Disclaimer: I don't own Back to the Future, not even on October 27th.

Author's Note: It's one of the Back to the Future days, so have another set of two chapters. I'm uploading them in pairs nowadays because they really are short. I guess when I was writing them I figured that I might go back to revise them later and rewrite two chapters so that they could be one, but I never bothered to do that, and it would be strange if I started now. And in this case, it's useful for showing you two perspectives. This chapter brings you Doc Brown; the next will feature Marty McFly. Enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen

Wednesday, March 24, 1920
08:50 AM PDT
Hill Valley, California

Doc sighed, cutting off the connection with Marty. He didn't like having to leave the teen waiting for him, but he really wanted to find the time train. It had been so long since he had seen his family, and the wish to reunite had grown bigger and become more urgent ever since they had gotten back to 1920. There was no clue what Biff might do to them if he or Marty angered him enough. Doc shivered, and he once again went off to look for the locomotive.

He had, using the detector, managed to track down some of the train's radio waves, waves that should not be around in 1920 and were emitted from a device he had installed in 2019. The signals were clear, but occasionally became distorted and Doc had to wait for them to clear up again. Also, they were a bit vague. While they were able to tell him roughly where the train was (which was on the other end of town, so Doc had had to walk all the way there as well) they could not pinpoint the exact location, not without having satellites at their disposal that of course weren't there in the 1920 skies. What he did know now, was that that location was in the middle of a forest, and he was having a hard time finding the clearing where the train could be.

"Great Scott" he muttered to himself. "How hard can it be to find a flying steam train!" He fiddled with the detector again, transmitting signals this time that could be picked up by the radios on the train. If he was able to make this work…

Suddenly, the screen blinked. Doc's face lit up with a smile. "Finally" he mumbled. He quickly clarified the readings, which indicated just where the time machine was – at one of the many clearings in the forest, which he should be able to find now. He cautiously began to start walking in the direction of the signal, occasionally rechecking it to see whether he was getting closer. He was. He had to stop himself from rushing too much, but eventually, he could see the vague silhouette of something black in the distance.

"The train" he whispered, amazed. The device had worked, as it should. Grinning broadly, he rushed over and soon cleared his way past the last tree. Sure enough, there was the train, in all its glory. It was almost too easy.

It was. It was too easy. Biff had to have a trap out somewhere here. Doc frowned, and looked around. Nothing to be seen. No rope hanging from a tree that indicated a rack Biff would want to catch him under. Not even a rope on the ground which he could stumble over as a nuisance. Nothing. Doc frowned – was he overestimating Biff now? There's a thought he'd never imagined happening. He shook his head, and, after making sure there was nothing around that could in any way present a trap for him, he walked over to the train, and pressed his thumb to the plate. It lit up immediately. Red.

Doc gasped. This couldn't be happening! He had to get in! He had programmed the machine to automatically clear him whenever he headed inside, so he should be able to get in – should he? Unless…

The inventor sighed. Apparently, Biff had set a trap for him. He had somehow managed to get the security controls rigged so that he would be excluded from entrance. Doc didn't know how he had managed to do it – probably, he had recruited Clara to help him, forcing her to go along lest he hurt Jules and Verne. Doc growled. This just made him hate Biff Tannen even more.

Wondering what to do, he walked over to the window. Perhaps, if he could reach out just enough, he could get in touch with Clara or the boys. If they were still inside, of course – he had underestimated Biff on the getting in part, so maybe his adversary had taken Clara and the boys with him to another place. Doc reached out, standing on his toes, and to his immense relief, he saw Clara, Jules and Verne, tied up but alive. Clara saw him, and squealed with delight. "Emmett!"

"Clara!" he yelled back. He'd barely heard her, and he had to shout for her to understand, but he hoped that it would do. "I can't get in!"

"Biff forced me to help him exclude you!" Clara shouted. "I'm sorry, Emmett, I couldn't…"

"Never mind that right now!" Doc exclaimed. "I know you didn't mean to – just help me get in, and we'll talk later!"

"How?" Clara called back.

Doc pondered that for a few seconds. How on earth could he ever get in from the inside, with his wife and kids tied up on their chairs, and with the door being locked? They couldn't untie themselves, and he could not get in to do it for them. He could perhaps throw a stone through the window, but the train's windows had been made of rather strong glass, and he preferred not to get his train damaged so much that it would have to stay in 1920 for a while for repairs. Plus, the kids were near these windows and Clara was on the other side, so the glass would probably hurt either of them…

Suddenly, a light bulb went on inside his mind. "Jules!" he called out. "Verne!"

