Fixing Time

A Back To The Future Story

By Flaming Trails

Disclaimer: I don't own BTTF. If I did, I wouldn't have written "Catfight".

Prologue: Doc's first future trip. I am aware of Dave McFly's story, and fully suggest you read his.


Chapter 1

Saturday, October 26th, 1985

Hill Valley, California

1: 35 A. M.

Marty McFly watched in shocked horror as Doc Brown, his best friend, was gunned down by a Libyan terrorist group. His heart felt like it was going to burst from grief. And he had been so close to saving him, too. He opened his mouth to cry out.

His other self took care of that function for him. "NOOOO! BASTARDS!"

Marty watched numbly as his younger self repeated the actions he recalled doing a week - or was it only a few minutes? - earlier. The DeLorean took off, speeding around the van, drawing Marty's eyes back to Doc. For no good reason, he threw himself down the hill, getting up again just in time to see Younger Marty travel back to 1955. The Libyan terrorists, blinded by the flash, crashed into the Fox Photo booth in the middle of the lot. Marty stared at them a moment. When he was sure they weren't moving, he ran to Doc's side. "Doc! Doc!!"

He knelt down by the body and turned it over. Doc rolled over limply, his usually expressive brown eyes blank. Marty began to weep. "No. . . . No. . . ." he whispered, turning away. "Doc. . . . Damn it, Doc. . . ."

Turned away like he was, he didn't see Doc blink his eyes, take a slow breath in, or sit up. He did sense that there was another presence behind him. Nervous that it was a terrorist or policeman, he turned around.

Only to find Doc looking at him with a slight 'deer in the headlights' expression.

Marty's brain nearly stopped working completely. "You're alive," he breathed, hardly daring to believe his eyes.

Doc stared at him a moment more, then unzipped the front of his radiation suit. The dark kevlar of a bullet-proof vest revealed itself. Marty gawked in disbelief. "Bullet-proof vest? How did you know?" he demanded. "I never got a chance to tell-"

Doc smiled and pulled something from an inner pocket. Marty's voice died as he looked at it. He glanced at Doc dubiously as he took it, thinking, "No way. It can't be. Not after everything he said."

But it was. It was his letter to Doc, taped up and yellowed with age. Marty looked at it, then at Doc. "What about all that talk," he probed, "about screwing up future events, the space-time continuum?"

Doc kept smiling. "Well, I figured, what the hell."

Still not sure if he was hallucinating, Marty carefully touched Doc's face. The skin was there, alive and warm. A slow smile of his own appeared. "Damn it, Doc, I'm so glad you're alive!" he said joyfully, throwing his arms around his best friend and pulling him into a hug.

Doc let out a cry of pain. Marty pulled away, concerned. "Doc?"

"Sorry," Doc apologized. "It appears I was badly bruised by that barrage of gunfire. The vest saved my life, but couldn't prevent the bullets from harming me in some way."

Marty hit Doc's shoulder, suddenly upset. "Why'd you have to get messed up with those Libyans, Doc?! Why'd you let yourself get shot?!"

"It was for the safety of the space-time continuum, Marty," Doc explained. "If I hadn't done all this, you would have most likely never gone to 1955, and it's possible I would have died for real or some other disaster could have occurred. We might have even caused a looping paradox."

Marty looked over at the terrorists' overturned van. There didn't seem to be any signs of life from over there. Still, the teen wasn't about to take chances. "C'mon, Doc, let's get out of here before these guys wake up. I don't want you to get shot again."

"I concur, Marty. Let's go." Marty grabbed his skateboard, and they both hopped in the van. Einstein gave a soft whine as they got in. "Oh, don't worry boy," Doc said reassuringly, giving Einy a pat. "Everything's fine. We're all okay."

"Yeah, but I'm never gonna be able to come here again without getting chills," Marty admitted as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"To tell the truth, I don't think I'll be able to either," Doc admitted. "Being shot at close range is not going to be a favorite memory."

Marty nodded, keeping his eyes firmly on the Libyans - then he abruptly noticed the mall's sign. "What the hell? Lone Pine Mall?"

