Through the Looing Glass

Well, the story is off to a good start; folks seem to like it so far.

One comment I received mentioned something about the story resembling 'Sliders'. The honest truth? I had to Google that and search it on Wiki to find out what this person was talking about. I had no idea there use to be a TV show based on my story's theme, and I've never seen it. A shame, because it sounds like something I'd be interested in watching.

If this is the case, then I offer my disclaimer now: any similarity to any character, episode, and/or reference to any show along the lines of this story's theme is purely coincidental.

Okay, enough commentary; on to the next chapter.

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"I didn't even know you two were back. So, how was Tahiti?"

Mitch and Lisa were dumbfounded at first by Darrin's inquiry, but quickly adopted the notion that they belonged in the alternate reality and decided to play along for now.

"Uh... we got back just last night... and it was great, wasn't it Lisa?" Mitch fumbled out, again raising an eyebrow to her.

"Uh, yeah; fabulous," Lisa chimed in and shrugged, "just couldn't keep ourselves away though, you know?"

Darrin smiled and shook his head, "I wish I could have gotten hold of you before you left. I got word from one of our suppliers; it seems the shipment for the power conduits has been delayed. Something about a landslide that blocked off the roads; it'll take a day or two to clear 'em. So that means you two have two more days of 'honeymooning'."

Mitch purposely put on a surprised look and said, "Oh, man; we didn't have to come back early at all," he turned to Lisa, "How 'bout that, Hun?"

Lisa snapped her fingers, "Damn the luck, I knew we should have called first. I had a feeling..."

Darrin laughed, "Its okay, guys. It'll give you a chance to unwind and unpack before jumping back into the daily grind around here." He turned to leave, but stopped and said, "Oh, by the way, that new assistant you asked for will be here next week. Margaret Castle; comes highly recommended from Tech-One in Washington."

Mitch's eyes lit up for a second, then, "Uh, Darrin... make sure her background is thoroughly checked; we need top people on this project."

Darrin nodded, "Already in the works, Mitch; I should have an answer to that request tomorrow morning."

"Good... good, great. Well, uh... I guess we'll see you in two days, then."

"Okay," Darrin nodded and turned to leave, throwing over his shoulder, "Have fun, you two... but not too much fun; remember: bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go on Wednesday."

"Right," Lisa called out, "We'll be ready."

As the doors closed behind Darrin, leaving the two intrepid explorers alone in the darkened lab, Lisa blew out her breath in relief and then eyed Mitch in confusion, "'Honeymoon'? We're married?"

"Apparently so and just recently... at least here, we are," answered Mitch. He looked at his hand and, sure enough, his third finger was wrapped in a thick band of shining gold.

Lisa did the same and her jaw dropped at the sight of the golden wedding band and the engagement ring interlocked with it, topped with a sparkling half carat diamond. Mitch's expression matched hers when he saw the ring on her finger.

"I don't believe it," he exclaimed, "That's it!"

Lisa gave him that confused look again, "What's 'it'?"

"That's the ring; that's the one I picked out last..." Mitch immediately clamped his lips shut, but realized he had let his secret slip out. Lisa's eyes widened with curiosity as he continued, shyly, "Well... okay, that was the ring I picked out last month. I was going to surprise you with it after the first test of the reactor... to celebrate... well, you know..."

Mitch stammered the rest, unable to find the right words, but he didn't need to. Lisa understood exactly what he meant, and her eyes sparkled with moisture.

"You mean... you were going to..."

Mitch took hold of her hands and answered, "Well... yeah, I was," he looked at the ring and added, "I guess it's all academic now, but... what the Hell. Uh, Lisa... will you..."

He didn't get the chance to finish, for Lisa flung her arms over his shoulders and passionately kissed him. Mitch hugged her tight and returned her kiss with equal fire. He broke the embrace to see tears running down her cheeks and passed the huge smile on her face.

"Uh, I take it that was a..."

Lisa nodded back enthusiastically at him and answered with a tearfully happy, "Yes!"

Mitch smiled back and embraced her for another kiss as she wrapped herself around him and returned it with heart warming love.

As Mitch paused to wipe away the tears on her face, Lisa said, "I love you, Mr. Parr."

Mitch grinned, "And I love you... Mrs. Parr."

