Chapter 3
Wednesday, November 20th, 1985
Hill Valley
5: 33 P. M.
Doc sat happily on his bed, watching Josephine breathe. Yesterday had been simply amazing. He had woken up from a night of intense dreams to Jackson's usual pleasant demeanor. He had found himself hating the man intensely, and when he tried to push the emotion away, he couldn't! He had lost the ability to bury feelings within himself. For a few minutes, Doc had tried to cope with the influx of fear and hatred.
Then his thoughts had turned to Josephine. He had immediately felt a warm glow of happiness. Getting himself under control, he had concentrated on ignoring the outside world and focused on the happy memories he had so long rejected. It had been pleasant to finally feel actual emotions, instead of the watered-down versions he was used to. He had actually scared Jackson by grinning at him when he came to deliver lunch. And when Josephine woke up, they had talked well into the night. She was an excellent conversationalist, if Doc said so himself. It had been simply incredible. And now, he felt good enough to take on Biff Tannen.
He was humming in expectation of another wonderful night when he heard the cell door open. Jackson came in, followed by Dr. Adams, Donald, and another strange attendant. Dr. Adams had a very serious look on her face. "Hello, Dr. Brown."
"Hi. Have you come to install the screen?" That barrier wouldn't be too much of a problem. Not with his dear Josie here.
Dr. Adams shook her head, still deadly serious. "No, Dr. Brown. This is about your sudden attitude change."
Doc grinned. It was an unfamiliar action to him, and was lopsided due to his scar. But it was a genuine 'Doc' smile. "You told me to cheer up. I did. Is that so bad?"
"Maybe. It could mean your schizophrenia is coming out of remission. This seems like a mood swing to me."
Doc snorted. "Or maybe my roommate's in love with me and taught me how to cheer up. You're not satisfied with anything I do, even if it's taking your advice."
Dr. Adams clucked her tongue. "Just as I suspected. Delusional. You know what this means, Dr. Brown." She nodded to the attendants. "Take him down to room 101."
Room 101?
THE ELECTRO-CONVULSIVE ROOM!
Terror flooded Doc's body. He squirmed to the far side of the room. Jackson tackled him and tried to drag him out. Doc struggled as hard as he could, kicking and biting his captors. "No! You can't do that to me again! Not the 'therapy'! Not electroshock! Josephine! Josephine, help me!"
Josephine didn't stir. They had talked into the wee morning hours, and she was sleeping late. The attendants, swearing heartily, managed to lift him and bring him out to a table outside. They strapped him down with difficulty. Desperate, Doc kept screaming, hoping against hope he could break the trance of sleep. "Help! Josie, wake up! Josie! Help me!" He broke down into tears as they wheeled him away. "Help me. . . ."
"That's what we're doing, Dr. Brown. Helping you," Dr. Adams soothed, reaching out to touch him.
Doc glared at her through his tears. "Don't you dare touch me, b*tch," he growled, moving as much as his bonds would allow. "I wish you were down here in my place!"
Dr. Adams smacked his face, her expression dark. "Control your tongue! I could easily arrange a lobotomy for you!" Doc just snarled.
They wheeled him into the dreaded room. Doc looked in fright at the all-too-familiar equipment. "NO. . .they can't do this to me again. . .THEY CAN'T DO THIS TO ME AGAIN!" He thrashed, trying in terror to loosen his bonds. Jackson hit him in the stomach with his baton and held him down. Doc managed to sink his teeth into his arm and was very satisfied to hear him yowl.
A nurse spread conductant on his temples and began taping electrodes to the skull. Doc made a final effort to get free. "NO! PLEASE, NO!"
"Calm down, Dr. Brown," Dr. Adams said, smiling. "This will simply be like restarting your brain." She confirmed the electrodes were in place.
"DAMN IT, YOU CAN'T DO THIS! JOSEPHINE!"
Dr. Adams motioned for the switch to be thrown. Doc felt current blast through his brain. His muscles stopped moving, locked in painful contortions. There was that moment of pure agony as his brain was jumpstarted by the electricity.
Then, mercifully, he blacked out.
Wednesday, November 20th
6: 00 P. M.
