April 10, 1986

It's been months since the break up with Jennifer and Marty still felt the sting every time he saw her with Freddy in the halls or at school dances. Of course he never let it show that it bothered him. In fact, he used the fact that he was a guitarist in a band to score himself all kinds of hot dates, each girl even more beautiful than the last. He even flaunted the girls in front of his ex, wanting her to see that he didn't need her. That he could have anyone and wasn't sitting moping over her. Yet, in reality, he was. Without Doc to distract him, he would brood over how someone that had claimed to love him and only him could just dump him like that. He had been a good boyfriend to Jennifer! He had never been cruel to her, never down talked her, always included her in on his plans. He didn't even have to take her into the future with him! But he had, wanting to show off Doc's awesome invention. He wouldn't have shared that experience with just anyone. Certainly not any of the girls he dated on the weekly.

The teacher cleared her throat, calling for the class's attention. Mrs. Oliver was really a cool teacher and knew her history. But she was strict when it came to students paying attention in her class and didn't stand for any distractions. So Marty cleared his head of his girl problems and gave all of his attention to the teacher at the blackboard, where she had written in large letters: TITANIC.

"Can anyone tell me what day today is?" The teacher asked, her eyes scanning the room. She nodded towards a Hispanic girl who had her hand up. "April 10, 1985."

"Good! Can anyone tell me what event happened today?"

A black boy wearing a letterman jacket with the school colors raised his hand.

"Carlton?"

"The Beatles broke up, man. Damn Yoko," The boy shook his head with a sigh.

The teacher joined in the laughter that filled the classroom. "Yes, the Beatles broke up, but that's not what I'm looking for. Anyone else?"

"The crown prince of Japan is the first to marry a commoner!" A Japanese girl raised her hand.

"True. But that is not what I am looking for either. What I am looking for is that today is the anniversary that Titanic sat sail on her maiden voyage from Southampton England to New York City."

Marty sighed. He was in no mood to hear about some old ship setting sail, but if he didn't pay attention, he'd most likely get caught and get in trouble.

"Titanic, to most was called the ship of dreams. It was also claimed to be unsinkable. Famous words, 'Not even God can sink this ship'. As you can guess, famous last words, because on April 14, 1912, after just five days at sea, Titanic ran into an Iceberg and on April 15, 1912, it sunk into the sea. It is known as the worst disaster in maritime history. It did not have enough lifeboats for everyone, about half really. Half of the people on that ship died. It was also the first to use the distress signal, SOS."

Marty couldn't help it. His attention drifted away from the Titanic and his coming plans for the weekend. Find a hot date for the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, the school's annual formal. The school had the formal every year, ever since the school first opened. He still remembered the formal where his parents had fallen in love. He had hoped to have a similar experience with Jennifer. But that wasn't going to happen and now his date to this year's dance, the last one he'll ever attend will have to be with some random girl that he cared little about. It kind of pissed him off.

Mrs. Oliver's voice tuned him back in as she gave the assignment. "Your assignment is to do a report on life on board the Titanic before the sinking. I want to know how the passengers lived, what they ate, what they did for fun, then I want to know the details of the sinking. It will all be due May 10th, which gives you a full month to do your research."

Marty sighed and rolled his eyes, having no interest in the subject at all, but it was history, his favorite subject. It was too bad that Doc wasn't around. He'd go back and explore that ship first hand and quickly get all he would need for his report, leaving him time for finding a date and to practice with his band.

"Mr. McFly," Mrs. Oliver intercepted him before he could walk out of the classroom.

"Ma'am?" Marty cleared his throat, not trying to appear impatient.

"Are you okay? I've noticed that you've been a bit distracted lately, which is unusual. You are normally my best student."

"I'm fine. It just hasn't been a easy year for me, but I'm fine. I'll do better, I promise."

"I do hope so. I am looking forward to your report on Titanic. It's a rather...what do you young people say...heavy...subject, but I'm sure that you'll do it justice."

Marty just forced a smiled. "I'll try my best."

The teacher just nodded and stepped to the side, allowing him to leave. Marty took a deep breath and stepped into the hall, happy to be on his way to his last class. He had no idea what his plans were for the rest of the day, but he was sure that it wouldn't be anything exciting.

…..

Marty was on his way home when he drove past Doc's old place. Doctor Emmett Brown had been gone for a good year now, off with the family he had created with Clara, the teacher he had fallen in love with in the old west. The last time Marty had seen him was when the scientist had arrived in a time traveling train to introduce him to his family. That was when he had told him and Jennifer that their futures were yet to be written. Thinking back on that, Marty wished that Doc had kept quiet about that. But he couldn't be angry. It wasn't Doc's fault that Jennifer didn't want him anymore. He just wished that the old man was here to talk to now. Back in the old days, the scientist would always find a way to take Marty's mind off of his problems.

Marty sighed and took his eyes away from the seemingly empty house that had once belonged to Doc Brown and was about to start on his way home when a dog darted out in front of the car. Marty stared at the animal in disbelief.

"Einstein? Einstein, what are you doing here?"

The last time he had seen the dog was when Doc had come for his last visit. Carefully, he pulled out of traffic and parked his truck in the driveway of a restaurant that was right across the street from Doc's old place. He ran up to Einstein and grabbed the dog's collar. "Is Doc here Einstein? Can you take me to him?"

The dog licked Marty a few times then led the way over to Doc's old house, where there were sounds of children playing, a woman singing, and a familiar "Great Scott" shouted from within.

