7.14  ·  Closing Time

Quinn cleared the tears from his eyes as he watched the scene through the window dissolve into darkness.

He’s not dead. He’s just different. Happier. He still remembers three years of sliding with us.

He turned back to the bar, where Sam met his eye.

“So, you’ve figured a way out of this place, huh?” he asked, his face serene and seemingly unflappable.

Quinn nodded, still a little choked up, as Colin placed a hand on his shoulder.

“In theory,” Colin said. “This bar is not exactly adherent to the normal laws of the universe, is it?”

“Maybe not.” Sam glanced at the bartender, questioning.

“We’ve accounted for everything the gaggle of us could think of,” John said, leaning on the back of a chair as he faced them. “Nexus Quinn’s timer was really useful to study.”

He reached into his pocket, and produced a sleek new timer, that looked similar to his old handlink.

Quinn, finding his voice, pulled out his own, and showed it to Sam.

“Instead of relying on the current world’s coordinates as a focus point, like the old designs,” he explained, “we’ve placed a homing beacon on your world and on Earth Prime that should let us snap back to one of them at any time. And it doubles as a temporal stabiliser so the wormhole we open will always lead to our concurrent time, even if the vortex experiences the kind of issues that sent us to ’78.”

Sam nodded as he turned the timer over in his hand, grinning, and tapped a few controls.

“There’s a direct link to Higgins? You guys knocked it out of the park.” He looked at John as he gestured to Quinn and Colin. “These two showed you how to work on a shoestring budget, huh?”

John chuckled. “Felt like I was at college again. But they’re resourceful, that’s for sure.”

“We did get some resources from the Professor,” Quinn added. “But yes, we did raid a few junkyards.”

Sherri approached the group, curious. “They look like… handlinks.”

Sam inspected the touchscreen display. “To me, it looks like a cell phone, circa 2013.”

Quinn raised an eyebrow, not sure if he was kidding. His face didn’t give it away. Shaking his head, Quinn turned towards the bartender.

“You can control this stuff, can’t you?” he asked, eyes narrowed. “You will let us leave using these timers, right?”

The bartender looked up from the glass he was polishing. “Who, me?”

“Uh-huh,” continued Colin. “I don’t think our timer flashing zero when we first met Sam was a coincidence, was it?”

“It needed a tune-up, didn’t it?” the bartender offered.

Huh. So it really was this guy. I need to get my hands on the Reality Lens.

As Quinn eyed Colin’s pocket, the bartender shot a look at the clock, which was about to hit one in the morning.

“Folks, it’s closing time. You don’t have to go home, but…”

John met Quinn’s eye.

“Alright, everyone sliding out of here… it’s time.”

The bar sprang to life with movement. Will and Al Prime moved towards John, while Maggie stepped up beside Quinn.

Sherri moved to Sam, and scooped him into a hug.

“Bye, Uncle Sam…”

“Hold on just a moment, missy…” the bartender interjected. “I have one last task for you. Don’t worry, it’s an easy one.”

Sherri furrowed her brow. “What?”

The bartender winked. “Just hang back, okay? I promise you’ll be back home in no time.”

Sherri exchanged a look with John, and then Sam.

“I… think you can trust him,” said Colin out of the blue. Quinn glared at him, before aiming his timer.

“Let’s go.” He activated the vortex, startling everyone. Colin looked at him questioningly.

“Goodbye everyone,” Quinn said.

As Colin approached the wormhole, Quinn leaned forward, snatching the Reality Lens from Colin’s pocket, before shoving him into the swirling blue tunnel.

“Sorry, bro,” he said, as he opened the Lens and peered through it towards the bartender.

Oh.

He slowly lowered it, and nodded at Sherri. “Yeah, I think you’ll be okay. Well, gotta run. We’ll keep in touch.”

Waving at the bewildered people around him, he gave a wide grin, before stepping into the vortex.

*          *          *

Sam scratched his head as he watched Quinn disappear. What could he possibly have seen?

As Maggie gave rushed hugs to the two Sams, and jumped in after the brothers, Sam turned his attention back to the bartender, who was smiling. Of all the things he seemed to understand now, this man, who looked like ‘Weird Ernie’ from Edwards Air Force Base, was still a complete mystery; opaque to him.

The vortex closed up, leaving the bar windswept and silent.

