Chapter 5

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

Hill Valley VD

6:20 P.M.

"This is bad. This is very bad," Emmett said, pacing the room. "If your Dr. Brown is in my dimension, it could mean we're stuck."

"Stuck?" Mystie repeated, not liking the sound of the word.

"I could be trapped here forever, and vice-versa." He sighed. "I certainly don't want that. I have a family who will miss me terribly. I miss them already. And I'm positive you want your husband back."

"Badly," Mystie nodded. "Who is your wife in the other dimension, anyway?"

"Her name is Clara Clayton. She was a schoolteacher back in 1885. I got thrown back there by a stray lightning bolt, and I ended up saving her life."

"Clara Clayton? Of Clayton Ravine?" Jennifer blurted.

"Exactly. I saved her from going over the edge, and we fell in love the minute our eyes met." He glanced over at Mystie and frowned. "Well, maybe. Seeing myself married to another woman shakes up that idea."

"It makes me feel pretty weird too," Mysteria admitted. "I mean, I love my Emmett. His smile, his voice, his hair, his eyes. . . . You know, you have the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen."

Emmett blushed a little. "Well, thank you. Clara's said that they're her favorite feature too." He suddenly smirked a little. "Do you like Jules Verne?"

"Love him." Mysteria smirked back. "Why, am I not as different from her as you thought?"

"I'm just saying, I'd be likely to marry the same type of woman." He sighed deeply. "Damn, I miss my family. I hope your Dr. Brown wasn't too surprised by the boys."

"Kids. I can't believe it," Marty shook his head.

Emmett smiled proudly. "Neither could my Marty, at first. And I really gave him a shock with the names Jules Clint and Verne Calvin."

Marty couldn't help but smile a little. "Calvin I know from 'Calvin Klein,' but Clint?"

"Your other self went by the name of Clint Eastwood back in 1885."

Jennifer giggled. "I still think it's funny you named them Jules Verne."

"Well, he's Clara's favorite author too. . . ."

"If you've got them waiting for you back there, we gotta figure out how to get you home pronto," Marty said, getting up. "You think your family will have noticed the difference?"

"I hope so. That would make our lives"

Emmett suddenly had a very nasty thought. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" Mysteria repeated, not liking the sound of his voice.

"I just thought of a major obstacle we could encounter. Clara's already had an experience with an alternate version of myself."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Not in this case. It's well, back in 1986, Marty and Clara were having some problems getting along. They were pushing each other's buttons and such. One day, Marty and I got into a fight over their problems, which culminated in a childish shoving match. Just as we were finishing, another Clara, bruised and disheveled, shows up on our door. And a few minutes later" Emmett swallowed. "So did I. Another version of me, from the near future. With a knife to Marty's throat."

Marty's eyes went wide. "What?" he squeaked.

"Clara explained it all to us later. Apparently, if we had finished the fight without her showing up, I would have accidentally killed Marty. My older self had gone completely insane from the guilt. According to her, my psychotic self was obsessed with getting 'revenge' for Marty by murdering her and the children. He'd already killed Einstein and the majority of the McFly family before she went back in time."

"Holy shit," Jennifer whispered, horrified.

"We both still have nightmares," Emmett nodded, wiping his eyes. "Now I'm afraid that your Dr. Brown might get hurt if he's in my reality. Clara's almost certain not to trust him. It's even possible she might kill him if she thought he was threatening her. Although that's highly unlikely," he rushed to add as Mysteria and Marty both went very white. "Even though he nearly killed her, she couldn't kill my psychotic self."

"So what happened to him?" Jennifer asked, looking like she really didn't want to know.

"Tried to kill all of us, but ended up falling down a flight of stairs to his death, thanks to Einstein. Marty and I dumped the body where it wouldn't be noticed. Although, technically, you could say he never existed, as Clara prevented the accident from happening when she went back in time. I'm just thankful the kids weren't home that day to see anything." Emmett took a deep breath. "Let's get down to business. I hate having to remember that day."

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

Hill Valley Trilogy

7:34 P.M.

Doc rubbed his eyes as he finished another journal. My other self has had quite the exciting life, he thought, setting the book aside. First Jennifer being whisked along on the adventure by accident; then being kidnaped by the police and taken to her own future home I wonder if her experiences were anything like mine? Then there's the alternate 1985 which Biff created and ruledDoc couldn't repress a slight shudder at that. He still remembered the world they had seen ruled by the vampire Biff. At least they got that Sports Almanac away from him back in 1955. Then my other self is sent back to 1885, is followed there by Marty when he learns I'm about to be killed, and I end up falling in love with Clara Clayton and sending Marty home alone. All because Marty Junior got into some trouble and I decided to take Marty to the future.

He shook his head as he picked up the next journal. This is fascinating. Even with a time machine, even with Marty's own example with his parents, I never thought much about what would happen if there were just a few small changes in my life. One way, I've been turned into a vampire and have just gotten married. Another way, and I'd have become a cowboy, married an Old West schoolteacher, and had two young boys. I still don't know how I got home, though. Did Marty manage to come back for me a third time? He flipped open the book. Only one way to find out.

"September 9th, 1885

Clara and I have become officially engaged! I bought her the ring this morning and proposed. Of course she said yes. We knew we were going to wed from the moment our eyes first met. We plan to be married by the end of the month, if not sooner. Everyone in town is happy for us, but I've heard a lot of questions about my age as compared to Clara's. We're going to have to figure out some way to get around that. . . .

Meanwhile, I have already started drafting plans for a new time machine. Although I don't have access to stainless steel or advanced electronics in this time period, I'm going to have to do my best. Having Marty spend a few days back here with me really woke me up to how badly I could be affecting the time-line. Especially now that I've saved Clara from her intended death. I have to go back to 1985 as soon as possible.

