Disclaimer: No money made off of this. Really, I'm serious!!

Thursday, September 26, 1986, 04:31 p.m.

Needles grinned as he put the truck in reverse. Whoever this girl was, she wouldn't be bothering him again. Especially not after—

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A stainless steel DeLorean came to a screeching halt behind the Toyota. The black guy from before leaped out with an angry look on his face. Needles got out of the truck and turned to face him.

"Sso, you came ffor a rematch?" Needles smirked. "I thought you'd had enough. I guesss ssome people just don't know when to quit."

"Look, man, leave the girl alone…this is between you…and me."

"Whatever. I don't know why you won't leave me alone. This doesssn'tt consssern you. What are you, McFffly's pal? What'ss so special about a sstupid ttruck anyway?"

"You're about to find out," the black guy said, smiling. "NOW!"

WHACK!

The bat collided with the back of Needles' head, rendering him senseless. He slumped to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Marlene threw it down with a start. "We did it! We finally did it! Now we can go home!" She hugged Allen tightly. "Thank you! Thank you so much! This couldn't have been accomplished without you!"

"Well, hey, I'm just along for the ride." Allen said. "What else could I have done? It's almost been rather…fun."

"I know, it has. Maybe after we get back, we can--"

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

"Oh God, is that the DeLorean's--"

To Allen and Marlene's horror, Needles had managed to sneak away and get into the DeLorean. The engine roared to life as Needles streaked towards the barricade.

"Sayonara, suckers!! I think I like your car better!"

"NO! If he crashes the DeLorean--!" Allen exclaimed.

Just before the DeLorean would have hit the barricade, an explosion of electricity and blue lightning swallowed it, leaving the two flaming tire trails behind.

"OH, MY GOD!!" Marlene bellowed. "NO! This can't be happening! He just--"

"The time machine…gone?" Allen mused. "This—this is bad. What will we do now?"

"Well, the time circuits were set for 2016, and that's where Needles is now…relatively speaking."

"Yeah, technically he is skipping over this very moment on his way to the Hill Valley of the future. Our future."

"I can't believe it. Why did this have to happen to us? How will we ever get home?!"

"There is…one possible solution."

Twenty minutes later, the battered black Toyota four by four creaked lazily into the McFlys' driveway. It was now very dark, and a soft rain was beginning to fall from the thundering heavens.

"At least now, the truck is okay. I hope your father is happy," Allen said as they approached the front door. Before Allen could touch the doorknob, Marty opened the door with a start. A look of bewilderment was etched across his face.

"How the hell did you guys come back so fast? You just left. Geez, is that the Toyota?"

"Yep."

"Oh, well, hey, I mean, this is great, huh? Where's Needles?"

"You see, Marty, that's the problem." Marlene sighed.

"What?"

"Needles! He stole the DeLorean and now he's doing God knows what in 2016."

"Oh, this is heavy! Maybe you'd better come inside and sit down."

"I forgot to mention before, this really is a nice place you've got here," Allen said, wiping his wet shoes on the mat. "Really nice."

"Yes, it is. Now, how in the hell are we gonna get you two home?!" Marty asked as they seated themselves on the long white sofa.

"Well, you have those diagrams and blueprints, don't you? In the future, you always had these diagrams. It's how you built the time machine!"

"Diagrams? Blueprints? I have no idea what you mean, Allen. The only one who could possibly help you is long gone in the past—the original inventor of the time machine went to live in 1885, in the past...he would be dead by now. His things are in his old laboratory—maybe there's still something there that can help us. I have a key."

"Is there anything we can do? The technology used to create such a machine would be extremely expensive, right?" Marlene asked.

"He said that it took nearly his entire family fortune to build the original DeLorean. It worked basically the same, with the notable exception of not having "Hot Rod" flames painted on the hood like that. I think that a guy like the Doc—that was what we called him—would always have spare parts lying around. It shouldn't be much a problem, if we're lucky."

"Wait a minute, you said there was another DeLorean time machine? Whatever happened to it?" asked Allen.

