said with a small smile.  “Rachael, this woman’s name is Logan St. Clair.  The St. Clair part is by marriage - her mother, not her.  Anyway, she is the female double of your brother, Quinn.”

“Really?  Cool!” Rachael exclaimed.  “I never thought about it before, but it makes perfect sense.  The whole opposite-sex double thing, I mean.  I always wondered what it’d be like to have a sister.  How long are you guys here for?  Maybe we could hang out or something.”

“Yeah,” Logan said slowly.  “We’re here awhile, so maybe.”  The offer had surprised Logan, and even more surprising was her response.  But a small part of her felt gratified by the offer.  *I’ve finally run into someone who’s happy to see me!*

A groan from the doorway suddenly drew the attention of everyone in the room to Quinn Mallory who was standing there, carefully holding his head.

“God, Quinn,” Rachael exclaimed, leaping to her feet to support him.  “You shouldn’t be up now!  Go back to sleep so you start to feel better!”
 
“Sorry, Rach.  But I just had to know…”

“Know what?” she asked, her face growing pale.

“Know if who I saw before I passed out was real, or if I was just imagining her again,” he murmured softly.

Rachael slowly covered her mouth with her hand, a look of profound sorrow masking her face.  “Quinn...”

Quinn ignored her as he slowly walked toward the sliders.  Carefully, he sat down on the couch next to Wade and tentatively reached out to touch her face, almost as though he was afraid she would melt away into thin air.

Wade didn’t make a single move to evade him.  The sadness she saw in his eyes, combined with the ache she felt within herself as she watched him, paralyzed her.  As his hand reached her face, she closed her eyes, willing herself to believe that the man sitting across from her was her own Quinn.  Sadly, she reflected that her Quinn had seldom dared touch her with this much love, and now he would never be able to again.

Quickly, Quinn drew his hand back.  “What are you?  A ghost or something?”

“No,” Wade replied with confusion.

“Mr. Mallory, if you would allow us to explain…” Arturo began, only to be cut off by Quinn.

“And you!  Who are you?  What the hell is going on here?”  Angrily, Quinn backed away from the couch, his eyes darting frantically from one face in the room to the next.

“Quinn, calm down,” Rachael said as she pulled him over toward a different chair.

“Rachael, what’s going on?  Who are these people?  I’m pretty sure they’re real,” he said, shaking his head.  “I didn’t have *that* much to drink.”

“Don’t be such an idiot, Quinn,” Colin snapped in an annoyed voice.  “Why don’t you use that oversized brain of yours for once and think about it!  They’re sliders!”

“Sliders…” Quinn murmured, almost as though he’d never heard the word before.  Then he shook his head.  “Of course.  That makes perfect sense.  I apologize for my bad behavior.”

The sliders just looked at one another for a moment.  Then Maggie tentatively said, “Sure.  No problem.”

“So,” Quinn began, having gotten his bearings, “how is it that you’re visiting our dimension?  Exploring or just randomly passing through?”

“Well, we…” Rembrandt started.

Colin cut him off.  “Quinn, we’re suppose to hold all slider interviews at the lab, remember?  So that the other researchers can ask questions.”

“Colin, given the circumstances...” Rachael began, her patience obviously strained.

“It’s policy, Rachael.  You know that.  Quinn even knows that, even though he tries to play dumb all the time,” he said, glaring at his siblings.  Then his voice took on a more mocking tone.  “After all, it’s *his* policy.”

Rachael glared at her brother for his remark, but Quinn seemed oblivious to the insult.  “Right.  Policy.  Of course,” he mumbled.  Abruptly, he turned to the sliders, carefully avoiding the chance of meeting Wade's or Arturo’s eyes.  “So, what do you say?  Interested in taking a jaunt down to our lab?  It’s only for an interview.”

A profound silence followed Quinn’s question, broken eventually by Rembrandt.  “Well, Quinn, we…”

“Are absolutely not interested,” Logan cut in.  “We’ve been lab rats enough times to know not to walk right into the trap.  Better luck next time.”

“Oh.  Right,” Quinn stuttered, running a hand through his hair.  “Well, um, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you are,” Logan said with a half-smile.

“Sure,” he said, getting up to escort them to the door.  “Look.  If you change your mind, this is the address,” he said, handing a business card to Remmy.

“Um, thank you,” Remmy mumbled.

“It was nice meeting you,” Quinn called as the sliders left his house.  Carefully, he closed the door behind him, and then rested his head up against it.  Then he slowly sank to the floor and began to sob tears of heartbroken anguish.

-----

“What the hell did you think you were doing?” Wade demanded of Logan as they exited the cab in front of their hotel.

“Keeping you idiots from making a huge mistake,” Logan snapped as she strode into the hotel.

“What?” Wade asked.

“Look, I’ve been around you for a few slides now.  Before that, I followed you for more than a year,” Logan explained.  “I’m familiar with your cute little routine, and you know what I’ve noticed?  You’re complete saps!  Without me, you’d wander right into these people’s clutches and Lord knows what you’d tell them!”

“Miss St. Clair, I believe you misjudge us all if you think we could be so easily fooled,” Arturo said in an offended voice.

“Oh yeah?” Logan said with a smirk.  “You trusted me in a situation like this, didn’t you?  And look where that got us all!”

“You didn’t give us much of a choice at the time,” Wade said with narrowed eyes.  “And after all the trouble you caused us, we were much more careful in the future.”

“Look, you guys have to start trusting me,” Logan snapped irritably.  “Poking into this is not a good idea, especially if Quinn is involved in all of this.  We get any more involved, and before you know it, we’re going to have crybaby Wade here in tears and tough-shell Maggie going into guilt spasms.  Remember what happened the last time we saw him?”

“Bitch,” Wade growled, glaring at Logan.  “What the hell do you know?  You’re not even capable of feeling pain.”

The room fell quiet, the rest of the sliders staring at the two women, wondering which one was going to attack the other first.

“Remmy,” Wade said, her eyes fixed defiantly on Logan, “give me that card.  It’s going to take more than *her* to stop me from going.”

Rembrandt handed her the card and she stormed out the door - with Arturo and Maggie shortly behind her.  Remmy quickly followed them.  Frustrated, Logan pulled her coat back on and slammed the door behind her.

-----

“Look, lady, I don’t care who you say sent you.  If you don’t have a security pass, you don’t get in.  Understand?” the guard at the front desk said, glaring at the sliders.

“You’re making a big mistake here, buddy,” Logan said, glaring right back.  “What do you think we’re here for, the wonderful scenery?”

“I don’t care why you’re here.  I’ve got my orders.  And letting people who walk in off the street enter the lab isn’t one of them.”

“Right,” Logan snarled, turning back to the other sliders.  “This is ridiculous.  We were invited here and now we aren’t even allowed in.  Any suggestions?”

“Perhaps a little less hostility is in order, Miss St. Clair.  Allow me,” Arturo said as he slipped past her and walked up to the front desk.

“Excuse me, sir,” he said.  “My name is Professor Max Arturo.  The members of the Mallory family specifically invited the group of us here.  I’m sure if you contacted one of them, they would be able to verify our claims and we could all get on with our lives.”

“How many times have I told you people!” the guard snapped.  “I don’t even care if the president sent you.  No one gets in!”  Then he paused for a second.  “Wait a minute.  Your name is Max *Arturo*?”

“That’s what I said it was, you blistering idiot!”

The guard just looked at the group with widening eyes.  “Just wait here for a second.  I’ll try to ring someone in the lab and get you folks through!”

-----

Fortunately, or unfortunately according to Logan, Colin Mallory was able to come down from the lab and verify the sliders’ claim.

“Man, am I glad you were around,” Remmy said as the group was escorted through a maze of hallways.  “That guard did *not* want to listen to us.”

“Which leads me to an interesting question, Mr. Mallory,” Arturo said in a thoughtful voice.  “Mr. Brown is correct in that the guard was reluctant to listen to us.  Right up until the point that I mentioned my name.  Then he was willing to let us in.  Was there a reason for his sudden change of heart?”

“Well, Professor,” Colin began uneasily, “he changed his mind so suddenly because it’s obvious you aren’t the Professor Arturo of this world.  Therefore, you had to be a slider.”

“And why was this so obvious?” Maggie asked, joining the conversation.

“Because the Professor Arturo of this world is dead.”

-----

The lab itself was everything Wade had expected it to be and more.  It was almost as though someone had taken Quinn’s cramped basement lab from back home and more than tripled the size so that all the necessary devices were there and yet it could accommodate a large number of researchers.

There were various substations in the room as well, and at each of them there were people working.  Some of them were typing away furiously at computers.  Others were examining what had to be devices or documents from other dimensions.  There were other groups who were focusing intently on bits of technology.

“So, what do you people do here, anyway?” Maggie asked.  “I mean, you mentioned that you were explorers, but why are you exploring?  You planning to take over the multiverse or something?”

Colin glared angrily in her direction.  “Of course not.  We aren’t Kromaggs or anything like that.”

“Then what’s the point of all of this?” Remmy asked, taking part in the conversation.

“Why did mankind first split the atom or travel to outer space?” Colin asked in return.  “Sure, some of the later reasons were for more materialistic purposes, but the initial reason was to see what was possible.”

“That’s why this is all here?” Wade asked incredulously.  “Just to see what’s possible?”

“It makes sense when you think about it, Miss Wells,” Arturo said.  “Through sliding, the people of this world can learn about the events that have taken place on other worlds.  They can learn from the mistakes and successes of other worlds without having to experience these incidents for themselves, thus avoiding any negative consequences.”

“Precisely,” Colin exclaimed with a grin on his face.  “I’ve seen worlds where technology is seen as the devil’s work, worlds where the US Constitution and basic freedoms have been suppressed, worlds where the Internet is a way of life.  You’d never believe the stuff you can learn from these places.”

“Actually, I think we would,” Wade said sarcastically.  “We’ve been sliding randomly for five years now.  Wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a similarity there.”

Colin’s smile melted away into a stricken expression.  “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.  I assure you I had no intention of…”

“It’s okay,” Remmy remarked, giving Wade an odd look.  “We’ve just been going through a really tough time recently.  We’re not offended.”

“Oh.  Umm... okay.”

“So,” Logan said, breaking the awkward silence that had settled over the group, “are you going to show us around this place or are we on a self-guided tour?”

“Of course!  Right this way!”

-----

As the group started forward, Rembrandt grabbed Wade’s arm, holding her back at the end of the group.  “What was that all about, sweetheart?”

“I don’t know,” Wade said, putting her hand over her eyes.  “It all just seems so strange.  The way he was talking about taking advantage of other worlds to learn suddenly made me think of that nasty Prototronics place we encountered a few years ago.  You remember how well *that* incident went.”

“Hmm,” Rembrandt replied.  “Yeah, I remember.  That explains why Logan seems so at home here.  Look, sweetheart, so far they haven’t given us any reason to doubt them.  They didn’t force us to come here, and what they’re doing does kind of make sense.  It’s good to be cautious, but too much caution can hurt in the long run.”

“You’re probably right.  I’m probably upset over no reason.  The worst part is, a part of me can’t help but wonder…”  She trailed off, almost in tears.

“Wonder what, girl?” Remmy asked, putting his arm around her shoulders.

“I can’t help but think that maybe, if we’d never gotten lost in this whole sliding mess, this was something Quinn would have done.  Sort of as a way to help improve society.”  She choked, trying to hide her tears.

