Disclaimer: Don't own anything concerning the movies.

Author's Note: Last dance chapter, first clock tower chapter.

11: Chapter Eleven

Marty blinked, as the great pain he felt suddenly faded away. He stumbled back to his feet, checked his photograph, and was just in time to see not only himself, but also his brother and sister fully re-appear, as if they had never been gone.

"Yes!" he exclaimed, feeling great relief come over him. Finally, after a week of hard work, he – or actually, George – had succeeded in his mission to bring his parents back together. That problem was finally over.

As he looked up, he could identify George and Lorraine dancing. To his relief, he saw they were very much in love, as they remained holding hands as the man on stage finished the song.

"That'll be it for tonight" the man called out. "Sorry, but we don't have any other things to play. Someone stole our text." As the man said that, Marty could hear a faint laugh coming from someone close to him. He identified a member of Biff's gang, realized what had happened, and wondered whether this had occurred before he went back in time as well, or he had accidentally made this event to be.

With relief still all over him for getting back his existence, Marty figured that he should not worry, and made his way to the exit. Having done what he came here for, he saw no reason to hang around any longer. He didn't like dances anyway, and if he wasn't in time at the square, he'd ruin his chance to get back to the future the easy way.

But luck was not with him that time. As he was about to enter the outside world, he heard Lorraine calling his name. He looked around and saw his parents standing in the doorway leading to the actual dance floor.

"Leaving already?" Lorraine asked. "Sure, the dance is over, but I'm surprised you didn't stay a little while more." She put up a hurt look. "And you didn't even come over to tell us goodbye."

"My apologies" Marty responded. "And while I might've liked to stay, I am currently on a very tight schedule. At 10:04 PM tonight, a lightning bolt shall strike the local clock tower and give me an easy way to get home, if I can be on time to catch the energy from the lightning."

George blinked at the new information. "Really?" he said, clearly astonished.

"Yes, it's true" Marty said, pacing a few feet up and down and looking at his watch. "Therefore, I would like to say goodbye as soon as possible." He paused. "See you in 1968, I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess we'll see you then" George said. "Marty – I think that you've made a great impact on my life with your words about putting my mind to it and all. I'd like to thank you for that."

"You're welcome, George" Marty said, warmly. "And you, Lorraine? Have you got anything to say that I should know?"

In response, Lorraine looked at him, smiled mischievously – and then she took a step forward, took Marty by his shoulders, pulled him close and kissed him.

For a few moments, both George and Marty were stunned. Then, the latter returned to his normal state and said, calmly: "I take it you had a good reason for that."

"I did" Lorraine said. "Two, actually. One, I couldn't find any other way to say goodbye in a meaningful manner, and two, I wanted to make sure I made the right choice when I decided to date George instead of you."

"And did you do that?" Marty replied, a smug grin beginning to appear on his face.

"Yes, I did" Lorraine said. "As I kissed you, I felt love for you, but not as for a boyfriend, but as for a son. My son. The only one that could fill in the 'boyfriend' position is George here... even if you are kind of cute. I guess that my crush on you will need time to disappear completely."

"I guess so" Marty said, looking at his watch again. "I'm glad that you're in love with my father now, anyway. Now, George, Lorraine, I'm afraid I have to leave." He exited through the door, taking one more look at his waving parents, who were holding hands. "See you in the times that have yet to come... oh!"

"What's it?" George wanted to know.

"In the future," Marty said, "if one of your children when he's nine years old ever accidentally spills a liquid on the ground that burns right through the floor... don't give him too heavy punishment, all right?"

"Experimenting again?" Lorraine said, chuckling.

"With my new chemic kit" Marty admitted, blushing. "You punished me heavy for it. I know I shouldn't say this as it is risky for the space-time continuum, but..." He paused, unable to find the right words.

"I understand" Lorraine said. "We'll go easy on you."

Marty's face brightened. "Thanks. Thanks a lot." He walked back and shook their hands again. "I'll see you all later... much later."

"Very much, yeah" George said, as Marty exited through the door. The teen smirked at it and, after a final wave, he shut the door and ran over the parking lot as quick as he could, heading straight for the truck. His parents watched from the doorway as the temporal vehicle raced away from the gym. Destination: Courthouse Square.

oooooooo

Emmett felt uncomfortable, as he was pacing up and down through the Square. Granted, it wasn't that late yet – just about 9:51 PM. Still, he didn't want to risk Marty saying in his past. Having to care for a teenager would be hard, especially when said boy was an aspiring scientist from the future. If there was anything that he didn't doubt, it was that it would be confusing.

