Chapter Text
Jennifer was dreaming. Dreaming of fantastic things like time machines and flying cars and the future. Strange things like screens for windows and fingerprint activated doors. Things that made her head spin.
On some level externally, she could feel herself stir but couldn't quite muster the energy to wake herself up. Weirdly, no matter how hard she concentrated on it, she just couldn't do it. It felt like she had been put under a trance or something— able to feel reality on the other side, but not enough will to reach through and propel herself into it.
Except now, something fluffy was tickling her dangling hand and making it hard to fall deeper into the swirling chaos of her dream. It felt like soft fur, gently swishing against her fingers.
"Einstein, stop it, that tickles—" Jennifer heard herself mumble, still half asleep.
She wasn't sure what registered in her brain to attribute the sensation to her boyfriend's best friend's dog. That was weird.
Her dream seemed to be changing again, becoming clearer as she heard said boyfriend and co talking about leaving her behind, on her porch swing. Which she could now definitely feel under her as the fluff continued to brush up against her palm.
"Wait— Einstein?!" Jennifer's eyes shot open as she finally processed the strange situation.
The dog barked happily in response, wagging his tail and jumping about, happy that he had successfully woken the sleeping girl up.
Jennifer sprang up from her resting place and looked around as she got her bearings. Somehow, she was outside her house, in the middle of the night, with the local scientist's dog pawing at her shoes. Now how did she end up out here?
As she went to stand up and go back inside, ready to get into her actual bed, Einstein suddenly sprinted out in front of her, physically stopping her from taking another step forward. He let out a low growl.
"C'mon Einie, I gotta get back inside." She politely stepped around the stubborn sheepdog.
He just ran up in front of her again, blocking the path to the front door and barking.
"Where's Doc, huh?" Jennifer asked, leaning down and patting his head, trying to get him to run along.
She had assumed that the wide-eyed scientist was around here doing 'weather experiments' again, but the dog did not move.
"What's wrong boy?"
This was really strange, Jennifer thought to herself as she stood back up. Despite their limited interactions, even she knew Einstein was usually a super friendly and happy dog, ready to lick you to death if you were within petting distance. For him to stand and growl like this...
Jennifer looked around at the front of her house again.
This was her house, right? Yeah, of course it was, why would it not be? She had literally just been lying down on the porch swing she had watched her dad build when she was in elementary school. This was her front fence, her front door...
Scanning behind her, Jennifer suddenly noticed the smashed-up car in the driveway, that was very clearly not her father's.
That was... strange.
And wait— since when did the front windows have these rough iron bars covering them? She looked closer.
The ones that didn't had been riddled with bullet holes.
At the sight of them, she panicked. the worst outcomes ran through Jennifer's mind. Had someone broken in? Were her parents okay?
She went for the door handle, shaking as she frantically pulled her key out and unlocked the door.
As she... unlocked the door?
Her key didn't fit. Her key didn't fit? Why not?!
The door wouldn't open. What was going on?
Einstein barked again and nudged her back out onto the driveway.
She saw the orange lights flick on inside the house, stark against the darkness around them. They revealed a silhouette she did not recognise behind the barred windows. The shadow came with an even more unfamiliar voice, shouting at her and her dog to get off the porch within the count of three, unless both hooligans would like matching bullet holes through their heads.
Jennifer ran. Einstein was fast behind her.
Now that she was paying more attention, she noticed the thick smog that hung in the air and made her cough as she fled. She noticed the disgusting amount of trash littering the usually clean streets, which were themselves covered in grime. Distantly, she could even smell smoke over the immediate stench of sulphur and gasoline. The sky bled a violent red, and sirens blared in the distance, a constant backdrop of whining anxious noise.
Nothing about this was right, Jennifer panicked. She could feel it intrinsically, the feeling of wrongness crawling underneath her skin, setting her nerves alight. She wasn't supposed to be here. This was not supposed to be happening.
She ran to the end of the road, becoming more and more turned around as she saw familiar buildings now abandoned and derelict. The friendly picket fences were now barbed wire. Cute pansies in neat gardens had been replaced with aggressive 'NO TRESSPASSING' signs wedged into dead yellowed grass.
