Chapter 8- The Homecoming

Miss Reese, Little Marty, and Marlene jumped at a large and loud knock on their door. It was their mother, Jennifer, coming home early from her convention.

"Hey kids," Jennifer said as she lugged her two large suitcases in the door. "Marty sweetie, where are you?"

Little Marty ran up and hugged their mom causing her to drop all of her bags on the floor. Marlene was just a little confused at the situation. "Why are you home so early, Mom?"

Jennifer sighed and said, "Well, there was a huge snowstorm at the convention site so no planes could land, including the one carrying the head psychiatrist who was running the whole event. I fortunately found out the convention was postponed before I had to take my other plane. I got another plane back here after that."

Miss Reese then came in from the other room holding Marie and said, "Oh Jennifer, that sounds terrible!"

Jennifer's eyes widened and she sternly said, "What is Miss Reese doing here? And who is that strange baby?!"

Little Marty immediately shouted "That's Doc Brown's baby!"

"Who's Doc Brown?" Miss Reese asked in her kindly old lady voice that she always had. Jennifer didn't even get a chance to answer before there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" Miss Reese harmonized before shoving the baby to Jennifer. Jennifer was quite taken aback by this strange baby and then looked to her children.

"Kids," she attempted to say calmly. "Is this really Doc Brown's baby?" The two kids nodded. "How did she get here? And where are your father, brother and sister?"

"With Jules in a UFO," Little Marty managed before hearing a scream from Miss Reese.

"Jennifer!" Miss Reese screamed after she ran into the living room where she was. "There is a family of strange homeless people at the door. They said they know who you are! I think they're stalkers trying to take your money and........." Jennifer let Miss Reese ramble on as she followed her to the door. Jennifer looked through the peephole and recognized Doc and Clara. Two children she remembered as their kids were there too. Miss Reese continued screaming as Jennifer opened the door and saw why Miss Reese thought they were homeless. They looked like they had been living in the wilderness.

"Marie!" Clara cried as she reached for her sleeping baby.

"You stay away from here you bums!" Miss Reese shouted as she tried to shoo the family away.

"It's okay Miss," Jennifer said. "They're friends."

Miss Reese then calmed down and looked over the family before she spoke out. "Where do your friends live? A dump?"

Jennifer gave her a look and said, "Go home Miss Reese. I can take it from here."

Miss Reese then went in and grabbed her bag constantly staring at the Brown family. "We also have to discuss my........."

"We'll pay you later Miss Reese!" Jennifer shouted as Miss Reese passed by the Browns to leave. All the way back to her house next door she kept on rambling about different things about not being wanted. Jennifer just sighed and smiled at the Browns. "Would you like to come in?"

Doc nodded as Jennifer let Clara be reunited with her baby. Jennifer then sent Marlene and Marty to get the showers ready so that the family could get cleaned up before telling the whole story to the confused psychiatrist.

----Jennifer had heard the whole story by the time Marty, Jean and Kyle stumbled through the door. Jennifer immediately jumped out of the living room and hugged her husband and two oldest children, despite the fact that they were twice as dirty as the Browns were. The now clean Brown family emerged from the living room wearing some of the McFly family clothes. Little Marty and Marlene came out too and hugged the three exhausted time travelers.

"Whatcha doing home sweetheart?" Marty asked to his wife who was almost choking Kyle at the time with her hug.

"It's a very long story," Jennifer sighed. "Not as long as yours apparently. What were you thinking subjecting the kids to this kind of stuff! And YOU too!"

"Calm down Jen," Marty laughed. "We're alive aren't we?" Jean and Kyle laughed along with their dad.

"I'm glad you think this is a big joke," Jennifer said. "The Browns told me the whole story and I don't think it's very funny."

Doc decided to jump in. "You dropped Griff off right?"

"Yes we did," Jean said. "Right in his bed like you told us to."

Doc nodded and smiled and looked toward Kyle along with the rest of the group.

"What?" Kyle said at the sudden attention.

"How did you get out of the west kid," Jules said. "You said you would tell us and I want to know."

Jennifer was curious as well. She was also looking over her son to make sure he wasn't sick in any way.

Kyle nodded. "You're right Jules. I'll tell you all, but you probably won't believe me."

----Everyone was sitting in the family room, newly cleaned up and ready for a good story. Jennifer was sitting on the sofa in between Big Marty and Marlene, with Little Marty on the floor right under his sister. Doc and Clara sat on the love seat with Marie in her arms. Jules and Verne sat on bean bag chairs on either side of their parents. Jean pulled up a chair beside her family while Kyle pulled up a chair I front of everybody.