"I like how that sounds," she beamed.

"Me, too." Mitch looked around and added, "Well, since there's nothing to do until Wednesday, we might as well go home." His eyebrows went up as he reached for his wallet (mentally noting that it too was different) and, checking his driver's license, breathed out a sigh, "We still live at the apartment; we don't have to drive all over looking for our home."

Lisa huffed out a laugh, then got serious, "Can we take a look around? I want to see how different this alternate universe really is."

Mitch shrugged, "Okay, why not?" They started for the door, but Mitch stopped suddenly, "Oh, wait a minute." He checked his watch against the clock on one of the desks and set it exactly one minute back to match the time in their current dimension. "Okay, that's done. We're going to have to set our watches back every time we go through the gateway."

"Right," Lisa nodded and set her watch as well, then turned with Mitch towards the lab doors.

The two scientists walked out of the building and towards the inner part of the city, leaving their car in the lot for the time being. As they strolled down the sidewalks, they peered at everything around them and noted the slight alterations.

"Didn't that used to be an ice cream parlor?"

Lisa directed her gaze at the small shop to the right of them, and nodded, "Yes, it did. It's a coffee shop here? Too bad; I loved their fudge mocha." She looked across the street and exclaimed, "Hey, what happened to that store?"

Mitch saw the clothing shop she was looking at and asked, "What about it? It's a woman's clothes shop."

"It's a man's store in our universe; that's where I got your shirts last Christmas."

Mitch's eyes lit up again, "Oh, that reminds me; the date," he looked around and then sauntered over to a newspaper kiosk, glancing at the front page, "Yep, that's today's date."

"So it is the same time period as our dimension; we're not traveling to different eras."

"No, we're not; it's the same time and date." Mitch perused the store fronts and buildings that lined the streets, and the people passing by as well, "You know, despite the small alterations, it really isn't all that different from ours, is it?"

Lisa shook her head, "No, not really; everything is still basically the same here. It feels weird; I mean, it's not our universe... but, in a way, it is."

"I know," Mitch agreed, "It's strange, isn't it? I'm still trying to figure out how our clothes changed."

Lisa picked up the thought as they continued walking, "Yeah, I can't figure it. We should have brought everything we were wearing along with us. The tests we did indicated that we could bring or leave things in the other universes."

"We should be able to," Mitch countered, "Unless... we no longer exist."

Lisa stopped their walk and the worried look reappeared, "What do you mean?"

Mitch tapped his lip with a finger, trying to formulate an explanation, "Stay with me on this one. You asked me about our... counterparts, the 'you' and 'me' that are suppose to be here. I'm thinking that since we left our universe of our own free will and, with no one to 'take our place' so to speak, we no longer exist in that universe. And, if we don't exist there..."

"You're thinking that we don't exist... in any of the universes," Lisa finished, "But, we do exist; we're here, and Darrin still knows us."

"No, no; that's not where I'm going with this," Mitch explained, "If we don't exist in our dimension, we don't exist in any of them... but, technically, we did and still do in a way. This dimension, and all of the other ones we jump into I'm guessing, alters its perception of us and includes us along with it as if we actually do belong here. I'm not sure, but perhaps it alters our perception as well, and shows us what life is like if we did belong here," Mitch stopped his train of thought and stared at Lisa, "Does that make any sense?"

"I think so," she answered, scratching at her head and then shaking it, "Man, a person's head could explode trying to over think this. So, if we don't really exist in the multiverse, that means we're not really displacing any other version of us."

"Correct... I think," Mitch shook his head too, "You're right about the exploding head thing. I want to get a good grasp on all of this, but if we overdo it we're going to go mad trying to reason every little detail out."

"I think you were right the first time: let's just take it step by step and figure it out along the way," Lisa agreed, then idly checked the ring on her hand, "If this morphed around us... then that means my ring might disappear when we 'jump' into the next universe. Mitch..." she started to pout.

Looking around, Mitch's eyes lit upon the very place he needed, "I want to try something; wait right here."

He jogged across the street and into a jewelry store, leaving Lisa looking puzzled. Fifteen minutes later, he emerged with a small shopping bag in his hand and crossed again to rejoin her.

"I've got an idea, but for right now let's head home; we still have some unfinished business to take care of."

