Marty had jogged back to the Lyons Estate to find Doctor Brown sitting on the bonnet of the DeLorean, flicking through the pages of Doc's notebook. Marty didn't know what else was in that book apart from the notes about the DeLorean, but whatever it was; it was his Doc's life. A man's existence in pages and the only thing that truly remained of the man Marty knew from the real 1985. But Marty was going to change this and bring the real one back. He approached this version of his old friend cautiously; unaware of what he could be reading through. A few paces away, Doctor Brown noticed Marty and greeted him with a smile.

'Martin.' He acknowledged the young boy with a nod of his head and slammed the pages of the notebook shut.

'Mum and Dad inside?' Marty gestured towards the house. They would be safe for now. That's all that mattered to Marty. At least he saved someone.

'Yeah. Overjoyed to be home. Can't blame them after what she…we put them through. I'm sorry, Martin.' Doctor Brown looked up to the house and imagined what the two people who stood inside had been through. Imagination was his only way of seeing what had been done to them in his name. He realised now that his world was corrupt and, whilst it had brought good in the world, there had to be something better than a society dictated to in the name of moral betterment. By confining the people of Hill Valley and using their products to hold the world hostage, they were just creating a well down which they would fall soon enough. Meeting this Martin had opened his eyes and he wasn't going to miss the opportunity for things to change. He just needed to apologise for what the world had done. It was the least he could do at that moment.

'You don't need to be sorry. In the end you saved them and caused some mayhem whilst you were at it. Now that's the Doc Brown I know.' Marty joked. On first meeting this world's version of his mentor, he had no hope. He thought he had lost the only person he could relate to. The world of time travel without Doc was a lonely one. But as this world's Doc had come around, it was like the two men were one. It was almost like he'd never lost Doc and that was a blessing. He needed someone to share the strange stories with. This man was the closest he would get to the real thing for the time being.

'You know, I never did like that statue.' Doctor Brown smirked. Marty came and sat on the bonnet beside Doctor Brown. 'You know it's strange to think that right now, I'm out there trying to decipher my own notes.' He was right, of course. The man Marty had found in the office and convinced to fight on his side was probably on his way to fix the DeLorean. Marty often forgot that two versions of the same person could be in the same timeline. Yeah, he had seen himself play 'Johnny B Goode' at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance in 1955 and watched himself as he escaped from the clutches of the Libyan terrorists by shooting off into time. But it never quite seemed real and it never really felt like he was watching his own experiences. It just felt so detached sometimes. And that was, no doubt, how Doctor Brown felt. He had done all the things that the man Marty had found lying on the floor of the office would do over the next few years. This man had seen time pass and watched as this world got inevitably worse. All of the time knowing that he had to fix the DeLorean and get back so that Marty could fix the timelines and make it as if this world had never happened. How long must it have been to see the dream come true? How much must this man have hoped? Marty owed him so much already. He would probably never be able to repay the old man fully.

'How long has it been for you?' Marty had to ask. Knowing would be even more of an incentive for the adventure he had to embark upon to save Hill Valley. There was still a long road to walk along.

'You can tell, eh? More wrinkles around the eyes? Hair whiter, is it? I do pride myself on not looking too shabby for my age. Let's just say it took me two years to work out what I had to do. Then add another five or so getting relevant parts together trying to fix things. Then trial and error. It was longer than I thought it would take. But worth every second and every penny.'

'Fix things?'

'Yeah. The Mr Fusion thing had almost destroyed itself. Had to rebuild it and link it up to the nuclear fuel lines that ran to the flux capacitor. And then when I got there, the flux capacitor was a bit iffy so I rebuilt it…'

'You rebuilt the flux capacitor?' Marty was astonished. What had been wrong? The car had been sound when he had arrived in this reality.

'The car was structurally solid and in working order when I got to her, but I don't know what you did, or maybe as a result of the car never having supposed to exist in this timeline, things just kept failing like she was turning off. One by one, things would stop working and one day the flux capacitor just wouldn't function. I never built this car because your version of me never existed. It was like she was blinking out of existence. I had to rebuild her…well…I had to build her for the first time. It was the only way.' Doc patted the bonnet of the old DeLorean. The most battered car in the history of the world. And she didn't look bad on it yet.

'My God, you are Doc.' Marty laughed. 'Never make it easy for yourself.'

'Says the man who changed history and now has to sort it out again.' Doctor Brown said smugly. He knew he was in the wrong, but he wasn't going to make it easy for Marty to blame it all on him. He could feel the rapport building between the two of them, just as if they had known one another for years. It was uncanny. Maybe some things are the same in more than one reality. Who knew? It was the only thing Doctor Brown could think of. Maybe Marty and he were a pairing stretched across so many realities. You could never have one without the other.

