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Chapter Text

Jennifer shoved the tardy slip into her purse. Strickland is such a pain. It was worth it to try and help Marty, though she really needed to help him with getting to things on time. She knew he said he was late because of Doc’s clock experiment, but she had a strong feeling that he was also messing around.

Jennifer walked to her locker to switch books, anticipating  the bell for the next period. It rang right on cue, and the hallway filled with students.

“Jennifer!” 

Jennifer turned and saw a blonde girl jogging towards her. She was a bit taller than Jennifer. Her hair was into a curled ponytail, and brighter makeup than what Jennifer likes to wear.

“Trying to help the infamous Tardy Marty?” the girl joked.

Jennifer snorted, “Exactly Tiffany.” She proceeded to get her books out of her locker as she spoke, “Then of course Strickland caught us and berated him for being friends with Dr. Brown and that he won’t make the audition. Why does he work in a school if he doesn’t like teenagers?” 

She slammed the locker. One of Jennifer’s faults was getting very defensive toward anyone who wanted to tear Marty down.

Tiffany grimaced at the slam. “You have a point. Also I hope your weekend goes well—I heard this morning my dad was borrowing the McFly car today.”

“Why?” Jennifer asked as they started walking to their next class. The Tannens had their own car. 

Tiffany rolls her eyes. “God knows why my dad does what he does. Knowing him, he wants to see Marty’s mom,” she said, making a gagging noise.

“It is so weird he is hung up on her,” Jennifer agreed.  At Tiffany’s class, they started to split ways.

“I’ll talk with you later, Jennifer,” Tiffany told her. “Wish Marty luck for me!”

“I will,” Jennifer said. 

She went about the rest of her classes. Hoping that Marty won’t be late for the audition because of his detention. Luckily, one of their favorite teachers was in charge of detention on Fridays.

“You are so lucky that Mrs. Ward was nice enough to let you leave detention early for the audition,” Jennifer told Mary. She straightened his jacket as he started to strap on his guitar, the Ibanez that gave Jennifer a headache trying to buy it with Doctor Brown.

“Yeah I know,” Marty mumbled.

A megaphone screeched to life and a “Next please” was called.

Jennifer gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Go get them.”

She watched as Marty walked up the steps to the stage. He talked with Paul, Lee, and Bobby first, before getting to the middle of the set up. 

“Alright,” he said against his microphone’s feedback. “We’re the Pinheads.”

Marty turned to the other three, and Bobby counted them off.

Jennifer smiled as they started the opening chords on their cover of the “Power of Love.” She tapped her foot and bit her thumb to help keep herself grounded and not dancing around. Especially when Marty was giving his own flair into the guitar solo.

“That’s enough,” drones the judge with the megaphone. 

Jennifer whipped her head to the judges., 

They haven’t even started singing! Why are they making them stop?

“Thank you fellows. You can stop.” The megaphone judge spoke over the band until Marty stopped playing, the others following suit. 

“Hold it fellas.  I'm afraid you're just too darn loud.”

Bobby had to quickly pull Lee’s arm to prevent him from jumping off the stage, while Paul wondered, “ If we haven’t even started to sing yet, why stop us?”

While the judge explained to Paul, Jennifer tuned him out and had eyes only on Marty. Her heart hurt with how hurt he looked at being rejected. Marty turned around and helped Bobby with the drums, while the other two got their instruments. Jennifer came up to help them too. 

“Thanks Jen,” Bobby told her as she helped them tear down.

“This is bullshit!” Lee complained. “All these other bands are just as loud or louder!”

Paul punched his arm. “Shut up!” he hissed. “We can discuss it later.” Paul turned to talk to Marty but saw he already headed down the steps with some of Bobby’s equipment. 

“Hey Jennifer.” Paul approached her, voice low.. “Keep an eye on Marty, please. We all know how he gets after a rejection.”

“You know I always do.” 

“Thanks Jennifer,” Paul told her. “Hey Marty, your guitar can come hang out with my bass for a bit  if you want to hang with Jennifer.”

“Hmm? Oh, thanks, Paul,” Marty answered back. “Yeah.” He seemed a bit in a daze as Jennifer came up to him and held his hand. 

Jennifer heard Bobby quietly ask, “I thought we were going to practice after the audition?” When Jennifer glanced back as they reached the door, she saw the other two hushing Bobby.

“Where do you want to go?” Jennifer asked Marty, rubbing his hand with her thumb as they walked.

Marty shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe just walk around town,” he mumbled.

“Okay let’s walk around town,” Jennifer agreed, leading him to the town center. It took a while for his despondency to soften, but the closer they got to the courthouse, the more Marty opened up.

“I’m never going to get the chance to play in front of anyone,” Marty complained. Jennifer ignored the political van talking about Goldie Wilson, to listen to her over dramatic boyfriend.

“Marty, one rejection isn’t the end of the world,” Jennifer said firmly

“Nah I don’t think I’m cut out for music,” Marty muttered.  

Jennifer rolled her eyes.

“You are good,” she countered. “You are really good,”—she held up a tape case—“and this audition tape is great. You gotta send it in to the record company.” She punctuated this by slapping it to his chest. “It’s like what Doc is always saying—”

“I know I know,” Marty stopped to fiddle with the tape. “If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything…” 

He trailed off as some girls in workout clothes walked by and he stared. Jennifer was ready to get mad at him, until he mumbled, “You would look great in that Jennifer.”

Jennifer snickered as she turned his head back to her, “That is good advice Marty.”

“Okay, alright, Jen,” Marty agreed and started to walk again. Then he started to argue, “What if I send it the tape, and they don’t like it? What if they say I’m no good? What if they say, ‘get out of here kid, you got no future!’” 

Jennifer just let him rant, because she swears if he doesn’t send it in, she will do it for him. They approached a park bench as Marty continued, “I don’t think I can take that kind of rejection.”

Jennifer sat her books down and propped up her foot to fix her shoes and pants. She rolled her eyes and mouthed, sounding like my old man.

“Jesus, I’m starting to sound like my old man,” Marty bemoaned.

“He isn’t that bad,” Jennifer argured, though she was half-telling the truth. 

Marty’s dad properly talked like that all the time, and that was why Marty always went into a spiral with any kind of failure. Herself, Doc, and the band had been trying for years to help Marty break out of that mentality that his family stuck him in. 

“He’s letting you use the car this weekend,” she reminded him.

And of course Marty got distracted, again. He watched as Statler Toyota pulled a new truck up. He hopped up on the bench to see better. 

“Check out that four by four!” Jennifer smiled as he was practically drooling. “That is hot. Someday Jennifer. Someday.” 

He turned towards her and pulled her up on the bench too. “Wouldn’t it be great? Take that truck up to the lake?”She smiled, allowing him to hold her close as he kept daydreaming, though she kept his hand from going further up because they were in public. “Throw a couple of sleeping bags in the back?”

He looked lovingly at her and guided them to sit on the back of the bench, keeping his hand on her waist. “Lying under the stars...”

“Stop it,” she said with a huge smile on her face.

“What?”

Jennifer got serious and asked, “Does your mom know?” Marty looked confused, though she knew he was pretending to be confused. “About tomorrow.”

“Get out of town. Mom thinks I’m going camping with the guys,” Marty explained to her. Jennifer looked at him disappointed. “You know she will freak out if she knew I was going with you. Then she will give the standard lecture of how she never did that stuff when she was a kid. Look, I think she was born a nun.”

“She is just keeping you respectable,” Jennifer teased, grabbing his chin and giving a little shake.

“Well,” he replied, putting his arm around her. “She isn’t doing a very good job.”

The two leaned in closer and Jennifer whispered, “Terrible.” They were an inch away from brushing their lips together when a can rattled in front of their faces.

“Save the clock tower!” Ms. Raven, who the two know from the public library exclaimed. “Save it! Mayor Wilson is sponsoring an initiative to replace that clock,” she explained, as the couple turned to look behind them. “Thirty years ago, lightning struck that clock tower and the clock hasn’t run since.” 

They turned back to her, both hoping she would just go away. She did not.

“We at the Hill Valley Preservation Society think it should be preserved as exactly as it is,” she continued. Jennifer gave a forced closed-mouth smile as Marty dug into his pocket. “To keep it the way it is as part of our history and heritage.”

Marty slipped a quarter into the can, “There you go lady, there is a quarter.”

“Thank you,” Ms. Raven said. “Don’t forget a flyer.”

Jennifer still gave a strained smile as Ms. Raven walked away from them, asking others to save the clocktower. Thankfully Marty had a quarter to give her, so she could leave them alone.

Marty looked at the clocktower flyer and put it into his pocket. “Where were we?” he questioned, giving her a smirk.

“Right about here,” Jennifer replied as she leaned more towards him and gave him a kiss. She felt him kiss her back. When they broke off, she had to smile at the dopey smile on his face.

“Oh, Grandma had to rain check for us to come over,” Jennifer remembered then. “Maybe we can start our trip to the lake a little earlier?”

Marty groaned, “I would love that so much.” He sighed as he continued, “Doc asked me to meet him at Twin Pines Mall at 1:15 AM.”

Jennifer just looked confused at him, “Why that early?” Marty shrugged his shoulders. “Can I come, too?” 

“You want to get up that early?” Marty asked. “And why would you want to?”

“Do you want to get up that early?” she teased him right back. “Besides I want to see one of his inventions.Why do you get to have all the fun?”

Marty rolled his eyes and bumped her shoulder. “Fine, hopefully Doc won’t mind,” he agreed with her. “Meet me at the Twin Pines sign at 1:15 AM?”

“Sounds like a date,” Jennifer joked. She hopped off the back of the bench to start heading back home. She turned around and gave him a peck on the lip. “Don’t be late, Tardy Marty,” she teased.

“Hey!” Marty exclaimed as he went to playfully swipe at her. Jennifer laughed as she danced out of his grip. 

“See you later!” Jennifer called out, heading towards her house.

Chapter Text

“You know I was just teasing about you being late?” Jennifer sassed, leaning on the mall sign as Marty rolled up on his skateboard. 

Marty kicked his skateboard up when he got close to her. Jennifer stood up straight. He ran his hand through his hair. “I fell asleep,” he mumbled. “Also I have some bad news about our trip tomorrow.”

“You mean later today,” Jennifer cut him off.

“Whatever,” Marty waved it off. “Biff borrowed Dad’s car, and he wrecked it. Sorry.”

“Marty, that isn’t your fault,” Jennifer argued, holding his hand. “It was Biff. We can find another way or another weekend.”

