Pushing Daisies/Sliders: When the Crazy Wheel Slows Down
Title: When the Crazy Wheel Slows Down
Fandom: Pushing Daisies/Sliders
Author: kawaiispinel
Feedback: ... Is loverly.
Word Count: 1392
Rating: PG
Characters: Ned, Chuck, Wade, Quinn, Arturo, Rembrandt
Pairings: A little Ned/Chuck and some Quinn/Wade, if you want it to be.
Summary: In which Ned discovers strange things that he can't deal with (at least right now) and Chuck makes a new friend.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I make no money off shoving fandoms together like this, but I do get a sick sort of thrill doing it.
Author's Notes: Written for ladyfiresprite who wanted a Pushing Daisies/Sliders crossover with either Ned/Chuck or Quinn/Wade. You got a little bit of both. XD First time writing the Sliders cast, and I find it strange that they gave me less trouble than Ned and Chuck.
This was odd. No, odd wasn’t really a strong enough word, but it would have to suffice, because Ned didn’t have a thesaurus on hand to find a more appropriate adjective to describe the situation.
The facts were these: He had just spent a considerable amount of time tracking down the murderer of one Quinn Mallory, a young physics student at the local university. After getting some answers from the dead man, himself, and going through the usual tangle of missteps and insanity that usually accompanied a case (because apparently normalcy was overrated when it came to crime in this town), the case had been solved and the murderer had been put away. Meanwhile, Emerson got his money and was content to hole up in his office to count it, which left Ned back at work at The Pie Hole just in time to see the murder victim waltz in for a slice of pie, accompanied by three other people.
That, however, wasn’t the strangest part. The strangest part involved talk of parallel earths and something called "sliding," none of which Ned could grasp, but Chuck seemed genuinely interested in. This, of course, led to them bearing witness to the quartet’s "slide" out of their peaceful (or at least it would have been had it not been for the bizarrely high crime rate and the potential for strange things to happen on a whim) town and onto the next world, which was why they were both currently huddled in their coats behind the restaurant while Professor Arturo (the large, slightly horrifying man in the group) kept watch on the timer (apparently the key to sliding), and Chuck talked with Wade (the only girl in the group).
Quinn nudged Ned, who visibly cringed at being touched when he didn’t want to be, especially by someone who had been dead the last time he had touched him, despite it actually not being the same person. "She hits it off like that with someone in practically every world we go too."
"I’m sure that Chuck would be the same way, provided that we actually, uh, traveled through parallel worlds... Which we don’t. We’re strictly this world, people."
Quinn cocked his head to the side. "So are you and Chuck...?"
"Yes. I think. I suppose we are... I think we made it official, but then things happened, and... Well, I assume so." Ned paused and then blurted out, "I can’t touch her."
"You can’t touch her?" Rembrandt (the final member of the group), who had been half-listening to both Quinn and Ned’s conversation and Chuck and Wade’s conversation simultaneously. "Why the hell not?"
Ned huddled deeper into his coat. He hated being put on the spot like this, and well... There was probably no reason not to tell them since they’d be leaving soon and it wouldn’t incriminate him. Plus, there was no reason for them to think him crazy since, well, they were pretty crazy themselves being people from a parallel universe and all that. "I, uh, touch dead things and bring them back to life and then if I touch them again they die, and uh, I touched Chuck when she was dead and made her alive again and now I can’t touch her or she’ll be dead again, and that’s pretty much it."
He was relatively surprised he’d managed to say that all in one breath.
"Seriously?" Rembrandt balked.
"If you’ll excuse the extremely bad pun, I’m dead serious." He noted the patch of dead weeds poking out of the concrete and bent down to touch them. Instantly, they thrived again, but only long enough for Ned to get his point across, after which, he touched them again and they slumped pathetically back to the ground, dead once more.
"That is truly remarkable my boy," Arturo spoke up, "And I would be much more interested in that ability of yours if we had more than thirty seconds before the slide. As usual, the timer doesn’t account for our own desire for personal merriment."
Ned smiled weakly, almost thankful they had to leave. He didn’t quite feel like having his power scrutinized by a man he was slightly afraid of.
"Come on, Wade," Quinn called and the girl tore herself away from Chuck to go stand beside the young man, who threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Maybe I’ll meet your double in another world, Chuck," Wade beamed. "That would be fantastic."
"Yeah, well let’s just hope she’s not psychotic like some of our doubles have been," Quinn replied and the girl laughed.
Suddenly there was a wash of blue light and rush of wind as a spinning vortex appeared right where the back wall of The Pie Hole was located. Rembrandt went through first, but instead of crashing into the wall like he should have, he simply vanished into the blue light.
"Are you coming, Ms. Welles?"
"Bye, Chuck!" She waved before jumping into the vortex.
"Bye, Wade," Chuck called back, although it was already too late- she had vanished into the swirling depths. The professor went next, leaving only Quinn, beaming at them.
"Pretty cool, huh?" He winked, before following his friends. A few seconds later, the vortex closed, leaving a very astonished Ned and a thoroughly amazed Chuck behind.
