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Chapter Text

From the age of eleven, Emmett knew he would dedicate his life to science, thanks to a copy of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth he found in his father’s study. The book was on the top shelf, stuck behind a row of books. It took stacking multiple thick encyclopedias for Emmett to comfortably reach the shelf. In retrospect, the book was probably out of reach for a reason, but that didn’t matter.

After reading the book, Emmet became infatuated with all things science. His father encouraged his son’s love of learning and allowed Emmett to learn anything he could in books—assuming he understood half the words. While Emmett’s learning was encouraged, his “experiments” were not so welcomed on account of what almost happened to the house when he tried to understand how fire worked. 

Despite the setback, Emmett still wanted to discover something. That “thing” was to attempt his own journey to the center of the earth, just like Professor Otto Lidenbrock in his favorite book. Determined to get there as soon as possible, Emmett began digging in his backyard with a trowel. Unfortunately, his mother wasn’t all that thrilled about it.

“I’m trying to get to the center of the earth.” Emmett explained.

“Where would you get an idea like that?” 

“A book.” 

His mother raised her eyebrow, expecting an answer.

“This book.” Emmett held up the book. 

“Where’d you get this?”

“Papa’s study.” 

His mother gave a quick nod and mhm before leaving. “How about you don’t dig in the yard, alright?”

“Okay!”

The backyard may have been off-limits, but that didn’t stop him from trying other places, like the forest. With stolen shovel in hand, Emmett ventured to the forest.

For an hour, he had made what he thought was good progress in his work. Emmett stood up, sighed, and wiped his forehead of sweat, then laid on the dirt floor. 

“We made good work, huh?” he said to no one in particular. 

Something barked in return. Emmett sat up and looked around for where the bark could have come from. 

“Hello?” 

A bush barked. Emmett crawled over toward the bush. Slowly, he pulled the branches away to reveal a small creature in the bush. 

“Were you barking?”

The creature barked back and wagged its tail. The creature itself was thin and had matted fur. Its paws were dirty and filled with mud. This creature was, most definitely, a dog. 

Emmett looked up at the sky; it was a little after noon. He could stay out later, just as long as he came home in time for dinner. 

“Do you want to help me dig a hole to the middle of the earth?” he asked the dog. The dog barked.

Together, the two continued digging the hole. Well, to be fair, it was more Emmett digging and the dog giving moral support. 

After a while, the sun began to make its way toward the horizon.

“We should go home,” Emmett told his friend, “Mama’ll be looking for me if we don’t. She’ll be so happy I found a friend!”

Back at the Brown home, Emmett made his grand entrance with his new friend. Strangely, it did not go as anticipated.

“Where did you find that…that… thing ?” his mother squealed.

“In the woods! We started digging toward the center of the earth!” 

“Emmett, you can’t bring animals from the woods into the house. They can have diseases and things.”

“But he doesn’t have anything wrong with him! Can’t he stay?”

“I don’t see why not.” Emmett’s father said. 

“No, it cannot stay!” his mother retorted. 

“Sure it can. Come on, son, let’s get this animal cleaned up.” 

Emmett carried his friend upstairs to the bathroom and into the bathtub. With his father’s help (though, it was mostly his father doing all the work), Emmett was able to clean up the dog. 

“Do you know what I’m going to name him?” Emmett asked. 

“No. What?” 

“Lav-o-see.” Emmett announced, completely butchering the pronunciation. 

“What?” his father understandably asked. 

“After that guy who discovered fire.” 

“You mean Antoine Lavoisier?” corrected his father, “And he didn’t discover fire. He just found that oxygen was part of making fire.”

“Yeah, him!” 

“Well, I must say it’s an awfully long name for a dog.”

“How long are dog names s’posed to be?”

“Usually, they’re one or two syllables.”

“Oh. Then, what are other scientists?” 

“I don’t know,” his father shrugged, “why don’t you go look through that list of yours?” 

“Okay!” Emmett beamed, rushing down to find the list of scientists he had and back to his father. 

“I found it!”

“Good. How about you find a good name, now.” his father suggested. By now, Emmett’s dog was being dried with a towel. 

“Hmm. How about Galileo? No, not Galileo, that’s too long. So’s Edison. Maybe Nikola could be his name.”

“Nikola?”

“Nikola Tesla.”

“Oh, I see.” his father nodded, “That one seems pretty long, too.”

“Nikola isn’t a dog name anyway.” Emmett scanned his list again. “Maybe he could be Kepler?”

The dog barked. 

“I think that’s a yes.” his father laughed.

“Kepler it is!”

From that day forward, Kepler and Emmett were inseparable. Where Emmett went, Kepler was bound to be right behind. They were always off having one adventure after the other. 

After Emmett gave up trying to reach the Earth’s center (somehow Emmett hadn’t anticipated how far the Earth’s center was), he turned to trying to teach Kepler tricks with different treats; mostly meats and scraps of bread. 

From his experiments, Emmett gathered that Kepler liked hamburger meat the best. Kepler was also able to sit, lay down, stay, play dead, speak, and fetch on command. Emmett and Kepler made a great team. After 5 years, Emmett learned an important lesson: that nothing is forever.

That morning, Emmett had woken up late and went downstairs to be greeted by his father with a solemn face. 

“Emmett…” his father began, “it’s Kepler.”

“What is it?”

“Kepler’s dead.”

Nothing felt real at that moment. It couldn’t be true. Kepler was still here. He had to be. 

“Your mother took him to be put down this morning. I’m sorry.”

I’m sorry. 

Now it had to be real. His father rarely said those two words, and when he did, he meant it. 

“Kepler’s dead.” Emmett repeated.

“I’m afraid so.”

“Do you think Kepler knew we loved him?”

“I know he did.”

Chapter Text

At 20 years old, Emmett Brown only loved one thing: science. 

Much to everyone’s confusion, Emmett was not into the whole romance thing. It just didn’t make much sense. Sure, he knew that it was a feeling some people had towards each other, but he had never felt it himself. 

It wasn’t until 20 did Emmett notice his other peers starting to partake in these ritualistic things. He probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all if it weren’t for the fact that he heard people constantly talking about who everyone was dating (which to Emmett seemed like a violation of personal privacy and intruding on other people’s business, but what did he know…)

He felt he ought to have been feeling left out of the whole thing, but he didn’t. In fact, he couldn’t care less about dating, or marriage, or having children for that matter. The  idea as a whole was uninteresting, and upon further thought, completely disgusting at the thought of him doing any of those things. Why anyone would actually enjoy doing such things was beyond Emmett’s comprehension. 

The only relationships Emmett really craved were friendships, but no one wanted to be friends with Emmett Brown. The Emmett Brown everyone else saw him as was a weird social outcast who stayed cooped up in his house all day. Neither of these were very appealing to everyone else. So, for the most part, Emmett Brown was left alone.

That was, until he went to a local dog shelter. 

She was a mixed terrier and as soon as Emmett saw her, he knew he had to take her home. 

“What about that one?” Emmett asked.

“That one?” asked the caretaker of the shelter, incredulous. “She’s old.”

“I don’t mind!” 