Clara, although understandably nervous, supports me completely. She's quite curious to see the future, actually. And I think she knows how much I already miss Marty. Hopefully I'll find a way to build a new flux capacitor.

Clara just told me if I can build a refrigerator back here, I can certainly handle a time machine. God, I love that woman."

Doc had to laugh at that. The next few pages were drawings of how to construct working time machine parts. Doc carefully scanned them, making notes of any truly pertinent points. After all, you never knew what accidents could happen with a time machine. Case in point, his situation right now.

There were a few more entries on his and Clara's wedding and their short honeymoon then a page that was shockingly water-stained. His curiosity perked, Doc paused and read the entry.

"September 21st 1885

There was a formal dedication today. Thanks to my story, this whole town regards Marty (or as they know him, Clint Eastwood) as the hero he really is. The ravine in which he "died" has been named after him in his honor.

As the ceremony progressed, I heard the whistle of a train in the distance. I asked Seamus about it, and he he reminds me of Marty, goddamn it, how can I even look him in the face, knowing what I've done

Anyway, I asked Seamus, and he told me it was the 11 A.M. train that day, right on time. I smiled back, and and

I'm sorry, my hands are shaking. I told Seamus that it was the same thing back home for me.

And that's when it hit me.

Oh God. . . . I swear I meant to say P.M.! I swear on my inventions, on my love for Clara, on my life! I meant to say P.M.! A.M. just slipped out in the heat of the moment! This scene just keeps replaying over and over in my head. Marty arrives back in the future, is all ready to resume his life and suddenly this freight train is coming right at him and he can't get out of the way in time

I KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!"

Doc felt his own eyes well up in sympathy. Now he understood why this page had suffered so much water damage. His other self must have been sobbing. To think that he might have murdered Marty. . . .

He blinked the tears back. You can't cry. It wasn't even your Marty, for Newton's sake. And obviously he survived, he was there to greet me.

But I miss my Marty now. Not being able to feel his heartbeat anymore. It's like he is dead. Great Scott, what if I'm trapped here permanently! I'll never see him again! Well, I will, but it won't be the same Marty. And I'll never see Mysteria again either. I'll be married to this strange woman whom I've never met before. With two kids who aren't really my own. The tears came back with a vengeance. Damn it, I want to go home. I want to be with my Mystie, on our honeymoon. I want to feel Marty's heartbeat again.

A knock at the door interrupted his bout of pity. "Emmett? Sweetheart, can we talk?"

Doc closed the journal. "Sure, Clara," he replied, getting up. "I've gotten all caught up on 'my' past history. What have you told the boys?"

"Just that Papa suffered an accident and he needed some time to rest and recover."

Doc paused. Clara's tone sounded almost too sweet. Like she was hiding something. "Is Marty still around?"

"Yes, he's downstairs at the moment, getting a snack. We figured it was best to let you get reacclimated to your home, considering the extent of your illness. What have you been doing?"

"Rereading my journals. Fascinating stuff, let me tell you." Doc opened the door

And found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun.

Thursday, February 19th, 1987

Hill Valley VD

6:24 P.M.

Emmett paced for a few minutes, sorting out the facts in his head. "All right." He pulled his blackboard into the center of the room. "Let's get all our information down in one place. We know that both I and my other self were testing the Temporal Displacement Locator. And that something occurred during this test to make us switch dimensions."

"And that our Doc might be in danger," Marty added, looking physically sick at the thought.

"Yes, unfortunately, so speed is of the essence. Now, let's come up with some theories. Can we all agree that it was most likely the fault of the DeLorean that this happened?" Nods all around. "Considering that we were both testing the same invention, I'm tempted to say it has to do with the TDL. I'm loath to take the car apart, but I may have to, to discover the problem."

Mystie, Marty, and Jennifer looked at each other dubiously. "That sounds pretty risky," Jennifer noted.

"I know, but. . . ." Emmett shrugged fatalistically. "That's more or less a last resort issue, however. There has to be other ideas we can try first."

"Why don't we try retracing your temporal steps?" Mystie suggested. "That could give us some clues."

"Excellent idea, Mysteria. All three of you could come along with me when I had my new DeLorean converted for time travel, I had the garage rebuild it into a four-seater."

"Ironic, our Emmett did the same thing with his DeLorean."

"If nobody minds, I'll stay here," Jennifer said quickly. "I'm really not in the mood to go hopping through time, especially if we could get lost in another dimension. And somebody should stay behind just in case our Doc manages to get back."

"Good thinking. You stay here then. And if we're not back in two hours, tell the McFlys what happened."

"Don't talk like that. You're coming back," Jennifer almost threatened. Her eyes were wide and fearful, silently begging her friends not to go. "I know you too well. You have to come back."

Marty kissed her. "Believe me, Jennifer, I'd move mountains to get back to you. But I have to go. Doc's my best friend. We've saved each other's asses too many times for me to chicken out here."

"This is my husband that could be in danger," Mysteria nodded. "Any blushing bride would do the same." She thought about it for a moment. "Well, maybe not, but it's the principle of the thing." She squeezed Jennifer. "But we'll do everything we can to get back. I promise you that."

Emmett suddenly felt a little awkward. Wow. We're certainly a tight-knit group in this world. My family isn't quite that close to Marty, and I'm not that close to Jennifer. I mean, it's not like we're all not friends back home, but It's like they're a little family. Wow. "We we should get going," he said.

"Okay." Mystie and Marty gave Jennifer a final hug, then joined Emmett in his DeLorean. "You came here from Seattle, correct?"

"Correct."

"Then that's where we start."