“We’ll never know,” Rembrandt said, holding her tight.  “We’ll never know.”

-----

Oddly enough, Maggie was finding the tour fascinating.  All this technical stuff usually wasn’t something that would spark her interest, but she found the way it was being used intriguing.  She hadn’t even noticed that Remmy and Wade hadn’t kept up with the group.

“And in this section, we have personnel who are dedicated to studying the technological advances made by other worlds,” Colin said, indicating the group huddled at a large work area off to his left.

Maggie’s gaze wandered in that direction.  Then she did a double take.  “Oh my God,” she murmured, unable to believe her eyes.

At one of the chairs near the end of the table was a dark-haired man.  That was about the only feature she could distinguish of him, for he was paying an extraordinary amount of attention to a brunette woman who was sitting in his lap, and Maggie was unable to see his face clearly.  Still, she knew exactly who he was.

“Steven!” she exclaimed.

At the sound of his name, Dr. Steven Jensen looked up.  A look of pure horror crossed his face, and he hurried to get up, oblivious to the fact that he’d just dumped his female companion onto the floor.

“Molly!” he gasped.  “Please, this is not what it looks like.  Daelin and I were just having a deep conversation, nothing more.  I can expl....  Did you do something different with your hair?”  He trailed off, suddenly completely confused.

“Dr. Jensen,” Colin Mallory said, interrupting the awkward scene.  “Allow me to introduce Captain Maggie Beckett.  I believe she’s a double of your wife.”

“A double?” Steven asked.  “Oh!  She’s a slider.  That explains a lot.”

“Yes,” Maggie said numbly.  “I’m sure it does.”

“You really had me startled there.  After all, you do look just like my wife, and I certainly wasn’t expecting to see her here.”

“Yeah, I could tell,” Maggie mumbled sarcastically.

“Well, I’m happy to have met you, Maggie, but I really have to get back to work,” he said, indicating the device he’d been neglecting before Maggie had interrupted him with his girlfriend.  “I’d love to hear all about you though.  You’re obviously very different from my wife, and I’m curious to see just how different.  I’d like to get to know you better.”  With that, he turned back to his workstation, his attention focused intently on his work.

*Odd,* Maggie thought as she caught up with the tour group.  *I think I already know you too well.*

-----

“You know, Colin, you guys have a nice place here,” Logan said, speaking in such a sweet voice that the rest of the sliders turned to stare at her.

Colin grinned.  “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, smiling and still using that same sweet tone.  Then abruptly her features shifted to one of annoyance.  “Now, would you mind explaining why we’ve been hanging out at this shack of yours for two hours?  I thought the point of this whole visit was to discuss our sliding experiences.  What’s up?”

“Yeah,” Rembrandt chimed in.  “This tour took two hours.  You know we’re only here for a limited time.”

“You think this was *my* idea?” Colin snapped, his annoyance showing in his voice.  “I’d love to get this over with.  But we can’t because everyone else wants to wait for Quinn before we start, and he’s not here yet!”

“What’s taking him so long?” Wade asked, concern registering on her face.  She couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the way Quinn had acted toward her.  Something was up.

“I’m his brother, not his keeper.  How should I know where he is?  Probably drunk again,” Colin snapped angrily.  Then his eyes swept across Wade’s face, which had morphed into an expression of horror at his words.  His expression softened and he gave a weak smile.  “Sorry,” he said.  “It just gets frustrating at times.  He’s had a rough time lately, and having the group of you show up at our door wasn’t one of the better things that could’ve happened to him.”

“And why is that, Mr. Mallory?”

“My brother was very close to you on this world, Professor.  He was also very close to Wade. Closer than most people are ever able to get.  Seeing the both of you all of a sudden…” Colin trailed off, a sad expression on his face.  “Well, let’s just say it’s difficult to get over the loss of someone you care about when everywhere you go you’re confronted with something that makes you think of them.”

“So what happ…” Wade began, only to be cut off by Rachael bursting through the door.

“Quinn’s finally here!  We can get started!” she exclaimed.  Then she took in the expressions of the other faces in the room.  “I’m sorry.  Did I interrupt something?”

-----

“And you guys have been sliding for five years now?” a researcher near the front of the room asked the sliders.  They’d been being interviewed for nearly three hours now and the room had gotten rather warm.  They’d covered almost everything that’d happened to them, and yet still the scientists continued to pick at their brains.

“Well,” Wade began, looking at Rembrandt, “Remmy and I have been, anyway.  Like I’ve said, when we originally left our world, we were with Quinn Mallory and Professor Arturo.  About two years ago, the professor was killed by another slider, and that’s when Maggie joined the group.  A while later we met a double of our professor and he started sliding with us.  Then recently…”

“Recently,” Remmy continued when Wade’s voice faltered, “our Quinn was killed and we picked up Logan.  That was only a couple of slides ago.”

This sent a murmur throughout the crowd of researchers.  It seemed they hadn’t quite realized until now just how tough it was for the sliders to give this interview.

“I’m sorry,” Rachael said, coming forward.  “I knew you guys’d had some losses, but I didn’t realize just how recent they were.  I should’ve asked about it ahead of time, and maybe spared you some pain.”

“It’s okay, girl,” Rembrandt said.  “We’ve learned to handle things on the fly over the years.”

“Yes, Mr. Brown,” a researcher near the middle of the room stated.  “Sliding does have a tendency to change a person.  You yourself are a huge improvement on the Rembrandt Brown of our world.”

Rembrandt looked a little bit confused at that, while the researcher was quickly shushed by his surrounding peers.  “What do you mean by that?” Remmy asked.

“Well,” Colin said, joining his sister near the front of the room, “let’s just say that our company has not had the best of relationships with your double.”

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Wade asked.

“I’ll try to make this simple.  Like on your world, our Quinn accidentally took Mr. Brown along with him when he first tested his sliding machine,” Rachael explained.  “Unlike your world, our Quinn was able to get back to his own world.  That adventure had greatly upset Mr. Brown and he ended up suing us for millions over the loss of his car as well as his claim of psychological trauma.”

“Yeah,” Colin said, “and then he used the money he won from us to break back into the record business as a rap artist, the whole time reminding the entire world of how we’ve made his life miserable.  He won’t acknowledge the fact that without that sliding incident, the world would’ve forgotten him.  It’s because of us that he is somebody right now.  Needless to say, he’s not one of our favorite people.”

“At least that explains why everyone seems so reluctant to talk to me,” Remmy said slowly, taking the information in.

“I apologize for that, Mr. Brown.  We don’t mean to treat you as if you were your double,” Rachael said with a smile.

“Rachael,” Wade began quietly.  “You once said you were familiar with each of our doubles.  What happened to them here?  Can you tell us?”

Visibly, Rachael hesitated, glancing quickly to the back of the room.  Wade followed her gaze and there she saw Quinn, his gaze unfocused with one of the saddest expressions she’d ever seen on his face.  Wade turned back to Rachael just in time to catch an expression of pity flash across her face.

Then Rachael cleared her throat.  “Ladies and gentlemen,” she said toward the crowd, “I think the sliders have told us almost everything we wanted to know.  I think they’d like some time to themselves.  If you need to contact them later, try the Dominion hotel.  That’ll be all for now.  Good day.”

As the group began to disperse, Rachael leaned in toward the sliders.  “Now’s just not a good time to get into that,” she whispered.  “Look, I have some things I have to take care of here, but then I should have some free time.  If you want, I can stop by your hotel later and fill you in on what you’re missing.  Okay?”

“That’d be fine,” Wade said, forestalling any protest Logan was about to make.

Rachael smiled at them for just a brief second.  Then, after quickly glancing around the emptying room, she began motioning them to the exit.  “I think you’d better go.  I’ll talk to you later.”

-----

Quinn Mallory hadn’t moved from his perch at the back of the room since the interview had started.  It was as though his mind had vacated his body and just left it sitting there limply.  He seemed oblivious to the fact that the room around him was almost empty now.

But appearances could be deceiving.  As Rachael came up to him from the front of the room, she could see in his eyes that the agony of just being there was tearing him apart.  “Quinn?” Rachael asked as she sat down beside him.  “Are you alright?”

Quinn didn’t respond, just continued to stare at the room in front of him.

“Rachael, come on,” Colin whispered, coming up beside them.  “It’s not going to help.  Obviously he just wants to be alone.  There’s nothing we can do to help him, so why bother?”

Rachael glared at her brother, appalled at what he’d just said.  “That’s what you say every time something like this happens.  Colin, we can’t keep leaving him like this.  He needs our help and you know it.”

“Our help won’t do him any good if he refuses to accept it,” Colin said crossly.  “He’ll snap out of it.  He always does.”  With that, Colin turned his back on his two siblings and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

Rachael gazed after him for a moment, annoyed with the outlook he’d been taking on the whole matter.  Colin had always had a little bit of an attitude, but ever since the accident, it’d been a whole lot worse.  While she could understand why he was upset, Rachael couldn’t figure out why he would be taking his anger out on Quinn.

She shook her head, trying to disperse the thoughts that lingered there.  Then she turned to Quinn.  “Quinn?  I know this has been very hard for you.  Look, I have an errand I need to run, but when I get back, maybe we should talk about this.  It might help.  Okay?”

Quinn remained silent, so Rachael kissed him on the cheek and then dashed out the door.  As the door closed behind her, a single tear streamed down Quinn’s face.

-----
 
Logan sat in the chair at the hotel and sighed with annoyance.  It bothered her to see just how gullible the rest of the sliders could be.  For the millionth time since she’d started sliding with them, she wondered how it was they’d survived for so long lost in the multiverse.  *Maybe it was my double who kept them in line.*  With a silent laugh, she dismissed that thought.  Their Quinn had been a worse idealist than the rest of the group put together.

“When is she going to get here?” Wade said, pacing with frustration.  She checked her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes.

“Relax, girl,” Remmy said, placing a hand on her shoulder.  “She did say she had some things to finish up before she came here.  Just give her some time.”

“I can’t even begin to tell you how bad an idea this is,” Logan remarked.  “We have absolutely no reason to trust these guys and yet you still invite them to the place like a pizza man.  I’m amazed you guys have made it this far sliding on your own.  And wasn’t spending five hours with these people enough?  Don’t you find this all a bit boring?”

Wade fixed her with a splitting stare and would probably have said something truly nasty in return if there hadn’t been a knock at the door just then.  Relieved about the interruption, Maggie jumped up from her perch on the bed to answer it.  Logan simply yawned.

“Hello, Rachael,” Maggie said with a smile.  “Come on in.”

Rachael gave her a slight smile in return and proceeded to walk to a chair on the far side of the room.  “I hope my stopping by isn’t an inconvenience or anything.  It’s just that the information you wanted…  Well, you’ll understand in a minute.”

“Rachael,” Wade said, sitting down across from the girl, “before you get into our doubles, could you tell us what’s happened to your Quinn?  I mean, we’ve been sliding for a long time now, and I’ve never seen him this messed up before.”

“The two things are related, actually,” Rachael said.  “It all starts back when Quinn invented sliding.  Same as your world, he slid with the Wade and Arturo of this world, accidentally taking Rembrandt along.  However, that’s where the similarities stop.

“The first slide landed the group on a jungle world.  Not exactly the most hospitable environment, but one that didn’t require the timer to be activated early.  They were able to return home directly, and the next day Quinn and the professor held a press conference, telling the world about what Quinn had accomplished.  This gave them the support they needed to further their research and even earn a Nobel Prize.  It also gave Quinn the leverage needed to found the research facility in the hopes of bettering mankind.”