“If you say so…” the caretaker said, unlocking the cage. “We’ll just finish the paperwork, and you can leave.”

“Don’t you worry. I’ll take good care of you.” Emmett promised. The dog wagged her tail. 

“Let’s see, what should I name you?” he pondered. 

There was always Nobel, he thought, but that won’t do. How about Galileo? Marie? Curie?

Yes, Curie would do!

“Say, Curie, how would you like to come and pick some food out?” 

Curie returned a tail wag. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

Having been four years since he last had a companion, Curie was a nice addition to Emmett’s life. She didn’t talk much and didn’t have too much energy (that wasn’t a surprise, considering her age), but she helped as much as she could with inventions and kept Emmett company. In return, Curie was well taken care of. She was fed the best food she could be given, had all the attention she could desire, and had just about anything a dog could ever want.

That was enough for the both of them. 

With the help of Curie, the two were able to work on Doc’s latest invention of an automatic garage door that was able to be opened by Curie. 

The idea was that there would be two buttons for Curie to use: one outside the garage and one inside. It would function like normal buttons for a garage, but could be activated by Curie on the ground.

It wasn’t difficult making the buttons accessible to Curie. The real problem was making it, so only Curie could open it and not any wild animals. As anyone could imagine, the experiments resulted in a lot of squirrels and such getting themselves stuck and making a mess of the garage-laboratory. 

With the amount of times animals managed to get inside, Emmett was able to figure out just how much pressure was needed to keep wild animals out, while still allowing Curie to go in and out as easily as she pleased. 

With the dog-accessible buttons a success, Emmett and Curie went on to work on more canine-centric inventions. None of them were as successful or practical as the garage buttons, though. 

Curie was able to successfully use the garage door for five years before she became too weak to move much at all. When she eventually died, Emmett was ready. He knew it was going to happen and spent all of Curie’s life giving her as much joy as he could.

On days when Curie didn’t have enough energy, Emmett would move her and her bed to the garage with him so she wouldn’t be lonely. On days when he had just been working long hours in the laboratory, Emmett wouldn’t have it in him to move everything for Curie. Instead, he’d just not work and take care of the house and Curie. 

He was grateful to have given Curie a chance to live outside a shelter. Though he’d never admit it to anyone, he considered it an honor to have had Curie for a friend.  

At 25 years old, Emmett Brown loved two things: science and a good companion— especially if they happened to be a dog.

Chapter Text

Five years went by before Emmett met his next companion. One rainy night– as all important things tend to occur– this dog appeared to Emmett. The little puppy just sat at the scientist’s doorstep, barking to be heard by anyone. 

Unfortunately, Emmett was out scavenging for materials for a new clock he planned to make—a new project he started. When he did arrive home, he was greeted with a surprise.

“Great Scott!” Emmett cried, “How long have you been out here in the cold for?”

The puppy whimpered a response. 

“It’s alright, you can come inside and we’ll get you dried off.”

Upon opening the door, the dog scurried into the house and crashed into a wall. It shook its head and panted, looking up at Emmett. 

“You alright, there?” he asked the dog. The dog cocked its head. “I’ll be in the other room working if you need me.”

The dog wagged its tail and padded around the room, examining the different objects. The dog would occasionally scratch itself behind the ears.

Halfway through completing the latest clock, Emmett realized he had the wrong sized escapement piece. Upon getting up to fetch the right piece, Emmett noticed the sudden silence from outside the room. Worried something might have happened to the dog, Emmett waltzed into the room where he left the puppy, only to find it empty.

“Where’d you go?” he asked, looking under the rug. Emmett clicked his tongue and whistled, “C’mere, boy!”

At the third round of whistling and calling, the puppy came padding down the hall from another room toward Emmett with something in its mouth.

“Hey! That’s just what I needed!” Emmett exclaimed, seeing what was in the dog’s mouth, “Can I have that?”

The dog plopped on the ground and opened its mouth to let the escapement roll out and toward Emmett. 

“Thanks for the help, boy.” Emmett praised the dog, walking back to his Clockroom.

The puppy bolted up and followed Emmett and plopped itself under the table. Emmett sat at the table and began working on a new solar system themed clock. 

“If you’re going to stay here, you might as well have a name.” Emmett said, noticing his companion. 

Emmett looked down at the dog and back at his heliocentric clock. That was when the name for his new friend hit him—Copernicus! 

“Perfect!” Emmett exclaimed, standing up a little too fast and knocking some things over. Copernicus dutifully picked up a piece off the floor and brought it to Emmett. 

“Thank you, Copernicus. What a good boy! That’s the minute hand you have.”

Emmett continued to work on his clock. Whenever something were to roll off the table and onto the floor—which happened regularly because of Emmett’s haphazard style of laying his tools out—Copernicus was there to retrieve it. Emmett would then take the item, wipe it on his shirt, and say “Thank you, Copernicus. That’s the hour hand.” or “That’s the dial.”. 

Emmett’s training worked out. In a little over two years, Copernicus was able to differentiate the different tools Emmett requested in a perfect success rate–assuming Emmett asked for the right tool the first time. 

Emmett appreciated Copernicus’s help. It was a wonder that the dog was able to understand him at all. 

If only Emmett could understand Copernicus, too…

“That’s it!” yelled Emmett, slamming down his tools, “I’ll figure out how to understand you, Copernicus!”

Copernicus whipped his head toward Emmett. 

“No more tools, today, boy. We’re going to start working on a new project!” 

The new Dog Reading Machine turned out to be a fluke. If only Emmett had figured that out before attempting it 97 times. The machine did work somewhat well on humans, though, and that gave Emmett some hope. 

“If this works out, do you think they’d put me in the books with Newton and Tesla?” Emmett wondered.

Copernicus barked, dropping the wrench on the ground.

“Right.” Emmett reached for the wrench. “Thank you, Copernicus.” 

Emmett’s hope for the Mind Reading Machine was starting to dwindle. The machine hardly worked, and when it did, it wasn’t how he wanted it to. He was able to read some things, but it always ended up being wrong. 

There was his first test, Roger White, the mailman. The machine read that the mailman was thinking about milk bottles, but it turned out that the mailman was lactose intolerant.

“Would you mind wearing this…again…?” Emmett asked, holding out the mind-reading machine. 

“Emmett, this is the third week in a row you have sent yourself a letter in order to get me to wear that darned thing.” Roger responded. “I’m not doing it anymore!”

“Right, sorry.” Emmett mumbled.

Roger grumbled a reply and left. 

With the number of tests dropping to zero, Emmett began scrambling to find solutions. He tried hiring people to test the machine for him, but no one wanted to work for the estranged scientist, so Emmett turned back to Copernicus. 

The Mind Reading Machine hadn’t improved since then and started its slow decline into disuse. And Copernicus was there for it all. He supported Emmett up until the machine fell from its measly glory and into just a compilation of parts.

“That’s it!” Emmett yelled, “I’ve had it with this damn thing!”

Copernicus barked. 

“It hasn’t worked and it never will!” 

Emmett deconstructed the entire machine. With Copernicus’s help, the two sorted parts into Broken and Usable. After all that, Emmett turned back to his hobby of making clocks.