"He's back!" Marty found himself grinning from ear to ear for the first time in months. Doctor Emmett Brown was back and not a moment too soon! He knocked on the door, resisting the urge to just barge in, even though Doc probably wouldn't mind.

It was Clara that opened the door. Her smile was warm and welcoming when she saw that it was Marty. "Marty! What a surprise to see you here so soon, we just arrived! Come in, come in! Emmett is downstairs in the basement. He'll be pleased to see you."

Marty followed Clara to the basement door where she opened and called down, "Emmett! Marty's here to see you!"

"Marty?! Great Scott! Send him down! I can't wait to show him my modifications!" Doc called back up, his voice high with the manic excitement that Marty was used to.

"Go on down, Marty," Clara stood to the side.

Marty walked downstairs to find Doc knelt over his workstation, scribbling something down in a notebook. His white hair was in it's normal wild style and his white lab coat hung off his thin frame. Doc hadn't changed a bit.

"Doc!" Marty greeted racing up to his old friend.

"Marty!" Doc stood up and embraced the young man that had been his best friend for some time now. "Marty, it's good to see you!"

"It's good to see you too, Doc!"

"What's happened since the last we saw each other? You were with that one girl...that uh...uh..."

"Jennifer."

"Yes, Jennifer. How is she?"

"Dating Freddy Kroger. She uh...dumped me at the beginning of the year," Marty winced, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that Marty. I hope it wasn't because of..."

"It was. But that's okay. I mean, I've been so busy with other girls, I haven't had time to miss her. I tell ya, girls learn that you play the guitar and they line up at the door."

"Well that's good to hear. So things are going good for you then?"

Marty shrugged. They weren't really. He was still pining for Jennifer. Still smarting from the break up. Still disappointed that come The Enchantment Under the Sea dance, he won't have that special someone. But he didn't want Doc to know just how unhappy he's been lately. The scientist might blame himself and Marty didn't want his friend to do that.

"Every thing is good. Mom and dad are as in love as ever and David and Linda are doing great and I'll be graduating in a few months. Things could have been worse."

"Well I'm glad to hear it," Doc grinned slapping his shoulder. "I'm glad you're here Marty! I was going to call you! I have done some modifications to the time machine that you must see!" Doc picked up his notebook and waved it in the air. "Now, instead of having to stick in one town during the time stream, you can go anywhere! Do you want to see where and when Jesus was born? We can go there! Want to see the I Have A Dream Speech? We can go there! Want to see..."

"The Titanic!" Marty's eyes lit up, remembering his history assignment.

"Yes! We can go there to! Everything runs on steam, so you don't have to worry about plutonium anymore and look at this...," Doc placed the notebook down and pointed at the diagram of the train that he had converted into a time machine. "I've modified it to hover! Like a helicopter! I figured that it could get me in and out of some tight spots!"

Marty stared at the Scientist, impressed. "Wow Doc. That's heavy!"

"It is, isn't it?"

"So it's still a train?" Marty asked, curious on what form the time machine had adopted this time around.

"Yes! Makes everything easier when traveling to the past," Doc grinned. "Oh Marty! The stories I have to share with you!"

"Uh...that's nice Doc, really. I can't wait to hear them," Marty grinned, his earlier idea coming back to him. He had a big homework assignment that he just didn't feel like working on. Now here Doc was, with his time machine. Why not take advantage? "Look Doc...I was thinking. I have this homework assignment...a research paper to do on the Titanic and earlier I was thinking how rad it'd be if you could like, take me to Southampton 1912 and I could get a glimpse of the ship itself. It'd be a great inspiration for my paper, you know?"

"The Titanic?" Doc Brown frowned. "That's a famous boat, right?"

"Right! The ship of dreams! How about it, Doc! Help inspire an unmotivated student. Take me to see Titanic..."

"Well...she could go for a another run and I have yet to visit that time period...alright. Alright we'll

go. But my truck blew a gasket..."

"We'll take mine," Marty grinned happily, rubbing his hands together. Finally! Something was going his way!

"Okay! Let's go!" Doc grinned happily, something at the back of his mind nagging at him, something about this Titanic. But he brushed the small worry from his mind. It's been a long time since his last adventure with Marty and he was looking forward to taking another.

Doc and Marty emerged from the basement, talking and laughing and again catching up with each others lives. Doc found his wife and kissed her cheek, promising to be back before supper, and then they were off.

The train was parked on an old section of track that wasn't used anymore. It looked awesome! It was shiny black and looked like one of those antique trains found at the train museum located in Downtown Hill Valley.

Marty followed Doc inside of the time machine and sat down next to him in the caboose as the Doc entered everything in.

"Alright, April 10, 1912. Southampton England. Are you ready Marty?!" Doc turned to his young friend, a grin on his face.

"Ready Doc!"

"Alright! Let's go back! Back to Titanic!"

Marty held on to his seat as the Doc started everything up. The train started rolling on it's tracks, faster and faster until finally it wasn't on the ground anymore. It was in the air and it was racing towards the Welcome to Hill Valley Billboard. Marty squeezed his eyes shut, positive that they were going to crash.

But they didn't.

To an onlooker, the flying train would have disappeared, leaving two smoking trails in the afternoon atmosphere and the smell of o-zone in it's wake. The machine was gone. Gone back to see another machine that held man's attention at the time. A machine that had held all that era's dreams. Marty McFly and Doctor Emmett Brown had gone back to see the Titanic.