This story is a key one in that a new regular character, Dr Ritchie Chase, is introduced to my Back to the Future universe, a character who holds a key to Doc's past. And remember I said in the introduction to Doc's Story that one of the segments would set up a future story? Well, this is that story! But what was set up? Read on and find out.

"So Jennifer? How was I today?"

"I was satisfied with your performance," she grinned. "I didn't know you were capable of repeat performances. Especially with all those people around."

"I liked it when they joined in," said Marty.

Marty and Jennifer were driving back from Elmdale, the small town 20 miles from Hill Valley. Marty and the Pinheads had gone there for an audition, and despite the slight obstacle of the microphones not working and the band had to do their performance again, everything had gone well. They were scheduled to play at a dance next Saturday.

"I guess my time in the Fifties gave me the gift of adding a modern rock twist to classic 50's songs," Marty grinned.

"I just wish that woman hadn't started singing with everyone else," Jennifer told him. "I mean, it was nice that the judges joined in with the words, but that woman couldn't sing to save her life!"

Marty looked out of the window as he drove on. Ahead on the right was a small car stranded on the side of the road.

"They look like they're in trouble," Marty said to Jennifer. He pulled over behind the car and the two got out.

"Need some help?" Marty called. A man got out of the car.

"Oh, yes, actually," he said. He was about 27 years old, with blonde hair that looked a little bit like 1955 Doc's. Although it wasn't quite as wild. He also spoke with a New York accent.

"My car broke down and I'm afraid I have no tool kit. Bit silly of me, really."

"We have one you could use," Marty told him. "I'm Marty McFly, and this is my girlfriend Jennifer."

"Nice to meet you," the man said. "I'm Dr Ritchie Chase. I'll be the new doctor at Beechwood Surgery in Hill Valley."

"Yeah, I remember my mom saying something about a new doctor coming," Marty admitted. "Seeing as Dr Govan retired and all that."

The three managed to repair Ritchie's car quite quickly.

"Thanks," Ritchie said gratefully. "Everything seems to be working fine. How did you know all that?"

Marty told him that he'd picked it all up from watching Biff do it - then of course he had to explain who Biff was. Ritchie smiled.

"There are a lot of people like that in New York, where I used to live," he admitted. "Anyway, thanks once again. I guess I'll be seeing you around Hill Valley sometimes."

"Probably," Jennifer said. "My family goes to Beechwood."

"Hope to see you soon," Ritchie grinned.

"Mom! Mom! Jules won't let me watch the TV!"

Clara put down the schoolwork she was marking and sighed. "Jules, what are you watching?"

"It's a very informative documentary about the Second World War," Jules answered. "I need to watch it for my school homework."

"But I need to see my documentary on the moon landings!" Verne complained. "My homework is due in before yours."

"Yes, but mine was set yesterday. Yours was set 2 weeks ago and as usual Verne, you've left it to the last minute."

Clara stared at her younger son. "Oh, really?" she said in an I-think-you'd-better-explain-to-me type of voice.

"Oh, um, er..." Verne began.

"I think you can read through your father's old books for research," she said. "Besides Verne, you already know a lot about space anyway. You're fascinated by it."

"I think he just wanted to watch the TV," Jules smirked.

"It's for my work!"

"Yeah right."

"It is!"

"No it isn't."

"It is!"

"No it isn't!"

"Boys, stop it at once!" Clara told them. "Verne, if you really must watch TV, go to your father's lab and watch the TV there, and he can keep an eye on you."

"But Mom, that TV's really old..."

"It's either that or no TV at all," said Clara.

Verne sighed and walked towards Doc's lab. Clara sighed. She knew there was a reason she'd stopped at 2. Having 3 children would probably drive her mad with all the arguing they'd do.

Doc kept one eye on Verne and the other on the train. He was adjusting the train so that it could be controlled by the remote control just like the DeLorean.

"There!" he said triumphantly. "Finished."

He got out of the train and admired his work. "Now to test it," he told Einstein, who as usual was sitting down watching his master.

Doc decided to send the train one minute into the future as a test run. He inputted the destination time as 01 18 1986 19 02 and opened the lab doors to let it out. He was about to start using the remote when Clara called.

"It's Marty on the phone," she told him. Doc told Verne not to touch anything and went to answer the phone.

"Hello?....Marty, how'd it go?.....Really? Well done..."

Whilst his father was on the phone, the picture on Verne's TV got worse. He picked up the aerial and stepped backwards. The picture got slightly better, but he found that the best place for a good picture was sitting in the train. He turned the volume up so he could hear the narrator.

Because of this he didn't hear his father come back.

"Verne?" he called, causing his son to jump. Verne fell back onto the destination panel without realising, causing new numbers to be inputted into the "Destination Time" readout.

"What are you doing in there?" Doc asked. Verne quickly explained.

"You're going to have to leave, because I'm just about to test this thing," Doc told him. Verne got out reluctantly, and Doc noticed the time readout.

It said 05 14 7526 23 58.

"I must have fallen on it," Verne admitted. Doc quickly inputted the date again and making sure Verne and Einstein were both out of the way, he used the remote.

The train drove itself along the rails out of the garage!

Doc smiled. It brought back memories of Temporal Experiment Number 1 last year. He used the remote to activate the hover conversion and flew the train around the house, accelerating to 88.

"Watch this, watch this!" he said to his son and dog. The three watched as the train hit 86...87...88 miles per hour and disappeared.

"It worked!" Doc said happily. "The remote worked!"

"Well done Dad," said Verne. Doc looked at the kitchen window and saw Clara watching. She smiled and gave her husband the thumbs up.

Doc waited a minute for the train to return, but it didn't. He waited for a further five minutes, and when the train didn't show up, Doc became concerned.