“Sounds like we finally found a world where things went right for a change,” Remmy said with a grin.  “So why is it that Quinn looks so glum?”

Rachael bit her lip.  “Looking at it from your perspective, things did go right.  You guys weren’t lost in the multiverse and were free to pursue your own lives.  Quinn, for example, was successful with his invention and used it to help humanity.  Eventually, he got married and started a family.”

“Married?” Wade asked, startled.

“Yes,” Rachael replied.  “To your double.  After the original slide, Wade continued to support Quinn through everything he did.  She joined him in exploring other dimensions, and with his science brains and her computer skills, they made a good team.  They grew to depend on each other and count on each other for just about anything.  Because of that, Quinn and Wade became even closer than they were when they first slid.  They fell in love, and about three years ago got married.  A year and a half later they had a child, Michael.”

“Then why did Quinn react the way he did when he met our Wade?” Maggie asked, getting into the story.

“I’m coming to that,” Rachael said, raising a hand to forestall any more comments.  “Quinn worked very closely with Wade, but there were other members of his team as well, including myself, Colin, and Professor Arturo.  The professor was like a second father to him.  About two years ago, the professor told Quinn he had a terminal illness, and...  Let’s just say Quinn didn’t take that news very well.”

“A terminal illness?” Wade asked.  “Boy, I’m glad we never had to deal with anything like that with our professors.”

“Yeah,” Rembrandt mumbled, looking down at the carpet on the floor.  The tone of his voice drew an odd look from Logan, but before she could remark on it, Rachael continued on with her story.

“Quinn was determined to find a cure for his mentor.  He spent his every waking hour frantically searching the multiverse, hoping to find a cure.  Unfortunately,” Rachael said, blinking away tears that began to form in her eyes, “it was no use.  Our professor died about a year ago.”

A stunned silence fell upon the room, for the sliders could think of nothing to say that would ease the obvious grief the young woman felt for this loss.  Awkwardly, Logan moved to sit beside her and rubbed her back comfortingly.  Rachael looked up with a small smile of gratitude and then continued on with her story.

“Quinn was devastated.  He seemed to think Arturo’s death was his fault.  It began to eat away at his confidence, and he became more and more absent-minded.  About a month after losing Arturo, he forgot to pick up Wade and Michael from an appointment.  Wade apparently understood Quinn’s forgetfulness and called my mother for a ride instead.  On the way home, there was an accident.  Wade, Michael, and my mother were all killed.  And ever since then, Quinn’s spent most of his free time at the bars.”

Wade gazed numbly across the room at Rachael.  She wasn’t entirely sure how to process the information she’d just been given.  Dimly, Wade recognized that this Quinn’s reaction to his wife’s death mirrored the way Wade felt over her Quinn’s death.  If it wasn’t for sliding, Wade wondered if she wouldn’t be visiting bars all the time.

“Well, Miss Mallory,” Max began, “I think we’re beginning to understand your perspective on things.”

-----

It was late at night before Rachael left the Dominion hotel and headed for home.  She’d not intended to stay so long, but a part of her hadn’t wanted to leave.  The truth was, she missed the Wade and the Arturo of her world, and while Rachael knew these sliders were not the friends she’d grown to love, they were the closest available thing.

When she reached home, Rachael saw that the front lights had been left on for her.  Undoubtedly one of her brothers was waiting up for her, she thought with a smile.  More than likely it was Colin, for Quinn barely took the effort anymore.  He used to, she thought sadly, but now things had changed.

“Where have you been?” Colin asked angrily as Rachael stepped through the door.  “I’ve been worried sick!”

“I went to talk with the sliders,” Rachael responded with some confusion.  “I told you what I’d planned before I left the lab.”

“Yeah, but that was hours ago!  I’d expected you back before then.”

“Look, Colin…” she began, closing her eyes in frustration.

“Rachael, I know you’re a very smart girl, smarter than most adults.  You’ve had experiences most people could never even dream about, let alone cope with in the real world,” Colin explained, walking over to the front door and switching off the light.  “But you’re still only 17.  And that’s still a dangerous age to be out on the streets at night alone.”

Rachael smiled.  “Thanks for your concern.  I promise to be more careful.  Is Quinn here?” she asked, changing the subject.  That wasn’t likely, for rarely was Quinn ever actually home late at night anymore.  And yet, Colin *had* switched off the front light, which usually meant everyone was home.

Colin gave her a strange look.  “Of course not.  It may be late, but it’s not *that* late.”

“Then why did you…” she began, gesturing to the light switch.

“He’ll come back whenever he feels like it.  He always does.  In the meantime, might as well save some electricity,” Colin mumbled sarcastically, stomping up the stairs.

Rachael watched Colin hike up the stairs.  Then, with a sigh of frustration, she slapped the light switch on the wall and settled down onto the family room couch, keeping vigil for Quinn’s return.

-----

“Wade, are you awake?”  The voice penetrated through the thick clouds of her dreamless sleep.  Slowly, she opened her eyes to gaze up at the person who had so rudely disturbed her only refuge from the real world.  Before her she saw Quinn, gazing down on her with a concerned expression.

*Quinn!!!*  So it had all been a dream.  All of it!  Quinn was still alive and with them, and Logan was far, far away.  Wade blinked her eyes, unable to believe what she saw.

And she couldn’t believe what she saw, for it wasn’t real.  Standing over her was no one other than Logan St. Clair, an individual who, while genetically as close to Quinn as possible, was a long ways away from being like Quinn.

“What do you want?” Wade asked crossly, disappointed that her groggy vision wasn’t real.

“It’s almost eleven in the morning, Wade,” Logan stated.  “You’ve had plenty of time to catch your beauty sleep.  Obviously you never found it, but you still have to get up like the rest of us.”

“Who do you think you are, Logan, the sleep police?  Leave me alone!” she snapped, pulling the blanket up over her head.  All she wanted was to be left alone.  Was that too much to ask?

“Wade,” Remmy said, gently sitting down beside her, “I know it’s been hard, but hiding away in bed isn’t going to make the pain go away.  You need to come and face the world.”

“Right, Remmy,” Wade said sarcastically as she poked her head out from under the covers.  “How do you suggest I do that when I’m on a different world every other day?”

-----

“You know,” Arturo said after the group had eaten a quick brunch, “there’s something about what Rachael told us last night that disturbs me.  She said that my double died of a terminal illness, yet she made no mention of what this illness was.  Nothing at all of the nature of the illness, be it a virus or a genetic defect.  I’m afraid that makes me somewhat nervous.  What if something like that were to happen to me?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Professor,” Wade said with a slight smile.  “We’ve run into a few Arturos in our experience, and I can’t think of one that had suffered from a terminal illness.  Our own professor died because he was shot, not from some illness.  I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”

“Actually, Wade, I’m not sure that’s quite right,” Remmy said in an odd voice.  He was gazing down at the tabletop with a rather vacant look on his face.

Wade shot him a confused look.  “Remmy, what do you mean?”

Rembrandt looked around the table for reassurance, but all he found were surprised faces looking back at him.  With a sigh, he began to explain.  “Our professor did suffer from a terminal illness.”

“What??” Wade and Maggie said in shocked unison.

“Wade, do you remember that world we encountered with the creature people underground and the world created by engineers up above?  Well, while you and Quinn were underground, the professor had a massive reaction to the bushes he came in to contact with.  I was told this shouldn’t have happened if he was in good health, and when I asked him about it, he told me.”

Wade was stunned.  “You knew about it all this time?  And you didn’t tell me?”

“The professor didn’t want anyone to know about it.  He asked me not to say anything.”

“And Quinn?  Did he know?”

Rembrandt looked down at the napkin in his lap.  “Actually, he knew before I did.”

“Wha… I…” Wade stuttered, standing up in shock.  “I was the only one who didn’t know?  Why wouldn’t you guys tell me something like that??  That was important!!  What, did you think I couldn’t take it or something?”

“Wade,” Remmy said, reaching out across the table toward her, “it’s not like that.  The professor hadn’t wanted anyone to know about his condition.  Quinn had found out about it by accident, even more by chance than I did.”

“And why didn’t you tell me this after the professor died?” she demanded.

“We didn’t think there was any point in it.  The professor was dead and so there was no real need for you to know.  You were already in pain, and Quinn and I agreed that knowing this would only hurt you even more.”

Without saying a word, Wade stormed away from the table.  Remmy started to get up, intending to go after her, but Maggie caught his arm.  “Let her go, Remmy,” Maggie advised.  “She needs to fume for a little while first.”

“In the meantime,” Max said as he rose from the table, “I think I shall set up a doctor appointment.  I’m overdue for a checkup anyway.”

-----

Wade was furious.  There had been many times over the past few years when she’d felt cheated.  Numerous times when she felt annoyed, especially since Maggie and Logan had joined the group.  Far too many times, especially lately, when she’d felt despair.  However, not too many times when she’d felt this angry.
 
More than anything, she needed to talk to a friend, someone she could trust.  Yet these days, that sort of person came in short supply.  Normally she’d have talked to Remmy, but since he was the one she was angry with, that obviously wouldn’t work.  So she went searching for anyone on this world who might fit the profile.

That’s how she came to be standing on the front porch of the Mallory household once again.  She rang the bell and, after a moment, the door was opened.

“Wade,” Colin said, his face reflecting surprise.  “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.  Um... Is there anything I can do for you?”

Wade looked down, suddenly feeling foolish.  “I’m sorry,” she said awkwardly, “I guess I don’t really know what I’m doing here.  I was looking for someone to talk to, and I can’t talk to my friends.  I was wondering… is Quinn here?”

Colin’s face seemed to fall for a moment.  “No, he’s not.  I’m sorry.”

“Oh.  Look, I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t even…  Man, this was stupid.  I’d better go,” she stammered, backing away from the door.

“Hey, wait,” Colin said, coming out of the house.  “It’s okay, Wade.  Look, I don’t know what it is you see in that guy, but would I work as a substitute?  I mean, I’d be more than happy to listen.”

Wade smiled weakly.  “Thanks, Colin.”

-----

Shortly after Wade had left the hotel, Maggie departed on a mission of her own.  She’d been agitated ever since the day before, when she’d caught her husband’s double with that woman while he was obviously still married to the Maggie of this world.  Though she’d hidden her agitation well, Maggie still felt the need to investigate things on her own, so last night she’d asked Rachael for a specific address, and it led her to the cozy-looking house in front of her.

Maggie smiled at the little house before her.  It was exactly the sort of house she and Steven had once talked about living in, white with red shutters and a beautiful little flower garden displayed proudly in the front lawn.  For a fleeting moment, Maggie wished things on her world could’ve been different, that maybe this long-lost dream of theirs had become a reality.  Just as quickly, she dismissed the thought.  *After all,* she thought, *you can’t change the past.*  Confidently, Maggie strode to the front step and knocked on the door.

“Just a second!” a muffled voice from within shouted.  After a moment, the door was opened.

*It’s like looking into a fun house mirror,* Maggie thought, dazed.  The person was definitely her, but she looked so different than any double Maggie had ever seen of herself.  The most notable difference was the hair.  This woman had black hair, and it was cut to just above shoulder length.  Her eyes were a different color, a change due no doubt to tinted contacts.  There was also a notable roundness to her belly.  This Maggie was obviously pregnant.

