Disclaimer: I don't own the movies. I also don't own the summarizing way of dimension-hopping in the beginning, which is right out of Kristen Sheley's story.

Author's Note: Considering the length, you are probably satisfied that this is the last update (for now). This is the IDIATM Universe, where Doc and Marty can finally relax as their long journey through dimensions is over. Read and review, please. EDIT: Minor revisions as of August 7th, 2014.

Chapter Thirteen

Saturday, April 2, 1988

2:22 P.M.

Hill Valley, California

While Doc's prediction, spoken with as much hope as he could gather within himself, did eventually come true, it did take a while for it to happen. After departing the world where Marty had, at the last moment and to his own surprise, managed to pick up some interesting movies, they hopped through a great deal of other worlds first.

The first of them all was a world where Hill Valley was restored, as it should be, and Doc was married to Clara. However that did give him a lot of hope, the circumstances that they found were not so good. Apparently, in this world, Biff Tannen had gone on to chase after Marty in 1955, and had, after Marty tossed the almanac to Doc to save it, ended up in the DeLorean when it was struck by lightning and was stuck in 1885. Somehow, the local inventor had managed to cure Biff of his evilness – well, a little, at least – and eventually they had all gotten home, with Clara. Biff had been dropped off in 1955, and, with Biff now knowledgeable about the time machine, Doc had decided to destroy the time machine the best he could. It had never been rebuilt since, and thus, Emmett was not able to help his visitors, who had to go on and find the next world.

The next idea they encountered was a world in which Marty had travelled to 1985 instead of 1885 when departing from the fifties to rescue Doc. He'd taken Jennifer with him, hover-converted the DeLorean in the future, and then, he had gone back to rescue his best friend. Unfortunately, this story turned out to be bad as well, as Clara was never met by local Doc, who had, after some initial indecision, decided not to destroy the time machine. He was just as single as his previous self, and had no knowledge of any dimension travelling at all, which caused the visiting time travellers to realise that their best bet was in leaving, as Emmett couldn't help them fix the time machine.

The world following on that one was a rather interesting world as well. Biff had, once again, followed Marty and Doc longer, causing him to end up in a fight with Marty over the almanac. He was eventually helped, however, by his father, who explained that Doc, who had still been sent back to 1885, had sent his younger self a letter explaining that he should send Marty some help. The idea that both of Marty's parents ended up finding out about their son's secret so early on was a little creepy for the teenager, and while the world had ended up turning out pretty well, the local inventor was still not able to fix the time machine. Therefore, Marty and Doc had to leave this world, and go on to the next dimension once again.

As they remained at this, the dimensions began to blur together. Minutes became hours, hours became days. More and more 'no's' were received, more and more hops were made. They went quicker, too. Once Doc discovered his local self had no time machine around and had nothing that could potentially help them, he gave him the quick summary, gave Emmett a quick tour, and leave right away instead of letting his other self check out the time machine for hours. Marty was kind of confused at that, but let his friend do that. Sometimes, the teen even fell asleep while dimension travelling, and Doc had to wake him up again. The scientist himself remained stubbornly awake, even though he eventually came to be on the verge of exhaustion.

More and more worlds were visited. There was a world where Marty had accidentally lost the almanac to George's friend Lester, 'Wallet Guy', in 1955, and the Square was dominated by a hotel in the shape of a wallet. There was a world where the Tannen's were good and the McFly's were evil. There was a world where Doc had simply never invented the time machine as he had never hit his head on November fifth, 1955. There was a world where Marty had crashed the DeLorean into the phone booth on the Mall parking lot in 1985 and he and Doc were both dead – which did, naturally, do nothing to un-depress the time travellers. There was a world where a protective new timeline Marty had thrown himself in front of Doc to save him as he was about to get shot by Libyans and the locals had just narrowly avoided a paradox after Marty had died, and had thus decided to destroy the time machine. There was a world where little William Sean McFly had died at two days old, thus there were no McFly's… well, there were McFly's, descendants of William's younger brother Arthur, but there were none that Marty knew. There was also a world where the time machine had failed at the original test. One where Marty and his family were moved up fifteen years, so George and Lorraine were both born in 1953 and Emmett had lived through the same thing his counterpart in the 'no Marty world' had. There was one where Marty and Doc were the same age, both born in 1920. There was a variation on that one where both were born in 1938. There was even a world where Marty was born as father to Lorraine Baines. All these worlds felt really awkward to visit, one more than the others, and eventually, Marty got tired of it.

"How long are we going to go on with this, Doc?" he exclaimed, angry, as the time machine was just picking up speed for another jump. "This is going to take ages! I – what time is it, anyway?"

Doc checked his watch. "3:22 A.M" he reported. "The day is Thursday, April 7th… or at least, that's what it would be if we had remained in our home dimension."

Marty sighed deep. "So you're telling me that we've been at this for almost five full days now?"

"Affirmative" Doc said.

The teenager winced. "Are we ever going to get home?" he asked. "Do you really think that in one of these worlds, we might actually hit the jackpot, so to speak, and arrive in a world that could actually help us?" He sighed. "Sometimes I think that maybe, we should just settle down in one of these worlds. Then I remember how bad that might make Jennifer feel. I mean, I really do love her – and my parents, of course. They'd never see us again."

"Yes, that's unfortunately the truth" Doc said, sighing. "Therefore, we have to go on. We could try to find a reality where we can relax for a while, though. That would be quite nice. In that case, we would get some comfort, and hopping through universes would become a little easier to bear."

"Yeah, definitely" Marty said, looking at the DFSCUPCIF, which was still fluxing away at the front of the bus. "You know, I wonder if, after this, I'll ever want to travel with the time machine again, let alone with the dimensional function on. This was a rather heavy experience, after all – and it still is."

"Yes, I can imagine that" Doc said. "We shouldn't give up all hope on the time machine, but I do propose that we should quit time travelling for a while. I could still make some occasional trips to the future, but I wouldn't involve you in it, at least for about half a year."

"That sounds like a good idea" Marty said, yawning. "Not that I ever go along with you to the future anyway, but I guess you mean future, past and alternate present."

"Yes, that's what I mean" Doc confirmed. "All right, brace yourself. We're about to dimension-hop once again."

"I don't need to brace myself for that" Marty said, smiling faintly, as the time bus headed up to 88 and once again travelled to another dimension. "Don't see the need for it. I think I've gotten a little used to this experience by now."

"Yes, we've made quite a few dimension-hops so far" Doc agreed. "Let's see…" He turned a few switches. "Apparently, we've travelled through fifty-two dimensions so far, counting our latest jump."

"Fifty-two?" Marty said, his eyes widening for a moment. "I know that we've been at this for a long time, but really?"

"Fifty-two it is" Doc confirmed. "I'm not lying here – not that I was before, but you get the point. We've been travelling through fifty-two universes so far, and it doesn't seem like we're about to stop soon." He sighed, depressed. "Great Scott…"

"I know Doc" Marty said, walking over and patting his friend on the back.

Doc gave him a smile. "Thanks" he whispered. "We're in this together you know, and I suppose we'll have to cooperate if we want to get out of this okay."

