Author's Note: Here you go, new chapter. Don't be too sad - Marty and Doc will make up, afterwards.

Disclaimer: I don't own BTTF, hate between Doc and Marty, or Jules and Verne. I do own Susan Clayton... well, I think so.

10: Chapter Ten

Wednesday, December 25th, 1991

Hill Valley, California

4: 52 P. M.

"Merry Christmas!"

Doc smiled a little at Marty's enthusiasm. "Yeah, merry Christmas" he said. "Are you always that enthusiastic at welcoming visitors?" The Brown family was invited to the McFly mansion, which was recently finished, somewhere out of town. However Doc had felt a little unsure about doing this, his oldest son, three-year-old Jules, had urged him to do it, excited at the idea of going to a mansion. Susan had also said he should go, hoping it would be good to Marty's and Doc's friendship. Finally, Doc had volunteered to go along, hoping that Susan would actually be right.

Marty smirked. "Not always" he admitted. "But today's a special day – it's Christmas! And you were my friend for ten years, after all, so… merry Christmas again."

"Yeah, right" Doc muttered, still smiling. "Where's the living room?" He looked around in the rather big house, wondering where everything was.

"Just follow the hallway" Marty said. "I'll lead the way." Doc, Susan helping twenty-one-month-old Verne, and little Jules followed him through various hallways, stairs up and down and things like that, and after what seemed like hours they finally arrived in the living room, where Doc noticed it was in fact just 5:00 PM – the clock was just striking five in the back of the room. The inventor looked around astonished in the huge room, where he counted three television sets, as well as various benches that seemed to be unused. It was simply amazing.

"How do you find your way in this house?" he asked Marty. "I mean, you could get lost rather easily – it felt like walking through Hill Valley Park, just going to the living room!" He smirked. "I guess you don't have to worry about thieves stealing things – they'll get lost before they even can find something valuable!"

Marty laughed. "That's a valid possibility" he admitted. "But that's not the reason we made the house that big. And I assure you, we can find our way through the house… reasonable enough. And for visitors, we placed a map in the hallway that came before this room."

"I see" Doc nodded. He sat down, smiling. "So, shall we start with the meal?"

Marty smirked. "You know, smelling Jen's amazing cooking skills, I was about to suggest just that."

Wednesday, December 25th

5: 53 P. M.

It took them almost an hour to eat the delicious dinner Jennifer had prepared. Finally, Doc leaned back with a sigh, and realized Part Two of his plan was about to go into work. "Um… Marty, do you mind if I use the toilet? I really have to go."

"No problem" Marty cheerfully said. "Just look it up in the map I told you about. I can tell you where it is, but that'll be a bit confusing, maybe. I am not sure I actually know it myself, either."

Doc smiled, as Marty blushed. "Anyway, I gotta go" the scientist announced. "See you." He headed off towards the hallway.

Once there, he looked at the map, and located Marty's room fairly quickly. He then grabbed a piece of paper he'd brought along with him from home, as well as a pen. Carefully, he started writing down the way to the room. Finally finished, he smiled. "Perfect" he said, smiling. "I'll be there in just a few minutes."

As he then headed up the stairs that led to Marty's room, he started thinking over his entire plan. This plan wasn't without any danger, but he really wanted to find out what it was that made Marty be so rich. He didn't believe the excuse of being lucky, and he'd already discovered the almanac. Now, he would see where it was, if it was for real, and finally gain truth to his suspicions. Then, he'd go downstairs, leave the book where it was, go home, finish the time machine and go back to 1985.

The inventor winced as he made his way through the hallway's and stairs. He started to wonder how one could live here without getting lost. What was worse, the lights were all out, and he didn't want to turn them on in fear of Marty somehow noticing – who knew what kind of security the kid had now – and therefore, he had to do with the faint light he had, causing him not to be able to read whatever was written down on his piece of paper. I should've planned this more carefully!

After what seemed to be an eternity, Doc entered Marty's room, having finally found it, just as the clock started striking six. Briefly, Doc was remembered of that experience in 1955, when he'd heard the same thing up at the clock tower, trying to send his friend home. At that point in time, I wanted to do everything for him, even if it meant risking my life, to ensure Marty would have a good future. And now, I'm doing something that'll wreck any future he could have after that accident… He started to feel guilty.

After a few seconds, however, his senses returned, and he wrote off that guiltiness. It's nonsense. It's Marty's own fault. He shouldn't have reacted to being called 'chicken' in the first place. It's him who is currently messing up the space-time continuum. Determined not to let those thoughts of guilt get to him, the scientist set to work on finding the almanac, and started digging through the paperwork in Marty's room.

Wednesday, December 25th

6: 02 P. M.

Marty frowned, as he looked at the clock. Why wasn't Doc back yet? It had been nine minutes since the inventor had gone off for what he said to be a toilet visit. There was no reason for the scientist to be delayed in visiting the toilet for that long, even if he was getting lost. The map should provide him with the necessary information about getting there.

