TUESDAY, AUGUST 12TH 1958

1:21PM


Doc had always loved the parks of Hill Valley, he was sure there wasn't a better town to bring up kids or own dogs in.

But right now, it was biting him in the posterior.

A good hour had to have passed in his hunt for George and Lorraine McFly's Wedding Reception, but no luck so far.

He was now pulled over in a quiet street, trying to figure out where else to look and regretting the fact that in modifying the DeLorean one of the first things to go was the air conditioning unit. He'd been planning to install a smaller unit (courtesy of a trip to the future), but he hadn't got around to it yet, it hadn't seemed that important since the occupants of the time machine rarely spent too long in it.

But with the temperature outside pushing a hundred degrees…

Shaking his head, he returned his attention to the task at hand, finding where the McFly Wedding Reception was located. There were of course a fair share of restaurants in Hill Valley, but he certainly didn't have the inclination to search every single one! That would take hours!

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, trying to think, trying to remember that invitation…

But it just wasn't coming to him, it was just too long ago.

There was just one option.

He might not be able to remember what was on the invitation, but he remembered where he put it.

And he or rather his younger counterpart was not in town and was in no danger of returning.

There was just one problem, he didn't have a key to his mansion, seeing as it had burned down more than twenty years ago. And his younger counterpart hadn't left a spare key outside in those days – these days, rather.

I'm going to have to break into my own house, Doc realised with a sigh.

The things he did for Marty McFly.


"Marty!"

So close!

Marty and Jennifer were almost out the door when George called out to them.

Turning back to his father, Marty managed a grin. "Hey, nice speech."

"I hope Lorrie didn't embarrass the Hell out of you," his father gave him a sheepish grin. "I know I'd hate it if someone made a big speech about me out of nowhere."

Marty shrugged. "Oh, well…" that hadn't really bothered him at all, in fact if it had been any time else he'd probably feel pretty honoured. But not thirty years in the past! Not when he wouldn't be born for almost ten years!

"But we really mean it, you know," his father put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't know if I can ever thank you for helping me out, you heard how Steve described me, if you hadn't shown up I'd still be going on like that!"

George didn't need to tell Marty twice! He'd lived what had happened originally…

"Well, a little self-confidence goes a long way, you know," he answered.

"When I was a kid my Aunt Beth used to tell me that, but I never believed her, I mean it sounded a little too easy…" George replied, then shook his head. "I should have listened to her I guess."

"You should always listen to your Auntie!"

Marty looked over his father's shoulder to see his Great Aunt Beth with a grin on her face.

"Aunt Beth," his father shook his head, "you have the worst habit of listening to other people's conversations."

"Hey," Great-Aunt Beth replied defensively, "you were talking about me."

Dad gave Marty a sheepish smile and then turned back to Great-Aunt Beth. "Fair enough," he admitted.

"I'm really glad to meet you two after what the speeches revealed, this one here," she gestured to George, "never gave too many details. To think some animal was trying to attack Lorraine in the middle of a school dance!" Great-Aunt Beth shook her head, a look of disgust on her face.

Marty shared her feelings, knowing what Biff would do if he had the money to, the guy gave him the creeps whenever he saw him, at least until he remembered the Biff of this timeline was pretty much harmless.

"It's not something Lorrie really wants to talk about," Dad said, his voice serious.

"Well, of course I'm not going to go up and discuss it with her," Great-Aunt Beth assured him, patting his shoulder. "It's just quite a drama," she turned to Marty. "Where do you fall in exactly, you took Lorraine to the dance? How did you end up separated from her?"

Marty swallowed, that wasn't something he particularly wanted to explain and he could tell by the look on his father's face he didn't want to go into it either!

"It was a pretty bizarre night…I think I drank a bit too much, you know," Marty gave his Great-Aunt his most disarming smile. "I don't quite remember, I'm pretty sure Biff's gang was involved."

"Gang? In High School?" Great-Aunt Beth raised her eyebrows and frowned. "Honestly, what on Earth is the world coming to?"

