Author's Note: Well, here I am again, updating my story 'Travelling Through Dimensions'. About time, isn't it? Well, this is the Marty Brown Universe. If the name doesn't tell you enough, reading it will.

Disclaimer: Still don't own the movies. The BTTF movies, that is. Not that I own any other movie either, of course, but you get the point. I hope.

Chapter Eleven

Saturday, April 2, 1988

1:11 P.M.

Hill Valley, California

"Doc, your house is back!"

Dr. Emmett Brown looked at his friend with a slight hint of amusement. "I can see that, Marty" he said. "There's no need to become enthusiastic all of a sudden."

Marty nodded. "I guess not," he allowed, "but it's a step in the right direction, isn't it? I mean, your house hasn't been around for… how long has it been?"

Doc looked over at the house in front of him, which they had travelled to after seeing the garage torn down and the mansion not being there either, and tried to think back. He'd lived in the garage in the previous universe, however Susan and his other self had been considering to move, especially now that Susan's pregnancy was advancing. In the plutonium world, he'd also lived in the garage, and in the IQ switching world, it had been the mansion. In the world before that, though, he'd lived in the house he owned now. That was… what, thirty hours ago for them? It had been some time, at least. The inventor held back a yawn and turned to Marty. "It's been some time" he admitted. "However, you should not get your hopes up all of a sudden. This is another possibility of a me that has invented a time machine, but becoming all too hopeful won't help us. Most likely, my other self has a time machine around or is busy building his second one after the first one has been destroyed in 1985, but that doesn't mean that he'll be able to help us. Remember my counterpart from the last world where we saw this house standing? The one where you never changed your parents' first meeting? He did have a time machine, but he wasn't able to help us. It was probably something that had to do with the fact that he'd never invented the DFSCUPCIF like me… which, once again, whether you like it or not, makes your other self from the 'smart you world', as you like to call it, a very unique person and the fact that he was able to help us was, considering the circumstances, very odd. I do believe that, if having had a time machine at his disposal, he could've helped us. Maybe we should've stayed there for a while."

"Doc!" Marty exclaimed. "It was kind of nice to visit his world, and I wouldn't mind coming back, but living in such an awkward world for more than just one day, for several days and nights… I could go mad, I think."

Doc sighed, parking the time bus in front of the house where his other self lived. "Marty, isn't it quite obvious, even to you, that you are possibly exaggerating slightly?"

Marty sighed. "Never mind" he muttered. "Let's just check this world out and see what we can find here." He took a bite of a slice of bread that had been taken along by Doc on the original journey to the universe where his son lived in the present. Their food supply was steadily running out, and Marty wondered how long it would take before it would all be finished. He decided not to speak up about it, though, as it would undoubtedly give Doc a reason to complain about how he was over-reacting on his food issues.

Anyway, the two time travellers exited the bus, Doc locking it as always before they walked up to the house that looked so familiar yet so foreign as they knew it was not the one they were familiar with. Doc noticed that the house had changed quite a bit from how he knew it, resembling the state of the house in the world where Marty had been trapped in the '50s. He wondered whether this would be a repeated visit to that world.

"So…" Marty said, as they walked up to the front door. "Should I knock again, or do you want the honour this time around?"

Doc shrugged. "We could split up" he said. "You could go to the back door and I could remain here. I suppose that would enable us to get what we want the soonest. If either of us does not receive any response, he could simply go to where the other is. I suppose that could be quite efficient."

Marty shrugged. "Whatever you say, Doc" he said, obviously not really caring about it. "I'll go through the back door, then. I guess I'll see you in just a minute or two."

"Yes, it shouldn't take all too long" Doc said, once again holding back a yawn. He was okay with staying up long, but having to explain the same story over and over again did not exactly keep people more awake and while the inventor was by far not on the verge of collapsing yet, he was not feeling fresh and awake, not as fresh and awake as he should at least. He looked after his friend as Marty disappeared around the corner, and then looked at the front door, and rang the doorbell.

Within moments, the door was opened, and Marty appeared at the door – the local version of him, at least. For a moment, Doc didn't see anything wrong, and was about to speak up when he noticed. Then, he felt so stunned at the teen's appearance that he couldn't speak. Marty had grown about two or three inches, had strangely familiar brown eyes and his face looked a slight bit changed as well… but that could be from the fact that the Marty that Doc knew was depressed and tired from a long inter-dimensional journey. Still, the change in height and eye colour made Doc immediately know that he was not making a mistake because of exhaustion – Marty really looked slightly different.

"What's the matter?" his alternate friend said, eyeing him with some curiosity as he'd been watching the inventor's astonishment at his appearance with interest. "Why are you looking at me like that?" He paused for a second. "What are you doing here, anyway? Weren't you just leaving to go out to visit your wife's family?" He chuckled at the latter part of his sentence, and shook his head making 'tsk' noises at himself for a reason that the inventor could not identify.

"Well, I'm not" Doc said, figuring that the explanation to that issue could probably wait a while. "I'm here, and I…" He paused, realising what his friend had said. "Wait a second… my wife's family? You mean, they're still around?" Clara certainly no longer had relatives around that they knew of, and as far as he was concerned, the odd family history of Susan Clayton that his counterparts had told him about meant the same for her. For Julia, he didn't really know, though. And that coupled with the fact that the house was in about the same condition, roughly, as his other self's from that reality, made the 'repeated visit' theory sound a lot more plausible all of a sudden.

His suspicions on that issue, however, were not confirmed, as Marty frowned, obviously a bit puzzled at the question – who could blame him, after all, one would not expect a friend ask questions about his wife for who knew how many years – and nodded, somewhat hesitant. "Um, yeah" he muttered. "The Baines family is still around, and quite sizable at that."

For a moment, the inventor thought he was going to have an abrupt heart attack. "The WHAT family?" He had to have heard this wrong… "Don't you mean… Clayton?"

Unfortunately for his mental health, Marty did not mean that. The teen frowned even more instead. "No, I meant the Baines family" he said, acting to the name of 'Clayton' as if it sounded quite foreign to him – with the potential exception of Clayton Ravine, of course. "You know that, Dad."

Doc's mind was abruptly filled with the astonishing truth of this dimension as all the information suddenly made sense. The state of the house, indicating that it had been bought somewhere in the mid- to late-sixties… Marty looking slightly different, taller than normal, and with brown eyes that resembled Doc's own too much for it to be a coincidence… a woman from the Baines family, which, in this scenario, had to be Marty's mother, Lorraine, as his alternate self's wife… it suddenly all made sense and came down on poor Doc all in one as he realised the only conclusion that this could lead to. In this dimension, things had changed drastically. This Marty was not a McFly. This Marty, this Marty…

This Marty was his son.

Hours earlier, Doc had been annoyed at his other self from the no-Marty world and Marty himself in the world where he'd been trapped in the '50s, who had both fainted and caused quite an annoyance when they had to be revived. Doc had mentally figured that 'he'd never do something like that'. Now, however, he had proven himself wrong.

Without even a 'Great Scott' to announce it, the inventor's mind went blank and everything went black in front of his eyes as, in front of a stunned Local Marty, he collapsed and fainted to the ground.

* * * *

Marty whistled a tune, as he wondered how Doc's plan would work out for real. It had, after all, been just an idea of the inventor. Who knew, it would end up taking more time than it was supposed to. Then again, who cared? The urge to go back home came up to him as he walked there, outside of the house, and he wondered whether Doc would be met first by his other self or whether Marty would get the honour and perhaps the annoyance of doing the introductions. He didn't know and didn't care either. For now, all he just wanted was to get things straight and that the local inventor would have the abilities to bring them home. It didn't matter to the teen who would meet Emmett first in that scenario. Either one would be good, as long as it would work.

The nineteen-year-old reached the back door where they had gone in through in the last world before 'Smart Marty world', walked over to it, and knocked. The door was open, he noticed that right away, but he preferred it not to walk in on the local version of Doc – who knew what he was doing, after all, and getting him a bit too surprised would not help them at all – so he waited instead, hoping that Emmett would show up soon.

