"Emmett," called Clara Brown. "I've been sick again."

Doc Emmett Brown ran to his wife's bedside. Clara had been ill for a few days and wasn't getting any better. The doctor said she'd caught the bug that was going around. Marty's sister Linda McFly and father George were ill too.

Clara was taking things well but Doc knew she was putting on a brave face.

"Are you feeling a bit better now?" he asked.

"A bit."

"Have you taken your pills?"

"Yes, that's what made me sick. I don't think they agree with me. Unlike those pills back in the 1890s."

Just before the Browns had moved back to 1985, Clara had been ill. A special medicine was available at the time and it had helped Clara a lot. It wasn't available anymore though, the company had gone out of business in 1904.

"Clara, would you like me to get some for you?"

"Yes please Emmett, if that's OK."

Clara went back to sleep and Doc left her. She wasn't sleeping too well and when she did sleep it wouldn't be for long. Doc shut the door quietly and wondered what to do. He couldn't get the medicine because of his past self. He didn't want to buy it and then the shopkeeper would mention it to his past self. Same reason the boys couldn't get it. Marty couldn't go back because of the whole Clint Eastwood thing.

"Dad, Marty and Jennifer are here," called Verne. He showed them in and then went back to the TV.

"Of course," Doc muttered. "Jennifer, can you do me a favour?"

"So what's the name of the medicine again?" Jennifer asked.

"It's called Mahoney's Syrup, available in the corner shop." Doc replied. "Remember, if you see my past self, Clara or the boys, don't let them see your face. Marty and I will wait here in the DeLorean."

"Check," said Jennifer and taking some 1895 money went into town.

"I hope this works," said Doc to Marty.

"I just hope that Jennifer finds us," Marty replied, referring to the cave that the DeLorean was hidden in. It also happened to be the same cave where the first DeLorean was hidden, waiting to be uncovered in 1955.

Doc and Marty took a little walk around. Marty noticed a gravestone. "Here Lies Emmett Brown."

"Woah, Doc, what the hell is this?"

"Oh, that. I made it myself. For you see, when you saved me from Buford Tannen, there was no stone in 1955. But if there's no stone in 1955, how will you know to come back and save me? So I had this copy made, so that our 1955 selves will find it."

"Good thinking Doc. I'd always wondered about that one."

Jennifer found the shop easily and bought the syrup. She received a few strange looks from the locals - after all, she hadn't been seen before in town.

Suddenly she saw Doc's past self walking down the street! Doc's past self had moved to 1985, but today he had returned back to 1895 to sort out a few things before permanently moving to 1985, and 1986 Doc had forgotten that this was the day he would do so.

Jennifer saw a shop and ducked inside to avoid seeing 1895 Doc. She was lucky. He walked straight past her and didn't see her.

"May I help you Miss?"

Jennifer turned around. There was an Irish man standing behind the counter. His wife was putting some things on the shelves. Jennifer realised she was in a shop selling farm produce.

"Uh, no thanks, Mr...."

"McFly, Seamus George Douglas McFly," the gentleman replied. "Maggie - my wife - and I have recently taken over here, selling excess produce from our farm."

"There's a lot here," said Jennifer, realising who she was talking to. Seamus was after all Marty's middle name.

"Aye, we're doing quite well here."

"Well, nice meeting you, bye," said Jennifer and she left. Seamus noticed she'd dropped something. Picking it up, he saw a woman's purse. Belonging to the woman who'd just left.

"William!" Seamus called.

Marty's great grandfather came into the shop from around the back. "Yes father?"

"A customer dropped this. Could you return it? I have to stay with the shop."

"Yes father," said 10 year old William McFly.

"She went towards the clocktower, and was wearing a white coat." Seamus gave a quick description of Jennifer.

"Ok father," said William and he left.

Jennifer returned to the DeLorean. "Got it!"

"Great," said Doc. "Let's go."

Jennifer then realised she'd dropped her purse. "Damn," she exclaimed.

"We'll have to find it," Doc said. "We can't leave any future possessions behind. I'll stay here and guard the DeLorean. You two go find the purse."

