FRIDAY 12TH AUGUST 1988

2:45PM

Shit! Why am I always late?! Marty McFly groaned inwardly as he ran at full tilt.

He had, of course, been on time once, but that was with his life at stake! Although right now he was pretty close!

The sight of his 4x4 in the distance made him breathe a sigh of a relief, salvation at last!

He almost fell flat on his face just before reaching it.

"Crap!"

The passenger's side door opened and Marty looked up to see his girlfriend, Jennifer, leaning across the seat, a smile on her face. "Smooth moves as always, mister." She greeted him.

He gave her a look, before straightening up and climbing in. "It's good to see you too, Jen."

Jennifer dropped a kiss on his cheek. "Only fifteen minutes late too, a new record."

"Hey, cut me some slack, I'm at college in the middle of vacation! I'm surprised the world hasn't ended yet!"

Jennifer laughed as she put the truck into gear. "It is pretty amazing… Guniness Book hasn't called yet, though?"

"Nah, someone must be lying down on the job."

"So how did it go?" Jennifer asked as she looked over her shoulder to make sure the way was clear before reversing. "You're looking very stylish."

Marty made a face as he smoothed down his tie. "Yeah sure."

"No, I'm serious, you look great," Jennifer insisted. "Gray's really your colour."

"But a suit?" Marty groaned.

"Even aspiring rock stars need to look good," Jennifer pointed out.

"Yeah, because the guys from Def Leppard walk around dressed like this all the time."

Jennifer shook her head, and brought the truck to a stop as they reached the exit of the Hill County University parking lot. "So where we headed, mister?"

"Twin Pines…" he began, then corrected himself. "I mean, Lone Pine Mall, I need to buy my parents a present for their Wedding Anniversary."

"Awww," Jennifer cooed and gave him a sappy smile. "When is it?"

"Er…today…five pm," Marty said sheepishly.

"What?!" Jennifer gasped. "Today?! Marty, how come you didn't say anything?!"

"I forgot! I had a lot on my mind!"

"How could you forget that? Your own parents!"

"Hey come on, Jen, we're only celebrating because it's a special one…usually it wouldn't matter."

Jennifer gave a sigh of frustration, but thankfully decided not to press the point "What Anniversary is it?"

"Thirtieth – take the left turn here, we'll get there faster." He told her, noticing that she hadn't made a move to.

"I know how to get there," Jennifer huffed, flicking on the indicator. "Thirty years, huh? So, they were only twenty when they got married?"

"Yeah, can you believe it?" Marty shook his head. "They weren't even outta college yet!"

"Well, things were different back then."

"You don't have to tell me!" Marty laughed and Jennifer joined in. She certainly didn't need to tell him, since Marty had had first hand experience of the fifties!

"But your mom got her degree and everything, that's pretty cool. A lot of women dropped out once they got married."

"Yeah, but when Mom makes up her mind…"

Jennifer gave him a wink. "Don't give me that, I know you like your women strong."

"Woman," Marty corrected, "you're the only one for me after all."

"Well, it looks like your folks' anniversary is making you quite the romantic."

Marty made a show of looking affronted. "Are you suggesting I'm not always your knight in shining armour?"

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "Well, I don't really feel like a queen when you're spending hours strumming away on your guitar with the rest of the Pinheads."

With a sly grin, Marty gave a shrug. "We can't be perfect all the time."

"Oh, Heaven forbid."

The mall was a lot more crowded than usual, or at least that was how it seemed to Marty and the fact he had no idea what to get his parents didn't make things much easier.

"Why'd I leave this to the last minute, Jen?" He moaned. "This sucks!"

"Come on, Marty there's heaps of stores here, there's got to be one that has the perfect present." Jennifer cajoled.

"I'd settle for a decent present, Jen, what the Hell are you supposed to get people for their Thirtieth Wedding Anniversary anyway?"

"Pearl or diamond."

"What?"

"Traditionally the thirtieth wedding anniversary gift is pearl," Jennifer told him, pulling in close as a large group of boys squeezed past them. "But diamond is considered more modern."

Marty shook his head. "How do you know so much about it?"

Jennifer blushed. "Um…well…Grandma went on a big etiquette kick with me for a while…you know…"

Marty wasn't sure if he believed it, but that didn't matter too much. "Pearls or diamonds, huh? Whoever came up with that obviously wasn't a college student, have you got any idea how much diamonds cost, even the tiny ones?"