The cold night air tore through her lungs as she tried to keep her composure. Now she was at a distance, she slowed down to a jog, Einstein panting beside her. She felt like she was trapped in a twisted mirror maze— nothing she recognised was the same. This was all wrong. It had to be some sick joke, or a twisted nightmare. But she had just woken up, how was that even possible? A dream within a dream?
She tried to think back to what she actually remembered, before she got too turned around in this hellscape.
Jennifer slowed down and leaned against the nearest wall, trying to steady both her breathing and her shaking body. Okay, the last thing she remembered was... morning. She had gotten ready that morning, in the same house where she had nearly just gotten shot. She had gone down these same streets, listening to the mixtape Marty had made for her. Then she arrived at Marty's house... and then Doctor Brown had shown up...
After that it got fuzzy. All she remembered was that there was this really bright light and then... nothing.
WAIT— HAD SHE DIED? Was this HELL??
No no no, don't be ridiculous. She slapped her cheeks with her hands, as if manually clearing the thought out. Besides, Einstein was here too, and dogs don't go to hell, right? So, he wouldn't be here with her if it was actually hell... right?
Not the best reasoning, but better than believing the alternative.
So, if she wasn't dead, and if this was all too real to be a dream...
As much as she didn't want to believe it, this had to be real.
She had to find someone, tell someone. The police, maybe? But hell, what were they going to do? What would she even say?
"Hello there, my name is Jennifer Parker, and I'd like to lodge a complaint, I think that the entire town is playing a joke on me specifically by smashing up their own windows and setting fires to their own cars. Thank you, have a nice day."
They'd have her put away in seconds.
She looked down at Einstein for reassurance, who looked back up at her and gave a small whine. He knew this wasn't right either.
Taking a deep breath and steeling herself, she decided to make her way towards the police station in the town square. Maybe she could at least get some context.
Heck, Halloween was right around the corner, right? Maybe it was all just decoration for that and she hadn't been notified! Surely there was a normal explanation for all of this!
There had to be.
When she got to the town square (after having narrowly avoided getting shot, robbed and stabbed on the way there) the anxious pit in Jennifer's stomach only grew. The square was even more trashed than the streets leading up to it. It was like a drain for all of the crime and violence to culminate towards and circle around. It was messier than she had ever seen. Dumpsters were on fire, people on motorbikes noisily revved their engines, spray paint covered every available surface. It made the normal square she remembered look like a utopia.
Standing in the middle of the cacophony like this, in the heart of the beast, Jennifer could feel its effects resonate deep into the rest of Hill Valley. A gut feeling told her that everything that had changed had originated here. It was concentrated here.
Jennifer was glad Einstein was with her. She wasn't sure if she could keep herself from going crazy if all this was happening to her alone. Nobody else seemed to care or even notice how the entirety of Hill Valley had flipped seemingly overnight. It was normal to them. They were used to all of this, nothing seemed out of the ordinary because this was their ordinary. She was the only one who could see it.
She turned around, looking for the police station. If not help, maybe she'd get some information. It was right around here, usually—
Then Jennifer saw it. Her eyes widened as she staggered backwards. She couldn't believe it.
A gigantic flashing tower with reams of sparkling neon bulbs stood over the desecrated corpse of the original clocktower building, arrogantly reaching up into the sky. Biff Tannen's giant face loomed over the entire square, flashing a dirty smile through fat cigar wedged between his teeth. He clutched a flaming stack of dollar bills. Underneath, a neon blue sign spelled out his name in cursive, with an exorbitant number of bulbs gaudily flashing around it as the letters below read: PLEASURE PARADISE: CASINO & HOTEL.
"Einstein, I've a feeling this isn't Hill Valley anymore..." Jennifer breathed, trailing off as she quickly came to the damning realisation that she really was the only one out here with memories of how the town was supposed to be. Just her and Einstein. Alone.
The shock had finally made her remember the same feeling after she had gotten in Doc's strange car— no, his time machine— with Marty. It wasn't a dream; she had actually woken up in the future.
And Marty and Doc really had left her here...