"Hey Doc, can I borrow your hat?" asked Marty. "I don't want people recognising me."

"Sure," said Doc. Marty and Jennifer set off. Doc suddenly had a thought. Why didn't I just give Marty the hat earlier? He chuckled to himself, realising how simple it would have been.

William had found Jennifer and called out for her, but she didn't hear him. He decided to follow her. Better than doing chores.

He noticed her walking out towards the caves. He'd been here before. He'd noticed a passage marked ELB but had never been able to get in there. There were lots of rocks in the way. You'd have to blast through them.

William saw the woman walk towards a man - her husband maybe? - and an old man, about 70. He looked a lot like Dr Brown! But it couldn't be. Dr Brown had left for San Francisco a few months back with his family to take on a new job.

But what he saw next was amazing. A big, shiny grey box on wheels. He didn't notice Marty and Jennifer going out to look for her purse, he was so memorised. But he didn't dare get closer, not with Dr Brown-look a like there still.

Doc waited for Marty and Jennifer to return. To pass the time, he decided to do a drawing. Doc and Clara had recently joined an art class. It had been a dream of Doc's to draw, but what with the time machine he never had the chance until now.

Doc drew Hill Valley. From where he was, he could see quite a bit of the town. He drew a line sketch, ready to draw properly in 1986 when he got home.

"Excuse me."

Doc looked up to see William McFly. "Ah, William, what can I do?"

"I thought you were in San Francisco."

"I'm, er, just back to pick up a few things. I'm taking a break." Doc was pleased his past self was there to back this story up, having been reminded of it by Jennifer.

"Your friend dropped this," William said, giving Doc the purse.

"Thanks," said Doc and put it in his pocket. He gave William a dollar as a reward and they said goodbye.

Doc went back to his drawing. He was so preoccupied that he didn't notice William changing direction and creeping back to the DeLorean. William eyed it carefully. He looked all around the car, and decided to see if he could get in.

The doors made a whoosh as they entered. William was startled, wondering if anyone had heard. Luckily for him Marty and Jennifer had just returned, so Doc didn't hear the door.

Knowing he was trapped, William shut the door. He heard voices outside - Dr Brown and two others - and wondered what they meant by 1986 and DeLorean. The three then got back into the box where William was hiding. Nobody noticed him.

"Let's go home," Doc said. William watched, horrified yet excited, as the machine took off into the sky, travelled really fast and then flew through a flash of light.

"Come on, let's go and give this to Clara," Doc said as the passengers left the DeLorean. William watched as they left. Once he was sure they'd gone, he opened the door and climbed out.

He was in a laboratory. It was full of things he'd never seen before. Like a shiny box with a thing underneath with letters on, like a typewriter. It was switched on and had little pictures on it.

"I'll be back in a minute Clara," called a voice, and Dr Brown opened the door to his lab. There was no time for William to hide. Doc saw him by his computer.

"William McFly?"

"Dr Brown, I'm sorry, I....."

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't know."

"You must have hidden in the time machine."

"Time machine? What year am I in?"

"1986."

"Wow, the future! I've always wanted to see the future." And William ran out of the lab before Doc could stop him. William ran to the front door. It opened as Jules entered the house after his paper round. Jules was surprised to see a boy in late 1890s clothing run out the house. Then he recognised him as William McFly. Doc arrived, chasing William, but he wasn't as fast and soon William was gone.

"Great Scott!" Doc exclaimed as Marty and Jennifer came out to see what had happened.

"Clara's trying to sleep Doc," said Marty.

"Marty! Your great grandfather's in 1986!" said Doc. "He stowed away in the time machine and ran off!"

"Well, we'll find him," said Marty. "He's pretty easy to spot. He's dressed in 1895 clothing."

"We must find him at once," explained Doc. "Otherwise there'll be a paradox."

"Huh?" Jennifer was confused. Marty knew this theory, since Doc had told him before.

"Let me explain. Remember when we went to 2015 and you saw your future selves?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you shouldn't have really. After all, if you and Marty skipped forward to 2015, how would you have been able to get older and have kids? However if you spend less than 24 hours in the future, you will be able to see your future self until the ripple effect catches up and erases her. If we'd stayed in 2015 for another 20 hours or so, your 2015 selves would have been erased."