Time, Emmett decided, was much easier than minds.

As he worked on clocks, Emmett’s mind began to think about different inventions. Practical inventions like an automatic dog-feeder became thoughts and ideas as Emmett worked on clocks. But his favorite ideas were the ones every scientist before him said were impossible. 

One idea stuck with him: Albert Einstein’s theory of time travel. 

“What if we could create a smaller wormhole?” Emmett pondered. He continued to sit at the table, pondering the possibility of his proposition. It would take a hell of a lot of power to do it though. Just how much power?

As Emmett pondered away, Copernicus patiently sat with him. Copernicus had no problems with Emmett’s sudden lack of clock-making throughout the day. He became used to Emmett not interacting and made up for it by resting his chin on Emmett’s leg.

Copernicus was there on November 5, 1955 when Emmett slipped and fell in his bathroom. Dutifully, Copernicus sat and licked Emmett, making sure he was alive. 

When Emmett woke up, his mind hit him with the revelation as to the key to time travel. 

“Copernicus!” Emmett cried, jolting up too quickly. His head began to swirl. 

Copernicus gently grabbed Emmett’s coat and stood firm. 

Emmett grabbed Copernicus and slowly sat himself down. “I think I’ve figured out time travel!”

Copernicus gave a celebratory bark.

With Copernicus’s help, Emmett was able to start working through theories of time travel. He spent hours at the Hill Valley Library looking through previous scientists and their theories for time travel, attempting to work out the plausible way it could work scientifically. 

Copernicus, not being allowed in the library, sat patiently for Emmett to find the reference materials he needed. Copernicus never showed that he didn’t like sitting outside the library. In fact, he was more indignant that he accompanied Emmett at each outing, but Emmett didn’t mind at all. 

One day at the library, a small boy came up to Emmett while he was researching. 

“Excuse me.” the small boy tapped Emmett’s arm.

“What?!” Emmett jumped, startled.

“I think your dog’s sleeping outside.” 

“Sleeping?”

“I was gonna go pet him, but I saw he wasn’t moving, and I didn’t wanna wake him up.”

Emmett peered outside to find Copernicus curled up in the grass.

“Do dogs sleep outside?” the boy asked.

“Sometimes.” Emmett answered, heading toward Copernicus.

“So he’s okay?”

Emmett didn’t answer. He knelt down and examined his companion.

“Can I pet him?”

“No.” Emmett said.

“Will I wake him up?”

“Yes. He wouldn’t like that.” Emmett lied, picking up his friend one last time.

Chapter Text

In the time that Copernicus had died and when Emmett met his next companion, several things had changed.  

The Brown Mansion was gone. A freak accident had caused the mansion to burn up in flames. Emmett was gone when it started, and returned when the fire department was working on dousing the flames. For several years, he wasn’t able to forgive himself for not being there that day. 

Money was slowly depleting. With the mansion burnt, Emmett sold the land to earn a little more money and had the garage renovated into a living space and a laboratory. The money from selling the land only helped with expenses for a little while. It was only a matter of time before Emmett would need to find a way to earn some income. 

The current state of the garage-laboratory looked like a tornado had come in and someone had attempted to clean it up, but with only the tornado’s destruction for reference. 

Emmett had slowly become discouraged by his failure. He had spent the last several years or so trying to work on the Flux Compressor to no avail. The only progress he had made was renaming it to the Flux Capacitor. He tried working on other inventions, but he didn’t find any joy or interest in it. He had become isolated and lonely. 

When his new companion came, that all changed. It had to. Newton was only a puppy and could easily get lost or hurt. Newton needed to be taken care of. 

There was also the fact that Newton only had three legs. Considering that Newton seemed well-adapted to it, Emmett assumed he had been that way for a while. And since it wasn’t a problem for Newton, it wasn’t a problem for Emmett. 

Newton did have one issue, though: Newton did not like being left alone. 

Emmett did everything he could think of. He laid next to Newton as Newton fell asleep, let Newton know he was still around every so often, and limited the time he took to work. Even with all of that, Newton couldn’t stand to be alone. 

“I don’t want to give up on him, but I don’t know what to do.” Emmett complained to the animal shelter coordinator. 

“Have you thought of hiring someone to help take care of him? Or just to spend time with him while you work?”

“No.” Emmet admitted. “You really think that’ll work?”

“It’s worth a try.”

It would be worth a try, if Emmett could find someone that would want to keep one dog company. Most responsible people had jobs of their own or were in high school. Adults didn’t want another job and most high schoolers avoided Emmett—some rumor about him being an evil scientist or something. Emmett wasn’t too sure.

No matter, Emmett would just try and figure out how to help Newton on his own.

“What is it?” Emmett asked the dog. “What do you want?”

Newton only whined in response. 

“Maybe if I leave a jacket, you’ll be fine?” Emmett suggested, taking his jacket off and laying it next to Newton. 

Newton sniffed the jacket and after careful examination, laid on top of it. 

Emmett went off to another room to test out his hypothesis. Newton wasn’t crying yet, so Emmett felt hopeful this would be a success. 

However, Emmett’s success only lasted for a few minutes when Newton started whining again. 

“Well that worked well…” Emmett sighed. 

If having his scent didn’t work, maybe Newton wouldn’t cry if he could hear Emmett consistently. Checking in on Newton a couple times throughout the day wasn’t helping, but perhaps if he could hear Emmett all the time, Newton would feel more secure.

With that, Emmett went to the store to find a pair of walkie talkies. While searching, he came across a pair that worked differently to typical walkie talkies: one end was always transmitting a signal without the need to push a button, while the other worked as normal. This pair seemed like a better option than typical walkie talkies. If Emmett gave Newton the receiving end of the pair, Newton would always be able to hear him. 

He grabbed a box off the shelf and made his way to the check-out.

“How old’s the baby?” the cashier asked, punching the price into the register.

“The baby…?”

“That’s what you have the baby monitor for, right?”

“Is that what this is?” Emmett wondered, glancing at the box.

“Yes…?” the cashier said, confused, “It was in the infant section.”

“Oh. Well, it’s for my dog.” 

The cashier raised an eyebrow, then shoved the box to Emmett. “Have a nice day.”

Emmett tested his new hypothesis as soon as he got back. He set up the receiving monitor with Newton and the transmitter with him—after all, Emmett could hear Newton just fine without a transmission. 

As Emmett worked, he mumbled to himself. From the other side of the garage, Emmett didn’t hear anything from Newton. The baby monitor was a success!

Newton’s issues didn’t end there, though. After gaining some independence, Newton discovered that he, like his namesake, could make objects fall down. This seemed partially due to the state of the garage being an amalgamation of what seemed like every possible item one human could possibly have in a garage, but also Newton’s mischievous nature. 

Emmett, only really used to older dogs, was not prepared for all of this. While trying to work out several theories of time travel, he also had to juggle watching Newton. Usually, Newton wouldn’t cause too much damage, maybe an object or two fallen on the ground. With the frequency of having to clean up after Newton, it was starting to take a lot of time away from Emmett’s work. He would not stand to let this go on. It was time Emmett finally tackled and fixed the disaster of a living space. 