Come to think of it, Doc had been nervous all the way the time he'd been there. More nervous than one was supposed to be, when on a friendly visit to the boss, especially when both persons had known each other for sixteen years – or thirty-six, on Doc's side. It also couldn't be Jennifer – Doc and Jen had met in 1982, which was nine years ago and three years before the fateful weekend that ended up ruining their friendship. No, that couldn't be it either.

Was it introducing Susan to his friends? Was it letting Susan, and the kids, have a good impression? For a moment, Marty was willing to consider that theory, but then he realized that at the beginning of the evening, everyone had been properly introduced, and Susan had met Jennifer and Marty both a few times before. That couldn't be it as well. What could it be, then…

Suddenly, it hit Marty with a bolt of lightning. Doc was off to find what caused this mess in the first place – the almanac. The whole thing started to click into each other in Marty's head as one big circle. Ever since his first bet, Marty had received a few stares from Doc, and it wasn't jealousy. It was suspicion. And that had only increased after the passing of the New Year. Over the entire year, Marty had felt annoyed by Doc's stares, but felt like he shouldn't interrupt. Now, though…

As swift as he could, the business man jumped up, and headed towards the hallway without one word what he was doing. Everyone followed him, curiously, even little Verne walked after him. As Marty then reached the hall way, he looked at the map, and found his and Jennifer's bedroom marked in a red circle. "Holy shit" he whispered, starting to get mad. Again without any warning, he pushed his way through the people that had gathered around him, and raced up the stairs towards his room, everyone else following him. Martin Seamus McFly was seriously pissed off.

Wednesday, December 25th

6: 07 P. M.

Doc smiled, as he finally realized where the almanac was. In the past seven minutes, he'd practically turned the room upside-down in a way to find the book. Time was running out for him, after all – almost nobody was on the toilet for almost a quarter, and if he stayed away longer, Marty was likely to get suspicious, or worried. So, he'd been feeling helpless on what to do – until he realized where the book could be.

In the back of the room was a large painting of the Courthouse, remodelled into a hotel, as it was supposed to look like once the workers were finished next May. Doc had seen it before, but paid no attention. Now, he sneaked up to it, carefully removed the painting, and found behind it what he'd thought to be there – a safe. He smiled, but his smile faded as he saw the knobs next to it and an empty plate above that.

"Great Scott, a code" he groaned. This wasn't his day. Or maybe it was, if he could just get that code to work. Carefully not to touch any knobs, he started thinking. What could the code be? The day Marty first won? Doc tapped in 06091989, only to find that the code stopped after the '19' and was, judging from the red light and soft beep, wrong. Again, Doc tried a code, this time 102685, the day Marty got the almanac. Nope. Even Marty's birthday didn't work: 060968 turned up nothing.

The inventor was about to give up when he got another idea. Punching in 060282, the day Marty and Jennifer met, he saw green light flash up. He smiled satisfied as the safe opened, and grabbed a red thing out of it. The scientist looked at it, eyes wide.

The thing read:

GRAY'S SPORTS ALMANAC

1950-2000

Instantly, Doc knew where the almanac came from. He'd seen it in a store in 2015; there was no doubt, Marty had purchased this on their trip. Now that he thought of it, he remembered seeing Marty flip through a book of some sorts when he'd arrived back from the twenty-seventh to pick up Einie, but he'd chalked it up to his imagination. He now knew he was wrong.

"Freeze, Doc!"

Not in listening to the commander but in surprise at the call, Doc froze and turned around. In the entry of the room was a seriously angry Marty McFly, who was followed by the frightened other people: Jennifer, Susan, Jules and even Verne. "You tried to steal my almanac, huh?" the twenty-two-year-old said. He snatched the book out of the inventor's hands. "Do I really have to hire more security because I can't even trust my own employees?"

"You're the thief here, McFly!" Doc shouted. "That book is evidence! You stole future information that shouldn't belong to you! Do you even realize that everything you do with that money, everything you buy, even the fact you own that money is something that can and will disrupt history, future history, in a major way?"

"Hell do I care!" Marty shouted back. "2015 is still twenty-four years away!"

"That doesn't mean you don't have to care, you selfish egoist!" Doc snapped, temper rising.

"You didn't care about me either, nutcase!" Marty snapped back. "You were heartless enough to let me have that accident with the Rolls Royce! If it wasn't for that almanac, I wouldn't even have a future!"

"Well, that would've been fine with me!" Doc exclaimed. He normally didn't say those things, but his temper was now higher than it had ever been before in those six hard years. "You don't deserve one, you selfish, ignorant, arrogant, annoying brat!"

Marty's face turned red with anger. "That's enough" he hissed, shooting both Browns a deadly look. "You get out. All four of you. RIGHT NOW."

"What if I refuse?" Doc yelled.

Marty simply pulled a handle. Before Doc was able to do anything, the roof opened above them, and the ground underneath the four of them lifted up rapidly. He didn't even have time to realize what the system was before the ground stopped rising for a moment, then rose for one second again, and literally threw them out of the mansion before going back to normal form, leaving the Browns flying in the air.

Doc had just enough time to catch Verne before he landed onto the hard ground. As he rubbed his back, he could hear Marty's final shout reach his ears.

"YOU'RE FIRED!!!"