“It just makes me so upset,” Marty huffed out. “He knew I wanted to use it, and he never stands up for us! We are his family, even if he can’t for himself at least for others.”

Jennifer frowned, she knew how upset her boyfriend could get with his family. She wished she could help him more, but all she could do was be a shoulder and an ear for him.

“I think I’m more upset that it ruined our plans for your birthday,” Marty mumbled

“It is fine,” Jennifer comforted him. “As long as I’m with you, whatever plans we have will be great.”

He gave a smile at that. “Thanks, Jen. We better head down there.”

The couple made their way to where Doc was parked. They came up to Doc’s van, and Einstein calmly sat there. The two kneeled down and gave the dog attention.

“Hey Einie,” Marty said, scratching the dog’s ear. “Where is Doc?”

The hatch from the back of the truck opened and smoke came out of the back as a DeLorean slowly backed out. Marty stared in awe, but Jennifer raised her eyebrow, wondering how Doc was able to get into the car from the van.

The two watched as the driver's gull wing opened, and Doctor Emmett Brown stepped out in a white jumpsuit, holding a pen in his mouth. 

“Doc!” Marty exclaimed as the two walked over to him.

“Marty!” Emmett responded happily. The two almost hugged each other, until Emmett turned to look at Jennifer, confused, “And Jennifer?”

“I asked Marty if I could tag along,” Jennifer explained as Marty tried to start looking around at the car. “I hope that is okay with you.”

“Perfectly fine,” Emmett responded. “You are always welcome, especially for my biggest experiment!”

“Why do you have a DeLorean?” Marty asked. He opened his mouth to ask more questions, but Emmett cut him off.

“All questions will be answered,” Emmett assured. “Please stand over there and roll tape.” He gestured where he wanted them to stand, and they moved over for Marty to record Emmett in front of the car. Doc spoke quickly for the camera.

“Good evening. I’m Doctor Emmett Brown. I’m standing on the parking lot at Twin Pines mall. Saturday Morning October 26, 1985 1:18 AM,” Emmett said. 

Marty glanced at his watch and shook it to get it to work. Jennifer rolled her eyes, knowing that the watch has been broken for a month now. 

“This is temporal experiment number one,” Emmett continued. “Oh! A happy early birthday to one of my assistants here tonight.”

“Thank you Doc,” Jennifer mouthed to him, not wanting to ruin his recording.

“Come here Einie!” Emmett lead Einstein to the driver’s seat with lots of praise. Marty and Jennifer moved closer as Emmett buckled Einstein in the seat.

Jennifer hung back as Marty knelt closer to film. Emmett held up two stop watches, one of which was hanging on Einstein's neck. 

“Please note that Einstein’s watch is in precise synchronization with my control watch,” Emmett continued. Jennifer could only assume that was correct, as Marty was closer and she couldn’t see the two watch faces. “Got it?” he asked Marty.

“Right, check, Doc,” Marty confirmed. Jennifer thought how well Marty was recording and that it was too bad he couldn’t also record a music video for his band. She watched as Emmett pulled out a remote control from behind the driver’s seat.

“Watch your head,” he said to Einie as he closed the door to the DeLorean. Einstein looked out the window, a little confused and concerned. Marty and Emmett moved to where Jennifer was standing, Emmett in the middle of the three. The doctor pulled up the antenna on the remote and turned it on.

“Do you have that hooked up to the–?” Marty trailed off whenEmmett flipped a switch on the remote and the car’s engine turned on. “...car.”

“Watch this,” Emmett said. 

He pressed a switch, and the car quickly reversed into the parking lot. Emmett controlled the car to turn around and head to the opposite side of the parking lot. Marty and Jennifer turned their heads to look at the scientist. Emmett exclaimed, “Now me! The car! The car!” because Marty also turned the camera to face them. 

With the camera back on the DeLorean, Emmett made the car face them, back up to the very edge of the lot, and wait.

Emmett started to move, pulling Marty with him. “No no my dear, you can stay there,” he said when Jennifer tried to follow. He continued to drag her boyfriend directly in front of the car.

“If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour,” Emmett said, “you’re going to see some serious shit.” 

He flipped another switch and made the car accelerate in place. It was getting faster and faster, worrying Jennifer. Marty apparently had the same worry as he started to inch away. Emmett noticed and looked right at the teen. He could feel the older man’s eyes on him, and he turned to glance at him. The doctor nodded his head to where Marty was standing, and Jennifer watched as he moved back.

Emmett flipped the switch off, and the DeLorean barreled towards the two. Marty tried to make a break for it, but the doctor pulled him back. Jennifer saw that the car started to glow and flash. She screamed when the vehicle was right about to hit them. 

Then, there was a boom and a bright light, and the car was gone. 

In its place were two fire trails running between Marty and Emmett’s legs. They spun. No car.

Marty was still shell shocked, Jennifer’s scream ringing in his ear. He reached down to pick up the license plate that remained. 

“What did I tell you! Eighty eight miles per hour!” Emmett cheered, jumping up and down. Jennifer was frozen not believing that they weren’t hit by the car. “The temporal displacement occurred at exactly 1:20 AM and zero seconds!”

“Jesus Christ!” Marty exclaimed when he picked up the plate. He quickly dropped it as it burnt his fingers. “You disintegrated Einstein!”

“You both almost got hit by the car!” Jennifer yelled. “Doc, I would like to have Marty in one piece, please!”

“Einstein isn’t disintegrated, and I planned to push Marty out of the way if it wasn’t going to work,” Emmett explained.

“Not the point, Doc!” Jennifer snapped.

“Where the hell is Einstein!”

“The question is when the hell is he!”Emmett ran a couple of steps ahead of Marty. “Einstein is the first time traveler. I just sent him to the future!”He threw his arm out, pointing in the direction of where the car was going. “One minute into the future to be exact! Now, at precisely at 1:21 AM and zero seconds, we should catch up with the time machine,” Doc smiled as he wrote notes down.

Marty and Jennifer stared at Doc in amazement and disbelief. 

“Wait a minute Doc,” Marty asked. “You build a time machine?”

“Out of a DeLorean?” Jennifer skeptically asked.

“The way I see it, if you are going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” Emmett defended. Jennifer snorted while Marty looked at him in disbelief. “Besides the stainless steel construction made the flux disbursale–”” 

Emmett cut himself off as his watch started beeping.He looked at it with wide eyes. 

“Look out!” 

He pushed Marty and himself closer to Jennifer. Suddenly there were three booms, and the DeLorean appeared where they stood. Emmett quickly had the car skid to a stop.

The three looked wide-eyed at the car. Jennifer ended up clinging to Marty, seeing him almost get hit by the car for a second time. 

“I really don’t want to see you get hit by a car,” she hissed to him. Marty moved his shaking hand up to hers and gave it a squeeze, to comfort both of them.

After a few moments to breathe, the three started to walk towards the DeLorean. Emmett started jogging a little quicker to the car but stopped when he was startled by the white exhaust spilled out of the back.

Marty and Jennifer walked closer to Emmett, and he looked back at them a little confused. 

Why is he confused when it is his invention? Jennifer thought to herself. 

Emmett then went up to the car as the two hung back.He tried to see if he could see the inside of the car through all the ice that is coating the vehicle now. He reached out to open the driver door, but pulled his hand back in pain. He shook it a bit.

“What, what? Is it hot?” Marty asked.

Jennifer slowly gave Marty a credulous look. “Marty,” she waited as he gave a ‘hmm?’ as he stared at the car covered in ice. “It is a good thing you are cute.”

“Hey!”

“No it is cold,” Emmett said. “Damn cold.” He took his foot to open the door. Jennifer could hear the crunch of the ice as it opened up, the two then saw Einstein waiting patiently in the seat.

Emmett laughed as he went to pet Einie, “Einstein you little devil!” 

He held up the two stopwatches. They were a minute apart. 

“Einstein’s clock is exactly one minute behind mine. And still ticking!” He unbuckled the dog, then Einstein took his chance to trot past the teens into the van.

They watched him go in. “He’s alright,” Marty whispered.

“He’s fine,” Emmett reassured them. “And he’s completely unaware that anything happened. As far as he’s concerned, the trip was instantaneous.”

“That’s why,”- —Emmett held up his wrist to show the watch—“his watch is exactly one minute behind mine.” He continued gesticulating to make his point: “He skipped over that minute to instantly arrive at this moment in time.”

“Come here,” Emmett pulled the two closer to the car, “I’ll show you both how it works.”

Emmett flopped in the driver’s seat and the couple knelt down to watch. He waited for Marty to hold up the camera, which Jennifer gave him a little nudge to do so. 

“First you turn the time circuits on.”

He turned on a handle in the middle console. Lights flashed on a part that had three sections. Jennifer started to read them but Emmett continued. 

“This readout tells you where you’re going,”—he pointed to the top section that was in red—“this one tells you where you are,”—pointing to the middle in green—“This one tells you where you were,”he said,finally pointing at the last section in yellow.

Both teens made a noise indicating they were impressed.

“Now you need to input your destination time on this keypad,” Emmett continued with his demonstration. “Say you want to see the signing of the Declaration of Independence.” 

He typed in the date JUL 04 1776. 

Jennifer shook her head. Emmett looked over to her for the correction. Making sure she was off camera she held up eight fingers and then two fingers. 

“Correction,” he said, changing the date to AUG  02 1776.

“Or witness the birth of Christ!” Emmett then typed in DEC 25 0000. Marty and Emmett both glanced at Jennifer to see if it was correct. She gave a huge shrug; she had no idea about hypothetical religious dates.

Jennifer was curious about one thing. 

“Doc. What if you want to go to some time that is in BC?”

“Unfortunately, I need to make that upgrade soon,” Emmett explained. “Oh! Here’s a red-letter date in the history of science.” He typed in the date as he said, “November 5, 1955…”

He trailed off, a memory in his eye.

“Of course! November 5, 1955!.”

Marty put the camera down to stop filming. “What? I don’t get it. What happened?”

“I never heard of that date before.”

Emmett laughed, “That was the day I invented time travel.”

Marty and Jennifer exchanged a look.

“I remember it vividly,” Emmett said. “I was standing on the edge of my toilet, hanging a clock.” 

Marty and Jennifer side-eyed each other. Emmett was tall. Why would he need to stand on a toilet? 

She nudged Marty to start recording again.

“The porcelain was wet,” Emmett continued, speaking faster “I slipped, hit my head on the edge of the sink, and when I came to,I had a revelation…..a vision…a picture in my head. A picture of this!”

He turned around to point to a light-up “Y” in a glass box. 