Maggie stood there in shock for a moment.  Then she blinked, realizing how awkward her silence was.  “I’m sorry.  This is just not something I’ll ever get used to,” she said, extending her hand.  “I imagine your husband probably mentioned me.  I’m one of the sliders, Ms. Beckett, and I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time.”

The other Maggie blinked in surprise.  “No, Steven didn’t mention this,” she said with a spark of annoyance in her voice.  “However, you’re hardly the first slider I’ve entertained.  Please come in.”

“Are you alright, Maggie?” the visitor asked, taking note suddenly of her host’s puffy red eyes.

“It’s nothing,” the black-haired woman said.  “Just a casualty of a lousy marriage.  And by the way, you can call me Molly.  Molly Jensen.  I’ve always gone by Molly.  And I don’t use my maiden name anymore.”

“Oh,” Maggie said, a little surprised.  “Okay.  Well, you can call me Maggie Beckett.  I really need to talk to you about something, Molly.”

-----

*You’d think that after venting for a while I’d be feeling better than this,* Wade thought, a rueful smile creeping to her lips.  *Yet right now, I think I feel worse than when I got here.*

She hadn’t been at the Mallory household for more than ten minutes when she realized Colin was not at all like she’d expected.  She’d expected to be able to talk to him without feeling so uncomfortable.  She’d expected Colin to understand how she was feeling and to help her feel better.  She’d expected him to be able to waylay all her doubts, fears, and despairs, and tell her everything would be alright.

She’d expected Colin to be more like Quinn.

Yet it had become apparent right away that Colin Mallory was nothing like his brother, be it the Quinn of this world or the Quinn that Wade had known.  When she’d arrived here, Wade had been hurt and angry over the news about the professor, and still in constant pain over the loss of Quinn.  She knew she couldn’t deal with talking about Quinn right now, so she settled on discussing the professor instead.

In the conversation that had followed, it became obvious to Wade that Colin had held a grudge against the Arturo of this world, and that he despised his older brother.  Although he never specifically said so, the tone of his voice when discussing the two men was impossible to disguise.  He was angry and hurt, and Wade desperately wanted to know why.

“Colin,” Wade began as he handed her a glass of lemonade, “is there something wrong with your brother?”

Colin smirked.  “What, you mean other than the fact that he’s a total drunk?” he said sarcastically.  “I mean, I know that’s a normal thing, but some people think it’s a little strange.”

“That’s not what I meant, Colin.”

“Ah,” he said, nodding his head.  “So, what *did* you mean?”

Wade brought her hands up to rub her temples and sighed in frustration.  “What I meant was, do you, personally, have something against your brother?”

“Yes,” Colin said simply, taking a drink from his own lemonade glass.

Wade blinked her eyes in surprise.  She’d gathered from their conversation that there was something going on, but she hadn’t expected such a prompt reply.

“Well… What?” she asked, amazed.

“Wade, you were an only child.  Don’t even begin to think you could understand what this is all about,” he snapped irritably.

“On my world, I had an older sister.  Try me,” she demanded.

Colin regarded her for a moment.  “Okay, fine.  You want to know what my problem is?  I’ll tell you.  I’ve spent my entire life being Quinn Mallory’s younger brother.”

“Colin,” Wade began, “you’re going to have to be a little bit more specific than that if I’m ever going to know what you mean.”

“Right,” he said, softening up a little.  “Sorry.  Okay, it’s like this.  My whole entire life I’ve been known as Quinn Mallory’s little brother.  In school, I was skipped a grade.  However, there was nothing remarkable about this because I was Quinn Mallory’s younger brother, and since he had skipped *two* grades, I should at least be able to skip one.”

Then Colin’s voice began to rise in volume, becoming much rougher and angry.  “In college, I excelled in the most advanced classes, the ones that ninety-eight percent of the students flunked out of.  No big deal, I was Quinn’s little brother, and he did that all the time.  After his invention in our basement at home, everyone expected that the work I was doing in the school lab would bear some results.  After all, I was the brother of the Mallory genius and if he could come up with a successful invention in our basement using his wits alone, then there was no reason I couldn’t come up with successful results in the school lab working with all the other students!”

“Oh, Colin,” Wade began sympathetically, “I’m sure it couldn’t have been *that* bad.  I mean, who could’ve thought that about…”

“EVERYONE!!!” Colin screamed, slamming his glass onto the table so hard it shattered in his hand.  “Everyone thought that about me!  All the teachers in school, all the students, professors in college, including the double of your friend Arturo, everyone!  Even my parents!”

Wade just sat there in silence, stunned by the sudden tantrum this man had thrown.  There was nothing else she could think of to say to him.  So instead, she took Colin’s torn hand and with a napkin gently began to mop up the blood that was welling there.  Colin’s other hand then gently clasped hers and she looked up, only to find herself staring deeply into his eyes.  They were tinged with pain and sadness, and lingering regret that she couldn’t even guess the source of.

“I’m sorry,” he said.  “That was uncalled for.  You asked a simple question and I… I totally lost control.  I’m sorry.”

-----

“You gotta be crazy, wanting to come here,” muttered the cab driver as he pulled up in front of a large decorative house.

“Yeah, whatever,” Rembrandt muttered, distracted by the mansion in front of him.

“Everyone else knows enough to avoid this place,” the driver rambled.  “You, on the other hand, you must be either crazy or stupid.  I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“You and me both,” Remmy murmured as he exited the cab.

The driver bolted as soon as Remmy was out, almost as though he was afraid of something.  Privately, Remmy couldn’t blame him, for aside from being a little bit garish, this was one of the most intimidating places he’d ever been.

The place belonged to a man known at large as Rem B, the Executioner.  A man once known as Rembrandt “Cryin’ Man” Brown.  Between the house and the title, it was obvious this man was very different from Rembrandt.  Remmy was only hoping that half the things he’d heard about his double weren’t true.  However, judging from the exterior of the house, this was a lot to hope for.

“Man,” he mumbled to himself.  “I can’t believe I’m doing this.  After all the times I’ve wanted to see myself successful, I never thought I’d see the day I’d try to talk myself out of success.”

With courage restored, Rembrandt walked up to the house and rang the bell.  After a moment, a butler answered the door.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

“Umm… Yes,” Remmy said, vaguely surprised that he wasn’t mistaken for his double.  “I was hoping I could have a word with the master of the house.”

“I’m sorry.  Mr. B left strict orders not to be disturbed with anything trivial today.  I do believe a crazed fan does not qualify as important enough to bother him.  Good day,” he said, closing the door on Rembrandt’s face.

Remmy caught the door just before it slammed his nose and shoved it open again.  “Hey, wait a minute!” he exclaimed.  “You don’t even know why I’m here!”

“I have my orders,” the butler said. “That is enough.”

“Look, man.  You go and tell your boss that he’s got a sliding double here who needs to talk to him.  If that doesn’t get him out here, I don’t know what will.”

-----

“You’ve been crying,” Maggie stated as she settled into a comfortable chair.

“Can’t fool you, can I?” Molly sniffed sarcastically.  “They teach you those sharp observation skills in the military or have you always been that quick?”

“Molly, you and I both know how tough it is to hide the truth from ourselves,” Maggie said gently, ignoring her double’s bitter sarcasm.  “You know why I’m here.”

Molly gazed off toward the wall.  “You’re here to talk to me about Steven.”

Maggie simply nodded, having difficulty finding the words to continue on.  Molly quickly took that necessity away.

“Thank you for that,” she said with a small smile that belied the tears welling up fresh in her eyes.  “I’m grateful.  But I already know.”

“You do?” Maggie asked, somewhat surprised.

“That he’s been having an affair with a woman named Daelin Richards?  I’ve known for a long time.”

“I’m sorry,” Maggie said.  “After the way your husband reacted to me yesterday, I’d assumed you didn’t know.”

“That’s what he thinks,” Molly replied with a sigh.  “Truth is, I found out almost right away.  This has been going on for a few months now.”

Maggie felt confused.  “Then why haven’t…”

“I said anything to Steven?  What on earth could I possibly say to him?  ‘Dear, ever since you got me pregnant, you’ve wanted nothing to do with me.  Who’re you messing with in my place?’  Come on.  That’ll accomplish nothing,” Molly stated bitterly.

“If you feel that way about it, why don’t you just leave?” Maggie snapped back.

Molly gazed off at the wall again.  “Because I still love him,” she whispered, choking back tears.  “I always have.  And more than anything, I don’t want to lose him.”

Maggie followed Molly’s gaze to the wall.  Hanging there lovingly was a picture of their wedding day.  Every detail of the picture was just as Maggie remembered it.  The clothes, the flowers, the chapel.  Everything.

Even the expressions on the faces.  Joy.  Pure, uninhibited joy.  The couple in the picture was in love, and there was no doubt about it.

Maggie felt her heart throbbing.  How she longed for those days.  *If only Steven hadn’t been killed.  I’d still have him, and we’d be happy.*  And yet, Molly still had her Steven and was obviously not happy.  *When I had my affair with Rickman…  I wonder... Did Steven know about that?  What would it have done to him?*

“Molly,” Maggie whispered, sitting down beside her despairing double.  “You won’t lose him.  I promise.”

-----

Logan smiled contentedly as she took a deep breath.  Somehow the air seemed cleaner, fresher than any she’d ever experienced before.  The scientific part of her wondered if this world had obliterated pollution, and if so, how they’d managed to do it.  But Logan doubted this was the case.  *The air has nothing to do with it.  It’s the company,* she thought, glancing at Rachael as they walked through the park together.  *This is the first time I’ve really felt wanted in a long time.  I think the last time I was truly at peace was back on my home world.*

She had considered Rachael’s offer for a long time before finally deciding to take her up on it.  After all, everyone else was gone exploring, and even though Logan usually preferred it alone, she had somehow felt jealous of the Mallory family on this world.  They had each other, and for once, she wanted to know what that felt like.  Besides, Rachael was more than happy to spend time with the sister she’d never had.

“Doesn’t it ever bother you?” Rachael asked Logan suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Hmm?”

“Sliding without any direction, I mean.”

Logan gave her a wry grin.  “Well, it’s no picnic, if that’s what you want to know.”

“Of course... I mean...” Rachael stammered with confusion, trying to figure out exactly how to say what she meant.

“Yeah, Rachael.  Random sliding does bother me.  All the time.  I hate that I was pulled into it, but a small part of me almost thinks it was for my own good.”

“What on earth do you mean by that?” Rachael asked, eyeing Logan with surprise.  “From the interview yesterday, I thought that you at least knew what you were getting yourself into.  I mean, your group had mentioned that they picked you up a few slides ago from a slider prison camp.  Surely that means you knew what sliding was and all.”

“True enough,” Logan said, sitting down heavily on a park bench.  “Actually there’s more to the story than that.  You see, we’d actually met before, on my home world.  Thanks to their Quinn, I ended up randomly bouncing around the multiverse.”  Logan unconsciously clenched her fists at this.  As much as she believed she’d reformed and gotten rid of her desire for revenge, Logan knew there was a part of her that didn’t want to let it go.  She felt she was in control of all this, that she was doing the right thing now, but a part of Logan wanted to let it all loose.

“Quinn did that?  I... I can’t even imagine that.  Everything your friends have told us about him makes me think he was just like my Quinn.  At least before...” Rachael trailed of in confusion.  “Yet now...  Well, I know my Quinn would need a really good reason before he’d even consider doing that.”