Jennifer gave him a sly look. "Have you been looking at diamonds lately or something?"

Now it was Marty's turn to blush. "What? No, of course not…I just...well it's pretty obvious they'd cost a lot, right?"

Jennifer gave chin a soft tap. "Just teasing. But look Marty your parents aren't going to expect that sort of gift from you, they might not even be expecting one at all."

Marty sighed. "Yeah, I wish, but I only remembered the party was on tonight 'cause Dave and Linda mentioned it this morning when we were all talking on the phone."

"What are they getting them?"

"Dave, if you can believe it, has got 'em a set of His and Hers watches!"

Jennifer whistled. "That sounds expensive!"

"Yeah, he just got a big promotion at work, so he can afford it."

"I'm sure your folks will understand that you don't have as much money as your brother. What about Linda?"

"She wouldn't tell us, it's a surprise…probably something she made herself. You can bet it's gonna be good too, if I tried the best I could do would be a couple of popsicle stick men."

"Oh, come on, it wouldn't be that bad," Jennifer protested, when Marty looked sceptical, she added. "Well, it'd be cute…at least I think so…"

"Yeah, yeah, well, I don't even have time to make that, so we gotta get 'em something store bought."

"'We'?"

Marty couldn't quite meet her eyes. "Well, yeah…I mean, I figure, we're a couple, so…"

Jennifer gave him a tight squeeze. "Oh, that's so sweet!"

"Yeah…besides two heads are better than one and I won't have to go broke buyin' 'em something on my own."

Jennifer pouted. "Hmpf!"

"And because I love you, of course," he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "You always have the best ideas for presents."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," Jennifer conceded, then thought for a moment. "But actually Marty, I'm not really sure either…do your parents' collect anything? Like Humble figurines or something?"

Marty looked at her in disbelief. "They've got taste, Jen…at least now."

"A lot of people like Humble figurines, Grandma has heaps of them."

"Well, it's OK for your grandma, but I don't think they're my parents' thing."

"How about stationary with their names on it, then? You know From the Desk of Mr and Mrs McFly or something? That's sweet."

"Hmmm," Marty looked indecisive. "Sounds OK…but it'd take a week to get it done wouldn't it?"

"A month, actually."

Marty considered asking how she knew that, but shrugged it off. "I kinda wanna give 'em something tonight."

"You could give them an I.O.U."

"Be serious, Jen! I don't want 'em to think I don't care."

"Oh, they won't think that," Jennifer protested.

"Maybe not, but I'd feel weird if Dave and Linda give 'em something and they're all looking at me and I have to say 'Raincheck?' I really should have remembered, I mean Mom goes on and on about her and Dad's first date, their engagement, their wedding."

Jennifer got that sappy look on her face again. "That's so sweet…"

But Marty's mind was racing, he suddenly had an idea for the perfect gift!

"Eureka!"

It was loud enough that a couple of people nearby turned, Jennifer also gave him a strange look.

"Comes from hangin' around Doc," Marty admitted with a grin. "I just figured out what we can get them."

"That was quick, Doctor Brown has helped you out."

"If you're gonna be like that, maybe I won't tell you what it is," Marty folded his arms.

Jennifer laughed and hugged him. "Oh come on, Marty, I was kidding, come on, tell me what it is, I'm sure it's a great idea!"

"Well, Mom's always going on about this particular photo of Dad and her at their Wedding Reception, about how she's always wanted a nicer frame for it, but she's never got around to it. I think she's hinting that Dad should do it, but well Dad can be kinda oblivious."

"Sounds like someone I know," Jennifer gave him a wink.

"But how about we do him and her a favour and get it done for them! There's that one hour engraving place here, we can have it all done in time for the party!"

Jennifer's eyes sparkled. "That is a great idea! The engraving place is just a few stores down too."

Marty shook his head. "You know that, but you still get lost on the way to college?"

"I do not!" Jennifer protested, then relented. "Well, I haven't lately…"

Marty chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders.

True to Jennifer's word, a few seconds later they arrived at Say It!, which not only offered the engraving service, but a wide range of things to engrave on.

The two made a beeline for the photo frame section.

"Oh wait, do you have any idea what size we're looking for?" Jennifer turned to him.

"Actually I do, since another thing Ma likes to go on about is how big the photo is…nineteen by thirteen, who gets a photo that big?"

"Wow, that kind of limits our choices to the frames up there," Jennifer pointed to the ones in question, which were beyond both their reach.

