AN- Okay, so this is the first fic I've ever written for the movie Back to the Future. And it's pretty much plotless, just an excuse for me to 1. flesh out a character who was criminally underused in the films (well, I tried to, anyway) and 2. posit a headcanon. I liked the first movie's implication that Jennifer was acquainted with Doc Brown as well and tried to imagine what their relationship must be like. And I also wanted to know more about her relationship with Marty. So I made up this awful fluffy thing. Hope you enjoy.

Saturday

May 4th, 1985

4:30 PM

No sooner had Jennifer Parker reached her boyfriend's house on foot that who should come rushing out the door but the boy himself, carrying his skateboard under one arm and his guitar case in the other. Purposefully Jennifer parked herself right at the edge of the McFly property and waited, knowing that her often-unobservant boyfriend would only see her once he got out into the street. When he did come by, she reached out and tapped him gently on the shoulder, causing his eyes to rise from the pavement and then latch onto hers, widening little by little. "Hey, Marty. Where do you think you're going so soon?"

"Jennifer!" he exclaimed, his voice sharp with surprise, and reached out as if to embrace her but at the last second took her awkwardly by the hand and held it loosely. "Ah, what are you doing here?" He seemed properly taken aback by her unexpected visit, which was exactly what Jennifer had been hoping for, but also a little flustered, and she hoped with creeping trepidation that this wasn't a bad time…

"I thought I'd drop by to surprise you," she said, wrapping her fingers around his fingers and giving them a squeeze. "Only to find that you're leaving so soon?"

"Ah, yeah, I-" Marty cast a hurried look back at his house, as if he was afraid something or someone unpleasant and unwanted would come roaring out of the front door any minute now. "I was just about to head over to Doc Brown's place- the whole family's been getting on each other's nerves all day. What's the matter, Jen- you couldn't think of anything better to do with the day?"

"Of course not, silly," Jennifer exclaimed, letting go of Marty's hand and reaching up to smooth out the wrinkles in the shoulder of his jean jacket. "I'd rather be hanging out with you any day of the week. You don't mind if I come along?"

"Of course not," Marty replied, shrugging his shoulders, and then broke away from Jennifer's touch and dropped his skateboard on the ground, clambering up onto the board with experienced ease. At last, the beginnings of a smile tugged at his lips, his features arranging themselves into Jennifer's favorite expression to see him wear. "As long as you can keep up with me."

They departed side by side, Jennifer traversing the sidewalk and Marty rolling along in the street, and the further they got from Marty's house the more relaxed the both of them became. It had only been a month and nearly a week since they had started going steady, but already Jennifer fostered mixed feelings about Marty's family, whose reactions to her ranged from being polite for the sake of being polite to indifferent to the point of not caring much about her existence, to (in the case of Marty's mother, anyway) passive-aggressively hostile and wary about their relationship. It was her disapproving guidance that insisted the bedroom door stay open at all times whenever Jennifer was over, and consequently made Jennifer feel uncomfortable to do little more than hold Marty's hand in or around her presence, and made Marty prolong their dates as much as possible, just to be away from his family and beside Jennifer for longer. Jennifer, on her part, was unsure where Mrs. McFly had gotten the impression she wasn't any good for her son, as she tried to treat the whole family with respect. Truthfully, her actions were probably more of a result of her alcohol intake than anything else, but the fact remained that it was a lot more refreshing to be alone together than to have to deal with that whole shebang.

"It's probably best that I don't mention who I'm out with to my parents," Marty said just then, as if he had read Jennifer's mind. He rolled his eyes as Jennifer gave a light chuckle in agreement. "So why'd you bring your guitar with you?" she asked, reaching out to tap its heavy case with her knuckles and smirking as Marty tried to keep his balance. "You gonna serenade the Doc while you're over there?"