"Where could it have gone?" he wondered. He was becoming very worried. What if something had gone wrong and it had turned up outside the Tannen household or something?

"Something very awful has happened," Doc told his family. "The train has disappeared. I don't know where, or how, but it could cause history to change."

An hour later the train still hadn't come back. Doc was by now very worried. He kept walking around his lab thinking out loud.

Clara came in with some tea.

"Here, you could use some of this." Doc took a sup. "Ah, thanks," he said. "The Clayton family recipe."

"Just like Mom made," Clara smiled. "Look, I had an idea."

Doc turned to her. "About what?"

"Remember that mini camera you picked up from the future last week? Why don't you go back..."

"...in time and put that in the train to see what went wrong?" Doc finished. "Clara, you're a genius! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Probably because you were too concerned the universe would be destroyed," Clara replied. "The boys are finishing their homework now, I'm sure you could quickly go in the DeLorean and film the experiment and see what went wrong without them noticing and begging to go along."

"You're right," Doc admitted. "Plus doing it at night means less chance of the DeLorean being seen."

He went over to one of the cupboards in his lab and opened it. Inside was a two piece mini-camera, circa 2029. You attached the first bit onto whatever you wanted to film - in this case the train. You held the second bit in your hands. This bit had a screen which played the video of what was being filmed. It was like watching live TV in the palm of your hand.

Doc and Clara quickly set everything up. Doc typed in 01 18 1986 16 00 into the DeLorean's Destination Time readout - the time being chosen because at 4pm that day, the family had gone to the cinema. Doc could sneak in without being seen, put the camera in and then go forward to the time of the experiment and watch it.

"See you in a minute," Doc said to his wife as he boarded the DeLorean. She waved as the doors opened and the DeLorean took to the sky.

Doc watched the accelerator. 74...75...76...77...suddenly there were three sonic booms in the sky. It sounded like the train!

It must have come back! Doc thought.

He looked for the train, but it wasn't there. Suddenly it appeared, heading straight towards him!

"Great Scott!" Doc yelled, only just managing to swerve out of the way of the train. The swerve caused him to lose control of the vehicle and it began falling to the ground. Luckily the hover protection system kicked in and the DeLorean coasted to the ground, landing in the woods behind the Brown house.

Doc got out, shaken by the experience. At least he was OK and unhurt. But what had happened to the train? He looked up to the sky and saw that it was flying off towards the south. Then suddenly, it disappeared again!

"Am I seeing things?" Doc wondered. The train had just vanished, as if it had become invisible.

"Maybe adding that remote wasn't such a good idea after all," he thought to himself.

"What are you doing? Land it, land it, land it!"

"I'm trying!" the teenage girl said to her brother. She grabbed the necessary lever and pulled it down hard. The time train landed on the field opposite the Hilldale estate, right opposite where Marty had not reached Needles last October.

The doors opened and Marlene McFly stepped outside.

"Turn the train to invisible," she called to her brother. Marty McFly Jr - or MJ as he liked to be called - did so. The train "disappeared" before Marlene's eyes.

"We're alright," MJ said as he exited the train. "The holographic disguise unit is set to invisible, so no-one should see the train. But why didn't you land near Doc's house?"

"I lost control, Marlene admitted. "By the time I regained it we were here, so I landed."

"Do you think it would have started now?" MJ asked.

"Dad said it started at 8," Marlene told him. "I think we've got time. Let's get back in the train and get there ASAP."

The siblings got back into the train and Marlene, as the driver, prepared to take off. But something was wrong. The train wouldn't move. After a few minutes of trying, Marlene finally gave up.

"Something's not right here," she told MJ. "We'd better find Doc and get his help."

The siblings left the train and walked towards Doc's house. It was about 5 minutes walk away, near Eastwood Ravine. They were about halfway there when they heard a voice.

"Hey McFly!"

"Oh God, not her," Marlene muttered. The two turned around.

"Tiff?" MJ muttered.

Tiffany Tannen - Biff's daughter - and her boyfriend Jez Needles - older brother to Doug - were standing a few feet behind them.

"Hey McFly, who's the girlfriend?" Jez sneered. MJ - aware he was being mistaken for his father - said, "Oh, just my cousin."

"Hi," Marlene said, hoping to get away from them very soon.

"Your cousin?" Jez quipped. "Well, that explains why she looks so much like you, McFly. Like a short man who no-one likes."

"Much like you," MJ said before he could stop himself.

"Nice one, MJ," hissed Marlene. But Jez was getting very red.

"How dare you - of all people! - insult me like that!" he uttered, his voice getting louder. Both he and Tiff were walking towards the McFlys.

"You can hardly talk," Tiff smirked. MJ remembered something his father had told him about Biff and hoped it would also work on his daughter.

"Hey, look!" he yelled, pointing in the opposite direction. Tiff and Jez both turned around. Marlene and her brother ran off towards Doc's house.

"Get 'em!" Tiff called to Jez when she noticed the McFlys running off. She and Jez started chasing them down the road.

"Where's a hoverboard when you need one?" MJ muttered as he passed the house that he had been living in when Doc, Marty and Jennifer had first visited 2015.

Marlene looked behind. Jez and Tiff were catching up! Although she was the same age as them, 19 (MJ at 17 was a couple of years younger) she was much shorter than them and didn't wish to take them on. Jez and Tiff were almost level with them when suddenly Jez tripped. He fell to the ground, ripping his jeans.

"My jeans!" he yelled. "I'll get you for this, McFly!"

"Watch your back!" Tiff yelled as Marlene and MJ escaped through an alleyway.

A little while later they had made their way back to the field housing the train. They were just walking up to it when a car pulled up alongside.

"MJ? Marlene?" a familiar voice called from the window. The McFlys smiled.