Doc nodded, not understanding Marty's puzzlement. "Yes, Lone Pine Mall. Built on Farmer Peabody's old farm. I told you that."

"Yeah, I know, but - but I remember it as Twin Pines Mall," Marty explained, baffled.

Doc became worried. "You do?"

"Yes. Why? Is there anything wrong, Doc?" Marty got very frightened suddenly. "I didn't totally screw up the past, did I?"

"I don't think so, but that is a significant change. I recall you telling me you ended up on Peabody's farm when you first entered 1955. Did you run over one of the pine trees he had fronting the ranch?"

"It was an accident, Doc!" Marty protested, misinterpreting Doc's question. "He was shooting at me! I just wanted to get away."

"Well, your getaway changed history. In fact, you'll probably be noticing a lot of small changes to Hill Valley due to your mere presence in the past. It'll be like your own private joke with the space-time continuum," he chuckled.

Marty smiled a little, then grew pale with dread. Doc noticed this out of the corner of his eye and stopped the van. "Marty? Are you all right?" he asked, concerned.

Marty looked at Doc nervously. "We're still friends, right Doc? And I'm still named Marty, right? And I have a girl named Jennifer? Damn it Doc, how much did I change?"

"Calm down. Yes, of course we're still friends. If we weren't, why would you have come to the mall tonight? Your name is Martin Seamus McFly, is that any different?" Marty shook his head. "And yes, you have a girlfriend named Jennifer."

Marty breathed a long sigh of relief. "Whew. I thought for a minute I might have a - a - a boyfriend."

Doc patted his back, starting the van up again. "I knew you would probably worry about that. I assure you, you're completely straight."

Marty relaxed a little in the seat. "How badly do you think I screwed up the time-line, Doc?"

"I don't think you did any major damage. Things have changed from your perspective, of course, but I'm sure it's mostly how you recall it. Would you like an example?"

"Yeah, how we first met."

"All right. We met when Fred Jacobson flung you into my garbage cans. Of course, I recognized you from 1955 and brought you inside immediately." He smiled. "I couldn't believe we met in such an undignified manner."

Marty had to smile there. "Yeah, I know. So far my memories are matching up. Were my parents leery of you at the beginning? Mom certainly wasn't too happy about us meeting."

"Less than you recall, I'll bet. After all, this pair knew me as 'Calvin Klein's uncle'. But they were worried about my reputation. They eventually warmed to me, though."

"And everything just sorta went from there?"

"Yes. I knew that we would form a relationship, but I didn't try to push it. I understood I had to act like this was the true first time for both of us." He grinned. "That birthday party you and Jennifer threw for me took me completely by surprise, though. . . ."

Marty shook his head. "This is weird, having different memories from everyone else. Is it going to be like this for the rest of my life?"

"I doubt it," Doc reassured him as they continued on. "Let me get the DeLorean back to the lab, and I'll explain it more clearly."

"So long as it's in English," Marty said wearily.

"Can't promise anything, but I'll try." Doc winked, making Marty laugh.

They retrieved the stalled DeLorean and headed back to Doc's home/garage/lab. Doc unloaded the time vehicle and examined it, then sat Marty down in a seat and wheeled over a blackboard. "A visual aid will probably help you to comprehend it better." He drew a line on the board and labeled it 'A'. "This is your original time line. The one you retain memories of. The past is over here, the future is at the opposite end, and 1985 is somewhere in here." He labeled the points with the appropriate letters and numbers. "Now, using the time machine, you went into the past and changed things, first by accident, then by necessity." He drew an arc from '1985' to the 'Past'. "With me so far?"

"Yeah," Marty nodded, yawning behind his hand.

Doc nodded back and drew a diagonal line from where the arc met the original line. He stopped midway and drew a horizontal coming from it. He labeled the horizontal 'B' and put '1985' and 'Future' on it at the appropriate spots. "Your actions caused the time-line to skew into this tangent. The past was unaffected, but the present and the future were. This is essentially a whole new time-line."

Marty got confused. "But what about time-line A? What happened to it?"

