Chapter 9—The Problem with Tannens

The bathroom door slowly squeaked open. Marty poked his head out and hesitantly looked around.

"Hey," he said to Tiffany quietly.

Tiffany was lying on her back on the couch, one hand over her eyes and the other on her stomach. She didn't reply.

Marty regarded her silently. He really, really wanted to leave right away, but he figured he should let the poor young woman get some rest. But on the other hand (he winced), it was sort of all her fault.

What had he and Tiffany done to screw things up so badly? They didn't talk to anybody or touch anything. Marty frowned. The only thing he figured went wrong was his study date with Jennifer. Did she get so angry that she decided to break up with him? After all, the not-MJ never mentioned who his mother was. But he definitely looked like Jennifer, so Marty scratched that out. Maybe the canceled study date doomed Jennifer's chemistry grade, making her re-take the class and…no, none of that made sense at all. What if Marty himself got screwed over because he hadn't studied with Jennifer? That seemed a bit more plausible…but no matter what grades they got or classes they re-took, Marty and Jennifer still ended up together. But somehow their children were different. Why were they different?

Marty was just arguing himself into a circle. He flopped himself down on the couch and stared intently at the coffee table, memorizing the pattern carved into the wood. What the not-MJ said earlier may or may not have been helpful at all—he had to rely on Tiffany on that matter. He didn't want to talk to her about his son because he didn't want to know too much about the future. He needed somebody else to talk to Tiffany, somebody who could understand time travel but not be a threat if he knew too much about the fu—

"Oh shit. Martin!" Marty gasped, eyes widening. He straightened up, snapping his head to look at the sleeping Tiffany. Did Martin do something to change the future? But he had hardly gone outside! And what effect would his brief influence have on Jennifer and Marty's future children?

The journalist stirred. "Wha?" she murmured, turning her head to face him.

"There's something I forgot," Marty said tensely. "I forgot to mention him earlier; I'm sorry, it slipped my mind when you showed up and scared the shit out of me."

"What is it?" the young woman asked, curious.

"Martin Brown," Marty said seriously. He shifted in his seat to face her better. "He's an alternate version of me who's fallen in our universe."

Tiffany paused. Then she frowned. "An alternate version? Brown?" she repeated, bewildered. "What are you talking about?"

Marty briefly explained. Tiffany rubbed her head. "When did this happen?"

"More than a week ago," he replied. "He's been living in Doc's garage, but I let him camp out at my house for a while."

This seemed to greatly interest Tiffany. She stretched and started to sit up. "How come I've never heard of this?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

Marty gave her a matter-of-fact look. "Well, when you showed up and said that you wanted to tell me something important—"

"No, not that. I mean from MJ," she said, rubbing her forehead. "He's told me a million time-travel stories. How come he's never mentioned this one?"

Marty fainted wondered just how many stories his future son told her. He glanced at the time machine outside, thinking of the DeLorean. Sounded like he and the time machine were going to have a lot of adventures together. He felt a mixture of excitement and dread.

"The reason why I visited you during spring break was because I thought you weren't busy," Tiffany admitted. "If I knew you had all that shit going on, I would've picked a better time."

Marty snorted. "Couldn't have been helped," he said. "Who knows, maybe it just slipped his mind too. You could just ask him later, I bet."

Tiffany dropped her hand to her side and silently gazed at the floor.

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out," Marty reassured her. "And when we go back, we'll have Martin on our side! It'll be like having Doc with us."

The journalist frowned. "When you mean Martin Brown," she said at length, "do you mean he's related to Doc?"

"Yep," said Marty, nodding. "He's another version of me, but he's Doc's kid. It's a long story, though. Super smart. In college."

Tiffany furrowed her brow. "But if he's Doc's kid, how can he be you?" she asked.

Marty waved her off. "We'll talk about this later. Let's just go back. You ready?" He got to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm with you," she grunted, getting to her feet as well. "But you gotta let me change, first."

Marty eyed her wearily. "Might wanna pick different clothes," he said, suddenly remembering his first awkward days in the Old West. He wondered if MJ had told her about that as well.

"Got nuthin' else," Tiffany said, shrugging.

After she finished changing, Marty and Tiffany exited the house, locked everything up, and slid into the time machine. Marty buckled himself in very securely. Tiffany, on the other hand, gripped the steering wheel for a long time but did not turn on the car. Marty, impatient, was about to ask her what was the hold up when he felt the air start to grow heavy.

"Marty?" she said suddenly, not looking at him. Marty blinked in surprise.

Her shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry…I messed things up," she said slowly, in a quiet voice. "I don't know what I did, but I'm new to time travel. It's like when I tried to call MJ earlier and you had to run away—"

"Tiffany," Marty said firmly. She paused for a moment and pursed her lips.

"I…I shouldn't have taken the time machine," she continued. "I shouldn't have contacted you; I should've just dealt with your older self like a grown woman. In fact, I've stolen the time machine and messed up history again...just like everybody else in my family has."

"Tiffany," Marty said again, exasperated. "I don't hate Tannens because they steal things and screw up the future; I hate them because they're bullies and cheats. But you're not like any Tannen I've ever met." At least not the three I know so far, he added mentally, thinking of Buford, Biff, and Griff. But perhaps he would run into many more later.