Jennifer stumbled back, unsure of anything anymore. How could they do that? What if she hadn't woken up in time and been found on the bench? What about Einstein? Everything around her was completely wrong. Nothing here made sense. She couldn't even tear her eyes from the giant glittering casino flashing in front of her. Looking at the chaos around her would just confirm how lost she really was.
Her backtracking feet and spiralling mind resulted in Jennifer tripping backwards over a curb, landing directly against the back of a leather jacketed stranger.
A pang of dread shot through her as she spun around to face them, apologies already falling out of her mouth. She felt Einstein leap in front of her.
The stranger spat out his cigarette onto the floor, putting it out under his black steel toed boots. His bruised hands were already balled into fists as he turned around with a scowl on his face, ready to rough up whoever it was picking on him this time.
Except his fists immediately relaxed and his scrunched-up face vanished as he made eye contact with her. Wait a minute, was that—
"—Jennifer?"
"Marty?!"
It was undoubtedly her boyfriend, even if he was in a strange outfit.
"Jesus Jenn, what happened to you?" He asked as he pulled out another cigarette and suavely flicked it into his mouth.
What happened to her? Look at yourself, she thought. Since when did Marty smoke? His mom was gonna kill him when she found out.
"Marty I—"
"Hey, and what happened to your hair?" He said, leaning closer. He stank of smoke. "I thought you shaved it all off."
"I— what?"
"And what are you wearing?" Marty clicked a lighter over the new cigarette hanging from his mouth.
"Marty, I don't understand, I need—"
"Aren't you supposed to be in jail? Is this like your disguise or something?" He joked as he took a puff of his next cigarette.
One of his friends laughed behind him, his mouth curling up over his gap-toothed smile. Marty turned to punch him in the shoulder, shutting him up.
"What the hell is going on?!" Jennifer interrupted loudly.
Marty tensed, surprised by Jennifer's scared tone of voice. She's seriously spooked, he realised.
It was so strange to see Jennifer looking so incredibly different. He hadn't seen her dressed like this since what, early middle school? She looked scared. The last time they had seen each other, right before he went back to school, they had had this huge argument. She had screamed at him, telling him that she never wanted to see him again. He had thrown her Walkman across the room in his anger, smashing it completely. He still felt bad about it.
His friends behind him kept on snickering behind them. It was starting to get on his nerves.
"C'mon, let's ditch these assholes," Marty said as he grabbed Jennifer's hand and began to lead her back to the hotel. Weirdly enough, she didn't hit him when he did.
He felt guilty. He had been putting off going back in there to see his mom, knowing her husband would be there, ready to pick a fight with him again. Marty was no chicken though, he'd show Biff. He marched onwards, his boots stomping against the wet ground.
Jennifer only caught on as to where they were actually going once he went to push open the door to the 'Hotel' part of Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise.
She pulled her wrist back.
"Hold on, what is this—"
"Taking you back to my place, I guess." Marty looked up at the red 'Hotel' sign, and then sheepishly back at Jennifer.
"N-No funny business or anything like that though."
Well, that really calmed her nerves.
"I don't get it— your place?" Jennifer said, furrowing her brows together. She turned around and looked at the square again. It did little to quell her disbelief. "What the hell—"
"—What the hell is happening? Yeah Jenn, I could ask the same thing. What's going on with you? You're pretending like nothing happened the last time we saw each other."
"I saw you this morning..." Jennifer muttered to herself. Marty didn't hear her over the noise. She couldn't make sense of any of this. It was like he was talking gibberish to her. Acting like she was the weird one, and not literally everything else.
"...Are you okay?" Marty asked, concerned at how differently Jennifer was acting. Usually, she'd be cussing him out by now, telling him she hated him and to fuck off back to Switzerland and rot in hell. Usually, he was no better than her.
"No, I— I'm not okay! I don't understand what's going on anymore!" Jennifer cried, on the verge of tears. Einstein rested his head up against her leg, trying to comfort her.
Marty went to reach out but stopped mid-way. He redirected his hand up to awkwardly scratch the back at his head. They both stood by the doorway awkwardly, as Jennifer quickly tried to dry her eyes on her sleeve.