"Hey Doc, what are you doing here?"

"I saw the train fly off and saw it land around here. I came to see what was going on. What are you doing here?"

"We came back for Dad's gig in Elmdale," MJ explained.

"But that's next week!"

"Oh," MJ said. "Marlene, you said it was this Saturday!"

"Well, I obviously got the date wrong!" Marlene told him.

"I knew it was next Saturday, but, no, you're always right and..."

"Kids, kids!" Doc stopped the argument. "You'd better go forward to next Saturday. You can't stay here in case history is somehow altered."

"We can't," said Marlene. "The time machine won't move."

"Where is it?" Doc asked, suddenly very nervous. "You didn't leave it somewhere, did you?"

"No, it's over there," MJ pointed to it. "It's invisible. The holographic disguise unit - something you add to the train in the future - has been switched on."

"Let me take a look at the fusion generator," Doc suggested, and once the HDU had been briefly turned off he boarded the train. Everything seemed to be working fine. The flux capacitor - which had been moved to inside the train in the future - was fluxing. The engine was running. The time circuits seemed to be OK. But the fusion generator looked completely foreign.

"What year does this come from?" he asked.

"2043, I think," MJ said. "I don't know for sure."

"It's a different one to my train," Doc told them. "My future self must have replaced it or something. However, I think I know why the train won't move."

"Why?"

"The hover conversion wasn't turned on properly," Doc smiled.

Of course! Why hadn't she thought of that? "D'oh!" Marlene muttered.

Doc was puzzled. "D'oh?" he asked. "Is that some futuristic slang word?"

"No, Doc," Marlene chuckled. "It's from The Simpsons."

"Are they your neighbours?" Doc asked.

"No Doc, it's a TV show we like watching. Anyway, we'll go forward to next week, watch the gig and then go home."

"Right," said Doc. "Good luck, and have a good time. And don't cause any paradoxes!"

"We won't, Doc!" MJ called as the time machine took to the air. Of course Doc couldn't see it, but he decided to wait until the three sonic booms were heard before leaving. He began to get concerned when after a minute he hadn't heard them.

"Maybe they flew off to a less populated area," Doc said to himself, knowing he would have done just that. His thoughts were interrupted however by a familiar voice.

"It's no good Doc!" Marlene and MJ were back on the ground. The invisible time machine had landed again. "The fusion generator's broken. We can't power the train!"

"Tea, anyone?" Clara asked. "It's the Clayton recipe." The visitors had joined Clara and the boys in the kitchen of the Brown house. Clara had seen them arrive, and once she had been told what had happened she had straight away offered them somewhere to rest for the night.

"You look so much like your father, well, actually both of you do," Clara told Marty's children - this was the first time she had met them.

"We get that a lot," MJ said as he took another sip.

Doc came back from the lab. "I've just looked at the DeLorean's fusion generator and the train's one. They are completely different. I can't 'borrow' parts from one, I'm afraid."

"Can't we use the DeLorean?" MJ asked.

"That near miss we had caused the DeLorean to nearly crash and the flux capacitor to break," Doc sighed. "That too needs fixing. Right now, we have no working time machine."

"You can stay in this room," Clara told Marlene. "Help yourself to night-clothes etc."

"Thanks," Marlene said gratefully. Clara led MJ further down the corridor.

"I'm really sorry I only have one guest room," she said apologetically. "Jules' room is a bit small but it'll have to do."

"No worries Clara," said MJ. Clara knocked on the door.

"Jules, are you packed yet?"

"Mom," Jules called from inside, "Why do I have to move rooms? Verne's room is a tip."

"Your room is bigger," Clara told him. "We've already been through this. It's just for a few days." Jules came out with a box of his things.

"Be careful in there," he said to MJ. "Don't touch anything." Then he stomped down the hall into Verne's room.

"Thanks," MJ called uncertainly as he went into the room. He wished the extension Doc had built in 1998 was around now!

Next morning the families were eating breakfast.

"How were you two going to go to the concert without being recognised by or mistaken for your father?" Doc asked Marlene and MJ. The look on MJ's face told him he hadn't thought about that.

"Genius here forgot," Marlene said as she took another mouthful.

"You didn't think of it either," MJ retorted.

"I'm only here because you can't drive the train yet!" Marlene told him.

"Just as well we don't have any neighbours," said Verne.

"Indeed," MJ agreed, forgetting the argument with his sister, "although in 2016 your neighbours would probably be..."

"MJ," Marlene warned her brother, "don't mention too much about the future!"

"Sorry," said MJ, taking another mouthful of cereal. "This is nice. We should take some boxes back with us."

"You'll probably eat enough during this week to last you a lifetime," Marlene teased him.

"...Craig's coming over tonight, so you'd better disappear," Linda McFly told her brother.

"Don't worry, I'll probably go to Doc's or Jennifer's," Marty told her. "So where have you banished Mom and Dad?" he grinned.

"I haven't banished them," Linda answered. "I've just told them to go out for dinner tonight and not come back too early."

The McFly siblings were walking back from the post office. They had sent Dave, living in LA, a few family photos to hang up on the wall of his new apartment. Lorraine had suggested they walk, since it was a nice day.

"I have the prefect song for the family," Marty teased. "Beat It." He started singing the first few words.

"Very funny," huffed Linda.

A familiar car pulled up alongside them, and the windows rolled down. A man stuck his head out of the window.

"Hello again," Ritchie Chase smiled at Marty.

"Hi," said Marty. "This is my sister Linda." Ritchie and Linda said hello to each other, then Marty asked, "Car trouble again?"

"No, not this time, but I need directions. Do you know where 26 Hyams Road is?"