"That's true" Marty agreed. "Speaking of which, where are we now? What's going on in this dimension?"

The inventor looked out of the window. "Seems like my house is restored to how I know it again" he reported. "It looks a little funny, though – kind of like it's been restored really recently." He then shrugged. "But who cares. If it is a reality that'll get us home, it won't matter to me. Ready to check it out?"

Marty sighed. "Why not" he muttered. "It'll probably do me good to get out anyway. The past two dimensions I was just sitting inside. Maybe the wind and the sunshine on my face will revive me a little – even though I highly doubt that."

"Yes, considering how tired you currently are, I'd doubt the matter of the weather being capable of waking you up more too" Doc agreed. "But we haven't tried yet, and one should always try before making a final statement about something. So we'll have to land in order to really see what will happen."

"I hope it will be good" Marty said, as the time bus descended again. "We should not have any hope, probably, since it'll disappoint us less when we'll get a negative answer – which we will get most likely – but I can't help it. I want to have some hope to get home. Without that, I'll be completely lost in here."

"Yeah, I can understand what you mean" Doc said, smoothly landing the bus in the backyard of the big house. "Well, once we'll confront our other selves, we should see whether they can help us, and after that, we could ask them whether they can provide us with some sleeping space – which they should be capable of, considering the size of my house. That way, you can finally get your rest."

"And you too" Marty reminded him. "Remember, you'll have to relax a bit as well. You can't go on forever without any sleep."

"Considering how tired your mention of the word 'sleep' just made me feel, I have no reason to doubt your statement" Doc agreed. "Anyway, let's go outside, shall we? The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we'll be able to sleep."

Of course, Marty agreed with that, and within moments, they re-entered the cold of the average April day. Marty shivered at the cold of the April sky, which he had grown unused to at this point, but managed to keep himself all right, and soon, after locking the bus, they walked up to the back door. Doc looked at his friend. "Do you want the honour?"

Marty shook his head. "You go ahead" he said. "I think I'm too tired to actually go and raise my hand to knock."

Doc resisted the urge to smile – after all, he could identify pretty much the same feelings with himself. Instead, he knocked on the door, took a step back so that he wouldn't be as close to his other self as Marty had been in the universe where they were fictional – Great Scott, that was quite a time ago now – and waited.

After about half a minute of waiting, just as Doc began to get tired of it, the door was opened by his local counterpart, Emmett, who took a look at Doc and frowned. "Chris?" he asked, surprised. "What are you doing here? I thought you were fixing something up in the lab…"

Doc felt honestly astonished. "Don't you recognise me?" he asked, confused.

"Of course I do" Emmett said, a little confused by this question as well. "You're my other self. Now, if you would follow me, then maybe you can come in, and Mike should come as well. It's kind of cold out here after all. What were you doing outside anyway? Did you need something for any of your experiments?" He peeked past the inventor. "I don't see a bag of some sorts anywhere if you were collecting anything… Great Scott!"

The jaw of the local dropped as he took a good look at the time bus. "Chris, what are you doing!" he exclaimed. "Why on earth did you feel the need to park that bus in our backyard? Or didn't you do it?"

This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to make clear to Emmett that he was slightly mistaken in his assumptions. "I did park it here" he said, simply. "I am not the person you seem to assume I am, though. I am a version of yourself from another dimension… do you recognise the term?"

Emmett blinked, surprised. "Um, yes, I do" he said. "In fact, I'm even working on a device that should enable us to travel to ones myself. I don't intend to use it much, but it's in the finishing stages, and we had some reasons for which it might become useful… but are you really from another world? A completely separate universe?"

"Definitely" Marty confirmed before Doc could say a word. "We've been hopping through worlds for quite some time now as our dimension travelling whatsits is broken, and if you really do have a dimension device, then you might be what we're waiting for." He frowned. "But why did you address Doc as 'Chris'? And why did you call me Mike? Are those people who look like us?"

"If you're really not from here, that's going to be a complicated story" Emmett said. "But yes, considering everything that Chris and I have worked on, I might be able to help you out." He shook his head. "Great Scott… I never expected to encounter this today, but I guess that you didn't either, did you?"

"Well, other dimensions we did expect, but not really this much of them" Doc admitted. "So yes, we were quite surprised when this ended up happening. It's kind of nice to explore other worlds, but considering we've been away from our home for four days and fifteen hours now, it really is about time that we ended up in a world that is the answer to our prayers, so to speak."

"Yes, I can understand that" Emmett said, shaken up. "Follow me – my, um, my Marty should be in the lab, working with Chris, and Susan might be there as well. The rest should be upstairs, while Calvin is at home, so you can safely go to the living room without encountering anyone."

"All right" Doc said, however he felt even more confused than he had been before, especially by the mention of all these persons. "Um… did you really say 'Calvin' just now?"

"Yes, I definitely did" Emmett said. "Is the name familiar to you?"

"You could say that" Doc said, thoughtfully, and smiled faintly as he wondered whether he had part of the key to this universe in mind here. "We won't tell you just yet – it'll probably be a part of our side of the long story. And maybe of yours, too."

Emmett frowned, then shrugged it off and led them to the living room, which looked mostly similar to the living room in Doc's house. "Sit down, please" he said. "I'll be back in a minute – just need to gather Chris and the others. I can imagine they'll be very surprised about the story." He then thought of something. "Oh, and what about the bus?"

Doc thought about that for a moment. "We can leave it out there for now, as we'll tell the basics of our story, but if you can really fix it, we can probably move it into the house later… if there is place, of course."

"There should be" Emmett assured him. "And if there isn't, I'll make sure that my other self creates space for it. Now that we've got this issue behind us, is there anything else that you wanted to say to me before I go?"

Doc shook his head, and Marty, who looked like he was half-asleep already, did the same. "Good" Emmett said, looking at Marty's condition with slight amusement. "You guys entertain yourselves here – as I said, I'll be right back."

Doc nodded, and as Emmett had gone, he looked over at Marty. "This does seem to give us some hope, doesn't it?" he said, thoughtfully. "If he is really working on a dimensional machine, well, then we should have a bonus. Whether he does have a working time machine around is still the question, but if he does, then we'll probably be able to get some real progress. Considering the fact that he's with another version of himself as well, if I understood him right, then this reality might be the solution that we're waiting for."

"Yeah, could be" Marty agreed. "So, what do you think that caused the change this time around? I mean, he does seem to be very similar to us, with him working on a dimensional machine and living in this house and all, but that stuff about what sounded like multiple versions of him and me do erase that argument a little. And this Calvin…" He looked up. "Doc, did you think the same thing about him as I did?"

"If you thought that he's the same person as in the very first universe we visited, then yes" Doc agreed. "We can't know for sure whether he's also from the future and your counterpart's son – of either of them – but it does makes us feel like this is a similar situation, and if we've landed in a very similar universe, let's hope that those similarities include the state of the time machine, which was, in their universe, just one week from being finished after all. While I'm not prepared to wait for months, I think that one week is a time that we can wait out, especially if we help them finish the vehicle, since it'll take less time then."

"You're the Doc, Doc" Marty agreed.