Marty removed his cigarette and sucked in the air through his teeth. This was heavy. Sometimes his mom got like this, confused and afraid after one too many drinks. Usually, he just held her hand until he could tuck her back into bed on her side and shut the door...
"Do you... um, wanna come in for just a while?" Marty tried. "At least get away from the air out here." He opened the door, holding it for her. Jennifer nodded. There was nowhere else she could really go anyway.
She waited for Marty to go in first.
She followed him along the carpeted hotel hall. He trod along the stained path that foot traffic had worn into it, towards the elevator. Marty flashed a grimace at the weaselly looking guy at reception, who was sitting with his legs up on the desk in front of him, flicking through pages of a magazine. It stank of cigarettes and tar in here, and the walls were yellowed and peeling. Moths fluttered about the round lights in the ceiling. There was a giant yellowed stain on the roof right above the front desk.
The receptionist leaned over the counter, finally looking up from his 'Oh LaLa' magazine to stub out a cigarette into a ridiculously full ashtray. That would explain the smell. And the stains.
He eyed Marty as they all walked past.
"Animals are not allowed on the premises kid!" He said, pointing at Einstein.
"They let you in here!" Marty spat back as he impatiently jabbed at the elevator button in front of the desk, waiting for the giant golden doors to slide open.
"That mouth will be the end of you, Tannen."
Marty clenched his jaw, quickly withdrawing his hand from the elevator button. He spun back around, rage in his eyes. He grabbed the clerk by the collar and pulled him up off of his chair to eye level.
"Nobody calls me Tannen. It's McFly. Got it?"
The receptionist rolled his eyes, but eventually nodded, letting Marty drop him back onto his chair.
"And by the way, you shouldn't smoke—" Marty smirked as he squished his own cigarette butt into the pile of ash and stubs.
"—It's really bad for you." He sent the overflowing ashtray over the desk and into the receptionist's lap.
"You little shit!" He lunged for Marty, but the kid had slipped away, laughing as he bolted into the elevator with Jennifer and Einstein.
Marty laughed as the doors closed over them, leaving Biff's employee to frantically wipe ash off of his suit pants.
"I hate that guy." Marty sighed as he looked over at Jennifer, expecting her to be laughing along with him. She remained completely quiet, a flat look resting on her face.
This was really starting to freak him out. What was wrong with her?
Marty looked away and awkwardly shoved his hands in his jacket pockets, doing his best to ignore the tension in the elevator as they rode up to the 27th floor.
The jacket was too big for him, noticed Jennifer as she watched Marty fidget next to her.
He looked rough, like he hadn't been getting enough sleep. His skin (the bits that weren't covered, at least) was paler than usual, and was scattered with faint bruises. Jennifer knew Marty was a hothead, but just how many fights had he been getting himself into with a collection like that? Some looked weeks old. Everything about him was scruffy, except for his hair, which had been slicked back with gel. He was trying to make himself look bigger, spikier, more intimidating.
Less scared.
And Jennifer could see it: despite the front he put up, he was still undeniably the same boy she knew. It saddened her to see, the same sweet face suddenly looking so bitter. He looked hurt and angry at the world surrounding them. Unfortunately, she was beginning to relate.
The elevator doors dinged open and Marty led Jennifer down a huge granite and marble staircase. It was the most luxurious thing she had ever seen. It led into an even larger and flashier room, which had a stocked bar, slot machines lining one of the walls and sprawling cream-coloured sofas sitting on zebra print rugs, among other similarly hideous interior design choices. Giant windows at the back of the room overlooked Hill Valley at night.
Jennifer absentmindedly walked up to them, looking down at the people below. They looked miniscule, so high up like this. She flicked her eyes towards the skyline. The red sky had disappeared, leaving behind darkness. There were no stars, the town instead lit up by fire and police lights. And towering casinos.
"Where am I?" She whispered to herself.
"The 27th floor." Marty said. "Biff still hangs out around here, but it doesn't look like he's in right now, so we're fine." He shrugged.
He couldn't see any trace of his mother either. It sickened him to think she might actually be out with that monster.
Jennifer focused on their reflections in the glass. Marty was hunched over at the bar behind her, hand on his neck. He was acting so natural, like he came up here regularly.