Josephine woke from her sleep. She smiled, not opening her eyes. Her post-hypnotic suggestion had worked perfectly, and she was looking forward to another long and stimulating chat with Doc. Her love for him had only grown as she learned more about him. She opened her eyes. He was just so smart and interesting and. . .
Absent.
Puzzled, Josephine looked around, confirming what her ears and nose had already impressed upon her. She was alone in the room. Doc was nowhere in sight. Had they moved him to another room? No, his bed was still in place, although the covers were tangled terribly. Had they taken him away to visit Dr. Adams? That seemed unlikely too, as he had told her his weekly visits were on Sundays. That was 4 days away. So what had happened to him?
Footsteps warned her of approaching doctors. She lay down and faked catatonia, making sure her eyes appeared blank. The door was unlocked, and she could hear Jackson swearing. "Serves the bastard right. He bit me! Now I gotta go see the doctor!" Josephine barely held back a snigger.
The attendants carried in an unconscious Doc. His body was twitching, and he was moaning deeply. Shocked horror filled the vampire. It had to be a dose of electro-convulsive therapy. Nothing else could have done that to her dear Emmett.
They laid him down on the bed, gave her a visual once-over, and went on their way. Once they were out of earshot, Josephine sprang up and went to assist her beloved. She pulled off the strait-jacket with terrific force and slapped his face a few times. "Emmett. Emmett, wake up."
Doc moaned again, showing no signs of returning to the real world. Josephine wet a sleeve of the jacket and wiped Doc's forehead with it. "Come back to me, Emmett."
Doc slowly stirred, his body aching all over. "No. . .," he whispered. "Not more electro-convulsive. . . ."
"Shh. . . ." Josephine soothed, still wiping his forehead. "Everything's going to be just fine."
With his mind in it's recently shocked state, Doc thought the soothing words came from Dr. Adams. Pissed, he tried to force his muscles to move. "Go away. . . . I want Marty. . . . I want Josephine. . . ."
"It's me, Emmett, it's Josie," she said, understanding. Her telepathy was picking up major electrical discharges in Doc's brain. It would be impossible to think clearly under those circumstances.
"I want Marty. . . . Don't let them hurt Marty. . . . Don't let them hurt Josephine. . . ."
"It's okay, Emmett. I'm fine. And they can't get to Marty."
Doc's eyes finally obeyed his will and opened. They were glazed and filled with pain. He looked so vulnerable, Josephine couldn't help but want to mother him. "Josie? Where's Marty?"
She kissed him tenderly. "I'm right here, Emmett. And Marty's - Marty's fine."
"Where is he?"
Josephine debated having him hallucinate his friend, but didn't want to cause further stress in his brain. "Marty's away. They can't get to him." She bit into her wrist and watched as the blood pooled out. "Drink this," she commanded, holding the wound to his lips.
Doc gagged. "No. No blood."
"It'll help you. Please drink it. I can only will the wound open for so long."
Doc hesitated an instant more. She applied a slight hypnotic pressure to his mind. Giving in, he drank. After a minute though, he shoved it away. "No more."
"Hush." Her eyes looked deep into his. "Relax. It'll take time for you to heal." She gently pressed her fingers to his temples and willed the healing power of her blood toward the injured brain matter. Doc felt a tingling sensation in his scalp as blood rushed to his brain. "What. . . ?"
"Hush," she repeated, rubbing his temples a little. It was useful to be an early vampire when it came to healing. None of the younger ones could have specified where the healing was supposed to go. "You need to sleep now."
Doc fought weakly. "They'll come back. . . ."
"If they do, they'll face an extremely peeved female vampire," she told him, carefully hypnotizing him. "Rest, Emmett. Your pain is fading, and you want to rest. . . ."
In his mental state, Doc was easily entranced. Josephine stroked his hair. "Sleep, Emmett. Rest your brain. You will awaken from this sleep in 1 hour, but if I see you need more time I'll send you back to sleep. Relax."
Doc's eyes started to slide closed, but he forced them open. Weakly, he held out his arms. "Hold me, Josie," he begged, sounding pathetic. Josephine took him into her arms and rocked him like a baby. Doc began to cry. "Oh Josie. . .it was hell. . . ."