Emmett did, in fact, and as the local showed up, Marty noticed to his surprise and amusement that his best friend's version for this world was wearing neat clothing, as if he was going to visit someone. He did not have much time to wonder about that, though, as Emmett frowned. "Marty?" he exclaimed, astonished. "What are you doing here? You were upstairs with the kids just a minute or two ago! I heard you come down the stairs to open the front door as the door bell rang!" He frowned. "You look a little different, too. What's wrong with you? Are you all right?"

That immediately gave Marty the satisfaction of the fact that Emmett would not be running into his other self right away (he could figure out easily who had rang the bell) and the knowledge that his other self and Emmett were at least friends, and the idea that Jules existed was also quite nice. Also, the fact that other Marty was around would make it easier for him to ease Emmett into the fact that he was being visited by people from another dimension and that he would meet his other self soon. The only thing potentially negative was the astonishment that Emmett had at his apparently unfamiliar appearances, but that could be taken care of when they got around to that. "Um, well, Doc," he started, "there's something I've got to tell you…"

Emmett's eyes widened. "Like why you're calling me 'Doc'?" he said, astonished. "What's the matter with you? You haven't made that mistake in years now!"

"Um, mistake?" Marty repeated, frowning. "What's wrong with me calling you 'Doc'? You should've told me if you didn't like the nickname…" He then got the urge to slap himself on the forehead. Maybe Emmett had done that and of course the visitor could not know, but the local Marty could. He looked back up, embarrassed.

Emmett just stared at his friend, apparently unsure of what to say. "Marty?" he finally said, speaking up. "You didn't use the time machine, did you?"

"Um, no" the teen responded, a bit astonished as how to Emmett could've guessed that. "Or actually, yes…" As Emmett frowned, he quickly said: "As a matter of fact, the whole thing is a bit more complicated than that." He smiled sheepishly. "Do you mind if I come in?"

Emmett looked at the teen. "Um… well…um…"

"DAD!!!!"

Emmett froze at the sound of Local Marty's voice, and stared at Visiting Marty with astonishment. "Great Scott!" he exclaimed, stunned. "What's going on here? Where are you from? When are you from?"

Marty glanced at his friend's counterpart, wincing too much at Emmett's gaze to merely think about why George McFly, whom Local Marty was probably calling out to, was apparently around in the house now. "It's a complicated story, Doc" he finally said. "The thing is, though – Doc from our world had invented a new device that would allow one to travel through dimensions as well as through time, and installed it in a new time machine. However, it failed to work when we wanted to get home – causing us to get stuck hopping through dimensions."

Emmett's eyes narrowed. "Different dimensions" he whispered. "Really? I've considered something like that, sometimes, but converting the van into a time machine took up most of my time and money…"

"You converted your step van into a time machine?" Marty asked, stunned. Emmett nodded. "Why?"

Before his friend could answer that, Local Marty showed up, was just about to say something to Emmett, then turned and shrieked as he saw his other self. The teen just stared at Visiting Marty, face pale. "What's… what's going on here?" he muttered, astonished. "When are you from? Why are you here?"

"According to what he just told me, he's from another dimension" Emmett said, just as Visiting Marty noticed that his other self did, in fact, look different – taller, and with brown eyes. He wondered whether it was perhaps Marty Junior, coming to visit from the future. Still, there was something off with that reasoning. For some reason, Marty knew that it was not his son. He had no idea what could've caused the different appearances in that case, though – as his other self did look remarkably different.

To Visiting Marty's astonishment, Local Marty seemed to take the news that he was visited by another version of himself from another dimension reasonably well. He nodded, understanding. "Oh, yeah" he said. "You told me about that other dimensions thing. You mean that the other you built a machine to travel through dimensions?" He smirked. "That sounds pretty interesting, actually. Is he really different from me, from what you've observed?"

Emmett hesitated. "Well, yes, quite a bit actually" he said. "He's slightly smaller than you, as you can see, and he's got blue eyes." He paused for a second. "And…believe it or not… he calls me Doc."

Local Marty's eyes widened. "No way!" he muttered, astonished. "He really does?"

"Yes, I do!" Visiting Marty snapped, getting more than a little annoyed at his other self and Emmett excluding him from the conversation completely, and continuing to complain about his habit of calling Emmett 'Doc'. "So? What's wrong with that? It's a perfectly nice nickname, and I've used it for my Doc since a few weeks after we first met!"

Emmett nodded, understanding. "I see" he said. "I can understand you're a little annoyed at us excluding you from the conversation… the reasons for that will be apparent soon." He turned to his Marty. "So, now that this matter is – temporary – out of the way, why did you come over here?"

Local Marty blushed. "I had just seen another you faint in front of me" he said. "He acted so weird, and when he fainted, I knew it couldn't be you. That's why I called… my Dad." He eyed Visiting Marty nervously. "I suppose that was yours?" he finally said. "Your… Doc, I mean?"

"Yeah, it should be" Visiting Marty said. "We agreed to split up, and I'd take the back door, while he'd take the front. According to him, that would go faster." He shrugged. "If he fainted, then something must've gone wrong. Looks like Doc's plan backfired."

"I suppose that you revealed a little too much to him, then" Emmett said, thoughtfully. "He must've had a good reason for fainting like that." He shook his head, patting Marty on the back. "I have to say, I felt sorry for you when you called me…George like that. You obviously were shocked. I could hear from your voice that you were really disturbed by my other self fainting like that."

"And confused" Visiting Marty smirked. "I mean, when you shouted to Doc here, you called… him… Dad…"

Within just seconds, Marty's smirk changed into a look of astonishment and terror as everything suddenly clicked. Emmett had reacted a little too quick at Local Marty's exclamation for it to be not addressing him. And the fact that Marty's other self resembled Emmett a bit, not really too much, but significant enough for Marty to make the link, and the fact that Emmett had slipped up in his last line…

"Holy shit!" he hissed. "He is your Dad, isn't he?"

Local Marty and Emmett both blushed. "I suppose there is no need to deny it any longer" the nineteen-year-old said. "Yes, he is my father now… but let me assure you that things were different before I first travelled through time and messed up my parents' relationship."

"Your… your parents' relationship" Visiting Marty muttered. His eyes flew over to meet Emmett's. "You mean… you didn't marry… you wouldn't…"

"…marry Lorraine?" Emmett finished. "Yes, I did – to my great astonishment, actually. Marty, I'm not quite sure what happened, but in this world, George McFly met an untimely death in a car accident on June 15th, 1966." He paused for a moment, allowing a stunned Visiting Marty to process that thought. "I felt sorry for Lorraine and didn't want her to become as stupid as to marry Biff Tannen, who kept asking her that, and I wondered how Marty had changed this and why he'd still been all right when leaving 1955. I wanted to get answers, so I hung around with Lorraine a lot, more and more…" He blushed. "Well, you know what happens then. We realised that we were in love in the spring of 1967. With Lorraine in a bad financial situation, I eventually decided that she wouldn't manage this for long anymore, that she needed some help which I could give her, and proposed to her in late May, 1967. We got married on August 17th of the same year… it was the date my parents had married sixty years earlier, so Lorraine and I thought that it would be nice. Little less than ten months later, Marty was born."

Visiting Marty shook his head. "I can't believe this" he finally settled on. "I can't really see you and mom together… and you as my Dad… and the fact that my real Dad is dead." He looked up at Emmett. "Like I asked you before, can I come inside? I definitely need to sit down now."

Emmett chuckled. "Yes, I can imagine that" he said. "Lorraine and I were planning to visit her sister Sally and her husband and kids today, but I suppose that can wait. We hadn't informed them of it, after all – it would be a simple surprise visit – so we can simply step out of it now. This goes first." He cleared the path to enable Visiting Marty to enter. "That said, please come in."

