"Hello? Anybody home?" Dr Ritchie Chase knocked on his father's front door. "Emmett? Clara?"

His father, Dr Emmett Brown, opened the door. "Ritchie, sorry, I didn't hear you. I was down in the lab."

"Oh?" Ritchie enquired as he took off his coat. "Working on some fabulous new invention?"

"No, not really," Doc smiled. "Just the time machines." He led his son down to the lab. "As you can see, I've replaced the seats in the DeLorean with comfier ones."

Ritchie sat down in the seat. "Wow, comfy," he said.

"You caught me just in time, actually," said Doc. "I was just about to run a few errands. Remember that project you helped Verne with last month?"

Ritchie remembered. Nearly a month ago, when he'd first arrived in Hill Valley to find his natural father, he'd helped his half-brother Verne with a project about the moon landing.

"What about it?"

"Verne's teacher finally handed them back today, and he got an A+. As a reward, Clara and I have decided to let him see a 1995 movie called Apollo 13."

"Apollo 13?"

"That's right. It stars - will star - Tom Hanks. I'm going to 1995 to book tickets for a showing. Do you want to come?"

"To the movie? Yeah, it sounds quite interesting. I remember the real event."

"Me too," said Doc. "Since Verne is into space, he thought it sounded like a 'very cool' movie too. He's very excited."

"Where is he now?"

"Parents' evening at the boys' school," Doc grinned. "Clara said she'd go with them so I could get the tickets."

Doc got into the DeLorean. "You want to come with me to get the tickets?"

"OK," said Ritchie and he sat down in the passenger seat. "Wow, this is exciting. I wonder what my future self looks like," Ritchie said to Doc. Doc suddenly remembered something.

"We'd better disguise ourselves," he said. "I've seen you in the future and believe me, at 36 you look almost identical to how you look now at 28. We don't want people to mistake you for your future self, especially if patients of yours see you."

Doc and Ritchie went into Doc's bedroom. "Put this hat on," Doc told his son. "It should disguise your hair. Now put these on." He gave Ritchie a pair of glasses. Ritchie was worried.

"Won't these affect my sight?" he asked.

"No, don't worry," said Doc. "They just have ordinary glass in. You'll see exactly the same with them on as you would without them. They're just for disguise purposes."

When the two were suitably disguised, they went back to the DeLorean. Doc typed in the date - August 12th 1995 3.00pm ("A few weeks after the movie comes out, it won't be as busy then"), opened the lab door and the DeLorean took off into the sky, disappearing when it hit 88 miles per hour.

The first thing to greet the time travellers in 1995 was a rainstorm. Doc managed to fly the car over to a small street near Courthouse Square and landed it on a roof.

"No-one should find it here," he said.

"Looks like luck's on our side," said Ritchie. "The rain's stopping." Indeed it was. As Doc and Ritchie climbed down from the roof, the rain was slowing. It had stopped completely by the time they were on the ground. Doc had a sense of deja vu, since a similar thing had happened on October 21st 2015.

"This way," Doc told his son, and they walked towards Courthouse Square. On the way, they passed Ritchie's surgery.

"Wow!" Ritchie said, impressed. "It looks brand new! I guess I really did it up over the next 9 years."

"Don't look too much," Doc warned. "We don't want your future self to see us."

"But won't he know we're here, since he is me?" Ritchie asked.

"No, not until the ripple effect catches up," said Doc, and as they continued walking Doc explained what that was.

They arrived in Courthouse Square. Ritchie was amazed at the differences that had occurred in just 9 years. For Doc, it was weird seeing many shops he was familiar with in 1986 alongside some which were still there in 2015.

Lou's Aerobic Studio was still there, although next door to it was the newly opened Blast From The Past, where Marty had bought the almanac in 2015. Statler's car dealership was still around - a large billboard announced that the 1990 Toyota was the special offer this week.

"That would have been a good place to hide the DeLorean," said Doc.

The movie theater was of course still there, and the time travellers noticed that a taxi rank had been created outside to take people home from the theater. Ritchie saw that a showing of Apollo 13 was at 7pm that evening.

"Is that where we're going?" he asked.

"Yep," Doc told him as they walked over to it. "I did some research, and I found out the theatre will only be half full this evening. Therefore there will be plenty of unsold tickets."

"Why is that important?" Ritchie asked.

"Well, suppose a man goes there tonight to meet his future wife, and they have a son who becomes President of the United States?" Doc asked. "And supposing my being there meant there was no ticket left for that man, so he doesn't watch the film and he never meets his future wife and their Presidential son never exists?"

"Good point," Ritchie agreed.

"You have to be very careful when time travelling," said Doc. "Even the slightest action could have a serious repercussion on future events."

Doc and Ritchie joined the queue and shut up about time travel for a while. They waited a few minutes before they got to the front of it.

"Um, hello, Miss," Doc said, not looking directly at the woman behind the counter and disguising his voice so she wouldn't recognise him, "5 tickets for Apollo 13 this evening at 7, please."