Marty recognised the address as Doc's address, a small quiet road near Eastwood Ravine and surrounded by woodland. A perfect place for hiding time machines. "Yeah."

"Can you tell me where to go? I got lost on the way and I don't know where I am now."

"This is Sycamore Street," Linda told him.

Ritchie looked at his map. It was an old version and Hyams Road wasn't on it, but it was the only map of Hill Valley he had. "Damn," he muttered. "Damn, damn. I guess I took a wrong turning on Johanson..."

"I'll take you there," Marty said. "My friend Emmett Brown lives there. I guess that's who you want to see."

"That's right," Ritchie said as Marty got inside.

"Tell Mom I'll be slightly late," Marty called to Linda.

"OK, whatever," Linda answered - one of her friends was walking towards her. Ritchie drove off.

"Take a left here," Marty told him, "to get you out of Lyon Estates. Then turn right next exit. So how do you know Doc anyway?"

"I guess we go way back..." Ritchie began telling the story as Marty gave him more directions. Marty's eyes opened wide. He'd never known about this!

Doc, Marlene and MJ examined the time train. All were experienced in time machines - the kids, along with the 2016 version of their father, had helped Doc build his new DeLorean.

"What's this thing?" he asked the kids.

"The Destination Location," Marlene explained. "You type in the exact co-ordinates of where you want to go and it takes you there. We could go to LA in 2016 right now - if the time machine were working, that is."

"Why didn't you go straight to Elmdale?" Doc asked.

"I forgot to turn it on," Marlene admitted sheepishly.

Doc examined the train some more.

"If it were just a case of fixing the Mr Fusion on the DeLorean, then I could probably repair it in a day or two," he told Marlene and MJ. "However, since it is the train, it will take a lot longer. I don't have the necessary parts to repair it."

"Such as...?"

Doc rattled off a few parts, then he suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, do you remember what happened to my time train? It obviously comes back or else this one wouldn't be here."

"It does, I guess," said MJ, "but I didn't know it had disappeared. Mom and Dad never mentioned anything about it disappearing. Sorry, I can't be of much help."

"Oh well. Can you pass me that wrench?" Doc asked him. MJ did so. Doc adjusted a few nuts and bolts.

"Somehow though, I will fix the fusion generator and we can send you home!"

There was a knock at the front door. Doc ignored it since he heard Clara go to answer it. Suddenly there was a knock at the door of the lab.

"Emmett? There's someone here to see you."

"Coming," Doc called back. "Stay here," he told the kids, "just in case. Perhaps you can work on that part over there?"

"Right, Doc," said Marlene as Doc left the lab and walked to the doorstep. A man was there, standing next to - Marty?

"Hello?" Doc asked.

"Um, hi, er, are you Dr Emmett Lathrop Brown?" the stranger asked Doc.

"Yes..."

"Born February 8th 1920, parents Herschel and Elizabeth Brown, formerly Von Braun?"

Doc was a bit uncomfortable with this. Had this man been stalking him, or was this a cheap joke? He looked at Marty. His friend had an odd look on his face. I know something you don't know! it was saying.

"That's right," Doc told the man.

"Good Lord, I, I found you!"

Doc looked at the man, and then at Marty. "Marty, who is this?"

Before Marty could say anything, the man spoke again. "My name is Dr Ritchie Chase. I'm your son!"

Clara gasped. Doc suddenly felt a bit woozy. Marty smiled.

"My son?"

"That's right."

Doc looked at Ritchie. He did look a little bit like him. Their hair colour was the same, although Ritchie's hair was not wild at all, in fact quite the opposite.

"Great Scott!

"It's true, Doc" Marty told his friend. "He told me the whole story on the way over here!"

Doc looked at Ritchie. "If you're my son, who's your mom?"

"Jill Wooster." The mention of the name made Doc freeze.

"You'd better come in."

"Dr Chase, this is my wife, Clara," Doc introduced her. Ritchie and Clara said their hellos. "And these are our sons, Jules and Verne."

"Wow," Ritchie said. "I didn't know I had 2 half-brothers. The information I found out about you said you were single and had no children."

"Um..." Doc tried to think of an explanation. He couldn't really say where Clara, Jules and Verne were really from! Clara came in with cups of tea.

"Thank you," Ritchie said as he took the tea from Clara. He took a sup. "Heaven!" he said. "Do you have the recipe?"

Doc sighed with relief at the change of subject.

"Family recipe," said Clara.

"I'm family, well, sort of," Ritchie told her.

"Who is Jill Wooster?" Jules asked.

"She is a woman who I fell in love with and dated for a while in 1958," Doc told Jules and Verne. Clara already knew this story, and Marty had found out from Ritchie. "She was the Dean's daughter. Her father wanted me to help out with some projects which I was against, and because of that, she dumped me. She moved to New York and I never heard from her again."

"You did it with the Dean's daughter?" Verne tried hard not to laugh. A look from Clara helped him out there!

"So, Ritchie, tell us a bit about yourself," said Doc, hoping that Ritchie's story would make him forget about his 'outdated' information.

"I was born on March 10th 1959..." Ritchie began. Doc did a quick calculation. That was roughly 9 months after Jill had left him!

"No-one ever mentioned Jill had had a son, though," Doc said to Ritchie. "I heard that she got married in 1962, but no children..."

"Her father pressurised her to have the baby - me - adopted," Ritchie continued. "She definitely wasn't getting back together with you, and being a single parent was frowned upon. So I was put up for adoption."

Doc nodded. He knew how strict Dean Wooster could be.

"I was adopted by Dr Leonard and Connie Chase, and even though I knew I wasn't their biological child I had a very happy upbringing. I went to medical school - Harvard - and became a family doctor.