“This is what makes time travel possible.” He paused for dramatic effect: “The flux capacitor.”

“Flux capacitor?” the two repeated.

“It has taken me almost thirty years and my entire family fortune,” Emmett explained to them, “to realize the vision of that day. My god, has it been that long?”

Emmett started to get out of the driver’s seat. Marty stood and helped Jennifer up to move out of the way.

“Things have certainly changed around here,” Emmett said

“Here we go,” Jennifer teased quietly to Marty. “A little trip down memory lane.” He bit his lip to not laugh at his best friend.

“I remember when this was all farmland,” the doctor explained, sweeping his arms out. “As far as the eye could see. Old man Peabody owned all of this.” Jennifer listened to Emmett, while Marty ignored him and filmed the inside of the car. “He had this crazy idea about breeding pine trees.”

Emmett snapped to attention and walked back to the van. Jennifer was going to follow but wanted to be near Marty so as not to ruin the shot. Of course, Marty was distracted, focused on the DeLorean. 

“This is heavy-duty, Doc,” Marty said, turning the camera to Emmett. “This is great. Does it run on regular unleaded gasoline?”

Jennifer didn’t think it would run just on gasoline. If it did, it would need a lot of gasoline. 

“Unfortunately, no.”

Called it.

“It requires something with a little more kick,” Emmett explained. “Plutonium!” 

He said it so casually as he turned back around that Marty and Jennifer froze.

“Did he just say Plutonium?” Jennifer asked. Marty pulled down the camera with a nod.

“Wait a minute,” Marty raised his voice to Emmett. “Are you telling us that this sucker is nuclear?!”

“Hey, hey!” Emmett responded walking back over. “Keep rolling. Keep rolling there.” 

Marty let out a puff of air as he put the camera back up. 

“No, no, no, this sucker’s electrical,” Emmett explained, letting Marty’s language rub off on him. “But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the one-point-twenty-one gigawatts of electricity I need.”

Jennifer mouthed “gigawatts” to herself, wondering what that was while Marty was more concerned about the plutonium. 

“Doc! You don’t just walk into a store and buy plutonium!” 

Emmett gave a sigh, and turned back to the van. 

“Did you rip that off?” Marty asked.

It was a good question—a question that Jennifer wanted to know the answer to as well

Emmett turned back around, waving his hand, cueing Marty to cut the tape. Which Marty did not and had the camera facing Emmett. The doctor got close to the two whispering, “Of course. From a group of Libyan nationalists.

“They wanted me to build them a bomb, so I took their plutonium,” he started to chuckle. “And in turn, gave them a shoddy bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts.”

Jennifer had to slam her hand to her forehead. She highly doubted tricking terrorists is something to laugh about. 

“C’mon let’s get you a radiation suit! Jennifer, I don’t have one for you so you need to wait in the van,” Emmett said going into the van.

“Jesus.” “Christ.” The two breathed out as Emmett talked about reloading.

Jennifer went to wait inside the van with Einie as Marty put on a bright yellow radiation suit. “Looking good babe!” Jennifer teased. Marty gave her a sour look as he flipped the hood on his head.

Emmett, with his gloves on, looked at them., “Jennifer please shut the door.” She slid the door close. “Marty, are you sealed up?” Marty gave a thumbs up. “Okay roll tape,” Emmett said, putting his own hood on.

Emmett carefully opened the yellow case that had the plutonium stored in it. He carefully slid a canister out and shut the case. He opened the part where he needed to load the plutonium in and sat the canister on top. 

Slowly, he twisted it around until the red rod shot down into the vehicle. Both Marty and Jennifer jumped when it happened. Emmett then quickly closed the lid where the plutonium was inserted. 

He took off his hood. “It’s safe now. Everything is lead-lined.”

Marty took off his hood, and Jennifer opened the door to the van to step out. Though she quickly shut the door again as she saw Emmett open the case with his foot to put the empty canister back. 

“Don’t lose those tapes,” Emmett told Marty.

Jennifer finally came out of the van and stood next to Marty, giggling at his ‘outfit’. 

“I almost forgot my luggage,” Emmett exclaimed. Both Marty and Jennifer looked a little bit confused. “Who knows if they’ve got cotton underwear in the future? I’m allergic to all synthetics.”

Jennifer closed her eyes. Now she had an idea what Emmett meant; thank god he didn’t give too much detail. 

“The future?” Marty asked him. “That’s where you’re going?”

“That’s right,” Emmett responded. “Twenty-five years into the future. I’ve always dreamed of seeing the future, looking beyond my years, seeing the progress of mankind.”

“Sounds interesting,” Jennifer agreed with the scientist.

“I’ll also be able to see who wins the next twenty-five World Series,” Emmett jokes. Marty snickered at that. Jennifer rolled her eyes at the two guys.

“Doc,” Marty called to Emmett. “Look us up when you get there,” he said as he threw an arm around Jennifer.

Emmett smirked. “Of course I will. Roll ‘em.”

Marty held up the camera as Emmett opened the door. He cleared his throat. 

“I, Doctor Emmett Lathrop Brown, am about to embark on an historic journey.” 

He cut himself off and started to laugh. 

“What am I thinking? I almost forgot to bring extra plutonium!” he said. “How did I ever expect to get back? One pellet, one trip.” He shook his head and laughed as he turned around, “I must be out of my mind.”

Suddenly, Einstein started to bark. The three turned their heads to look at the dog. 

“What is it, Einie?” 

The dog whined and looked towards the entrance of the parking lot. Emmett turned to look and frowned. He walked closer to the two, looking behind them 

“Oh, my God. They found me. I don’t know how, but they found me.

“Run for it, kids!”

“Who?” they cried.

“Who do you think?” The doctor pointed to the entrance. “The Libyans!”

The teens flipped around and saw a Volkswagen bus coming towards them. All of the sudden, a guy came out of the sunroof with a gun as they started speeding towards them.

Jennifer’s breathing picks up as Marty yells, “Holy shit! Jennifer, get down!” 

He pushes her down and scoots them closer to the DeLorean. Jennifer shrieked as the bullets hit the side of the van where Emmett was. 

“Jennifer, get in the car!” Marty pushed her into the driver’s seat. “I’ll get in when I have an opening.”

“I’ll draw their fire!” Emmett told them as he went to the end of the van. Jennifer was successfully hunched over in the driver's seat.

The two watched as Emmett got a revolver and tried to get it to work. Bullets almost hit his head, and he went further towards the back of the van. Marty tried to follow him to help, but Jennifer pulled him back.

Suddenly, the van was right in front of Emmett. He threw away the gun and held up his hands. The Lybians took no mercy, and unleashed rapid fire on Doctor Emmett Brown.

It almost seemed in slow motion as they watched him fall to the ground. 

“NO!” Marty yelled, standing up. “You bastards!”

Jennifer had tears in her eyes, from seeing the doctor being shot and now her boyfriend in the range of fire. “Marty!” she called out.

Marty ran to the front of the van, wanting them to get away from Jennifer. Jennifer yelped at the bullets that were close to her and almost hit Marty. Marty moved to the other side of the van, Jennifer heard yelling in a different language and tires screeching. Then she saw Marty freeze and headlights on him.

“Please no,” Jennifer whispered, tears falling. She watched him close his eyes, preparing to be hit. Jennifer’s hands flew to her mouth. Then, a beautiful sound: clicks but no bullets. 

Marty opened his eyes, and glanced at Jennifer. He bounced a little on his feet. She got the clue he was going to make a break into the DeLorean with her. She quickly crawled over the middle console, her side jammed into something as she got into the passenger seat.

As soon as she was over in the other seat, Marty ran and dived into the driver's seat. They heard shouting and their car stalling. Marty went to shut the door, but froze as he saw Emmett’s body lying there. 

“Marty! We can come back for him! He did that for us!” Jennifer cried to him.

Marty growled as he shut the door and turned the car on. Just as the DeLorean came to life, the Libyans’ car started again. 

Marty shifted gears and slammed on the gas. 

The DeLorean and the Libyans were side by side. They tried to shoot at Marty and Jennifer, but with the van jerking, the gunner was hitting the ground.

Jennifer kept her eyes closed and breathing fast as the car jerked around. Marty kept shifting the gears to go faster to get away from them. “Sorry for all the swerves,” Marty mumbled out.

“I get it,” Jennifer forced out. “I rather be jerked around than shot at.” She gave a hollow laugh at that.

Marty was getting faster, then he slowed down as he turned the car around a median. Jennifer put her arms on the window so her head wouldn’t hit it. When the car straightened, Jennifer opened her eyes and looked at the side mirror.

Marty was focused on driving while still glancing towards Jennifer. He saw her go wide eyed at the side mirror. 

“They have a fucking bazooka,” she exclaimed. Marty knew it was bad when Jennifer cursed that bad. “Marty, they have a bazooka aimed at us!” she exclaimed, she is to the point of hyperventilating.

“Let’s see if these bastards can do ninety,” Marty gritted out as he shifted the gear to go faster.

Jennifer was pressed further into the passenger seat as Marty accelerated the car. She watched as the digital numbers on the dashboard near the wheel climbed. As the car moved to seventy, she noticed that lights started turning on behind them. Finally, when it started reading to the eighties she noticed some parts of the car glowing on the outside.

Jennifer then remembered the speed that Doc told them. 

“Marty!” she exclaimed, trying to warn him, both with the speed and the photobooth they are driving towards.

There was a bright flash, both inside and outside the car, right before hitting the booth. 

Suddenly, they were in a field and hit a scarecrow. 

They screamed. Marty turned on the wipers to knock off the scarecrow. Luckily it was off, unluckily they saw they were going to ram into a barn. Again they both screamed as Marty drove through the barn wall. As he did, the hood flopped back on to Marty’s head.

They jerked to a stop as the DeLorean hit some hay bales. The two panted from the adrenaline rush they got from the crash, the chase, and watching Doc get shot. 

Jennifer leaded her head back on the seat. “Where are we?” she asked.

“In a barn,” Marty stated the obvious. “I’ll go out and look.” He opened the gull wing and stepped out. 

They saw the barn door open and outlines of people from the bright light one was holding. Marty opened the door to get out, still wearing the stupid hood. There was a lady’s scream followed by more screaming. The people screaming shut the door as Marty tried to walk towards them, but he tripped and fell on a haybale.

“Do you want me to come out?” Jennifer asked.

“No, you wait here,” he said, taking the hood off. He walked to the door that was shut and opened it. “Hello? Excuse me. Sorry about your barn.”

Jennifer saw Marty jump as she heard a shotgun. “Not again! Get back in the car Marty!”