He smiled and shook his head, his blue eyes alight with humor, and Jennifer was so struck by them that she gave a sweet smile back. "No, it's just hard to practice when Mom and Linda are arguing downstairs. She's in trouble because she went out with a guy on Friday instead of working on a project. Really, I think Mom's just mad because she came back tipsy." He laughed half-heartedly at that, but Jennifer caught sight of his smile beginning to fade already. "Funny how Mom yelled at her for doing what she always does every night…"

"And you thought you'd get some peace and quiet at Doc's place?" Jennifer teased, while also subtly changing the subject. It wasn't that she didn't like hearing about Marty's personal life- she'd heard him vent about his family before and, depending on how his mood was, tried to offer advice or just listened silently. But what it came down to was what she felt he needed best, and she figured complaining would only ruin Marty's day. She didn't want him to take his negative feelings over to his friend's house.

Marty shrugged, but his mood was clearly lightening already, and he put on an extra burst of speed. "Depends on what kind of experiment he's running today." He wobbled as he tried to position himself and the guitar just right, and Jennifer suppressed the urge to fondly roll her eyes at him. "Marty, do you need any help carrying that?" She extended a hand, but with concentration he pushed it away, shaking his head. "No, Jen, it's pretty heavy. I couldn't ask you to-"

"Marty." This time she did roll her eyes- he didn't usually try to be noble with her, and when he did the attempt was usually laughable. "Give me the guitar."

Soon he was skating ahead of her and looping back to make sure she hadn't gotten left behind, while she carried the case proudly and subconsciously wished for more people nearby who could see them. It was slightly embarrassing to admit, and she wouldn't have said a word to Marty, but she hoped everyone was staring so that the world would know that Jennifer Parker was Marty McFly's girl, and they were as happy together as they could be.

Dr. Emmett Brown was pleased to receive Marty and Jennifer as guests, and as soon as they were in the house he drew Marty aside to go show him what he was currently working on and prattle about science, while Jennifer seated herself in the sitting room and began to pet Einstein, the dog, who greatly relished the attention. She wasn't bothered about being left out of the experimenting and inventing; Marty had known the Doc longer than she had and thus had a deeper appreciation and a stronger tolerance for his technobabble. In fact, she had only just been introduced to him three days ago, and while initially they were awkward around each other (Jennifer was still trying to figure out if Dr. Brown was a man she should trust, even after Marty's glowing recommendation of him, because of all the nasty and fearful stories she had heard whispered about him in the past, while Doc himself just seemed confused and unsure of how to conduct himself around Marty's girlfriend) she had taken a liking to him after he invited her to take a look alongside Marty at his current project, and they spent the rest of the day in companionable chat with each other, getting over their individual misgivings. As far as Jennifer now knew, they now got along swimmingly. She figured that as long as she was dating Marty, she would be seeing a lot more of Dr. Brown, which suited her just fine. He was a good friend for Marty to have, and a good mentor to them both.

Soon the boys came in talking eagerly and excitedly about the new project, and Jennifer welcomed Doc with a smile and Marty with a hand beckoning him over to her side. Doc brought out a hardwood chair for Marty to sit in and then dashed back into the kitchen for plans unknown, while Marty pretended to pout that Jennifer had gotten the comfier chair before sitting down and taking Jennifer's hand and rubbing circles into her skin. She sighed in response and leaned her head back on the chair, gazing over into Marty's bright blue eyes and delighting in his touch. When Doc came back, he was carrying three glasses of lemonade in on a tray, prompting Marty to exclaim "Aw, Doc, you shouldn't have," and help him serve the drinks. Taking her glass and sipping from it, Jennifer discovered that the Doc really shouldn't have; there was far too much lemon juice in the concoction and not enough sugar, but at least it was the thought that counted.

"Hey Doc," she said as she set her drink aside and crossed her legs, letting go of Marty's hand so that she could smooth her hair back at the same time. "I have a question I've been meaning to ask you ever since Marty first mentioned you to me."

"Hm?" Doc glanced up from his glass of lemonade, clearly trying not to make a face at its taste. "What do you want to know, Miss Parker?"

"Just call me Jennifer," Jennifer sighed, her lips twitching with the beginnings of a smile. Doc had made the same faux pas on Wednesday, the day they had first met. It appeared to be a habit he had to be broken out of. "And all I want to know is, how did you ever meet Marty in the first place? I guess I never thought to ask him before, but now that I've met you myself-"

"Oh, I can tell that story," Marty piped up from his reclined position in the chair. He straightened up and sat forward, clasping his hands together in his lap. "It doesn't involve Doc so much as me." And so he began the tale, with Doc smiling vaguely in remembrance and Jennifer listening on attentively all the while.