"Thanks" Doc said. He felt distracted by the surroundings of the room. It was very awkward to see how everything had turned out to be in this world. While he had noticed before that the room looked in fact pretty similar to how he remembered it, there were some key differences. Among them was the box that was standing on one side of the room, which, as Doc looked closer, revealed that it contained two boys. The inventor shook his head at how tired he was. The thought that he hadn't even manage to see the box when he first went in really did say something about his mental health. "Great Scott" he whispered. "Marty! Look!"

"A box" Marty noticed drowsily. "Who's in it?"

"Two boys" Doc said, walking over to the box and peeking into it. "Seem to be about the same age – shouldn't be much more than half a year old. Maybe nine months. I'm not really an expert with baby's."

"You've had three" Marty pointed out. "Jules, Verne and Martin. You should know something about it."

"I do, but not much." Doc looked inside again. "They do look kind of familiar, so I'm going to gather that they're my other self's kids, and… hey!"

"What's the matter?" Marty asked, frowning.

Doc pointed at a photograph that was on top of the mantel. "That seems to be a wedding picture of some sorts" he said. His curiosity was gathered, and he walked over. "Yep, it definitely is – Great Scott!"

"What's the matter this time?" Marty said, obviously annoyed. Doc could imagine that – sitting down usually didn't help too much when you were tired. But still, he didn't blame himself for shouting, as he had felt really shocked at this. "It's the wedding picture of my other self, as I gathered," he said, "but there's a lot more people on it! Three versions of you, two of me, one of which is the groom, and the bride – Susan Clayton again – and then there's the… Great Scott, there are three of Jennifer too!"

"Three of Jennifer?!" Marty exclaimed, the shock jolting him back to his feet and out of his sleepiness. "That's… I gotta see that!"

"Have a look" Doc offered, handing the picture to the teen. "If those other two girls aren't Jennifer, they look an awful lot like her."

"Yeah, they do" Marty said, looking at the photograph on an awkward way. "This is so odd…"

"I think I can understand that" Doc said, smiling a little. "Seeing multiple versions of Clara would be very odd as well – although I think that it would be even worse for Clara. Still, it's odd to see my wife but know she isn't." He sighed. "Just makes me miss home more. At least this reality has a Susan, thus no Clara."

"Well, you don't know that for sure" Marty pointed out. "I mean, there's two of you here, right? I think that there's a good chance the other you is married to a version of Clara. A Susan doesn't mean that there's no Clara, it just decreases the chance that there is a Clara. That's even true when there's just one of you. I mean, for all we know, you did save her life, but did not fall in love with her."

"I don't think I can picture that" Doc said, shaking his head. "A version of me saving, or even meeting, a version of Clara... and not falling for her? It would just sound too weird."

"You'd better get used to that, then."

Doc and Marty swiftly turned around to face Emmett returning, followed by another version of Doc, a woman who looked a lot like Susan Clayton from the previous worlds, and a version of Marty. Doc stared at his other selves. "This looks odd" he muttered.

"Yes, I can agree with that" Emmett number two said, shaking his head. "Emmett here explained just a little to me, so you'll need to tell me the rest. Is it really true that you're from another dimension?"

"Definitely" Doc confirmed. "I can understand that you two are a little confused at me showing up here, but the story is actually quite simple. I invented a device to travel between dimensions…"

"…the DFSCUPCIF?" Emmett number one guessed.

"That's right!" Doc exclaimed, stunned. "How did you know about that? Did you invent one yourself? You did tell me you were working on a dimensional device…"

"Well, we are planning to build a dimensional device to put it in the DeLorean" Emmett number two said. "I thought that maybe we could call it the DFSCUPCIF, and apparently, I was proven right on the name, while Chris here was wrong. He thought that the device should have another name." He looked proudly over at his other self, who, to stay in the childish style, stuck out his tongue.

"Why are you calling him 'Chris'?" Doc asked, frowning.

"Because it's his name" Emmett Three said. "Not originally, of course – it's always been Emmett – but it's better than calling each other 'One' and 'Three' all the time, like we did before."

"Three?" Marty replied. "There's only two of you... or is Emmett Two just not around at the moment?"

"Actually, in the most technical sense of the distinguishing system, Two should be dead" Emmett One – Chris – said. When he saw Doc look horrified, he assured him: "He isn't, really. Well, he is, but he's not… it's a confusing story. Let's just say that we'll tell you later."

"All right" Doc replied, still a little confused. "I could live with that. Especially since we do have a lot on our minds anyway."

"Like what this 'DFSCUPCIF' thing is" Susan said, a little confused.

"Dimensional Flux Storage Capacitor Unit as well as Purposely Creator of an Interdimensional Field" Local Marty prompted, startling his other self. "It's the name that Dad thought up for the alternate version of the flux capacitor which is supposed to make us travel through dimensions after it's finished."

"Ah, okay" Susan said, nodding. "I believe Chris talked to me about that, once."

"Yeah, Marty's explanation does seem to be accur - did you just say 'Dad'?!" Doc called out. "Please tell me I misheard that."

"You didn't" Susan said. "Chris and I are this Marty's – his name is Mike now – adoptive parents. His own parents are… well, it's a complicated story. If you're going to be staying here for a while, as Emmett told us, then we'll probably tell you soon, but I suppose that you should check whether you'll stay at all first."

"We should, but I would like to ask whether we could stay anyway" Doc said. "Even if it's just to spend the night here. Marty and I are practically collapsing on our feet right now and… well, I think that, if we do have to go on, a little rest would do us good." He paused, considering that. "But I don't think we'll have to go on. I feel optimistic about this. I've got this feeling that we will end up succeeding in our mission in this universe, and it'll be rather hard to push it out of my mind."

"I hope you won't have to" Emmett said. "Come on, Chris, let's check out the time machine that our other self built."

Chris nodded, as Doc turned to Visiting Marty. "Will you stay here?" he asked. "You can probably talk a little to Susan and your counterpart… I could imagine it if you would like to hear some more about your other self being my other self's son, or about some other things. I know you're probably on the verge of collapsing right now, but just hold out for a little while yet. I think that you'll sleep better if you know whether we can indeed go home here or not."

"You're the Doc, Doc" Marty agreed, smiling.

Doc smiled back as he and the Emmett's headed out of the house and up to the time bus. This was certainly a confusing dimension, and kind of odd, but for the first time in a long time, he finally had a feeling of hope, and that was something that no one was going to be able to steal from him any time soon.

Marty sighed deeply. He had never thought the day would come – and in fact, he still didn't know whether it actually had, as for all he knew, he could still be stuck, but he felt pretty certain that it was going to work out now – that he was actually able to sit down and realise that this universe was really going to help him and Doc get back home. Doc had gone off to check now, and if the test proved that they were right in their suspicions, then they would finally get a chance at coming home.

While the teenager felt completely exhausted, he remembered that Doc had told him not to go to sleep, so he remained awake. Feeling tired, he tried to distract himself by looking at the locals of this dimension, Susan Clayton-Brown and Mike, who had both sat down on the couch opposite his. It didn't really distract him all that much, as he'd seen another version of himself dozens of times before now, and he didn't realise that he'd almost dozed off until Susan's voice snapped him back to reality.