Marty shrugged, hoping that would be considered a good enough answer.

It seemed it was since Great-Aunt Beth turned to Dad. "Where's your lovely bride? I thought you two were inseparable!" She gave him a wink.

Dad blushed slightly. "She's getting waylaid by her friends," he pointed over to a large group of women. "I managed to escape from it."

Great – Aunt Beth gave a laugh. "A narrow escape, I'm sure!"

Marty sneaked another look towards the open double doors, wondering if there was any chance he and Jennifer could make a break for it.

Before he could decide one way or another though, a voice boomed. "Ladies and Gentlemen! The Wedding Cake is about to be brought out."

"That's your cue," Great-Aunt Beth declared, giving Dad a nudge.

"I'm going, I'm going," he told her and hurried over to meet up with Mom and head over to the Bridal Table where two kitchen hands were placing a traditional three tiered Wedding Cake.

"Looks delicious," Great-Aunt Beth turned to them with a smile, as the guests poured back into the hall and crowded around the Bridal Table all hoping for the best vantage point. Marty threw a look at Jennifer and she gave him a hopeless shrug.

We might as well accept it, Marty decided at that moment, there's no way out of here…

At least he supposed they'd get some cake. Squeezing Jennifer's hand he lead her towards the table, his mother spotting them and giving them a smile came on over and lay a hand on both their arms. "Come on you two, come over here," she pulled the two of them over to stand with Babs, Betty, Stephen and Alison.

Marty suppressed a sigh. I guess we can throw being inconspicuous out the window too.



Doc was trying to be as nonchalant as possible as he walked up the sidewalk towards his old home (it was interesting seeing the mansion again) as if he belonged there so as not to arouse suspicion.

He also hadn't figured on so many kids being out on the street, having forgotten it was school holidays, he wondered if he stuck out like a sore thumb, not so much because of the hat this time, after all it was still a social norm if not a downright rule that men over the age of twenty-five wear a hat outdoors at all times, but the rather loud and colourful shirt he had on (one of his favourites, red with yellow pictures of the atomic symbol) wasn't exactly typical wear.

Luckily, most of the children seemed caught up in their games and he hadn't seen a single adult about, he hadn't attracted so much as one look, so far, so good.

As the old mansion came into sight, Doc took a moment to reacquaint himself with it. The doors were solid oak, with heavy locks, there'd be no getting through them, he'd have to pick a window and hope he could jimmy the lock. He really didn't want to have to smash one, apart from the possibility of attracting attention, he had no idea of how the timeline would be affected.

In the next instant he found himself on the ground, on his side, winded and the entire left side of his body aching.

Doc put his hand to his head, realising that his hat had gone flying off when he had fallen over…whatever.

What had he fallen over.

"Mister! Hey, mister are you OK?!"

Doc blinked a few times, feeling as if he had stars in front of his eyes, fortunately they cleared quickly and he focussed on the small boy standing in front of him, looking horrified.

"Huh?"

"I'm really sorry! You fell over my ball," the kid apologised holding up a baseball. "I didn't see you."

Well, at least I know I was keeping a low profile, Doc thought ruefully.

"That's all right," he quickly reassured the kid, locating his hat on the grass a foot away and hurrying to get it back on his head. "Accidents happen."

"You look really familiar," the kid continued, giving Doc a start. Those were exactly the words he didn't want to hear.

But all he could think of to say way. "Uhhh…."

"Yeah!" The kid's eyes were wide and he pointed at Doc. "You look like crazy old Doctor Brown, he lives in that mansion there." He pointed over to the Brown Mansion. "He does all kinds of whacky experiments, no-one's seen 'im for weeks! Are you his dad or somethin'?"

"Uh, no, no, I'm not," Doc assured the kid jamming his hat so far down on his brow he could hardly see. He unsteadily got to his feet and was immediately hit with a wave of disorientation, and feared he was going to end up flat on his back again.