The stark contrast between them made her stomach ache. Her blue cotton vest, white sneakers and pink jeans vs his black boots, leather and spikes. Where had her Marty gone? Why'd he leave her behind?
Einstein sat in between them, his tail patting the floor as he wagged it. He looked happy to see Marty, but the boy didn't seem to recognise him back.
"I need to tell you something, but it's going to sound really crazy." Jennifer finally said.
"Hey look, Jenn," Marty interrupted her again. "If it's about last time I'm really sorry, ok? And I know you're pretending it didn't happen, but I'll still buy you a new one if you want, and I know you said you didn't want any of Biff's money but at least let me make it up to you—"
"Marty, I don't remember a last time!" Jennifer huffed, exasperated. "This is what I've been trying to tell you! I don't remember any of this!"
"What?"
"Hill Valley! I don't remember it being like this! the streets being covered in trash, someone else living in my house? THE GIGANTIC, UGLY CASINO, right in the middle of town square? Ran by the guy who cleans your dad's car?!"
"My... dad? Jennifer— I don't understand, what do you mean you don't remember Hill Valley? Have you had too much to drink or something?"
"No, I haven't! Because I don't drink, Marty! You don't drink. You don't smoke either! None of this is right!"
Marty looked at her strangely. As far as he knew, Hill Valley has always been like this. A hole of a town filled to the brim with crime and disaster. Everyone knew Hill Valley, because everyone knew to avoid it.
Jennifer sat next to Marty on another barstool and put her head in her hands, exasperated. Nothing she said was going to sound like she hadn't completely lost it.
"Just— can you just call Doc or something, I think need to talk to him." Jennifer asked. Doc was the expert in time travel; he'd know what to do.
"Call you a doctor, yeah?"
Jennifer blinked at him.
'No, Doc. Like, Doctor Brown?"
...
"Um, big white hair?" She tried.
No reaction.
"That's his dog??" Jennifer pointed at Einstein, who barked to confirm.
"Who?"
Jennifer groaned and let her forehead hit the table. How on earth was she going to convince Marty that she had time travelled back from the future and landed here in some mirrored hellhole version of her life if he didn't even know the guy who let it happen?! She wouldn't be surprised if she had kicked a stone or something in the future and messed everything up back here or something. She was only an amateur at time travel anyway, not like Marty or Doctor Brown were! How was she supposed to know what to do?
Maybe that's why they left her back here.
"Ugh, what day is it?" Jennifer asked instead, already feeling exhausted, not ready to deal with that thought just yet.
"Uh, Saturday." Marty said, helpfully.
"No like, the date."
"October 26th."
"1985?"
Marty nodded.
So, she wasn't in some weird bit of the future. This was where she had left off from. Jennifer took a deep breath. She really needed to get home. If it even existed anymore.
"Marty,"
"Mm?"
She sighed. Hopefully she wouldn't be thrown into the mad house for this.
"Doc is... he's this guy you're friends with, who made a time machine out of some old car, and where I'm from you went time travelling with him I think— and then this morning you both took me to the future as well, but I think I passed out, ‘cus then I woke up in my future house and saw myself in the future, like 50 years old, so then I passed out again—"
Jenifer gulped in a breath.
"—And then you and Doc travelled back here to This Hill Valley and left me behind, except I don't think it was you you, sitting here, it was the Marty McFly I know who looks nothing like you but also you look the exact same and—"
She tried to choke back the tears welling up in her eyes as she continued. She didn't look at Marty.
"—And I think Doc's time machine must have dropped me off at the wrong place or something? Because now I'm here. And It’s not my Hill Valley. It's everyone else's who lives here but I'm not supposed to be here. I really don't remember any of this."
She paused, considering the other running theory.
"Unless I really am dead and this is actually real-life Hell. But I don’t think it is, or at least I hope not, ‘cus Einie is here too, obviously, and I'm really really hoping I'm not. Dead, I mean. So, yeah."
Marty looked at her like she had two heads.
"Are you sure you don't want me to call a doctor?"