The entire garage was a mess to begin with. There was no order. To get anywhere, Emmett had to squeeze past tables and climb over furniture. He could only imagine that the whole place must feel like a labyrinth to Newton. 

To help create some form of structure and order to the madness, Emmett divided the garage up into two areas: one for living and the other for his inventions. The living area would be in the back since that was where the bathroom and kitchen were. The laboratory would go in the front of the garage, near the entrance. 

Now, Emmett had to actually make that into reality. First, Emmett put Newton in a safe spot where he wouldn’t get hurt. 

Then, Emmett cleared out the back of the garage and moved his bed, dresser, armchair, and recreational things into the back. Knowing that the laboratory would end up an organized mess (but more mess than organized), Emmett set up a barrier between the two areas to keep Newton safe.

With the living area finished, Emmett began moving all his inventing equipment away from the main entrance and attempted to put some form of organization into the laboratory. 

“Well, Newton…” Emmett sighed, plopping himself on an armchair. “We did it.”

Newton gave a supportive lick on the scientist’s hand. Now the two could rest.

After a good, long rest, Emmett went back to work on time travel. He would need a way to transport himself through time, but how would he do it? It would have to be easy to obtain, but able to carry someone through time and go through a wormhole. 

Bikes were out of the question. There was no knowing what would happen in the wormhole if someone was just riding on something. To be fair, there was no knowing what would happen if you were to go through a wormhole anyway, but Emmett wasn’t going to take any risks. Besides, the average person can only go 14-18 miles per hour on a bike and that was too slow.

Boats, trains, airplanes, and rockets were other options, but each had their own issues. Boats were only accessible by water. Trains were only accessible through tracks. Airplanes and rockets were expensive to make and to power. 

Cars were the only option. But if Emmett was going to travel through time in a car, he might as well go in style. He didn’t want to travel through time in just any car, he might as well show up with the best of the best. And so, Emmett waited around for the right car. 

In the meantime, Emmett read more on theories about black holes and on wormholes. He read what other people had to say about Einstein’s theory. And as he did so, he had Newton by his side the whole time. 

Emmett would never dare let another person take Newton away. Newton was his companion, his friend. Unfortunately, some people did not understand that. One of them was a Mr. Otis Peabody. 

Mr. Peabody would ask Emmett to fix this machine or check on that mechanism. Emmett would oblige—afterall, he was in need of money—but not without some reluctance.

“Here’s the problem.” Emmett pointed out, “That gear’s too big. It’s pushing everything else out of place.”

“Are you sure? That’s how it was when I bought it.” Mr. Peabody huffed, leaning on his rake. 

“Do you want me to fix your tractor?”

Mr. Peabody ignored him. “Your dog’s messin’ around my pines.” 

Without taking his eyes off his inspection, Emmett calmly responded, “Newton won’t hurt your trees, Mr. Peabody.”

“I don’t want him over there. He’ll disturb their natural reproductive systems.”

Emmett’s whole face contorted in response to Mr. Peabody’s comment. He shook his head and went back to fiddling with the mechanics of the tractor. 

“He’s got a pinecone! Tell him to drop it!”

“It’s a pinecone.” 

“You tell him to drop it, or I’ll make him.”

Mr. Peabody had a serious expression on his face. 

“Newton, c’mere.” Emmett called. 

Newton padded his way over to Emmett with a small animal in his mouth. Emmett reached his hand out to Newton.

“That ain’t no pinecone!” Mr. Peabody gasped. “What is that?”

“A rat.” Emmett dangled the dead rat to Mr. Peabody, allowing him to see for himself.

Mr. Peabody slowly nodded his approval, looking at Emmett and Newton. 

“You’ve got yourself a good dog there, Brown. He’d be a great dog here on the farm.” Mr. Peabody commented, “Even if he’s missin’ a leg.”

“What do you mean by that?” Emmett scowled. 

“Nothin. All I said was he had three legs. That’s not wrong.” Mr. Peabody replied. 

Emmett was unimpressed. 

“And he’d be a great dog on the farm.” 

He was beginning to get slightly defensive. “He’s my dog. He lives with me.” 

“I’d be willing to pay for it.”

“He’s not for sale.” 

Mr. Peabody had a crafty look on his face. “I know you need the money. Name your price.” 

“Mr. Peabody, I am not selling Newton. You will not get me to sell him. I’m sorry.”

“Then I don’t need you coming around here anymore.”

“That’s fine by me.” Emmett replied, packing up his things.He patted his thigh for Newton to follow him and began heading home. 

“Ha! I didn’t even pay you!” Mr. Peabody jeered. 

Emmett turned around, but continued walking backwards. “I didn’t even fix your tractor!” 

Mr. Peabody dropped his jaw. He let out a furious yell and chucked his rake on the ground. 

Mr. Peabody had another surprise coming to him: Emmett noticed that suddenly there had sprung up several small holes around Peabody's precious pines. Newton walked proudly alongside Emmett, almost as if he knew what he had done.

Chapter Text

Not much had changed in Emmett’s life over the past decade. Newton had grown up and passed on, Mr. Peabody was still around, and, of course, Emmett continued on with his search to figure out time travel.

He knew about wormholes and black holes, but what he really needed to know was how to generate a black hole and travel in it via his flux capacitor. It would take a lot of energy. But how much energy? And what could power that amount of energy? And how fast would he need to go?

“I heard you got a new dog, Brown.” Mr. Peabody remarked, taking Emmett out of his thoughts. 

The dog, Mr. Peabody was referring to, was Emmett’s newest friend: Joule. 

Emmett had found Joule in a box on the street. She was a tiny puppy then, and was left all alone. Emmett couldn’t allow himself to leave her there on her own, so he took her in and nursed her. He wasn’t too sure what he was doing, but he had been determined to take care of her. 

“I hope you didn’t bring it after what your last dog did.” Mr. Peabody eyed his pine trees. 

“No, I didn’t bring her.” assured Emmett.

“Good.” Mr. Peabody huffed, “Are you almost done? The weatherman said a storm’s coming tomorrow.”

“Well, I’ll have to take this back with me. I don’t have everything I need.” 

“What?! If that storm comes through and there’s lightning, my barn’s going up in flames!”

“I’ll have your lightning rod fixed up first thing tomorrow morning.” promised Emmett. 

“You better be here before I hear thunder.” Mr. Peabody threatened. 

“Don’t you mean before you see lightning?”

“You hear the thunder first. Then the lightning.”

“The rate of speed light travels at is faster than the speed—” suddenly Emmett was hit with a revelation. Emmett grabbed his belongings and the lightning rod. 

“Than the speed of what?” Mr. Peabody called back.

“Goodnight, Mr. Peabody!” Emmett returned, scampering away.

Back at the laboratory, Emmett practically threw himself at his chalkboard. Joule greeted him and sat beside him as she watched the scientist frantically scribble equations and numbers and words.

“This is it, Joule!” Emmett cried. “Lightning! Lightning!”

Joule barked in understanding. 

“Lightning can produce energy in a short amount of time, right?” Emmett panted. “But how much? How much power?”

He ran to one of the several piles of books he had lying around and haphazardly tossed books away. Joule carefully made her way over to Emmett. 