"So" Chris' wife said, looking at him. "How are you feeling? I suppose that you must be rather tired, if you've really travelled through several dimensions by now."

"Fifty-two" Marty confirmed. "And yeah, I suppose I'm pretty tired. I'd be surprised if I wasn't. I mean, I am almost losing track of how many universes we've gone through – if Doc hadn't told me, I don't think I would've known. I can remember all the worlds if you ask me to, but it'd be a lot of work."

"Yeah, I don't think I want to give you that annoyance" Susan agreed. "So, fifty-two worlds. Anything similar to ours out there?" She paused. "Speaking of which, I should have a better question… is yours anything like our world? I suppose the big difference is that there's just one of you and Emmett, unless the others didn't go along."

"Yeah, that's right" Marty confirmed. "But I've noticed other differences too… like those baby's over there."

Mike smirked. "Oh, those?" he asked. "Yeah, that's Doc's kid, and Dad's youngest son. Well, I suppose that I should distinguish the 'oldest' and 'youngest' with Doc too, with Clara pregnant again and all… but anyway, yeah, they're just babies. The left one, in the blue clothes, is Jules Eratosthenes Brown, Doc's son, born September twenty-fifth last year. The other guy is Dad's youngest… Herbert George Brown, born in the early morning of October twenty-ninth. Also last year."

"Herbert George Brown?" Visiting Marty repeated, frowning.

"After our second favourite author" Susan said, the enthusiasm about the name clearly distinguishable in her voice. "Herbert George Wells. Our oldest was named after Marty… well, I knew that two kids named Martin in our family wasn't really normal, considering that a version of Marty is our adopted son as well, but Chris insisted on it. We're calling him by his middle name, Calvin, most of the time anyway. And then there's his twin sister… Victoria Maria Brown, named after my ancestor, Maria Victoria Clayton."

"Clara's sister" Visiting Marty agreed, nodding. "Our Doc is married to Clara, you know… from what the other me said, I take it that, um, Emmett is as well?"

"That's correct" Susan agreed. "It's kind of funny how he still managed to rescue her from falling into the ravine in your world. It was kind of an odd story, after all. I take it you were present?"

"Yeah, I was" Visiting Marty said. "We were stuck back there. It's a confusing story… I'm not even sure where to begin. There's so much of your story that is probably different from ours." He looked at Mike. "Did you get to travel through time at the initial test? To 1955, where you messed up your parents' meeting, your mom fell in love with you, you had to make them fall in love, get back to the future through the lightning bolt, and warn Doc about being shot?"

"No" Mike said, a smile on his face. "My other self did, though. Sounds like that's all the same with you and him. I suppose that the differences came later, as I'm not here, and Calvin isn't with you either."

"Who's this Calvin fellow?" Visiting Marty said. "In the first universe we visited, he was my supposed twin whom Dad and Mom adopted as their son, but he really was from the future. It was my son, Marty Junior, who had gotten trapped in the '80s for more than two years."

"Weird" the local said. "No, he's not… he's actually a third version of us. As you can probably guess already, it's a complicated story."

"I could guess that when I came in" the visitor replied, smirking.

"I figured as much" Mike said. "But yeah, Calvin's story is a weird one, as is mine. Anyway, can I assume that you still went to 2015 because something was wrong with your kids? You saved Marty Junior from being bullied around by Griff Tannen, and… well, I'm not sure about this part… bought a sports almanac with fifty years of sports statistics?"

"That is correct" Marty said.

Mike's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked, scepticism obvious in his voice. "Even the latter?"

"Even the last one" Marty confirmed. "I did throw it away, though, after Doc insisted on it – actually, he was the one to throw the book away. Wasn't too good of an idea, as Biff Tannen found the almanac. We had to follow Jennifer, as she was taken off to Hilldale by some cops, and there, we had to rescue her, or well, Doc had. I admit that I got distracted, so as I was away from the car for a moment, Biff Tannen sneaked up and into the time machine, and before I knew it – in fact, I didn't even realise it until we'd departed 2015 – he'd gone into the past and given the almanac to his other self from November, 1955."

The local gasped. "But how's that all possible!" he exclaimed, with his adoptive mother appearing equally stunned. "If our world was still created, how is it possible that I'm not with you! That there's even a difference between our dimensions at all!"

Marty gasped back. "Our world?" he muttered, stunned. "You mean that you're from that Biff-horrific reality? Really?"

Mike and Susan both nodded, seeming a little sad, which, to be honest, didn't surprise the visitor all that much. "Yeah" the local teen whispered. "I don't like to think about it, though. That world was essentially hellish, and I had a terrible life there. Biff preferred abusing me above all things he liked to do. I think that he had the opinion that I was his stepson just so he could hurt me. Well, it wasn't as bad when I was not around, when I was at the boarding school, but when I was in Hill Valley… well, the slightest thing could get him mad at me. Poor Lorraine really had a hard time back then."

"No 'mom'?" Marty said, with a frown.

"No 'mom'" his other self confirmed. "Mrs. Brown here is my mother now, even though we're very close in age. Dad and Mom… the real ones… are really good friends of mine, but I can't really say that my biological father is really my Dad. I never really knew him, after all. He's a nice guy, and so is my biological mother, but I think I'm a little more, well, you know, loyal to my adoptive parents. They did give me shelter when I ran away from the Pleasure Paradise."

"How did that happen, anyway?" Marty wondered, curious despite himself. "How did you guys all meet and become a, well, time travelling bunch of people that ended up here?" He frowned. "How could you even exit that world? Shouldn't you erase then?"

"That's one of the puzzles that Dad never found an answer to" Mike said, shrugging. "He always says that it's probably just luck, even though he is trying to find something out. He was a little worried about that in the beginning, but it all turned out fine in the end."

"I can imagine that" Marty agreed, looking over at the box again. "But, like I just asked, how did you get out of Biff's world?"

"A lot of luck, probably" Mike said. "It all started with my other self… the one that's currently named Calvin, as he's adopted by my former Mom and Dad… that guess is the right one. Or at least, the right part of the guess." He paused for a moment. "Calvin is probably pretty much what you were, up until the moment he and you went home from the lightning strike at the clock tower. You and our Marty went home… he arrived in Biff's world."

Marty gasped. "That must've been quite a shock to him" he muttered. "I can remember how bad Hell Valley, as we called it, was, and to actually go there right from 1955…"

"He didn't like it" Mike agreed. "He almost went insane upon seeing the Pleasure Paradise. Even later, after seeing the mall was empty… no terrorists there, at least… he didn't feel too good. After that, he went to the garage Dad used to live in before he was committed… he was committed in Biff's world, you know. He researched history a little, and luckily Dad remembered that he could show up and had an employee send a letter to his garage, for Marty Two or Calvin or whatever you want to call him now to receive. He was stunned, of course, but did as the letter said, and came to visit Dad. They then planned to break Dad out."

"Sounds interesting" Visiting Marty said. "That does bring up the question about how you entered the scenario, though."