"Okay, here goes," Kyle said very nervously. He was nervous despite the fact that half of the audience was his family. This story he was about to tell was unbelievable even to him still, but he would not have been alive had this not happened, so he knew it was worth telling.

"Right after the Delorean sped away, the other Doc and I were sitting in the desert waiting for the time machine to come back immediately, but it didn't. We waited for about twenty minutes in the cold desert before Doc decided that we had to get me back inside before my sickness got any worse. He told me that they probably got the wrong time and would probably be back soon, but he would go back in time in his DeLorean just to make sure.

"I could tell in the worry in his voice that he was not at all optimistic about the fate of Marty, Jules, and Jean. Being as sick as I was at the time, he was worried about how I would fare without the proper medical attention. I was indeed very sick and so weak I could barely stand up and I was sure I would die in the desert. I could also hear Doc talking to himself while sitting on a rock. He was saying that it would be impossible for him to go to the past without ending up in the wrong universe or worse. This made me even more concerned. It was this time that was constantly praying for about ten minutes.

"I stopped at ten minutes because a young cowboy interrupted us. He was riding a white horse and had a very strong build with short blonde hair under a cowboy hat. He also had all the classic cowboy clothes on. Both me and Doc were curious why this dude was out here at 5:00 in the morning when the sun hadn't even risen yet. He asked us if we needed help but Doc said that we did but he couldn't help us. The guy said that he didn't think that was true and he dismounted off his horse to try and help.

"This is the part where it gets pretty weird. Now the guy tried to help me up but I fell down onto the rock I was sitting on. I felt way too sick to do anything at the moment. I just wrapped my blanket around me again and sat back down. Doc tried to shoo him away saying he could not help us unless he was a doctor. The man said he wasn't but he could get us on our way just fine. He once again tried to help me on my feet, but this time I could actually stand up. He gave me his canteen of water and said that I would be able to make it back to town just fine if I just kept walking. He also said that my journey was just beginning and that if my faith was kept strong then I would succeed. He then got back on his horse and rode away without Doc getting a chance to react.

"Doc commented that that was really weird as he gathered up his stuff to go to his own time machine that was hidden nearby. I then commented that I felt that I was strong enough to go back to town, but Doc said there was no way that I was. I, however, insisted on going back because the sun was beginning to go up and traveling in a time machine would be dangerous. Since light was beginning to come, Doc saw that I was starting to get my color back in my face, so he reluctantly agreed. We then began to walk back to town with all his stuff and my blanket still around me.

"As we got closer to town, I progressively got better. I coughed less, I felt less hot despite the rising temperature around me, I could breathe easier, and I had more strength as I continued to walk. Doc, however, was growing white as a ghost. Not because he was sick, but because I was better. He had no explanation for my recovery, and that was rare in his mind. When we got back to town I felt like I was 100% better. I told this to Doc and he commented that that was impossible and decided to check me out. He did, and I was fine. He began to ramble on about how this was impossible, almost miraculous. I agreed that it was miraculous, but Doc just said that I must have just gotten a 24-hour bug or something that looked like viral pneumonia. I knew that he knew there was no such thing, but I decided to pretend to agree with him, while secretly agreeing with myself. I was convinced I had seen an angel."

Kyle stopped telling his story for a few minutes to let the idea sink in to his audience. His mom looked like she was about to cry, the rest of his family just smiled at the idea of a genuine miracle happening in their own family. The Browns looked very disbelieving and Jules looked quite skeptical. I could tell they were pondering about a logical explanation for what Kyle described. By the looks on their faces, Kyle guessed, they couldn't think of one. The only one of the Browns that did not ponder about the story was young Verne, who was eating the whole thing up, waiting for the next part of the story to continue. They all knew Kyle really was telling what he saw because of the sincerity in his voice, and that caused even more speculation. Kyle just decided to continue on with the story.

"It took me a couple days to convince Doc that I was really better. He then said that it was now up to me to go and see what happened to my family and Jules. He showed me how to work the time machine and also how to send it back to this time unmanned. I couldn't help but ask him why he did not destroy the time machine like the other Marty said he would. He said that something told him that he might need it again, so he kept it in hiding. I commented that it was another miracle, but he got a little miffed at me so I decided to drop the subject. After he showed me all of the basics, including what to tell his other self so that he would believe that I was there to rescue him, he sent me on my way in his time machine, and you guys know the rest."

"Jules told us everything," Little Marty said.

There was still a sense of disbelief among the crowd he told the story to. Marty decided to break the ice. "So Doc, what have you been up to?" They would save miracles, and God, for a later conversation when the Browns were ready. Now was time for a catch-up period.