“HA!” Emmett yelled. “Right there!”

He stumbled over to the chalkboard and frantically wrote on the board. Emmett scribbled out math conversions, erasing mistakes, and rewriting. By the time Joule had made her way to Emmett, one number in particular had been circled so many times, it had crossed onto other notes written on the board. 

Out of the mess of notes and math equations, one was easily drawn to the prominently circled 1.21 gigawatts.

“What could possibly produce that much energy that fast?”

Joule barked.

“Well, of course a lightning bolt. But other than that.”

Joule sighed and laid down. Emmett flipped over the chalkboard to a blank side. He began writing down and muttering to himself. “Coal. Steam and water—that’s just hydropower— Biomass…”

Joule yawned and pressed her paw on Emmett’s foot.

“Sorry, I’ll be quiet.” Emmett whispered. “Wind…gas, solar.”

Emmett stepped back and surveyed his list. It was a good start. Now all he had to do was figure out what would be the most efficient and practical way to produce that much power. 

“The pollution of coal is less than ideal.” he muttered to himself, crossing out coal on the list. 

Hill Valley didn’t have that big of a water source for one person to use. Even if it did, how would Emmett convince anyone to let him use it for a personal experiment?

Solar energy was a possibility, but according to Einstein, black holes don’t emit light. Considering a wormhole was just two black holes, it was safe to assume there was no light in those, too. With no light, there was no way to power solar panels. 

Several other fuel sources couldn’t produce enough energy, took up too much room for storage, or were just too expensive.

After a moment or two, Emmett looked back at the chalkboard with a puzzled look on his face. “I must be missing something…”

He re-read the list over and over, hoping it would make him think of the missing source of energy. (It did not.) He walked around the laboratory, muttering to himself.

Joule let out a whine and padded over to Emmett’s bed. 

“Ah, Joule!” Emmett noticed the dog. “I’m sorry! I’ll be quieter!”

Joule barked. 

“Just allow me to finish this.” Emmett insisted. 

Joule sighed.

“Fine.” Emmett resigned, heading to bed. 

Once he got in bed, he realized he had forgotten to fix Mr. Peabody’s lightning rod. 

“Great Scott!” Emmett sprang out of bed.

Joule growled in annoyance. 

“One last thing, I promise!” Emmett vowed, gathering materials together.

Joule begrudgingly went over to Emmett and tugged on his pants.

“I must finish this for Mr. Peabody.” Emmett explained. He technically had the morning to fix it, but Emmett did not want to take any chances with Mr. Peabody’s graces.

In a somewhat drowsy and frantic mindset, Emmett slapped pieces together and attached them to the lightning rod. Joule sat and surveyed Emmett’s work, catching any pieces before they fell on the ground.
“That looks sufficient, right?” Emmett turned to his assistant. “All I’ve done is replaced some of the pieces and added an extension to allow the rod to get higher.”

Joule nodded her approval and the two headed back to bed. 

The next morning, Emmett packed up the lightning rod.

“C’mon, Joule.” Emmett called, patting his leg. “I doubt you want to be left alone if this supposed storm hits.”

Emmett took his usual route to the Peabody Farm. It wasn’t too far by car, but after selling his only car several years ago, Emmett took a bit longer to get there. He had to take the bus and then walk some distance to the farm.

“Is that your dog?” the bus driver asked.

“Yes.” Emmett replied. The bus driver shrugged and Emmett took a seat. Joule sat between Emmett’s legs and eyed the other passengers. 

“Can I pet your doggie?” a little girl asked.

“Of course.” Emmett smiled. Joule dutifully sat as the little child petted her.

The rest of the trip ran smoothly and the duo reached the Peabody Farm in time. 

Mr. Peabody grumbled a greeting. “Why’d you bring your dog?”

“Joule isn’t fond of storms.” 

Joule looked up at Mr. Peabody, wagging her tail. 

“So it’s my problem now?” Mr. Peabody demanded. 

Emmett ignored him. “I’ve got your lightning rod finished.”

Mr. Peabody inspected the object in his hands. “This doesn’t look different at all.”

“I just replaced a few parts and added an extension.”

Mr. Peabody grumbled a response, then left for his barn. 

“Do you want any help putting it up?” Emmett hurried after with Joule on his heels.

“I can do it myself.” Mr. Peabody asserted. “You’ll just distract me. If I don’t get this up, that storm’s gonna destroy my farm and I’ll have to sell it.”

“Sell it?” Emmett was stunned. 

For as long as he could remember, the Peabodys had always lived on that farm. Mr. Peabody was too proud of it to allow for the idea of selling the farm to develop any further. Why was he considering selling the farm now?

“The developers have been trying to buy this land off of me.” Mr. Peabody explained, “They wanna make it into some sort of shopping center. Or some nuclear power plant. Either way, I don’t like it.”

“What’d you say?” Emmett lit up.

“I told them I didn’t like it and I’d never sell.” 

“No, about the developers.”

“They wanna make it into a power plant or shopping center.” Mr. Peabody repeated.

“Nuclear! That’s what I forgot!” Emmett jumped. “Good day, Mr. Peabody!”

Confused, Mr. Peabody made an intelligible farewell and watched Emmett and his dog run away. To his delight, Mr. Peabody noticed that the dog hadn’t disturbed his pines. 

“Nuclear energy! That’s efficient! That generates a lot of power!” Emmett rambled with the speed of an auctioneer and the excitement of a hyperactive child. “Gotta be enough to power a car to go fast!” 

Joule barked her praise.

Nuclear fission was the most feasible form of nuclear power. All he needed was a big enough unstable atom to start, then it was just a matter of letting neutrons break down the atom to generate energy. 

“We can either use plutonium or uranium.” Emmett thought aloud, “Plutonium typically generates more energy…”

Emmett paced the laboratory, with Joule right behind him. “If I use uranium, I’ll have to use more to get enough energy. Any thoughts, Joule?”

Joule barked.

“You’re absolutely correct. The radiation from the plutonium is not ideal.” Emmett nodded. “But that’s what radiation suits are for. Anything else?”

Joule stayed silent.

“I believe it’s settled then.” Emmett smiled. 

Now all that was left was to figure out what car he would travel through. It had to be a strong, durable car. And stylish. He’d only have to wait a few years before he would find the perfect car to travel in time. In the meantime, Emmett worked on refining his calculations and working out how much plutonium he would need to generate 1.21 gigawatts. 

There was one other kink Emmett had to work out: how he was going to get enough money to buy equipment for his time machine. All he had currently was his family fortune and the money from Mr. Peabody, but those were only able to cover his living expenses and wouldn’t last long. 

Emmett sifted through his mail. “Declined. Declined. Declined…” he rattled off, sighing as he tossed the pile of rejection in the trash. 

Joule padded over to Emmett and gently bit his shoe. Emmett sighed. Joule whimpered and ran over to her bowl. Emmett slapped his hand to his forehead. He’s forgotten to feed Joule. 

He headed over to the cupboard to look for dog food. When he opened it, all he saw were a few empty cans. Joule sat eagerly awaiting her food. 