The teenager nodded, and followed Emmett and Local Marty into the house, in the meantime looking at the different way the house was set up. The table in the kitchen was longer, equipped to seat more people, and there were a lot more pictures of the kids around. As Marty entered the mostly familiar living room, the teen noticed a familiar photograph on the mantle. It was a picture of the local inventor's wedding day. Marty took an uneasy look at the coloured picture of his best friend and his mother holding hands, with Lorraine in a wedding dress and Emmett in appropriate clothing as well. He sighed, not really believing that this could really be true.

"It's weird, huh?"

Visiting Marty turned around to see his taller other self approach him, smiling. "Yeah," the local teen continued, "I thought it was odd myself when I first found out. I wasn't used to Doc being married, and it being to my Mom… but well, I adjusted. The fact that I got new memories helped a lot."

The visiting teen nodded with sympathy. "I see" he said, softly. "That must be odd. I just returned to a world where my folks were better off, not one where I had an entirely different father. I suppose that it took some adjustment for you, didn't it? Did you ever have the urge to go back and change the timeline?"

"In the beginning, I had" Local Marty admitted. "But I kind of liked having Doc as my Dad, and being slightly taller than before. Also, I felt happy for my best friend being married – even if it was to my mother – and of course, I didn't want to erase my new siblings. What kind of brother would I have been, if I wanted that. Plus, I wouldn't know where to start changing history…"

Visiting Marty stared at his other self. "Your new siblings?" he echoed.

"Yeah – oh yeah, I suppose you don't know that yet" Local Marty said. "I have, in fact, got six new siblings. The oldest is Marie – she's seventeen. You'll be surprised when you see her, she looks exactly like mom as a teen. Then, there's Jules and Verne, they're fourteen and twelve. They're out staying at a friend's house. And then, there's Stella, she's almost eleven, and Lorraine Junior, she's eight. Then, George is the so-called baby of the family… he's six years old. Named after Dad, you know. So, there's three boys and three girls besides me… and Dave and Linda, but they were adopted from Mom's first marriage. They live on their own… and besides, they should be off to their work now, anyway. Dave works at an office and Linda in a flower shop."

"I can't believe this" Visiting Marty said, shaking his head. "I have trouble seeing myself as Doc's adopted son already… let alone his biological son. I suppose that it could be possible, and it's not like Doc is a terrible person and all, but it's just… just weird." He looked up. "Speaking of which, how's my Doc doing, anyway? Well, he's not my Doc as if he was my possession, but you know what I mean."

"Dad should be checking upon him right now" Local Marty said. "You know… Emmett." He chuckled, putting a hand on his other self's shoulder. "I know this must probably be weird for you, but it's weird for me too… the thought that Dad… my original world's Dad… is still alive in your world…" Visiting Marty figured his counterpart was on the verge of crying. "How is he doing, anyway? I know that, if he'd been alive, he would've been fifty yesterday…"

"Yeah, that's right" Visiting Marty agreed. "Well… I suppose he's doing all right. Dad's pretty much got a nice life now – he's a published science-fiction author. I've got a truck – you know, that one we both saw before going back in time."

"Oh, that truck" Local Marty said, understanding. "Dad bought it for me last year. I suppose that inventing a time machine or being a science-fiction author makes for different finances. Mom and Dad both work, by the way – and Dave and Linda do things to support the family as well. We're having a pretty good life, but sometimes, I wish that we had a smaller family. I'm glad I'm not the youngest anymore, but a smaller family would've been nicer when you think of things you want to buy. At least none of the kids that know have been tempted to travel through time and buy something from the future to help us."

"What kids know, then?" Visiting Marty asked, somewhat curious.

"Just a few" Local Marty said. "Just Marie, Jules and I. Dad is considering to tell Verne as well, but he wants to keep the secret to as few people as possible. And Mom also knows, but that was pretty much unavoidable… oh, there she is right now."

Visiting Marty watched with amazement as the alternate version of his mother and Emmett carried the unconscious Doc to the couch. Alternate Lorraine looked pretty similar, however she did look slightly younger – Marty figured that Emmett had probably taken his wife in to have some rejuvenation jobs. Instead of being in her forties, Lorraine looked as if she was in her mid-thirties, and looked healthy and happy. However the weight of her alternate husband had to be annoying her, she had a smile on her face until she set Doc down on the couch and really noticed Visiting Marty for the first time.

"This is incredible!" Lorraine exclaimed, looking at her alternate son. "You look so similar to our son… yet, I can see that you resemble 'Calvin Klein' more. It's so amazing to think about this. Actual different dimensions…"

"Yeah, I understand" Visiting Marty agreed. "I thought it was kind of odd as well. I wasn't really expecting Doc to drag me off on a wild ride through dimensions when I went to his house… well, two days ago now." He shook his head, looking at his unconscious friend. "This has to be one of the weirdest universe up until now. In the original timeline, I did sometimes see Doc as kind of my alternate father figure, and to be honest, I think I would've preferred him – Dad wasn't really bad, but Doc was nicer. In the new timeline, I had that a lot less… so I wasn't really expecting it when I arrived here and found out that another version of me actually is Doc's biological son." He eyed Local Marty nervously. "I suppose that Doc had a good right to faint when he did."

"Yeah, definitely" Local Marty agreed. "With the stunning things one sees when time travelling, I think that as a time traveller, you've got the right to faint more than… well, than ordinary people." He looked at his alternate self, curiously. "What's your life like, anyway? With original Dad being alive and all?" He shook his head. "I'm not really used to calling him 'Dad' anymore, you know. Doc has really become my Dad now." To illustrate, he walked up to his new biological father, and hugged Emmett.

Visiting Marty smiled, sitting down. "I suppose that's only natural" he said. Looking at Lorraine, he added: "I suppose that must've been quite hard for Emmett and you… seeing your son leave one day, and have one with a different father come in his place."

"Yes, that wasn't the easiest part of this whole thing" Emmett admitted. "Even though I have to say that Marty adjusted rather well. If he had gotten Biff for his father, for instance, I think he might have reacted different from how he did in our 1985."

"Don't even voice that thought" Lorraine said, shuddering. "The mere thought of being married to Biff gives me the creeps. I think I would've even preferred marrying you over Biff in 1955 when I was still a teenager and you a middle-aged scientist, let alone now or in '67."

"Sorry, honey" Emmett said, putting an arm around Lorraine's shoulders. "I can imagine that such a thought would horrify you."

"Not to add to the horror," Visiting Marty said, a bit insecure, "but that thought hits close to home. We actually had to see a reality like that – one in which Biff was married to my mom. Dad had been killed in March of '73, you were committed, and the Courthouse was a Pleasure Paradise. Dave was a bum, Linda a… well, a prostitute, I guess… and I was…"

Lorraine had gone pale. "Please" she interrupted. "Don't… don't tell more. I think I'm getting the gist of it by now. You don't need to go into any more of these horrifying details." She shivered. "Correction to what I just said – I'm certain I would've preferred you over Biff, Emmett, at any time."

Emmett smiled, sitting down as Lorraine and Local Marty did the same. "Well, thank you" he said. "I'm sure that you would've had a relatively nice life in the other world, the world where Marty here is from, as well, though. I mean, when George was shot, he was on his way to becoming a confident science-fiction author. Now, um, other Marty, could you tell us a little about your life right now? If you really do have a problem with your time machine, as you just said, then I think that I could better have a look at it when my other self is awake… and I'm really curious about what your life is like, to be honest."

"Yeah, I have to admit that I'm kind of curious to what happened to you and my other self as well" Visiting Marty admitted. "All right – in our world, nothing happened in June of 1966. Dad survived as there was no accident, and got Mom pregnant with me in September of 1967. In the following June – June 9th, to be exact – I was born."

"That was the same with me" Local Marty said, nodding. "June 9th, 1968."