“I guess that leaves us,” said John, gesturing to his entourage. He turned a worried eye to Sherri. “Look, you don’t have to do what he says…”

Sherri bit her lip. “For some reason, I have a funny feeling that I do.”

Sam stroked his chin as he realised that he, too, felt like this task – whatever it was – was a necessary one.

“It’s okay,” he said to his double. “She’ll be back in no time. Don’t ask how I know.”

John gave him a puzzled look.

“Alright then.” He placed a hand on Sherri’s arm. “Take care, Sherri.”

Sherri nodded. “Of course. I’ll see you soon.”

John smiled at Sam. “So, this is goodbye, huh?”

Sam opened his arms, inviting a hug. “Come on, then. No kissing this time.”

John chuckled as the two shared a warm embrace.

When it was over, Sam gave a nod towards Will. “He’s all yours.”

Finally, Al Prime approached Sam, looking him up and down with curiosity.

“So, you’re what coulda been if John had joined Starbright.”

“That I am.” Sam grinned, now intimately familiar with the friendship that this version of Al shared with his double. “But you two still managed to find each other, all the same. Maybe we’re soul mates.”

“Uh, sure,” Al raised an eyebrow. “If only John had a heftier set of…”

He mimed holding up something heavy.

“Doctorates?” finished Sam.

“Exactly.”

As Sam laughed, John’s wormhole opened up, and the three men bound for Earth Prime congregated in front of it.

The first to jump in was Will, clearly desperate to get out of here. Then Al Prime gave a short salute, followed by a nod towards his counterpart, and stepped in.

“Thanks for everything,” John murmured.

Sam smiled. “Take care of yourself. I’ll see you again.”

Sam knew that John knew that it was a promise he intended to keep.

As the vortex closed behind John, Sam gazed at the dwindling crowd around him. Sherri, Al, and the bartender were the last ones remaining.

“Guess I’d better skedaddle before I get stuck in here like the other me,” said Al, stamping out his cigar.

The bartender nodded, and gave a flourish towards the door. “Thank you for your patronage. Please come again.”

Sam approached him, and they hugged. The embrace lasted long enough that Sam sensed the bartender checking his watch.

“Don’t be a stranger,” Al said, poking a finger into Sam’s chest. “Or I’ll find some necromancer to resurrect Ziggy and hunt you down.”

“Al, you will see me again,” said Sam. “Count on it.”

And as Al drove away into the New Mexico desert, just two leapers and a strange barman remained.

The bartender locked the front door, before taking a seat at a table. He gestured for Sam and Sherri to come closer.

“The bar is closed,” he explained, “so I’m officially off-duty. Meaning…”

He gestured to his clothes. “I can change out of this getup.”

Sam’s jaw slackened as he watched the bartender’s appearance shimmer and shift into…

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.”

Sam burst into laughter as he laid eyes on an older version of himself. The older Sam looked to be in his sixties or seventies, with grey hair and deepset laugh lines.

“Are you serious? I’m God?”

Everything suddenly fell into sharp focus for Sam, as his own future became more and more accessible. And it occurred to him that, long ago, when the bartender said he was leaping himself around, it had been technically true.

The older Sam grinned up at the two shocked faces.

“Now you know why I laugh at the suggestion,” he said, shrugging.

Sam felt Sherri grab his arm, and her face rested on his shoulder. “God or not, this puts things into perspective.”

It certainly does.

Sam ran a hand through his hair, and he paced the room.

“I don’t know what to say,” he muttered. “I mean, it makes sense. All those times I thought God was being unfair to me… now all I have to blame is myself.”

He laughed, shaking his head, as Sherri stared at the older Sam, processing everything.

“So everything that’s happened…” she said quietly, “it was you. Bringing me to Earth Prime… John… the thing with the broken timer… even that crazy stuff with Tam?”

The older Sam nodded, his eyes warm and amiable. “It was a lot of legwork, but we all pulled it off.”

“Why all the smoke and mirrors?” Sam asked. “And how did you disguise yourself like that?”

“You like it? It’s a trick I picked up from one of the less bloodthirsty Kromaggs.” The older Sam chuckled. “As for why?”

He crossed his arms. “Would you have done all this if you didn’t think it was God? If you knew it was just you?”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. No, probably not.

“Now, Sherri,” continued the older Sam, “You’ve got something to do that you’ve been putting off for twenty-five years. You ready?”