"Pure luck" Mike said. "I was just attending a party of some sorts at the Pleasure Paradise about which Biff insisted that I should attend. I arrived a night from beforehand, and by pure coincidence met up with my counterpart. He realised who I was, even though I had, naturally, no idea, convinced me that my true future was in helping breaking Dad out. I didn't really know Dr. Brown, but seeing that Biff hated him, I didn't think he could be too bad, and with the evidence that my other self showed me, I became convinced pretty soon. On the fateful night – Halloween – I went out of the Paradise, Marty Two broke Dad out with some kind of disguise, even though he was found out eventually so it was really close in the end, I got them a car of some sorts and together, we raced away from the Pleasure Paradise. We went out of town, to a mine of some sorts where Dad had stored the DeLorean, and started to work on it, hoping to build it into a working time machine with which we could escape the horrible Tannen-'80s."

"The Tannen-'80s" Marty said, with a smirk. "Nice name."

"Well, it was true" Susan argued. "Biff was one of the most powerful men on earth. He had great influence over the president, and Nixon did owe him one for getting him re-elected so often. Our world was so bad, that Mike even told me that he had wished to be in Orwell's 1984 by the time that year rolled around."

Marty gasped. "Really?" he muttered, stunned.

"Well, I might've been exaggerating a little, but yes, that thought did cross my mind" the local agreed. "The main thing was that in Orwell's world, Biff was probably not my stepfather… and well, that beat anything for me. Even living in such a horrible world. And well... we were still in a Cold War with the Soviet Union, and communists were still proclaimed 'bad', but I think that the US was slowly but surely developing into a worse nation than the Soviet Union was." He sighed. "It wasn't as bad yet, but with the Soviets themselves becoming less bad, that event was almost inevitable."

"That's… odd, I guess" the visitor said. "I mean, in our world, the SU also seems to develop into a slightly less undemocratic nation… and Doc has let something slip about 'it's collapse not being too far away'. But that it actually became less bad than the US?" He shook his head. "Not that America is everything, of course, but we are supposed to be the 'good guys', after all."

"Yeah, it's an odd situation" Mike said, with a sigh. "But then again, everything was in that world."

"I suppose so" Visiting Marty said. "We ended up seeing it – not too much of it, but the basics match. Doc was committed in what we found as well, and your mom was Biff's wife."

"You did?" the local said, eyes wide. "I guess you mentioned that offhand before, but I never really realised… Great Scott, that's weird. To think you actually saw our world. I mean, Marty and Doc – Emmett – did, too, but we ended up taking them there, they didn't come there by themselves. It's a strange thought."

"I suppose so" Marty said. "We ended up erasing that world, though, so we weren't inside for long. But yeah, it wasn't too nice in there."

"You can say that again" Mike muttered, sadly.

"I just did."

The local teen frowned, then chuckled as he got the joke. "I suppose I'm being a little too depressed, ain't I?" he said, shaking his head. "I should be glad that I'm out of there – and I am, really. There's nothing that causes me to be happier than the thought that I'll never have to see that awful version of Biff again."

"I can imagine that" Marty said, with some sympathy. "I suppose that the realisation that you're out of there does help you feel good, even though you'll never see the mother and father that you knew again. Then again, you wouldn't have ever seen Dad again if you stayed either, but you must miss your mother."

"I certainly do" the local said, sighing. "I did get to see her before we left – upon my insistence, Doc allowed me to go to the Paradise and visit her. She was really depressed. It was nice to meet her again, but the fact that she still believed that Biff was right and she was wrong did make me feel quite bad. Of course, when I saw her for the real last time, she was cured of that idea, but still."

As Marty wondered what the last line meant, Susan stood up and looked outside. "They are certainly taking a long time with that" she commented. "I know how Chris can be around time travel and other vehicles that can transport one through time, but I'm getting the feeling he thinks that he can spend all the time he want out there. His other self does need some sleep, you know. Knowing Chris, he's probably forgotten that… and if his other self is anything like him, it has probably slipped his mind as well. Oh, great."

"I can see what you mean" the visitor said. "Bring Doc close to something that intrigues him, and it's a guarantee that he'll forget the time. Sometimes, I wonder how a guy like him could actually have invented a time machine, with his problems with time and all." He shook his head. "It has occurred multiple times before that I came to visit in the morning, found Doc in the lab, working on an invention of some sorts, and heard him claim that I startled him because he didn't expect me to 'arrive in the middle of the night'. It takes me a while to convince him that it's really morning already every time, and when he finally figures it out, he simply says: "Well, then I can go out to buy some parts for my inventions again because it's light, and get back to work." Honestly, sometimes, I simply think that he doesn't even know how to sleep. I'm not sure how Clara manages to put up with that."

"I'm sure that she's gotten used to it, one way or another" Susan said, smiling. "But yeah, I know that it can be pretty hard to live with a version of Emmett Brown… even though I do love him, of course. I wouldn't have married him otherwise." She turned to her adopted son. "What do you think, Mike? You think you've got a nice father?"

"I don't really have a basis for comparison" Mike pointed out. "My stepfather was Biff Tannen, and my real father died when I wasn't even five years old yet. To me, Dad was the best Dad that I could ever get… sleeping habits aside."

"Yeah, I guessed that" Marty said, smirking. "Our counterpart in the other world where I was Doc's son shared that sentiment."

"The other world where you were Emmett's son?" Susan said, astonished.

Mike was astonished as well. "And I hoped that I was unique!" he said, smiling as he complained which evidenced that he didn't really mean it, even though he was obviously shocked.

"Yeah, that was an odd world too" the visitor agreed. "Although there were some very clear differences – in that world, I was actually Doc's biological son. Dad died in June of '66 by a car accident of some sorts, and Doc married Mom. As a result, the other me was slightly taller, and he had brown eyes, but it was still me."

"I'm not a scientist… not yet, at least… but I know for a fact that such a thing shouldn't be possible" Mike said, frowning. "How could he still exist? He obviously isn't the original version of himself, if he's still alive while he hasn't got the same parents."

"Yeah, Doc – our Doc – thought it was pretty implausible too" Marty said. "He had a whole conversation with the local version of him about it, until we… that is, my other self and I… reminded them that there was something else to do but arguing about how time travel worked when dealing with that idea." He frowned. "Did you really say you're going to be a scientist just now? I mean, the other me from that universe wanted to do the same, and smart me did as well, but you're just adopted. You still got George McFly and Lorraine Baines as your biological parents. Are you really planning to be an inventor?"

"Definitely" Mike said, either not having heard the 'smart me' line or ignoring it. "I'd love to be able to accomplish a fraction of what Dad does. Once you get the basics, it's not too hard to grasp science, and what you can manage is really fascinating. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything, after all."

"I think we've all heard that line multiple times before" Marty said, smirking. "Wonder when Doc came up with it."

"When he was eleven, shortly after first reading Jules Verne" Susan said. "I asked him once. Turns out that he was so fascinated by the first novel he read, Twenty Thousand Miles Under The Sea, that he immediately got the urge to read a second one. He did have some trouble with it, though, as he didn't understand all of it as the second book he read had a lot of difficult words in it. He complained about it to the librarian of duty, and as he was just about to give up, his English teacher happened to be visiting the library and heard his complaint. He explained to Emmett what the hard words were, and told him what the scene meant. Emmett was of course very happy, and at the end of the 'lesson', his teacher reminded him that he should never forget this, and never try to give up like that again, since if he put his mind to it, he could accomplish anything."

