Chapter 13:

Marty awoke to a knock on his bedroom door the next morning. Groaning he sat up and looked at the clock above his head. 9:39 it read. After quickly cracking his back and with a yawn, he stood to answer the door. His mother stood there with a smile on her face.

"Morning, sleepy head," she greeted, ruffling his bed head, "I just wanted to make sure you were up. Your father and I are going to play the Gardner's in tennis today. Will you be ok on your own?"

"Yeah, mom," he said scratching the back of his head, "I'm actually probably going to head out for the day."

"Alright," she smiled warmly, "Have fun and be safe."
"I will, mom," he said with a smile.

His mother walked down the hall and Marty retreated back into his room. He belly flopped back into the bed, determined to kill a few minutes just laying there. No one had to be anywhere in a certain amount of time. With a time machine, time is on your side. After at least ten or so minutes of lying in bed, Marty finally decided to get up for the day, slowly.

He didn't mind to put on another pair of jeans. Stripping off his plaid shirt and red undershirt, he pulled on a clean-ish blue undershirt and a black sweatshirt. After slipping on his Nikes and quickly brushing his hair, he threw on a blue puffy vest and ran out the door with his skateboard in hand.

Once he ran to the street, he suddenly stopped. He about-faced and ran back into the house. Marty walked into the kitchen and grabbed a notepad and a pen. He began to write. Settled with what he had down, he put the letter inside and envelope and wrote '85 Marty on the front. He placed the letter gently into the pocket of his sweatshirt and ran out the door once more, not going back this time.

Marty skated down to Doc's, taking the long way. One thing that he was dreading was taking Nix home to her own era. He didn't want to let her go, but he had to. If you love something, or someone, you gotta let it go… no matter how hard it may be.

He had finally reached Doc's house at about 11 or so. When he walked in, Einstein attacked him, barking for attention from his friend. Marty smiled and patted the dog on the head.

"Marty? Is that you?"

"Yeah, Doc!" Marty called.

"Great! I need your help for a few minutes."

"How's that project of yours coming along?" Marty asked.

"Quite well," Doc said happily, "That's what I need help with. Could you check over the math for the battery pack?"

"Sure," he said with a shrug. He walked over to the drawing table and went over the equation, "Doc, how's Nix?"

"Nicole? She's been quiet all night and into the morning."

"Doc, please tell me you weren't up all night again."

Doc paused, "No."

"Doc, honestly, this project may be a flop. Besides, who would want a portable phone?"

"Just you wait, Marty, this invention will revolutionize the way we are today! It just needs a few… adjustments."

"A few?"

"Or more, give or take."

"If you say so, Doc," Marty sighed, "Well, if you're so set on this project working, then redo your math so the equation balances."

"It's not even?" he asked, shocked.

"Nope."

"Damn," he said and pushed Marty to the side of the drawing table so he could check his math.

Marty wandered over to his work table and saw a small device that he thought was this new portable phone he was working on. Seriously, who would use a portable telephone? But whatever kept Doc… well, more or lessly sane. A few other of his inventions were spread across the work table. In shambles and pieces, none of the other inventions were finished. Doc would start one, then jump into another one, or dismember one and use parts of that one for another invention, and keep that cycle going on.

Doc had rushed over back to his worktable and began to tinker with the phone once more. Marty rolled his eyes and walked into the den next to his lab. He patted Einstein on the head. The puppy barked happily.

"Doc, I'm gonna go get Nix," Marty called.

"Go ahead, Marty. Remember what I told you last night. The sooner you get-"

"-her out of this era everything will be safe and no paradoxes for a while at least. Yeah, I remember."

Doc went on mumbling to himself about something. Marty didn't hear what, but he assumed it was about his invention. After listening to the babble for a few seconds, Marty went to the stairs and up to Nix's room.

When he got there, he heard movement on the other side of the door. He knocked and waited for an answer. The door opened and a sleepy Nix was standing there. She yawned and then smiled.

"Hey," she said, smiling tiredly.

"Just wake up or something?" he asked, raising his eyebrow and crossing his arms.

She nodded, "Yup. Trying to stall time, McFly?"

"Touché. Yeah, I did."

"Same here," she sighed, "I don't wanna go."

"I don't want you to go either, but you have to."

"I know, I know. We all gotta do shit we don't wanna do," she squeak-sneezed again.

"Bless you. Well, you can take your time. We got all the time in the world with a time machine."

She laughed, "Funny. True and funny."

Marty chuckled, "I'll wait for you downstairs, ok?"

"Ok," she sniffled.

Marty disappeared from the doorframe, leaving Nix alone. She sniffled again and closed the door behind her. Nix took off the hoodie she slept in and put on her baseball tee she came with. She pulled the sweatpants over the sleep shorts by force of habit. Suddenly realizing her habit, she ditched the sweatpants and kicked off the shorts before pulling her sweatpants back on. She sneezed again and brushed her hair haphazardly before pulling it back in a ponytail. Unsatisfied with that, she took another hairband from her wrist and made loose pigtails. Still unsatisfied she gave up and left it down.

Lastly, and quite sad, she slipped on her flip flops. She did not want to leave 1985. She didn't want to leave the boy she had begun to fall for. But she would miss her daddy and her brothers. Gain one to loose four? That's not a good ratio in her mind. She turned off the light in the room before leaving the room for the last time.

Quietly walking down the stairs, she overheard Doc and Marty talking. She sat down and decided to listen in for a few minutes.

"Doc, I really don't wanna take her home," Marty started off.

"Marty, you know you have to do it."

"Yeah I know that, Doc. It's just really gonna be hard to let her go like that."

"When you love something, you know you have to just let it go. Whether that be a pet or a person, it's hard. It's also never easy. Nicole has a life of her own, back in 2012. a family, friends, schoolmates that she secretly hates."

"What?"

"She told me a few things along those lines. Anyway, Marty, you have to do it. a modern girl doesn't belong in 1985. So you have to take her back."

"What time should I drop her off?" he sighed.

"Sometime in the early morning so no one will notice she had gone off somewhere."

"Sounds good, I'll go get her then…"

Nix quickly stood and kept walking down like she heard none of that. Marty had just begun to walk up the stairs when he saw Nix.

"Oh, good timing. I was just about to get you. you ready?"

"No," she said honestly.

"Neither am I," he sighed, "Let's go."

She walked down the rest of the stairs and walked into Doc's lab. Puppy Einstein demanded pets. She reached down and pat the puppies head. She was going to miss Einstein as a puppy rather than that lazy old dog he was. She turned to Doc.

"Well, I'll see ya around in the future."

"Tell me something, Nicole. Are there such things as portable telephones?"
"You mean cell phones? Yeah, their the hot shit. Everyone has one. I find them pointless, but lost of people use them. Why you ask?"

"Told you so, Marty," he said acting like a little kid again.

"Sorry I doubted you, Doc," Marty said.

Nix gave Doc a quick hug, "Defiantly see you around."

"Looking forward to it. You were of great help here."

"Thank you," she smiled.

She pulled away. Marty cleared his throat and Nix looked to him.

"We should get going."

"Yeah…" she sighed.

"I'll be back a little later, Doc," Marty called before leading Nix out of the house.

Nix hung onto Marty. Not just because that she felt like she was going to fall over, but because she didn't want to let him go any time soon.

(A/N: just throwing this out there, but the parts with the cell phone, those are my thoughts on it. I dunno, I don't use mine that often so I thought it'd be kinda weird how Nix is from the future telling Doc that she doesn't like cell phones)