When Dad died a few years ago, Mom and I started tracking down my natural parents, something that Dad had been against. And in 1983, I found my natural mother. I found out that she had insisted that I have your name as my middle name - Ritchie Emmett Chase."

"What is Jill up to?" Doc asked.

"She's been a bit dead for a few years," Ritchie said sadly. "She died 2 years before I found out about her. But I found out a lot of information about you. Where you lived, how old you were, a bit about your parents and some other info. Mom passed on soon afterwards, and I was quite depressed. I wanted a new start. When I was offered a job at the Beechwood Surgery, here in Hill Valley, I jumped at the chance. Partly because of a new start, but also because I could find you."

"Amazing!" Doc breathed. The story sounded true. But was it? He thought to himself.

Doc heard footsteps outside the room. He was in it, so was Clara, the boys, Ritchie and Marty. That meant...

Great Scott! He quickly rose to stop whoever was coming in, but it was too late. MJ entered the room.

"Hey Doc, where do you keep your..." He froze as he saw his future father sitting opposite him. "Dad?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"MJ?" Marty asked. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I would like to know," frowned Doc.

"I'm sorry, I heard the door close, then nothing for a while so I thought the visitor had left," MJ explained. "Oh, hi Ritchie."

I shouldn't have said that! he realised the second he said it. Ritchie was looking at Marty, then at MJ, then back at Marty.

"There's two of you!" Ritchie looked around again. Doc sighed. How was he going to explain this? He wished he had the sleep inducing alpha rythmn generator or the memory eraser, but both had been in the train when it had disappeared.

"Oh, that's Marty's identical twin brother...um, Party," said Verne. Jules glared at his brother. "Party McFly?" he asked Verne. "What kind of stupid name is that?"

"He called you Dad though," Ritchie said to Marty. "And you," he turned to MJ, "knew my name!"

"Excuse me a sec," Doc told the others, and pulled MJ out of the room.

"Sorry Doc," MJ said sheepishly. "I'd completely forgotten that Ritchie showed up today, and thought that the visitor had gone anyway."

"Not your fault," Doc told him. "I should have warned you whilst Clara was making tea. But you seemed to know him."

"Of course I do," MJ replied. "From the future."

"Then he really is...?"

MJ smiled. "He's your son, Doc. He really is."

"Does he know about the time machines?"

"Yep. You told him a few months after you met."

"Well, I suppose I could tell him now, it'll help explain your presence. Go and get Marlene, she's bound to want to know what's going on."

A few moments later, Marlene had joined the family.

"Ritchie, this is Marlene, and this is her brother Marty McFly Junior. They're Marty's kids."

Ritchie shook hands with them. "Kids? But he's only 17..."

"There's something I need to show you," said Doc, "and you'll understand why Marlene and MJ are here." He led everyone down to the lab. Ritchie peered over and saw the DeLorean and time train.

"How'd you get that train in here?"

"It's a time machine."

Ritchie stared at his father. "Time machine?" he said sceptically.

"It's true," said Clara. Ritchie looked at her. She didn't look like she was joking. Doc told him the whole story of the time machines, and why MJ and Marlene were here.

"Good Lord! And they really work?"

"Well, not right now," Doc admitted. "Remember, you have to keep this a secret! No-one apart from us, and of course Marty and Jennifer, knows about it."

"Right," Ritchie said.

"As you can see, there's quite a lot of stuff here from the future."

"Including us," Marlene grinned.

"Hey, this looks useful. What does this do?" Ritchie asked, looking at a thumb print scanner.

"This machine is from the future," Doc told him. "It provides a lot of personal information, it is used to determine whether someone is really who they claim to be. It also does DNA tests. Look, I'll show you."

He and Jules stuck their thumbs on the machine and it beeped. "That shows we're related," Doc explained. Jules took his thumb off and Ritchie put his on. The machine beeped again.

"That's official, we're family," Doc grinned. The others laughed, except for Jules. Only Verne noticed, but said nothing at this stage.

"Oh, by the way Dad, you might want to be a bit careful around Jez and Tiff," MJ told his future father and told him what had happened.

"Don't worry," said Marty. "Tiff and Jez have gone to Los Angeles for the week to watch some concerts, so I'll have no problem with them for a while. I heard Biff tell Dad about it. Besides, I can handle them."

Over the next few days, Ritchie spent most of his spare time at the Brown household. He, MJ, Marlene and Doc would spend their time looking at the train and making some repairs to it, and found a sleep inducing alpha rythmn generator in one of the compartments.

"This one looks odd," Doc muttered as he examined it. It looked like a wallet.

"It's a later model than yours," MJ explained. "From 2104 or somewhere like that."

However the train still didn't work much to everyone's annoyance.

Ritchie found to his relief that he got on very well with his stepmother, and found her tales of growing up in the 1850's very interesting. Half-brother Verne, although suspicious at first, soon opened up and decided that having a 29 year old brother who could drive was quite cool. The fact that Ritchie helped him with his history project was completely irrelevant...

Jules, on the other hand, stayed suspicious. He didn't trust the newcomer. He didn't tell his friends about his half-brother, although they soon found out from Verne. Doc was quite surprised, since Ritchie and Jules had a lot in common, but he decided to let Jules accept the situation in his own time.

Marty didn't come over for the week, for 2 reasons. He needed to practise for his gig, plus he felt that the less he saw of his kids the better. He also didn't want to intrude on Doc and Ritchie, he knew they had a lot to talk about. Marty had filled Jennifer in on what had happened and she too had decided to stay away until their kids had gone home.

But by the looks of things, she wouldn't be visiting for quite a while. Doc had tried everything he could think off to repair the fusion generator, but it still wouldn't work. He finally got it powered again, but it wouldn't accept rubbish, so it couldn't generate the 1.21 gigawatts needed to power the time machine. And Marty's children couldn't get home.