"That was extraordinary," Chuck said gleefully, clapping her hands and bouncing a little. Ned would have been unsettled about how much such an action reminded him of Olive (and the last thing he wanted was for Chuck to turn into an Olive clone- as much as he loved both girls, he could only handle one version of them at a time), but he was too busy trying to force his mind to unsee what he had just seen, because it was far too, well, strange for him to accept, and he was generally very accepting of strange things.
"They were pretty nice, weren’t they?" Chuck smiled, turning to him.
Ned opened his mouth to speak, found no words, and then nodded.
Chuck went on. "I liked Wade. I wonder if we have a Wade here. I mean we had a Quinn, and I’m really sad that he’s dead now, because I might have liked to have gotten to know him."
"Chuck?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Can we talk about something else?"
Chuck blinked. "A miraculous occurrence has just... Occurred and you want to talk about something else?"
"I don’t doubt the miraculousness of the occurrence in the slightest, I’m just more than a little unsettled because I’m not quite used to spinning vortexes outside of my restaurant and people from alternate universes.... And, actually, right now I’m contemplating whether or not I’ve dreamed this entire week."
Chuck smiled, because Ned was clearly discombobulated and rambly and while she found him endearing when he got like that, she decided the best thing to do was to change the subject like he wanted- she’d discuss Wade and Quinn and the rest of the "Sliders" with Olive later (who would be so bummed that she had missed it). "What do you want to talk about?"
"Anything that doesn’t involve physics or murder."
"Saran wrap?"
He noted the coy look in her eyes, understanding immediately what she was planning. "That would actually be ideal after this."
~*~
As they next world, Rembrandt brought up an interesting point regarding Ned and Chuck that most everyone was thinking, although some really weren’t about to admit it, and clearly only he was the one comfortable enough saying it out loud. "So... If they can’t touch, how do they have sex?"
"Remmy," Wade rolled her eyes and laughed. She had her head in Quinn’s lap and was staring up at a brilliantly starry sky, punctuated by two moons almost side by side one another. Considering the sort of disasters that sort of thing would invariably cause, it was still somewhat beautiful. Thankfully, they only had another five minutes until the next window, so they wouldn’t be here long enough to find out.
"What? It’s a simple question," Rembrandt sulked.
"And the answer to that question, Mr. Brown, is very carefully," Arturo muttered, continuing to keep watch on the timer. "Also... Saran wrap."
"Saran wrap?" Quinn and Wade balked.
Arturo nodded. "And now it’s time to slide again and when we get to the next world, I want no more talk of this."
"What if it’s a world full of saran wrap being used for nefarious purposes?" Wade laughed.
Arturo rolled his eyes. "Then God help us all, because I’m not a man who appreciates irony."
Fandom: Pushing Daisies/Sliders
Author: kawaiispinel
Feedback: ... Is loverly.
Word Count: 1392
Rating: PG
Characters: Ned, Chuck, Wade, Quinn, Arturo, Rembrandt
Pairings: A little Ned/Chuck and some Quinn/Wade, if you want it to be.
Summary: In which Ned discovers strange things that he can't deal with (at least right now) and Chuck makes a new friend.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I make no money off shoving fandoms together like this, but I do get a sick sort of thrill doing it.
Author's Notes: Written for ladyfiresprite who wanted a Pushing Daisies/Sliders crossover with either Ned/Chuck or Quinn/Wade. You got a little bit of both. XD First time writing the Sliders cast, and I find it strange that they gave me less trouble than Ned and Chuck.
This was odd. No, odd wasn’t really a strong enough word, but it would have to suffice, because Ned didn’t have a thesaurus on hand to find a more appropriate adjective to describe the situation.
The facts were these: He had just spent a considerable amount of time tracking down the murderer of one Quinn Mallory, a young physics student at the local university. After getting some answers from the dead man, himself, and going through the usual tangle of missteps and insanity that usually accompanied a case (because apparently normalcy was overrated when it came to crime in this town), the case had been solved and the murderer had been put away. Meanwhile, Emerson got his money and was content to hole up in his office to count it, which left Ned back at work at The Pie Hole just in time to see the murder victim waltz in for a slice of pie, accompanied by three other people.
That, however, wasn’t the strangest part. The strangest part involved talk of parallel earths and something called "sliding," none of which Ned could grasp, but Chuck seemed genuinely interested in. This, of course, led to them bearing witness to the quartet’s "slide" out of their peaceful (or at least it would have been had it not been for the bizarrely high crime rate and the potential for strange things to happen on a whim) town and onto the next world, which was why they were both currently huddled in their coats behind the restaurant while Professor Arturo (the large, slightly horrifying man in the group) kept watch on the timer (apparently the key to sliding), and Chuck talked with Wade (the only girl in the group).
Quinn nudged Ned, who visibly cringed at being touched when he didn’t want to be, especially by someone who had been dead the last time he had touched him, despite it actually not being the same person. "She hits it off like that with someone in practically every world we go too."
"I’m sure that Chuck would be the same way, provided that we actually, uh, traveled through parallel worlds... Which we don’t. We’re strictly this world, people."
Quinn cocked his head to the side. "So are you and Chuck...?"