"And…when I look at you," he added, figuring that he needed to explain himself further. "I can't help but think of Biff, and the way he pushed my father around all his life. 'Course, that was before I…messed things up with the time machine…" He looked apologetic. "The thing is…I just can't forget what Biff's done to my family, how he messed things up once. And all that shit that went down in that evil, alternate 1985? (MJ told you all about that, right?) I just can't let that go right away."

Tiffany looked away. Marty sighed, wondering what to do next. He glanced at the floor.

"You remember the fake-MJ and his agent?" he suddenly said brightly. "You handled those assholes so well. Griff—he's your brother, right?—would have just beat the lights out of the both of them."

Tiffany sniffed. It took her a while to answer. "I wouldn't have done anything like that. I'm a girl," she said softly.

"Yeah, but you could've used your killer robots or something, you know," Marty retorted. "But hey—you used your words, not your fists."

Tiffany smiled weakly. "I'm a girl," she said again. "And if I threw them out, I'd lose my job."

Marty looked at her incredulously. "Oh, so you're different from your brother and all the other Tannens just because you're a girl? You didn't get this job as a journalist for no reason, you know. It's an honest, clean living—you got what you deserved."

The journalist looked at him with sad eyes. "You don't even know me," she said, faintly amused.

The musician huffed. "Hell no. But I do know that you're big enough to flatten me. But I'm still alive." He grinned sheepishly. "That's a big plus in my book."

Tiffany just stared at him. She wasn't smiling, but she wasn't exactly frowning either.

Marty's smile faded from his face. "Okay, so I've just met you," he amended. "All I know for sure is that you can get weird-ass mood swings, but I don't think you're some sort of deceiving actress."

The young woman smiled at him faintly. "Calming myself is part of the job," she explained. "Some of my interviewees are real jerks. I have to control myself."

The teen felt faintly annoyed. "Look," he said sharply. "I dunno if you really love my son and all, but who knows? I haven't even met my kid yet. But you don't have to worry about it," he added hastily, noticing her disappointed expression. "'Cause I've figured that you can't be all that bad, 'cause you've got a good job and a clean living so far. You're not anything like your relatives. So…I guess if my son said that he that he loved you, and that he wanted to marry you, IguessI'dbeallrightwiththat," he finished in a rush.

Tiffany blinked slowly, taking her time to decipher his words. Then her eyes widened with disbelief.

I guess I'd be all right with that.

Then she turned to the steering wheel, a giddy grin slowly spreading across her face.

There was a long moment of silence. Finally, Tiffany broke it by starting the car.

Marty sighed in relief. The young woman gave him an amused look.

"Did you say all that just to get me to drive the time machine?" she teased, still grinning broadly. "Or did you really mean that? It didn't sound that easy to do."

He answered her with a silent look of sullen agreement.

Tiffany chuckled. "You and you son are a lot alike, you know," she said thoughtfully. She eased the car into the street. "I could've sworn it was him talking to me."

Marty shifted in his chair uncomfortably. "Well, I was sorry for yelling at you," he said.

Tiffany smiled. "Don't worry about it," she said easily. "My brother has given the Tannens an especially cruddy reputation around Hill Valley. I've heard it all before. It was hard for me to get a job, even."

Marty scowled, looking out the window. On the inside, though, he felt quite relived.

"Your son frowns like that too," Tiffany added.

He snorted.

--

Marty and Tiffany returned to the library parking lot again; however, since they didn't want to risk running into their past selves or traveling through time in a different, but more populated area, they were almost two hours late for Marty's study date with Jennifer. Marty told Tiffany to hide out in Doc's old garage if he didn't return in fifteen minutes.

Tiffany nodded, retreating into the shadows when Marty rounded the corner. The teen did not spot Jennifer through any of the windows of the library, and was just about to grab then the handle to the public institution's front door when the sudden blare of a familiar car horn nearly knocked him off his feet.

"Marty!" David roared, sticking his head out the driver side window.

Marty stared at him, wide-eyed.

"D-Dave?" he stuttered shakily, feeling like he had just been doused in a pool of ice cold water.

His brother faked a look of hurt. "What's that for, huh? Jennifer kick your ass? Don't tell me you didn't deserve it!" he said.

Marty gaped at him, his head spinning. "What are you talking about?" he demanded. His heart was hammering in his chest. "What are you doing here?"

The office worker rolled his eyes. "I'm taking you home, dumbass!" he replied. "Geez, you really are something else today!"

Marty's mouth went dry. He didn't budge. Impatient, David banged the horn.

"Come on, let's go!" he yelled.

Marty pried his sneakers from the sidewalk and ambled to the driver side window very slowly. "How'd you know I was here?" he said, craning his head to look up at his brother.

David stared at him incredulously. "What's that supposed to mean?" he said instead.

Marty frowned. "What are you doing in my car?" he added, tickled with annoyance.

The office worker frowned and gave him a look that signaled complete incomprehension.

"Marty—did you hit your head or something?" he said, sounding a little concerned.

Marty scowled. He glanced over his shoulder to take another look at the library. Perhaps Jennifer was not there after all.

David looked up. "What's that?" he wanted to know, curious.

Marty shook his head. "Nothing," he shrugged. He staggered around the car, reluctantly clambered into the passenger seat, and slammed the door behind him.

"So what's the verdict?" David asked briskly.

Marty bristled. "Huh?" he grunted tensely.

David grinned knowingly. "Jennifer dump you for almost standing her up at the library?"

The musician paused, taking this in.

"WHAT?" he exclaimed.

LittleMana: Marty's got it tough.