"Nice tale" Marty said, smirking.

"Well, it's true" Susan said. "Emmett told it to me that way, and I have no reason to doubt his words."

"I guess you don't" Mike said, leaning back in the couch.

Just then, the sound of footsteps could be heard. "Did Doc get back?" Marty said, immediately looking up.

"No, it's not from outside" Susan concluded. "As far as I can hear it, it appears to come from inside the house." She listened better, and as Marty did the same, he could distinguish some voices. Susan could the same, and nodded. "Just as I thought" she said. "Clara must be practicing stair-walking with either Martin or Victoria again."

"Stair-walking?" Marty repeated, slightly amused.

"Walking down the stairs with the kids to teach them how to do that on their own" Susan clarified. "We do it often with the twins, and apparently, Clara decided to try it with our kids too, to practice for when she'll do it with her own kids. And yeah, they're just a little over twenty months old, but they do seem to be fast learners. What can I say… they're Browns."

"That's a good argument" the visitor smirked.

"Thought so" Susan said, standing up from the couch. "I'd better go warn them. Wouldn't want Clara to be too startled upon seeing there's two of you." She walked off.

"I'd better go too" Mike said. "I should call my other selves, tell them you've arrived. I'm sure they'll be interested. Wouldn't want to leave them out of the fun after all."

"If you call this fun, I can tell you haven't dimension-travelled yet" Visiting Marty said, glaring at him. Mike smirked, understanding but still thinking of it as funny, and went out of the room to do his telephone duties.

As he was now left alone by both Susan and his other self, Marty felt a feeling of sleepiness beginning to come over him. Trying to resist it, he focused on other thoughts. What would it mean that Doc hadn't returned yet? Was that positive or negative? Would he return soon, or would it take a while yet and would the teen be better off going to check where the inventor was?

The teen tried to stand up to do just that, but found his entire body protesting his movement. He frowned, surprised – he knew he was exhausted, but he hadn't expected himself to be that tired. Shrugging, he sat back down again, and felt the urge to close his eyes return.

"Can't do that" he mumbled to himself. "I've… I've got to wait. I can't sleep 'till Doc gets back and assures me that everything is all right. I might get nightmares."

While that was a valid possibility, Marty did wonder whether his statement there was entirely right. He felt so exhausted that he could even be too tired to dream. All right, that might not even be possible, but he felt that way anyway. He yawned, and leaned back.

This feeling was terrible. Being together with the others was okay, but this was worse. Now all his exhaustion came down on him as one. He looked towards the pillow on the side of the bench. He couldn't sit up anymore, but he didn't dare to lie down, as he might fall asleep then and he couldn't fall asleep as he had to wait for Doc…

The teen touched his eyes. They were so eager to get shut, he had to keep himself concentrated every single second so that they wouldn't close themselves. He felt like he was being tortured in a terrible way – he couldn't close his eyes, but he couldn't keep them open either, as he was alone, and there were no people around to distract them, so he felt so tired…

Finally, he caved in. Lying down didn't mean he would go to sleep after all. He would just rest, rest a little to prepare himself for his eventual visit to bed. Satisfied with that explanation, he lied down, confident that he wouldn't fall asleep.

His confidence was wrong. The moment after he hit the pillow, his eyes shut. Marty barely registered a satisfied feeling coming from the rest that overwhelmed all his senses, and the last thing he heard was Clara's faint cry of "Golly!" as she entered the room, and then, his mind went off to Dreamland just two seconds after he'd lied down, causing him to fall asleep in a half-sitting and half-lying position. Marty had finally gone to sleep, and this time, it would take a while before he would wake up again.

oooooooo

As Marty had already figured, Doc's chat with his counterparts had taken longer than usual. The inventors had talked, shared brief parts of their life just as Marty had done with his counterpart and Susan, and when they eventually did leave the bus, it was about half an hour after Marty had fallen asleep, and the time was somewhere around 1:50. Doc felt mixed as he looked at that – he was glad that he'd been able to finally find someone who could fix things, but he worried that he had left Marty waiting for too long. He knew how tired the teen – and he himself by extension, even though he preferred not to think about that – was…

"Looks like we've been out here longer than intended" he said, voicing his thoughts after locking the bus and walking back to the house together with his other selves. "I hope I haven't kept Marty waiting for too long. Great Scott, what if he's mad at me?"

"He'll understand we needed time for this" Emmett said. "We can't do a rush job on something as important as this, after all. He won't be happy, and I think that he might yell at you at first, but eventually, you'll be able to talk some sense into him, and if you won't, we'll do it for you."

Doc smiled thinly at his counterpart. "Thanks" he said. "For being able to stay here, too. I hope that I'm not bothering you too much…"

"Trust us, you aren't" Chris assured him. "There's more than enough place for you. You've just brought Marty, the time train and yourself along after all. If the entire family was along, it might have been harder for us to fit you guys into the house. Not that I'm saying we wouldn't have found a solution then, wouldn't want to let any of you guys sleep outside or in a hotel when we can avoid it, but it would be a lot harder. But that shouldn't be any bit of a problem now. It's a big house, as you probably know, since you own it as well, in your dimension."

"Yeah, that's right" Doc said, smiling at his counterpart again, this time a little more. "I just wanted to say that I appreciated what you're doing. You could've just told us to go on since you didn't want to spend time on this."

"Of course I wouldn't have done that" Emmett immediately reassured him. "And I'm sure my counterpart wouldn't have either." Chris nodded, agreeing. "See? You should've thought more about your opinion of your other selves."

Doc smirked. "Yeah, you're probably right" he said, staring back at the bus as they headed to the front door, which Emmett unlocked. "Well, I'm glad that I've finally found some help. I couldn't believe what was happening when I found out that you could fix my dimensional machine."

"Well, it shouldn't be that hard" Chris said. "We need a lot of parts from the future, but we've got two time machines, so we can manage that. One for each of us, if you want to know."

"I already guessed that" Doc said. "I suppose that your life was essentially the same until 1955, wasn't it?" He whistled. "I'm sure Marty will have a thing or two to say about this. It's quite fascinating that I'm actually able to meet my counterpart from that reality… but that does come with the fact that I do feel sorry. After all, I created that world."

"You don't have to apologize" Chris ensured him. "Emmett already did that several times, so we don't need you to do the same. It's really appreciated, but it's not necessary."

"All right, then I won't apologize" Doc caved. He shook his head. "You know, I believe I've visited a universe much like the one you came from before."

"You told us you went to that alternate world already" Emmett said. "You didn't give the specifics, but you already told us that."