"You OK, mister?" The kid asked again.

"Fine, fine," Doc told the kid, as the dizziness passed, he had one thing to be thankful for, most kids in Riverside Drive had never been particularly polite to him – the influence of their parents no doubt – he wouldn't have been surprised if one had tripped him over on purpose.

This kid was at least treating him like a human being, maybe because he didn't really believe he was crazy old Doctor Brown, but he certainly didn't want the kid to approach his younger self and mention this meeting. Although he supposed his younger self would brush it off, but he really didn't want to risk it.

"Have a good day," he told the kid before hurrying off, past his mansion since he could hardly just amble up the driveway now.

He took a look at the watch on his right wrist – a quarter to two all ready! Considering that the wedding service had finished around eleven-thirty and Doc was pretty sure that the reception would have started not too long afterward, it would be ending soon, at least he'd imagine so, not that he would really know…better to be safe than sorry.

He ducked behind a privet hedge and peeked out to see what the kid was up to, he'd gone back over to the front yard of a house across the street where a group of kids stood.

"Way to knock an old codger off his feet," Doc heard one of the kid's chuckle.

He was rather insulted, he was hardly a codger!

"He's all right," the other kid replied defensively. "He walked off didn't he?"

The voices of the kids became distant, apparently they had decided to play in the backyard instead.

Doc pulled his hat up so he could see a bit better. Riverside Drive was now quiet and taking the opportunity Doc made a swift break for the driveway of his mansion.

In a few moments he was behind the back of the mansion and well out of sight from anyone on the road.

He hoped that one of the windows might be open, but that was a bit too optimistic, the place was locked up tight. He cursed himself for being so paranoid…most people in the Hill Valley of 1958 didn't bother to lock their windows even if they were going out of town. Not Doctor E.L Brown, though I couldn't really risk anyone getting in here.

So he forgave himself for that, thinking back over the years he had had his fair share of teens playing pranks and he figured they probably would have tried to break in had he left anything open.

Still, it made things a whole lot harder.

Sticking his hands in his pockets Doc began looking for something to jimmy a lock.


George smiled as Lorraine came to stand beside him having herded Marty and Claudia over to stand with the rest of the Bridal party. The guy seemed rather jumpy, but George couldn't blame him, although Marty had never struck George as the sort who'd be nervous in these types of situation. But then it had been a few years.

"How're we going to cut this thing?" He asked his bride, realising there wasn't a knife next to the cake.

"Dad brought his Navy sword," Lorraine told him, putting an arm around his waist.

"You think that was a good idea?" George made a show of tugging on his shirt collar.

"Oh you," Lorraine scolded mockingly, giving him a swat on the arm.

"I guess I'm safe enough here with all the witnesses." He added, earning a slightly harder swat and a giggle from his wife.

At that moment the crowd parted and Sam Baines, looking grim came forward holding the sword in question. George couldn't help gulping a little nervously, Mr. Baines certainly looked like he could cause a serious injury with that thing!

"Everyone, my father has given us permission to use his ceremonial naval sword," Lorraine explained. "Which is a great honour! Thanks, Dad."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," Mr. Baines managed a small smile as he held the sword, hilt end first out towards Lorraine, who took it, pulling it from its scabbard.

There was gasp of appreciation at the way it shined in the light.

"Now she's beautiful and deadly!" Mike called.

"Watch it," Lorraine cautioned with a good natured smile.

George put his hands over hers and they held it over the cake in preparation to cut it.

"We want to thank all of you for being part of our special day," Lorraine announced again, to cheers.

Sensing that he should probably say something as well, George added. "Yeah, uh, thanks."

There was laughter from those assembled.

"OK, ready to go?" Lorraine prompted, then added teasingly. "You're not going accidentally cut your hand off, are you?"

"I'm not that clumsy," George returned, but winked to show there were no hard feelings.

"Glad to hear it, let's go," she planted a kiss on his cheek and together they cut into the cake to applause and the flash of the camera belonging to the professional photographer who had just shown up.

