When Doc returned to the holomax cinema with Marty, it was to find his family along with the train were no longer there.
"Are you sure you left the train here, Doc?" Marty said with a hint of uncertainty.
"Am I sure?" Repeated Doc. "Of course I'm sure. They must have been displaced out of time or faded out of existence or…"
Doc was interrupted by the arrival of his family, each clutching a ice cream (apart from Clara, who was carrying two).
"Or 'just gone to fetch a 'ice cream'," Clara finished for him as she handed Doc his ice cream.
"I see…" He mumbled back.
As Doc enjoyed his ice cream, Marty took Clara to one side and stared urgently into her eyes.
"Clara, is everything alright with Doc?"
Clara stared in confusion.
"Yes, of course. Why wouldn't it be?"
"I was just wondering if he may have, you know, lost his…" Said Marty nervously.
"His virginity?" Clara laughed. "He lost that a long time ago,"
Marty politely laughed.
"No, not that. Look, there's no easy way of putting this Clara but do you think Doc may have lost his mind?"
Clara frowned.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, you see…Doc's been…." Marty began awkwardly.
He glanced over at his friend Doc. He was happily watching Jules and Verne on a bench as they played a game of tag in front of the cinema, laughing and giggling as Jules was once again 'it'. Could he really make his friend's wife think he's gone mad?
Could he really do that to his friend?
But what if he has gone mad? What if Doc needs help?
Marty was afraid to admit it but perhaps the best thing they could do was face the truth and just accept he may have a problem?
He had no option but to tell Clara.
To tell Clara the truth.
"He believes 2015 has changed," He finished. "He thinks the 2015 he took me to all those years ago was different; something about holographic sharks and hoverboards,"
Clara looked stunned.
"And did you?"
Marty stalled. Did he?
"That's the thing. I'm not quite sure myself,"
"Oh, Marty. Are you alright?" She replied sympathetically.
"I'm….I'm not quite sure," Marty said in horror.
Clara stood still for a moment, quietly assessing what to do next. Finally, she spoke.
"I'm taking you both to see a psychiatrist. Come on, the train's parked round the corner,"
"What? No!" Marty panicked. "I don't need to see a psychiatrist!"
Although deep in the far corners of his mind, Marty believed he did.
Both he and Doc.