"That's not what I meant" Doc said, thinking hard. "I meant on this trip… oh yeah!" He gave himself a gentle slap on the forehead for not thinking about it earlier and forgetting where he'd seen the other version of Hell Valley. "Sorry, it's been some time. It was one of the first dimension hops, even before the universe where we got to rest for a while… that was quite a fascinating dimension by the way, I should really tell you two about that later… and anyway, I visited the Hell Valley world, as we call it. It was in the present day, so I was seeing what the world looked like little over two years after you left it. Well, I didn't know it was you at the time, but now I'm certain. Given the fact that the local me escaped out of the asylum and that you mysteriously disappeared around New Year's of 1986, I'm pretty sure that it must be you. Is that the same thing as what you know, Chris?"

"Yes, it definitely is" Chris confirmed. 'The 1986 escape part, I mean. That sounds intriguing. I mean, I never really thought that it could be possible to revisit that timeline. It's a timeline, after all, not a dimension… Great Scott. This really sounds like a rather odd situation."

"Oh, it definitely was" Doc said. "I didn't stay there for very long, but I did find some valuable information in the library that the 'Lorraine Baines Hotel' had." He stared at Emmett Three. "Having said that, could you explain to me why you're still holding the doorknob and do not appear to have any plans to open the door any time in the near future?"

Emmett blushed, as he twisted the doorknob and opened the door. "Sorry" he said. "I guess I was too distracted by listening to your story. Now, is there anything else you wanted to say? What was that 'Lorraine Baines Hotel', as you put it?"

"It was a hotel of some sorts that had taken the place of Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise in that world" Doc said, walking into the door and putting his jacket on the place that Emmett One pointed out to him, on the hat stand. "It wasn't as bad as Biff's Pleasure Paradise of course, but it was still a weird sight. I have to admit I preferred the original Courthouse. I even met Lorraine. She looked a lot younger than she looked in the original alternate world, even younger than her normal self. I guess that money could do that, somehow."

"You're not kidding!" Chris exclaimed, also putting his jacket where his other self had done so and following his counterparts through the hallway. "What did Marty think about all that? I can imagine he had quite a thing to say about that."

"He would've" Doc said. "If he had been there, I'm certain he would've commented on that."

"You mean he wasn't?" Emmett said, confused. "He didn't want to come along? I can imagine that he wouldn't want that, but to just stay in the bus… it doesn't really sound like something that Marty would voluntarily do."

"He wouldn't" Doc said, wishing he didn't need to say that. "At least, he wouldn't have done that in normal circumstances, but this time, I knocked him out." He let out a deep sigh, as the others gasped. "And yeah, I know, it sounds really mean, but my scientific curiosity was getting the better of me and I landed on top of the hotel to investigate. Marty was terrified and horrified and told me to get out of there, but I didn't pay any attention to him until he was already at the wheel and gave the computer the destination where we needed to go, according to him. I was annoyed with him, and my temper got out of control, and, frightened as I was that Marty would succeed in getting the time machine up to 88 and erasing my chance to investigate this world, I grabbed the sleep-inducer and used it on Marty." He paused for a moment, thinking back of that moment. "It worked all right… he was out like a light the moment after the flash appeared. Unfortunately, I still had it on four-hour-setting then… I had a hard time waking Marty up after the two hours I'd spent inside the paradise, and he remained half-asleep until we really realised what the natives of the next universe were like. That was when Marty dropped his exhaustion and went from that to being horrified once more." He smirked. "Sounds like a visual cycle, doesn't it? Well, that's what it was for Marty… and sometimes, even for me."

Chris gave him a light pat on the back, feeling sympathy for his other self and not bothering to ask what this other world was like. "Well, we'll manage to help you" he said, confidently. "That's something that I'm certain of. And now, all he have to do is making sure Marty knows, too." He walked into the living room, and frowned. "Susan?" he asked, confused. "Where's Marty, honey?"

Doc looked as well, and found to his surprise that Chris was right. Marty was no longer sitting on the couch that was to his right as he entered the room. The two baby's – Emmett Three had told them it was his Jules and One's Herbert – were still there, and Susan was also there, with Clara and a boy that looked a lot like Marty, but from the excitement that could be read on his face and the lack of exhaustion coupled with that, it was obvious that this boy was not the Marty that Doc knew. He wondered where his friend was.

Susan, however, managed to answer that question easily. "Upstairs" she said. "In the guest room. We had a nice chat, but as Mike and I had to be out of the room for a little while, each for different reasons, Mike going to call his other self and telling him to come over, which he said that could take a while, and I to make sure that Clara wouldn't walk in on this odd situation, we returned to see him sound asleep. Poor boy must've been completely exhausted."

"Yeah, he was" Doc agreed, accepting the chair that Emmett One pointed out to him. "We've gone through quite a few universes together and well… let me put it this way, I'd be surprised if he wasn't tired. He'd been complaining about it for quite some time now." He smirked. "It's been fifty-two universes, if you want to believe it."

"I know" Clara said, drawing her to Doc's attention for the first time. "Susan told me Marty had shared that information with her." She shook her head. "It's just so odd here" she muttered. "Ever since Emmett saved my life and took me out of the 1880s in late December of '86, I've gone through a real adjusting process. I still can't believe that I'm living in the future now. Call me odd, but I still can't."

"My Clara is mostly the same" Doc said. "Even though she's been here for about a year longer. I wonder what exactly the differences are between the two of you." He glanced at Clara, then at Susan and then at Clara again. "And between you two, of course… must be odd, being married to two versions of the same person."

"Tell me about it" Susan said, smirking. "I've been living this life for over a year now, but it's still weird. Ever since Chris and I met in that alternate reality, I knew that my life was going to be stranger than before, but I hadn't expected it to be this strange." She shrugged. "Ah well. Strangeness is better than the life I had before Emmett saved me from Biff's gang."

"You met in Biff's reality?" Doc exclaimed, stunned. "Really? Great Scott! I guess that I was subconsciously expecting you to be from this world until now… how was your life there? I can't imagine that it was anything close to 'good'."

"Oh, it definitely wasn't" Susan said, shaking her head. "I was forced to live on the streets. Not really my definition of a happy life. It wasn't all too bad though – I met Jennifer and Ann that way."

"Jennifer I know, or at least I do if you're thinking about the same Jennifer I am, but Ann?" Doc said, frowning. "Who's Ann? Name doesn't ring a bell with me."

"I figured that much" Susan said. "Ann Parker was Jennifer's twin sister and as I was saying, after they ran away from home, I took the mother-role for them. Jennifer had to live with Biff forcing her to be a prostitute every day, so it wasn't really surprising she ran away. Ann had a different life, but it was still no fun. Jennifer ran away first, Ann followed and shortly after that, they met up with me. Things went really fast around that time… that event was just a few days before we met up with Chris and his group."

"His group?" Doc asked, curiosity rising.

"Yeah, his group" Susan confirmed. "It was a small group, but it was one nonetheless. Mike, Calvin and he were together in the mine out of town working on the DeLorean that he had stored there. It was about a month away from being finished – well, they expected it to be a month-and-a-half, but it ended up going faster than expected – when they met us. I'm glad we ended up meeting Chris, as our life wasn't really too great before that. Of course, there is also the factor that we ended up falling in love with each other, so I would've remained single otherwise, or I might have gotten into a marriage with someone else… who, in no way, could've been better than Chris."

