Chapter 12:

Marty managed to walk Nix back to Doc's house without her falling over or him having to carry her. Doc was working down in his lab with Marty and Nix walked in. he smiled warmly to the two.

"Did the musical contest go as planned?" he asked.

"More or less," Marty said, "I'll be right back."

Marty walked through the house, trying to do his best to keep Nix steady while getting little Einstein from jumping up on him wanting attention. Marty kept Nix close to him when walking up the stairs.

"Marty, I'm fine, promise," she said.

"Like I'm going to believe that," he said rubbing her shoulder soothingly.

He led her down the hall to the neon green room. He didn't bother putting the light on as he led her in the room. Nix flopped down on the bed and then sat up.

"Thank you, Marty," she said with a squeaky sneeze again.

He smiled, "Bless you. And it was no problem what so ever. I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'm fine, promise you."

"Just get some rest. The deed was done, so I'm probably going to have to take you back to your own era."

A frown fell upon her face, "I don't wanna go," she sneezed again.

"Bless you. Besides, who knows what could happen if you stay longer. The future could be seriously altered. You and your brothers could vanish from existence. Can't risk it. I'm sorry, but tomorrow, I'm going to have to take you back."

She nodded, "I understand."

He fiddled around with a fuzzy section on the wall near the door. Odd niece Doc had… he didn't want to take her back, but someone had too.

"Listen, get some sleep. I'll be back for you in the morning, alright?"
"Alright," she nodded, sniffling.

He gave her a childish grin again, "Night."

She smiled, "Night, Marty. And thank you again."

He smiled once more before closing the door behind him as he walked into the hallway. Once the door shut, Nix stood from the bed and turned on the lamp on the nightstand, sending a light glow into the room. She kicked off the jeans and pulled on the pair of sleep shorts from the night before. After taking off the neon shirt, she pulled on a Cali University hoodie and turned off the light again. After one last sneeze, she was out like a light.

Marty had returned downstairs only to be attacked by little Einstein again. The puppy was upset with Marty for ignoring him earlier. Einstein jumped up on Marty's legs and demanded to be pet. He rolled his eyes and picked up the puppy and carried him into the lab with Doc.

"What's the matter with Nicole?" Doc asked.

"Oddest thing," Marty began, "One second she was fine, and then as the night went on, she just got sick. It was pretty heavy."

"Strange," Doc began to pace around the work space, "Did something happen between you and her or her and her father?"

Marty set the puppy down, "Well…"

"Marty, what happened between Nicole and you or her father?"

He let out a huge sigh, "Well, there was a short break in between rounds and she was sitting all alone. I thought it'd be fun if she could get up and dance. She said she didn't know how to so me and my friends decided to make her. Then a slow song came on and we kinda almost…."

"Almost did what, Marty?" he asked finally stopping pacing and got up next to Marty, yearning for him to continue.

He cleared his throat, "Well… we uh almost… uh, kissed…"

"Marty! I thought we talked about this merely hours ago!" Doc scolded.

"I know, I know. I messed up big time. But when we ya know, had the moment, it was like one of the most perfect moments ever. They had just played Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I had convinced Nix to dance to the song, it took a bit of convincing because she hates dancing but she did anyway. Then when the song ended, it was the next song that made it feel like a classic high school dance. We were dancing to "Earth Angel". You remember when I went back to make my parents fall in love?"

"Yes?" he had no idea where Marty was going at the moment.

"Well that was the song that my parents kissed to when I had to play it back then. So anyway, it was just something outta a movie. We got close, she cuddled and before any serious damage could happen, the one band member got us away from each other. But since that moment, she got sick."

"You are taking her home tomorrow, right?" Doc asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. If she were to stay any longer there could be a risk of serious damage to the space time continuum."

"Right. Well, her mission was successful, and that should matter most of all."

"As long as her father didn't have strong feelings toward her."

"None that I saw," Marty shrugged, "He thought we were dating or something."