Marty didn’t need to be told twice. He went to back up but tripped over the door frame. He quickly got up and shut the door and another shot was fired. He hopped in the car and drove the DeLorean through the doors and sped off. Jennifer saw that it was a family of four there. The son was yelling something at the dad, and the dad took aim.

The hood flopped back on Marty’s head, so his driving was erratic. As he removed it, he drove right over a young pine tree.

Jennifer’s head fell back on the seat. “I want to lie down now,” she mumbled. “This has been insane.”

“We are just having a bad, intense dream,” Marty mumbled. 

Jennifer snorted, “This isn’t a dream.” 

She was then jerked forward as Marty slammed on the breaks. 

“Jesus, Marty! What was that for?”

Marty was staring wide-eyed and pointed for Jennifer to look. He was looking at the entrance to Lyon Estates, his home neighborhood. Only there were no houses, only the entrance sign and a billboard that showed a home that looks like his house.

Chapter Text

“Marty,” Jennifer was getting more and more shaken. “Where is your neighborhood?”

“That is a great question,” Marty replied. He opened the door to look closer. Jennifer got out too and stood next to him. She didn’t know how long they stood there, but both jumped when a car honked at them. An old style car drove by them, the lady in the passenger looked at them scared, while the man shook his head.

“Maybe we should head into town,” Jennifer thought out loud.

“Good idea,” Marty responded. He went back to the driver’s seat. As he sat down Jennifer opened her mouth, to let him know that the DeLorean may not be discrete. Thankfully the car thought the same as her and stalled.

“Perfect,” Marty mumbled. The two heard a beeping noise and they both looked at the indicator saying Plutonium chamber empty.

“Looks like we are walking,” Marty told Jennifer, he got out of the car and started to remove the radiation suit. “Help me hide the car please?”

“Where?” Jennifer questioned. “We are in the middle of an open field.”

“The billboard,” he told her, pointing at the sign. “We can hide the car behind there.”

She rolled her eyes, and got ready to help. Marty threw the suit into the car and shifted the car into neutral, then ran to the front with Jennifer.

It took a bit, but they positioned the car behind the billboard. “Okay so we hid the car from the road, but what if someone notices it from the side as they drive up?” she questioned her boyfriend.

Marty started to get branches from the bushes and the tree by the billboard. It would work in a pinch, but not for long.

Marty stood back, proud of his handiwork. Jennifer sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. 

“I swear if this car is stolen,” she mumbled. “I refuse to go to the lake with you until we graduate.”

“It won’t be stolen,” Marty told her, pocketing the keys. “C’mon we have a two mile walk into town.”

Jennifer sighed as they started their trek. They ended up walking there silently. The two had a lot on their minds, with all that happened and what they needed to do now. Better to not think too hard. Jennifer noticed Marty’s hands shaking, almost like hers. She reached out and took his hand to hold.

Marty let out a big sigh and squeezed her hand back. The rest of the way, they never let go of each other’s hands.

They made it into the town center eventually and looked around in town. Marty stared at everything, not quite believing that they were in a different time. While Jennifer was looking at what everyone was wearing—and at what they were wearing.

They stuck out.

“Marty,” Jennifer whispered. “I think we need to find different clothes.” She was worried how people were going to react to her wearing pants and not a dress or skirt.

“We will be fine until we find Doc,” Marty responded. Jennifer opened her mouth to argue, when Marty added, “Besides how will we get different clothes? I really don’t want to steal them.”

Jennifer clicked her mouth shut, she had to silently agree with him. The two stepped out into the bustle of the center. Marty pulled Jennifer across the street to center proper, towards the bench that they sat on… yesterday?

Of course Marty was looking around and almost got hit by a car. Luckily the driver saw them and braked while honking at them. Marty looked sheepish while Jennifer glared at him.

They finally stood near the bench and both jumped when the clocktower rang . They both stared at the clock that said 8:30 and not the permanent 10:04. Jennifer tightened her hold on Marty’s hand. He noticed someone throwing a newspaper into a trashcan near them. Marty quickly pulled it out, and Jennifer read over his shoulder at the date: Saturday, November 5th, 1955.

“I don’t believe it,” Marty whispered, throwing it away. “We time traveled.”

Jennifer looked around and noticed something in the dinner. “Marty,” she pointed over to the dinner. “There is a phone booth. Maybe they have a phone book for us to find Doc.”

“Great idea as usual,” Marty responded. He pulled on her hand to go to the dinner, looking for cars as they walked across the street.

The two walked in. Well Marty burst in, as he was leading. They looked around at the old jukebox and the décor. Jennifer noticed there weren't a lot of people inside; a man sweeping, another behind the counter, a hostess, and a teenage boy sitting at the counter.

“Hey. What’d you two do? Jump ship?” The man behind the counter questioned.

The two looked confused with Marty asking, “What?”

“What’s with the life preserver?” the man asked, pointing at Marty’s vest. “I don’t know if I should yell at you for not giving the lady the preserver or glad you didn’t make her look ridiculous.”

Jennifer bit her lip to not laugh at that. While Marty tugged on his vest, feeling self conscious. “We just wanted to use the phone,” he told him.

“Yeah it’s in the back,” the man jabbed his thumb to the back of the diner.

“Thank you,” Jennifer told him as they went back there. The man gave a nod at her thanks. The teen slightly glanced back as they passed him. Jennifer got a glimpse of his blue eyes before he quickly turned away. Huh. Like Marty’s. She thought to herself.

Marty went to flip in the phonebook as Jennifer whispered, “Maybe we should have got different clothes?” He gave an exasperated look to her.

He got to the page where Brown should be, he slid down his finger until he found Emmett Brown. “Great. You’re alive,” he whispered. The for now was left unspoken between the two of them.

He picked up the phone then went to dig in his pockets for change. Jennifer beat him to the punch and pulled out coins from her pocket for him. He smiled at her as he dialed the number.

As Marty listened to the ringing, waiting for Doc to pick up, his watch beeped as the man from behind the counter walked by. He turned to look for the beeping as Marty snatched his hand closer to him trying to hide his watch behind his head.

He shook his head as he walked away. Jennifer hissed, “I thought it was broken?”

“Come on,” Marty whispered as the phone kept ringing. He then slammed the phone back down, then ripped out the page in the phonebook. Jennifer looked wide eyed and glanced to see if anyone was watching. Yep, the man behind the counter saw the whole thing.

“Come on,” Marty said, taking her hand again. “Looks like we just have to go to his place. I just don’t know where Riverside Drive is. Do you?”

Jennifer shook her head. “You’ve lived here longer than me,” she reminded him. He has been in Hill Valley his whole life and she moved here in seventh grade.

The two went up to the counter, standing on the left of the boy already there. “Do you know where 1640 Riverside…” Marty started to question, but was interrupted.

“Are you two going to order something?” the man snapped at them.

Marty looked a little put out at being interrupted, “Uh yeah. Give us a Tab.” The two sat at the stools at the counter, with Marty in between the other boy and Jennifer.

“Tab?” the man questioned. “I can’t give you guys a tab unless you order something.”

Jennifer knows what Marty will order next, something without sugar. So she speaks up, “Two coffees please.”

“Coming right up,” he says a little friendlier to her. Marty lightly pouts at her that the server was nicer to her. He dug in his pockets for change for the coffees for them and set it on the counter.

The server sat the coffees down in front of them, as Marty leaned his head down to rub at the back of his neck —a tic Jennifer recognized when he was stressed or nervous. She went to take a sip of the coffee and had to quirk her eyebrow at seeing Marty and the boy next to him doing the exact same thing. Her eyebrows furrowed at this and then thinking about when she saw the boy’s eyes. She started to connect the dots when the door to the diner opened.

“Hey, McFly,” a loud voice called. Marty and the boy both turned at the exact same time to the voice. Jennifer was also able to see who came into the diner. She was shocked to see a younger version of Tiffany’s dad standing there, Biff Tannen.

“What do you think you are doing?” Biff asked.

“Biff,” Marty whispered, confused. Most likely thinking he is talking to him.

“Marty,” Jennifer whispered. “He isn’t talking to you.”

Marty turned to Jennifer with confusion on his face. She nodded at the boy, who she now realizes is George McFly as Biff continues, “I’m talking to you, McFly, you Irish bug!”

Marty turned wide eyed at his younger father as George spoke, “Hey, Biff. Hey, guys. How are you doing?”

“You got my homework finished, McFly?” Biff confronted George as both Marty and Jennifer stared at the mostly one sided conversation. Marty was gripping her hand tighter, she has a feeling Marty has witnessed this conversation multiple times growing up.

“I would get kicked out of school,” Biff continued. “You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?” When George didn’t respond right away Biff snatched a hand out and grabbed George by the front of his coat. “Would you?” he hissed out.

“No, of course not, Biff,” George answered. “I wouldn’t want that to happen.”

Biff then glanced over at George’s shoulder and zero on the two of them. “What are you looking at, butthead?” he asked Marty. He then looked at Jennifer and glanced down at her body. 

Oh, she was so happy she was wearing layers. 

“I think you would look better in a skirt,” he said with a sleazy smirk.

Marty started to bristle and was about ready to go off if it wasn’t for two things: Jennifer grabbing his hand and one of Biff’s ‘friends’ tugging at Marty’s vest. 

“Biff, get a load of this guy’s life preserver,” he laughed. “Dork thinks he’s going to drown.”

Now it was Jennifer’s time to be upset when she saw George laugh at them making fun of Marty. “So about my homework McFly?” Biff asked, focusing back on George.

“Okay, Biff,” George stammered out. “Well, I’ll finish that on up tonight and then I’ll bring it over first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Not too early,” Biff argued. “I sleep in Sundays.” Jennifer wanted to roll her eyes, she knows for a fact from Tiffany that Biff sleeps in everyday. “Oh, McFly,” he exclaimed, pointing down. “Your shoe’s untied!”

George, unfortunately looked down and Biff smacked him in the chin. All the boys, including George, laughed. Marty just kept staring at the whole thing. “Don’t be so gullible, McFly,” Biff laughed out. “I don’t want to see you in here again,” he pointed to George, and he said that so casually, Jennifer was stunned at the audacity of Biff.

“Okay,” George waved them off smiling, “All right. Bye-bye.” George went back to eating his food as Jennifer watched the other boys hop in a black car and speed off. While Marty just stared at George, leaning in closer to him.

Jennifer noticed and jabbed Marty in the side as George clanked down his spoon. “What?” he questioned and turned his head towards the two of them.