Logan sighed heavily.  She’d wanted to avoid mentioning this, but now didn’t see another choice.  “He did have a good reason.  You see... I wasn’t exactly a nice person back then.  I wanted to use sliding for my own gain, and I didn’t really care who got hurt in the process.  But I’m not like that anymore,” she added quickly after catching Rachael’s shocked glance.  “I wasn’t really then either, I just... wanted to help my world.  Thought that was the best way to do it.  Maybe I was going about it the wrong way.  So Quinn had to make a choice.  And I thought it was either send me home or do nothing and let me die, but he somehow sent me to a random world instead.  I hated him for it then, but I’ve changed a lot since.”

“Oh,” Rachael said, apparently deep in thought.  Then she turned to Logan with a big smile on her face.  “Well, if you were nasty before, you can’t even tell now!”

Logan smiled, wishing for at least the fiftieth time that day that she’d had a younger sister to spend time with growing up.  “Thanks, kid.”

“You know, this has been pretty cool.  I’ve never had a sister before.  It’s nice to have someone to talk to once in a while.”

“Yeah.  Well, at least you have your brothers.  I didn’t have anybody back on my world.”

Rachael snorted in contempt at that.  “Right.  Whatever.”  With a sad sigh, she brushed some stray strands of hair from her face.  “Sorry, Logan.  I just don’t consider my brothers easy to talk to.  Colin has always been sour.  Never really figured out what his problem was.  He just seemed to hate everyone, so I could never talk to him.  And Quinn’s fallen apart.  I used to be able to talk to him all the time.  Even after he got married and started a family.  But now he just sits there and doesn’t respond.  He’s in pain and I don’t know how to help him.”

Tears had begun to course down Rachael’s face and Logan was suddenly moved with pity.  Gently, she pulled Rachael’s head to her shoulder and let her cry.  “I’m so sorry, Rachael.  I didn’t know.”

“No way you could’ve known,” she sniffed.  “Not your fault.  I just want my brother back, that’s all.”

-----

“Well, Professor Arturo, I must say you are lucky we were able to fit you in today.  Most days we’re booked solid here,” the doctor said as he began to review the information the nurse had written down for him.

“Yes, and I feel quite flattered too,” Arturo mumbled sarcastically under his breath.

The doctor either didn’t hear him or chose to ignore him, for he went right on with business.  “It says here that it’s been a long time since your last physical.  Nice of you to rejoin us.  Any particular reason behind this visit?”

“To find out if I’m in good health, you blistering idiot!”

“Yes, of course,” the doctor said blandly, completely unfazed by Arturo’s outburst.  “Well, we’ll check you over completely.  Still, is there anything specific I should be looking for?”

That sobered Arturo up.  “If you could keep an eye open for any sign of terminal illness, I’d be very grateful.”

-----

“Who the hell are you?”

Rembrandt almost didn’t recognize the irritable voice coming from behind him, but he had a feeling he knew who it was.  Quickly, he turned around to explain, but was at a loss for words at the sight of his double.

Rem B was a very intimidating man in person.  Although he was the same height as Remmy, he was as muscular as a bodybuilder and was clad in black leather and gold jewelry.  For a moment, Rembrandt doubted the guy was his double, but then he looked into the man’s eyes and felt a slight sense of recognition.

“Well?”

“You know exactly who I am.  Otherwise you wouldn’t have come down here,” Rembrandt said in a controlled voice.

“You’re one of them sliders, aren’t you?  Hmph,” Rem B chuckled wickedly.  “You poor soul.  Bouncing from world to world without any sense of direction. Hah.  Poor, poor soul.”

“What makes you so sure that I’m sliding randomly?” Remmy asked, irritated.

“I’m not,” his double smirked.  “But if you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t be a slider if you could stay at home.”

“Who says I’m anything like you,” Rembrandt countered.

“So,” Rem B said, sitting on a large, overstuffed chair, “what are you doing here, anyway?  Decided to see how one of your *rich* doubles spends his time and money?”

“Don’t need to.  I’ve been more impressed than this by my other doubles,” Remmy said, sitting down across from him.  “Actually, I wanted to know if what I’ve heard is true.”

“What, that I’m rich beyond belief and my music serves as a release for society?”

“No, that you care only about your own welfare and your music is contributing to the downfall of society,” Rembrandt said carefully.  “They say your music is responsible for much of the teenage violence on this world.  That it inspires people to use drugs and hurt people.  This true?”

Rem B fitted him with a piercing stare.  “I suppose.  So what?  It’s my music, not somebody else's.  It’s their problem, not mine.”

“Your music is convincing people to kill themselves!”

“So?” Rem B snapped.  “I’m not the one pulling the trigger.  They should learn to control themselves.”

“You’re a fine one to talk about control,” Remmy replied.  “After all, you’re the one who can’t get over an accident that happened five years ago.  From what I’ve heard, that sliding incident made you rich and famous overnight.  How the hell can you complain?”

“Yeah, man.  Whatever.”

Angry, Rembrandt got up to leave.  He hadn’t spent five minutes with the guy and he was already sorry he’d come.  Just being with this man made him feel sick.  “Buddy,” he said as he walked out the door, “you need to see a shrink.”

-----

“I can’t even begin to explain it,” Maggie said, taking another gulp from her beer.  “It’s like some huge, gaping void just swam up out of nowhere and started sucking down all my guts.  One minute I’m fine, next thing I know, I... I don’t know.”

“Hey, Maggie, it’s okay,” Remmy said, putting a hand on her shoulder.  “A situation like that’s bound to get to you.”

Maggie fixed him with an icy stare.  “Rembrandt, I’m a military trained soldier.  Now, I don’t know how things worked on your world, but on mine, that meant we were trained to be able to deal with anything.  Anything and everything, up to and including the possibility of having our loved ones used against us.  I should *not* be bothered like this.”

“Yeah, Maggie.  You know, we’re very disappointed that you’re proving to be human,” Logan smirked.  “Personally, I was beginning to think you were some emotionless mutant from a world where evolution went seriously wrong, but now you’re starting to convince me you’re normal.”

Maggie glared at her momentarily, but there was no real fury behind her gaze.  With a frustrated sigh, she brought the beer mug down with a slam.  “Alright already.  I get the point.  It’s normal.  Still...” Maggie trailed off briefly, her eyes focusing on some unknown place.  Then she shook her head, as if to clear painful thoughts from her mind.  “So, what did you guys do today?”

Rembrandt snorted.  “I spent my time trying to find out what kind of jerk I’d turned into on this world.”

“And?” Logan prompted.

“Man, I don’t even want to talk about it.”

“That bad, huh?” Maggie asked with a smile.

“Girl, you have no idea,” Remmy said with a sigh.  “This guy has more wealth than I could ever imagine having.  He looks like a miniature Mr. T and lives in the lap of luxury.  Yet he doesn’t give a damn about the world around him, and is obsessed with that minor sliding incident from five years ago.”

“Maybe on this world, your double isn’t as mentally stable as you, Mr. Brown,” a voice from behind them stated, a trace of amusement lingering in the voice.

“Max!” Maggie exclaimed, surprised.

“Very funny, Professor,” Remmy smirked.  “Too bad you may not be that far off.”

“So?  There’s not much you can do about it,” Logan said, basically ignoring the professor’s arrival.

Rembrandt sighed.  “There’s nothing I can do about it.  I don’t know where I’d begin.”

“Sometimes no action is the best possible course of action,” Arturo stated sagely.  “Where is Miss Wells, anyway?  I thought I’d find her here at the bar with the rest of you.”

“At the room,” Logan replied.  “When I showed up, she locked herself in the bathroom and refused to come out.”

“Hmm,” Arturo mused.  “I hope everything’s okay.”

“Yeah, Max.  I’m sure everything’s just peachy,” Logan smirked sarcastically.  “People who are okay lock themselves in bathrooms for no reason all the time.”

“I don’t know if okay is a word that can be applied to Wade anymore,” Remmy said sadly, ignoring Logan.  “She tries to hide it, but I’m not sure I buy it.  Without Q-ball, I’m not sure Wade will ever think of anything as okay again.”

-----

Wade had only been in the bathroom for five minutes when she realized she had to get out of there.  If she stayed, someone would eventually come looking for her, and when that happened, she’d have to speak to them.  Wade wasn’t sure she could deal with speaking to anyone just then.  All she really wanted was to be left alone.

So as soon as she heard Logan leave, Wade grabbed her coat, wrote a quick note, and then, after waiting a couple of minutes, left the hotel.

*I just need some time to myself, to get my thoughts together again,* she thought as she briskly began walking toward the park.  *Hmm.  This could be a very long walk if I settle on that kind of goal.*

Her mind was in total chaos, like a giant collage of emotions with each one fighting for supremacy.  There was a constant battle going on between rage and despair.  She felt hurt and was furious because of it.  Grief tinged into every aspect of her mind.

*I wish all these thoughts would just go away,* Wade thought with despair.  *I wish I could leave them behind when I slide out of a world.  I wish they wouldn’t come with me.  But they’re everywhere.  God, I miss Quinn.*

Lost in thought, Wade wandered into the park.  Shivering from a sudden breeze, she zipped up her coat.  *It’s getting dark,* she thought absently, gazing out at the setting sun.  Then something else caught her attention.

There was a man sitting at a park bench, staring blankly out at the sunset.  He looked vaguely familiar.  Could it be...?

*Quinn!* Wade’s mind exclaimed.  Then disbelief claimed her.  Quinn was dead.  She knew that.  Still, a part of her mind couldn’t accept it.  Trying to control her hopes, Wade carefully walked over to the man on the bench and tapped him on the shoulder.  Startled, he turned around.

It *was* Quinn Mallory.

Only it wasn’t *her* Quinn.  The slight smell of booze in the air made it clear this man was the Quinn native to this world.

“Sorry.  I just thought... For a moment there...” Wade sputtered, trying to come up with an excuse for disturbing him.

Quinn just looked at her with groggy eyes.  Then, blinking, he smiled weakly.  “It’s okay.  I understand...  Would you like to sit down?”

“Sure,” Wade said, returning his weak smile.

For a while there, the two of them sat in silence, watching the sun as it dipped beyond the horizon.  It was the most beautiful thing Wade had seen in a long time, and for a brief moment, she could almost begin to forget her grief.

“I’m sorry,” Quinn said softly beside her.

“What for?” Wade asked, confused.

“For the way I reacted when I first saw you here,” he said with a sigh.  “I just... Well, I...  I guess I just wasn’t prepared to feel that way.  You see, on this world, you and I were married.  But since then...”  He suddenly clamped down, unable to say the words.

“I know,” Wade said softly, putting her arm around him.  “Rachael told me what happened.”

An awkward silence reigned once again.  Desperate to keep some form of conversation going, Wade changed the subject.  “You know, it’s really beautiful here at sunset.  It’s been so long since I’ve been home that I’d almost forgotten.”

“Yeah, it is,” Quinn agreed wistfully.  “Your double used to love coming down here to watch the sunset.  She said it gave her a sense of peace that she couldn’t find anywhere else.”

“Hmmm.  I think she was right.  For some reason, I feel more at peace here than I have since...” Wade cut off.

“I know,” Quinn said, understanding.  “I know.”

“I'm so sorry,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes.  “I just miss him so much.”

“Maybe you’d like to stay here with me, on this world?” Quinn asked quickly.

“Right.”  Wade mustered a slight smile.

“I’m serious,” he said solemnly.  “That way neither of us would be alone any more, and maybe you could finally feel some peace.”