Ever since he was a little kid he had heard warnings issued to him from his parents, and later on from his teachers and other adult figures in his life, regarding Dr. Brown's place and the strange going's-on that occurred over there. He was told to stay away from the scientist and his house, because his experiments could put a child in danger and the scientist himself was a wackjob anyway. While the adults only made him promise to strict terms never to go over there, and promptly felt satisfied when he agreed to it- there wasn't much protesting he could do anyway, to be honest- the kids at school gladly filled him in on all the gory details. (Not that Marty really hung out or spoke with them often, but he was still able to pick up the stories through listening from afar.) "He blew up his own house for money… I heard he busted the clock tower back in 1955… bet he's killed somebody before…"

But after a while, Marty began to realize that on a whole, the kids were pretty much all talk ("No, of course I've never been there. Are you crazy? My parents would kill me if he didn't get to me first!"). And so, being a typically inquisitive teenager and at the same time hoping to make a reputation for himself (because this had all went down at the beginning of ninth grade, and most of the underclassmen were trampled under the rubble of cynical seniors and popular football players and hulking bullies), Marty set off for Dr. Brown's place one afternoon after school, ready to find out what all the fuss was about.

Back then he hadn't yet gotten adept at the art of skateboarding, and so opted to leave the wheels behind on his mission, but once he trudged up to the Brown place he was already rather tired and wondering what the hell he had been thinking to go on foot. But of course, he'd never get anyone to drive him… The door was locked, naturally, suggesting the owner of the house was not in, but in Marty's experience he had already learned that usually there was an extra key hidden somewhere on the grounds. He searched around for a rock that seemed out of place or a thermometer that seemed unusually loose, before checking the most obvious place- the underside of the doormat- and hitting the jackpot. Shaking his head to himself, Marty turned the key and unlocked the door, stepping carefully across the threshold before it became apparent that the mad scientist hadn't installed some complex security system. Just what kind of a mad scientist was he, anyway…?

As soon as Marty got inside, the very first thing he noticed was the clocks. (He noted here that Jennifer too had been entranced by the clocks when she first entered Doc's house.) An entire wall was covered with them, all of them ticking quietly, calmly counting down to the next hour. Their presence might have made Marty nervous had he not checked the watch on his wrist and realized that they had another forty minutes to go before the alarms went off. After that, the second thing Marty noticed was the strange shapes of metal appliances beckoning him forth from the gloom. He came closer to examine each one of them better, and found each gadget to be stirring and interesting- a metal arm that seemed used to opening cans, what looked to be a modified toaster, some interesting headgear and antennae of some sort…

Though not all of the purposes for the inventions were clear, Marty's careful eye didn't see anything that looked remotely dangerous. In fact, the inventions appeared more benevolent than anything else, designed to help make one's everyday life easier and nothing more. A small smile spread on his face and his mind became engaged as he imagined what might have driven Dr. Brown to create something like this, like that, and how he used them…

So enraptured was Marty by the devices that he didn't hear the car pull up and chug to a stop outside. It wasn't until he heard footsteps and a quiet voice at the door that he realized the house owner must be back- and it took him a second before the door swung open for the need to run and hide to hit him. Cursing under his breath, he rushed to the nearest piece of furniture- a chair- and crouched down behind it, hoping that whoever had returned wouldn't spend too much time in the sitting room.

Presently he heard a man's voice say "That's strange…" and almost started before realizing the man who talking to himself. His tone was puzzled, and though Marty couldn't get an adequate angle of vision from his hiding place his mind filled in the scene. The man- unquestionably Dr. Brown, who by all accounts lived on his own- was probably staring at the key in his hand and then back to the door, confused as to why it was unlocked. A moment later he heard a sigh and a mutter of "Must have forgotten…" and then the door closed and Marty was left alone with the supposed madman, along with, judging by the clicking toenails he heard coming across the floor, the madman's pet dog.