"Yeah, I figured that" the visitor said. "Anyway, on March 15, 1973, the same date Dad was killed in that alternate world, he received an award for his writings and was honoured with that – it was a really big day for him. On October twenty-sixth of '75, I met Doc and we became good friends soon. The original test of the time machine went on as usual, with Doc being shot – he wore a bullet-proof vest, though – and me escaping to '55. The Libyans crashed into a phone booth, and that same night, Doc headed off to the future. When I woke up the following morning, I initially thought it had been all a dream." He smirked. "I definitely knew that couldn't be the case once I had seen Dave and Linda wearing suits, the house looking as if it was brand new and with a modern interior, and Mom and Dad just returning from playing tennis. Dad showed me that Biff now worked for us – he had an auto detailing service and was just cleaning the car, with Dad reminding him to put on the second coat, which Biff had tried to cheat us out of."

"Yeah, that's the same" Emmett agreed. "Even in our world, I often have to 'remind' Biff to not forget the second coat of wax – and if I order just one coat, he occasionally waxes just part of the car. Doesn't help that he considers me a nutcase, of course, and that I'm married to the woman that he wanted to have for the past thirty years… little over thirty, actually. He occasionally makes rude comments about me not deserving Lorraine." He sighed, Visiting Marty clearly seeing that Emmett felt hurt. "If there was another car waxing service around in the near proximity, I'd go there right away. Ordering Biff to wax the car is often a job that is delayed to the latest moment possible, because I'm mostly not really looking forwards to having to hear another load of complaints again, and insults like how the town would be much better off if I had never been born."

Visiting Marty gasped. "Are you serious?" he asked. "I don't think our Biff is ever that rude to you or to Dad, especially not to Dad – he is one of Biff's best customers. I suppose it must be because you combine Biff's greatest dislikes in Hill Valley – the man who married the woman he wanted, and the man who is supposedly a complete nutcase." He sighed. "Doc, I'm not sure whether you believe him or not – but don't. Don't you just dare to think that you're a nutcase. You're a great scientist, and I bet there's a lot of people who think the same. Just because you have never really invented something that you could show off to the public doesn't mean that you're a bad inventor. Remember what you've always told me whenever I was in trouble – well, I'm not sure whether you still do that now, but in the original timeline, you definitely did – that if you put your mind to it…"

"…you can accomplish anything" Emmett said, miserably. "I know. But sometimes, I do feel depressed, and then even I doubt the truth in those words."

"Well, it is true" Lorraine said, patting Emmett on the back. "You shouldn't care about what Biff says. We all know that what he says is silly and that he's just being his bitter old self. You taught me that I should never give up, and you should do the same. If Biff really thinks that this is going to persuade me to marry him, he's completely wrong. I'm your wife and I will remain your wife, no matter how much Biff complains about it. That is one thing that I think I should ensure you of."

Emmett looked at her. "Really?"

"Certainly" Lorraine responded. "Even though I might've doubted my feelings twenty-one years ago, I'm sure of them now. I love you, Emmett Brown."

Emmett blushed, and smiled at his wife. "And I love you, Lorraine Baines" he whispered back.

The Marty's exchanged glances, with Local Marty shaking his head. "No matter how many times I've seen them do this by now, it'll always remain odd" he said, as Lorraine and Emmett started kissing. "I never expected to see Doc and Mom together when I was still in the old timeline… but I'm glad it happened. I do sometimes miss my old Dad, but my new Dad is every bit of the replacement I could've wished for and then some." He looked over at Emmett, and smiled.

"Yeah, I suppose I can understand that" his counterpart agreed. "I think that if Dad had ended up being killed, Doc would've been a great replacement. Even though we don't really consider each other as father and son… well, not too much anyway… we're still pretty close friends. I risked my life for his in the Old West, and I'd do the same thing again right away if I had to."

Emmett blushed, releasing Lorraine and returning to his regular position again. "Thanks, I suppose" he said. "To both of you… even though our visitor's comment was meant to be about his version of me, not about me."

"Yeah, it's confusing, isn't it?" Visiting Marty chuckled. "I was having trouble with that myself. I suppose that I should be used to this by now, but I'm not. It's been… what, fifty hours so far? Well, I'm kind of used to seeing myself by now, but it'll probably remain confusing for a while how to call my other self and how to talk about Doc and his local self… you, in this case… as if they are different persons."

"It's odd, most definitely" Lorraine said. "I'm sure that I wouldn't really like experiencing that." She looked up to Marty. "So… go on with your tale. What all happened in your life after that? I believe that the night you time travelled was the night before you were going to the lake in our world."

"Yeah, that remained the same" Visiting Marty said. "In the original world, Dad was okay with it… well, that was because he didn't want me to be mad at him… but you disapproved of it, so I wanted to go in secret, telling you I was going camping with the guys. I intended to take the family car, but Biff Tannen wrecked it." He looked up at Local Marty, who gave a sincere nod to indicate that this was still the same. "In the new timeline, Dad still didn't really have a clear opinion on it – he was okay with it, though – and you approved fully, as Jennifer was 'such a sweet girl', as you put it." He smirked. "It's odd, isn't it? How you made a complete turn-around with that…"

"Yes, that was the same here" Emmett said. "In our world, both Lorraine and I were okay with you and Jennifer going to the lake, as we saw nothing wrong in it and hoped that it would improve your relationship to spend a night together somewhere, getting your thoughts sorted, enjoying the beauty of the stars, and be together. You'd been enthusiastic about it for weeks before the event itself, completely confusing little George and annoying the rest of your siblings." He smirked at the memory. "But yes, both of us were okay with it. So that was a thing that went consistent in our worlds."

"Well, I'm sure that the next thing didn't" Visiting Marty commented. "I was just reuniting with Jennifer outside the house, as you came up to us from the future, telling us to come back with you – back to the future. Next thing we knew, we were in the year 2015, as something was apparently wrong with Marty Junior."

"Yes, that's certainly different" Emmett agreed. "In our world, I decided not to take Marty to the future, nor go to the future right away, after noticing how confused Marty was when I dropped him off home. I figured that, after thirty years, a day more or less wouldn't matter too much. Eventually, I went to the future the next week, on Friday evening of November first, 1985, along with Lorraine and Marty. It was a very interesting journey and I remember how amazed I was by the technology of the future."

Visiting Marty smiled. "You know, I think that's what I would've liked Doc to do" he said. "I was just getting back from my first time trip when he dragged me off. The future would've been a lot more enjoyable if he'd just let me relax and spend that night at the lake as we planned to do."

"Well, I suppose that my counterpart did have his reasons" Emmett said. "I mean, the main reason that I waited was because you were my son and I felt sorry for you. If you were not my alternate self's son – which you weren't – it explains a little of his different reaction. Also, he didn't know that there was going to be anything different in your life between the timelines. That was why he went off right away, and whatever he saw must've needed fixing as soon as it could."

"Yeah, I suppose so" Visiting Marty said. "Doc always says that he wanted to learn me the lesson I needed in order to say 'no' to Needles in the automobile accident… I was apparently going to be challenged by Needles into a car racing incident on the next day. Apparently, the cause of that all was because Needles called me a chicken, and I reacted to that. Doc wanted to take my reaction to that word away, and apparently, to him, the best way to do that was to let me fix what was wrong with my son."

"Yes, I can kind of see how he reasoned" Emmett said, thoughtfully. "I might've done the same thing, if anything like that ever happened." He looked up, bemused. "I don't think I've ever heard my Marty react to being called 'chicken', though."

"Yeah, I never really had a problem with that" Local Marty said. "Neither in the old timeline or in the new one. I just ignored people who called me that. Why, did you…"

"Yes, I did" Visiting Marty said, with a sigh. "You're glad not to have gone through that. It was a personality trait that I got in the new timeline and that was very hard to lose. I kept reacting to anyone calling me a chicken. Almost got myself killed in the Old West." He smiled at the gasps that followed from the locals, as Emmett and Lorraine went pale. "Yeah, that wasn't my nicest moment either. I managed to avoid it, though – as I realised that it didn't matter just in time. I guess that without that problem, the trip to the future and all that followed on it wasn't really necessary."