"Shh, shh," Josephine whispered. "It's over now. I won't let them near you." She glared at the door. "F**king bastards." She patted his head. "Now sleep."
Doc relaxed into hypnotic sleep. She held him tight, keeping on constant alert for the doctors. If any even tried to look at her Emmett, they would have hell to pay.
Wednesday, November 20th
7: 04 P. M.
Doc's eyes fluttered. He groaned. He had a hell of a headache. And those bastards outside never gave him aspirin. "Ow. . . ."
"Emmett?" Josephine's voice sounded extremely worried. Doc realized she was holding him and he was free of his strait-jacket. "Are you all right?"
"Better than before," he mumbled, remembering how she had woken him up briefly. It was true too. Her touch, her love, and strengthened him. He looked up into those green eyes. "I'm sorry for acting so juvenile before."
"It's fine. I was surprised you could get out coherent thoughts, the way your brain was short-circuiting." She brushed the hair back from his face. "I can't believe they do that. Shoot electricity through people's skulls."
Doc nodded. "Well, they do. I don't understand how someone's supposed to benefit from having their brain cells killed, but. . . ." He sighed heavily. "That's what I get for smiling."
As he spoke, a curious sensation attracted his attention. There was another thumping in his chest. It felt like a second heartbeat. Perplexed, he looked down at his chest. Everything seemed normal. Maybe he was hallucinating.
"I had you drink my blood, Emmett," Josephine explained. "It bonded you to me. What you're feeling is my heartbeat. I'm feeling yours in my chest."
Doc was amazed. "Really? Fascinating." He pressed his hands to the spot. "Am I turning into a vampire?"
"No. That would happen only if I put my blood directly into your veins. Biting Douglas is a good remedial exercise, though."
"Thanks," Doc said with a uneasy grin. "So how - does. . . ."
It had suddenly occurred to the scientist that his girl hadn't spoken. Josephine grinned mischievously at him. "The bond I created gives you a few vampire powers. This is one of them. You also get stronger, can sense the presence of other vampires, and heal nonfatal injuries."
"Amazing," Doc thought, taking a few baby steps with using his side of the link. His end seemed a little staticky. "What exactly qualifies as nonfatal?"
"Basically all minor injuries, but internal bruising and brain damage can be healed as well. That's why I fed you my blood. I knew it could help your brain. And I was able to force it quickly to the hurt area. It's an advantage you get if you are infected by the earlier form of the virus."
"Virus? Is vampirism a medical condition?"
"That's the general consensus. I'm just glad they didn't kill you with their 'treatment'."
"They might as well have," Doc shuddered. "It's the closest I've come to the torments of hell. Be grateful you've never been subjected to it."
Josephine patted his back. "You kept asking me for Marty when you first woke up. You really miss him, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do. I can't help but think of him as my son. Or, at the least, my nephew. That week in 1955 was one of the brighter moments in my life. I finally had a friend, and I couldn't wait to meet him under the correct circumstances. And when I joined George's protest group, I felt the odds of contacting him had dramatically increased. But then. . . ." He shivered as he recalled being told of George's death, and of seeing his corpse. "Biff got him killed so he could marry Lorraine. And all hope of being friends with Marty went out the window."
Josephine smiled. "He sounds like a good kid. Certainly a true friend."
"He was. He wrote me a letter warning me that I was going to get killed by terrorists. He was so determined to forestall my fate he risked not getting back to the future. The event never came to pass, of course, but I still treasure that document." He adjusted his position to bring the feeling back to a numb leg. "Actually, I did get to meet Marty once. But not in the right way. George had us all come over for a meeting on September 2nd, 1968. Marty was only a little baby then. Halfway through the meeting, he had to answer the phone and Lorraine had to break up a sibling fight - Marty has a brother and a sister, both older than him. She handed Marty to me to hold." Doc felt tears burn in his eyes, but he blinked them back. "I swear, he recognized me. He had been bawling moments before, but he calmed right down as I held him. He looked so - different. Much smaller of course, and with wispy brown hair. . .but I knew his eyes right away. They were so trusting and innocent." Doc smiled. "For a minute, I got to cuddle him, then Lorraine stopped Dave and Linda from killing each other and took him back. That was the last time I ever saw my friend."
