Back To The Past

Part One: Friends Out Of Time

Marty stood at the railing of his deck, looking out over the gathering of his friends, longing for a visit from the one man that he would always consider his best friend. Every year, when his birthday rolled around, Marty would hope that maybe, just maybe, this time Doc would stop by to see him. But every year he just ended up building himself up for a disappointment, Doc apparently too busy exploring the reaches of time and space.

When he was feeling particularly depressed, Marty would wish that he had joined Doc that day, going only God knows where, seeing on God knows what.

Seventeen years of missing the best friend he had ever add.

Sometimes Marty wondered if he was ever going to get over his feeling of loss…of abandonment…of longing for a life less boring.

That's what his life had become, boring. At least he was honest enough with himself to admit that that was the real problem. His life had become so…normal…after the Doc's departure, that Marty wanted to scream some times. If it wasn't for Jennifer, and the kids, Marty didn't think he'd be able to stand it at all.

Jennifer.

Just the thought of her still filled him with a sense of warmness, a love that was still as strong today as it had been eighteen years ago, and he knew that she was his anchor to this world. She was so compassionate, so understanding, that he couldn't help but marvel at how she put up with his bouts of depression every year at this time.

Clint and Jessica were just as important a part of his world as their mother, and he was so glad that, after his little trip to the future, that he had decided on changing their names. The broken and depressed Marty of the "other" time-line might have felt the need to name his son a Junior, but the semi-confident Marty of the current time-line felt no sense of insecurity about his legacy carrying on.

Martin McFly Junior was a name that the world had not needed.

"Hey, Lover," came Jennifer's soft voice, bringing him out of his melancholy. "Missing him again, aren't you?"

"You know me too well," he said, turning around to face her with a smile. "Is it me, or do you manage to gather more people for these parties every year?"

"It's your fault," she teased, wrapping her arms about his waist and leaning in to kiss him. "You're too damn nice. You just keep making friends."

"Well, at this rate, we're going to need a bigger yard by my fortieth."

Smirking and shaking her head, Jennifer leaned in and kissed her husband deeply.

"Hey, McFly!" called a deep voice, causing the two to break from their kiss and look towards the tall, elderly man coming through the gate to the back yard. "Where's the beef?"

Biff Tannen broke into laughter over his joke, drawing groans from those that had heard him, most of them wondering if the man was ever going to stop living in the eighties.

"Hey, Biff, Jean," greeted Marty, welcoming his "Dad's" semi-friend, and his current wife.

"Better hide the good beer," whispered Jennifer.

"Why'd you invite him?" asked Marty, in a lowered voice.

"You're parents insisted. If it wasn't for Biff, then they never would have met, and they never would have…"

"Fallen in love," finished Marty, rolling his eyes. "You know, maybe I should tell them the truth."

"Yeah," chided Jennifer. "Maybe your dad could turn it into his next best seller. 'My Son, The Time Traveling Match Maker'."

What ever reply Marty would have made, he had to choke it down as Biff and Jean finally reached them, the elder Tannen bobbing his head and moving his shoulders as if he was listening to some disco beat that only he could hear.

"So, McFly, where's your old man? Him and your mom still getting along?"

"Like a couple of teenagers, Biff," smarted Marty. "They should be here soon. Why don't you two go a head and mingle, there's plenty of hot dogs and burgers."

"What? No steaks? I thought you were a big wig over at that new Jap company."

"Subtle as ever," griped Jean, in a voice louder than necessary. "Don't pay him no mind, Marty. He's just upset cause he spilled some of his beer swerving around a humungous pot hole."

"I don't know why I put up with you, woman," growled Biff, his voice growing as loud as hers'.

"Why don't I show you were you can get a fresh drink, Biff," offered Jennifer, defusing the potential argument.

That's my Babe, thought Marty, smiling to himself as Jennifer led the Tannens towards the keg being watched over by his brother, Dave.

"I hope it ain't light," grumbled Biff, leading Jean along behind Jennifer.

"I guess this really isn't a bad life," said Marty, to himself. "Maybe boring's better than I give it credit for."

Marty no sooner finished his musing and a sudden, powerful wind blew through his back yard, knocking tables, favors, and party-goers over. The blast of air was followed by a flash of blue light, brilliant as a bolt of lightening, and accompanied by a thunderous boom that shook everyone to the bone.

In the split second before he was slammed back against the house, Marty recognized the atmospheric disturbance for what it was: the arrival of a time machine. The realization did him little good as he smacked hard against the brick of the house, his vision exploding with stars as his head cracked against the red material, his senses overwhelmed by the sequential booms and flashes.

Marty was dimly aware of his family and friends screaming, trying to flee the sudden maelstrom in a blind panic, some of them stumbling around numbly from the affects of the time displacement. His vision blurring in and out, sounds seeming distantly muffled, Marty stared in awe at the massive, black locomotive that appeared in the air over his backyard, hovering just like a locomotive shouldn't be able to.

"Doc?" mumbled Marty, watching dazedly as the locomotive settled to the ground, causing the few remaining guests to flee in terror.

The locomotive came to a reverberating landing, smashing several wooden picnic tables in the progress, steam billowing from it in thick clouds that obscured Marty's blurred vision of Jennifer groggily rising from the ground.

The side doors of the locomotive opened, the ever-familiar face of Doctor Emmett Brown materializing from within, his wild, white hair, and wide, crazed-looking eyes seeming not to have changed a bit in the last eighteen years.

"That Doc Brown is trouble," echoed Strickland's voice in Marty's memories.

Doc Brown raced down the short stairs of the locomotive's exit door, nearly stumbling to the ground in his haste, and he bolted straight for Marty, leaping over fallen lawn furniture. Racing up the steps of the deck, Doc Brown stooped down over Marty and grabbed him by the shoulders, shaking him with excited panic.

"Marty. Marty!" cried Doc Brown, his voice nearly hysterical. "You have to help me, Marty. He has them! You have to help me save them!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Doc," Marty yelled, his ears still ringing. "I don't see you for eighteen years, and you…you…you blast into my birthday party to yell that he has them? Them who? He who?"

"Clara and the kids, Marty!" yelled Doc. "He has them!"

"Who has them, Doc?"

Doc Brown stood and pointed excitedly at the man groggily rising from under the fallen beer keg.

"Biff, Marty. Biff's kidnapped them!"

"Whoa, Doc, this is…heavy?" muttered Marty, suddenly feeling the strangest sense of Deja'vu.

"There's no one else I can go to, Marty," rambled Doc Brown, helping Marty to his feet. "You have to come with me."

"Where, Doc?"

"Back to the past!"

To Be Continued…

A/N: I've been wanting to write a BTTF fic for a long time, and with the movies coming out on DVD soon (finally), I've been swept up with a bit of nostalgia. I'm not quite sure where this story is heading (or how soon it will be finished), but if enough people are interested, then I'll definitely make an effort to continue/finish it (unlike many of the BTTF stories here--jab at Theed to continue her marvelous story). So be sure to let me know if you want more or not.