"If one can speak of necessities when the events are not intended to be so" Emmett corrected. He smiled at his other self's friend. "Always try to use the correct phrases."

"Yeah, you're probably right" Visiting Marty said, with a shrug. "You're the Doc, Doc." He looked at his other self. "I suppose you never say that now… or do you say 'you're the Doc, Dad?"

"Yes, that's correct" Local Marty confirmed. "He's my Dad now, for all intents and purposes, and well…I don't really want it to be otherwise anymore. I liked my old Dad, he wasn't a bad guy, but Doc is really a good Dad for me now. Even Mom doesn't want to stop Dad's death anymore, even though she'd felt tempted to do that at first."

"He's right" Lorraine admitted, blushing. "It was back in the summer of 1985… Emmett had been avoiding me for some time at that point, as our relationship was a slight bit strained because Emmett didn't want to tell me who 'Calvin Klein' was. As Marty resembled Calvin Klein closer and closer… not as much as you, of course, but still a lot… Emmett's cover story of Calvin being his nephew and later that of his best friend's son began to crumble. On June 9th, it was Marty's birthday and Emmett was off with him to celebrate. I was cleaning the house and the lab and by accident uncovered a book saying 'Journal of Emmett Brown, 1950-1959'. I was kind of curious, and, with the whole Calvin Klein thing as an issue between us, I decided to check out November 1955. Imagine my surprise as Emmett detailed how 'a boy from the future' whose parents were Lorraine Baines and George McFly had come back in time from October 1985!"

"I'm sure that you were surprised" Visiting Marty said. "Did you believe it right away?"

"I had to" Lorraine said. "I was initially sceptical, but as I read on in the book, I found more and more references to that, and I didn't really believe Emmett would've done all that work just to fool me. Then, as I went to look for anything that could've hidden the time machine that should've been almost finished, Emmett came home and as Marty had gone up to his room I confronted my husband with it. Emmett denied it at first, but as I pressed on he eventually admitted that, yes, he had almost finished a time machine, and went with me into the basement where he revealed the secret entrance to the cellar. I couldn't believe that Emmett had kept this hidden from me, his own wife, for eighteen years, so I was both amazed and angry, and as I realised what this meant and I was still a little angry, I suggested to Emmett…" …her face turned reddish at that… "…that if he wasn't going to tell his wife any secrets he had anyway, I might as well go back in time and save George's life."

"Logically, I was furious" Emmett said. "I couldn't believe that Lorraine had proposed this and pointed the risks out to her – the paradox, the question of how, and whether she wanted to abandon an eighteen-year-old marriage… and at least six of her kids." He saddened. "The last part hurt me the most. To think that she wanted to kill her kids and abandon me like that."

Visiting Marty's jaw dropped. He looked at Lorraine in astonishment. "You… you wouldn't" he managed to mutter.

"No, I wouldn't and I haven't" Lorraine agreed. "I hadn't yet thought of the points that Emmett presented to me and as soon as I realised what it meant I immediately abandoned all thoughts of going through with it and actually saving George's life. I was sad for a brief period after that, as I really couldn't stand the thought that George was still going to die, but eventually, Emmett cheered me up." She looked lovingly at her husband.

"I think that the whole fight we had about this actually strengthened our relationship" Emmett said, thoughtfully. "We were very close in the period after that, and I was relieved to finally have the secret out in the open – well, except for the kids of course. It felt very good to have someone to share my secret with, and Lorraine was a good help in the things that followed. Of course, she didn't exactly agree with the deal I had to make with the Libyan terrorists."

"I was mad at him for some time about that, yes" Lorraine admitted. "I shouted at him and asked him whether he wanted himself killed. I knew he was going to wear the bullet-proof vest, but I was worried it wasn't enough. In mid-October of 1985 I woke up from nightmares of the terrorists showing up and killing Emmett while I had to watch and couldn't do anything about it. Once again, Emmett greatly supported me in getting over that… which once again gave me some prove that I had made the right choice for a husband."

Visiting Marty smiled. "What exactly happened to you, if I may ask?" he said, looking at both Emmett and Local Marty. "I mean, you were saying that on November first, you went to the future. What did you see? Did you see anything interesting?"

"As I said before – yes, I did" Emmett agreed. "The future was the most amazing thing I'd ever imagined… even though that was probably the case with you, too. Flying cars, fusion… when Marty and Lorraine weren't around, I looked up Marty's future as well. I won't tell any specifics, as they might be… surprising to you, but the future looked pretty good." Visiting Marty raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing, as Emmett continued. "Marty was in a happy life, with his girlfriend, Jennifer Parker… I don't remember if you mentioned her before, you told me so much by now, but is she still your girlfriend as well? It was in the original timeline for my Marty, but you never know…"

"Yes, it is" Visiting Marty responded. "That didn't change between the timelines… I might've gone nuts if I had to deal with a wholly different girlfriend after the timeline change. At least Doc and Jennifer stayed mostly the same… that was something positive after everyone else changed so drastically. And that all as the effect of just one week time travelling back just thirty years."

"That's the butterfly effect" Emmett commented. "Very small changes can have enormous results. We've seen it in 1955, and it could've been much worse. You managed to avoid erasing yourself from existence just narrowly, and the fact that you were still born at the same time could've easily changed." He pondered that thought. "On the other hand, there does seem to be some effect in place that keeps our changes mostly minimal… the chance you had of still being born on June ninth, especially in our timeline, was very, very small. Yet it happened. It's like there is, to contradict the butterfly effect, another effect within the space-time continuum… a so-called 'self-preservation effect', perhaps?"

"Could be" Visiting Marty allowed. "Yeah, when you think about it, it is pretty odd. Almost like I was meant to be born at that exact time and place." He looked over at his local self. "Well, the latter part could be inconsistent… where were you born?"

"Hill Valley Hospital" Local Marty responded.

"Same here" Visiting Marty said. "Weird, isn't it?"

Local Marty shrugged. "I've researched it a bit" he said. Half-smirking, he added: "Believe it or not, I've decided to become a scientist in the future."

Visiting Marty's jaw dropped. "No way!" he exclaimed. "You – I – we're musicians! You can't become a scientist!"

"I'm afraid so" Emmett said. "I've seen it in the future. He does become a scientist – a rather good one, at that. He helped me invent a few things. Didn't really see any specifics – no one should know too much about his destiny or that of anyone else, so I didn't look up too much – but yes, Marty becomes a scientist."

The teen shook his head. "That's odd" he muttered. "I can't really see myself as an inventor. I mean, I like to help Doc sometimes, but the idea that a supposedly normal version of me ends up being a scientist is just a little too far-out to me."

"What do you mean, 'a supposedly normal version'?" Local Marty asked, frowning.

"Smart Marty" his other self responded. "It's a really odd story – I suppose even you wouldn't really be able to grasp it. Apparently, there's some kind of other world, in which we're a scientist like Doc, while Doc is… well, less intelligent. That other me had invented his time machine and helped us out a lot… but it was very freaky. He talked all scientifically too, even more than Doc did in '55."

Local Marty's eyes widened. "No way" he muttered. "I might be planning to be an inventor now, but to actually talk like that and invent the time machine?" He shook his head. "Was he at least nice?"

"Sure" Marty said, nodding immediately. "He was a nice guy, but I couldn't help but be really freaked out whenever I saw him. I couldn't believe how smart I was. Doc seemed to take his end of the deal better, though, even though he should be the one horrified – after all, his counterpart wasn't the most intelligent. Local Doc… Emmett, as he didn't have a doctorate… was the owner of a horse ranch. Guess that followed out of his youth 'cowboy' obsession. The mansion still stood, as he'd never experimented with anything so it hadn't burned down. Apparently, my other self did come close to setting the whole place on fire once, back in 1982. Only quick thinking saved the house then."

"Quick thinking from my other self, I guess" Local Marty said, smirking a little.

