Doc had to blink once at the blinding dawn that was instantly upon him. The feel of the Old West came flooding back to him. He chuckled to himself.

"First things first." He was thinking out loud. "I must hide the Delorean."

He drove it behind a huge pine tree and carefully covered it with branches. He knew he wasn't far from town. Still he ran out of the desperation to succeed that had been building up inside him over the past month.

By the time he got to Hill Valley the heat of the burning sun was crushing him.

"One thing I really miss here is Tylenol."

Doc jerked his head around, gaping. There was himself walking down the back was of the saloon. Him and…MARTY! Doc felt a wave joy come over him at the sight of the boy. He had to resist the urge to go to him. Instead he hid himself in the building next to the saloon.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Doc counted on cue as the bullets fired. He positioned himself behind a door as Marty tumbled inside.

"Reach for it blacksmith." The commotion was muffled from inside. Doc frantically watched as Marty composed himself. He grabbed an oven door that was lying on the floor.

He cautiously maneuvered himself behind Marty, raised the door over his head….

"Oh Marty, forgive me."

"Huh", Marty spun around just in time to see the black door slam into his face. He hovered for a moment, his eyes were glazed.

Doc caught him just as Marty fell carefully easing him to the ground.

He checked the boy's pulse and breathing. They both seemed normal and he hoped he hadn't hit him too hard.

Doc turned towards the door and gently pulled back the puke green curtain. He saw Tannen holding the gun to other Doc's head.

"East wood? You here me?" Tannen turned to his gang, "Maybe I got him."

"You must have."

Doc dropped a sealed envelope on Marty, grabbed the boy's gun and slipped unnoticed out the back.

"You'll be all right now Marty, thank God."

The envelope that lay on Marty's chest had three words largely printed on it.

Marty, I'm sorry.

Authors Note: Well what do you think? Don't worry I'm not done with this fic yet. There will be a couple more chapters. I'm sorry it took so long to get the last chapter posted. Hopefully this makes up for it. RR. Thanks to all who have been reviewing so far.