'He's got Jennifer, Doc,' Marty was saying, staring blindly at him. 'He's got Jennifer. He's got her, and you know what he's going to do? He's gonna shoot her. And then he's gonna kill you. He'll come and he'll shoot you and then you'll all be dead, because of me, because of me…'

Doc grabbed his shoulder and gave it a quick shake. 'Calm down, Marty!' he said, managing to keep his voice steady. 'You're not making any sense. Sit down, here…' He helped his friend over to the table. Marty's face was as white as a sheet.

Doc dropped into a chair across from him and reached across to give his arm a quick squeeze. 'OK, Marty,' he said firmly. 'Start talking. What's going on? Who has Jennifer? The person who…killed your family?' When Marty didn't reply he told him quietly, 'You aren't helping anyone, least of all Jennifer, if you just sit there and say nothing.'

'My uncle,' Marty said in a dead tone of voice. 'My uncle Joey has her. He killed my family.'

'Your uncle?'

Marty rubbed a sleeve across his eyes. 'I might've told you about him before,' he muttered. 'He was in prison, but he's out now. And I dunno…he…he blamed my mom and dad, or something…he was angry at them – and he killed them, and Dave, and Linda.' He sniffed loudly, and then looked up at Doc with wild eyes. 'I'm sorry, Doc. I'm so sorry. It's my fault – but I didn't mean it! I didn't mean any of this to happen – my uncle made me steal the DeLorean. He was going to shoot you, Doc. I couldn't let that happen, could I?' His voice descended into a whisper; he was twisting his fingers together and swallowing hard. 'Couldn't let that happen, Doc.'

'He made you steal the time machine,' Doc said slowly. Things were beginning to fall into place. 'How did he know about it?'

Marty shrugged 'He saw photographs of you, Clara…me…He figured it out. You aren't – you aren't mad, are you? I couldn't let him shoot you! And I'm sorry I didn't stop him, and I'm sorry I showed him how to use the time machine! I know you would've rather I died than get it – '

'Marty!' Doc stood up so fast his chair toppled backwards and crashed to the floor. 'That's – where – how on earth did you get that idea? When did I– Marty.' He shook his head in disbelief. 'That's a terrible thing to say. I would never rather you died. Never.'

'Well…I dunno, Doc. You're always talking about the good of humanity and all that, aren't ya? I mean, what's my life compared to some psycho on the loose? At least, I guess that's your reasoning.' He gave Doc a challenging look.

'Marty.' Doc's tone turned hard. 'I've never heard such utter nonsense and self-pity. When did I ever give you the impression that I – ' He broke off. 'You don't really believe that, do you?'

Marty blinked, sucked in his cheeks. 'I dunno. I dunno where I got the idea. When I was with Uncle Joey, a lot of things were sorta goin' through my mind…' He glanced shamefacedly at Doc. 'Sorry.'

Doc took in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. 'It's OK, Marty. I understand that you were under a lot of pressure. But listen.' He picked up his chair from off the ground and sat down again. 'If we're going to save Jennifer and bring back your family, then we need to work together and have a complete understanding of each other. I mean, we haven't really talked since the incident at Halloween, have we?'

'Why are you bringing this up now?' Marty's voice rose in distress. 'Look, I've got other things on my mind, Doc! My family's dead! Dead! And now he's got Jen. Whatever happened at Halloween – OK, I have been thinking on it a lot…I was – was I sorta expecting this to happen…?' He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair, looking lost and confused.

Doc's eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean, you were expecting it?'

'Nothing,' Marty muttered. 'But, Doc,' he looked at him with a sorrowful expression, 'it happened. Sometimes you just can't change things.'

'Are you saying you don't want us to save your family?' Doc said in disbelief.

'No! No, I just – it happened. And whatever happens next happens.'

There was definitely something extremely odd in what Marty was saying, but Doc chose to dismiss it as a result of the trauma Marty had been through. He could only hope that once everything was solved, his friend would be back to normal.

'We have to figure out a plan,' he said. 'So you'd better start by telling me everything.'

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Ten minutes later, Doc was pacing the kitchen. 'I don't see any way around this without causing a paradox,' he said frantically. 'Your uncle wants us to meet him fifteen minutes before he kills your family? That can go wrong in more ways than I want to think of.'

'We just gotta think, Doc,' Marty said. 'We go to my house first, and kick that bastard's ass. Then we go back fifteen minutes in time and rescue Jennifer. It's simple!'

'It can't be that simple. Even the first task of saving your family could create a paradox! That was the one event that started the chain reaction of all these events that followed.'

'And I don't think it's a problem,' Marty countered. 'Remember when at Halloween in Ireland, we stopped the natives from seeing our other selves and then creating that Halloween world? What happened to our other selves after that, if they never saw what we did?'

'Well, I suppose they went into an alternate world…'

'Yeah, exactly.'

Doc closed his eyes briefly and sighed. 'OK. Fine. Let us say that we ignore the possible deadly outcomes of such a situation and stop your uncle from killing your family. What do we do with your uncle then?'

'I dunno…kill him.'

'You don't mean that, Marty.'

'He killed my family.'

'I know.'

There was silence. Finally, Doc rubbed his forehead and spoke. 'Right, I think I have something worked out. Here's what we're going to do…'