“You’re George McFly,” Marty said in disbelief. Jennifer had to rest her face into her hand at her boyfriend stating the obvious.

“Yeah, and who are you?” George asked. Luckily before Marty could answer, Jennifer had a strong feeling he would have told him about time travel, the man who was sweeping slid over to the other side of George.

“Say! Why do you let those boys push you around like that for?” 

“Well, they’re bigger than me,” George explained. Jennifer raised her eyebrow at that. She was pretty sure George was taller than most of them, Biff being the only exception.

“Stand tall, boy!” the man scolded George. “Have some respect for yourself. Don’t you know, if you let people walk over you now,they’ll be walking over you for the rest of your life.”

George turned and side-eyed at Marty as the guy kept going. Jennifer thought his speech reminded her of someone. “Look at me,” the man said. “You think I’m gonna spend the rest of my life in this slop house?”

“Watch it, Goldie!” the server snapped at him as he walked by.

Marty and Jennifer’s eyes widened as they realized this is Goldie Wilson. “No, sir!” Goldie continued. “I’m gonna make something of myself. I’m going to night school, and one day, I’m going to be somebody!”

George side eyed them again as Marty exclaimed, “That’s right! He’s going to be mayor!”

Jennifer kicked Marty’s leg and he flinched. George looked at Marty in exasperation . If Jennifer wasn’t upset at what her boyfriend blurted, she would have laughed at how similar Marty and George make that face.

“Yeah, I’m…” Goldie stopped with a blank face. Then a grin split across his face, flashing his gold tooth, “Mayor! Now that’s a good idea!” He started walking back to where he was sweeping before, “I could run for mayor.”

“A colored mayor,” the older server walked next to Goldie. “That’ll be the day.”

“You wait and see, Mr. Caruthers,” Goldie argued back. “I will be mayor. I’ll be the most powerful man in Hill Valley, and I’m going to clean up this town.”

Jennifer and Marty turned to look at each other. She gave Marty a light glare for starting Goldie on his mayoral campaign a little early as Goldie said, “Mayor Goldie Wilson. I like the sound of that.”

The two went to look back at George, only to notice he was gone. The two saw him ride by the diner on his bike. “Okay Marty,” Jennifer whispered. “We should start to find River—” She was cut off as Marty yanked her up off her seat.

“C’mon!” he said, pulling her out of the door with him. “Hey, Dad! George! Hey, you on the bike!” He yelled, having them run after George.

“Marty!” Jennifer called trying to keep pace with him. “We should leave him alone!”

“He could help us find Doc’s place!” he argued with her.

The two went back and forth about whether to follow him or not for about five blocks. Marty kept looking when they almost passed George’s bike. They looked at the bike then looked around to find the missing McFly. A stick fell down in front of them from the tree, and they looked up.

There was George lying on a branch with binoculars. Marty and Jennifer followed his line of sight to see what he was looking at. Their jaws dropped, seeing a teenage girl changing in the window. 

“He’s a peeping Tom,” Marty said in disbelief looking up at his future dad.

“Why is that girl changing directly in front of an open window?” Jennifer questioned. Marty snapped his head to Jennifer, who was trying to avoid looking at the house. “We can clearly see from street level. Your dad saw an opportunity.”

“I really don’t want to think too much of this,” Marty said. 

Just then George fumbled with the binoculars and started to slide off the branch.

The two watched in horror as George McFly fell out of the tree into the street. A car came towards him as he stood up.

“Dad! Look out!” Marty yelled, running into the street. 

Luckily George wasn’t hit. 

Unluckily, Marty was hit. 

He felt the car hit and fling him more into the street with Jennifer making a shout. He fell on his back, and looked up vaguely seeing Jennifer before his eyes slipped shut. His last thought was Jennifer is going to be so mad at me.

Jennifer was frozen for a bit but sprung into action when she saw the driver rush to Marty’s prone form. The driver threw up his hands and saw George get up. 

“Hey, wait a minute. Who are you?” he questioned as George ran off to his bike.

“Please be okay,” Jennifer whispered as she knelt by Marty.

“Stella!” the driver yelled. “Another one of these damn kids jumped in front of my car!” He then noticed Jennifer, “Who are you?”

“I’m his girlfriend,” she told him with rapid breaths, “Is he going to be okay?”

“Help me take him into the house and we will check on him,” the driver told her. 

Jennifer nodded and carefully hooked her arms under Marty’s arms as the driver grabbed Marty’s legs. The two of them carefully took him into the house that George had been watching.

“Stella!” the driver shouted. “I need you to check on this kid while I move the car!”

“It would be best to put him in a bed,” a woman said, opening a door for them, who Jennifer assumed was Stella. “It would be much more comfortable for him.”

“He can have my bed, Mom,” a teenage girl said by the stairs. Jennifer glanced at the girl, she was too focused on Marty to ponder why this girl looked familiar. Jennifer noticed she also seemed to be hyper-focused on Marty.

“That is really kind of you Lorraine,” Stella said. The driver and Jennifer slowly took Marty upstairs. As they passed Lorraine, she seemed to only look at Marty.

Jennifer just let the man guide her to Lorraine’s room, which she realized is the room that George was peeping into. The man and Jennifer set Marty’s body on the bed.

“I’m going to move the car,” the man said, walking past Stella. Lorraine came into the room.

“Okay Sam,” Stella said to her husband. “Best to remove his jacket and pants.”

Jennifer looked concerned, while Lorraine seemed happy to do so. “Is taking off his pants necessary?” Jennifer questioned.

“Sweetheart we need to temporarily leave our modesty,” Stella told her as she started to undo his pants. “We need to check for any injuries from getting hit by the car.”

Jennifer helped to take off Marty’s jacket when Stella said, “By the way I’m Mrs. Baines, and this is my oldest daughter Lorraine. What is your name and his name?”

Jennifer paused temporarily, now knowing why Lorraine looked familiar. She is Marty’s mom. Then she realized Stella, Marty’s grandmother, knew her and Marty’s name. She went to open her mouth when…

“Calvin Klein?” Lorraine said. Jennifer saw her stare at Marty’s underwear, but acted bashful when her mom looked over.

“So his name is Calvin, and your name, Miss?” Stella asked Jennifer.

Jennifer quickly thought of an alias to use, “Vivianne Westwood.”

“Well Vivianne,” Stella said. “You are shaking like a leaf, why don’t you rest on Sally’s bed,” she pointed to the bed next to the window. “Poor Calvin may be out for a while. Best if you get some rest.”

“Thank you,” Jennifer said, sitting on the bed. Stella started to leave the room, but Lorraine made no move.

“Lorraine, come downstairs with me,” Stella said. “Leave them to rest, I need some help downstairs.”

Lorraine wanted to argue with her mother, but Stella gave her a look. “Okay,” she mumbled, following Stella out the door.

Jennifer felt like she could finally relax now, but she was still tense and stressed. She tried to take some deep breaths to help calm down, but thinking about what happened in just… Jesus! How many hours? she thought. 

“I don’t want to think about it,” she mumbled, rubbing her hands on her face. “I know I have been awake too long and dealt with too much.” Her mind was spinning with all the events; traveling back in time, getting shot at, Marty almost getting shot, and Doc.

Her breath hitched, so she decided to lay down and looked over at Marty. If she is getting this worked up about Doc, she can’t imagine how Marty must feel. She looked over at his bruise on his head. “Please be okay,” she whispered as her eyes slipped shut.

Jennifer didn’t know how long she was asleep for but she heard shuffling around her. She slowly opened her eyes. She saw that the lights were still off, and it had started raining. Jennifer slowly sat up when she saw Lorraine hovering over Marty, holding a rag with ice to his forehead.

“Is he okay?” Jennifer asked. However, Lorraine just gave her a side eye and refused to answer. She internally sighed. Not that much different from 1985. She thought with how cold Lorraine is being to her.

Jennifer looked over at the clock between the beds, she saw that she had been asleep for close to nine hours. “Has he woke up at all or has he been asleep this whole time?” she asked.

Lorraine kept giving Jennifer a blank indifferent look. “Could you please just answer me?” Jennifer requested.

“Well you would know better of his condition if you were awake,” Lorraine icely said to her. “What is Calvin to you anyway?”

Jennifer blinked at how catty Marty’s mother was to her. Yes back in 1985, Lorraine didn’t go out of her way to be nice to Jennifer, but this is a whole new level. “He is my boyfriend,” she explained to the other girl.

“Are you sure?” Lorraine questioned. “Maybe not for much longer.”

That really boiled Jennifer’s blood. She opened her mouth to retort when they both heard the boy in the bed groan and called out, “Mom?”

Jennifer started to head towards Marty, but she was pulled back by Lorraine. Next thing Jennifer knew was that she was shoved into a closet. Lorraine shut the door on Jennifer’s face and though the slates in the door, she watched as Lorraine shoved a chair under the door knob.

“Seriously,” Jennifer mumbled. “Trapping me in the closet.”

“There there now,” Lorraine said. Jennifer looked through the slats in the door to see what was happening. Lorraine dapped Marty’s head with the makeshift ice pack, “Just relax. You’ve been asleep for almost nine hours now.”

“I had a horrible nightmare,” he mumbled, still trying to wake up. “I dreamed that I went back in time. It was terrible.”

“Well,” Lorraine leaned back up. “You’re safe and sound now, back in good old 1955.”

Jennifer couldn’t see Marty’s face clearly, but from his intake of breath she knows his eyes widened. “1955!” he exclaimed as he sat up, looking towards Lorraine as she turned on the light.

“You’re my… You’re my…” Marty was stammering out. Jennifer kicked the door to snap him out of it and to try to get out before he blurted out that Lorraine is his future mom.

Lorraine gave a quick glare to the door then turned on the sweet innocent look to Marty, “My name is Lorraine.” She took off her sweater, “Lorraine Baines.”

“Yeah,” Marty squeaked out. “But you’re hh… You’re so h… You’re so thin!” 

Jennifer rolled her eyes. She didn’t blame Marty for the stumble; his mom was good-looking at the same age as them. He doesn’t even know the full situation yet with how Lorraine feels, Jennifer thought. Good thing he didn’t say she is hot, or Lorraine would have taken that and run with it.

“Just relax, Calvin,” she said in a soft voice. “You’ve got a big bruise on your head.”

Jennifer saw Marty touched his forehead where the bruise was then saw him move to get out of bed. She saw the covers fling off and fling back on as Marty shouted and Lorraine tried to look like she was embarrassed to see his underwear. 

“Where are my pants?” he quickly asked.