As they pulled the knife out of the cake after making the cut Mike called out. "Hey, blade's dirty! You have to kiss the closest girl on your right."

That of course was Lorraine.

"Hey, don't give 'em an excuse," Alison chided.

George stuck his tongue out at her and pulled Lorraine to him for a long kiss.

"Mmm," Lorraine whispered against his lips as they parted. "You're the best kisser in the whole world."

"I know," he grinned slyly at her. "You're not bad either."

"Is that any way to romance your bride?" She wagged a finger at him.

"I'm still learning," he told her.

At that point the two kitchen hands took the cake away so the bottom tier could be cut up for the guests.

"Well, let me give you a tip," Lorraine grabbed his hand. "Leading the bride in a waltz is very romantic."

George gave a melodramatic groan. "If I must…protect your feet!"

Lorraine laughed and squeezed his hand.


Although Doc would never say so publicly, he'd learnt a lot of skills over the course of his life and not all of them legal.

The window lock was a little harder than he anticipated, but within a few minutes he was rewarded with a click as the lock gave way.

Slowly, Doc pulled up the sash and opened the window wide, thankfully that his younger self had never considered putting in an alarm system.

He clambered up on the sill and carefully put one foot down, the last thing he needed was to break an ankle tripping over something.

The floor under the window was clear however and soon he was cautiously moving across the huge lounge area towards the stairs. He couldn't really remember where he'd put the invitation to George and Lorraine's wedding, but he was pretty sure it was in his study somewhere.

It was definitely strange been inside the mansion again, full as it was with old memories…photos of his parents and grandparents hanging on the walls as he ascended the staircase. The smell of old books filled the air and he knew the carpeting under his feet had been made by hand and purchased at quite a price.

As he got to the top of the stairs he continued down the hall to his study, which had been his childhood bedroom.

It was dark inside since it was his habit to draw the curtains before he left, since there were a lot of papers spread out that he didn't want to fade from sun exposure.

Doc pulled open a few of the curtains letting the strong summer sunlight spill in. The study was marginally cleaner than it usually would have been since his younger self had packed up all of the time-travel calculations to take to the East Coast.

He decided that his best bet was to search through the top drawer of his desk, where he usually tossed miscellaneous items.

It was practically bursting at the seams and he realised he would actually have to empty it out, he took a few moments though, to try and memorise how everything had been flung in there, although he really didn't rate his chances of putting everything back exactly the right way. He'd have to hope that his younger self didn't notice anything amiss.

Doc lifted out the entire contents of the drawer and stacked it down on the desk. The drawer hadn't been emptied out in a while, and it certainly showed, there was stuff in there from the early 50s!

But half way through…

"Eureka!"

The invitation, finely written on expensive parchment grade cream coloured card declared:

Together with their families

Lorraine Julie Baines and George Douglas McFly

Request the honour of the presence of

Emmet Brown

at their Wedding

The Service will take place at St. Patrick's Lady Chapel on

Tuesday August 12th at 11:00am

Afterwards, please join us for the Reception, which will take place at

The Banquet Hall

Hill Valley Country Club - 7332 River Road from 12:00pm.

Doc clapped a hand to his forehead. "Great Scott! So obvious!" He berated himself. The Country Club had only just been completed the year before and he now recalled that he'd being quite impressed that George and Lorraine had booked it.

He returned the invitation and attempted put the pile together as best he could before placing it back in the drawer.

Pulling the curtains closed he hurried out of the study down the stairs to the window, removing the pin and setting the lock before climbing back out of the window and closing it carefully.

"Mission accomplished," he congratulated himself, before pausing. "Well, part of it…"

He had a feeling that the second part of the mission was going to be every bit harder than the first…


Lorraine held George's arm tightly as they headed over to the area of the hall that had been set aside as a dance floor. She didn't say so, but she was rather nervous about dancing the Bridal Waltz as well, even if they had taken lessons.