Again, the puzzled look appeared on Lisa's face as the pair walked back to the car.

* * *

"Well, our tastes in furniture is better here than in our universe."

Mitch nodded at Lisa's comment as they looked around their apartment.

As the two entered their dwelling, they immediately noticed the changes that were made to their lifestyles. All of the furnishings were giving off the look of being brand new, without any clutter or small messes that could usually be found. Mitch's desk was immaculate with hardly any loose paper or folder to be seen, while Lisa's bedroom dresser was almost clear of any beauty products or bottles of perfume and what-not.

As she scrutinized the beautiful dark sofa and chairs in the living room, she giggled and pointed at the desk, "Well, our chair is still here."

Mitch smiled, spying the desk chair they had sex in earlier in the month, "It wouldn't be any fun at that desk without that chair being there." He searched around until he spied the suitcases in the corner and moved towards them. Opening one of them, he found folded summer clothes, sun block, sunglasses, and an ugly, flowery Hawaiian shirt in shades of red and yellow.

"Please tell me I didn't wear this thing," he groaned.

Lisa laughed as she opened another case and saw somewhat of the same thing, including a garment that could be considered 'naughty' by some.

"Oh, have I got a surprise for you tonight," she grinned, "Since we didn't get to go on our honeymoon..."

"But we did," Mitch said, perusing his case and spying something black and satiny inside.

Lisa rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. I think we should have a 'make-up' honeymoon." Her devilish grin lit up her face as she wiggled her eyebrows at him.

"I think... that's a wonderful idea." Mitch took Lisa in his arms and lovingly kissed her, "We'll do it tonight. I saw a fruit basket with a bottle in the fridge; it must be a gift from someone."

"Well, then it's a good excuse not to waste it," she smiled back.

They relaxed for awhile, getting used to their surroundings and idly checking drawers and closets. They found much of the same things that were in their own dimension, with only a few things here and there that they didn't recognize such as clothes and shoes.

Mitch showered later in the evening and prepared himself for the coming festivities, with Lisa doing the same afterward. They decided to surprise each other when the time came, so they cleaned up and prepared themselves in different parts of the apartment; Lisa using the bedroom while Mitch used the guest room.

Mitch wandered into the kitchen a few minutes before their scheduled meeting time to ready the goodies that were left for them by their colleagues, a 'congratulations' present consisting of small passion fruits and a bottle of champagne. He set out the delicious spread along with two glass flutes in the living room near the sofa, its pillows scattered on the floor in front of it, and then checked his appearance in the mirror behind it after lighting a few candles.

He was wearing the black satin he found in the suitcase; pajama bottoms and a long robe with a deep red sash. He smoothed his hair and checked his freshly shaven face one more time when he heard a 'ahem' coming from behind. Knowing what it was, he smiled as he grabbed the champagne, working to get the cork out, and turned towards the noise... and almost dropped the bottle when the object of his affection was within his sight.

Lisa leaned against the wall with an arm and posed for him, wearing a frilly black nightie that didn't quite cover the matching string panties she had on. It copied the red of his outfit with two tiny ribbons; one in her cleavage and the other topping the panties' hemline, with the black frilled patterns strategically covering the modest parts of her body. The long sheer robe she had draped over her shoulders hid absolutely nothing as she slowly pulled it off to let it slide off her body and fall to her feet. Her ensemble hugged every luscious curve of her form with her long red hair cascading down her back, and she purposely put a strut in her slow approach as she neared Mitch.

Almost on cue, when Lisa first appeared, the cork of the champagne popped, and a bit of sparkling liquid foamed at the top and oozed out to dribble onto the carpet. Mitch was so hypnotized by the beautiful woman in front of him, it took a second before he realized that the champagne was leaking out. He quickly grabbed a glass to stave off the flow as Lisa snickered at him.

"I take it you approve," she said, her green eyes shimmering in the light of the candles. She teased him with an 'innocent' look, putting her arms girlishly behind her back and biting her lower lip.

"I'll tell you... as soon as I pick my tongue up off the floor," he replied, pouring another glass of champagne and handing it to Lisa.

"You look very handsome and sexy," she said, taking the flute.