Footsteps traveled past him, and from his vantage point Marty caught a mere glimpse of the famed scientist- wild white hair and a long brown coat, carrying a bag of groceries in each hand. Trotting right behind him at his feet was a cheerful-looking brown dog, his tail wagging happily as he followed his master into the kitchen. Once they had disappeared from sight, Marty began to slowly ease his way onto his feet, stretching out his cramped muscles and keeping his eyes and ears trained on the doorway to the kitchen all the way. There was no time to stay and observe the place any more, and definitely no time to introduce himself and chitchat with the scientist. If he could help it, he'd prefer not to be noticed at all… if he could only get to the door in time...

Just as Marty was about to make for the front door in a rush, he heard the telltale clicking toenails of the dog coming out of the kitchen, and quickly ducked back down again, trying to breathe as quietly as possible. Sure, it was just a dog, but he didn't want to risk the dog catching his scent and giving him away… it was possible he would start barking to alert his master, and Marty definitely didn't want that to happen.

But it quickly became apparent that fortune was not on his side today, as once the dog walked into the room it halted and then sniffed the air, almost as if it knew instinctively that something was amiss. Quickly Marty averted his eyes, as if the dog would somehow know that he was watching- the last time he'd been around a dog for a notable length of time had been many years ago, part of a vaguely-remembered childhood, and who knew, maybe these creatures did have some kind of extrasensory perception after all- and, huddled into a ball, tried his best not to move or make any sound, breathing as quietly as possible. Please get out of here… just turn around and go back to the kitchen or something… get out of here so I can leave. Wait, you can't hear me, or understand me even if you could. God, I can't believe I'm trying to talk to a dog. Just as Marty was thinking this was a rather absurd thing to be thinking of at a time like this, the dog in question trekked over across the floor- oh no- with what seemed to be a fixed, concentrated look on its face- please don't come over here!- its tail wagging and its nose to the ground, until finally it reached the sitting chair that Marty was hiding behind and stuck its face right into Marty's face. Dog and man stared down their noses at each other, and then the dog's mouth opened wide- oh god, this is it- and it lunged forward, pushing Marty to the floor with a noted clunk and mercilessly licking his face all over. Marty flailed helplessly for a bit before realizing the damage had most likely been done and surrendering, running his hands over the dog's soft, wiry coat, which seemed to excite it some more. Over in the kitchen, the sound of footsteps drew nearer, and a placid voice called out. "Einstein?"

At the sound of the famed scientist's name- the dog's name?- the dog perked up immediately and trotted over to its master, wagging its tail in a friendly, happy manner. Now freed from his furry prison, Marty slowly sat up, and at once found himself staring Dr. Emmett Brown, supposed mad scientist extraordinaire, right in the face. The scientist's eyes were wide, and he looked as if he was at a complete loss on how to react to this sudden situation. For a few minutes Marty had no idea either, but eventually he decided that one of them had to say something, they couldn't just go on staring at each other like frozen, speechless sculptures, and cleared his throat. "Ah… hi. You… you must be Dr. Brown." Immediately he wanted to cringe at sounding so obvious and so formal, but stopped himself from reacting. Dr. Brown gazed back, perplexed, for a second, before his eyes hardened and a look of both distress and disapproval impressed itself onto his features.

"What are you doing in here?" he cried out, surging forward, and this was the first time that Marty ever realized that Doc could be scary when he wanted to be. (It wouldn't be the last.) He watched as Dr. Brown came up and towered over him, his firm brown eyes suggesting that he had gone through predicaments like this before and by now had had enough of it. "Are you here to fulfill your curiosity?" he questioned rather forcefully. "Or are you just here to spread more rumors and meddle with my equipment?"

"Aw, no, I…" Marty tried to defend himself, but trailed off as he realized how ridiculous it was for him to carry out his end of the conversation while cowering on the floor. Deliberately he straightened up and got to his feet, brushing his hands against his jeans before offering one to Dr. Brown. "I came here to look around, and I'm really sorry for breaking in. Um…" He wavered before adding "My name's Marty," and reaffirming his hand. Dr. Brown just stared at it before giving Marty a shrewd, level gaze.

