Part 8
Time passed. Somehow without the timer ticking down, telling them how long it would be until they moved on to the next world, time meant nothing. And even though Quinn and Rembrandt should have been concerned about Colin and Maggie or their own doubles or a Kromagg-ravaged Earth Prime, somehow all those things didn't seem so important anymore.
Quinn was out in the lake in an old sailboat they'd found just outside the house. Not anything fancy, just enough for one or two people and a fantastic view of the open waters. Wade decided to go for a swim at the same time that Quinn decided to take his boat ride and they kept each other company. Rembrandt had invited the Professor to go fishing, this time all kidding aside, but he had turned him down to go hang gliding! Quinn had laughed aloud at that. Mr. Barnes went with Rembrandt instead. Since swimming and fishing don't mix, Theodosius showed the crying man a stream not too far away where they could fish in peace.
"I think this must be the best world we've ever been to, Quinn." Wade said earnestly as she swam at her own pace next to Quinn's anchored boat in the middle of the lake. "The water is so clean. Everything's so beautiful and peaceful." This was clearly the Wade he had known, the Wade he had loved, the one who had never met Maggie, never saw her Professor die, never turned hard and cold to the worlds and people around her.
"Yeah." said Quinn, momentarily allowing himself to be completely absorbed by the relaxing mood of this place, but then a little piece of reality set in again as he said, "I keep expecting some evil alien sliders to land or some nut from a third world country to launch the a-bomb at us. It feels weird to not have some crisis to handle."
Wade balked. "Lighten up and live a little Quinn. It's not like we sliders get vacations very often. Just sit back and enjoy the ride." Wade looked longingly at the beautiful sky. "This world is as close to perfect as we're ever going to get." Wade began to swim alongside Quinn as he took the boat back into shore as she said in a low voice, "Even if they don't have my brand of hair dye."
That got a small laugh from Quinn. He then turned thoughtful. "Why did you decide to dye your hair, Wade?" Quinn asked.
Wade thought it over for a moment. Quinn had seemed much more like his old self lately. "You really want to know? It's kind of silly, actually. Well, the way that you seemed to be ogling all the women on these other worlds, I just thought..." her voice trailed off, and she was unable to finish her thought.
"That you needed to dye your hair to get me to look at you??" he finished in a tone that was both inquisitive and very sad. "Wade, I can't believe you thought that. That's not true at all." As they neared the shore and Quinn tied the boat up to the docks, he pulled Wade into it with him. "You're very beautiful, you know that?"
"Yeah.. I know." Her voice was still soft, distant.
"I just got... distracted." Quinn said, his voice filled with more meaning than Wade knew.
"Yeah, tell me about it. I mean, every single girl we met..." Wade said.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am about how stupid I was." Quinn said, looking her in the eye. They shared a small, but not unmeaningful, kiss.
"I mean, it didn't even matter if she was good looking or interesting or even human, you were after her. I just don't know what you were thinking." Wade continued, as though nothing had happened.
"Hey, I said I was sorry!" Quinn exclaimed, but then realized Wade was teasing. He took the towel that had been wrapped around her and acted like he was going to snap her with it.
"Oh no, Quinn!" Wade cried out. "Don't you dare!!" Wade screamed and then howled with laughter as Quinn playfully chased her back into the house.
Rembrandt Brown and Theodosius Barnes sat back and leisurely fished. Their poles had sat motionless for close to an hour now, but the two men had said little to each other. Remmy finally decided to break the ice.
"You know, you remind me a lot of my father." At that remark, Theodosius broke out in a large grin. "I have that effect on most people."
"No, I mean really. The thin beard that's just a little bit more than five o'clock shadow, the casual clothes, the hat. A little bit of bleached skin and you could have been him." Remmy chuckled and Mr. Barnes joined in.
"What do you want out of life, Rembrandt?" Theodosius asked out of nowhere.
Rembrandt thought a second. "That's, uh, kind of a hard thing to explain."
Theodosius Barnes frowned. "What you must do is complicated. What you want to do is simple. Now tell me what is it you want most out of life??"
Rembrandt found himself opening up to this man, even though he didn't really know why. "Well, this is going to sound dumb coming from a man who spent most of his life on the road, but I've always wanted to go back to my roots. Settle down. Get married. Have kids. Stupid, huh?"
"Not stupid at all, Rembrandt. Every person wants a little piece of home. For someone who's had no place to call home for as long as you have, it's natural to want to go back to your old family and to start a new one. I just hope you didn't have your eye on the girl that was with you, because I have the feeling she's taken," he ribbed Remmy and gave him a wink, "or will be very soon."
A half smile crossed the Crying Man's face. "No, I never thought of Wade like that. I never did seem to fall for the right girl. Or I would and she wouldn't fall for me. Or I'd mess it up somehow. Maybe on one of these worlds I'll find out who I'm supposed to be with."
"One thing I've learned in all my years of traveling from earth to earth is that each man has an individual destiny. Even if that man has your voice, your face, your DNA structure, his destiny is separate from yours." Rembrandt gave him a strange look. "Your destiny will come from you, Rembrandt, not anyone else." Theodosius grinned gleefully as he reeled in a medium-sized trout. Rembrandt's mind pondered all this as night began to approach.
End Chapter 8.