"Yes. I think. I suppose we are... I think we made it official, but then things happened, and... Well, I assume so." Ned paused and then blurted out, "I can’t touch her."
"You can’t touch her?" Rembrandt (the final member of the group), who had been half-listening to both Quinn and Ned’s conversation and Chuck and Wade’s conversation simultaneously. "Why the hell not?"
Ned huddled deeper into his coat. He hated being put on the spot like this, and well... There was probably no reason not to tell them since they’d be leaving soon and it wouldn’t incriminate him. Plus, there was no reason for them to think him crazy since, well, they were pretty crazy themselves being people from a parallel universe and all that. "I, uh, touch dead things and bring them back to life and then if I touch them again they die, and uh, I touched Chuck when she was dead and made her alive again and now I can’t touch her or she’ll be dead again, and that’s pretty much it."
He was relatively surprised he’d managed to say that all in one breath.
"Seriously?" Rembrandt balked.
"If you’ll excuse the extremely bad pun, I’m dead serious." He noted the patch of dead weeds poking out of the concrete and bent down to touch them. Instantly, they thrived again, but only long enough for Ned to get his point across, after which, he touched them again and they slumped pathetically back to the ground, dead once more.
"That is truly remarkable my boy," Arturo spoke up, "And I would be much more interested in that ability of yours if we had more than thirty seconds before the slide. As usual, the timer doesn’t account for our own desire for personal merriment."
Ned smiled weakly, almost thankful they had to leave. He didn’t quite feel like having his power scrutinized by a man he was slightly afraid of.
"Come on, Wade," Quinn called and the girl tore herself away from Chuck to go stand beside the young man, who threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Maybe I’ll meet your double in another world, Chuck," Wade beamed. "That would be fantastic."
"Yeah, well let’s just hope she’s not psychotic like some of our doubles have been," Quinn replied and the girl laughed.
Suddenly there was a wash of blue light and rush of wind as a spinning vortex appeared right where the back wall of The Pie Hole was located. Rembrandt went through first, but instead of crashing into the wall like he should have, he simply vanished into the blue light.
"Are you coming, Ms. Welles?"
"Bye, Chuck!" She waved before jumping into the vortex.
"Bye, Wade," Chuck called back, although it was already too late- she had vanished into the swirling depths. The professor went next, leaving only Quinn, beaming at them.
"Pretty cool, huh?" He winked, before following his friends. A few seconds later, the vortex closed, leaving a very astonished Ned and a thoroughly amazed Chuck behind.
"That was extraordinary," Chuck said gleefully, clapping her hands and bouncing a little. Ned would have been unsettled about how much such an action reminded him of Olive (and the last thing he wanted was for Chuck to turn into an Olive clone- as much as he loved both girls, he could only handle one version of them at a time), but he was too busy trying to force his mind to unsee what he had just seen, because it was far too, well, strange for him to accept, and he was generally very accepting of strange things.
"They were pretty nice, weren’t they?" Chuck smiled, turning to him.
Ned opened his mouth to speak, found no words, and then nodded.
Chuck went on. "I liked Wade. I wonder if we have a Wade here. I mean we had a Quinn, and I’m really sad that he’s dead now, because I might have liked to have gotten to know him."
"Chuck?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Can we talk about something else?"
Chuck blinked. "A miraculous occurrence has just... Occurred and you want to talk about something else?"
"I don’t doubt the miraculousness of the occurrence in the slightest, I’m just more than a little unsettled because I’m not quite used to spinning vortexes outside of my restaurant and people from alternate universes.... And, actually, right now I’m contemplating whether or not I’ve dreamed this entire week."
Chuck smiled, because Ned was clearly discombobulated and rambly and while she found him endearing when he got like that, she decided the best thing to do was to change the subject like he wanted- she’d discuss Wade and Quinn and the rest of the "Sliders" with Olive later (who would be so bummed that she had missed it). "What do you want to talk about?"
"Anything that doesn’t involve physics or murder."
"Saran wrap?"
He noted the coy look in her eyes, understanding immediately what she was planning. "That would actually be ideal after this."
~*~
As they next world, Rembrandt brought up an interesting point regarding Ned and Chuck that most everyone was thinking, although some really weren’t about to admit it, and clearly only he was the one comfortable enough saying it out loud. "So... If they can’t touch, how do they have sex?"
"Remmy," Wade rolled her eyes and laughed. She had her head in Quinn’s lap and was staring up at a brilliantly starry sky, punctuated by two moons almost side by side one another. Considering the sort of disasters that sort of thing would invariably cause, it was still somewhat beautiful. Thankfully, they only had another five minutes until the next window, so they wouldn’t be here long enough to find out.
"What? It’s a simple question," Rembrandt sulked.
"And the answer to that question, Mr. Brown, is very carefully," Arturo muttered, continuing to keep watch on the timer. "Also... Saran wrap."
"Saran wrap?" Quinn and Wade balked.
Arturo nodded. "And now it’s time to slide again and when we get to the next world, I want no more talk of this."
"What if it’s a world full of saran wrap being used for nefarious purposes?" Wade laughed.
Arturo rolled his eyes. "Then God help us all, because I’m not a man who appreciates irony."