There was no response.

"Miss?" Doc repeated.

"Yeah, what do you want?" the woman said. Doc recognised her at once. It was the future version of Tiff Tannen.

"Uh..." Doc's surprise at seeing Tiff there meant he couldn't get the words out of his mouth." Ritchie however did not recognise the Tannen.

"5 tickets for Apollo 13 this evening at 7, please," Ritchie repeated.

"Oh, yes, of course," Tiff suddenly sounded a lot nicer than she normally did. Ritchie and Doc noticed that a man - presumably her boss - had come into the room. Tiff put this into the computer. "That'll be $25 please, sir."

"Here you go," Ritchie said, smiling at her out of politeness as he handed over some 1993 money Doc had given him.

"Thank you," said Tiff. "Enjoy the movie, Mr...."

"Chase," Ritchie replied out of habit, before suddenly realising what he'd said. He quickly coughed. "Casse," he told her. "Mr Casse." He smiled awkwardly.

"Bye."

"Bye," Tiff said as they left the theater. When no-one else was around, Doc turned to his son. "That was too close. When you travel through time, you've got to be careful what you say as well."
"Sorry, Emmett," Ritchie admitted. "But this is rather new to me."

"That's alright," Doc smiled. "Now let's get home. I'm hungry."

As Doc and Ritchie walked back to the DeLorean, inside the movie theater, Tiff's boss noticed something on the floor.

"What the hell is this?" he muttered as he picked it up.

Doc and Ritchie arrived back the exact time they'd left. Doc flew the DeLorean above the clouds to avoid detection, until they arrived at Hyams Road where the Brown family lived. Doc then descended down into his back garden, ready to put the DeLorean in his lab.

He parked the car and went over to the lab doors to open them. But something was wrong. The control panel to type in the PIN was missing.

"That's odd," he muttered to himself as Ritchie joined him. The two heard voices coming from inside the house.

"Sounds like the boys are home," Doc said. "Maybe they know what happened to the panel." Doc and Ritchie walked to the back doors, which were open.

"I'm sure I shut those," Doc muttered as they walked into the house. The first thing he noticed about the room was that it was different. The furniture was the same, but it was in slightly different places.

"Clara?" Doc called. "Boys?"

There was the sound of footsteps and suddenly a woman whom neither Doc nor Ritchie had ever seen before ran into the room. She took a look at them and screamed.

"What are you doing in my house?" she asked them.

"Your house?" Doc asked. "This is my house!"

"Since when?" the woman demanded.

"Since October of last year!" Doc told her. The woman stared at him.

"That's when we bought it," she said slowly. "Now get out before my husband gets here."

Doc and Ritchie slowly stepped out. The woman stared at them all the time. "And don't you ever come back here again, Dr Brown! You want to live in a house, then go ahead and buy one!"

"But I already have!" said Doc desperately as the woman slammed the door.

"Are you sure this is the right house?" Ritchie asked, knowing what the answer was.

"Definitely," Doc answered. "Over there is the same fence looking out onto Eastwood Ravine as on my house. It even has the same dent, look."

Sure enough, there was the dent.

"Something has happened," Doc told Ritchie. "For some reason this is not my house any more. Maybe Marty, Jennifer or Clara - wherever she is - has the answer."

The two hid the DeLorean in a small cave in the woods near Doc's house and set off into town. Eventually they came across a phone booth.

"Maybe Clara is in there," Ritchie suggested. "I don't know, maybe we altered history that somehow, you and Clara just bought a different house."

"It's a possibility," Doc admitted, and looked through until he saw his own name.

"It still has my old address," Doc told Ritchie before looking at the cover. "Ah, I see. This was published in September 1985, when I still lived there."

"Look, there's Jennifer," Ritchie told his father. "Maybe she knows where you live now."

The two walked over to Jennifer. "Hello, Jennifer," said Doc.

"Hello Doc, Dr Chase," she said cheerfully. "How's things?"

"Fine, thanks," Ritchie told her, deciding to leave it to his father to tell Jennifer what had happened. Some of this time travel stuff was just too complicated!

"Jennifer," Doc asked. "Where do I live?"

Jennifer looked at him as if that were the most stupid question she had ever heard. "In your garage, of course," she said, a bit unsure as to where this conversation was going.

"I guess you were right," Doc told Ritchie. "But where would Clara and the kids sleep in my garage? There was only just enough room for me and Einstein..."

"Who's Clara?" Jennifer asked.

Now it was Doc's turn to look at Jennifer as if the most stupid question he had ever heard. "My wife, of course. Mother of Jules and Verne, remember?"

"No," Jennifer said. "You're not married, and what's all this about kids? You only have one son, Dr Chase here."

"Yes, yes, of course," said Doc quickly, deciding to change the subject. "Jennifer, is Marty home now? I need to talk to him."

"He was earlier," Jennifer told him. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Something has changed," Doc told her. "Ritchie and I went to 1995 to get tickets for....."