"Well, Marty, the next time you want to 'look around' someone's house, you should knock to see if they're home first," he said stiffly, clearly trying to maintain his respectable air without getting flustered. "It would be beneficial for all involved if you left now-"

At that point Marty couldn't stop himself from blurting out "Seriously?" Where before he had been adamant not to get caught snooping around, now he felt deflated, unwilling to end this relationship before it even began. "Dr. Brown, I know it was wrong to break into your house, and I'm real sorry about that. But, uh… who wouldn't want to come in here?" He swept his hands around to indicate the house's interior, and Dr. Brown's gaze followed, a somewhat melancholy look appearing in his eye. "To smash up my belongings and write unpleasant comments on the walls- yes, I can see how it would be tempting." He let out a sarcastic snort of a laugh and shook his head derisively.

"Wait, are you kidding me?" Marty stated. Truly, he was surprised that apparently someone had the guts after all to enter Dr. Brown's place, but he was also surprised by their actions. "No, I- I'd never do that. This place is really cool! All that stuff you made…" Casually he indicated the inventions lined up at the door, and slowly Dr. Brown's eyes followed along, staring hard at them as if seeing them in a new light. "It's all so neat, and- and resourceful too! I can't believe anyone would want to damage it…"

At that innocuous statement, Dr. Brown's eyes seemed to widen a little, and he turned back to Marty with a spark igniting in his eyes, pleasantly surprised. "You… admire my inventions?"

"Yeah," Marty replied, and laughed a little at that. "Why shouldn't I?"

And finally that warm glow in Dr. Brown's eyes spread to the rest of his face, illuminating him with an eased, delighted smile. "In that case," he said, reaching over to take Marty's hand which had long since fallen and giving it a hearty shake, "it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"He gave me the job that afternoon," Marty wrapped up his tale, "and that's how it all started." Leaning back in his seat, he grinned at Doc who gave an appreciable nod back, and Jennifer smiled and squeezed Marty's hand. "That's wonderful, Marty. I didn't realize you two have been friends for so long."

"Two and a half years," Doc clarified, "and I've enjoyed every day." He shifted position in his chair, deftly pushing the lemonade-with-one-sip-taken-from-it away from him and crossing one leg over the other. "Now Jennifer, if I may be permitted to ask, how did you happen to meet Marty?"

"Oh, that's not-" Marty began to cut in, but Jennifer shushed him by placing her finger against his lips. "You've done enough talking already, and besides, he asked me, not you."

"…Okay," Marty submitted uneasily, and let go of Jennifer's hand so that she would be free to move as she told her story. A smile appeared on her face as she dredged up the memories from a month ago, all of it feeling as fresh and new as it had the day it occurred. This was a story for which she wanted to relish every detail.

He was late for class quite often, she noticed- tumbling into his seat mere minutes after the bell rang, usually with a hurried apology and handing over of a pass to the teacher, only to either goof off for the rest of class through doodling, idle chitchat, and once or twice secretly listening to his Walkman, or just not focus at all and then asking his surrounding peers what was going on. Before she had formally introduced herself to him, Jennifer was secretly intensely glad that she didn't have to sit on his side of the classroom. There was nothing she hated more than having her learning experience interrupted by someone who didn't have the attention span to learn himself.

This lazy, uninterested quality of his was likely what caused him not to be well-liked in class, and was certainly the reason why Jennifer didn't actually speak to Marty until well into the spring of their new semester. Really, algebra was difficult enough as it was without having to add "explain every fine point to the slacker" to the mix. However, she didn't truly understand where Marty was coming from until that overcast day in April, when she herself had been late to school just as he was.

The alarm clock was broken. That was her only explanation for it, and if it had been working as usual she might have missed the opportunity that brought her current sweetheart into her life. But on that particular morning, broken it was, and she awoke with her mother shaking her frantically and telling her to get up right this minute, if she didn't wake up now she would miss breakfast and therefore the school bus. In a panic Jennifer shot to her feet like a rocket and dressed hurriedly, throwing on the first clothes she could get her hands on, but by the time she rushed downstairs it was too late. The bus had already passed, and her parents insisted she eat a full meal before hopping in the car and dashing off to pursue it.