How long had it been since she’d eaten? Emmett couldn’t remember. 

Joule barked. 

“I’m looking!” Emmett called, grabbing some meat and ripping it up. “There.”

Joule sniffed the meat. After inspecting it, she licked up the meat bits. 

Emmett hadn’t realized just how much money all this was costing him. Bills needed to be paid, Mr. Peabody needed repairs, Emmett needed money for his time machine, and food was a necessity. 

He would have to cut down on what he was spending. It was all he could do. 

Some weeks, Emmett would have barely any money to feed Joule and him. Other days, he was able to just get enough. After several months, Emmett calculated out his payments regarding how much he had earned towards funding the time machine. 

“That can’t be right…” Emmett scowled, checking his math. 

He groaned. After all his cuts and budgeting, there still hadn’t been enough money left over—at least not enough to make any serious progress in funding the time machine. 

It was time he made some serious decisions. 

He went back to the chalkboard, making a list of all major expenses he had to make every month. There wasn’t anything he could think of that he could cut out. He’d already filtered everything out down to the bare essentials.

Joule poked her nose at Emmett’s leg. 

“I know. I’ve gotta get your food.” Emmett reassured her. That reminded him that they also needed to see the vet soon as Emmett had noticed she was losing fur. That would take a sizable amount out of the time machine fund…

Joule poked his leg again. Emmett looked down at the dog. Joule stared at Emmett, then looked at the chalkboard, then back at Emmett. He glanced at Joule, then back at the board. Joule again. Then the chalkboard. 

He noticed a prominence of Joule-based expenses, but he didn’t want to admit it. It wasn’t that much. 

“It’ll get better.” Emmett hoped. 

Emmett tried all he could to make the situation better. He mainly worked on developing prototypes and models of the time machine in the hopes that it would help.

“If I’ve calculated this correctly, once this model hits the correct speed—which should be 60 or so miles an hour in an actual car—it will be at the opportune moment to open a wormhole and enter through in a little over a tenth of a second.” 

Joule looked over at Emmett’s demonstration from the couch, her head lazily resting on a cushion. Emmett wound up his model car and set it on the table. 

“You tell me when to release it.” Emmett said, setting down the model car.

At Joule’s long sigh, Emmett released the car. As the little car made its way, Emmett set off a contraption to demonstrate what the car opening and traveling through the wormhole would look like. 

Of course in real life, the car would go much faster and have a shorter time frame to enter through the wormhole, but for the purposes of the model, Emmett had scaled everything in proportion to the model car. 

The car hit the speed to “create” the wormhole, but didn’t travel through it in time.

“Damn.” Emmett cursed. 

As the months progressed, Emmett’s situation wasn’t getting any better. Joule suffered the most from it. She regularly got tired and didn’t have much of the same energy she used to. She stuck to her bed or the couch and didn’t move at all. When she did move, she moved like her little paws were filled with weights. 

Every time Emmett watched her walk, he felt worse. How could he just let Joule live like this? He had sat so long in his denial that he hadn’t noticed he was hurting her. 

“C’mon, Joule.” Emmett called, patting his leg. “Let’s go drop some things off to Mr. Peabody.”

Emmett packed two bags for the trip. Emmett carried his bags on one shoulder and Joule on the other. He held her in his lap through the whole bus ride.

“Does your dog bite?” a boy asked.

“Not at all.”

“Can I pet it?”

Emmett hesitated. “She’s extremely tired.”

“I’ll be gentle.” 

Emmett conceded. That wouldn’t bother Joule that much, would it? Besides, she was taking another one of her naps for the day. She would be alright. 

“What’s all that stuff in your bag?” the boy asked.

“It’s for my job.”

“My dad has a job, but he doesn’t need two bags. Why do you need two bags?”

“Uh…”

“Are you an evil scientist? Are you gonna experiment on that dog?”

Emmett gave the kid a confused look. “I would never experiment on Joule.”

“So you are an evil scientist!”

Emmett sighed. Emmett just let the kid ramble until it was time for Emmett to get off the bus.

“H’lo, Brown. H’lo, dog.” Mr. Peabody greeted them. 

“I’ve got some parts for your plow.” Emmett handed him the parts. 

“Thanks.” Mr. Peabody returned. “That’s all I asked for, right?”

“Yes, but…” Emmett swallowed. “I was wondering if you’d take Joule.”

“Your dog?”

“Yes. You see…Well…” Emmett fumbled. “Maybe she could help you on the farm?”

Mr. Peabody cocked his head to the side and analyzed Emmett’s face.

“Unless you didn’t need help, of course—” 

“What’s this about, Brown? Is there something wrong with your dog?”

“No!” Emmett waved his hands. “It’s just that she can’t stay with me any longer.”

“You can’t take care of her or something?” 

“Right,” he lamented.

Mr. Peabody sighed.

“She’s a good dog. She works hard and she’s never gotten into any trouble as long as I’ve had her.” Emmett pleaded.

“How long have you had her?” 

Emmett looked down at his friend. “Since she was a baby.”

Mr. Peabody contemplated for a moment, looked at Joule a couple of times, and squinted at Emmett. He scratched his beard a bit and stared out at the farm. 

“I suppose I could use some help. And my grandkids would love it when they visit.” Mr. Peabody decided, heading inside. When he returned, he handed Emmett a wad of cash.

“Please take good care of Joule.” Emmett sniffled, tucking the money away quickly.

“I will.” Mr. Peabody nodded. “C’mon, Joule.” 

Joule looked back at her friend. 

“Go, Joule.” Emmett breathed, weakly pointing at Mr. Peabody. “It’s okay.” 

The walk home was the longest one Emmett had ever taken.

Chapter Text

Einstein was the dog to see all 30 years of Emmett’s labor completed into the time machine Emmett had always hoped to create. 

After all the work Emmett had gone through to put the time machine together, he could finally see the progression of mankind—oh, the adventures they’d go on!

Now the adventures Emmett and Einstein did embark on were nothing Emmett had imagined. He’d always planned on going to the future or anywhere his curiosities drew him, but like most things in life, it did not go according to plan. 

Emmett wasn’t unhappy about his life. He had a new family with his great friends Clara, Einstein, and two boys they met along their travels: Jules and Verne. And, of course, there was Marty McFly who would visit from time to time.

For the time being, the Brown unit was settled just outside of Hill Valley. Emmett suggested to unanimous agreement that they should settle in 1985 to avoid any further messing with the space-time continuum. Clara agreed because the ’80s gave her more options in what she could do with her life. Jules and Verne enjoyed all the entertainment the late 20th century had to offer. Einstein, of course, didn’t mind where he lived so long as he was surrounded by his people (and had canned dog food). For several years the Brown unit lived happily in their home.

It was a comfortable sight. Clara and Emmett watched the boys playing some game with Einstein. 

“Does Einstein seem… sick to you?” Clara wondered, choosing her words carefully as the boys were within earshot.

“He looks tired.” 

“Maybe it’s time he has a break.”

Sure enough, Einstein came heaving his way back toward Emmett and Clara. He plopped himself right on the porch, then whined in pain.

“Awe but we just started playing!” Verne whined. 