Wade’s jaw hung down for a second.  “Quinn, I...  I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes.  Please, Wade,” he entreated, pleading with his eyes.

“I’ll have to think about it.”

-----

“What was she thinking?  Hasn’t she learned anything in her years of sliding?” Logan snapped irritably, reading Wade’s note once again.

“Miss St. Clair, please.  Miss Wells is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.  You have nothing to worry about,” Arturo replied, trying to not lose his temper.

“Yeah, right,” Logan said sarcastically.

“Logan, the professor’s right,” Rembrandt said, settling into a chair in front of the television.  “Besides, I thought you didn’t like Wade all that much.  What’s with all the concern?”

“Concern?  I never said I was concerned about her.  I just don’t like to think about what could happen to her wandering around alone at night.”

Maggie gave a crooked smile.  “That’s called concern, Logan.”

Logan fixed Maggie with an angry glare.  “You guys don’t get it, do you?  You really are dense!  Of all of us right now, Wade is the biggest liability we have.  She hasn’t been in her right mind ever since you lost Quinn, and people who are distracted like that make mistakes.  She could get hurt, and that would hurt us all.”

“You would know, Miss St. Clair,” Arturo said dryly.  “After all, it seems like the last time Miss Wells was this upset over something, *you* were the one who got the drop on her.”

“You know,” Logan began in a low, controlled voice, “all the years you guys have been sliding, I’m not the only one who’s been tailing you.  Do you think the Kromaggs wouldn’t love to get their hands on you?  You were their prisoners once and you got away.  How often do you think *that* happens?  They’ve got to be burning for revenge.  Or even worse, all the doubles on the world where we lost Quinn.  Do you think that Quinn 1 isn’t out there, searching for us?  You’re fools if you think he’d give up on us so easily.  I’d say we’ve got good reason to be paranoid, even on a calm little world like this.”

“Yeah, well, save your paranoia for another night.  I’m back,” Wade said from the door behind Logan.

“Where have you been?” Logan asked, rounding on her.

“None of your damn business,” Wade snapped.

“Next time you wander off like that, take someone with you,” Logan exclaimed.  “Something could have happened!”

“You’d know, wouldn’t you, Logan?” Wade said with narrowed eyes.

“I’ve changed since then,” Logan snapped.  “You all know that.”

“Yeah, Logan, whatever.”  Wade brushed by her and slammed the bathroom door behind her.

Angrily, Logan turned around and went out the front door, also slamming it behind her.  Warily, Maggie, Max, and Remmy exchanged a worried glance.

-----

Maggie blinked sleepily as the sun’s light shone in from the window.  In the next bed over, she heard Logan rolling restlessly.  Maggie turned to look in her direction, only to find Logan gazing right back at her, looking somewhat haggard.

“Rough night?” Maggie asked playfully.  Logan responded promptly by tossing a pillow at her.

“I didn’t sleep all that well, alright?” Logan snapped.

“Ouch.  And here I thought I was the one who was suppose to toss and turn all night, haunted by my own thoughts,” Maggie said.

“Yeah, well.  You and Wade anyway,” Logan conceded.  “By the way, where is Wade?  She wasn’t here when I got back, and for once, I didn’t feel like waking you up to ask.”

“How strangely considerate of you,” Maggie said, sitting up.  “Wade decided she didn’t want to be our roommate last night and crashed on a chair in the guys’ room.”

“Ah,” Logan said, a mild flash of relief crossing her face.

“So, what kept you up all night?”

Logan shifted around uncomfortably.  Maggie could tell that whatever it was, Logan didn’t want to talk about it.  Still, she was curious.  Anything that disturbed Logan was worth taking note of.  For some reason, Maggie felt that they could mostly trust her.  Yet there was always this niggling doubt.

“I just spent a lot of time thinking.”

“About?” Maggie prompted.

“Lots of things,” Logan said with a sigh.  “Just the way things have been going.  Like the conversation… fight… I had with Wade last night.  And the time I’ve spent with Rachael.”

“How’d that go anyway?  I didn’t honestly expect you to take her up on that.”  Maggie’s voice was laced with curiosity.

“Why not?” Logan asked, her voice hard.  “Because I’m mean and cruel and heartless?  The devil incarnate?  Because I’ve done some bad things in my past and so now I obviously don’t have any feelings whatsoever and would never want to change my ways?  Which one is it?”

“Logan, that’s not what I meant.  You know that.”

“Do I?  Yeah, I guess I do,” Logan said softly, standing up and walking over to the hotel mirror.  “But that’s what you think of me.  I know that’s what Wade and the others think.”

“What gave you that impression?” Maggie asked cautiously.

Logan looked back at her through the mirror.  “I’m not stupid and I have eyes.  So far I’ve not entirely sorted out how Rembrandt feels about me, but it’s pretty obvious Wade and Max despise me.”

“Understandable,” Maggie said slowly, sitting up in her bed.  “After all, you have tried to kill Wade a few times.”

“Only twice,” countered Logan, seemingly trying to recall the times and count them on her fingers.  “That’s a couple, not a few.  And I was seriously considering keeping her around when she got that knock on the head.”

“And,” Maggie continued, “I doubt Max likes the fact that you killed one of his doubles.  But ultimately, I think you remind them both of Quinn a bit too much.”

“Rachael doesn’t hate me,” Logan stated after a moment of silence.  “She actually likes having me around.  I feel like I can talk to her without any trouble.  And while I love that, a part of me wishes...”

“That maybe you could feel the same way around us?” Maggie said softly.

Logan nodded her head slowly.  “Strange, huh?  I must be coming down with something.”

“Logan, I think your problem is you’re starting to like us.”

Logan snorted.  “I don’t know if I’d go *that* far.”

-----

Wade had spent the whole day walking.  There was no point in staying at the hotel.  The only people there were the people she was trying to avoid.  Besides, a part of her thrilled at the chance to annoy Logan when she could.

*It all comes down to what I really want,* she thought.  *Do I want to go home, or do I want to be with Quinn?*  It should have been a simple matter, she realized.  But it wasn’t.  Not anymore.

“You know, just cause we’re in California doesn’t mean it's always warm.  You should wear a coat.”

Surprised, Wade turned toward the voice behind her.  “Quinn!” she exclaimed with a smile.  “What are you doing here?”

He flashed her a charming smile.  “Actually, I was on my way to see you.”

Wade’s face fell at that.  “You need my decision already?”

“No,” Quinn responded, a little surprised.  “This is a big decision for you.  I’d never ask you to make up your mind in one day.  I just wanted to see you is all.  I enjoyed spending time with you last night.”

“Yeah,” Wade said, her grin returning, “me too.  Best time I’ve had in a while.”

Side by side, they walked in silence, enjoying the company of the other.  *Almost feels like nothing’s changed.*  It was such a wonderful thought it made her shiver.

“You know, I wasn’t kidding about the weather,” Quinn said with a smile.  Gallantly, he pulled off his jacket and draped it around her shoulders.  Despite the fact that her shivering had nothing to do with the cold, Wade graciously accepted the coat.

“I’ve missed you,” she confessed quietly.

“So have I.”

-----

As Rembrandt Brown munched away at a breakfast roll, he studied the paper with great intensity.  He couldn’t help but note that on this world, like so many others he’d been to, the newspaper only seemed to report the bad news and never the good.  *Still, I suppose when things are going bad, it’s kind of difficult to focus on the good.*

From recent experience, Remmy knew this to be so.  Wade being pissed at him was just further proof.  He’d tried to apologize to her, but she refused to speak to him, so it obviously wasn’t working.  Nothing he came up with seemed to help matters any.

Suddenly, he was clamped against the table by a large hand.  “Rembrandt Brown,” came a stern voice, “you are under arrest.  You have the right to remain silent.”

“Wha...?” Remmy gasped, turning slightly to see a group of cops behind him.  *Aw man!*

-----

To Maggie’s surprise, she had no trouble entering the lab.  The guard was the same one the group had encountered two days ago, and this time he didn’t ask any questions.  Maggie couldn’t decide if that meant the lab people were incredibly trusting or incredibly stupid.  *Maybe both,* she thought as she walked over to the lab door.

Abruptly, the door opened, and Colin was there to greet her.  “Ms. Beckett,” he said smoothly.  “The guard at the front desk just called and told us you were on your way down.  What can I do for you?”

*Hmm.  Maybe not as stupid as I thought.*  Hastily, she cleared her throat.  “I was wondering if I could speak to Dr. Jensen for a moment.”

Colin looked surprised at the request, but could think of no reason to deny it.  “Just a minute,” he said, leaving her at the door.  As she stood there, Maggie could see Colin go over to Jensen’s workstation.  The woman was not with him this time.  Steven’s expression suddenly turned to one of surprise, and he quickly rose and hurried over to talk to her.

“Ms. Beckett,” he said pleasantly.  “What can I do for you?”

“We need to talk,” Maggie said bluntly.  “Privately.”

“Alright,” Dr. Jensen said, closing the door behind him.  “The break room ought to be free at this time of the day.  We can talk there.”

-----

“Yes, I want to leave a message!” Rembrandt snapped irritably at the hotel receptionist after he couldn’t get anyone in the room.  “Would you please tell them that Rembrandt Brown called.  Tell them that I’ve been arrested on drug charges and that somebody needs to come down to the local jail with $600 and bail me out.  A.S.A.P.!!  You got that?”

“Yes, sir,” the lady on the phone said.  “Was there anything else?”

Remmy sighed.  “No, I think that about covers it.”  With resignation, Rembrandt slammed the receiver down.  He couldn’t believe this was happening to him, and yet he also couldn’t believe this sort of thing surprised him anymore.

Near as he could tell, Rembrandt had been arrested for crimes committed by his double.  No big surprise there, this’d happened to them before.  They'd said Rem B was wanted for illegal possession and use of cocaine.  A part of Remmy was surprised that it wasn’t illegal steroid use instead, given how huge the guy was.

Apparently the cops had never been able to *find* Rem B in that mansion of his, let alone arrest him.  So when the local cops had noticed Rembrandt Brown hanging around the Dominion hotel so much lately, they realized this was their golden opportunity.  Too bad they had the wrong Rembrandt.

For a brief moment, Remmy entertained the notion of trying to bust out of there, but common sense ruled against it.  After all, although Rembrandt hadn’t committed these crimes, his double had.  Remmy could think of no reason why his double shouldn’t face trial for what he’d done.  The hearing was set for two days after they slid out, so if Remmy could somehow post bail, then it didn’t really matter what happened.  If he could talk his double into owning up to his crimes, he would.  If not, then at least Rembrandt wouldn’t be around to suffer for it.

However, first he needed to post bail.  It had vaguely surprised him that everyone was away from the hotel today.  Still, from what he’d seen, it was a nice day outside, and this was one of the safer worlds to spend time on.  If they we going to enjoy themselves at all, this was as good a world to do it on as any.  You never knew when you’d slide into the middle of a war zone.  Rembrandt only hoped someone would bail him out before nighttime.

-----

“It’s about your wife, Dr. Jensen,” Maggie said bluntly as she settled into the break room chair.

“My wife?” Jensen asked in confusion.  “What about my wife?  Has she gone into labor early or something?  Is there something wrong?  Maybe I should call her...”  He began to rise.

“Nothing like that, Dr… Steven.  As far as I know, your wife is fine.  However, something is wrong.”

The relief that had begun to spread on Jensen’s face stopped abruptly, replaced suddenly with worry and concern.