Somehow, of all possible days the traffic was more backed up today than it had ever been, and Jennifer was silently sweating and gritting her teeth by the time her dad's van rounded on the corner up to school. She broke through the doors at a striding, fast-paced walk, her shoulders tensing up with even the thought of the morning bell's peal in her ears… and just as she turned into the main hallway, she ran straight into none other than Marty McFly, who appeared to have entered the scene from the opposite direction. Startled, they jumped back from each other, and the tardy bell chose that moment to intrude with a shrill warning as loud as the alarm that had failed to go off for Jennifer that morning.

"Shit!" was the first word spoken directly after these proceedings, hissed by a very agitated Marty, and he immediately picked up the pace again, beckoning Jennifer to come follow him. "Come on, we gotta get to class! If Strickland finds us he'll-"

But again, in a perfectly-timed instant it was all too late, for the rule-upholding and discipline-conscious Mr. Strickland had already appeared, descending upon the two students as a hawk would descend upon its prey. They endured a lengthy chewing-out by the teacher, who did not mince a single word (especially when applying adjectives to Marty and expressing disappointment in Jennifer's now-tarnished school record), and as Jennifer glanced from Marty's crestfallen and more than a little pissed face, to Strickland's no-nonsense one, she began to feel her heart sink. So this was it- she was now a "slacker" just like the kid beside her. And she didn't feel it was anything to take pride in. More than anything, she just felt awful.

Finally Strickland released them from his clutches with two tardy passes in hand, and as Jennifer turned and hurried away from both the physical embarrassment and the mental one, she heard Marty coming up behind her. In vain she tried to quicken her pace, but he had reached her side in an instant and she skidded, defeated to a halt. What did he want from her? After a morning like this, she was ready to be done with all reminders that such a thing had ever happened.

"Hey, are you okay?" Funny, but there was genuine concern in his voice, as if he regretted what had happened. As if it was all his fault, somehow, that she had showed up late to school. "Look, don't take everything Strickland said seriously, he has a major attitude problem. Your permanent record's fine if this is only your first tardy of the semester…"

Taking in a deep breath, Jennifer tried to push down that crushing sense that she had failed someone or something, irrevocably screwed up her life's course… "I know," she murmured. "It's just so stupid… I barely had time to eat breakfast this morning, and I didn't even get to do my makeup for crying out-"

The words died in her throat as she glanced over at Marty, who had edged closer to her than was really necessary and was studying her face with a creased brow, apparently still worried that she was upset. She only meant to give him a passing gaze, but somehow her eyes lingered longer than she intended, focusing immediately on the deep blue of his own eyes. Interesting, how she had spent so long avoiding this boy, only to find out in a flash that he had such gorgeous eyes… and his hair looked soft and inviting, already mussed up presumably from sleeping, and sticking out all over the place…

"It doesn't matter," he said softly, in hesitant reassurance. "You look just as good without it on."

And then he had taken off, and she was the one following him, eager to catch another glimpse of those beautiful eyes.

The next day she sat with him at lunch and that was that. They exchanged names and schedules and, eventually, phone numbers, family stories, and jokes. Jennifer had gone out with a few boys before, and Marty had lusted after plenty of girls, but for the first time they now fell hard and fast for each other and never looked back. And Jennifer learned that perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing to associate with the class slacker after all.

"That's a lovely story!" Doc exclaimed when Jennifer was finished telling it, and they beamed at each other, happy that the tale had gone over well. The only person who didn't look satisfied by this was Marty, who slumped in his seat idly scratching Einstein's ear.

"If you'd asked me," he half-muttered, "I would have started with the lunch…"

Jennifer shot him a playful reproachful look. "Aw, Marty, it was romantic and you know it." Gleefully she reached over to capture his hand again, and he sighed, shifting positions before staring over at her with those scorching blue eyes that she had always loved so much.

"I know," he admitted, covering Jennifer's hand with his so that her hand was basically sandwiched. "I just wish you hadn't… well, basically called me a slacker."