"Damn," Marty cursed, "I hate getting help."

"Oh, come on Marty," Jennifer gave him a slightly disappointed look. "There's no need t be embarrassed about it."

"I'm not embarrassed, I just hate getting a sales pitch."

Jennifer didn't look entirely convinced, but since there wasn't much else he could do, Marty called one of the sales people over.

"For a nineteen by thirteen you say, very impressive."

Oh, here we go, Marty rolled his eyes.

But the salesman surprised him. "We actually have a catalogue you can look through, it'll be quite a bit easier, besides we don't have all the frames on display. Come this way." He led them over to the catalogue and actually went off to serve other customers.

"Man, either they're making a killin' in this place, or he hasn't got the talk yet." Marty muttered under his breath.

Jennifer gave him a good natured swat on the arm before turning to the frame section of the catalogue. Marty looked over her shoulder, but the frames all pretty much looked the same to him.

But Jennifer didn't agree, she gasped. "Marty look, it's perfect!" She pointed to one.

"It's nice…"

Jennifer gave him a look. "You have no idea what it is, do you?"

Marty shrugged. "I'm a guy."

"It's a silver frame with a pearl inlay! Perfect for a Thirtieth Wedding Anniversary. Your mother will love it!" She moved aside so Marty could take a better look.

"Hey, that's pretty neat and it doesn't even cost a mint." He remarked taking in the price. "Excuse me," he looked over at the girl at the far end of the counter, she came over.

"Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'd like to get this frame," Marty pointed, "and an engraving too."

The girl took a quick look. "We've got the frame in stock, but if you want it engraved it won't be ready 'til Monday."

"What?" Marty demanded. "But the sign –" he pointed to it.

The girl shook her head and gave him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, but the engraver went home sick yesterday, he says he'll be back in Monday, but there's nothing I can do until then."

"Damn it," Marty cursed under his breath. He couldn't believe it! Of all the luck!

"Um…do you still want it?" The girl looked rather pale, obviously thinking he was angry at her.

"It'll be a great gift, Marty," Jennifer whispered to him, "we don't need to get engraved," she pointed out.

Marty shook his head. "I really want to get it engraved, I even know what I want it to say."

"Well, that's OK, I mean your parents' will still love it, even if we do have to give it to them a little late."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," he mumbled back, then spoke to the girl, telling her what he wanted the engraving to say and putting down a deposit.

But as the two left the store empty handed, Marty felt like kicking himself.

After everything, you'd think I'd have learnt to do things on time!

"I don't know why you're so bummed," Jennifer remarked as the two drove out of the parking lot of Lone Pines Mall, Marty behind the wheel. "It's not like your parents are going to tell you 'Too late, we don't want it'. Things like this happen."

"I know, it's just…I still feel weird sometimes…around my family. It's been almost three years and I remember most of what happened this time around, but yeah, sometimes I wonder if I really fit in with them."

"Of course you do, Marty!" Jennifer gave him a sympathetic look. "In fact they've got you to thank for how they are!"

He gave a wry grin. "Maybe that could be their present. I could just say 'Hey, Mom, Dad, guess what, if Doc hadn't sent me back in time you'd be a bunch of losers. Happy Anniversary!'"

Jennifer giggled. "I'd like to see their faces if you did, but Dr. Brown would kill you."

At that moment, Marty's new car phone (a gift from his parents for his 20th birthday) rang, reaching out Marty tapped the speaker button.

"Yo!"

"Ah, Marty, I'm glad I finally got onto you," as if he had heard them talking about him Doc's voice filtered through the speaker.

"Hey, Doc, what's up?"

"I need your help, can you come over to the house right away?"

Marty took a look at the clock on the dashboard (which was always right as opposed to his own watch) – 3:43pm.

"I gotta be somewhere at five," he began.

"That's fine," Doc interjected, he sounded pretty frazzled.

"Is there a problem, Doc?"

"There is, but I don't want to say what it is on a car phone," Doc's voice was almost a whisper.

Jennifer shot Marty a look, but he shrugged and smiled reassuringly, trust Doc to be a bit paranoid. "OK, Doc, Jen's with me, and we're on our way."

"Oh, hello Jennifer," Doc said absent-mindedly.

"Hey, Dr. Brown."

"I'll see you two in…what…ten minutes?"

"Sure thing, Doc."

With that Doc hung up and Marty turned off the main road heading for Doc's house, which was out of town.