Jennifer groaned, frustrated. She couldn't even blame him for not believing her. It did sound insane, even to her. How was she supposed to explain time travel to him when he didn't even know the guy who invented it?! This was impossible!
"HEY, YOU!"
They both suddenly looked up at the door, which had just flown open, revealing a very angry looking Biff Tannen, wearing a shiny blue suit that tastefully complimented his red face. A deep purple bruise was blooming over his nose and forehead, right over his left eye. Jennifer couldn't believe it. He looked exactly like he did on the billboard outside! It was almost funny— like meeting a cartoon character in real life. Marty's reaction said otherwise.
Upon the other man's entrance into the room, he had jumped up from his seat, his demeanour immediately changing and his shoulders stiffening. His instinctual balled up fists and scowl were back.
"What the HELL are YOU doing back in here?" Biff pointed his finger at Marty, his many gold rings shining in the light of the room.
Biff patted his suit down. Damn, he hadn't expected the kid to have the balls to come back, he had left his gun behind when he had changed out of his dressing gown earlier. Marty had some nerve, knocking him out on the roof like that and then waltzing back in here like nothing had happened. Like he didn't know Biff's secret.
"Thought I'd come back and visit the family!" Marty shouted back up at his stepfather as he walked towards him. He wasn't a chicken. He'd show Biff, show him he can't push him around anymore.
Biff squinted at Jennifer, giving her a distasteful look when he realised he and Marty weren't alone, but ultimately ignored her as he began to descend the staircase. If he couldn't kill Marty right now, he could at least remind him who controlled things around here.
Marty planted his feet firmly on the ground, ready for a fight.
But even from the other side of the room, Jennifer could see how scared Marty was as Biff got closer. He clenched his jaw to stop it from shaking.
She was about to get up and go help him, drag him out and run away, but was stopped when she felt the heavy presence of a hand on her shoulder. She looked up.
Three grown men in similarly gaudy attire to Biff stood behind her, one even wearing a cowboy hat. It matched the polished gun sitting on his waist. Biff's gang.
She knew not to try her luck, not with that look in their eyes and that glint on the gun, so she reluctantly sat back down, hoping Marty knew what he was doing. Einstein growled at them, ready to pounce, but Jennifer gave him a pleading look, so he didn't get any closer.
"I should KILL you for what you did to me!" Biff said menacingly, suddenly grabbing Marty's shirt collar and dragging him closer. Both Marty and Jennifer tensed up. He didn't seem like he was being hyperbolic.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, asshole!" Marty's boots scraped lightly against the floor as Biff hoisted him off the ground. Marty always forgot how strong he was, even when he wasn't playing dirty. This wasn't good.
"This!" Biff replied, angrily pointing at his crushed and bruised face. His nose looked broken. "I should throw you out onto the street, you little shit! Some nerve you have, walking back in here like you own the place."
Biff kept vague about what exactly happened. No one else needed to know about the book, and he was hoping that the kid wouldn't blab to the audience. Luckily, for some reason, Marty seemed more complacent now, pretending he didn't know anything about it. Biff Tannen was pleased.
"So go ahead, throw me out! Maybe then mom would finally LEAVE you!" Marty retorted as he delivered a steel-toed kick to Biff's shin.
Biff yelled out, dropping Marty and grimacing at the surge of pain.
Marty barely had time to celebrate before he was sent stumbling backwards from a direct punch to the stomach. He doubled over onto the sofa behind him as he gasped. That hurt. He had let his guard down. Now he was going to have purple imprints of Biff's rings under his ribs for weeks.
"That's for hitting me in the face with your flying car! You're gonna pay for ruining my image, kid!" Biff said as he went to leave. He'd had enough of Lorraine's shitty kids. At least Marty wasn't saying anything about the Almanac. Maybe being shot at a couple times had finally made him realise his place. Everyone comes crawling back to Biff eventually.
Wait— flying car?! Did Jennifer hear that right?!
"Fuck you." Marty coughed out, wincing as he rolled off of the sofa and onto the floor. Biff turned and kicked him hard in the side, knocking the 17-year-old back against the base of the sofa.
