Traveller in Time
Part One
Chapter Four
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Brown was waiting just outside the door, minus coat and bowtie, looking rumpled and a little more human. Marty and Jennifer nodded to him as they passed into the parking lot, and he followed them to their truck.
"You'll have to ride in back," Marty said. "Hope you don't mind."
David shrugged. "The night is warm."
Marty and Jennifer climbed into the cab and waited until their passenger was well-seated in the back before pulling out into the road.
Neither of them said anything for a couple minutes. Jennifer looked out the window at the passing darkness. She looked at the road, then down at her dress, then quickly out at Brown, who was staring down the receding highway with a look of distant concentration in his eyes.
Finally, she said: "I can't believe you told him."
"Jennifer-"
"After everything you and Doctor Brown kept saying about keeping secrets and power in the wrong hands and- and all of that. You just told him."
"Jennifer-"
"I mean, I know he's his nephew and all, but that doesn't mean he should-"
"He would have found out eventually."
She stared at him, surprised. "He would've?"
"Yeah, probably. Jennifer, he had a picture of me. You know, when I was doing my rock thing back in 1955?"
"How did he-?"
"Went through the newspapers and found it. He knew something was up."
"He creeps me out."
"So did the Doc when you first met him."
"Well...yeah...he's still weird."
"Yeah, he always was. I swear he's getting weirder every time he comes back." Marty ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. Maybe there's something about time travel that turns you a little strange." He stopped for a red light and turned to Jennifer. "Do you think I'm stranger than before...you know...?"
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
She nodded. "Yeah, you're a lot different. I mean, you've changed a lot since you got back, too. But it's more than that. Did I tell you that you talk in your sleep?"
"Yeah, you make me roll over and shut up sometimes."
"I hear you talking to people who aren't there. People you told me about from the past. You said something to Seamus last night. Something about a hat. Marty, some of those people have been dead for years, since before you were BORN. It's-"
"Weird?"
"I guess so." She looked out the window again. "Sometimes, late at night, I hear you talking to these people, and I feel...I don't know...disconnected. Lost in time. Sometimes I have to get up and walk around the apartment, just to be sure I'm still in the right time."
"Is that why you started leaving the TV on at night?"
"Yeah. I mean, things were pretty good these past few weeks, but now-" She looked back out at Brown. "Now he comes out of nowhere, actually gets you to TALK to him about what happened in 1985. Are you going to take him to meet Doctor Brown?"
"If anyone will know what to do now, it'll be him. Anyway, I feel like I have to after everything I've told him."
"What happens then?"
Marty shook his head. "I don't know."
"This IS our wedding night, you know."
"I know." He leaned over and kissed her. "I'll make sure he stays at a hotel."
"You better..."
They pulled into the apartment parking lot.