Visiting Marty laughed. "Yes, I suppose so" he admitted. "So, anyway, to go back to our subject – what else did you experience in the future?"

"Besides looking around and gawking at everything, and having to chase after an over-excited Emmett every time we saw something that had future technology in it?" Lorraine asked, half-grinning. "Not too much. We had a nice time there, but there wasn't really too much to see besides the inventions. Not to mention Emmett never wants to tell us the details. I understand why he doesn't do it, and he's explained me hundreds of times why knowledge of the future is dangerous, but I can't help it. I guess I'm just too anxious to find out more that I can't wait for the event to arrive in the natural course of time."

"I can see that" Visiting Marty said. "I'm a lot like that, too. I've come to understand it, but the possibility to find out more can be very tempting sometimes. I guess that I'm pretty good at controlling myself regarding that, though, as I haven't found out one thing in the past three years, besides the things I got loose from Doc… which were mostly general, but still okay anyway."

"Well, since I'm Dad's son now, I've come to understand him a little more" Local Marty said, thoughtfully. "I know it's not good to know too much about your own destiny, and while I do have a temptation to look up my future sometimes, I never actually go through with it."

"As you shouldn't" Emmett said, giving his son a somewhat proud smile.

"Yeah, I know."

At that moment, the noise of footsteps on the stairs could be heard. "That must be Marie" Emmett said, not looking up. "She was busy with studying… guess she's ready now and coming down to ask when we're finally going to have lunch." He glanced over to the clock, which said 1:25 in the afternoon. "Not that I blame her, of course, as it is quite late already. Anyway, she'll probably be here soon."

"Is this the girl who looks so much like Mom as a teen?" Visiting Marty said, frowning.

"Yes, it is" Local Marty said. "You'd better brace yourself… and hope that neither you or she faint upon seeing each other."

The answer to that question was soon found, as a young girl who bore a stunning resemblance to young Lorraine Baines entered. "Dad, I'm finished, when are we going to…"

The seventeen-year-old stopped abruptly, staring back and forth between the two Marty's, then between Emmett and Doc, as the latter was still lying motionless on the couch. "Um… there better ought to be a very good explanation for this" she finally muttered.

"Oh, there is" Emmett said. "Marie…this is what happens when someone is confronted with a situation in which one meets people from another dimension which is, while in some parts the same, in other parts drastically different from our own."

"Another dimension?" Marie repeated. "Are you serious?"

"Is there any reason I wouldn't be?" Emmett countered.

"No… but I can't really believe it." Marie shook her head. "How did this happen? Did you end up doing something wrong with the time machine?"

"It's not my fault" Emmett said. "It's theirs. Well, it's not their fault, but they were the ones to dimension-hop. Apparently, at the moment, their time machine is not working anymore as it should… is it?"

"Yeah, you're right" Visiting Marty said with a sigh. "We've been hopping through quite a few universes already now, which could be rather exciting, but it's actually kind of tiring and it does depress me. I sure do hope that you can find a way to fix the time machine, Emmett, 'cause I wouldn't really like it to be stuck in here."

"I can understand that" Emmett agreed immediately. "Maybe it's about time to wake your version of me up, then. I mean, you've told me what you wanted to tell me, haven't you?"

"Yeah, that's right" Visiting Marty confirmed. He smiled a little. "Do you have any smelling salts around?"

Before Emmett could answer that question, Doc abruptly rolled to the other side. "Mar…ty…" he mumbled, still half-unconscious, but clearly having heard his best friend's voice.

"Talk about an amazing coincidence" Local Marty said, chuckling, as his other self went over to the inventor. "Doc?" Visiting Marty asked. "Doc? Can you hear me?"

"Marty…" Doc repeated, still unconscious. "Leave… me… alone…"

"Doc?" Visiting Marty said. "If you don't open your eyes right now, I'm going to leave you behind in this dimension." He wasn't really serious, but as they had been hopping through worlds for quite some time now, he was beginning to get a little annoyed. Doc not waking up didn't exactly fit in his picture of what was going to be done now, and if Emmett couldn't fix the time machine, Marty felt himself almost ready to leave his friend behind and simply go on himself, even though he knew he couldn't and shouldn't do that to his friend, and to himself, as the end results would not be good. Still, he did feel the urge to do so rising within him.

Luckily, he didn't have to do that. Marty's words had made some impact on Doc, who opened his eyes briefly before shutting them again. As the teen was about to urge his friend some more, Doc opened his eyes again, and this time they stayed open. "Marty?" he asked. "What are you doing here? What am I doing here? The last thing I remember is fainting as I heard…"

Within seconds, the inventor sat up, and stared at Emmett and Lorraine. "You are with her!" he exclaimed. "Great Scott, so it wasn't a dream! I was kind of betting on that, actually…" He looked over at Local Marty. "Great Scott… are you really my other self's son?"

"Yes, I am" Local Marty confirmed. "And, um, sorry for scaring you like that, I really didn't know that I wasn't your child. I've never really experienced this whole dimension-travelling business before, you know."

"I suppose so" Doc nodded, understanding. "You did shock me, though. Marty and I are close friends, but seeing him as my son?" He looked over at his friend. "Well, it wouldn't be terrible, but it would certainly be odd."

"I suppose so" Emmett said. "I had to get used to it at first, too, when I realised that the baby that Lorraine had given birth to had to be Marty. But eventually, I got used to it, and both of us see each other as father and son now… even though Marty's new memories must've helped with that. In the original timeline, he was still the son of George McFly and Lorraine Baines, so that was quite an adjustment for him."

"I see" Doc said. "If you don't mind me asking, how did George die? I can't really see Lorraine divorcing him, to be honest…" He looked over at the woman in question, curiously.

"Yes, I wouldn't" Lorraine said, sadly. "He died on June 15th, 1966, just two months after Linda was born. I cried for days once I'd heard the news. Emmett seemed to be particularly upset, too… even though I didn't find out until much later that this was partly due to concerns that Marty would never exist now."

Emmett blushed. "Yes, I did have my worries about that, considering how the whole thing went back in November 1955" he admitted. "After all, with George dead, and my pictures of Marty still being around… even though I did eventually notice that Marty looked a little taller, but I chalked that up to my imagination… well, let's just say that I worried about the space-time continuum. Eventually, I figured out that my theory upon first seeing George in '55 was true, and that Marty had in fact been adopted."

"That wasn't a real kind comment, by the way" Local Marty said. "I mean, you knew what it was like to be like my Dad, as you were also not really liked by a lot of things. It sounded a little negative on my father, as if you didn't think he would be a good father."

"Well, I didn't mean that" Emmett protested. "I was referring to your personality, actually. When I saw how wimpy George was, and how easy he was pushed around, I just figured that it would be rather implausible that you, being the confident boy you were, could be the son of a guy like that. I was just formulating a theory, not actively insulting your father."

"I guess so" Local Marty muttered. "It did sound a little offensive, though."

"Sorry, son" Emmett apologized, patting Local Marty on the back. The teen smiled.

"Anyway, to get back to what you said earlier, I still can't really see that this actually worked out" Doc said, thoughtfully. "Even if Lorraine remained as the mother, you shouldn't really be able to be the father. You did provide different genes to Marty, different from the ones that he originally received from George. You should be able to get a child that resembled Marty a bit, but it couldn't be Marty. Theoretically, Marty should have vanished, erased from existence, either in 1955 at the dance or when he returned with the lightning bolt. It's theoretically impossible that he could still exist."

"That is true" Emmett admitted. "I was kind of confused about it myself, as I said before. I'm not really a biology person, though, so I wasn't be able to find a correct answer to the question. Maybe it's that self-preservation effect the space-time continuum seems to have?"

"Self-preservation effect?" Doc echoed.