"It's a really long story, but the point is that after a desperate trip back to 1985 from the year 1885 about a year ago, the other time machine was destroyed. I was worried that Doc wouldn't have been able to make it back to the present since he was still in the past, but he ended up building another time machine out of a steam train and he came back. He told me not to worry about him, and after wishing my girlfriend Jennifer—Marlene's mom—and I happy lives, he went back to 1885 to happily live out his days with his wife, Clara Clayton Brown. I guess he's happy right now. Anyway, he was always the type who took precaution and was prepared for anything. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a brand-new time machine sitting in that garage right now. I haven't been there in a while…it feels terrible sometimes, now that he's…gone, but I always knew that I would, someday. I guess now is that time."

Just then, the deadbolt to the front door turned as a middle aged couple and two twenty-somethings—a tall, spare guy with curly brown hair wearing a business suit and a short, curvaceous girl--walked in.

"Hey, Marty! Sorry we're late, there was terrible traffic!" the older man said. "Your mother brought pizza. What happened to the Toyota?"

"Well, Dad, I, ah, I mean, there was--"

"A vandal," Allen said. "It was vandalism. My sister Marl—uh, Mary and I saw the whole thing."

Everyone looked at them with strange looks on their faces, clearly confused as Marty stifled a laugh.

"Oh! Well, I'm sure that it seems…odd that we'd be siblings, but that's just genetics, you know, a great, big, swirling pool of possibilities!" Allen trailed off. "Umm..

"But anyway, yeah, it was just terrible," Marlene said. "We saw this crazy buck-toothed kid smacking the truck with a baseball bat. He ran for it after he noticed Marty coming towards him."

"Oh, God, was it Needles?" the younger woman asked. "I thought you'd gotten a restraining order, Marty!"

"Well, Linda, I had no idea he was going to--"

"Oh, Marty, we'll worry about it in the morning, honey," the older woman who was obviously Marty's mother said. "I'm sure Biff can get it fixed up in no time. Anyway, let's eat! Your friends are welcome to join us!"

Five minutes later, the McFlys and the time travelers were seated at the dinner table. "Now, I know that it's a little crowded here tonight, but that doesn't mean that we can't get to know each other. I'm Lorraine, Marty's mother, this is my husband George--"

"Hello!" the older man said. "Nice meeting both of you."

"And, over here, seated next to Allen, we have Linda and Dave, Marty's brother and sister."

"Hi, sweetheart! What brings you two here?" Linda asked, batting her eyes flirtaciously at Allen. Dave simply grunted a "Hey" through mouthfuls of pepperoni pizza.

"Oh, not much. Our parents are, uh, out of town and we were walking around Hill Valley for a bit when we found Marty," Marlene mumbled.

"Well, do you two have a place to stay for the night?" George asked. "You're more than welcome to stay here."

"How…hospitable of you," Marlene said. "We'd be happy to stay."

"Oh, yes, stay as long as you want," Linda chimed in, staring lustfully at Allen. He blushed and turned away. "You're more than welcome to sleep in my room."

"May I be excused for a second?" Allen asked, rising abruptly from the table.

"Oh, certainly," George replied.

We're really in deep this time, Marlene thought. Poor Allen. That girl really likes him and he can't handle it. She chuckled softly to herself. It's definitely time to go, but I can handle a little more of 1986, right?

Later that evening, as Allen laid lazily on the livng room sofa, curled up with a blanket, Marlene walked out to the kitchen to get a glass of water before bed. The others were already asleep.

"Allen?"

"What is it?"

"Do you think we'll ever get home?"

"Of course, I have faith that Marty can take care of our problem," Allen mused, sitting up in his seat. "He built the time machine, remember?"

"Of course, but that was a part of this Doc or whoever's legacy. Now that we're here, what if we've screwed that up? What if Marty doesn't feel...confident enough to do this? He's been really down since he starting sharing memories of his friend. Maybe he feels like he can't measure up. He obviously has the utmost respect for the guy."

"I don't know, Marlene...only time will tell."

And with that, the two weary time travelers settled down, believing that the morning would bring new hope and new adventures for them to experience. But would they ever get home?

TO BE CONTINUED…