"OK," Jennifer now remembered being told this theory. Doc turned to Marty.

"If William spends more than 24 hours in 1986, then his future self and all McFly descendants - including you, your father, your brother and your sister - will be erased."

William meanwhile was walking through Hill Valley, looking at the buildings and cars with awe. He received a few strange looks from passers-by, but was mostly ignored as the people of Hill Valley went on their business.

William entered Courthouse Square and stopped. The clocktower was there, saying 10.04. William was puzzled. It was only about 6 in the evening, according to the clock outside the bank. William looked around the Square. It had changed a lot since 1895. He thought it was beautiful. Spotting a bench across the street, William ran towards it - and almost got run over. As he wasn't used to busy roads, he hadn't thought of looking to make sure it was safe. Luckily for William, the car driver - Mr Strickland - managed to pull to a halt quickly enough.

"Watch it, slacker," Strickland growled.

William sat at the bench. Hill Valley looked great. He loved the future. 1895 would look so boring after this.

After about 10 minutes William noticed a man coming out of the bank. He looked similar to Mad Dog Tannen. The man walked to his truck and got inside.

"I fancy a tour of this place," said William to himself, and quickly ran to the truck. Making sure he wasn't seen, he crawled in and hid behind some equipment.

Biff Tannen didn't see William as he drove home.

"It's no good Doc, we can't find him," said Marty from a payphone. He and Jennifer had searched the town. They'd stopped people and asked them, and a few people said they'd seen him, but by the time they'd got to where he'd been he was gone. The town was actually quite busy for a Sunday, so spotting William was more difficult.

Whilst Marty spoke with Doc, Jennifer took his wallet. She took the picture of 30 year old William McFly in 1915, his wife and their new-born son, Marty's grandfather Arthur. William's head had begun to disappear. The ripple effect was catching up.

Marty told this to Doc.

"Young William should be OK for a while longer," Doc replied. "It's only his future self that's erasing. This William won't disappear - he'd just live the rest of his life in 1986. Sadly, you wouldn't exist to see it." Doc paused. "I'll ask Clara to call the police. Don't worry, she'll provide a good cover story for them."

"OK Doc, we'll keep looking, talk to you later," Marty replied and hung up.

William was excited as he looked at the sights and smells of 1986 Hill Valley. The driver hadn't seen him - yet. William hoped he wouldn't. He was enjoying himself.

The truck pulled up onto a driveway. The driver parked and got out. William hid as he walked past and went into the house. William looked around. This was a rough neighbourhood. A bunch of children were nearby, but they didn't look friendly. Litter was everywhere. Suddenly the future looked a lot more scarier.

Now's my chance, thought William, to escape before I'm seen. He wanted to get back to Dr Brown's anyway, he was a bit scared. He slowly climbed out of the truck, and was creeping down the driveway when he heard a voice.

"Hey butthead, what are you doing?"

William turned around. It was the driver.

"Uh, nothing."

"Yeah right," Biff Tannen muttered as he checked his truck to make sure everything was still there.

"Um, I'm lost," William said half-truthfully.

"Yeah, where do you want to go?"

"Um..."

"Biff, what's going on out there?" It was Biff's girlfriend Caroline.

"I found this kid," Biff explained.

"Oh my," Caroline said. "Son, what's your name?"

"William."

"William, are you hungry? Lost?"

"Both ma'am," William replied.

"Come on in," Caroline said. As Biff began to protest, she said, "Come on Biff, he's lost and we need to make sure he's OK." She led William into the house. "You can put your truck away," she called out to Biff. William went inside. He was glad to be there. He could see a future house and be fed. With a smile he followed Caroline.

Marty was very nervous. William wasn't anywhere to be found. He'd wanted to carry on looking, but his mom had called saying he had to come home, as it was dinnertime. It was just him and his mom. George and Linda were still sick and were in bed. Dave had moved to Los Angeles a few months back.

"And she told me that she'd seen him by the mall looking very suspicious," Lorraine told Marty. "Promise me you'll never smoke or take drugs. I never have and I'm fine, so you don't need them."