Sherri tilted her head, and seemed to understand. “Yeah. I think I’m ready.”

She grabbed Sam’s hand, squeezing it. “See you round, Uncle Sam.”

“Enjoy your retirement,” he said with a wink.

And she leaped away.

Sam took a seat across from his older self. “So what happens now?”

“Got a special assignment for you.” The older Sam leaned forward. “There’s a newbie waiting to be shown the ropes. Up to it?”

As the words were spoken, Sam already understood what he had to do.

“Let’s do it.”

Sam didn’t need anyone to help him leap this time.

*          *          *

Quinn had woken this morning from a really strange dream, but the details were pretty hazy. One thing he did remember, however, was that within the dream, he’d had a son named Cory.

Which was interesting, since he’d awoken to a Stephanie who hadn’t yet given birth to their baby.

And he was having some mega déjà vu, too. For example, the date he saw on the morning paper was the very date he remembered to be Cory’s birth date.

Lo and behold, he was now holding Stephanie’s hand at her hospital bedside, as she breathed through another contraction.

“Can you get me…” Stephanie said, before grimacing for a moment. “Can… you get me… a candy bar or something…? I’m famished.”

Quinn gave her hand a squeeze before letting go. “Sure, babe.”

He strode out of the room, still feeling an eerie sensation, like all this had happened before.

Wade is about to come around this corner.

And there she was, hurrying into the hospital, and spotting him.

“Hey! Steph doing okay?”

“Yeah, she’s doing great,” said Quinn, scratching his head. “She’s still got a couple hours ’til the delivery…”

How would I know that?

He shook his head. “I’m just getting her a snack.”

Wade grinned. “Do you need a snack, too?”

Quinn’s eyes widened as he glanced around the hospital. “It’s a little public, don’t you think…”

Wade bit her lip. “I’m just gonna go in the bathroom. Maybe I’ll see you there in a minute?”

She winked, and headed towards the restrooms.

Quinn retrieved the chocolate bar from the vending machine, and wandered towards the door Wade had conspicuously left unlocked. He glanced around before scrambling inside.

“This feels wrong,” he murmured between kisses. “My wife’s literally having my baby…”

“I know. It feels so… so wrong…” Wade said, unbuttoning his shirt. “You’re such a bad boy…”

Oh, what the hey.

He grabbed at her shirt, pulling it off, and they shared another passionate kiss, and his eyes fell shut as he tasted her lips.

Then a strange electrical sensation against his skin made his eyes pop open. He felt a frantic shove as he bumped back against the wall, and he realised he was no longer looking at Wade. His jaw dropped, and panic rose in his chest.

“Oh, come on, how many more guys am I gonna have to kiss today?” said the man, wiping at his mouth in disdain. “Sorry to drop in on you like this, Quinn.”

Quinn squinted in confusion at this man that looked somehow familiar. “Do I know you?”

The man sighed. “Yeah, but it looks like I’m gonna need to jog your memory a bit. Sam Beckett.”

He held a hand out. Quinn didn’t make a move to shake, opting instead to stare and try to convince himself this wasn’t happening.

Sam pointed to the mirror, and Quinn saw the man’s reflection was of Wade. His eyes darted back and forth, and his knees became weak.

“I have a few things to explain,” said Sam, “but the first may be the toughest to swallow. See… you kinda… died. But you’ve got a chance to put a few things right before you ride off into the sunset. And I’m here to help you.”

I get it, I’m still dreaming. That must be it.

Sam peered into the mirror at his feminine reflection. “Given that you’re making out with a mistress while your wife’s giving birth in the other room, I’ll give you one guess what you and me are here to do...”

“Oh boy…”

*          *          *

Sherri took a step back as she felt the prickling leaping sensation pass through her.

Where am I this time?

But it seemed the answer was right in front of her. She stood on a familiar sidewalk, in front of a familiar diner. And in the glass, her reflection looked back at her with two familiar eyes. Her own two eyes. And beyond her reflection, within the diner, she spotted three familiar figures.

She realised, then, what she was here to do. Confidently, she stepped into the diner, the bell on the door jingling, and approached two young Maggies sipping black coffee in front of Colin.

She grinned as the Maggies, one dressed in a Sheriff’s uniform, looked at her with disbelief.

“Ah, girls, I was hoping you’d be here.”