Chris blushed, but Doc simply became more interested. "That sounds fascinating" he said. "How did you two meet, then? You said it was a month before the DeLorean being finished, and in the library I visited in the alternate world – yes, I visited your world as well on one of these trips, and no, Marty didn't get to see that – it said that you departed that world, or at least that version of Hill Valley, in early January. So you should've met early December, if I'm not incorrect."

"You are – it's late November" Susan said. "Yes, that's an interesting story. It all started when I was…" At that, she suddenly stopped.

"What's the matter?" Doc asked, frowning. "Why are you stopping?"

"I just thought of something" Susan said. "Seeing that Marty passed out from exhaustion within seconds, and you've probably been up for as long as he has, if not longer since you have to pilot the time bus, shouldn't you be completely exhausted by now? And thus, shouldn't you go to bed?"

Doc frowned. "I don't feel all that tired" he said. "Sure, I am not feeling all too well, but I can wait with going to bed. I'd prefer to hear your story first."

"I don't like telling stories to someone who might collapse from exhaustion half-way through the tale" Susan said, firmly.

"That won't happen" Doc said, though he didn't really sound assuring.

"Says who?" Susan countered. "How do you know that? Marty was interested in what we told him too, I could notice that. But he still fell asleep."

"Marty is just a kid" Doc argued. "That's different."

"You're at least sixty-eight" Susan said. "So you should fall in a special category as well."

"I had a rejuvenation" Doc said. "So that's not a good argument, Mrs. Brown."

"Maybe not" Susan allowed. "But you're still on the older side. No offence, of course, but I think that you would be better off when you simply took my advice and went to bed. Especially considering you've got work to do on the time bus, and you do want to be freshly awake then."

"She's right" Clara said. "I know you better than that, Emmett. If we don't say anything, you'll remain up forever."

"Mom is right, um, Doc" Mike agreed. "You saw how my other self reacted. We don't want you to experience anything like that."

Doc sighed, and smirked. "I can't win this fight, can I?" he commented, looking at his other selves.

"I guess you can't" Chris said, smiling. "But Susan does make a point. I know how I can be in these situations. If you've really been up for… how long has it been?"

"Approximately seventy hours" Doc admitted. "All right, I suppose that I should go to bed then. Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Second guest room" Emmett said. "It's very simple to find – just go up the stairs that you saw in the hallway and go to the second room to your right. There should be some pyjama's of mine that can fit you in the cabinet there. It doesn't matter which one you take. Chris and I mostly share anyway."

"All right, thank you" Doc said. "When do you think I should wake up?"

"Whenever you like" Clara said. "And don't protest that either. If you've been awake for as long as you have, you deserve to sleep right through the night."

"I guess so" Doc replied, sighing. "All right, I'd better go then. See you tomorrow." He yawned, took a final look at his counterparts' sons in the box, and left the room to head for the hallway once again.

As he went up the stairs, the inventor started thinking. Today – if he could even call the complete amount of hours he'd gone through a 'day' – had been a very long day, and his alternate wives were right – he'd need his rest. He wished they hadn't forced it so much on him, but well, that couldn't be helped. For now, all that mattered was getting a good night's sleep.

Following his other self's directions, the inventor soon arrived at the room he was supposed to sleep in. The room looked pretty much like the guest room in his own house. There was a bed that seemed to be about his size, and a cabinet of some sorts. Doc smiled, and went over there. It took him a few moments to find a pair of pyjama's that suited him, but then, he was quickly inside them.

As he was just relaxing, eager to lay down on the bed, Doc noticed something else. A faint snoring noise of some sorts was coming from another room. Curious, the scientist walked over to the source of the noise. He opened the door as soft as he could, and was surprised to recognise his own Marty lying there in what he himself would identify as Verne's room.

The scientist looked at his friend with fascination. Marty seemed to be very deep in dreamland, and the inventor suspected that, even if he would go and take his old saxophone and make an awful lot of noise with it, he still couldn't wake the teen up. As Doc looked closer, he could see that Marty didn't notice the slightest bit that his friend was there. Even after just half an hour, the teen was so exhausted that if he was to take his time bus and travel through time five times within two minutes, thus creating fifteen sonic booms, the teen wouldn't even sleep lighter.

Figuring that this wasn't going to help him much either, the inventor exited the room again, and headed back to his own guest room. He now noticed a clock there, saying the time was about 2:07 in the afternoon. Not his normal sleeping time, but considering the time he was supposed to be at… He looked at the time on his watch. Seven minutes past four in the morning of April seventh. And the last time he'd slept… well, he didn't know for sure, but it had been some time at least. He'd said seventy hours, but that was a real rough guess. Could be less, could be even more. He really didn't know.

Sitting down on the side of the bed, Doc began to count off the universes he'd been to, and the percentage of getting help so far. Besides the world where Marty was a teen genius and had invented the time machine, this was the only world that had gotten him some progress. He could probably afford to rest for a while. It wouldn't harm him, that was for sure. And who knew, he might actually relax from it.

He started to wonder how long they'd be here. If his counterpart – Emmett or Chris – could really fix the time machine, then they couldn't do it within a day, that was for sure. It would probably take at least a week, probably two or three, maybe four. Who knew. They'd have to take some time analysing the time machine's exact problems, make occasional trips to the future… that all took time, time that they would have, but would not like to waste.

He also wondered what Marty would think of all this. He knew the teen would probably be glad that they got to rest – it was the main thing he'd been talking about for a long time – but what would they do afterwards? Would Marty be able to assist in repairing the time bus, or would he have to sit down, do nothing, and bore himself for days after each other? That didn't seem to be a very attractive prospect, and Doc was sure that Marty wouldn't like that idea in the least.

Well, at least they had some sort of distraction on them. Doc felt now very glad that Marty had picked up those movies in the world where they were film characters – they might be kind of odd, but it would be a sufficient way to pass the time. He wondered if he'd get to watch a little of it himself. Probably the day after he would wake up would be simply spend with adjusting to their current situation anyway, so maybe he would get that chance, some time.

That did bring up another matter all together – when would he wake up? As a reflex, his eyes went over to the sides to check whether an alarm clock was around. It wasn't – either there had never been any, or his other self's wife – Clara or Susan, either of them – had removed it, not thinking it would be necessary. He shook his head. He was okay with getting some rest, but he wanted to set the limit himself.

He felt another yawn coming up. Apparently, he was thinking way too much again. He sighed, took the blanket off the bed, and lied down on the bed. Now, he should simply get some rest. It had been a long day for him after all – that was something that Susan had been correct in. He still felt a little annoyed at their determination that he should sleep, but he was beginning to get their point.

Doc placed his head on the pillow, and closed his eyes. This was a delicious feeling, he had to admit that. Susan and Clara had been right. He should really rest now. His eyes, which had been annoyed all the time, now began to rest themselves. He sighed, and relaxed completely.

His wait for sleep to arrive didn't take long, despite his fears on when he would be awoken. Moments after he had lied down, Doc's mind went blank as he finally had some rest. It would take some time before he would wake up again, that was for sure. But it didn't matter anymore. Everything was finally all right again.