Chapter 13

Monday, December 23rd

11: 06 P. M.

Marty lay limply on the couch, examining the ceiling. At the breakfast bar, Linda and Dave drowsed. George and Lorraine shared some coffee at the dinner table. Jennifer sat on the bench under the window. In the back, Doc was sound asleep in his bed, Mysteria having already gone home. It was the first Monday of vacation for all of them, and they were determined to relax. The events of last night still weighed heavily on their minds, though.

The phone abruptly rang. Linda snapped to attention in a second. "IT'S THE FEDS!" she screamed, startling everyone from their trances. "I knew we'd get caught!"

George quickly answered the phone. "Hello?" he asked, a little shakily. Everyone waited tensely. "Oh, hi, Nick," he sighed. "Yeah, he's here." He handed the phone to Dave. "It's your landlord," he told him, shooting a glance at Linda.

Dave put the phone to his ear. "Hey, Nick. How are ya?" He listened for a moment, nodding. "Trashed?" he asked, forcing a note of surprise into his voice. "Man, too bad. Hey, Nick, don't beat yourself up about it. I know Knight Apartments is the best place to stay. Why do you think I rented from you? I don't blame ya, Nick. It's my own damn fault for leaving it alone for a night. Yeah, I'll be over as soon as I can. Thanks for calling. Bye."

He hung up. "Nick from Knight," he said, rather unnecessarily. "Just wanted to apologize for my apartment getting trashed. I guess those things last night really did a good job of it."

"If you need to, you can stay over here for a little bit," Lorraine offered. "You could sleep in the den."

"That's okay, Ma. Nick already checked the utilities. It'll be livable again as soon as I clean up."

The phone rang again. "IT'S THE FEDS!"

Lorraine got the phone this time. "Hello? Hi, Robert. Yes, she's here. We all got up really late, it was a busy night. Sure, you can talk to her." She motioned for Jennifer to come over. "It's your father."

Jennifer got up and accepted the phone. "Hey, Dad. Sorry about not calling earlier, but I was asleep. I was up really late. Doing what?"

Marty got her attention and tossed her the TV guide. Jennifer caught it and saw Marty had circled an entry. "Marty and I watched It's A Wonderful Life, on FOX. Yeah, I know, they always put it on a million times before Christmas, but it's such a sweet movie." She mouthed 'thanks' to her boyfriend. "I'll be home in time for lunch, don't worry. About 1: 00? Okay, great. Love ya, Dad."

"Quick thinking, bro," Dave complimented Marty as Jennifer tossed back the TV guide.

"Hey, I knew that, including commercials, the thing's 2 hours long," Marty shrugged. "So why wouldn't we sleep late?"

"Better than vampires," Jennifer agreed, leaning on the breakfast bar.

The phone rang once more. "IT'S THE-"

"It is not the feds!" George snapped, silencing his daughter. He answered the phone fiercely. "Hello?" As he listened, he went suddenly white. "H-Hill Valley Courthouse?"

Everyone froze. Had Linda been right? Had they been caught?

George relaxed. "Oh, hello, Rick. You had me worried for a moment. How's our battle with GiftsNThings doing?" His eyes lit up. "Really? Oh man, that's terrific news! I'll tell Doc right away! Thanks a million, Rick!" He happily hung up. "We've won! Doc's got his house back!"

"All right!" Marty cheered. He got up and high-fived Jennifer.

"And we weren't caught," Linda breathed, finally relaxing. "We're home free."

"What an oddly appropriate phrase," Lorraine chuckled. "Someone should tell Doc the good news. After all, it's his house."

"I'll do it," George volunteered. He raced down the hall to Doc's room, hoping Doc wouldn't be too grumpy. Just to make sure, he pulled down the shade before waking him.

Doc's eyes finally opened. "What happened now?" he groaned. "Were we caught?"

"No, it's good news this time," George said. "We've won. GiftsNThings finally backed down. Your house is yours again."

Doc stared at him. "Do you mean that?" he asked, suddenly feeling much more awake. George nodded, with a big grin on his face. "YES!" Doc gave George a big hug. "Thank you for fighting for me."

"No problem, Doc. You can move back tonight if you want."

Doc nodded enthusiastically, then suddenly switched to shaking his head 'no'. "Actually, George, I think I'll wait for a little while. A few days more won't hurt."

"But why not?" asked George, puzzled. "I thought you'd want to move back home right away."

"It saves me a trip. I still want to spend Christmas with all of you."

George smiled. "Yeah, I guess moving can wait. We'll see you tonight."

"See you. And thanks again, George, for helping me."

"That's what friends are for."

Wednesday, Christmas, 1985

Hill Valley, California

5: 37 A. M.

"Ah, Christmas," Marty said, eagerly looking at the tree and the pile of presents underneath. "The one day of the year I can wake up early."

"Not for me," Robert Parker yawned. "I certainly hope you appreciate this, Doc and Mystie."

"We do, we do," Doc assured him, his arm around Mysteria's waist. "But I think we could have done this later. It's snowing outside, so we should be fine."

"It's Christmas! We should all be together," Lorraine said, sitting by the tree with a cup of eggnog.