"What, father?" Jules called back.

Doc figured this wasn't the time to correct his son on the whole father/Dad issue. "There's a cabinet just a foot or two from where you're sitting! Can you reach it?"

"My feet might just do the trick!" Jules called out. "But why?"

"There's a knife inside that might free you!" Doc shouted. "Try to open the cabinet!"

He waited for a while, and saw the intense looks on his son's face. A few moments later, as he stood on his toes again, he saw a relieved smile. "It's open!" Jules called out. "The knife's on the floor, though!"

"Try to grab it with your feet!" Doc shouted. "When you've got it, bring it up to your mouth and let it take it – the handle – from there!"

"Emmett!" Clara shouted, angrily. "That might hurt him!"

"I know, but there's no other option!" Doc called back. "Unless you want to face the consequences of an angry Biff when he comes back here! Marty told me he wasn't that happy about what he'd done to him!"

"Marty is here?" Clara called out.

"Long story!" Doc replied. "Just get Jules to get the knife up!"

Clara nodded reluctantly, and Doc saw Jules reach out for the knife and carefully take it up with his bound feet. Assisted by Verne, he managed to turn it around and move the handle over to his mouth. When he took it and held on to it, Doc smiled with relief.

"Good!" he called out. "Now, Jules, try to release your brother!"

"Excuse me, do you want our son to use a knife with his mouth?"

Doc smiled apologetically. "It's the only way!" he shouted to his wife. "You don't want to be stuck in captivity for all eternity, do you?"

Clara sighed and shook her head. Doc then watched as Jules carefully tried to saw Verne's hands loose with the knife. After a few intense seconds, the bounds went loose, but Verne let out a yelp.

"What is it, Vernie?" Doc shouted.

"Jules cut into my hand!" Verne called back, looking at his father with a glint in his eyes that made Doc feel sorry for all what he had to let his kids go through. But there was no way back now.

"Don't worry, I'll take a look at it as soon as I get inside!" he called out. "Now, untie yourself and let me in!"

It took a minute or two more before Verne had managed to get himself loose, constantly struggling with the ropes. Eventually, however, the boy succeeded in releasing himself and half-stumbled over to the door. Doc smiled happily when it was opened. He ran up and hugged his youngest son.

"Good work, Verne!" he called out. "I'm proud of you. Now, let me see your hand."

Verne held out his wrist. "I think it's broken" he whispered, staring at Doc innocently.

"I doubt that's the case, Verne" Jules replied. "It was only a cut, after all. I didn't slice through your wrist altogether."

At the thought of that, Verne started to cry. While Clara shot an angry glare towards her elder son, Doc got out a handkerchief to comfort little Verne, then made his way over to a small cabinet where he got some plaster from. With it, he sealed Verne's wound. The young boy smiled faintly after he saw the bleeding had been stopped. "Thanks, Daddy" he whispered.

"That's all right, Vernie" Doc said, walking over to Jules and untying him. Luckily, knots weren't Biff's area of expertise, so Jules was free to walk around again in no time. Then, Doc moved over to his wife.

Clara smiled at him, looking adoringly. "I knew you'd pull it off, Emmett" she said. "I just knew it. I told Biff, but he wouldn't listen to me – said I'd better be off thinking of a marriage to one of his ancestors." She made a face. "Speaking of him, where did Biff go anyway?"

"As far as I know, he's still uptown after Marty has foiled his plan to kidnap my younger self" Doc said, taking the newspaper out of his pocket. His alternate self was still in there, complete with his mind-influencing invention. So that invention would still occur thirty-two years in the future, and he would still be a Tannen. But how could that be now that Marty and he had stopped the kidnapping? Or did the ripple move slowly?

He was distracted from the problem when Clara managed to take off her last bounds, stood up and hugged him. He smiled warmly at her and kissed her on the cheek. "It's so good to see you again" he said. "I've missed you…. the past few weeks."

Clara frowned. "The past few weeks?" she repeated. "So I guess you had to build a new time machine. How did that happen?"

"I'll tell you in a minute" Doc said, walking over to the controls. "Verne, close the door. Jules, take that paper from the ground. Everyone, please sit down. We've got a pick-up to made."

After everyone had obeyed his orders, Doc smirked and took the train up to the sky. Within a few minutes, they were on their way towards Hill Valley, and to be more specific, to the Tannen house.