“You can still play with me, Verne,” offered Jules.

“I don’t want to play with you. You’re boring.” Verne huffed and followed Einstein. “C’mon, Einie. Come play.”

Einstein yawned. Clara took him inside the house.

“We just started playing with him,” Verne repeated. “Why can’t we keep playing with him?”

“You know why,” Emmett began, “Einstein needs to take breaks in order to keep up with you two.”

“I don’t need any breaks.” 

“Well, yes, that’s because you’re young,” Emmett explained. “Einstein’s older, so he has significantly less energy than you.”

“You always say that.” Verne planted himself on the steps of the porch.

“I do say that. You don’t have as much energy for playing when you get older.”

“You mean I’m gonna be as boring as Jules?” Horror spread across the young boy’s face. Jules, who was distracting himself by picking up weeds, scowled at Verne.

Emmett calculated his next words carefully. “Uh, no. That’s different. Jules has energy, he just chooses to burn that energy off in different activities than you.” He continued his explanation: “For Einstein, his body just doesn’t have the capacity to exert as much physically.”

“Oh.” Verne sighed and rested his head in his hands. “Being old sucks! Adults suck!”

“No they don’t.” Jules popped up, hanging onto one of the porch’s posts.

“Yes they do. They’re tired all the time!” 

“That doesn’t mean they’re not fun.” 

Emmett interrupted the two. “Jules, stop hanging on the post.”

“Sorry.”

“What’s one fun adult then?” Verne demanded.

Jules opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was the carbon dioxide his huff produced.

“See? None of them. There’s none.”

“Clara and Emmett are fun.”

“They don’t count.”

Jules squinted his eyes. “What about Martin?”

“Oh, yeah! Marty!” Verne lit up. “When’s he coming to visit us?”

Emmett answered. “Whenever he likes. He should be on summer break by now.”

“Can’t you call him to come visit?”

“Well, he’s most likely visiting his family and Jennifer.”

“You said he was our family.”

“He’s part of our family, but he also has his parents and siblings to see.”

“I want him to visit us.”

Jules rolled his eyes and went inside.

“Maybe you should head inside, too.”

“Fine.” 

Once inside, the two boys disappeared to their rooms. Clara had curled herself into a book in the kitchen. Emmett went to find Einstein who had retired himself in the living room. 

“Hey, Einie.” 

Einstein’s ears perked up and his tail thumped against the wall. Emmett sat down beside Einstein and gently patted him. Einstein panted and wagged his tail more. 

“You’re a good boy, Einstein.” Emmett sat in silence with his friend. 

Emmett began rubbing Einstein a bit more roughly and Einstein promptly puked on the floor.

“Clara, do we still have those old towels?” Emmett called.

“I think so.” Clara got up and looked for the towels. “Why?”

Emmett entered the kitchen. “Just an accident with Einstein is all.”

“Let me see.” 

“I’ll look for the towels.” 

After finding the towels, Emmett joined Clara in the living room and the two began to clean up the mess. Emmett glanced at Clara. She was examining her towel.

Emmett spoke first. “Perhaps he was just dehydrated.”

Clara nodded. “He’ll be alright.”

“Can I take Einstein for a walk?” Jules popped up, perching his elbows on the armrest.

Emmett set down his book. “What is he doing right now?”

“Nothing.”

“Does he seem like he wants to do anything?”

“No…” muttered Jules. “Can we give him a bath though? He stinks.”

“Of course he’s going to stink, you’ve been taking him outside where he’s susceptible to dirt and sweating.”

“No, he smells real weird.” Jules’s face was of the utmost seriousness. 

Emmett squinted his eyes. “How?”

Jules led Emmett to where Einstein was lying. Upon getting closer to his friend, Emmett couldn’t detect any bad smell. After a few more seconds, it became apparent that Einstein did smell. Not in a pungent and rancid way, but, for lack of a better word, off.  

“Oh, he’s not dirty, Jules,” Emmett assured the young boy.

“Then why does he smell like that?”

“Hormones and sweat do that to your body. It’s very normal when you get older.”

Jules seemed to be processing the information and manually storing it in his brain.

“He’s been old for a while. How come only now he’s smelling like that?”

“That’s a great question.” Emmett started. He wasn’t sure what he should say. Jules had a right to know what was really happening. Surely he was old enough to understand it all. Emmett took a breath. “It’s because Einie’s going to die soon.”

Jules furrowed his eyebrows, then they softened. “Can we help him?”

“We can certainly be more gentle with him.”

Jules stared at his feet.

“Do you have any other questions?”

“No. I think I’m going to go be by myself.” 

“Alright.” Emmett gave him a soft smile. 

Emmett looked over at Einstein. His old friend was like a shell of his former self. On good days Jules could get him to walk to the mailbox and back, other times it was only to the porch and back. The pain in his body made it difficult to move. 

Einstein used to join the Brown unit in the dining room to eat his dinner, but lately Einstein had avoided the dining room. Clara suggested they move his water and food bowl to the living room by Einstein’s bed. 

“Einie…” Emmett lamented. He stared at his companion. 

“Dinner’s almost ready—” Clara interrupted, “—Are you alright?”

“Just thinking.” Emmett sighed, joining Clara in the kitchen. “I told Jules.”

“About…?”

“Einstein.”

There was a pause before Clara spoke. “Is he okay?”

“He understood what I meant. He’s just going to spend time by himself for a bit.”

“I’ll put his serving in the refrigerator.” 

“We should tell Verne, too.”

“Tell me what?” Verne appeared in the doorway. His hands were covered by a fine layer of dirt. Why he had dirt on his hands was beyond question at this point. 

“Wash your hands for dinner.” Clara replied. She gave Emmett a look. 

The three Browns settled together around the table.

“What were you guys talking about?” Verne wondered aloud.

“We were talking about Einstein,” Clara said plainly.

“Like how he’s got old?”

“A little about how he’s gotten old.”

“Like what?”

It was Emmett’s turn to answer. “Einstein’s dying.”

“Why?”

“That’s just what happens to living organisms when they reach a certain age.”

“He’ll come back,” Verne assured the other two.

“No, Verne,” Clara said softly, “he won’t come back. Once he’s dead, he’s gone.”

“But when I die in Mario, I still get to play.”

“Real life’s different from video games. It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid,” Clara tried to explain.

“Then what’ll happen to him if he doesn’t come back?”

“He’ll be in a much better place.”

The sky was a navy color and the air stood still. Emmett was out on the porch, unable to sleep. 

What if one of the boys sees Einstein dead first? How do I tell Marty? When do I tell Marty? How long do we have?

Emmett heard the soft padding of footsteps. Emmett turned around to see who had accompanied him.

“What are you doing up so late?” came Clara’s voice.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Do you need something?”

“I’m fine, thank you.” Emmett sighed. “You can go back to bed.”

“Are you alright?”

“Fine, fine. Just thinking.”

Clara walked over by Emmett. “Me too.”

“About what?”

“The same thing you are, I suspect.”

“Yes, the night air is much cooler out here, don’t you think?”

Clara gave Emmett a look. “You know that’s not what we’re thinking about.”

Emmett sighed. “Do you want to talk about it?” he offered.