"Ready to go, son?" George McFly asked Marty. Marty took a quick look at his truck. Inside were the instruments he would be taking to the dance in Elmdale.

"Yep," he said as he got in.

"We love hearing you play, Marty," said George as Biff pulled up. "You've got a gift. I think it will play a key role in your future."

"I'm sure it will," Marty grinned. If only his dad could know he was right!

"Good luck, not that you'll need it," George smiled.

"Bye Marty," said Biff. "Mr McFly, I'm afraid I can't repair Linda's car tonight, my daughter called and....."

Typical Biff, Marty thought as he drove off. Always some excuse!

"That's incredible! I read the same book at the same age!" Doc laughed at his eldest son. Ritchie smiled.

"I guess I inherited more from you than I thought," he grinned.

"When you were 17, did you have a fascination with chemistry for a while?"

"No, I had an obsession with biology. Still do. That's why I became a doctor."

The two men laughed some more. A short distance away, two pairs of eyes watched them talking.

"Look at him, acting all phoney like that," Jules whispered to his brother. "I still don't trust him."

"I like him a lot," Verne answered. "He's cool."

"Yeah, he's being nice now, but give him a week or two and he'll reveal his true colours," said Jules.

"Hey kids, what're you doing?" Marlene called to them. Jules sighed.

"Nothing."

"Jules is spying on Ritchie," Verne told her.

"I don't trust him," Jules told Marlene.

"Why not? He's a very good looking man," Marlene sighed happily. "He's still good looking at 59, actually. But even better now at 29."

Verne smiled. "Marlene has a crush!" he teased.

"No I don't!" she protested but Verne just smirked at her. "Trust me Jules, he's going to be around for many years. He really is your half brother and he really is a nice guy. He doesn't just want your dad's money, he just wants to be with your - and his - father. I miss my dad, I can tell you."

"Marty was here yesterday," said Jules.

"No, my *dad* dad, Marty McFly aged 47," said Marlene. "And my mom as well."

Marlene started walking away when she stopped suddenly. "Are you jealous?" she asked Jules.

"Of course not!" the boy insisted but Marlene could tell he was lying.

"You are, aren't you?" she said. "You're not the oldest and smartest anymore. That's what it is, isn't it?"

Jules' silence told her she was right.

"Look, why don't you go talk to him?" Marlene suggested. "And your dad."

"Marlene!" MJ called. "Can you give me a hand here?"

"Gotta go," said Marlene. "What is it now, baby brother?"

"Don't call me that!" MJ called back. Verne felt for MJ. He hated it when Jules called him that, too.

"Verne?" Clara called from upstairs. "Can you have here a minute?"

Verne ran to his mother. Jules continued watching his father and half brother for a few minutes before they got up and started walking towards him. Jules quickly got up and pretended he was coming down the stairs.

"Marlene? MJ?" Doc called. "Have you got your disguises ready for tonight?"

"Not yet!" MJ called from the lab.

"You'd better see how they look," Doc called back to him. MJ and his sister left the lab and went upstairs to try on the clothes and wigs that Doc had provided.

"I hope they look OK," MJ whispered to Marlene. "You know what Doc's fashion sense is like."

Jules walked into the lab to look at the time machine. He wished he had been able to help, but due to schoolwork he couldn't. He sat in the train and sighed.

Marlene was right. He was jealous of his older brother. Before he had been the one Doc used to laugh with about scientific things, and he was the one who would spend the most time with his father. Plus he wasn't the oldest any more! He was now a "little brother".

"Jules? Are you down here?" Ritchie's voice called down as he walked down the stairs into the lab. Jules ignored him.

"Hey Jules, your mom wants you for something."

Jules continued to ignore him.

"Jules, is everything OK?"

"Yeah, why shouldn't it be?"

"You seem to be a bit quiet and sulky. Are you all right?"

Silence.

Ritchie felt a bit awkward. He looked around and spotted a box of Pepsi cans under the workbench. "Would you like a Pepsi?" he asked his half-brother.

"Yes." The reply was short and abrupt. Ritchie took 2 cans and gave one to Jules. They sat next to each other in the train for a few seconds, neither knowing what to say.

"I hear you like science experiments," Ritchie was the first to speak.

"Who doesn't?"

"Verne," Ritchie said almost immediately with a grin. "So what sciences are you into?"

"I am a student of all sciences," Jules told him, sounding very much like his father.

"I was too when I was your age," said Ritchie. "Mom used to tell me off because I kept experimenting in the kitchen."

"Mine did too," Jules admitted.

"Look, I sense that somehow, I'm bothering you," said Ritchie. "Would you like to talk about it?"

"No thank you," said Jules, facing away. "Why don't you just go and talk to Dad, seeing as you are so friendly and all that!" He turned away, as if to say, "I don't want to talk to you any more."

"Is that what all this is about?" Ritchie asked. "You're jealous, aren't you?"

"Maybe," whispered Jules.

"Jules, I'm not here to take Emmett away from you..."

"Why don't you call him 'Dad'?" Jules interrupted.

"It's a bit hard to get used to," said Ritchie. "To me, 'Dad' is Leonard Chase, the man who brought me up. Emmett is my father, but not my dad, if you know what I mean."

Jules said nothing. Ritchie put his Pepsi next to the fusion generator on the train and sat down next to Jules.

"Jules, listen to me. I might be the oldest with the fancy degree and a good job, but you're his first born! He's been there for all your life - your first step, your first word, your first day at school. He never had that with me. Think how special those memories are to him, and how special you are. And, chronologically speaking, you were born a few decades before me, anyway," he grinned.

Jules smiled a bit.

"Why don't you show me some of your experiments?" Ritchie suggested.

"All right," said Jules. "Once I see what Mom wants."