"What do you think he wants?" Jennifer asked. "You don't think Clara or the boys are in trouble?"

"Nah," Marty shook his head. "He'd have sounded a lot more worried."

As Doc had predicted within ten minutes, the Brown's farmhouse appeared on the horizon, the gate was open so Marty drove the 4x4 right through towards the barn. Or at least that's what it looked like, in reality the barn was Doc's lab and there was a heap of hi-tech stuff in there, things the world had never seen and wouldn't for years to come.

Doc appeared as Marty put the truck in park, he hurried up to them waving his arms rather frantically.

"You sure he's all right?" Jennifer gave Marty a worried look.

Doc though had pulled the driver's side door open before Marty had a chance to respond.

"Marty! Jennifer! It's good to see you," he greeted them in a rush and grabbed hold of Marty's arm.

"Good to see you too, Doc," Marty couldn't help chuckling at his friend's energy. He unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed out of the truck only to be almost pulled off his feet as Doc dragged him towards the barn.

"How's everyone goin', Doc?" Marty asked as he was pulled across the paddock.

"Fine, Marty, fine."

Marty was surprised by the brush off, before whenever he visited Doc he always said hello to the Brown Family. Doc was, unsurprisingly, deeply proud of his family, it wasn't very often a man of sixty-five got a chance at having a family, especially not with a woman born over a hundred years ago

Jennifer caught up to them as they reached the door, where Doc entered a code, pressed his thumb to a plate and allowed his eyes to be scanned. There was a click and the door swung open.

"Wow, Doc, impressive," Marty whistled.

"Precautions have to be taken, we all know what damage can be caused if the DeLorean falls into the wrong hands."

Doc didn't need to tell Marty, he'd gone through it all first hand!

"So what's up Doc?" He asked, then grinned.

Doc gave him a sour look. "Very funny, Marty."

"Oh, come on, it's a classic!"

Doc cracked a smile, but quickly looked serious again. "There's a problem with the DeLorean."

Marty and Jennifer quickly looked towards it, the car, sleeky, sporty and of shiny silver, almost identical to the original that had been smashed to pieces almost three years ago, looked totally fine, there wasn't even so much as a scratch on it.

"Err…can you give us a hint?" Marty finally asked after a moment.

"Why don't you open the door?" Doc offered.

Marty gave him a look. "Didn't you say you had some anti-theft thing installed…I'd rather not be electrocuted."

"You'll be fine," Doc assured him, "just open the door."

Marty didn't really think it would open, but he trusted Doc enough to figure at least he wouldn't be killed trying to do it.

But the gull wing door swung open easily.

"Now try and turn on the time circuits," Doc prompted.

Marty shook his head, no way would that work, the only people who could turn the time circuits on were Doc and Clara. He figured he'd give it a try though, and to his shock the three LCD panels lit up.

"What the –" Marty turned to his friend, but Doc had turned to Jennifer.

"Try and open Mr. Fusion."

Jennifer gave Doc a rather uncertain look, but did so, the device, which looked more a blender than anything else, opening easily.

"Doc, what gives? I thought you'd made this thing like Fort Knox."

"Just look at this," Doc said as if he hadn't heard, taking a small device out of his pocket. He pointed it at the DeLorean and pressed a few buttons.

Before their eyes the DeLorean suddenly looked completely different, like a normal sports car.

"Holy shit, Doc, how'd you –"

Suddenly the image began to flicker, bits and pieces of the time machine showing through until the whole image fizzed out.

"All the security devices placed on the outside of the DeLorean stopped working after the last trip the boys and I took to see their grandparents…I didn't calibrate them for time travel, I wasn't all that certain I'd need to. They worked for a while…" Doc shook his head. "As for the security measures located inside the DeLorean, seems their breaking down was just a coincidence, either way I need to get them repaired, but I can only do that by going to the necessary time periods."

"Uh-huh," Marty didn't see where this was going.

"But seeing as there's no way to secure the DeLorean, I'm going to need someone to keep guard over the time machine while I do this. I can't take the boys, they're too young to be left on their own and Clara can't come because…" he trailed off.

"Because why?" Marty prompted.

"Err…well," Doc's cheeks reddened. "You see…she's pregnant."

Jennifer gave a small cry of delight and Marty's eyes widened.

"No way! Get outta town, Doc!"

"I'm quite serious."

Marty gave his friend a quick hug. "Congratulations! When did you find out?"