In response, Doc picked up the eraser and wiped time-line A away from the tangent. "It doesn't exist anymore. It has become time-line B. Theoretically-"

"Stop right there, Doc. No theoreticals."

Doc smiled. "Too late to think about all that?"

"I'm still trying to process what you just told me. So, what's going to happen to me?"

"Given a little time, you'll remember this changed time-line. Your old memories will be erased, just as the former time-line was erased."

Marty frowned. "But I don't want my memories changed."

"There's nothing you can do about it, Marty. And it'll be better for you. You won't be frightened or upset by the differences in what you remember and what now is. And soon, those old memories will be just like some nearly-forgotten dream." He ruffled Marty's hair gently. "Just relax, Marty. Go along with the flow of the time stream. It will turn out for the best if you do."

Marty just shrugged, then looked at Doc. "As long as I've got you, Jennifer, and my family, I'll be fine."

Doc was touched. "Thank you, Marty." He watched the teen yawn loudly. "I think I'd better get you home to bed. And I have to complete my intended experiment."

"You mean going to the future?"

"Precisely. I'll kill two birds with one stone and just take you home in the DeLorean."

"What about the plutonium, Doc? And cash? Won't you need a ton of money for the future?"

"I've got money, Marty. The Libyans paid me $5,000 to get the bombs they wanted. And a trust fund I put aside just for the purpose has yielded more that $2,000. I'm sure I'm prepared for all expenses, no matter what inflation is like in the future." He looked out toward the van. "As for the plutonium, I hope to take advantage of alternative power sources in the future. I'll return the unused portion to the government. No sense in keeping it around if it's not useful."

"You, saying that," Marty snorted, then frowned. Doc grinned at him. "Relax, Marty. I'm still a packrat. I think I might even still have the old mind-reading device from 1955 hanging around here somewhere."

Marty grinned. "Cool. I'm glad you're getting rid of that plutonium though. I'm gonna have nightmares about tonight, I bet."

Doc sighed. "I think I will too. I'm very sorry I had to put you through that, Marty. Trust me, seeing those terrorists point that gun at you was almost enough to make me give up my ruse."

"This is gonna sound weird, but I'm glad you didn't." Marty collapsed into the passenger's seat of the DeLorean. Einstein, not wanting to be left out, barked and leapt into the small space between the 2 seats. The friends each gave him a ruffle as Doc climbed in and drove out.

They arrived at Marty's house at around 2: 00 A. M. Marty got out, then turned back to his friend. "So how far ahead are you going?"

Doc shrugged. "About 30 years. It's a nice round number."

Marty reached in and shook his hand. "Look me up when you get there. I guess I'll be around -- 47."

"I will," Doc promised with a smile.

Marty was reluctant to let go. He didn't want Doc disappearing so soon after all of his adventures. After all, he was still coming to grips with his being shot at by terrorists with an AK-47. Still, Doc seemed to know what he was doing. And Marty knew how obsessive Doc could get about his experiments. "Take care," he said with a final shake.

Doc's smile seemed to waver a little. Marty got the feeling he was having second thoughts about leaving too. He appeared to hesitate, then replied, "You too," his voice lower and softer than usual.

Marty could tell there was a deeper meaning behind that simple phrase. It somehow encompassed how grateful his friend was and how much he wanted Marty to stay safe. "Right," he said, feeling a little embarrassed by the strong emotion he felt coming from his friend. "Buh-bye, Einy," he said, ruffling the dog's fur. He started to turn away, then abruptly remembered something. "Oh, and Doc?" Doc looked at him. "Watch that re-entry, it gets a little bumpy."

Doc nodded, and Marty could still sense those feelings holding strong. "You bet." Marty closed the door, and they shook hands one last time through the window, the teen frowning slightly as he wondered how long Doc would be in the future. Then Doc backed out of the driveway and drove down the street. A moment later he turned around and accelerated in the other direction. Marty waved at him with his skateboard as he passed, then watched as his friend disappeared into the future. Silently wishing him a good trip, Marty headed to his room and to some much-needed sleep.