"Marty – your Marty – and I talked about that a bit just a moment ago" Emmett said. "He agreed with me that it was rather odd how the continuum seems to have this strange ability to keep itself intact, even with changes happening that should be able to be fatal. I mean, if Marty had erased, a paradox should've occurred. You can't have Marty be around to erase himself while he doesn't exist. That might be why the space-time continuum somehow stopped Marty from being erased. On the other hand, if I'd send my original Marty back, he could do the job of erasing his other self. He might still be as fascinated by George to follow him around…" He paused, thoughtfully. "Hmm. That's an interesting concept, to be honest. Could Marty have been able to not cause a paradox while he still erased himself in some way?"

"It is a plausibility" Doc agreed. "Let's get this schematic. First of all, we assume that Marty – original Marty, to be called Marty-A from now on – was in fact erased at the dance because the changes he caused would still get his parents to fall in love, but end up killing his father before he could be conceived. George and Lorraine might be slightly disturbed, and your younger self would be greatly worried, but let's just assume everything went the same and George was still killed and Lorraine still married you. The alternate Marty, Marty-B was born as son to you and Lorraine. He eventually went back in time on October twenty-sixth 1985 as his other self did. In our little scheme, he would manage to avoid the inevitable paradox just narrowly and not be replaced by Marty-A, as he's a different person, which is after all what this whole scenario is built around. Assuming that Marty-A is still there, let's just assume that Marty-B enters 1955 at a different point and…"

"I've got a potentially more plausible idea" Emmett interrupted. "Since Marty-A shall be erased anyway, and Marty-B enters at the same point, why shouldn't he replace Marty-A? In such a scenario, Marty-B should not feel anything, and go on with the things he did. Marty-B would go on with his travels, and still save George as George and cars seem to be a bad idea. Marty-B should still do the same thing, even though he might act differently once he realises that he is in fact Calvin Klein. For the purpose of this, let's just assume that he goes on to get George and Lorraine to fall in love, even though he's tempted to just unite the younger me and Lorraine right away. Anyway, as George and Lorraine have fallen in love, Marty-B's existence is ensured as the car accident will now happen and Lorraine will marry his father. He leaves 1985 through the lightning bolt at the clock tower and is not erased as his existence was not at stake, after all. So, in this final timeline, there is no Marty-A who ever existed in the first place, with Marty-B fully taking his place in everything, even in the journey back to 1955! That would've been a pretty nice scenario, to be honest, as since everything will remain pretty much the same, there will not be any problems in 1985 with adjustment to a new timeline, as he's from a similar timeline."

"That is a very interesting scenario," Doc responded, "but…"

He stopped as he noticed that he and Emmett were being laughed at by the Marty's. "…what?" Emmett finally said.

"Nothing" Visiting Marty said, chuckling. "You're just very funny together. It's really odd to see you and another version of you discuss time travel. Even though, from the things that I managed to catch, both of you have made some good points."

Doc nodded. "I suppose that it's about time to stop talking about this" he said, looking at Emmett. "I'd like to talk some more with you, but we do want to get home. Would you like to have a look at my time machine?" He looked around, his head stopping to move as he noticed Marie for the first time. "Um, and would you mind telling me who that is?"

"'That', as you call it, is my daughter" Emmett responded. "Marie Emily Brown, born March first 1971. My second and Lorraine's fourth child."

Doc looked at Emmett with wide eyes. "You've got more kids?"

"Seven in total" Emmett confirmed. "So, yes, that does mean we've got a rather big household, but we're managing. At least it's better than I expected from myself years ago. I never thought I'd have any kids, let alone seven. And that's excluding Dave and Linda, Lorraine's kids from her first marriage. They have moved out now, but boy, it was busy when they were still around…"

"Seven kids?" Doc squeaked. "Great Scott! Do you mind me asking what their names are?"

Emmett smiled proudly. "They're Martin Eratosthenes – that's Marty here – Marie Emily, Jules Newton, Verne Socrates, Stella Anna, Lorraine Curie and George Einstein Brown" he replied.

Doc frowned. "Jules Newton and Verne Socrates?" he asked, amused.

"Yes" Emmett responded. "Why? Anything different with those names from how you know them?" He paused at that. "Um, sorry" he added, smiling sheepishly. "I forgot for a moment that you're probably not married. This is quite an adjustment for me, you know."

"I understand" Doc said. "But you don't have to feel sorry – I am in fact married, to a woman named Clara Clayton… yes, of Clayton Ravine. Marty and I rescued her on a time trip gone wrong to the Old West. We've got three sons – Jules Eratosthenes, Verne Newton and Martin Socrates. I guess that Marty's appearance as a son as well moved back those names, so Jules would get Verne's middle name and Verne Martin's." He thought about that for a moment. "You know, I wonder whether we'll ever get a son whom we'll give the middle name 'Einstein' as well. I suppose that your 'George' idea might be a good first name for him, too. I'm still friends with George, after all, even though he and I aren't as close as Marty and I are or ever were."

Emmett nodded. "Your Marty told me about that Old West trip" he said. "Not about this miss Clayton of yours, though. Great Scott… this is amazing. I always thought that if I'd never married Lorraine, I would've remained a bachelor for the rest of my life, but I suppose I was wrong. The fact that you are married to someone else, and not only that, but you've got three kids with her too, proves that." He looked up at Doc. "What about the other universes you've already gone through? What was our marital status in those worlds?"

Doc started to count them off. "Let's see… in the first one, I was still married to Clara" he said. "In the second one, Marty had been trapped in the past, in 1955, and I was married to a woman named Julia Clayton, a relative of Clara's." He ignored Local Marty's gasp and went on. "The next one brought Clara back again, and in the one after that I was married to a young woman named Susan Clayton. She was, apparently, the daughter of Julia… it was kind of confusing. Anyway, in the next world, Clara was back, and the world after that, I was still single. The next world, I wasn't even there – it was Hell Valley, if you want to know – and the world after that was the world where Marty was smart and I was less intelligent. Knowing Marty, I take it he's told you all about that already?"

"Yes, he has" Emmett agreed. "So, three Clara's, one Julia, one Susan, and one single me so far?"

"That should be correct" Doc confirmed. "In the smart Marty world, I was married to a Jennifer Clayton who, as far as I'm concerned, does not exist in our world. The world after that was a really odd one where I was still single as well. The world after that one brought Susan back, and then there was this world, where it was Lorraine's turn." He recalled all of the women and counted them again. "So, three Clara's, two Susan's, one Julia, one Jennifer, one Lorraine, and two single me's. My own flexibility in women surprises me."

"I can understand that" Lorraine said. "You didn't seem too much of a women person to me when we first fell in love, but now I've heard this list…" She shook her head. "Emmett has told me a little about different universes, and given our odd relationship, I had realised that there could be a possibility of us never meeting, but I'd never actually considered that." She looked at Doc. "Would you mind showing me a picture of this Clara?"

"Oh, no, I wouldn't" Doc said, providing the object that had been asked for by handing it over to his alternate wife. "This is Clara."

"She's pretty" Emmett commented, looking at the picture that Lorraine was holding. "I can understand why you fell in love with her. But for me, Lorraine is my wife, and she'll always remain being that… so no thoughts about me going back to the Old West and rescuing this Clara, because I know you well enough to say that you thought that" he added, smiling at his wife.

Lorraine blushed. "Well, you can't really deny that this is an odd situation" she argued. "Not to boast, but I think I'm handling it rather well up until now – better than I expected, at least."

"Yes, that's right" Emmett agreed, taking the photograph from Lorraine and handing it back to his other self. "So, anyway, shall we go outside now? I do want to have a look at the time machine, to be honest, and I'm kind of curious what it's like in your worlds, actually…" He paused at that. "And I'd try to fix it, of course" he added, not wanting his counterpart to think that he'd forgotten that particular issue.

"Of course" Doc agreed. "Yes, I suppose it would be about time to go." He looked at Local Marty. "If you're the son of a scientist, I suppose that you might be interested in science as well" he said. "Do you want to come? You do know that it is probably a once-in-a-time chance to see a time machine from another universe. I'd be okay with it if you joined us in the time bus."