“Over there,” Lorraine said, pointing, “On my hope chest.” She looked back at him and commented, “I’ve never seen purple underwear before, Calvin.”

“Calvin?” He was so confused. “Why do you keep calling me Calvin?”

“Well that is your name, isn’t it?” Lorraine asked. “Calvin Klein?” Jennifer isn’t surprised the other girl isn’t mentioning ‘Vivianne’. “It’s written all over your underwear,” she stated, going to pull back the covers. Which of course freaked out Marty, who scrambled to keep his pantsless legs covered.

Lorraine pulled back with a coquette smile, thinking he was just playing around with her. “Oh, I guess they call you Cal, huh?” she asked.

“No, actually, people call me Marty,” he responded. Jennifer thunked her head on the door at how dumb her boyfriend could be.

Marty’s head went to turn to the closet, but Lorraine got up to sit right next to him to stop him from looking. “Nice to meet you, Calvin… Marty Klein,” she leaned closer to his face. “Mind if I sit here?”

“No, fine,” Marty squeaked out. He also started scooting further away from her on the bed. “No. Good. Fine. Good.”

“That’s a big bruise you have there,” Lorraine said as she went to touch his face. Marty backed even further from her, so much that Jennifer watched him topple off the bed in a heap.

“Lorraine, are you up there?” Stella called out. “I told you not to bother them!”

“Oh my god! It’s my mother,” she exclaimed, jumping off the bed. “Quick put your pants back on!” Jennifer saw his pants fly and hit him in the stomach, causing the blanket to fall.

It took a bit before Jennifer heard the door open and close, she could only imagine that she was staring at Marty. Of course Lorraine ‘forgot’ that she left Jennifer in the closet. “Marty,” she called. “Get me out of here.”

“Jen?” Marty turned to the closet, seeing a chair under the door knob. He moved to help her, but tripped in the blankets and fell back on the floor with a thud. He scrambled back up and removed the chair. Opening the door he asked, “Why are you in here?”

“Your mom shoved me in here when you started to wake up,” she explained to him. She was purposely looking up so Marty could put his jeans on in peace. After that fiasco, he didn’t need another girl leering at him.

Marty quickly slipped on his pants. “What is up with her?” he questioned.

“I have some thoughts,” she told him. “But I would prefer to say when we are at Doc’s. Also, I told them my name is Vivianne Westwood.” 

Marty slipped on his plaid shirt and looked at her with a smirk, “The fashion designer for an alias?”

“Yes, Calvin Klein,” she snarked back. 

“I did not pick that,” he argued, shrugging on his jacket.

“No, but you did choose what underwear to wear,” she teased. “Also why did you tell her your name is Marty? You had a good alias.”

Marty opened his mouth to retort, when a knock was heard from the door. “Are you two awake?” Stella asked.

“Yes,” Jennifer replied.

Stella opened the door. “Okay good,” she told them. “Supper is ready. We can head downstairs.”

Marty quickly put on his vest as the two followed her down the stairs, with Lorraine shoving herself between Jennifer and Marty. Marty glanced at Jennifer, pleading for help with his eyes.

“So, tell me, Calvin, how long have you been in port?” Stella asked Marty.

“Excuse me?” he questioned. Jennifer bit her lip; that was the third time someone thought he was from a ship.

“I guessed you are a sailor,” Stella explains. “That’s why you wear that life preserver.” 

As they continued down, Lorraine kept staring at Marty and trying to walk side by side with him. Whenever he tried to hang back to walk with Jennifer, she prevented Jennifer from getting closer to him.

“Sam,” Stella said as they got to the bottom of the stairs. “Here’s the young man you hit with your car out there. He’s alright, thank God.”

Sam Baines was behind a TV messing with the wires and popped his head up. “What were you doing in the middle of the street,” he lectured, pointing a screwdriver at Marty. “A kid your age?”

Stella tsked and waved her hands at him. “Don’t pay attention to him. He’s in one of his moods.” She led them to the dining room. “Sam, you quit fiddling with that thing. Come in here to dinner.”

“You two already know Lorraine,” Stella started with introductions. Lorraine stopped in front of Marty smiling and batting her eyelashes, and pulling his hand. “This is Milton, this is Sally, that’s Toby,” pointing to her kids. Lorraine left them to get something in the kitchen. “And over there in the playpen is little baby Joey.”

Marty turned and knelt down, and Jennifer followed suit. “So, you’re my uncle Joey,” he whispered. “Better get used to these bars, kid.” Jennifer smacked him at his bad joke.

“Yes. Joey just loves being in his playpen,” Stella commented, as the two stood up. She took on a more serious tone and said, “He cries whenever we take him out, so we just leave him in there all the time. Well, Vivianne, Calvin, I hope you like meatloaf.”

“Listen, we really ought to,” Marty tried to argue but was forced down into a chair.

“Sit here, Marty,” Lorraine said. Going to sit on his right, while Jennifer sat down next to his left. The three were squished, as they didn’t want Jennifer to sit at the end of the table for some reason.

“Sam, stop fiddling with that thing,” Stella walked to the entryway of the dinning room to call for her husband. “And come in here and eat your dinner.”

“Oh ho ho!” Sam called, rolling the TV to the entryway. “Look at it roll!” The Baineses all looked excited at the TV rolling. “Now we can watch Jackie Gleason while we eat.”

Sam moved to his seat at  the head while the couple looked around at the Baines’ focus on the TV, well almost all of them.

Marty noticed Lorraine staring at him, “It’s our first television set. Dad just picked it up today. Do you have a television?”

Jennifer answered before Marty, “Oh my family is planning on picking one up next week.” She wanted to answer so Marty wouldn’t say something wrong and to passive aggressively let Lorraine know she was still here.

Lorraine glared at Jennifer while Marty was feeling very, very uncomfortable. Then they heard  laughter from the TV. They turned to look. 

“Hey. Hey, I’ve seen this one,” Marty exclaimed. “This is a classic. This is where Ralph–”

“Yes we have seen this show ,” Jennifer tried to get Marty to realize about his almost slip up. “At our friend’s house.”

“You know, Calvin,” Stella started. “You look so familiar to me. Do I know your mother?”

Jennifer shoved some potatoes in her mouth to not say anything. Marty sided-eyed Lorraine, his teenage mother. “Yeah, I think maybe you do,” he said. Jennifer stomped on his foot as he held in a flinch.

“Oh, then I want to give her a call,” Stella said. “I don’t want her to worry about you.”

Both Marty and Jennifer got wide-eyed at that. His house phone isn’t even in a house yet! 

“You can’t!” Marty exclaimed. “Um. Uh.. that is, nobody’s home.” 

Jennifer put another spoonful in her mouth. That is an understatement. There is no home yet.  

“Listen, do you know where Riverside Drive is?” Marty asked.

“It’s on the other end of town,” Sam answered, eyes glued to the TV. “A block past Maple. East end of town.”

Jennifer smacked her lips. Of course Doc would live in the same location. 

“Wait a minute, a block past Maple,” Marty said looking at the paper. “That’s John F. Kennedy Drive.” Jennifer closed her eyes at how her boyfriend is casually saying stuff.

The Baines parents looked at Marty in confusion as Sam asked, “Who the hell is John F. Kennedy?”

“Mother?” Lorraine asked. “With Calvin’s parents out of town, don’t you think he ought to spend the night?” Jennifer rolled her eyes. Guess she wants me to sleep on the streets like Red. “I mean, after all, Dad almost killed him with the car.” Marty was shaking his head as Lorraine finished.

“That’s true,” Stella answered. “Calvin, you and Vivianne should spend the night. I think you two are our responsibility.”

“Gee, I don’t think we should,” Marty started.

“And he can sleep in my room,” Lorraine offered. 

Jennifer noticed her left hand went under the table.

Suddenly Marty jumped up, jostling Jennifer, “We gotta go! We gotta go!” He helped Jennifer stand up. “Thanks very much,” he said, backing them towards the front door. “It was wonderful. You were all great. See you all later.” Jennifer was a bit worried, because Marty only rambled when he was really stressed. “Much later,” he said as led them outside and closed the door.

He was speed walking away from the house and down the block, trying to get away from the house fast. “Marty, are you okay?” Jennifer asked. He mumbled something while slowing his pace. “What?”

“I said she put her hand on my thigh !” Marty breathed out. “Why is she acting like this! She is practically a nun at home!”

“Well,” Jennifer started. “Her room was the room George was looking into.”

Marty stopped and looked horrified at Jennifer with that statement. “Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “We are going to Doc’s and I’m not going to think of my dad as a peeping Tom and my mom as a-a-a...”

“Exhibitionist?” Jennifer supplied.

“Ahhhh…NO!” Marty exclaimed. “Doc’s. Now,” he ordered taking her hand again.

Chapter Text

When they  reached 1640 Riverside Drive, Jennifer was a bit shocked. “I knew Doc had a house before he lived in the garage, but I didn’t think it would be this big.”

“Yeah,” Marty mumbled, seeming out of it.

“Are you okay?” Jennifer asked as they went up the drive. She was talking about his head– and that whole debacle at the Baines.

“My head hurts a little bit, but not horribly,” Marty replied. “Honestly, I don’t know how I feel with how my mom was acting towards me.”

Jennifer hummed as they knocked on the door. Marty has his back turned to the door while Jennifer looked at him. In her periphery, she saw Emmett crack the door, look at them, then quickly close the door. Marty whipped around. 

“Did he–?” he questioned.

“Yes,” she replied. “I saw him.”

Marty went to knock when the door flung open. There stood Doctor Emmett Brown with a weird helmet that looked like a cage on his head. 

“Doc?” Marty asked.

“Don’t say a word,” he commanded. Next thing they knew, Emmett pulled them into the house and shut the door.

“I don’t wanna know your names,” Emmett said. “I don’t want to know anything about you.”

“Do–” Marty tried to say.

“I don’t want another word from the two of you,” Emmett ordered. 

He walked towards a console that almost looked like a supercomputer. He bent down and took a suction cup off a puppy’s head. Emmett gave a lick to the suction cup, Jennifer cringed because there could be dog hair on it. He then stuck it right on Marty’s forehead with a pop.

If Jennifer was in a better state of mind, she would have giggled at the cross-eyed look Marty gave to the suction cup.

“I’m going to read your thoughts,” Emmett explained to Marty. He whipped around and pointed at Jennifer. She jumped as he said, “Don’t tell me anything about him.

“Let’s see now,” he mumbled, flipping some switches. “You’ve come here from a great distance?”

“Yeah!” Marty cheered. “Exactly!”