“So, what’s wrong?” he asked quietly, staring down at the tabletop.  Maggie had a feeling he knew exactly what this was about.

“I think you know what’s wrong.  You’re having an affair, and that’s hurting your relationship with your wife,” Maggie said a little more harshly than intended.

Jensen just continued to look at the tabletop.  Absently, his fingers began to trace the barely visible grain of the table.  Finally, he looked up, his face drawn and sad.

“I know,” he said quietly.

“Well... why?” Maggie sputtered angrily.  A part of her felt as though *she* was the one who was betrayed.  Yet another part of her could identify with Steven.

“I... I don’t really know why,” Jensen admitted.  “It started so innocently.  We were friends, nothing more.  But then it grew into something other than friendship.  Before I knew it, I was cheating on my wife.  Not clever enough to hide it, but too ashamed to tell Molly about it.”

“No need for that,” Maggie said.  “I talked to her yesterday.  She already knows.”

Jensen sighed.  “I’m not a bit surprised.  She was always a sharp one.  But why hasn’t she said anything to me about it?  Why would she confide in you, and not me?”

“Don’t know for sure,” Maggie replied, “but I think she’s afraid that if she say’s anything, she’ll lose you.  Steven, she still loves you.  Even though she knows about this, she loves you.  What I want to know is this: How do you feel about *her?*  If you don’t love her anymore, then you should at least have the decency to tell her and let her get on with her life.  If you do, then get rid of the girlfriend.”

“Of course I still love her!” Jensen said indignantly.  “I’ve always loved her.  I can’t wait to see our baby, to be a father.  She means everything to me!”

“If she means so much, then tell her what you’ve done and how you feel about her.  And get rid of the girlfriend.”

“Right,” Jensen said, troubled.  “But if she already knows... why do I have to tell her about my affair?”

“Steven, listen to me,” Maggie began sadly.  “I know how you feel.  On my world, I never told my husband about my affair.  I don’t know if he ever knew about it, or how it might have affected him.  I’ll never know if he’d have forgiven me for this, and that fact has been slowly eating away at my soul ever since he died.  Believe me when I say you’ll never achieve any peace of mind until you do this.”

-----

Wade left the bar feeling even more confused than she had when she first entered it.  *This is so strange,* she thought as she idly clutched Quinn’s coat around her.  *I actually feel pretty good!*  Somehow, this didn’t seem right to her.  After all, one close friend of hers had died recently, another had lied to her, and a third may have serious health problems.  Feeling good almost seemed like a crime under such circumstances.

Yet her good mood didn’t quite go so far as to include talking to the other sliders.  She’d purposely came down to dinner early to avoid them, and when Arturo, Maggie, and Logan had shown up, she promptly left, just before Logan could make a snide remark about Quinn’s jacket.  Vaguely, she noticed that Rembrandt wasn’t there.  While this struck her as odd, a part of her was glad, for she wasn’t really in the mood to speak to him anyway.

Still, the natural wave of concern swept over her.  *When someone is missing, that usually means trouble.  I’ll see if he’s left any messages.*

The woman at the desk seemed almost too perky.  As Wade approached, the woman flashed a bright smile and piped, “Can I help you?”

Wade smiled back.  “Yes.  I was wondering if there were any messages for rooms 17 or 19?”

“Let me check,” the woman said cheerfully.  Quickly, she rustled through some sort of filing system.  “Yes, there is.  From a man named Rembrandt Brown.  Seems he got into some trouble with the law and needs someone to bail him out of jail.  Would you like the note?  That might explain things better.”  The lady extended the note in Wade’s direction.

Wade sighed and took the note.  “Thanks,” she said politely, and then trekked down the hall to the room, reading Remmy’s message.  When she got to the room, she looked at her clock.  They’d eaten dinner late, so she wasn’t too surprised when it said 10:30.  Wade sat down in the room.  She didn’t really *want* to go down to the police station.  Especially after how things had been between the two of them lately.  *Right now, I’d almost rather let him rot in jail for a night.  Maybe then he’d learn how to treat his friends.*

Wade laughed at the thought of that.  Remmy’d be *so* mad if she did that!  It suddenly seemed like a marvelous idea.

*No,* Wade thought, containing her mirth.  *I can’t do that, even if I want to.  I’d better go scrounge up... $600?*  Wade quickly dug into her pockets for her wallet.  There was only about $25 there, about what she’d expected, but suddenly she realized that there was no way they’d be able to bail Remmy out.  They hadn’t gotten jobs on this world and couldn’t afford it.  They’d have to borrow money from someone.

Wade thought she knew from whom, too.  Any one of the Mallorys would be more than happy to help her out, she was sure of it.  But she couldn’t very well go over there in the middle of the night asking for money.  *I’ll wait until tomorrow.  Can’t do anything about it right now anyway,* she thought as she settled down onto the bed.

Right when she got comfortable, the door lock clicked, and in walked Max, Maggie, and Logan.  Max and Logan were both glaring at each other, and Wade vaguely wondered what she’d missed.  Maggie looked around the room in despair, desperate to distract herself from the two feuding intellectuals.

“Any word from Remmy yet?” Maggie asked, obviously trying to change the subject from a conversation Wade had missed.

“Yeah,” Wade said sleepily.  “He left a message at the front desk.  He’s fine, just found somewhere else to stay tonight.”

The words almost caught in her throat.  While it wasn’t *exactly* a lie, it sure felt like one, and she didn’t like to lie to friends.  But she couldn’t see any point in telling them the truth.  After all, they’d insist on trying to do something about it, and Wade already knew there was nothing that could be done.  It wouldn’t hurt them any, and she’d have the problem all sorted out before noon tomorrow.  So why did she feel so guilty about it?

-----

Wade left the hotel early the next morning, before any of the others were up.  She’d managed to get in contact with Rachael, and after explaining the situation with Rembrandt, the girl was more than happy to help Wade out.  She was a little bit surprised that Rachael, who was still a teenager, had that much money to spend, but when Wade thought about the valuable research the family did for their world, things began to make a little bit more sense.

“Wade, you’re here!  Great!” Rachael said with enthusiasm as Wade reached the front door.  “Come on in!  I’ve got the money you need right here.”

“Thanks a million for this, Rachael.  We didn’t have enough on hand for this, and well...” Wade said, shrugging her shoulders.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.  After all, I’ve been a slider too.  I know exactly what you mean.”

Wade smiled.  “Thanks,” she murmured again.

Then, to her immense surprise, Rachael’s wide smile suddenly began to fade.  “Wade,” she said slowly, “is that Quinn’s jacket you’re wearing?”

Wade frowned.  “Yeah, actually.”

“Ah,” Rachael said, a strange expression on her face.  “I was wondering where he’d lost that.  He came home late last night, freezing.  I was sure he’d left it at some bar somewhere.”

“Oh,” Wade said softly.  “No, actually he gave this to me yesterday.  I ran into him in the park and we went for a walk.  He decided I looked cold, and I just haven’t had the chance to return it to him.”

Rachael smiled bitterly.  “I’m surprised.  I guess I didn’t think he’d want to see you.  Didn’t think he’d want to be reminded...”

“I know what you mean,” Wade said softly.  “It surprised me too, at first.  I ran into him a couple nights ago and we talked.  He asked me to stay here.”

Rachael’s mouth dropped open slowly, a stunned expression spreading across her face.  Slowly, she sat down.  “I see.”

“Are you okay?” Wade asked, concerned.

“Yeah... sure... fine.  It’s just I... I hadn’t expected this.”

“I haven’t figured out what to do yet,” Wade added.

“But you’re seriously considering it, aren’t you,” Rachael stated, looking closely at Wade.  Wade nodded her head, prompting a heavy sigh from Rachael.

“What’s wrong?” Wade asked.  “I didn’t think you minded having me around.”

“Wade,” Rachael said softly, “I *don’t* mind having you around.  You remind me of my friend, and I like to think that’s a good thing.  But the fact remains that you *aren’t* her, and you can never replace her.

“That’s why Quinn wants you to stay,” Rachael continued.  “He misses his wife too much and doesn’t care anymore about how it’ll affect me or Colin.”

“Colin?”

Rachael nodded with a bitter smile.  “Yeah.  You know, in a strange way your death on this world had one positive outcome.  It got rid of at least one thing they had competed for.”

-----

*Let’s see what we have here.  People... Seventeen... Sports Illustrated....  Don’t these blistering idiots ever carry *good* reading material in their waiting rooms?*  Frustrated, Professor Arturo moved to the next table over, hoping for a better selection there.  Unfortunately, the next table held more of the same, and for the hundredth time in recent history, Arturo found himself wishing he’d brought a book along on these slides.

Truth was, he didn’t want to think about the appointment he had today with the doctor.  The news about the other Arturos had scared him, more thoroughly than most things ever had.  A part of him was truly terrified at the prospect of possibly learning he had a terminal illness, while another part was afraid of not knowing.  Desperately he wanted to take his mind off this predicament.

He was shuffling through the last pile of magazines when something caught his eye.  A magazine titled Scientific Discoveries, with what looked to be a sliding wormhole on the cover.

“Ah,” he mumbled in satisfaction.  “Finally something worth looking at.”

However, just as he sat down and began to open the cover, a woman at the front desk called his name.

Arturo sighed.  “It never fails.”

-----

By the time Wade bailed him out of jail, it was almost noon, and Rembrandt Brown was not in a good mood.

“What on earth took you so long, girl?” he demanded as they left the police station.  “I spent the whole freakin’ night in the slammer.  Don’t you guys ever check the messages when I’m not there?”

“Remmy, of course we do!  How else would I have known to come down here?” Wade said, her voice deceptively sweet.  “I actually got the message yesterday.”

“What?!  Then what took so long?”

“Well,” she began, “it was getting late, and when I realized we didn’t have enough money to meet your bail, I knew I’d have to borrow some.  Couldn’t get it until today.”

“You guys knew last night that I was stuck in jail and decided to just leave me there?  Thanks a lot!” Remmy snapped, his fists clenched at his sides.

“The others had nothing to do with it.  They didn’t know.”

“How’s that?” Remmy asked, confused.

“I didn’t tell them that you were in jail,” Wade said simply.

“Oh, really,” Remmy snarled.  “They just accepted the fact that I never came back last night?  I don’t buy it!  We’re a team.  We look out for one another.”

“I told them you left a message and that you had somewhere else to stay for the night.”  Wade looked at Remmy crossly.  “Besides, have you taken a look at our *team* recently?  It’s not exactly the most caring bunch of people in the multiverse!”

“You lied to them!” Remmy exploded.  “First you get mad at me for lying to you about something, and then you turn around and do the same thing to somebody else!”

“I did *not* do the same thing you did!” Wade snapped back.  “Yeah, okay, maybe I did lie to them a bit!  But it wasn’t a lie that hurt anybody!  Nobody got hurt, and the problem was solved.”

“How can you possibly be mad at me still when you just did the same thing?”

“It’s NOT the same!” Wade snarled.  “Remmy, you hurt me.  I had a right to know about the professor’s condition, and *you* didn’t tell me.  What, did you think maybe I couldn’t handle it?  That I’d overreact or break down or something?  If I’d known then, *maybe* I could’ve said good-bye to him, maybe his death wouldn’t have hurt so much.  Did you ever think of that?”