"1995?" Jennifer asked. "How did you go to 1995 Doc? In a time machine or something?" She chuckled at her joke. "Everyone knows they don't exist."

"But they do," Doc protested. "Remember? You went to 2015 with Marty and me on October 26th last year."

"No, I didn't," Jennifer said. "Marty and I spent that weekend at the lake. I'll never forget that weekend. It was on the way home that Marty had that accident."

Doc froze. "Accident?"

"Yeah, he broke his hand, remember?"

Ritchie looked at his father, confused. "What accident?" he asked.

"I'll explain on the way," Doc told him, "but right now we have to find Marty!" They said their goodbyes to a very puzzled Jennifer and ran towards Lyon Estates.

"When I went to 2015, I found out that life hadn't been good for Marty and Jennifer for the next 30 years," Doc explained as they ran. "It turned out Marty had gotten into a car accident on October 27th 1985 and broken his hand, which started the downward spiral."

"But he's fine now," Ritchie said, puzzled.

"That's because in 1885 he learned not to react when people called him chicken, and as such avoided the accident," Doc told him. "Remember when you met his kids last month? Their upbringing is very different to the MJ and Marlene I saw when I first visited 2015, all because Marty avoided the accident. His future is a lot better and he is a lot happier."

"Ah," said Ritchie as they arrived at the entrance to Lyon Estates. Eventually they arrived at the McFly residence. Doc knocked on the door.

"Hello?" Lorraine said as she opened it.

"Mrs McFly, hello. Is Marty there?" Doc asked.

Lorraine looked at him oddly. "He's at your place," she told him. "He left about an hour ago after you phoned."

"Oh, yes," Doc lied, "I remember. I just thought I'd see if he had left, that's all. Sorry to disturb you."

Doc and Ritchie walked away. "We'd better get to my old place," Doc decided.

"That's across town," said Ritchie. "I think we should catch a bus." They walked to the bus stop outside Lyon Estates and Doc looked at the timetable. The next bus was to leave at 7.28, and would go via Lone Pine Mall, Hilldale, Clayton Ravine and Courtho-

"Clayton Ravine?" Doc exclaimed. "Great Scott, it must be true! Clara doesn't exist!"

"The bus is here," Ritchie told his father gently.

The bus pulled up near Doc's old garage, and Doc and Ritchie walked the short distance to the garage.

"You used to live here?" Ritchie asked, amazed. "I wouldn't have been able to cope with a Burger King in my back yard."

"It was convenient for when I felt hungry," Doc told him with a grin. He knocked on the door. After a few seconds the door opened, and Doc found himself looking at - himself!

"Great Scott!" both Docs said at once, but luckily neither of them fainted. Doc looked at the Other Doc. They looked very similar, but something was different about his counterpart. Both had had "all natural overhauls" in the future, but Doc thought the other Doc looked slightly younger than him.

"Who is it Doc?" Marty called from inside.

"It's Ritchie..... and me!" Other Doc called back. "You two had better come in."

"So, you're my future self," Other Doc said to his counterpart. "I guess from next year or so seeing as you only look slightly older than me."

"Not quite," Doc smiled. "I'm you, from now, but a different reality." He quickly told the story of what had happened.

"You're married?" Other Doc asked, amazed.

"Yes, with two sons. Look, here's a picture of Clara," and he got out his wallet. There was a picture of the whole family, one of the whole family plus Ritchie, one of Doc and Marty and one of all 7 time travellers with Einstein. Other Doc took the picture.

"Her head's missing," he muttered. Doc took the photo back and noticed it for the first time.

"Great Scott! The ripple effect must be catching up!"

"How did you meet?" Other Doc wanted to know everything that had happened. Doc started telling the whole story, about how he'd gone to 2015, heard about Marty's kids being arrested and how future Marty had told him it was all Griff Tannen's fault...

"Who's Griff Tannen?" Other Doc asked.

"Biff's grandson," Doc told him. Other Doc looked thoughtful.

"When I went to 2015, I looked up Marty in the phonebook and found out he lived in Hilldale. I thought he must be quite happy living in a nice estate like that, so I just hover converted the DeLorean, got my body done if you know what I mean, had another look around and then came home. I never heard anything about Marty's kids or this, this, Griff Tannen."

"Did you find out anything about the Tannens?" Doc asked.

"I heard Biff talking about his granddaughters," Other Doc said. "But it turns out they were the children of his son. I never heard anything about his daughter having a child. I mean, how could she when she'd been dead for over 20 years....."

"Dead?" Doc asked, his brain putting the pieces together.

"I don't get it," Ritchie said, puzzled. "Tiff wasn't dead in 1995....."

"No, but somehow we must have changed history so she ended up dying," Doc explained. "Therefore, Griff is never born in 1996, he never gets MJ and Marlene into trouble in 2015....."

"And the whole story never happens," Ritchie said, finally getting it.

"What story?" Other Doc asked.