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?!" Biff laughed, making his gang behind Jennifer laugh too. It was like they were on automatic, laughing when their leader commanded them to. It creeped her out. Biff swaggered over to the bar, keeping his eyes on Marty. He turned and looked at Jennifer, giving her a wink with his unbruised eye as he poured himself a drink. Jennifer was sick in her mouth.
Biff gulped down the liquid and threw his glass down. He sauntered back over to Marty, leaning over where he had left him on the floor. Marty glowered at him.
"If I hear anything about this again," Biff threatened, "I'll kill you and your little girlfriend. Lovers' suicide, got it? Just like Romeo and Cinderella!"
It's Juliet, you moron. Jennifer rolled her eyes. She bit her tongue. For as bumbling as Biff was, she was still worried. She couldn't see Marty on the floor from over here, her view obstructed by the back of the sofa. She prayed for him to be okay.
Marty hesitated, but nodded, trying to ignore the pain in his abdomen. He knew better than to get Jennifer involved. If he couldn't save himself, he'd at least protect her.
Biff cackled as he left, and Jennifer was relieved the men behind her dutifully follow behind him. She stood up and ran over to Marty the second the door closed behind them.
"Marty, are you ok?! Marty?!"
Marty winced as he sat up on the floor against the sofa. He clutched at his stomach. His ego hurt more than anything else. He had lost again.
"I have no fucking clue why Mom stays with him." He spat out, trying to not let on how upset he was.
Jennifer furrowed her brow as she realised what Marty was saying. Surely Lorraine wouldn't—
"What about your dad?"
"What about him?"
"Where is he? I thought Biff was, I don't know, like, scared of him, right?"
Marty looked up at Jennifer kneeling beside him. She really didn't remember, did she?
"Jenn, he's dead."
"What?"
Marty nodded.
George was killed in an alleyway when Marty was four. He barely even remembered him. Biff had swooped in with his millions to help the struggling widow with three kids, and the rest was history.
They both sat in silence, coming to terms with everything. Einstein rested his head on Marty's leg, finally getting to enjoy some ear scritches. However, he quickly jumped up, sniffing the air and trotting around the both of them, evidently having noticed something out of place.
Marty and Jennifer looked at each other, confused. Einstein sniffed under the couch, wiggling himself in-between them as he pawed under the gap in between couch and floor. He gave an annoyed bark when he couldn't get in any further.
"What is it, boy?” Jennifer asked, looking under the sofa.
It was dark, but she could just about make out what Einstein's paw was too short to reach. She slid the item out, revealing the back of a small photograph. She flipped it over. Einstein gave a contented woof, but Jennifer nearly screamed.
Marty looked at it as well, immediately recognising what it was.
"Oh, that must have fallen out when I got knocked over." He said, plainly.
It was a photo of him and Jennifer he kept in his jacket pocket. Even after they had fought, he couldn't bring himself to throw it out. They had taken that in the summer, right before his birthday.
Jennifer looked at the photo. And then blinked. And then opened and shut her mouth twenty times.
It was a photo of Marty alright, standing and grinning at the camera. He was still wearing the same leather jacket and spiked hair, the only difference in his attire being some dirty sneakers instead of the boots he was wearing now. He had his arm around, well...
Jennifer was next to him. She also looked at the camera, glaring at it. She was dressed similarly to the boy with his arm around her waist, spiked gloves and patches adorning a dark bomber jacket. She wore fishnets and combat boots.
And she was bald.
Well, not Strickland level bald, but her head was completely buzzed, save for a few tufts at the front and sides.
Jennifer hurriedly passed the photo back to Marty, feeling a little ill. If that was supposed to be her in this universe, no wonder Marty had been confused when he first saw her. She ran her fingers through her hair, subconsciously feeling the need to confirm it was still there.
Marty suddenly held it back out again, giving a surprised "What the hell?"
Don't make me look at it again, Jennifer thought, wondering what Marty was so shocked about. Begrudgingly, she did. Right before their very eyes, the photograph was changing, fading out punk Jennifer for... for her. In a matter of seconds, they were both staring at a brand-new photo. The new Jennifer beamed at the camera in her pink floral jeans and fluffy white socks.
After a while, Marty shakily spoke up.
"Hey, what was that about a time machine again?"