As he was thinking that, a car raced up to him. Marty exited and ran up to him. "Emmett!" he exclaimed.

"You're late" his friend responded, as casual as he could manage.

"I know, I know" Marty said, sighing. "It wasn't my fault, though. Things got complicated." He reached into his pocket. "Here" he said. "My letter. Took me a lot of time to write, you know."

For now, Emmett could care less. "Marty, why are you still wearing your '50s clothes? Shouldn't you change?"

"What?" The look on Marty's face made it obvious that he hadn't even thought of that yet. "Oh! Yeah." He smiled, and shrugged. "Never came up to me. It is probably not a necessity anyway. In case you have forgotten, I shall enter the times that have yet to come from the world's current perspective at a point in the solar day in which the light of the sun won't be projected on earth. I don't think that the normal temporal sequence will suffer from a maximized effect caused by the purchase and temporal displacement of these clothes." He paused, giving Emmett the time to realise what his friend had just rattled off – more or less, at least. "I have my 1980s clothing in the vehicle, and even if their eventual continued presence in the mansion slipped into my underused part of my neural connections, you could just keep them until 1985. Like you would say, 'no big deal'."

"Oh" Emmett said, a little baffled by Marty's sentences, even though he had grown used to them during the past week. "Guess you're right." He looked at the truck. "If you don't mind me asking you, where, uh, when exactly are you going?"

"I don't mind" Marty said, walking over to the truck and entering it. "Let's see... according to the circuitry, I departed at some temporal point between 1:39:00 and 1:39:59 at morning. Or actually, at night, but I suppose you get the main concept. That should mean that, to make sure there is no unnecessary alteration to history, I should arrive at 1:40:00 at the earliest, maybe 1:45:00, to raise less suspicion and to account for errors concerning the exact displacement area and the circuitry. October 26th, 1985, 1:45 A.M."

"Well, you're the Doc, Marty" Emmett said, somewhat baffled.

"Not yet – if all goes well, which I soon will be able to check due to my new temporal field warping and displacement machine, not that I shall do so of course, as no man should know too much about the part of his life that has yet to come... anyway, in that case, I will be a doctor in 1987" Marty said, as he was typing in the destination. After that, he departed the car and looked up to his friend. "Well, I suppose that's it."

"Yeah, I presume it is" Emmett agreed, almost wistfully. "You know – I think I'm going to miss you a lot, Marty. You made such a major difference in my life..."

"When talking to a responsible time traveller, or at least to a person who aims to be such, that is not exactly a compliment" Marty interrupted.

Emmett smiled. "I suppose not" he said. "But, still... I just wanted to tell you how I felt. That's okay, isn't it?"

"It is" Marty said. "Thanks, I guess. It was very interesting to encounter you as a thirty-five-year-old as well. You had told me about your youth and early adulthood, but I had no idea what you were really like up until now."

"I see" Emmett replied. "Well... good luck, Marty." He smiled again, slightly. "I am going to miss you, you know."

"Thanks" Marty said. As he remembered his friend's death, he added: "I just hope I'm not going to miss you."

"You shouldn't miss me, should you?" Emmett said, a bit insecure about the matter. "Isn't that trip going to be instan... insten..."

"...instantaneous" Marty finished. "Yes, you're right." He sighed, realising that it all depended on Emmett now. "Well, I should go now."

"Yeah, I suppose you should" Emmett agreed. He paused for a second. "Before you go, though, I'd like to ask you a final question, given that it's still a few minutes before you're going to set off... would you mind telling me how your plan worked out at the dance? You said things got complicated. George did call me, so he should have been there..."

"Oh, he was" Marty said, sighing. "The planned event ended up failing, though, thanks to Biff Tannen having knowledge of my disguise. Apparently, he had been listening in when we were having a conversation about it."

Emmett's eyes went wide. "What happened?"

Marty smiled. "You are probably not going to believe this, but father rescued mother and I. He managed to somehow punch out Biff in one well-directed hit."

"...you're right, I don't believe you."

"Can't blame you" Marty said, smirking. "I thought it was odd myself."

Emmett nodded, and then, he had a good thought. "Say, Marty" he said, thoughtfully.. "If Biff revealed your disguise, how did you talk yourself out of that to your parents?"