"Still not good, but alright."

"Anything else you wanna know?" Marty asked.

"Do you know if anyone had developed strong feelings for her," Marty opened his mouth but Doc continued, "Besides you?"

He shook his head, "Nope."

"Perfect. Well, Marty if you're not doing anything at the moment, would you give me a hand with my newest creation?" Doc had asked walking back over to the work space.

"Sure, Doc," Marty said with a smile, "What are you working on now?"

"A brilliant new device that is going to change the world as we know it!" he exclaimed.

"Which would be… what exactly?"

"It's a telephone, that you can take everywhere with you. It's not plugged into a wall or anything, it runs on a battery!" he said.

Marty laughed, "Doc, I honestly think that the invention wouldn't go over too big."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I mean who would by a portable phone?"

"You never know, Marty," Doc said, "Now come and help me."

Without an argument, Marty agreed to help Doc. The late night slipped into the early morning. 10 turned to 2 and Marty's attention span dwindled down to almost the span of a gold fish's. Some time around 2:30, Marty had finally deiced to go home.

"Hey, Doc," Marty said, "It's pretty late, I think I'm gonna head home."

"Alright, Marty," Doc said not even bothering to look up from his blue prints.

"I'm just gonna check on Nix and gonna head out then."

"What time are you going to pick her up?" Doc asked.

"Not sure. Whenever I fall outta bed I suppose."

"Alright…" he trialed off as he had one of his moments, "Great Scott!"

Marty laughed and walked up the stairs to check on Nix. He opened the door slightly and the hall light cast a shadow onto Nix, sound asleep in the bed. He smiled and just wanted to watch her for awhile. After realizing how creepy that was, he shut the door and went back downstairs.

He walked to the door and was just about to open the door when he called over his shoulder, "Night, Doc! See you tomorrow!"

"Night, Marty," he called.

Marty had walked out the door and into the chilly night. He walked to the sidewalk before breaking into a run home and hope no one noticed he was gone. Finally home, he cursed under his breath at the living room light still on. Sucking it up, he walked in the front door.

He did his best to sneak past the living room, but jumped at the sound of his father's voice.

"Marty? Is that you?"

"Yeah, dad," he sighed.

"Do you know what time it is?"

Marty doubled back and walked into the living room. His father, George, was writing in a tablet on the couch dressed in pjs. He probably got up with a great idea for his next syfy novel. Marty sat down in one of the arm chairs across from the couch.

"Yeah… sorry about that, Dad. I lost track of time," he said. It wasn't a lie, it was true.

"How did the concert go? Did you win?" George asked, not even caring the slightest that his youngest son had just walked into the door at quarter after two in the morning.

"No we didn't," Marty said, "Our lead singer for the night got sick and she couldn't perform."

"She?" George looked up from his notepad.

"Yeah, Doc's niece was in town for a few days and she could sing so we thought 'why not induct her in for the night?'. But she got sick before we could go against Mike Fox for the last round."

"Do you happen to like this girl, Marty?"

"I don't know what you mean, Dad," Marty said acting dumb.

"Were you out with this girl all night?"

"I was out with her all day actually. I went to drop her off at Doc's and ended up working with him for a while on a new crazy invention," he said coming out with the total truth of his day.

"Well, as long as no harm was done anywhere."

"Nope. I wouldn't take advantage of a girl like that," Marty said honestly.

"That's good to hear son, I'm glad we had this talk."

That usually indicated that George was done talking to him for the night. Marty stood from the arm chair.

"Good talk, Dad," Marty said, "Night."

"Night, son," he said before returning to his notepad.

Marty had walked into his dark room. He slipped out of his jean jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. He kicked off his shoes and flopped down in bed. Without even changing into pjs, he fell asleep in his clothes.

The last thing that Marty thought about before his eyes closed was Nix. That night, he dreamt of her. He knew he should've, but did anyway.

Boys can't help it sometimes.