“Don’t tell me!” Emmett shouted.

“How can he tell you if he is correct then?” Jennifer questions.

“Hush please!” Emmett argued. The couple shared a look with each other at Emmett’s logic. “Uh.. You want me to buy a subscription to the Saturday Evening Post .”

“No!” Marty exclaimed.

“Not a word,” Emmett waved his hands around. “Not a word now!” He held the ‘hat’ as he thought. “Uh.. Donations,” he guessed again. “You want me to make a donation to the Coast Guard Youth Auxiliary.”

At that, two things happened: Jennifer barked out a laugh, and Marty got fed up.

“Doc,” Marty said, pulling off the suction cup with a loud smack . “We are from the future. We came here in a time machine that you invented,” he explained, his voice cracking near the end.

“We need your help to get us back to the year 1985,” Jennifer said.

Emmett looked at the two in shock, then wonder. “My god,” he whispered. He walked closer and clapped his hands on their shoulders. “Do you know what this means?”

Marty and Jennifer waited to see what the doctor would say to them. “It means that this damn thing,” he exclaimed as he started to undo the ‘hat’, “doesn’t work at all!”

Emmett ranted about his invention not working as he sat down the headpiece and looked at his notes.

“Doc.” Marty moved to follow Emmett and Jennifer followed him. “You got to help us! You are the only one who knows how your time machine works.”

“Time machine?” Emmett whispered. He touched his bandaged head. “I haven’t invented any time machine.”

“Well, not yet!” Jennifer exclaimed. She just wanted to rest for a bit. She was able to have a non-head injury sleep, but she and Marty need to eat.

“Okay,” Marty scrambled to pull out his wallet. “I’ll prove it to you.” He opened it up, and Jennifer heard the velco. He leaned on the lamp to show it to Doc. “Look at my driver’s license. Expires 1987.”

“Look at his birth date!” Jennifer tried to help. “He hasn’t even been born yet. Neither of us have.”

“Right!” Marty exclaimed. “Show him yours!”

Jennifer looked down and mumbled, “I left it at home.” Marty silently cursed.

“Okay, well Doc…” Marty tried a different tactic, showing Doc a picture in his wallet. “Look at this picture–my brother, my sister, and me.”

Emmett moved closer to look at the photo. “Look at her sweatshirt, Doc. ‘Class of 1984’?”

Emmett picked up the picture with a giant pair of calipers to look closer. “Pretty mediocre photographic fakery,” he said. “They cut off your brother’s hair.” 

He dropped the photo on the table, and Jennifer grabbed it to look at what Emmett mentioned. It was hard to tell at first, but Dave’s hair was gone.

Marty smacked his hand on the table. “We’re telling the truth, Doc. You got to believe us!”

“Then tell me, future boy and future girl,” Emmett stood tall, hands on hips. “Who’s President of the United States in 1985?”

“Ronald Regan,” they chorused.

“Ronald Reagan? The actor?”Emmett laughed as he gathered his rolls of papers. “Then who’s vice president?” he asked, getting into Marty’s face. “Jerry Lewis?”

“No, it’s Walter Mondale,” Jennifer answered, looking up from the photo as Emmett stalked out towards the back door.

As they followed him, Marty asked her, “How do you know that?”

“ Marty . I am in advanced history and government.”

“Doc! Ask Jennifer about people in different offices in 1955!” Marty called. “Ones that most teenagers won’t know!”

“Anyone could look that up in the library!” Emmett called back as they chased him down the lawn. “Next you are going to tell me Jane Wyman is the First Lady.”

“Whoa. Wait, Doc!” Marty called.

“And Jack Benny is the secretary of the treasury,” Emmett called.

“Okay, I don’t know that one,” Jennifer told Marty.

They caught up to Emmett as he went to open the garage door– the garage that  is his home in 1985. 

“Doc, you gotta listen to us!” Marty begged.

“I’ve had enough practical jokes for one evening,” Emmett ranted, opening the door and moving into the garage. “Good night, future boy and girl!” He slammed the door on them.

“No, wait, Doc!” Marty started to bang on the door. “Doc!”

“Wait, Marty,” Jennifer said, touching his arm. “His bruise! Remember he told us how he got it!”

“Yes!” Marty shouted. He turned his voice to the door. “You were standing on your toilet and you were hanging a clock. You fell and you hit your head on the sink. That’s when you came up with the idea for the flux capacitor, which is what makes time travel possible.” 

Marty turned to lean on the door. Jennifer leaned with him.

Then, the door unlocked. It flew open, and Emmett stared at them with wide eyes.

“Where is this time machine?” Emmett asked them.

“Out by the Lyon Estates development,” Jennifer told him.

“We will need to get flashlights,” Emmett said. He held the garage door open for him. “Blast, where did I put them?” He started looking through drawers.

Marty strolled over to the back wall and opened a drawer. He pulled out three flashlights. “Here you go,” he said, handing one to Jennifer.

Emmett was puzzled. “How did you–,” he whispered. He quickly waved his hands, “Nevermind, you two get into the car and I’ll get the garage door.”

Marty pushed up the passenger seat for Jennifer to crawl into the back. He got in as Emmett opened the doors. 

“At least he is more open to it now,” Jennifer said.

“Yeah,” Marty whispered. “It kind of hurt when he shut the door on my face from the garage of all places.”

Jennifer gripped his shoulder for comfort as Emmett came into the driver’s seat.

“Are we ready?” he asked.

The teens nodded as Emmett started to drive them to where the DeLorean sat. Jennifer couldn’t lie: that short drive was the most uncomfortable ride of her life. She almost wanted to break the silence, but she didn’t want to make it even more uncomfortable. She finally saw the headlights shine on the stone entrance to Lyon Estates.

Emmett slowly turned into the Lyon Estates 'entrance’ and turned the car so the headlights shined on the brush behind the billboard.

As soon as the car stopped, Marty opened the car door. “There’s something wrong with the starter,” he explained. “So we thought we should hide it here.”

“We?” Jennifer questioned, getting out of the Packard with Emmett. All three turned on their flashlights. “It was your idea how to hide it.”

“It is pretty decent camouflage for a place where not a lot of people drive by,” Emmett commented on Marty’s idea.

Marty gave Jennifer a ‘I told you so look’. However, it didn’t hold much weight when Marty just had to remove four branches from the car.

Emmett just stared at the car in wonderment. “A-after I fell off my toilet,” he quietly explained, “I drew this.”

He held out a piece of paper. Marty shined his light on it, illuminating an upside-down “Y” surrounded by notes“The flux capacitor,” Jennifer confirmed.

Emmett looked even more amazed as the gull-wing door rose above his head at Marty’s touch. Marty then moved into the car to turn on the flux capacitor for Emmett. He stepped away and stood next to Jennifer, and theywatched as Emmett leaned in closer with a smile on his face. 

“It works!” he cried, falling on his knees. He laughed as he kept shouting ‘It works!’

Emmett then whipped around and yanked Marty down by the front of his vest. “I finally invent something that works!” he cried.

“Oh, yeah, it most definitely works,” Jennifer says.

“Somehow we’ve got to sneak this back to my laboratory,” Emmett quickly said. He then stared at the two teens, “We’ve got to get you both home!”

“Thank god you believe us now,” Jennifer sighed. “How are we going to get the DeLorean to your lab? Can we hook it up to your car?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have anything in the Packard or at my home to tow the time machine,” Emmett explained. “It is also too late to stop at a shop. Can you show me what is wrong with the starter? Hopefully I can fix it here, then we can drive it back.”

“Sure,” Marty moved to the driver’s seat. He went to turn on the car, and it turned on. “Seriously? Now you work!” Marty yelled at the car.

Jennifer laughed, “At least we don’t have to haul it.”

“Agreed,” Emmett said. “I will have you two follow behind me so I can make sure less people see you.”

Marty and Jennifer nodded and got into the DeLorean. They both released a great sigh of relief as Emmett got into his car and started to back up.

“At least he believes us now,” Jennifer mumbled as they pulled out into the road to follow the Packard.

“Yeah,” Marty said. “If anyone can get us home, it’s Doc.”

“I mean, the worst case is we take the long way home,” Jennifer said.

Marty made a grimace and said, “Let’s take the short way home. I don’t want to think about us becoming adults with my parents.”

“Same,” Jennifer agreed. “Though it would be kind of interesting if we have kids and they became friends with us.”

“Then having to explain to them why their friends Marty and Jennifer are gone,” Marty spoke up. “‘Surprise! They were us! We got stuck in 1955 and had you!’”

A comfortable silence settled on them as they made it back to 1640 Riverside Drive. When they arrived, Emmett opened the garage door, and Marty eased the DeLorean inside. After he cut the engine, he and Jennifer got out.

“Did my future self explain how this works?” Emmett asked, looking over the car.

“Yes,” Marty said. “But it was a lot.”

“We have the camcorder,” Jennifer piped up. “You recorded his whole explanation.”

“Right,” Marty went to retrieve the camera.

“We need a TV to hook it up to,” Jennifer told Emmett.

“I do have a second one here in the garage,” Emmett guided them over to the TV. 

Marty sat the camera down on the TV and gathered cables to hook the camera to the television. Emmett looked confused at how effortlessly Marty found what he needed, how familiar he was with the lab Jennifer laughed behind her hand at how confused Emmett looked.

“Okay, Doc, this is it,” Marty said, finishing up hooking the camera to the TV. They watched as the static turned into the scene from the mall parking lot.

Emmett sat closer to watch as the Emmett on-screen appeared and started talking. “Why, that’s me!” he whispered. Then he laughed, brimming with excitement. “Look at me! I’m an old man!”

Jennifer smiled to herself; Emmett hadn’t changed that much. Even though it is a thirty-year difference, there wasn’t that much difference between this Doc and the one on the screen.

They leaned in closer as they all listened. Jennifer bit her lip, seeing that Marty needed to work on his camera skills. 

“Thank God, I’ve still got my hair,” Emmett cried. Jennifer has to agree–Dr. Brown without hair would be weird.

“What on Earth is this thing I’m wearing?” Emmett asked of his future self’s attire.

“It’s a radiation suit,” Marty explained, pointing at it on the TV.

“Radiation suit?” Emmett asked as Marty stood up to fast forward the tape. “Of course! ‘Cause of all the fallout from the atomic wars!”

Jennifer scratched her head. She knew she shouldn’t tell him there are no atomic wars. Even not mentioning if there was, most likely Marty and herself wouldn’t be here.

“This is truly amazing,” Emmett said, staring at the video recorder. “A portable television studio.” He picked it up, examining it more closely. “No wonder your president has to be an actor. He has to look good on TV!”