"Taking offense?" Jennifer snickered. She wiggled her hand and then leaned over to kiss Marty's cheek before he could protest. "It's cool, Marty. It's not your fault you're late so often."

"It is almost always the clock's fault," the Doc offered from his seat across from the two lovebirds. "That's why I invested in thirty of them!"

They were all amused by that, and then after a few more minutes of casual conversation, Marty broke out the guitar that Jennifer had helped him lug all the way to Doc's place and entertained his friends with a medley of the many riffs he had learned since he first picked the instrument. Jennifer watched him in rapt attention the entire time, her hands folded primly in her lap, captivated by the deft movements of Marty's fingers playing against the guitar's frets. The sounds that came from the guitar were so rough and harsh sometimes, but he handled the instrument with such a delicate touch, as gentle as he had been on that day after school when Jennifer's parents hadn't been home, and they had familiarized themselves with each other's bare flesh without indulging in the main event. Somehow, Jennifer felt that the simple raw touch was more fulfilling to her than whatever lay beyond; just the promise that these kisses and caresses could turn into something more intimate was thrilling and tingly and new.

Doc's music tastes were stuck somewhere between the club songs and torch songs of the 30's and the early rock and roll hits of the 60's, but he still appeared to appreciate Marty's contemporary jams, if only because he was supportive of Marty's interests and realized that he had talent. Even so, Marty pulled out a few oldies "just for him," including one of the first songs he had learned on guitar, "Johnny B. Goode," eager to please his generationally-split audience. For Jennifer he pulled "Every Breath You Take" out of the vault, but when Jennifer pointed out that that song was less of a love song and more about a stalker, Marty shrugged and went right into his favorite song at the moment, "The Power of Love." "We'll come up with a song for you, Jen," he said while his fingers danced across the strings. "I'll write one if I have to."

When the impromptu performance was over Doc and Jennifer applauded their entertainer, and then Doc excused himself into the kitchen to take a look at and tinker with his new "lemonade-maker." Jennifer followed, gathering up the half-empty cups, and poured the drinks down the drain while Doc hemmed and hawed over what improvements needed to be made to the gadget. Finally, just as Jennifer turned and was about to walk back into the main room, he stepped away from the machine with an expression that was equal parts exasperated and insightful. "Forget everything about this project…" he muttered, touching Jennifer's arm to get her attention and reel her back in when she passed him. "You musn't say a word about this to Marty. I've seen how much he enjoys playing that guitar- do you think he'd like a pair of speakers to practice with?"

Realizing the implication of Doc's words, Jennifer nodded her head vigorously, a small smile forming on her face. "I think that's a great idea," she said, remembering how Marty had told her he had to rely on a fellow band member to bring speakers to every practice, but at the rate the band was going he wasn't sure if there would be another member to rely on soon enough. Most likely Doc would add a special flair to the project as well, indelibly marking the speakers as his own creation while humoring Marty in the process.

Doc smiled back at Jennifer and released her, and she strolled back into the main room in high spirits. Marty looked up when she approached, and didn't even blink in surprise when instead of returning to her seat Jennifer plopped herself down in his lap, merely throwing his arms around her and holding her comfortably, a radiant smile gleaming from every pore. Jennifer Parker's my girl. Yes, that Jennifer Parker, the one who's a cheerleader and does her assignments and normally wouldn't look twice at a guy like me. No, you can't take her out. She's perfectly happy with me, maybe even in love.

"What'd you think of my playing?" he asked as she got herself situated on his lap, leaning in close so that his nose bumped her cheek. The smile on her face spread out.

"I think if you put as much effort into learning your schoolwork as you do with learning the songs, Strickland would never complain to you ever again."

He laughed, not at all put out by this statement because they both knew it was true, and leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips. "Tell me something I haven't heard before."

"Okay," Jennifer said, wrapping an arm around Marty's neck and resting her cheek against the top of his head. "In all seriousness, Marty, it was great." She paused and considered her words for a second before then adding, "Just like you."

AN- And now you must forgive me for that title. :P As a side note, you'd probably never guess that I'm highly attracted to blue eyes. /sarcasm