Doc told his counterpart the whole story, about how Biff had stolen the time machine, gone back to 1955 etc and eventually how Doc had ended up in 1885. "The 10 years I spent in the past mean I'm 10 years older than you, which probably explains why there are 2 of us right here now. Last year my family moved back to the present, and in January Ritchie arrived in Hill Valley, although I'm sure you know that bit."

"Indeed," Other Doc said with a smile. "It was nice to know I had one living relative."

"My counterpart's life sounds a lot better," Marty said ruefully, looking at his wrist. "When Doc came home, just before I went to the lake with Jennifer I phoned him and asked him what the future was like. He said it was great, my future was OK and I should enjoy the rest of my life. How ironic then that next day on the way home, I get into that accident with Needles and break my hand."

"I did try and warn you," Other Doc told him, "about not reacting every time someone calls you chicken."

"I know, Doc, and I wish for once I'd listened," Marty sighed.

"That's pretty heavy," Marty sighed as he listened. "Doc won't let me use the time machine to go back and stop that accident. Now I know how much better my life would have been had it not happened....."

"Marty, we've been over this," Other Doc said in a we've-been-over-this-millions-of-times tone. Doc recognised the tone as one he'd used with his kids and tried hard to hide a smile.

"Your future still looks good," Other Doc was saying. "You still live in Hilldale and you're married to Jennifer and....."

"But that Doc said Hilldale was a slum!" Marty wailed. Doc decided to interfere.

"Listen!" he said, interrupting the argument about to start. "If my calculations are correct, somehow Ritchie and I prevented the birth of Griff Tannen when we were in 1995. Griff isn't born, therefore when I - you - go to 2015 you discover nothing is wrong with MJ and Griff. Therefore you never bring Marty and Jennifer to 2015 and you never end up in 1885, meaning Clara went to the bottom of the ravine in 1885 and Jules and Verne don't exist. But if Verne doesn't exist, I would have had no reason to go to 1995 and stop Griff from existing! We could have a paradox on our hands!"

Other Doc gasped.

"Can you remember what you did in 1995 that may have stopped Griff being born?" he asked.

"All we did was order the tickets and go home," Doc told him. "We did meet Tiff Tannen, but only briefly when she sold us the tickets. Somehow we must have caused her to.....die." The four stood in silence for a few moments, thinking. Einstein came wondering over during this time.

"Hey Einie," Marty said with a smile. The dog came bounding over happily to Marty, but bumped into a pile of old newspapers, causing them to fall over.

"Einie!" Other Doc sighed. "Look at this mess!" He and Marty started cleaning up the newspapers. Marty picked up a newspaper dated July 15th 1984.

"Honestly Doc, why do you keep all these old papers?" he asked his friend.

"Some of them have useful information in them which can be very helpful to my research," Other Doc replied.

"So how does 'Mayor Wilson's Father Dies Of Heart Attack' have to do with your research?" Marty asked.

"Turn to page 7," Other Doc said. "There's an article there on....."

"Marty, you're a genius!" Marty turned around to see the visiting Doc grinning. "Why didn't I think of that before? We go back to the future and find out what happened to Tiff Tannen and how she died, and then figure out how to fix it so she lives and has Griff."

"Better still, you can find me and ask me about it," said Marty. "I want to help you fix this, Doc. Just hearing about how my life is much better where you come from is enough for me to help you."

"Thanks Marty," Doc smiled. "Assuming I succeed, this alternate 1986 will be transformed back to the real 1986, changing you back to the Marty I remember, who never had the accident and has a fine future ahead of him."

"Thanks Doc," Marty smiled.

"And you," Doc turned to his counterpart, "will be happily married with not one but three sons once this is all over."

Other Doc smiled.

"How far are you going?" he asked.

"I was thinking December 31st 1995," Doc replied. "You said Tiffany had been dead for 20 years in 2015, so we know that she dies somewhere between August 12th and December 31st 1995, therefore if we meet on New Year's Day 1996 the death will have happened and we can find out what happened." He turned to Marty. "When Tiff dies, save the newspaper from the next day and we can figure out what happened. If we meet you outside the library, at say 4.30, that should give us enough time to work everything out."

"Right Doc," Marty smiled.

"Let's go," Doc said to Ritchie. The two said goodbye to Marty and Other Doc. "See you in the future, Marty. Remember, January 1st 1996 4.30pm!"

"Don't worry Doc, for once I'll be on time!"

As he left, Doc took a look at the photo of his family. Clara's torso had disappeared. Only her legs remained. 

Doc landed the DeLorean in an alleyway and he and Ritchie got out. Doc checked his wallet. Clara had completely disappeared now and Jules' head was missing.

"We're running out of time," he muttered. "Somehow, us travelling through time must have accelerated the ripple effect. I'll have to look into that once we've sorted all this out. OK, we agreed with Marty to meet him outside the Hill Valley Library. We'd better get there quickly."

The library was a couple of blocks away, and when they got there they found Marty waiting there with a smile.

"Marty?" Ritchie asked, having never seen an older version of Marty before.