'Point taken.' Doc always knew the best way to bring Marty back to Earth. These jaunts through time sometimes made Marty forget that this was real life. The concept of time travel was just something you found in movies until that fateful night at Lone Pine Mall. He and Doc had been messing with people's lives and running through time like it was all so easy. Now he had to make everything better. No pressure.

'So what's the plan now?' Doctor Brown patted Marty on the shoulder. He was about to embark on a great adventure to save time and causality itself. No mean feat.

'I'm taking the DeLorean back to 1931 and I'm going to sort this mess out. No idea how yet, but I have to.' Marty got up from the car bonnet and lifted the driver's side gull wing door. He sat in the driver's seat and pulled on the seatbelt. Doctor Brown had also pulled himself up from his seat on the car and walked to the other side of the vehicle. He was looking at Marty with a knowing smile. Why wasn't he saying anything? But then Marty realised. The keys were not in the ignition. Doctor Brown must have still had them. Marty signalled for Doctor Brown to give him the keys but the old man shook his head. Marty gestured again. Why was Doc being so annoying? The other door rose out of the car and Doctor Brown leapt into the passenger's seat.

'I'm coming with you.' He insisted. Marty stared at the old man in disbelief. What was he doing?

'Wait! What? No you're not.'

'What will happen if I don't come back?'

'The timelines will rewrite around you. If everything goes to plan, I'll come back to a better 1985 and all this will have been some horrible nightmare and only I will remember. Just as it should be.' Marty asked for the keys, but Doctor Brown refused.

'Very noble of you, young Martin! All well and good for people like your family and the rest of Hill Valley. But as far as I am aware the factor that you will be going back and altering is my life, am I correct?' Marty knew where this was going and didn't want the extra hassle but he couldn't lie to Doc. Marty nodded reluctantly. 'Then you understand where my next request is coming from?'

'But Doc, if it all goes well and time changes for the better…'

'I am well aware of the potential for that. But it's my life and if anyone is going to meddle in it, I would like the opportunity to do so or at least to supervise when necessary. You have awoken my eyes to so many possibilities. The idea that there was a better world beyond the segregation of Hill Valley and the rest of the world, time travel…' Doctor Brown laughed, amazed, at the last potential. So many things had been brought to his attention. Even if Marty hadn't been meddling with his life, he would have liked a trip back to his youth. Everything was so much simpler. He would give anything to see that world just once more. He had also seen the photographs in his own notebook. Two photographs of the plaque up on the clock tower. The plaque commemorating the building in honour of Marty. If this was his Marty, then he would be damned sure to help in whatever way he could in finding the truth as to why the young man's name was up there in memory. Marty had saved his life, now it was time to save his. But Doctor Brown didn't need Marty to know that. Not just yet. 'And if I can perceive anything from what you have told me about your adventures with the other me, then they should be conducted as a team. Partners in crime and all that.' Doctor Brown's eyes were almost pleading.

'I can't stop you, can I?'

'Not a chance.' Doctor Brown smiled. He pulled the keys out of his jacket pocket and threw them over to Marty. The boy from 1985 caught them and placed them in the ignition. Turning the key and hearing the reassuring thrum as the engine burst into life, Marty reversed the car slightly and lined up the DeLorean.

'What are you doing boy? We don't have enough road to back up to eighty eight!' Doctor Brown shouted, looking at the stretch of road in front of them. Marty smiled as he remembered those exact words pouring from his own mouth before they ventured forward to 2015. This time he was the one who knew what they were doing. He was Doc.

'Where we're going, we don't need…roads.' Marty pressed down on the gas pedal and the car roared into life. They hit eighty eight miles per hour and light began to envelop the car. Doctor Brown watched as the stainless steel construction was caressed by an energy that neither man could ever possibly understand. The feeling of tripping into time was a strange and yet comforting one. All at once, one felt like one was being thrown into the fire and, yet also, into the arms of a being that every person was supported by from the very beginning. Time. A constant companion wherever and whenever one went. Only this time, Marty and Doc were bending the rules and getting their comforter to obey them. The car went screaming into time carrying the hopes and dreams of a potential reality. The only trace left behind were the tyre tracks leading into infinity.

-x-x-x-

And that is the end of Fallout from the Atomic Wars! Thank you so much for reading. I hope that you have enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it! If you have been with us through 'Heavy Stuff' and now through this part, I thank you so much!

Soon Part Three of this trilogy based on The Game will begin and we'll be off on another wild adventure with Marty and Doc! Look out for 'Doubleback' coming to you soon (hopefully :P)!

Thank you again and I will see you soon! Much love!

From Katie