Date: ??/??/2001
From: SouthernSlider

Colin let himself into the suite, disgusted at his poor luck on finding Quinn. He had covered nearly every bar in San Francisco, he imagined, and had retraced his steps time and again in the park.  There was no sign of him.

He checked the bedroom on the off-chance that Quinn had returned since the last time he called, but found exactly what he thought he would find -- an empty room.

He shoved his fingers through his hair as he closed the door.  Thoughts cluttered his mind on where Quinn might be, but nothing latched on permanently.

“Where are you, brother?”  he whispered aloud.  Suddenly, the door jerked open; Remmy came rushing in.

He stopped in a halt as he saw Colin standing in the middle of the room, and tried to steady his breathing.

“I didn’t expect anyone to be up and about at this hour, Farm-boy.”  Remmy shrugged out of his coat and threw it across the sofa.  He hoped he could produce an outward calm.  “You have trouble sleeping?”

“I have not tried, Remmy.  I just got in myself.”

“Well, I guess we’d better head to bed with the others -- quietly.”  He wanted to get to his room as quickly as possible.  The longer he stayed in Colin’s company, the harder it would be to pretend it was ‘everything as usual’.  He had just found his Wade. Keeping that a secret for now was going to be the hardest thing he had ever had to do.

“Quinn is not here, either,”  Colin said.  “I have been searching for him all evening, Remmy.  He is nowhere to be found.”

“Maybe, he’s at some bar.  I guess he just needed some time alone.”  Remmy ached at Colin’s news.  He knew Quinn was hurting because of Wade, and he had the information that could end all of that hurt with the snap of a finger.

“I have searched every bar in the area -- more than once.  Kelly saw him earlier, headed toward the park.  I have been there countless times.  No result.  I called the hospital, in case he went to see Conie; I’ve called here numerous times while I was out looking, but no one has seen him since Kelly.  I even left a message at the Sassy Brass.  I have heard nothing.”

Remmy pulled his hands over his face, then closed his eyes, wondering what to do.  He had to tell Colin.  Yes, Wade had begged him to keep her secret for the moment, although he still couldn’t understand why, but circumstances warned him not to keep that promise.  Colin needed to know.  They both needed to find Quinn and tell him before things got way out of hand.

“Farm-boy, I think you had better sit down.  I’ve got something important to tell you.”  He gestured toward the sofa.

Colin  frowned at his friend’s words.  They sounded more than a little ominous.

“Remmy, what is wrong?  What happened to my brother?”

Remmy grabbed his coat and threw it toward the chair, assuring Colin his news wasn’t about Quinn -- directly.  He didn’t know where Quinn was.  He had been at the Sassy Brass for a while, and then went home with Wade.

“Are you sure that was wise, Remmy?  I am afraid you are getting too caught up in this girl.  You are going to be hurt, if you are not careful.”

“Farm-boy, that was just about the wisest thing I’ve ever done.  I learned something very important by going over there tonight.”  He took a deep breath, trying to find just the right words.  “Colin, I know this is going to be a shock, and that is why I’m telling you first.  You can help me figure out how to tell the others.”

“Tell them what?  What is going on?”

“It’s Wade,”  he said.   “She really is our Wade.”  He said it bluntly and waited for a reaction from Colin.

“Remmy.  I told you, you were going to get too caught up in this.  That girl is not our . . .”

“Yes, Colin, she is.  She told me so herself.”

“Remmy . . .”  Colin let out a sigh.  Not only did he have to deal with Quinn’s despondency, Kelly’s aching heart, and Maggie’s jealousy; now he had to contend with Remmy’s delusions. Was he the only sane person in the group?  How could one petite lady have such a hold on these grown people?

Then he thought of Kelly, how wonderful she was, and how she had affected him deep down in his soul.  If Wade was anything at all like her sister, he knew the answer to that question.

“Are you sure, Remmy?  What makes you believe she is telling the truth?”  He wanted to accept what the man was saying, and not shrug off his news, but he had to have some kind of proof.  Hopefully, Remmy could back up his words with more than just wishful hoping.

“She told me, Colin.  I finally broke down and told her all about us, and how she was the double of another Wade that was with us.  Tonight, when I asked her if she really believed my tale, she told me she was our Wade.”

Remmy couldn’t sit still while he related his story.  He stood and paced the room, slapping the back of one hand into the palm of the other for emphasis.

“Do you think she was being truthful?  Do you think she was not just trying to latch onto us as a way out of her old life -- a way to start fresh after hearing of our adventures?”  Colin asked.  Remmy twirled around and met him with an angry gaze. “I am not saying I do not believe you, Remmy.  I am just playing devil’s advocate. We have to have some kind of assurance that she is who she says she is -- for all our sakes.”

Remmy understood his questioning.  He knew if Quinn and Kelly were told their Wade was really here, and then found out it was false, they might not be able to stand the rollercoaster of emotions it would put them through.  But he had proof -- or at least, proof enough for him.

“Colin, when I told her that we had hooked up with our Wade’s sister, Kelly -- that Kelly and Conrad started sliding to look for us -- she fainted.  She sat right there on the sofa, turned white as a piece of cotton, and then fell over.  Scared me to death.  I had no idea why she fainted.  When I finally brought her around, that’s when she told me.  I know it’s her, Farm-boy.  Of that, I have no doubt.”

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