Josephine couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy toward the boy. Doc sensed this and looked her straight in the eyes. "Stop that. I love you, Josie. I would gladly stay in here the rest of my life if it meant staying with you. But I knew Marty before, and I can't stop caring about him. Here, let me show you." He sent her one of his favorite memories, waking up to find himself and Marty sleeping against each other.
The jealousy faded with seeing the pure 'cuteness' of the scene. Josephine giggled. "You two were definitely made for each other. That is just so wonderful. Good thing only I can see it, though. I know of a lot of people who would claim you two were in a relationship."
"Don't say that, Josie. I'll vomit. I know you would have liked him." The words he had said to Marty that night while he slept came back to him. They seemed very appropriate for his new girlfriend. He looked deep into Josephine's eyes. "Ich liebe Dich, Josephine," he whispered. "Mit allem meinem Herzen."
Josephine smiled. She understood German and knew what Doc had just said was, 'I love you, Josephine, with all my heart.' She responded in like. "I love you, too, Emmett. By both Jupiter and Venus."
Doc blinked. What had just emerged from Josephine's mouth was completely foreign to his ears. "What language was that?"
"Ancient Roman." She translated for him. "Speaking of Venus. . . ." She pulled off her shirt to reveal her cleavage. "I think you deserve a little reward for suffering through that torture."
Unwanted, a blush came to Doc's cheeks. Suddenly embarrassed, he tried to find an out. "Josie. . . . Do you really think - I mean, what if-"
Josephine looked at him oddly. "What's wrong?"
"I just don't know if we should. Jackson could see us, or Dr. Adams could come around. . . ." "Great Scott, I sound just like a teenage George McFly."
Josephine cocked her head. "Don't be nervous. It's only sex." She grinned. "The way you're acting, it's like you're never had a woman before!"
Doc's blush deepened. Josephine stared, stunned. "You're a virgin?"
"I grew up in the 20s and 30s, in a very polite society. You didn't do anything 'naughty' until you were legally married, and sometimes not even then. None of my relations with women ever got very far. Even at a young age, I was the outcast. So, yes, I'm a virgin."
"You're certainly a unique one, Emmett." She undid the string on her pants and pulled them down. Doc felt the blush darken further, if that was possible. "Oh, relax. This is supposed to be fun." She pressed herself against him, kissing him more passionately than he had ever dreamed possible. He felt his desire for her awaken, along with a few other parts. Smiling, he allowed her to strip him.
Wednesday, November 20th
8: 46 P. M.
Doc playfully tickled Josephine's ribs. She giggled madly and nipped at his fingers. They had made love many times, and had found out that each of them was a fantastic lover. Now both were exhausted from their excitement - and for Doc, from minor blood loss. It turned out vampires bit their companions at climax. "God, that felt good."
Josephine kissed him. "Oh, Emmett, I would love to spend the rest of eternity with you."
"So would I," Doc said, lying against her. "I just wish we didn't have to stay in this filthy mental hospital."
Josephine looked at the walls surrounding them. Before, they had been a mere tolerable annoyance, something she had to put up with for her own safety. Now they were a horrid, deadly prison. "You know what? Neither do I." She considered snapping the bars right then and there, but refrained. "Give me a few days and I'll think of a plan to get us both out of here safely. Then we'll take to the night skies and do what we please."
Doc nodded, looking resolute. "Right. Although I might like to stay a few days and settle an old score." His eyes flashed fire as he thought of Biff.
"No objections here. Then, if you want, we'll fly to Switzerland."
"Switzerland? Why Switzerland?"
"A., all the blood there tastes like chocolate, and B., that's where I heard Marty is going to school."
Doc nodded enthusiastically. "That's a plan. Regain our freedom, rescue Marty, and then?"
"Whatever we wish. We have all the time in the world."
Doc nuzzled her. "And to think, 4 days ago I was suicidal. Now I've got freedom and an unofficial family to look forward to. I'm sure that if we put our minds to this problem, we should be able to accomplish our goal."
"You bet." They began mentally testing plans for escaping, Doc providing probability rates. Finally, they hit upon a plan that might work. All they needed was for 2 key players in their imprisonment to leave. Content to wait for now, they fell asleep in each other's arms.