"Yep, it's me," Marty grinned. "I can't stay for long, Jennifer will wonder where I am. I told her I had to meet some old friends." Ritchie was about to say something when he remembered that in this reality, Jennifer didn't know about the time machines.

Marty waved a newspaper in front of them.

"This is from the day after Tiff Tannen was killed - in an automobile accident, ironically." He looked at the wrist he had broken over 10 years ago and sighed. Soon all this would never happen and his life would be better again.

Doc took the paper. The first thing he saw was the headline.

Realising this had nothing to do with what he wanted, Doc scanned down the page.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. The other, smaller headline was what he wanted.

"Funny how everything concerning us is always on the front page somewhere," Doc commented as he turned to the relevant pages. Inside he read the whole story of how Tiff had been walking across the Square when a car knocked her down. He then took a look at the date on the newspaper.

August 13th 1995.

"Great Scott!" he almost yelled, horrified. "That's the day after we were there! If the story was published on the 13th then she must have died on the 12th - the day we were there!" Doc's suspicions had been confirmed. They had done something leading to Tiff's death.

"Mom was there when it happened," Marty told them. "She saw the whole thing. Tiff just left the theater for some reason, pushing past Mom - she doesn't suck up like Biff does to our family. She was walking after somebody, and didn't see the car coming."

"I think we have all the information we need," Doc said, folding up the paper. "What we need to do is go back to 1995 and then follow Tiff until just before the accident, and stop it from happening. Thanks for your help, Marty, it's greatly appreciated."

"You're welcome," Marty smiled. "I must go, Jen will come looking for me otherwise."

"Right," Doc smiled, taking the newspaper. "And hopefully, when I see you next you'll be back to the Marty I remember."

"I hope so," replied Marty. "It's been hell waiting nearly 10 years to meet you again."

"Now you know I felt between 1955 and 1985," Doc chuckled. "See you in the future."

"You mean the past, right?"

"Exactly."

Doc landed the DeLorean behind the billboard on the Statler car lot. He and Ritchie then got out and unseen, got down to the street.

"There we are," Doc pointed. Their past selves were in the queue to buy the tickets. Doc got out a pair of futuristic binoculars he'd found in the DeLorean.

"We're third place in the line," Doc told Ritchie. "Aha, here comes Lorraine McFly with someone. Just like Marty said. That man with her looks familiar though." Doc took a closer look. "Of course, it's her brother Milton. He helped rescue me when my mansion burnt down in 1962."

Lorraine and Milton were just across the street from the movie theatre and were too busy talking to notice either set of time travellers. Doc and Ritchie crept closer to the movie theatre just as their past selves came to the front of the queue.

"Um, hello, Miss," Past Doc said, not looking directly at Tiff Tannen and disguising his voice so she wouldn't recognise him, "5 tickets for Apollo 13 this evening at 7, please."

There was no response.

"Miss?" Doc repeated.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Tiff asked.

"Uh..." Past Doc muttered

"5 tickets for Apollo 13 this evening at 7, please," Past Ritchie repeated.

"Oh, yes, of course," Tiff said as her boss came in. "That'll be $25 please, sir."

"Here you go," Past Ritchie said as he handed over the money.

As Past Ritchie introduced himself as "Mr Casse", Doc turned to his son. "So far nothing out of the ordinary," Ritchie said.

"Remember Marty said his mother said Tiffany left the theatre," Doc told him. "Somehow we must have caused her to do that. Shh!" Their past selves were leaving the theatre. Doc and Ritchie stood well back so their past selves wouldn't see them.

"That's alright," Past Doc smiled. "Now let's get home. I'm hungry."

Once their past selves were out of the way, Doc and Ritchie peered into the theatre. They saw Tiff's boss notice something on the floor.

"What the hell is this?" he muttered as he picked it up. Doc used the binoculars to zoom in on it.

"Ritchie, take a look at this!"

He gave the binoculars to Ritchie. "What am I looking at?"

"Your wallet." Doc adjusted the settings on the binoculars, and Ritchie saw that Tiff's boss had indeed picked up the wallet of one Dr Ritchie E Chase.

Ritchie went through his pockets. Sure enough, there was no wallet. "It must have fallen out of my pocket," he groaned. "I was too busy enjoying time travelling to notice."

Doc took the binoculars back and put them in his pocket. They listened in as Tiff's boss spoke to her.

"Hey Tannen, you're off home now, right?"

"Yes sir," Tiff said with a forced smile.

"It appears Dr Chase dropped his wallet. Looks old though - he's still got his driving licence from 1989. Tannen, please drop this in at his surgery or his home."

"Do I have to?" Tiff moaned.

"Yep," the boss told her. "You can do that as part of how you're making up to me for that rubber incident last month. Now get going."

As Tiff began to walk off, the boss called back. "Oh, Tannen, one other thing. Don't forget to smile." He smirked at her. Tiff started mumbling as she left the theatre. Doc and Ritchie watched her and got ready to follow her to wherever she would be going.