"Oh, I can't wait to see what Greg and Craig and Ryan and Colin all got me," Linda squealed, just like a little girl. "C'mon, let's get these presents open!"

Everyone fell on the pile of packages. Marty located Doc's present to him first and eagerly ripped it open. "Great! A new skateboard!"

Lorraine leaned over to examine the electric blue and red board. "What a funny name," she laughed. "It's called a 'hoverboard'. Must be a joke on the speed."

Marty looked at it. Sure enough, 'HOVERBOARD' was written on the board in bright red. "Doc, is this-"

"You bet. It's from 2015. The wheels are detachable, so you can use it in public."

"Oh, man, this is heavy." "Thanks a lot, Doc."

George discovered Doc's present to him tucked under a low branch. "Heavy," he commented, pulling off the wrapping paper. He laughed as the gift was uncovered. "It figures," he said, showing everyone the set of 'Dracula' Saberhagen books. "A perfect addition to my collection."

"To your shrine, you mean," Dave teased.

"I knew they were the only ones you didn't have," Doc smiled. George happily opened the first one and began reading.

Jennifer handed Marty her present. "I hope you like it."

"I hope you like yours." Marty handed her 2 presents. "The top one is from me, the bottom one is from Doc." She balanced them in her lap as he opened her present to him. "Oh, cool!" Marty revealed a video of all of Huey Lewis and the News's music videos. "Man, this is great. Thanks, Jennifer."

"I knew you'd like it." She opened her own present. "Oh, Marty...." She lifted out a lovely gold necklace with 3 aquamarines at one end. "It's beautiful."

"You said you liked aquamarines," Marty shrugged. They kissed. "What did Doc get you?"

"Let's find out." She opened her second package. "Wow," she breathed, taking out a strange-looking bracelet. It was a ring of plastic that curved in and out, forming bead-like shapes. Inside, colors swirled and bled into one another, like a liquid mood ring. Jennifer pressed a spot on the bracelet and watched as a new color appeared, bleeding into the old one. It seemed to be perfectly solid. "It's really neat, Doc, but how do I get it on?"

"Press the yellow patch near your thumb. That color never changes," Doc instructed. Jennifer did so, and a clasp sprang open. She promptly snapped it onto her wrist.

"Way cool," commented Linda as Jennifer put on her necklace. "Is that a pressure pad?"

"Something of the sort." Doc leaned close to Jennifer. "It's a thumb lock. I got that in 2011." Jennifer smiled and hugged him.

Mysteria produced a package. "For you, my darling."

"Let me return the favor," Doc said, handing her a package in return. They ripped them open at the same time. "A photo album?" Doc asked, examining his gift.

"Open it up," Mystie suggested. Doc flipped it open and discovered pictures of the 4 of them (Mystie, Doc, Marty, and Jennifer). The first picture of all of them explained it all- 'Friends Forever, and Then Some'. "Mysteria, this is wonderful. Thank you. And the best part is there's plenty of room for more pictures."

"I confess I don't understand my present either." She looked at the set of videos she had received from her fiance. "What's Forever Knight?"

"A Canadian TV show about a good vampire cop," Doc explained. "I saw part of it once, and I knew you'd like it. It's quite engaging." In a lower voice he added, "The show doesn't start until 1992. I had to go all the way to 2010 to get a complete boxed set. By the way, check the back."

She did, and laughed. Doc had taken a picture of the main character and his vampire girlfriend and written, 'Remind you of anyone?' "You're a sweetie. Thank you." They kissed.

After all the presents were opened, everyone sat down to watch It's a Wonderful Life for the 80 millionth time since Thanksgiving. (Yes, it was on at 6: 00 in the morning.) The humans snacked on holiday cookies while the vampires sipped blood. They all shared funny stories during the numerous commercials.

As it ended at 8: 00, Doc and Mysteria felt the need for sleep start to grow on them. They said goodnight to their friends and headed off to bed.

Marty and Jennifer followed. "Hey, guys?"

"Yeah, Marty?" Doc yawned.

"I can't stop thinking about Sunday night, and what we learned about Biff. I keep wondering when he's gonna strike again. And it's always 'when'-not 'if'. Do you think he will?"

"I don't doubt it. My take on the whole situation is that he wants to gain control of Hill Valley, and he's using the soulless vampires to do it. But we won't let him succeed, will we?" Doc added with fierceness.

"No way, Jose," Jennifer agreed.

"Like hell we will," Mysteria growled.

"Over my dead body," Marty snapped.

"Please, Marty, don't say that. But we're all agreed. We're a team now-2 vampires, 2 humans. And we're going to stop Biff's mad plan at all costs. Right?"

"Right!" everyone else agreed. Doc held out a hand, and everyone piled one on top.

"We should have a name for ourselves," Jennifer suggested. "Like the Time Trippers or something."

"Makes sense. We're the Time Trippers." They clasped hands, a mute promise to stand together against Biff. Then they all smiled and hugged. "But I don't think even Biff is cold-hearted enough to attack on Christmas. We can afford to enjoy ourselves today. Merry Christmas, kids."

"Merry Christmas to you, Doc."

The End