(T/W: talks of sexual assault near the end of the chapter)

Darleen freezes up—her eyes wide as Marty's lips are still locked on hers—a bunch of thoughts are going through her mind—including the fact that Marty was still dating Jennifer. But, nonetheless—she kissed him back, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around his waist. Marty was the first to pull away—softly chuckling as he did. Darleen bit her lip as she smiled at him. Marty's hands went down to her waist as he looked at her—love clouding his eyes. Maybe it was the adrenaline or maybe it wasn't, but the two were happy about the kiss.

——

Marty and Darleen enter through the garage service door. The two notice that Doc is absorbed in the TV as he fiddles with the video camera. The end of the tape is coming up—old Doc is reacting to the terrorists, "Oh no... they found me. I don't know how, but they found me....run for it you two!" The tape ends abruptly. Marty reacts with pain—remembering what followed. Darleen rubs his back comfortingly as Marty clears his throat. Doc turns around in surprise.

"Oh, hi, Marty..Darleen. I didn't hear you two come in. Fascinating device this video unit." Doc says—a bit of uneasiness in his tone. "Doc, there's something we haven't told you about what happens," Marty gulps as he looks at Darleen for reassurance—she nods, "on the night we made that tape.." Doc holds up his hand. "Please, Marty—don't tell me. No man should know too much about his own destiny." Marty shakes his head, "But, Doc—you don't understand."

"I do understand and if I know too much about the future, I could endanger my own existence, just like you've endangered yours...and possibly Darleens'." Marty sighs uneasily as he glances at Darleen, "Yeah—maybe you're right." Doc gets up, "Now, let me show you my plan on getting you two home.." Doc takes them over to a tabletop model of Hill Valley town square, which Doc had constructed himself. A wire runs from the top of the clock tower, between two lamp posts across the street. "Forgive the crudeness of this model—I didn't have time to build it to scale or to paint it,"

"Now, we run some industrial strength electrical cable from the top of the clock tower, suspending it across the street between two lamp posts. Meanwhile we've outfitted the time vehicle with a big pole and hook, which connects right into the flux capacitor..." Doc indicates a wind-up toy car with a wire sticking straight up from from the back and a hook on the top of it. There is a similar rig on the real DeLorean.

"At the calculated moment, you'll take off down the street—driving right toward the table, accelerating at 88. Lightning will strike the clock tower, electrifying the cable just as the car's connecting hook makes contact, thereby sending 1.21 jigowatts into the flux capacitor and sending you both back to 1985. Let me demonstrate. You release the car and I'll simulate the lightning." Marty winds up the toy car and releases it toward the cable. Doc touches a live wire to the top of the clock tower.

The toy car's antenna snags the cable—sparks fly—and the toy car catches fire. It flies off the table top, into some drapes causing them to catch fire as well. Doc grabs a fire extinguisher and puts it out. Darleen shakes her head, "You're instilling us with a lot of confidence Doc." He looks at the cable and car, "Don't worry, I'll take care of the lightning." Doc points at Marty, "You just take of your pop. Say—what happened today? Did he ask her out?"

Marty shrugs, "I think so." Doc squints his eyes in questioning, "What was her answer?" All of a sudden, theres a knock on the door. Marty wraps an arm around Darleen's shoulders protectively. Doc glances out the door, "It's your mother! She tracked you down! Quick—let's cover the time machine." They pull a tarp over the DeLorean. Darleen steps away from Marty and next to Doc, "Open the door Marty." She grits through her teeth. Marty sighs and opens the service door.

Lorraine steps in, "Hi Marty." Her future son gulps, "Mom—Lorraine...! How did you find me here?" She shyly smiles, "I followed you." Doc and Darleen share a look. "Oh, uh—this is my Uncle—Uncle Brown. And that's Darleen..who you've already met." Lorraine turns to Doc and smiles, "Hi." She looks at Darleen, "Hello again." She turns back to Marty, "Marty, this may seem a little forward, but...I was hoping you might take me to the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance on Saturday."

"Uh..me..? But what about George McFly? Didn't he ask you?" Lorraine nods, "Yeah, but I turned him down." Martys' eyes widen, "You did WHAT?" Lorraine completely ignores Martys' tone moves closer to him, "George isn't exactly my type. He's sort of cute and all...but he's well..." She moves even closer to him, "I think a man should be strong...so he can stand up for himself and protect the woman he loves. Don't you?" A pang of jealousy runs through Darleen. Marty gulps as he looks at Darleen and back to Lorraine. This was starting to get out of hand.

——

George seems to be bewildered at what Marty and Darleen were trying to explain to him. "I still don't understand. How can I go to the dance with her if she's going with you?" George asked as he pointed at Marty. "She wants to go with you George—she just..uh..doesn't know it yet. That's why we gotta make you look like a fighter, somebody who'll stand up for himself, somebody who'll protect her." Marty explained.

"Plus, you won't be showing up there by yourself since—I will be going with you." Darleen said afterwards with a smile making George smile crookedly at her. Focusing back on Marty, George sighed, "But, I've never picked a fight in my life!" Marty felt frustrated, "You're not picking a fight dad—daddy-o, you're coming to her rescue." Darleen looked between the two, "Maybe we should go over the plan again, where are you gonna be at 8:55 George?"

"At the dance with you." He answered. Darleen nodded, "And where is Marty gonna be?" George looked up in thought before answering with a smile, "In the parking lot with Lorraine." Marty nodded, "Okay. So, right around 9:00, she's gonna get very angry with me—" George quickly cut him off, "Why?" Marty looked at him with a crooked brow, "Why what?" George answered, "Why is she gonna get mad at you?" It's hard for Marty to say.

"Well..because...well...nice girls get angry at guys who...try to take advantage of 'em." Darleen's eyes widen, as do George's. "You mean you're gonna like..touch her on her—" Marty quickly cuts him off, "George it's just gonna be an act. Don't worry about it. Just remember that at 9 o'clock, you'll be strolling in the parking lot with Darleen, and you'll see us," he gulps sharply, "struggling in the car, and you'll come over, open the door, and say...?" George doesn't say anything. Darleen taps him on the shoulder, "Your line George." He snaps out of his small daze, "Oh, uh..."Hey, you! Get your damn hands off of her!" You really think I should swear?" Marty nods, "Yes, definitely George swear. Then you hit me in the stomach, I go down for the count, and you and Lorraine live happily ever after."