Tiff stopped and looked around, as if she were thinking about where to go. An idea suddenly came to her. She looked around to make sure no-one was looking, and then opened Ritchie's wallet.

"What the...?" Ritchie almost shouted at Tiff until Doc put his hand over Ritchie's mouth. "Shh!" Doc hissed.

Tiff was walking towards the road, not looking where she was going. Just like Marty had said, she pushed past Lorraine.

"Hey Tiff, be careful," Lorraine tutted. Tiff didn't pay any attention to her, and stepped out into the road. Lorraine looked down the road.

"Tiff, watch out!" she cried. Doc and Ritchie looked to where Lorraine had looked. Heading towards them was a 1993 Ford, doing about 20 miles over the limit.

"Great Scott!" Doc exclaimed. Ritchie thought fast. He dived into the road, pushing Tiff out of the way.

"Hey, watch it!" she yelled, not noticing the wallet fall out of her pocket. The car driver screeched to a halt, missing Ritchie and Tiff. He wound down the window.

"Look where you're going!" he yelled and the drove off. Ritchie and Tiff got up.

"Are you OK?" he asked her.

She looked at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

Ritchie looked at where the speeding car had driven off. "What a jerk," he muttered.

"Yeah, I know," Tiff told him. "Michael Hinton. Always drunk and speeding. What a complete buttface."

Tiff's boss, Lorraine and Milton came running over.

"Tannen, are you OK?" her boss asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she told him. Doc noticed the wallet on the floor. Thinking quickly, he removed the hat hiding his hair and walked towards the group.

"Here, I'll take this," he said, picking it up. "I'll give it to Ritchie." Tiff, thinking he was the 1995 Doc, merely nodded her head. She stood up.

"Here, let me give you a quick check over," Milton told her. "I was a firefighter, I know first aid."

But not as well as me! Ritchie thought, knowing he couldn't reveal who he was to them. Doc and Ritchie decided this was the best time to go. Whilst everyone else was distracted by Tiff, they slipped away.

"Did it work?" Ritchie asked. Doc got out the newspaper he'd brought from 1996. He smiled.

"It appears so," he said as he showed Ritchie the paper. The story about Tiff had changed. In its place was a different story.

"Everything is back to normal," Ritchie sighed with relief. Doc got out his wallet and looked at the photos of his family.

"This is odd," he said. "The photo is still fading. Only Doc, Jules' feet and Verne were left in the photo.

"What does that mean?" Ritchie asked.

"It means that everything isn't back to normal," Doc sighed. "We may have saved Tiff but Griff still isn't going to be born."

"Which means..."

"Paradox."

The two sat there silently for a moment, not noticing Tiff come towards them.

"Excuse me," she said to them, "What was your name again?"

"Uh, Casse, um, Richard Casse," Ritchie told her, remembering the fake last name he'd used earlier. He decided for a fake first name to use the name that everyone assumed was his real first name. It wasn't though. Ritchie wasn't short for Richard, it was his actual first name.

"I just wanted to thank you again for saving my life," Tiff told him. "Are you free tonight?"

Ritchie was taken aback by this. "I beg your pardon?"

"You wanna go somewhere for food - and possibly more?" Tiff teased.

"Oh, um, I don't know," Ritchie stuttered. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" He pulled Doc aside.

"Emmett, what's going on?"

"This must be the problem! Apparently Tiff has fallen in love with you!"

"Me? Why?"

"Probably because you rescued her," Doc whispered so Tiff wouldn't hear. "Just like Marty's mom fell for Marty's dad when he rescued her from Tiff's dad!"

"But what should I do?"

"You've got to get her to not be in love with you. That's probably why your brothers are still fading away! Don't worry though, I have a plan," Doc said. "Just do as I say."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Ritchie muttered as he adjusted his suit.

"The space-time continuum depends on it," Doc told him. "Don't worry, you look tatty enough."

"Good," said Ritchie, "although I don't know how to behave like a jerk! I've always been nice to women."

"Well, you must have met enough jerks in your life, just copy one of them!" Doc suggested. "Remember, you're going on a date with Tiff to put her off you. If my calculations are correct, she'll be so turned off she'll dump you and hopefully meet Griff's father as she is supposed to in the next few months, and Clara, Jules and Verne should be restored and everything should be back to normal!"

"This had better work," Ritchie muttered. There was a knock on the bedroom door.

"Are you ready?" Marty asked. "Jennifer will be home soon so you'd better beat it!"

Doc and Ritchie had arrived at the McFly house to get ready for the "date". Once he'd heard what was going to happen, Marty, who had also fed them, was pleased to help.

"Remember, don't mention any of this to me in 1996!" Doc reminded Marty.

Suddenly the key turned and the door opened. "Marty, it's me!" Jennifer called. "Where are you?"

"Um, in the kitchen!" Marty called back, pushing Doc and Ritchie into a closet and shutting the door. "I'll distract Jen, you two get out of here!" he whispered.

"Jennifer, let me look at you!" he called as he ran to his wife. "Ow, ow! My wrist is hurting again."