Still, it wasn't as if those invited would give them a hard time about it and it was the thought that counted.

There was no band, since the sting quartet Wedding service had been expensive enough, luckily the Country Club had a fantastic sound set up. The first strains of the waltz beginning as she and George reached the centre of the dance floor.

"I can't remember how we even start off," George whispered his voice slightly panicky.

She giggled and manoeuvred their hands into the right positions "Like this, remember?"

George nodded, then appeared to be praying.

"Just remember to start on your left foot," she prompted with a sly grin. "Ready? One, two, three…"

George narrowly missed stepping on her dress as he took the first step, but fortunately she was quick enough to get out of the way. It didn't take too long for her to end up being the one leading, since Mother had insisted on dance lessons a few years ago. She had been a little rusty when she and George had taken the class, but she'd picked it up again pretty fast.

"See, nothing to it," she reassured him as they got into the rhythm… mostly.

George gave her an extremely sceptical glance and almost tripped himself up, Lorraine decided they better just concentrate on the steps.

Their guests surrounded them watching, a smile spread across Lorraine's face and she gave her friends a wink as she spotted them over George's shoulder.

As she was certain he would, George picked it up and even twirled her under his arm, Lorraine couldn't help hamming it up a bit and their guests applauded and laughed.

By the end George was feeling brave enough to dip her as the last strains of the song played, which was greeted by 'awwws' and more applause.

"I told you, you'd be fine," she hugged him tightly and gave him a quick kiss, before hurrying over to take her father's hand.

"Oh, I don't think so," Dad shook his head gruffly,

"Come on, Dad, its traditional!" Lorraine cajoled him and gave him her brightest smile.

Dad heaved a sigh, but allowed himself to be lead out, and proved to be quite he expert waltzer.

George meanwhile was being pulled around the dance floor by his step-mother, who was also quite the expert. Lorraine couldn't help giggling at the look on her husband's face.

And soon enough guests were pairing up and joining them on the dance floor, Babs and Stephen, Aunt Millicent and Uncle Gus, Uncle Stuart and Aunt Nicole, Roxanne and John, George's uncles and aunts and cousins.

Betty even managed to get Father Michael out onto the floor!

Lorraine and George came back together and she squeezed his hands. "This is so much fun!"

"Speak for yourself, Dee almost pulled my arms off!"

She laughed and kissed his cheek. "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad! Dip me again."

George raised his eyebrows. "You trust me to do that?"

"Of course, I do," she winked, "I feel as light as a feather when I'm with you."

"What man could resist that," George sighed, and dipped her back, then grinned. "How about you dip me?"

Lorraine burst into laughter. "Are you insane?"

"What? You think I'm too heavy or something?"

"Of course!"

"So it begins," George huffed.

She titled her head at him curiously. "What?"

"Well, we've been married for only three hours and you're already taking me down. I was warned of this."

"Oh please," she scoffed, "fine, I'll dip you."

George stopped her with a kiss. "I'm just kidding, you'd never manage to hold me up."

"Hmmm, well, I think I've just been taken down," she began, then gave a small squeak of surprise as George dipped her way back!

"Nope, now you're taken down." George growled, wriggling his eyebrows comically before planting a steamy kiss on her lips.


"Aww, you're parents are so sweet," Jennifer sighed, it had all ready been said, but it was true!

Marty stared at as if she were nuts. "You think making out on the dance floor is sweet?"

"They're hardly making out," Jennifer insisted. "They're just having fun, I think it's really romantic."

Marty shook his head and she could tell he was bemoaning women, a typical male response. Marty could of course be romantic, but she supposed it wasn't such a surprise he wouldn't think of his parents that way…even if he had seen them as teenagers once before.

She couldn't help wondering what her own parents had been like. Her mother had died twelve years before, Jennifer remembered her very well and knew that her parents' had been happy, but at that age she'd never considered any romance.

Now she wished she could go to their wedding. Not that she would ever say so to Marty! He'd complete flip out!