The two walked half way up the stairs when Jules said, "What about your Pepsi?"

"Oh cripes, I left it there," said Ritchie as he ran to get it. He was about to pick up the can when he tripped over one of Einstein's toys. His arm knocked the Pepsi over and the contents poured into the fusion generator.

"What have you done?" Jules came running over. Suddenly the fusion generator started making funny noises. A light on it turned on.

"What's it doing?" Ritchie asked.

"I don't know for sure," said Jules with a smile on his face, "but I think you've just activated it! Quick, go get Dad!"

A few moments later, everyone was down in the lab. Doc and MJ were examining the fusion generator.

"It's working!" Doc yelled happily. "It's generating the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity needed! Perhaps it wasn't accepting the rubbish because it can only accept liquids, like Pepsi."

"But it accepted rubbish in the future!" Marlene protested.

"Perhaps the crash somehow altered the settings," Doc suggested as he and MJ stepped off the train. He turned to Ritchie. "How did you do it?"

"It was Jules' idea, actually," Ritchie said, deciding to let his brother take the credit. "I spilt some Pepsi and he wondered if it would work the generator."

"Well done, Jules!" Doc gave his son a hug. "You've just solved a very big problem!"

"It was no problem," Jules smiled, before mouthing "Thanks" to Ritchie. Ritchie smiled. Maybe things were getting somewhere with Jules.

"Now to give it a test," said Doc. He got into the train and inputted a destination time. The time panels on this version of the train allowed you to input a time to the nearest second.

Something I'll eventually have to work on, I guess, muttered Doc.

He opened the lab doors. "Stand back!" he ordered as the train took off. MJ adjusted the HDU to "cloud" setting so anyone happening to look up would think the time machine was a cloud. Marlene controlled the train from the remote control which had also been brought back from 2016 as the train accelerated. 85...86...87...88...

The "cloud" suddenly disappeared with a flash. The group looked at each other excitedly.

"It worked!" Doc cried happily.

Ritchie, having never seen a time machine travel through time before, was particularly impressed. "Absolutely amazing!" he breathed.

30 seconds later, they heard 3 sonic booms and the train reappeared. Marlene landed it on the rail tracks outside the lab.

"I think you'll be going home very soon," Clara smiled. MJ and Marlene smiled back.

"Hope so," they said.

"OK everyone, we need to get more Pepsi to send them home," said Doc.

"Right after the dance," said MJ. "That's what we came for."

"Right, right," said Doc. "You'd better get ready." MJ and Marlene ran upstairs to get ready as Doc went to the phone to call Marty in Elmdale to let him know the latest goings on.

"Here you go," Clara said as she dropped MJ and Marlene off at the Speakeasy Club in Elmdale, where the dance was being held. "Give us a call when you need picking up."

"Thanks, Clara," said MJ. The two McFlys were completely unrecognisable. Anyone looking at them would just think they were 2 normal kids who looked nothing like Marty McFly! Doc's disguises were very good, and much to the kids' relief, quite stylish as well.

They waved Clara off and entered the club. Handing in the tickets Marty had acquired for them, they found a corner of the hall to watch from.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome.....the Pinheads!!!" the announcer said as the curtain went up. Marty, excited and nervous at the same time, stepped up to the microphone.

"Hello Elmdale!" he called, causing the crowd to cheer. "We're the Pinheads, and we'll be providing the music tonight, so enjoy!" He and the group then started playing "The Power Of Love".

"What great music!" Marlene said to her brother.

"Yeah, it's got a beat and you can dance to it!" replied MJ.

Half an hour later, the dance was in full swing. The Pinheads were playing Eric Clapton's "Heaven Is One Step Away".

"I'm thirsty," MJ told his sister. "The drinks are over there. You got any money on you?"

"You've got your wallet with 1980's money, haven't you?"

"I bought this instead of my wallet," said MJ, showing the sleep inducing alpha rythmn generator to his sister.

"You are such a lobo," Marlene sighed. "OK, let's go get some drinks." The two walked over to the bar and ordered a Pepsi each. They were drinking them when MJ noticed something.

"Marlene, look! Over there!" he hissed. Marlene turned to see what he was looking at.

"Oh no," she muttered. "What are they doing here?"

"They're probably up to something," MJ replied. Tiffany Tannen and Jez Needles had just entered the building. "Let's follow them and see what they want," MJ suggested.

The McFlys followed Jez and Tiff until they arrived back at the bar. They watched as Jez and Tiff ordered some drinks, and then slunk away to the back. MJ got out his futuristic microphone, which he had brought with him so he could hear the music more clearly, and tuned it so he and his sister could hear exactly what Tiff and Jez were saying.

"There he is, Tiff. Once McFly gets off that stage, I'll get him. Doug always said McFly needed 'getting'."

Tiff sniggered. "The buttface will have no idea."

"Oh no," Marlene told MJ. "They're planning to get Dad!"

"I heard them, Marlene," said MJ.

Marty finished his song. "We're gonna take a quick break, but I promise you, we'll be back!" he said to the audience.

"Now's our chance," Tiff told Jez.

"We've got to stop them!" Marlene told MJ. She saw the other three Pinheads go out the back door for a smoke. That meant that Marty, the only non-smoker in the group, was all alone! She and her brother quickly went over to Jez and Tiff.

"Excuse me, would you like a dance?" Marlene asked Jez.

"To what?" Jez asked. "There's no music!"

"Uh, we can make our own music," said Marlene as if she were trying to seduce Jez. Yuck, yuck, yuck! she thought. She grabbed Jez and started dancing with him.

"What kind of dance is this?" he asked. Marlene realised she was doing The Junk-Fax, a popular dance she liked doing in 2016.