"Marty, it's been almost 10 years....."

".....and it still hurts. Can you come upstairs with me and take a look at it?"

"Um, sure," said Jennifer uncertainly, and Marty ran upstairs. Jennifer followed. "You'll never guess who I ran into today....." she started saying to Marty.

Once he was sure it was safe, Doc opened the closet door. He and Ritchie crept out towards the front door. Doc slowly opened it. The door creaked slightly. The time travellers froze.

"What was that?" Jennifer asked from upstairs.

"Oh, that door's been creaking all day," Marty lied. "I'll just go close it."

"I'll do it," Jennifer said. "Your wrist is hurting." Before Marty could stop her, Jennifer headed towards the stairs.

"Quick!" Doc hissed, and he and Ritchie opened the door and ran outside. They hid behind some hedgerow as Jennifer opened the door and peered outside.

"No-one here," she muttered and went back inside.

"That was close," Doc said, relieved. "You'd better get to the restaurant. Go the long way, you'll sweat and smell more."

"Right," Ritchie said, still uncertain about the whole idea.

"Here, take this," Doc gave Ritchie the photograph. "When everyone is back, the plan will have worked."

They looked at the photo. Jules had now completely disappeared. Verne would be next.

The Juicy Tasty Steakhouse wasn't too far from Lyon Estates, about 15 minutes walk from where Marty had lived in 1986. However, from Marty's 1996 house the walk was about 30 minutes, and Ritchie began to sweat a lot due to the heat. Even though it was 6.53 in the evening, it was still very hot.

Ritchie arrived at the Steakhouse and walked in. He noticed Tiff was already there, ordering herself a drink.

"Hey there, sexy," she smirked.

"Hey," Ritchie muttered as he slumped down next to her. He started scratching himself in a few "inconvenient" places. "Sorry I'm late, but I, um, I, er..." He couldn't think what to say.

Damn me being too polite! he thought. He remembered a kid from high school, Charlie Robling, who had been a chauvinistic pig. Suddenly Ritchie smiled. All he had to do was act like Robling!

"...I er, ah yes, I saw this enormous woman with the biggest pair of breasts in the world. I mean, they were absolutely, um, gorgeous."

"Not as good as these puppies, though," Tiff smiled.

"Um, even better," Ritchie said awkwardly. "Let's eat. Good god, I'll think I'll have that thing there. Don't forget, hon, I don't want to spend too much money, so anything you order over $3 you pay yourself." Ritchie's act was much more convincing now. He was getting "into character".

"Oh!" Tiff was slightly taken back by this. "Cheapskate."

A waitress passed by. "Can I take your orders?" she asked.

"Yep," Ritchie said. "You can give my girl here whatever you take to make that butt of yours so damn sexy. Hers is so saggy."

"Hey, watch it, buttface!" Tiff almost snapped at him.

Ritchie glanced at the photo. Was that Jules' feet starting to reappear?

"Watch what? Your face?" Ritchie retorted.

"I'd rather watch manure!" Tiff said, raising her voice.

"So would I!" replied Ritchie.

"I bet manure would rather watch you to realise just how good it was!"

"Aw, shut up!"

Tiff leant in closer and suddenly kissed Ritchie. He struggled to pull himself away.

"That turns me on so much!" she whispered. "I knew there was a real man inside that polite outer shell! Let's skip dinner and go to my place. I haven't really thanked you for saving my life." She winked at him. Ritchie looked at the photo. Jules' feet had disappeared again and so had the top of Verne's head.

The manager came over. "We've had complaints about you two," he said, "so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"We just were, weren't we Richard?" Tiff smiled at Ritchie.

"Um, no, I think we should just quieten down and have dinner," Ritchie told her. "I do apologise for the noise," he said to the manager.

"Apology accepted, but you still have to leave."

Damn! Ritchie thought as Tiff almost dragged him out.

"My bed is nice and cold," she grinned. "Let's go and warm it up a bit, shall we?"

"Um, uh," Ritchie began, wishing he knew what to say or do. He looked at the photo again. Verne's head had now completely disappeared! He was running out of time.

"What's that?" Tiff asked, snatching the photo.

"Give that back," Ritchie said, but Tiff just looked at it.

"It's Dr Brown," she said, "with half a child. Why do you carry this around?"

"It's, er, something I made up on the computer," Ritchie lied. Tiff seemed to fall for it.

"Not bad," she said, giving the photo back. "Now let's go home and make passionate....."

"What's that?" Ritchie interrupted her.

"What's what?"

"That over there?"

Tiff smiled. "Now Richard, I'm not so dumb I fall for that trick like my father does. I guess you're just playing hard to get."

"Hands up!"

The two turned around. A man with a gun was standing behind them. "This is a hold up! Give me all you've got!"

"Never!" Tiff told him firmly. "Why should we?" Ritchie just stood there, saying nothing.

"Cause I have a gun and you don't," the gunman smirked. "And soon, I'll have your money and you won't."