Jennifer smiled, glanced at the TV, and gasped, touched Marty’s shoulder. “Marty, stop the tape!”

“This is the part, Doc,” Marty said as he stopped the fast forward.

“No, no, no, this sucker’s electrical,” the Emmett on the television explained. “But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the one-point-twenty-one gigawatts of–”

“What did I just say?” Emmett questioned.

Marty rewinded the tape. “This sucker’s electrical,” TV Emmett repeated. “But I need a nuclear reaction to generate the one-point-twenty-one gigawatts–”

“One-point-twenty-one gigawatts!” Emmett yelled, shooting up. He stumbled backwards, almost running into a pole. “One-point-twenty-one gigawatts,” he said quieter, hands on his head. He ran towards the door. After running into the main garage door, he exclaimed, “Great Scott!” Then he ran outside towards the house.

Marty and Jennifer stared at each other, then got up to follow. “What the hell is a gigawatt?!” Marty called as they followed outside.

“Marty I think he means gigawatt ,” Jennifer said, pronouncing it the correct way, as they ran into the house.

“He has been saying it wrong the whole time?” Marty questioned.

Jennifer shrugged her shoulders as they came into the living room, where Emmett ranted to himself in his chair, holding a picture.

“It can’t be done, can it?” Emmett asked the photograph in his hands.

“Doc, look,” Marty panted as they approached Emmett “All we need is a little plutonium!”

Jennifer gaped at her boyfriend. He must have really hit his head hard. Did he forget what happened for Emmett to get it in the first place?

Emmett laughed ruefully. “I’m sure that in 1985,” he said, as he sat the picture up on the mantel, “plutonium is available in every corner drugstore–”

“Not really,” Jennifer mumbled.

“–but in 1955, it’s a little hard to come by.” Emmett grabbed their shoulders, coming eye-to-eye, “Marty, Jennifer, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you’re both stuck here.”

The words hung heavy in the silence.

Marty and Jennifer froze, trying to process them.

Emmet squeezed their shoulders after a moment, lips pressed into a thin, sympathetic line. “At least you both have each other.”

He moved to sit in his chair, as Marty and Jennifer resisted coming to terms with getting back to 1985 later rather than sooner.

“Whoa, whoa,” Marty broke his trance to confront Emmett. “Doc, stuck here? We can’t be stuck here. We have lives in in 1985!”

“Doc, you’re our only hope,” Jennifer pleaded to Emmett.

“I’m sorry,” Emmett said despondently as Marty hung his head in defeat, Jennifer gripping his shoulder. “But the only power source capable of generating one-point-twenty-one gigawatts of electricity is a bolt of lighting.”

Jennifer looked up at Emmett, eyes bright. “What did you say?”

“A bolt of lighting,” Emmett responded. “Unfortunately, you will never know when or where it’s ever going to strike.” 

Jennifer then started to search through Marty’s pockets.

“Hey, hey!” Marty exclaimed, trying to swat her hands away. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for this!” Jennifer exclaimed as she pulled out a blue flyer. “Doc, we do now!”

She held out the flyer for Emmett to read. He took it from her hands, confused. As he read the flyer, his eyes widened.

Emmett sat up and said, “This is it! This is the answer!”

“What?” Marty asked. 

Jennifer moved over to Emmett’s chair. “It’s the Save the Clocktower flyer!”

Emmett stood up, reading more.

“It says here that a bolt of lightning is going to strike the clocktower,” he said as Marty registered  the flyer’s significance. “At precisely 10:04 PM next Saturday night!”

Emmett swept before Marty and Jennifer to explain his plan. “If we could somehow harness this lightning,”–he punched his hand forward–” channel it into the flux capacitor, it just might work.

“Next Saturday night,” Emmett finished, pointing in the distance with dramatic flare, “we’re sending you two back to the future!” 

“All right!” Marty cheered, standing up.

“We can handle a week,” Jennifer said, standing up, too.

“We can spend a week in 1955,” Marty said looking at Jennifer. “We can hang out. Doc can show us around.”

“Marty, I don’t think—” Jennifer started, but Emmett cut her off.

“That is completely out of the question,” Emmett said, seizing Marty’s shoulders. “You two must not leave this house!”

“I would still like some other clothes,” Jennifer said. “We don’t want to be in the same outfit for a week.”

“I can go and get some for you,” Emmett said. “But you two must not see anybody or talk to anybody. Anything you do can have serious repercussions on future events. Do you understand?”

“Yeah,” Marty squeaked out. 

Jennifer put her face in her hands; they have already broken Emmett’s rules.

Emmett looked at them. “Have you two interacted with anybody else today, besides me?”

“We did go to Lou’s diner,” Jennifer said. “To find your address.”

Emmett didn’t look too happy with that but understood why they had to. However, Marty was going to upset Emmett more.

“We might’ve sort of bumped into my parents,” Marty said, with a sheepish look.

Jennifer raised an eyebrow at him. “‘Sort of’?” 

Marty gave a pleading look to Jennifer to not add more.

“Great Scott!” Emmett exclaimed. “Let me see that photograph again of your brother.”

Marty pulled out the photo. The three of them leaned towards the light to look at it.

“Just as I thought,” Emmett said. “This proves my theory. Look at your brother.”

Jennifer paled seeing that Dave’s head was completely gone.

“His head’s gone,” Marty said calmly. “It’s like it’s been erased.”

“Erased from existence,” Emmett whispered.

“Doc,” Jennifer murmured. “What does that mean for Marty?”

“We will have to see what has caused Marty’s older brother to be erased and try to prevent it or eventually Marty, too, will be erased from existence,” Emmett explained.

Now Marty paled and sat hard on the step stool. “This is heavy.”

“That is an understatement, Marty,” Jennifer said, shoving him over so she can sit next to him. She held his hand, part to comfort him and part to see if she held tight enough he wouldn’t disappear.

“Jennifer,” Emmett asked, “did you also run into your parents?”

Jennifer shook her head. “My paternal grandparents are originally from Hill Valley, but they moved a bit after my dad was born,” she explained. “Dad met my mom in a different city. We moved back to Hill Valley when I was fourteen.”

“Okay,” Emmett breathed out. “We then can focus on helping Marty’s existence and getting you two home. How old are your parents right now Marty?”

“They are both seventeen,” Marty said. “So we could find them at the high school.”

“Yes, we will,” Emmett nodded. “We are also going to need to get you two some different clothes before that,” he said. “I only have one extra room currently available to use. I can sleep in the lab or the couch so you can each have a room.”

Both of them looked at Emmett. “We can share a room,” Marty explained.

“We don’t want to take your room,” Jennifer added.

“Absolutely not!” Emmett cried. “I may be unexperienced with the mysteries of courtship and infatuation, but even I know not to let two adolescents share a room by themselves for a week!”

“Doc! I swear we won’t do anything,” Marty complained. “I would never disrespect you like that!”

Jennifer nodded, both agreeing with what Marty said and that Marty wouldn’t disrespect Doc.

Emmett looked down. “I know you trust me to help get you two home,” he whispered. “You know me, but I don’t know you two very well.”

Marty was very quiet at Emmett’s comment. Jennifer was a bit worried about him. “Mar–” she started.

“It’s fine,” Marty said, giving a little sniff. “I mean, you just met us, and we were talking crazy about time travel. I’m going to check out the rooms.” 

He headed up the stairs, Jennifer and Emmett watching him go.

“I- I didn’t mean to upset him,” Emmett whispered.

Jennifer shook her head. “You didn’t do it on purpose,” she explained. “You are just telling the truth. Unfortunately Marty went through a lot in, I think about 24 hours? I mean, we just found out that his existence is on the line.”

“If he went through a lot, what about you?” he asked.

Jennifer shrugged her shoulders, “You may not want me to give details, but Marty has a little bit more on his shoulders right now. I think he wants us to be in the same room more for comfort.”

Emmett dragged his hand across his mouth. “I understand that,” he said. “You two do seem trustworthy, but the fact still stands.”

“Understandable,” Jennifer agreed. She thought for a moment, “Maybe your dog can keep Marty company tonight?”

Emmett looked at her and nodded. “I can compromise with Copernicus sharing a room with Marty,” he agreed. “I’ll get him and meet you upstairs.”

Jennifer started walking up the stairs to look for Marty. She finally came to an open bedroom door and spotted him.

Marty was sitting on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Jennifer walked in and sat down next to him. 

“Hey,” she whispered.

Marty didn’t say anything. He just listed sideways to lay on Jennifer’s side. Jennifer has been with Marty enough to understand him even when he wasn’t talking. She leaned her head to rest on his.

They sat in silence for a bit until Jennifer broke it. “You know he didn’t mean to add more on to you.”

Marty released a breath, “Yeah.” He sat up but took her hand into his. “I don’t blame him, he just met us. He just seems exactly the same, and I want to pretend that he isn’t–” He cut himself off. He really didn’t want to voice what they witnessed in the parking lot.

“I know,” Jennifer said, comforting him. “I mean, for thirty years, he didn’t change at all. He said he looks like an old man on the video, but I can barely see the difference,” she said, trying to lighten the mood for him.

Marty chuckled a bit at that. “Leave it to Doc that he probably accidentally found a way to stop aging,” he joked back. He sobered up and whispered, “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“I know,” she replied, squeezing his hand. “I did convince him to let Copernicus stay with you to keep you company tonight.”

“Copernicus?”

“The dog.”

“I would prefer you,” Marty mumbled. Jennifer bumped his shoulder as he continued, “Well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers.”

Emmett knocked on the doorway, holding the puppy in his arms. 

“I see that you found the spare bedroom,” he said. “I think it may be best if Jennifer stays in here, and Marty, you can take mine. I will warn you, it is messy.”

They got up to follow Emmett to his room. As they peered inside, Jennifer said, “Huh. I guess it is a universal thing that boy’s rooms are messy. It looks like Marty’s.”

Marty gave Jennifer a look as Emmett said, “Fascinating.”

“Well I will leave you two to rest and I will be listening,” Emmett told them. Giving his best parental look to them. “Copernicus will stay up here,” he sat the dog down next to Marty.

“Thank you Doc,” Jennifer said. She went to Marty and gave him a peck on the lips. They both giggled at Emmett turning his head to not watch. “Good night.”

“Night,” Marty whispered to her. He knelt down to pet the young dog.

As Jennifer closed the door, she heard Emmett saying, “I’m sorry if I offended you with what I said.”

“It’s fine, Doc,” Marty said. “You didn’t offend me.”