“Only if you want to.”

“I don’t have anything to say,” he admitted.

“That’s alright. We don’t have to say anything.” Clara sat on the porch stairs. Emmett joined her.

The two sat in silence. Clara looked out at the sky, looking for the different stars. The sky wasn’t clear like it was in 1885, but out in the open, she could still see all her stars.

“A little bit ago there was a supernova,” Clara said.

Emmett didn’t say anything. She didn’t expect him to.

“Supposedly, it had the power of a hundred suns. I hope they got pictures of it.”

“Then you can show me.”

“I’d love to.” Clara smiled. 

There was more silence.

“Did you know that Johannes Kepler was probably the first person to see a supernova?”

“I didn’t. Fascinating.”

“It really is. It’s even named after him.”

Emmett mumbled. “My father gave me this book about different scientists. He’d have me read about one and I’d write down my favorites. Kepler was one of them. That’s how I named my first dog.”

“What was the book?”

“I don’t recall. It probably was burnt in the house fire.”

“I could look for another one like it.”

“That’s alright. I think it’s better in my memory than being replaced,” Emmett replied.

There was silence again.

“There’s still remnants of Kepler’s Supernova out in space. I just find that beautiful. This star that died four hundred years ago is still around and remembered, even if no one can see it.”

Clara stood up and patted Emmett’s head. 

“I’m going back to bed. Don’t stay up too late, okay?” She opened the door. 

Emmett waited for Clara to have fallen asleep before he went back inside. He pushed an armchair near Einstein and sat down on the floor with his back against the chair.

“Hey, Einie,” he whispered.

Einstein twitched in his sleep, then he whined. 

“How are you?”

Einstein stirred in his sleep, then rose his head to look at Emmett. 

“I’m sorry to wake you up,” Emmett apologized. “You can go back to bed, everything’s fine, boy.”

Einstein lazily wagged his tail and rested his front paws and head on Emmett’s lap. Emmett affectionately rubbed Einstein’s head. 

“I remember when I found you in the shelter. If I recall, you were about half the height of my lower leg. Now look at you. You can hardly fit in my lap. Don’t roll your eyes at me. It makes you a good pillow for Verne.” Emmett’s mind began to wander.

“You’ve been a good friend to all of us here. I hope you know that.”

Emmett thought of the letter he’d sent to Marty when he was stuck in 1885. 

And please take care of Einstein for me. I know you will give him a good home. Remember to walk him twice a day and that he only likes canned dog food.

How could he have ever considered giving up Einstein? Sure, he was stuck in 1885 and didn’t want to risk any further disruption of the space-time continuum, but after everything Einstein had been through with him? 

Einstein’s breaths were shaky and irregular. Emmett tried to focus on that and not on the past or the future. Just the present.

“Sometimes I wish I had made that mind reading machine. Maybe I’d be able to understand what it felt like to be the world’s first time traveler,” Emmett smirked at his friend. “World’s First Time Traveler…that’s quite the title for you.”

Einstein weakly wagged his tail and attempted to lick Emmett’s cheek.

“No, you lay down and save your energy.” Emmett wiped his eyes. “You’ve meant a great deal to me all these years. And you’ve done so much for me— for all of us. I just wish there was a way I could relay my gratitude to you in a way you’d understand.”

Einstein whined. It was a whine that was produced only out of habit, but caused more pain, like when you have to swallow, but your throat is swollen. 

“I know…” Emmett managed, “I know it’s time for you to leave. It’s alright. You can go now, Einie.”

Quiet filled the house. Nothing moved. 

Emmett softly counted. He got to a minute; a minute where Einstein remained still.

Emmett tried to say something, but all he did was choke on his words. He bent over and hugged his friend. He remained in the living room into the early morning.

“Emmett?” a drowsy Jules yawned. 

“Hello, Jules.” Emmett replied shakily.

“I couldn’t sleep.” Jules carefully made his way by Emmett and sat down. “I was thinking about Einstein.”

Both of them noticed the tear stains that ran down the other’s face. Jules’s eyebrows turned upwards and his lip began quivering. Emmett got on his knees and hugged the boy. He could feel Jules shake. 

They walked to the kitchen. 

“It’s okay.” Emmett handed over a glass of water. “I’m sad, too.”

Jules gulped. “I wish I had been nicer to him and not made him play all the time.”

“Jules, there’s no need to apologize. Einstein loved playing with you two. I’m certain of that.”

“He wanted to play with us?”

“Precisely.”

The stairs whined. Jules and Emmett peered into the hallway from where they were in the kitchen. Clara appeared in the doorway. Her eyes grew wide and then softened. She hugged both of them. The house stayed silent except for the occasional sniffle. 

The last one up was Verne. He scanned the kitchen in confusion. Jules clutched his cup tightly.

“Why’s everybody so quiet?” Verne asked.

“Einstein’s dead…” Clara explained.

Verne looked at everyone again. He saw their saddened faces and began to sob. Clara handed him a glass of water and helped to calm him down. Jules’s eyes swelled up and he held out his cup for more water. Emmett filled the cup and rubbed Jules’s shoulder. 

Emmett disappeared into the hallway and dialed the phone. He was thankful for his muscle memory as his vision became clouded and blurred.

“H’lo?” the other end answered.

“Sorry to wake you so early, Marty, but I’m afraid I have some terrible news.” Emmett kept going, afraid that if he stopped, he wouldn’t be able to say anything. “Einstein’s…he’s…he’s dead.”

There was a pause. “This is heavy.” 

“I know. I wish I could have told you at a more opportune time, but…” 

“No. It’s fine. I’ll be over as fast as I can.”

The whole group assembled outside around the little grave they dug for Einstein. They all looked at each other, searching for what to do.

“Should we sing?” Clara asked.

“We can.”

“Does everyone know Amazing Grace?”

“I forgot the words,” Verne admitted.

“We’ll hum it then.”

The group hummed one verse of the song before Verne started crying again.

“I could recite a poem,” Marty suggested. 

“That’s a great idea,” Emmett agreed.

Somberly, Marty recited a poem. He was shaky throughout, but no one paid any attention to it. 

“Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower; 

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day

Nothing gold can stay.”

“That was beautiful, Marty,” Clara breathed. “Did you write that?”

“No. It’s a Robert Frost poem.”

“Would anyone else like to say something?” Emmett asked.

“Godspeed, Einstein,” Verne said. The rest of the procession echoed him.

“Let’s all head inside and I’ll make some lemonade,” Clara suggested.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Emmett stared at the little mound of dirt as he heard Clara, Jules, and Verne head back to the house.

Marty shuffled up next to Emmett, also staring at the mound. “I’m sorry, Doc.” He patted Emmett’s arm.

“I’m sorry, too.” Emmett wrapped an arm around Marty. Marty did the same. 

“You think Einstein knew we loved him?” Marty murmured.

“I know for a fact he did.”

The two best friends looked at each other and smiled a melancholic smile. Marty gave Emmett a quick hug and headed inside. 

Emmett began to follow, but stopped. He turned back around and glanced once more at his partner of so many years.

“It’s been a pleasure to have you around, Einstein.”