"And you look..." Mitch stammered a little, trying to find the right words, then lifted his glass, "Lovely, beautiful, stunning... they don't even come close to describing how gorgeous you look."

"'Gorgeous' works just fine, Mr. Parr," she smiled and tilted her glass at him.

He returned the gesture and replied, "Absolutely gorgeous you are... Mrs. Parr."

The flutes clinked together and they sipped the champagne in a toast to their love. Lisa edged closer to Mitch, aching to press herself against him, but he stopped her and said, "Wait a moment; I have some things for you."

Her gaze followed him into the guest room and a moment later, he emerged with three small boxes in his hands.

Handing her the largest of the three, he said, "Open this one first."

She did, and smiled at the small black disc; a digital stopwatch with a thin black lariat.

"This is for you to take to the other dimensions. It can be set to sound an alarm when it's time for the vortex to appear and beep ten seconds before it closes. It can do a countdown so you can set it to start at twenty-four hours and it will reset itself when the counter reads 'zero', or you can hit a button to reset it yourself if we arrive early. I want you to hold onto it and keep track of our time. It's also a test of our theory about taking and leaving things in other dimensions; I want to see if this travels with us."

Lisa kissed him, "Thank you; it's lovely, but I have a watch."

"In this universe you do," he countered, "but what about others? We could wind up in a dimension that doesn't have electronics or mechanisms... or even timepieces themselves."

She nodded, "You're right; there could be other Earths that don't have anything. Cars, trains, computers and watches, buildings... there might not even be other people."

Lisa started to get that worried look again, but Mitch eased her mind, "Let's not think about that right now. This is our time together, a special time and I want to make the best of it while we're still here." He brought up the other two boxes and handed one to Lisa.

She opened hers and smiled at the gold chain inside, lifting it and seeing the gold ring dangling at the end of it. Mitch pulled the same out of his box and wrapped the chain around Lisa's neck, letting the ring fall between her rounded breasts. She copied his move, and the two of them joined hands looking into each others' eyes with nothing but pure love.

"I love you with all of my heart and soul," whispered Mitch as he gently touched the ring in her cleavage, "With this ring... I thee wed."

"I love you with all of my heart and soul," Lisa repeated and copied his gesture with a tear running down her cheek, "With this ring... I thee wed."

Mitch smiled lovingly at Lisa and slowly wrapped his arms around her to draw her near. She in turn draped her arms over his shoulders and pressed her warm body against his. Their lips closed in and entwined in a soft, sensual kiss with their tongues playfully fencing; Mitch feeling the nipples of her breasts hardening and poking into his chest, while Lisa could feel the growing bulge of his crotch rubbing against her mound.

Their kisses were light, then playful... then fiery and full of lustful passion as they devoured each other with their lips and hands. Lisa pushed her body into Mitch's and humped her hips into his groin, lifting a leg to wrap around his thigh. He held her close to him, an arm around her back, and felt her boobs squishing against his chest with her rubbery nipples poking through the nightie fabric and brushing across his skin. His other hand traveled down her back to palm and cup one of her ass cheeks and smash more of her vagina against his hardening manhood.

Lisa broke the hot embrace, panting and with lust in her eye, and slowly pushed the robe off of his shoulders to let it fall away. With a wickedly naughty grin, she knelt down in front of him and loosened the string of his pajamas, stretching the waist band and putting her hands inside of them to seductively pull them over his hips exposing his buttocks. Mitch shuddered as he felt her fingers reach into the front of his garment and felt them being pulled down, his member catching the hem. Lisa ease it over the fat head of his prick and let the pajamas slide down his legs and pool up at his feet.

Her hands gliding up his thighs, Lisa licked her lips at the sight of his hard bloated cock, the tip oozing out a drop of slippery precum. His balls were heavy and full, Lisa testing their heft with a gentle palming, and the shaft quivered in response. She lowered her head and began her oral assault, Mitch sighing in content.

The tip of her tongue tickled at his ball sack while her fingertips softly caressed the bulging veins of his dick, making it twitch with every touch. After a minute or two of tongue painting his balls, Lisa flattened her wet weapon and achingly drew it up the stiff shaft, tasting the dollop of cum once she reached the head, then down again. Mitch groaned as his cock was slathered with spit, Lisa teasing the tip to make it produce more cum for her to enjoy.