"I suppose I'd like to do that" Local Marty said, thoughtfully. "I'm planning to become an inventor too, you know."

Doc looked at him, surprised. "Serious?" he said, astonished.

The teen nodded. "Yes, I am" he said. "Dad sure managed to get me enthusiastic for this as a job choice. I do have some musical talents, but some with science as well, and… well." He shrugged. "I don't mind becoming a scientist. It sounds like a great job."

Doc gave Visiting Marty a satisfied smile, which the teen shrugged off. He didn't care what his other self wanted… he knew for sure that he'd become a musician. If Doc would like to try to convince him, he could go ahead and do that, he knew that he wouldn't be convinced anyway.

As the time travellers then headed out of the house, and up to the time machine, Marty felt a faint feeling of satisfaction as he saw the surprise on the face of his other self, and of Emmett's other self. At least, he wasn't too surprised by seeing the time machine, as he'd seen it a lot of times before. He walked up to the time bus, which Doc opened on his classic way. Emmett and Local Marty were let in, and they examined the bus.

In the meantime, Visiting Marty sought out a chair in the back of the time bus. He sat down, and realised that he felt a little tired. Sure, it was just about 4 P.M., but he had got a long time travelling day behind him, and he felt like he should perhaps try to sleep for a while. Figuring that wasn't really an option either just yet, and feeling a little lazy, the teen finally decided to go read a book instead. He took one out of two that were inside the bus all the time, a scientific book about Doc's experiences when building the DeLorean time machine, and started to read. Maybe it would finally help him understand how the machine worked.

And while Local Marty and Emmett were busy at the front of the bus, Visiting Marty read the entire book from November fifth 1955 to October twenty-sixth 1985, and as he'd finished, it was an hour and a half later and he still didn't understand too much. Not really wanting to discourage himself, he decided to take the second, smaller book, the book about Doc's experiences when building the time train back in the Old West, from the day he decided to start with it until the day he finished. The moment he opened up the small book, he immediately found the start of the whole adventure:

Tuesday, December 23rd, 1885/Monday, October 20th, 1986

Dear notebook,

Today, I made my first progress with the time machine that I am planning to build out of an 1880s vehicle. I spoke about it with Clara and we agreed that, while I initially thought that it would be 'fun', it is too dangerous to remain in the 1880s without a way to control our changes to time. I'm not entirely certain about this yet, but if I decide that building a new time machine is too dangerous, I can always quit, and in the meantime, it shall be a nice side-project. The progress I made is very nice, if I say so myself, because I did some inspections of my old notes for the DeLorean, and I got some books from the library which include information about steam power, and that combined with my knowledge about time travel should be able to provide good results a few years from now… maybe even a decade or more, I'm not entirely sure how long it would take if I'd fulfil it. Anyway, I did something today, and that's all.

Dr. Emmett Lathrop Brown.

Visiting Marty chuckled at the text. It was quite amusing how Doc thought about these things years before he'd actually finished the time machine. Also, it was amazing to think how, to Doc, writing these notes was over twelve years ago, while in fact it had been hundred-and-two. Shaking his head about the weirdness of time travel, he was about to go on with the book when Doc came walking over to him. Marty looked up at his friend. "Yeah?" he asked. "What's the matter?"

"My other self is finished with his work" Doc said, a depressed look obvious on his face. "He didn't find anything that he is currently able to fix, since he doesn't know too much about the DFSCUPCIF. Therefore, he has concluded that he won't be able to fix the time machine."

Marty looked over at his watch, which said 5:22 P.M. on April fourth, and then looked at the time circuits, who said the time was three-twenty-two in the afternoon. "He didn't?" he muttered. "I thought that he did have a lot of the same capabilities you do…"

"He does, but he hasn't gotten a chance to develop them" Doc responded. "Thanks to all his children, my other self hasn't gotten any farther than the basic DeLorean time machine and now his step van time machine. I've filled the Fusion reactor already, because I suppose that we'll have to leave without results… again." He sighed deep.

"I am sorry, you know" Emmett said, looking over to him. "I tried my best, but when I know I can't fix something, it's best not to waste any more time on it. You'd better go on. I'm sorry for getting your hopes up."

"It's not your fault" Doc assured him. "I am just going through a temporal depression, that's all…" He sighed again. "I was hoping that everything would be all right this time. I guess that it's not. Well, we ought to find something someday… I just wish it wouldn't take this long."

"I know" Emmett said. "If there is anything I can do for you…"

"No, thank you" Doc said. "Marty and I should be going off now. We've hung around here long enough. Marty?"

"Um, all right" the teen said, shrugging. "If you want to leave, go ahead."

Emmett nodded, understanding, and, realising that more 'I'm sorry' phrases was exactly what his other self did not need right now, he exited the time bus. Doc looked after him, then closed the door and, as Marty came to sit closer to the front, he turned on the flying circuits and sat back as the time machine lifted up.

"That's too bad, isn't it?" Marty said, trying to cheer his friend up a little. "That it didn't work again."

Doc shot him a look. "Had you expected it to work?" he asked. "It hasn't in who knows how many universes now. We've been on this for days and it's only getting worse, probably. Who knows, the time machine might explode one day. I just…" He saddened. "It's been a few universes since I last saw Clara and I'd like to see her again. And if this trend is continuing, I'll never see her again."

"Doc…" Marty warned.

The inventor shut his pleas off, a depression changing into determination. "I want to go home, finally!" he exclaimed, obviously furious at the time bus itself. "I've got enough of this madness! A world where I'm a horse dealer! A world where one can eat plutonium! A world where we learned once again how much easier everything could've gone if we hadn't been so stupid in '55 and had in fact noticed Old Biff being there! A world where I'm your father! I'm sick of all these… these nutty worlds, and if we can't get this done the normal way, we'll just have to go to a place where we know people will be able to help us, instead of chickening out because we're nervous that we won't encounter anyone we know. If no one can help us, we'll help ourselves!" He turned to the computer. "Destination Time: Wednesday, October 21st, 2015, 3:30 P.M.!"

"October twenty-first twenty-fifteen!" Marty exclaimed, stunned. "Three-thirty in the afternoon! Doc, that's just an hour before our other selves show up!"

"So?" the inventor commented. "We need some help, Marty, and we're not going to get it this way. If we need to take drastic measures, we'll have to do that."

Marty nodded, understanding. "I suppose" he muttered. "Are you sure it's safe?"

Doc nodded. "You have to remember, it's not our history we're disrupting after all" he said. "If everything goes wrong – which it most likely will – we'll end up in an alternate world in which we do not have any harm from changing the course of the events in 2015. Granted, with our luck it'll probably be an alternate world in which everything is still with 1980s technology, and there is, as I previously said, the risk that we're going to our home dimension and we'll have to go through a lot of trouble to fix what we're going to do there if we aren't careful – which we'll definitely try to be – but that's the risks we'll have to take. Those are risks I'm willing to take, too… and you? Are you willing to take them?"

"Yes, I think I am" Marty said, thoughtfully. "If it's really not our history… well, I suppose I kind of see your point. I don't want to disrupt our other selves' life, but if it's our only chance to get home soon, then we'll have to go to 2015. At least it will, even if it doesn't work, provide us a nice distraction from our normal pattern."

"Yes, that's at least a plus" Doc agreed. "Well, are you all set? Ready to go to 2015?" He looked at the teen, who nodded. "But before we go… sorry for shouting at you, Marty. I suppose I was getting a little too upset."

"It's okay, Doc" Marty said, smiling. "You had every bit of a right to be upset. But let's just go now, right? I can't wait to be in 2015 and finally get a chance to fix this mess."

"As can't I" Doc agreed. "As can't I." He sped up the time machine as it flew through the sky, and within moments, it hit eighty-eight, and broke through the dimensional barrier. Unbeknownst to the time travellers, though, the world it would now end up in was weirder than they could ever expect it to be.