5:15 PM PST
Newlyweds Universe
"Can I hold Jules for a little while?" asked the visiting Doc. "It's so strange to think of Jules as a baby. Of course, when he was a baby, we were still in the Old West."
"Yeah, here you go, Doc," the visiting Marty replied, as he handed Jules over to his older friend. Turning to the local Doc, Marty then asked, "When Jules gets older, do you have plans to explain to him about the time machine? Also, how many children do you plan to have? I must say that Jules is so adorable!"
"Thank you," the local Doc replied. "We plan to have as many children as we can. As for letting my children know about the time machine, we'll probably wait until they're old enough to be able to keep a secret. After all, we really can't have them telling all their friends about the time machine. That would be way too risky."
"Right, Doc," the visiting Marty replied. "That could indeed be very risky."
Just then, the doorbell rang. Clara went to answer the door, while the visiting Marty was a little nervous about who could be there. He didn't belong here, after all.
"Oh, hello, Jennifer!" gushed Clara. "Why don't you head in. I met let you know that we do have some unexpected visitors. We have another Marty and another Emmett here. They said that they came here from an alternate reality."
"How could that happen?" Jennifer asked, as she walked into the kitchen. As soon as she saw two Martys and two Docs, her eyes went wide.
"Hello, Jennifer," the local Marty gushed, as he went to hug his girlfriend. "I'm the Marty that you know. Apparently, my counterpart had some different experiences from me. If I'm not mistaken, I'm quite sure he's still dating your counterpart."
"But how could this have happened?" Jennifer asked, confused. "Is this something that we have to worry about? Could this possibly result in some sort of paradox?"
"Don't worry, Jennifer," the local Doc commented. "According to my counterpart, this has nothing to do with anything we've done. There are, apparently, plenty of parallel universes where our lives are a little different."
"This is heavy," gasped Jennifer. "So, uh, Doc 2, how were you able to find a way to travel between different dimensions. To me, this sounds very fascinating."
"I picked up a computer device from the future," the visiting Doc explained, "and, for some unexplainable reason, this device allows one to travel between dimensions - as well as through time. The original plan was to find a way that would allow us to travel to other locations, besides just within Hill Valley."
"So, how many different dimensions have you travelled to so far?" Jennifer asked.
The visiting Marty turned towards Doc, wondering if he should explain about his trip into the Family Ties Universe. Their counterparts may have difficulty believing this.
"I guess we can tell you," the visiting Doc said, sighing. "The first time Marty tried to travel to another location, he ended up in the universe of the Family Ties sitcom."
The local Marty and Jennifer stared at each other, stunned. After a few seconds, the two of them burst out laughing hysterically.
"Oh, come on now," the local Marty protested, through laughter. "You're bullshitting me! There's no way you could have ended up in Family Ties! It's a fictional show!"
"You know, I couldn't believe it at first, either," the visiting Marty said, quietly. "You see, I was trying to check out Roanoke Island - and then, as I reached civilization, people were calling me Alex Keaton. Before I knew it, I actually reached the house where the Keatons lived. After I saw that Steven and Elyse Keaton were outside, I went into a state of shock. It was unbelievable."
"But how can that be possible?" the local Marty asked, stunned. "I mean, that show is supposed to be fictional! Besides, what does that show even have to do with Roanoke Island? Ohio isn't anywhere near Roanoke Island."
"I accidentally pressed a button," the visiting Marty said, blushing. "It was a button that takes one to random universes. I don't know why I ended up in Family Ties. I was so stunned. Fortunately, Alex was able to help me return home."
"Well, he was always smart," the local Marty commented. "Perhaps, he's almost as smart as Doc. So, how did you and Alex get along? How long did you stay?"
"I stayed there for a week," the visiting Marty replied. "There almost seems to be a rule somewhere that, whenever I am stuck through space or time, I always end up being stuck there for a week. Anyway, Alex and I got along great. We did disagree on quite a few things, but we also had other stuff in common."
"That's always what I thought," the local Marty added. "He is someone you can't help but love. He is a very good-hearted person, even if he is sometimes a bit naive."
"I wonder if the Taxi Universes exists somewhere, too," commented the visiting Doc. "Quite a few have commented that I look a little like Christopher Lloyd."
"I was a little like Reverend Jim Ignatowski back in the '60s," commented the local Doc. "My hairstyle is considerably different, however. I never had brown hair."
"Well, anyway," the local Marty replied, "I still have a really hard time believing that this happened. I mean, since when are sitcoms ever all that realistic? Take a look at Andy, for instance. How could he have suddenly aged so fast?"
"Well, you can't really take the sitcom at face value," the visiting Doc explained. "I myself have noticed continuity problems with the sitcom. You really have to ignore that stuff, and just assume that everything happened logically in that universe."
"As far Andy's age goes," added the local Doc, "perhaps there are several universes of Family Ties, where Andy is of different ages. Anyway, I have often postulated this idea that there may be parallel universes for fictional stories."
"I was really surprised to discover that Marty saw it in action," the visiting Doc said.
"I must say that this is a lot to take in," said Jennifer, as she put her arm around the local Marty. "I don't know if I'll be able to watch Family Ties the same way again."
"I haven't since," commented the visiting Marty. "It's hard for me to think of Alex P Keaton as being just a fictional character. Sometimes, I even find that I really miss him. He's been such a good friend to me all week."
"Hey, before Marty and I head out tonight," suggested Jennifer, "why don't we take a few pictures of you guys?" Turning to the visiting Marty she asked, "So you're dating my counterpart, is that correct?"
"Yeah, that's right," the visiting Marty replied. "We maybe should have invited your counterpart along, but the DeLorean really only seats two people - and Doc did not add the destination locator to our station wagon, yet."
"Well, maybe our Doc can install the destination locator sometime," the local Marty suggested, "and then we can come and visit you guys. Wouldn't that be nice?"
"I maybe will, one of these days," the local Doc said, smiling. "Well, I guess we can take a few photos now, and then you guys can be on your way."
The two Martys looked at each other and smiled. They then stood by the window, put their arms around each other, and smiled their identical lopsided smiles - as Jennifer grabbed her camera and took a picture of them.
oooooooooo
"So, Doc," Marty asked, "are we going to head home, now? I must say that it is very interesting to see how my life could've been different."
"Yeah, I'm getting rather tired, now," Doc replied. "I'm also very stuffed. We really ate quite a lot, between the two realities we visited. Anyway, we could always visit more realities another time. I also want to talk to Clara about Jessica."
"I want to spend some time with Jennifer tonight, too," Marty commented. "I must say, though, I wish I tried a little bit harder to convince you to bring Clara back to 1985 with us. Well, I guess it's better to just accept things the way they are."
"That's right, Marty" Doc replied. "Well, let's head back to 12:30 PM. That way, it will be like we have never been gone. I could also really go for a nap right now."
"I should maybe take a little nap this afternoon, too," Marty said, smiling. "I mean, I really don't want to be too tired for my date with Jennifer tonight."
"Let's stop by my place first, though," Doc suggested. "That way, we can explain to Clara about Jessica - and explain that Jessica is a decendant of her sister, Greta."
"I must admit that I really find that information to be fascinating, too," Marty replied.
With that, Doc began to accelerate the DeLorean - until it reached 88 miles per hour.