"Oh, um, it's brand new," she said. "We're the first ones doing it. Don't you feel special?"

"Hey you, get your hands off my boyfriend!" Tiff snapped at Marlene. MJ suddenly grabbed her.

"How about you and me getting together some time?" he asked with a forced smile on his face. The two "couples" danced for a few moments until Jez pushed Marlene off.

"I've got work to do," he said. "Plus you're a freak! Hey Tiff, doesn't she remind you of McFly's cousin last week? Looking like a man and all that!"

Tiff laughed evilly. "Yeah, absolutely." She pushed MJ away and she and Jez started heading backstage.

Luckily the other Pinheads came back at that moment. The dance was starting again!

"They can't get Dad any more!" MJ said with a sigh of relief.

"But there's another interval later on," said Marlene. "They'll get him then. We have to stop them now."

"Hi everyone, we're back!" Marty called to the audience. "Now our next song's a bit of an oldie, but it's something that really cooks!"

He started playing the oh-so familiar opening chords of "Johnny B Goode". His kids noticed Jez and Tiff getting closer to backstage.

"I have an idea!" MJ said suddenly. "Remember when Griff bullied me? He could only focus on one thing at a time! But when he found a new victim, he completely forgot about me. Maybe his future mother is like that too!"

"I see what you're saying," replied Marlene. "If we get them mad at us, they'll forget about Dad! It's worth a try." The two quickly pushed their way through the crowd to catch up with Jez and Tiff.

"Go, Johnny, go, go, go! Johnny B Goode," Marty sang. MJ saw his chance and tripped Jez and Tiff up. The two fell to the floor.

"Yes!" MJ muttered to himself. The two bullies stood up.

"You!" Tiff hissed at MJ.

"Run!" Marlene called to her brother. The two ran off, pushing their way through the crowd. Tiff and Jez followed him.

"What about McFly?" Jez asked.

"Forget him, let's get these two instead," Tiff told him. MJ grinned at his sister. "Like mother, like son!" he said to her.

"Oh my, that little country boy sure can play!" Marty sang as his kids led the bullies out into the foyer. He looked into the crowd and saw the 4 pushing through the crowd.

I wonder what Jez and Tiff want with them? he thought to himself, not recognising his kids.

MJ pulled out the sleep inducing alpha rythmn generator.

"Why didn't you use that before?" Marlene asked.

"Too many people around," said MJ. Tiff and Jez slammed open the doors.

"There they are," said Tiff.

"Look at this, guys!" MJ called to them. They looked at the sleep inducer and MJ pressed the button. Suddenly, Jez and Tiff fell to the ground, just as Marty finished the song.

"Mission accomplished," Marlene said with a sigh of relief as the audience cheered.

"Psst, Dad! Dad!" Marlene whispered to Marty. He turned around and saw two strange people standing by the stage. Realising they were his disguised kids, he turned to the other Pinheads.

"Can we have a minute in private, please?" he asked.

"Sure thing," one of them said. "We're gonna get a drink."

"I'll be there in a minute," said Marty. Once he was alone with his kids, he turned to them.

"Marlene? MJ?"

"Good show Dad."

"So it was you Tiff and Jez were chasing," said Marty.

"Yeah," MJ admitted. "But you said they were coming back tomorrow!"

"They were, but apparently their flight home was cancelled so they came back earlier," Marty told them. "I heard Biff tell Dad as I left earlier. But I didn't think they'd come here, so I didn't think you needed to know. Where are they, anyway?"

MJ and Marlene explained what had happened.

"You're right," Marty told them. "They won't want me anymore, they'll be after you guys, and of course they can't since you're going home. When are you leaving, anyway?"

"Tomorrow, after breakfast."

"I'll be there!" Marty grinned.

Doc ran into the kitchen where Clara was tidying things up.

"Clara! Good news! I've just fixed the flux capacitor in the DeLorean," Doc announced happily. "The DeLorean is working again. I just went to 2016 and MJ and Marlene both got home safely."

"Good, good," said Clara. "I do miss them, though."

"I just wish I knew where our train had gone. I tried asking the McFlys in 2016, since our future selves were out of town, but all they said was, 'Go home and catch a train.' Weird. They seemed to know something we don't."

"I'm sure you'll get it back soon," Clara answered as she closed the refrigerator.

"I bet Jules is glad to have his room back," said Doc. "Where is he, anyway?"

"He's upstairs with Ritchie, showing him all his experiments," smiled Clara. "They get on quite well, those two."

"I'm glad about that," said Doc. "I saw Ritchie in the future, and he looks even more like me there!" He smiled. "And just think of the inventions I know I'll someday invent, like the Destination Location and the HDU!" he said. "No doubt about it, this week changed our lives forever."

Suddenly there were three sonic booms from outside. Doc and Clara looked out the window and saw the time train come to a stop.

"It's back!" Doc exclaimed. He and Clara ran outside, followed a few minutes later by the rest of the family.

"Hey, the train's back!" said Verne.

Doc got into the train and looked at the Destination Time panel. "Here's the problem," he chuckled.

"What is it?" asked Clara.

"I typed in 28 instead of 18," Doc laughed. "The remote worked, the train did exactly what it was told and came here."

"Now that the train's back, can we go time travelling?" asked Jules.

"I don't see why not," Doc told him. "Let's go on a family trip. Where do you want to go?"

"The future," Jules and Verne said at once. "We want to see this The Simpsons Marlene and MJ were talking about."

"OK," said Doc and Clara and the boys boarded the train. "Come on, Ritchie!" he called. "This is a family trip, you know!"

"I'm coming!" Ritchie smiled as he boarded the train, and once everyone was on board it took to the skies, hit 88 miles per hour and disappeared.

Last Revised: June 4th 2004

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