"About two months ago-"

"And you didn't say anything?"

"It's considered bad luck to say anything too soon," Jennifer spoke up.

Marty looked at her in surprise. How the Hell would she know that? He wondered, but then brushed it aside, turning back to Doc. "You don't believe in luck, though," he pointed out, then added slyly. "You're a man of science."

Doc rolled his eyes. "I am, but Jennifer is right in one sense, the first few weeks are precarious, we didn't want to jump the gun too soon. But everything's coming along fine now…but as you can imagine we don't want to take any chances."

"Yeah, of course, but Doc," Marty looked over at Jennifer. "We can't come, at least not now, it's my folks' Wedding Anniversary Party tonight, we can't miss it –"

"Marty, you're not thinking fourth dimensionally!" Doc admonished him. "It'll take us a few hours, but as far as 1988 is concerned we'll be back just ten minutes after we leave."

"Oh yeah," Marty shook his head, even after everything, he had trouble with that.

But suddenly he thought of something…the photo frame.

He'd thought of it briefly back at the store, but he'd known Doc would never agree to it. The DeLorean and Time Train weren't used too often and certainly not for trips only a few days into the future, Doc was adamant it was too dangerous and Marty had agreed…sort of.

But now that he was doing Doc a favour.

"Still…a couple of hours, that'll throw our body clocks way off," Marty began, a look of uncertainty on his face.

Doc gave him an incredulous look. "It won't be that bad, Marty."

"Still…I know my folks want everyone bright eyed…I don't even have a present for 'em."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Doc seemed rather distracted. "But I can't really help-" then it dawned on him. "Marty," he began in his best 'lecture' tone. "You know the time machine isn't a toy. Like I said, I'm sorry you don't have a present for your parents –"

"But I do, the problem is Doc, it won't be ready until Monday."

"That's not too long to wait."

"Come on, Doc, Jen and I are doing you a favour, can't you help us out? I don't even have to be the one who gets it! I can give you the pick up slip and the cash and you can get it."

Doc looked completely unconvinced.

"I know it doesn't seem too much and maybe I'm being dumb, but I really want to be able to give my folks their present on the actual day. I've only really know my family for three years, but they've been a Hell of a lot better to me than my original one. I want 'em to know I care."

Doc sighed and ran a hand through his wild hair. "All right, all right, I'll pick up the photo frame for you. But because you're my friend, not because I feel guilt for throwing off your circadian rhythm." He shook his head. "You honestly thought I'd fall for that?"

Marty shrugged and grinned. "Hey, it was worth a try…"

Doc looked as if he was about to make a retort, but the door to the barn opened.

"Emmett?"

It was Clara, who still looked a little out of place in 20th century clothes despite the fact the Browns had been back in the 80s for nearly two years. She also looked rather pale.

Doc noticed too and immediately hurried to her side. "Are you all right, dear?"

Clara mopped her brow with a handkerchief from her pocket. "There's nothing quite like morning sickness…especially when it doesn't show up in the morning."

Doc put an arm around her. "Do you want me to postpone the security repairs?"

Marty inwardly prayed that Clara wouldn't say yes, not after he'd made a deal with Doc.

"No, no," Clara shook her head, then looked as if she regretted it. "I just wanted to say hello to Marty and Jennifer." She looked over at them and smiled.

"Hey," Marty waved.

Jennifer meanwhile came over and took her hand. "Congratulations on the baby, Mrs. Brown."

"Thank you," Clara smiled, "and please, I've told you, there's no need to call me Mrs. Brown."

"Oh, um…of course, Clara," Jennifer looked a little uncomfortable saying it though.

"We won't be long," Doc assured his wife. "Well at least not to you."

"I'm going to lie down actually, so I probably won't see you two when you get back."

"Hey, that's fine," Marty reassured her, Clara was still a late 19th century woman at heart (and probably always would be) and took hospitality very seriously. "You get all the rest you need, it's good to see you though."

"Well, you've been brushing up on your manners, haven't you, Master McFly," Clara teased.

Marty shrugged and Jennifer gave him a sly look.

"I've had him on a training program," she told Clara, who laughed.

"Well, be careful," she told them, before giving Doc a quick peck on the cheek.

"You have a good rest," Doc responded, squeezing her shoulder and then letting her go.

As the door swung shut behind her, he turned to Jennifer and Marty and rubbed his hands together.

"All right then, it's time to put this into action."