"OK mom, I promise," said Marty, hiding a grin from his mother about her never having smoked. He remembered back in that car in 1955.

After dinner Lorraine turned to her son. "Marty, can you deliver this to Biff? When he was here earlier doing the car I didn't have enough money to pay him, but I've been to the bank since then and forgot to deliver it on the way back."

"Yeah sure Mom," Marty said. He could look for William as well. When Lorraine turned her back, Marty looked at the picture in his wallet. 1915 William had disappeared. Marty's grandfather Arthur was starting to disappear. Marty knew his father would be next, then Dave, then Linda - and then him.

He was running out of time.

"Biff? It's Marty. I bought the money over."

Biff answered the door. "Thanks Marty. Say hi to your mom for me."

"Can I just use your phone? It's urgent."

"Yeah, OK. Just don't bug me too much." Biff let Marty in and went back to watching TV.

"What's this programme?" As he dialled the Doc to check up on things, Marty heard a voice ask Biff. That's odd, I thought the wife had the kids this week, he thought. Biff's wife had ran off with someone else in 1982. Biff saw his kids Tiffany and Tom every other weekend. It was Tiff who would be Griff's mother. She wouldn't marry his father, a convict, and so Griff would be a Tannen. Tom was actually a fairly decent person, as unlike his father as possible. For instance, Tom always did his homework.

Marty peered into the room. There was William. And he and Biff were watching some soap opera.

"It's called Hill Park Towers," Biff replied. "It's a woman's show."

Marty hung up. No answer from Doc. They must have gone out. Marty knew it was up to him.

"William, there you are," he said as he entered the room. "Come on, it's getting late."

"You know him?" Biff asked. "How?"

"He's a .... close relative," Marty began. But William interrupted. "No, I'm not. "

"Sorry Marty," Caroline said. "I can't let you take him. We're looking after him until the police come for him tomorrow."

"But-"

"Sorry Marty, that's what the police said. He stays here tonight."

When Marty went round Doc's, the family had just returned from dinner at Burger King. Doc was concerned. Arthur had disappeared from the photograph. George was next.

"You've only got 18 more hours before you disappear," Doc told Marty.

"Yeah, but how? Biff's letting William stay the night. He and his girlfriend are going to take him to his 'house' in the morning. They say the police said so."

"I'm afraid they're right, Marty. The HVPD is very understaffed at the moment. They can't spare any officers for Will 'til the morning. Which is good for us."

"Huh?"

"Tonight, we're busting William out of there and sending him back to 1895."

"Doc, you do remember I have school tomorrow?"

"Don't worry, you can sleep whilst I take William home." Marty and Doc were outside the Tannen house. They crept round the back, where Biff had made up a bed for William.

Spotting that the window was slightly open, Marty opened it and crept inside. The plan was to grab William whilst he was still asleep, take him back and make it look as if he'd just fainted.

But Marty had to trip over and wake him. William looked at Marty. "What are you doing here?"

"We're taking you home," said Marty. "Back to 1895."

"No, I like it here!" William wailed. "1986 is so cool!"

"But what about your mom, your dad and your friends?" Marty asked his great grandfather. "What about Wendy?" Wendy would eventually be William's wife. Marty knew William had a crush on her.

"Wendy? How do you know..." William asked before he realised how Marty knew.

"Look William, I'm your great grandson Marty. You have to go home. Otherwise you'll never grow up, marry someone, or have kids. And if those kids don't exist, my father isn't born - and neither am I."

William looked at Marty. "Really?"

"Yep."

"Since you put it that way.....but what do I tell Biff?"

"Leave Biff to me," Doc replied, holding up the sleep-inducing alpha rhythm generator. "He'll think it was just a dream."

"Come on," Marty whispered. "Let's go." He helped William out through the window, and was getting out himself when suddenly the window closed on his fingers.

"Argh!" Marty exclaimed before he remembered he was supposed to be quiet. "Doc, this is heavy!"

"I know Marty! The generator isn't working properly!"

"No, I meant the window! It's heavy! Quick, get it off me!"