"Not likely," Tiff sneered.

The gunman suddenly pointed the gun at Ritchie's head. "Your money or loverboy here gets it!"

"Run, Tiff!" Ritchie called. "Don't worry about me!"

Now it was Tiff's turn not to know what to do. "Leave him alone!" she yelled.

"Says who?"

"Says me!" came another voice. All three looked around to see a familiar looking man standing there.

"Michael Hinton?" Tiff asked, recognising the man who had almost run her over earlier that day.

"Hey Bowman, this is my patch, so why don't you make like a tree and leave?" Hinton snarled.

"He said it right!" Tiff gasped, remembering how her father had said the phrase.

The gunman, Bowman, dropped Ritchie to the floor and walked towards the other man.

"What's it to you, Hinton?"

"It's everything to me, Bowman."

Suddenly Bowman threw a punch at Ritchie, who fell to the ground. Tiff gasped.

"That's it, Bowman," Hinton said slowly and calmly. "You are going down."

Bowman threw another punch, this time towards Hinton. Hinton hardly reacted, but pushed Bowman to the ground and then knocked him out with one punch.

"You all right?" he asked Tiff.

"Um, yes," she replied, looking into his eyes. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"He had it coming," Hinton told her. "He's been bugging me for ages. He knows damn well this is my patch, not his."

Ritchie managed to get up. He staggered towards the others. "Is he OK?" he asked, gesturing towards Bowman. "I'm a doctor, let me give him a check up." He saw Tiff and Hinton looking at each other and smiling.

"He's fine," Ritchie declared, "just a little bump on the head. Someone had better call the police."

Hinton and Tiff ignored him though.

"Sorry for running you over earlier," Hinton was saying to her. He sounded a lot nicer than a few minutes ago. Ritchie recognised the look in their eyes. Could it be?

He quickly got out the photo of his family. No, maybe he was wrong. Only Doc and Verne's legs were still in it.

"Um, I'll do it," he said.

"Thanks," Tiff said. "Oh, Richard, we need to talk. I really like you, but you're just not enough of a man for me. I mean, you fell to the floor in one punch. Just like my father!"

"I'm not much of a fighter."

"I can see," Tiff told him. "Look, thank you for dinner, but why don't you just go home? Mikey and I will sort things out here."

"You sure?"

"Yes," Hinton told him. "Don't worry Doc, we won't mention you. It'd be much too embarrassing for you," he smirked.

"Yes, indeed," Ritchie agreed. "Well, bye."

He walked off, but turned and looked at Tiff and Hinton. Tiff's hand crept out towards Hinton's until they were both holding hands. Ritchie was now more than convinced it was love. He looked at the photo again.

"Yes!" he said happily. Clara, Jules and Verne were now fully restored. 

"Michael Hinton, Michael Hinton," Doc muttered as they re-entered 1986. "I'm sure I heard that name before."

"Of course you did. He's the guy who almost ran her over and saved us from being shot."

"Of course!" Doc almost yelled as he pulled up outside his house. "He's Griff's father."

"Really? What happens to them?" Ritchie asked.

"Well, she falls pregnant and has Griff, and Hinton goes to jail, leaving Tiff as a single mom," Doc said. "Quite sad really, even if it does happen to a Tannen."

"Yes," Ritchie agreed. "Hey, what's my future like? Do I get married or have kids?"

"When I went to 2020 last week I heard your future self mention a wife," Doc grinned, "but I deliberately didn't find out any more. I want all 3 of my daughters-in-law to remain a surprise until I meet them in the natural course of time."

Doc went into the house - and was glad that his keys worked in the locks - and walked towards the kitchen.

"Clara?" he called.

"Emmett? That you?" a familiar voice called. Clara came down the stairs with some laundry.

"Emmett? Where have you been? We were beginning to get worried when you didn't come home. We thought something had happened to you or the time machines.

"I went to get the tickets, but we caused a few problems along the way," Doc told her as Ritchie entered the kitchen. "Someone still has to get used to time travel, don't they?" he grinned, and told Clara the whole story.

"Amazing," she said as Verne entered the kitchen.

"Hey Dad, you're back!" he said. "Did you get the tickets?"

"Yep, here we go," Doc said, showing him the tickets. "But we won't go until tomorrow. I've had enough of time travelling for one night."

"Oh, OK," said Verne, slightly disappointed. "Oh, by the way, Marty's on the phone."

"You left him on hold for all that time?" Clara scolded as Doc ran to the phone.

"Marty, what's up?"

"I think I left one of my textbooks at your place yesterday. Is my chemistry book in your lab?"

"No, I was there earlier and I didn't see it. By the way, Marty, how's your wrist?"

"It's fine, Doc," Marty said, puzzled. "It always has been. Why?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Doc grinned. "Just glad to see everything's back to normal."

Doc hung up. Marty looked at the phone, puzzled. He guessed time travel was involved somehow, but after thinking about it for a few seconds he resumed his hunt for his chemistry book.

Last Revised: June 4th 2004

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