Marty winced. "I couldn't" he said. "I tried, sure, but they just didn't want to believe that nothing was wrong and that the devices I showed them were not really futuristic. With my own existence, and possibly that of the space-time continuum as well as my erasure might cause a paradox – long story, I'll explain in 1985 – I finally decided to go ahead and tell them the truth."

Emmett gasped. "You did what?" he exclaimed, stunned.

Marty winced again. "I know it sounds irresponsible, Emmett" he said. "I can assure you I would have never done it if there had been another way out. But there simply wasn't one, and my parental figures demanded an explanation, and if I hadn't given them one, a good one, and thus the right one, they would've never gotten together." He sighed, depressed. "This has the potential to alter so much of the timeline..."

Emmett felt sorry for his friend. To come home to an entirely different world from the one that he had left didn't sound like a nice foresight. He would have to try to make the changes as small as possible, for Marty's sake, and he should start now. Determined, he took the letter out of his pocket and started ripping it into small pieces.

Marty had been mentally scolding himself for a few moments, but when he looked up, startled by the ripping noise, he forgot all about it and gasped. "Emmett!" he exclaimed, horrified. "What are you doing!"

"Just ripping up this paper" Emmett said. "With those changes already there, you didn't expect me to read this, did you? It'll alter the future even more! What kind of a friend would I be in that case! I can't do that to you!"

Marty stepped forwards. "Emmett," he said, "you're way over-reacting with this! Why don't you trust me? I've studied time travel, after all."

Emmett hesitated. "Perhaps you're right," he allowed, "but..."

And then, a large blast of wind interrupted his words. The papers were blown out of his hand and raced through the sky. Marty shrieked and ran after them, trying to catch them.

"Marty!" Emmett shouted, running after him. "Stop it! It's not worth it and you haven't got the time!"

"It is!" Marty shouted back. "Oh Great Scott... Emmett, why can't you understand this! Try to let me do something I want just once, okay?"

"But you can't really want this!" Emmett insisted, taking Marty's arm and holding it, thus preventing him from running off again. "You might get erased from exastince!"

"Existence – and no, I won't!" Marty exclaimed. "Emmett, please! Don't you see how important this is for me?"

"I guess I don't" Emmett muttered, softly. "Marty... why don't you just talk with my future self about it? He'll know whether it's something that is worth fixing or not. I can't bear that responsibility, especially a week after first coming across the idea of travel through time. It... it scares me, Marty."

"But that's no option" Marty insisted. "I can't..."

Suddenly, a strange look flashed across his face. As Emmett wondered what Marty was thinking about, the teen nodded. "Sounds okay" he said. "Come on, let's go. We've got more to do, after all."

Despite being severely confused about Marty's sudden change of mind, Emmett nodded. "All right" he said, pointing at the time truck. "You'd better go. It's almost 10 PM and you don't want to miss... whoa!"

Emmett and Marty both gasped, as a lightning bolt hit a nearby tree branch, which came crashing down on the cables that Marty had set up, unplugging them. "Great Scott!" Marty exclaimed. "This is horrible! There is no manner on which I can repair that shortage in my works and put the truck on it's proper place in the required time that is remaining until the lightning strike..."

"Don't worry, Marty" Emmett assured him. "I'll do the repair work for you."

"You?" Marty replied, scepticism obvious in his voice. "No offence, Emmett, but you are not exactly the most technologically acknowledged person I know."

"Well, I don't need to be one to fix it, right?" Emmett argued. "It's just a matter of plugging the cables into the sockets again. Trust me, Marty. You're my friend, or at least you're going to be my friend, and I'd like to express my greti... gratitude for letting me know that. And besides – as you said, you don't have the time."

Marty hesitated for one more moment, and then he nodded. "Good point" he said. "You can do it then, if you really want. Just... don't do anything that might bring you into potentially fatally ending situations, okay? For the sake of the times that have yet to come from the world's current perspective... and I'd fell guilty and incredibly sad if something would happen to you, too. You're my closest acquaintance, now or in the times that have yet... in 1985."

Emmett smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry" he said. "I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

"Yeah, I think so too" Marty said. "Say, about that letter..."

'Do you understand the meaning of the word 'no', Marty?"

The teen nodded. "Yes, I suppose I do. Goodbye."

"Goodbye" Emmett replied, a bit absent-mindedly. As Marty had vanished from sight, he looked up to the clock tower. It was very high, much higher than he would wish it to be. This wasn't going to be easy.