"Who's there?" Biff asked from the hallway.

"Quick, get outside!" Doc hissed, freeing Marty's fingers. They were slightly bruised but otherwise OK. Marty and William ran to Doc's car. Doc hadn't bought the DeLorean because he didn't want anybody to recognise it. Doc ran to the car and they drove off back to the lab and the DeLorean.

Marty looked at the family photo in the wallet. George McFly's head was vanishing.

Biff Tannen saw the open window. Looking outside, he saw Dr Brown's car drive off.

"Hey butthead, give that kid back!" he yelled at the car. Then he ran to the telephone. "Hello, give me the number for 911."

Doc was in Courthouse Square when the police cars caught up. "Damn!" he muttered. "Biff must have called them!"

"Emmett Brown, pull over!" the police officer with the megaphone called. Doc ignored them. Usually he never broke the law, but if it was between obeying the law and saving the world from a paradox...

"Doc, they're gaining!" Marty yelled. Then the car started slowing down. "Doc, what're you doing?"

"We're running out of gas!" Doc moaned. He pulled the car over near an alleyway and got himself, Marty and William out of the car before the police saw it. The trio ran down the alleyway, which Doc and Marty knew would lead them somewhere near Doc's lab.

Marty looked around. The police were catching up. "Funny how they can't send someone around to collect Will earlier, but they can spare half the department to chase us," Marty said to Doc.

They reached the house and lab. Doc quickly let himself in. Clara was waiting for them.

"Emmett, are you OK? I heard about everything."

"Yes I'm fine. What about you, you're sick! Anyway, how did you know?"

"I'm feeling much better now, thanks to those tablets. Anyway, Jane rang me to tell me she'd seen our car near Biff's, and the police were after them." Jane was one of Clara's friends who lived near Biff. "So I called the police and reported the car stolen. That way they won't think you were in it."

"Nice one Clara," Doc replied. Then he looked out the window. The police were approaching. "Marty, take William to the lab and hide there until I come down. I'll quickly change into my night-gown and pretend I've been in bed the whole time. Better still, get back to 1896. That way if they search the place they won' find you or the DeLorean."

"Right, Doc."

Everyone got to their places. Marty took William to the DeLorean and they got inside. Marty looked at the photo. George was disappearing. Dave would be next.

The DeLorean re-entered 1895 a minute after it had left it. Marty took the spare sleep inducer which he had bought with him (and was fully charged) and took it to William.

"Stop!" he cried. Marty stopped. "Please don't erase my memory. I want to remember everything. It was a once in a lifetime experience. I won't tell anyone."

"Sorry, Doc says I gotta," Marty answered. "Otherwise we might have a paradox or something like that."

William looked at Marty. "Look, I won't tell anyone. Ever. I've always dreamed about being a time traveller."

Marty remembered how he'd felt back in the morning of October 26th 1985 when he'd first seen the DeLorean. "All right, I won't. I'm going back to 1986. If I find anything different though, I'm coming back to erase your memory. OK?"

"OK Marty."

"Thanks William.....Gramps," he chuckled. "See you in your future, when you hold your third great grandchild in 1968."

"See you then Marty," William laughed.

Marty looked at the photo. George had reappeared. Looking at the other photo, he saw that adult William and Arthur had also reappeared. Everything was saved.

Marty turned the time circuits on and disappeared back to 1986. When he was gone, William walked back to the shop. What a day!

"Dad, it's Jennifer," Verne called and then went back to his TV show.

"Hi Doc," Jennifer called. "Just wanted to catch up on recent events. Marty couldn't tell me in school, too many people around, and he's at band practise now."

After Doc had told her everything. Jennifer asked, "But what about Biff?"

Doc laughed. "He doesn't remember a thing. When Marty came back we went to Biff's house and used the memory eraser on him. I've also got my car back after the police never caught the 'thief'," he chuckled as he remembered.

"Emmett, come look at this," Clara called. From the TV. Doc and Jennifer came to look. A documentary about the World's Fair was on. A video clip was being shown, and appearing in it was.....Jules Brown.

"Jules, I think you've got some explaining to do....."

Last Revised: June 4th 2004

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