“Wade, it wasn’t my decision to make!  The professor didn’t want anyone to know.  He didn’t even want me and Q-ball to know, but we both found out about it!  What were we supposed to do?  When he was alive, we couldn’t break our promise to keep quiet, and after he’d died, what was the point in telling you anyway?  You didn’t need to know he was dying because he was already dead!  It wouldn’t change anything!”

“I had a right to know, Remmy,” Wade snapped, angry tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“Yeah, well, I’m not the only person to blame for this one,” Remmy snapped back.  “Quinn knew about it even before I did.”

“Quinn’s dead!” she yelled back at him.  She couldn’t be mad at Quinn now.  “We’ll never know what he was thinking!”  Frustrated, she sat down on a bench that they were passing.  Tears began to course down her face in a steady flow.  Angrily, Wade bit her lip and turned away from him, hoping in vain that he wouldn’t see her anguish.

As he joined her on the bench, Remmy was already beginning to regret what he’d said.  *Why oh why can’t I just admit that maybe I should’ve done things differently?  Why do I have to try and justify what I did?  That doesn’t change the fact that I’ve hurt her.*

“Wade, look,” he began awkwardly.  “I’m sorry.  But Q-ball’s dead, and there’s nothing we can do to change it.”

Wade sniffed.  “Is that why you don’t seem to care that he’s gone?”

“What?”

“He’s dead, you can’t change it, so why care?” she snapped.  “It’s the same way you reacted after we lost the professor.”

“Wade, of course I care!” Remmy proclaimed.  “I miss Quinn.  I miss the professor.  And I’m mourning for both of them in my own way.  It may not be as vocal as some, but it’s still mourning.  If we’d just been separated from them, or had them kidnapped away from us or something, I suppose things’d be different.  If that was the case, I’d move heaven and earth to get them back.  But the fact remains that they’re dead, and we all know it.  You’re right, we can’t change it.  But don’t ever say that I don’t care!”

Slowly, Wade stood up.  “I think I understand why you guys did what you did.  And while, in a weird way, I appreciate what you tried to do, it hurt me.  More than you can guess.  Remmy, I can almost forgive you for it.  But I doubt I’ll ever forget.”

-----

*Well, it’s an improvement,* Maggie thought as she observed her friends at supper, *but not by much.*

The meal had not exactly been the most pleasant experience she’d ever endured.  In fact, it felt vaguely like subtle torture.  Wade was apparently able to tolerate Rembrandt’s presence again, and they even talked a little bit, but Maggie could tell she was still angry.  Logan, on the other hand, didn’t say a word.  Maggie couldn’t help but wonder if it was because she felt a little bit out of place there or just didn’t really feel like starting a fight just then.  No one had heard from the professor all day.

“So,” Maggie began, desperate for some civilized communication, “how was your evening last night, Remmy?”  She gave him a mischievous grin.  “Which girlfriend did you run into?”

Remmy shot a quick glance at Wade and then smiled broadly at Maggie.  “I had a great evening.  I ran into Danielle, and we had dinner and then went dancing.  We had a wonderful time, but she had to go out of town on business for the rest of the week.  She won’t be back before we slide.”

“That’s too bad, Remmy,” Wade said as she picked at the food on her plate.

“Yeah, well.  I forgive her for it.”

“As you should, Mr. Brown,” Arturo said, coming up behind him.  “Life’s too short to spend all your time dwelling on petty problems.”

“So where’ve you been all day, Professor?” Wade asked with a smile.

“Miss Wells, I’ve spent the majority of my day enjoying the beauty of San Francisco.”

“Your doctor appointment was today, Max,” Logan stated dryly.  “What did they say you have, and how much longer do we have to put up with you?”

“Why you little…” Wade growled as she began to rise from her chair.

“Wade, stop,” Remmy interrupted.

“Actually, Miss St. Clair,” Arturo began coldly, “the prognosis was quite simple.  For a man my age, I’m slightly overweight and might want to try a diet.  Other than that, I’m as healthy as a horse.”

“Oh, Professor,” Wade exclaimed, “that’s wonderful!  I’m so relieved!”

“As am I, Miss Wells.  One has no idea how frightening the idea of death can be until one is faced with one's own mortality.”

The table sat in silence for a moment, each pondering Arturo’s words.

“Yeah,” Maggie said, breaking the silence.  “What would you like for dinner, Max?  The rest of us have eaten already.”

“I think I’ll have a steak, done rare, with a baked potato and sour cream.  The diet can wait for tomorrow.”

-----

Quinn was already waiting for her as Wade entered the cafe.  With a smile, she sat down across from him in the booth.  “Hey,” she said softly.

He smiled back.  “Morning.  I already ordered some food.  Hope you don’t mind.”

“Nah.  I’ll probably just have coffee,” Wade replied with a shrug.

Quinn glanced at her with a smirk.  “Now, Wade, one of the first rules of sliding is that you should always eat your meals when you can.  You never know when you might land on a world with no food.”

“Who says I’m going to be a slider for much longer,” Wade replied.

Quinn’s eyes lit up at this, but for some reason the smile on his face seemed to waver.  “I was trying to avoid that subject.”

Wade’s eyes widened.  “Why?”

“I didn’t want you to feel pressured into making a decision.”

Wade frowned.  “I don’t.  Well, not really.”

“Good,” he said, clasping her hand that was resting on the table.  Despite herself, Wade found that she was returning his grip.

“Quinn,” she began carefully, “how do *you* feel about the idea of me staying here?  I mean, I know you’re the one who asked, but I’d really like to know what you think about this.”

“I’ve tried not to think about it too much,” Quinn said with a smile.  “Didn’t really want to get my hopes up for nothing.  Truth is, I’m scared you’ll refuse.  With you, I feel complete in a way I’ve not felt in a long time.  You fill in all the gaps in my life.  Your kindness, your sense of humor, your intelligence... everything about you.  I’ve not felt this way in a long time.”

Wade felt her soul lift at these words.  *He really does want me to stay!  Doesn’t matter if Rachael and Colin don’t want me here.  Quinn does, and he’s all that really matters!*

“How do *you* feel about staying here?” Quinn asked cautiously.

Wade broke out into a huge smile.  “I feel as though a hole has been filled.  I’d like to stay here, if you’ll have me.”

This time, it was Quinn who broke into a grin, the biggest one she’d seen on him.  “Absolutely.”

Suddenly, he reached across the table, and with his hand holding her chin, he kissed her full on the lips.

Although surprised, Wade quickly embraced the feeling.  It felt so wonderful, so good, so... Wrong?

Abruptly, Wade’s eyes shot open and she pulled back quickly.  “No,” she gasped.  “I can’t do this.”

“Wade...”

“YOU’RE NOT HIM!!!” she suddenly shouted, startling the other customers around her.

The shocked look on his face brought her back to reality, and Wade suddenly found herself blushing.  “I’m sorry,” she said breathlessly, “don’t know what came over me.”

“No, don’t be,” Quinn said, shaking his head.  “It’s my fault.  I was moving too quickly.”

“It’s just... Quinn and I,” Wade began tentatively, “well, we never really had that kind of relationship.  He was my best friend.  And I definitely loved him, but our relationship didn’t really involve much romance.  Maybe it could’ve gone that way, but...”

Wade glanced up into Quinn’s soft eyes, trying to understand what had possessed her to shout what she’d said.  He was Quinn, wasn’t he?  Then finally things clicked.  They were the same, this Quinn and herself.  Both were puzzles with pieces missing.  But she suddenly realized they could not fill in each other's missing pieces.

“Quinn, I’m sorry,” she cried as she slid out of the booth.  “I was wrong, I can’t stay here.  Every time I look at you, I think I see my Quinn, and I can’t keep this up.  You’re not my Quinn... and I’m not your Wade.  Quinn, I miss him more than I ever felt was possible, and if I stay here with you, it’d be because I was trying to make you someone you’re not.  And you’d be doing the same with me.  That’s not really fair to either of us.”

“Wade, that’s not true...” Quinn stammered, tears beginning to well in his eyes.

Heartbroken, Wade touched the side of his face.  “It is true, Quinn, and we both know it.  I can never be her.”

Trying to ignore the devastated look in his eyes, Wade carefully stripped of his jacket.  “Here,” she said, tears starting to well up in her own eyes, “I think you should have this back.

“Quinn, I’m sorry,” she sniffled, blinking back tears, “but I have to go.”  And before she even realized it, she was out the door, haunted by the memory of the tortured expression Quinn wore on his face.

-----

“So, you’ve come back.”

Rembrandt turned around and glared furiously at his double.

“You lowlife bastard!” he growled.  “Is there anything you won’t stoop to to get your way?”

Rem B raised his eyebrows.  “Whatever do you mean?” he asked, his voice thick with taunting and sarcasm.

“You set me up,” Remmy snapped.  “You decided to take advantage of the fact that your double was in town and you tried to have me take the fall for your crimes!”

“Hmm.  Yes, I’d heard about your incarceration.  You should be a little more careful not to break the laws.”

“You know damn well I didn’t break any laws,” Rembrandt snarled, coming up right into his double’s face despite the fact that the man probably weighed twice as much as he did.  “You know, I was wrong about you.  It’s going to take more than a shrink to straighten you out.”

Rem B simply laughed.  “Yeah, I’m feeling real scared now.”

Remmy glared angrily at him.  “You’re the one into drugs, not me.  But that’s not all!  You also bribed the cops to arrest me instead of you!  There’s no way a cop would be stupid enough to mistake me for you!”

Rem B didn’t say a word.  He didn’t have to.  The arrogant smirk on his face confirmed it all.

Remmy felt the anger boiling up inside him.  “You would let an innocent man go to prison for the crimes that *you* committed?”

“I don’t have a problem with that,” Rem B said, studying the wine is his glass.

“Why?”

The large man looked up, a trace of sadness sparkling behind his eyes.  “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be rich?  To be revered by so many people?  To have society attacking your every movement, good or bad?”

“No,” Remmy said.  “I don’t.”

“You’d think it’d be great,” Rem B continued.  “I know I thought so.  Look at me.  I have so much money I could probably buy a small country for twice its value and live there like a king with my beautiful wife.  We’d be served the best of everything and never have to work again in our lives.  But tell me, if that’s such a great thing, then why does nothing I do make me happy?”

“You’re not happy, huh?” Remmy asked quietly, struggling to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

“My wife hates me,” Rem B stated, resting his chin on his hand.  “I have loads of money and I’ve never been so miserable.  Plus, the feds are after me now!  I figured if you went to jail for me, then maybe I could start over somewhere else.”

Rembrandt looked his double steadily in the eye.  “There is no way in hell that I’m going to do your time for you.  Look, man, I think you’ve gone about this all wrong.  Money isn’t going to make you happy.  It’s never worked before, so why should it work now?”

“Yeah, right,” Rem B stated sarcastically.  “So what *will* make me happy?”

Remmy gave him a pained look.  “I don’t know.  Try relating with other people.  If that doesn’t work, try something else.  It’s different with every person.  Maybe after you begin to pay for your crimes, you can try and figure it out.”

-----

Colin barged through the door with enough force to knock it off its hinges and stormed forward.  “You asked her to stay here?” he demanded, furiously.

Quinn looked up groggily, and instead of answering, took a pull for a large, nearly empty whiskey bottle.  He nodded his head.

Colin’s face contorted with even more rage, and he lashed out, his fist connecting with Quinn’s jaw.  Stunned, Quinn fell out of his chair.

“What’s going on in here?” Rachael demanded as she burst through the door.

“Get out of here, Rachael,