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The Boy Who Leapt Through Time: Part V

Summary:

More bite-sized BttF moments to celebrate five years of McFly July and the 40th anniversary of Back to the Future! An eclectic drabble collection with mood boards and something for everyone!

Notes:

Holy cow, here we go! I'm still recovering from last McFly July, but I'm here, I'm ready, so let's do this! :D

Chapter 1: Mountain Dew Hat Man

Chapter Text

Before Halloween, Marty accompanies Jennifer to the thrift store for last-minute costume inspiration.

One particular item stops Marty in his tracks.

“No. Way.”

And he knows what he has to do.

On Halloween, he crosses the street to Sherman Peabody’s house, knocks, and is bombarded by a pair of enthusiastic golden retrievers when the door opens.

“Rocky! Natasha—!”

Sherman does a double take.

Marty’s him: boots, jeans, flannel, glasses—and a Mountain Dew hat.

A smirk. “Nice costume, kid.”

“You didn’t donate your hat, did you, Sherm?”

Sherman reaches behind the door and dons the genuine article.

“Not a chance.”

Chapter 2: I Want My MTV!

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Marty had goals for superstardom.

Certain cars, cities, celebrities.

And they would all happen. He believed that.

Those “Someday, Jennifer” moments.

Then, that someday came for The Pinheads to film their “I want my MTV!” commercial.

For some reason, the first thing that popped into Jennifer’s head was the pair of open Pepsi cans fizzing on the edge of the TV in Marty’s living room when he pointed to Cyndi Lauper’s spot and said, “Someday, Jennifer. Someday.”

She smirked as he blew out a nervous breath, flexing his hands in front of the camera.

“You wanted MTV, you got MTV!”

Chapter 3: Birthday

Chapter Text

Clara’s birthday fell during that weird and wonderful week in October where half the people Doc knew had a birthday.

This made it difficult to make Clara’s birthday feel important to her. She was always four days from mentally preparing for Verne’s birthday, too preoccupied with guest lists and grocery lists to get through her own slice of cake to reflect on herself.

“There’s no time!”

Doc chuckled to himself.

“Then we’ll make time.”

And he did. Took her to a picnic on a hill at sunset just to bask in the quiet.

“…Do we have enough chairs—?”

Clara.”

 

Chapter 4: Beach Day

Chapter Text

 

“Doc, you lied to me.”

Marty’s scowl only deepened at Doc’s evasive scoff.

“I did not!” He gestured around to all the palm trees, at the beautiful sunrise on the glowing shoals. “I said we were going to Hawaii, and we’re in Hawaii.”

Marty gaped at him, his voice a hysterical hiss as he thrust his arm out toward the battleships in the harbor.

“An hour before the Japanese attack?!” 

“Marty, please,” Doc chided. “We won't be—”

The ominous drone of distant aircraft crept over them.

Marty glared at Doc.

“I told you the Daylight Savings thing wasn’t working!”

Chapter 5: "Power of love will keep you home at night"

Chapter Text

 

Junior raises an eyebrow at the charred tacos Spike sets in front of him. They both just stare at them.

Junior starts to laugh. Spike rolls her eyes and stalks back to the fridge for sour cream.

“I told you I can’t cook!”

“Yeah, but…I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone that’s burnt a whole taco before,” he laughs. “It’s kind of impressive.”

Spike crosses her arms, leans on the counter. “You can still make it to your sister’s for Cinco De Mayo.”

“Come with me.”

“No.”

Junior picks up the burnt taco and toasts her, smug.

“Then this’ll do.”

Chapter 6: Confrontations

Chapter Text

Marty pulled up a stool, laid his Peacemaker on the bar, clasped his hands, and looked over at Buford, blinking expectantly. Tannen threw back a double without acknowledging him.

“Buford…”

“No.”

“Buford—“

What?”

“Didn’t we agree that we were going to try to talk to people before we started shooting at them?”

Buford snorted. “You did.”

Marty bit back a frustrated growl. He leaned toward Buford, voice low.

“We’re trying to get out of Texas right now,” he said. “We need help. No one’s gonna help us if you’re shooting at them.”

A smirk.

“Shows what you know, runt.”

Chapter 7: Art in Revolution

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“Through here.”

A draft blew the torch’s flame toward Marty’s face as he turned the corner. When the brief glare in his eyes subsided, he looked down the dark stretch of the catacombs, mouth falling open with a silent scream.

Ohhhh, my god—Ohh, my god…”

“Shh!”

Marty whimpered; hundreds of skeletons were heaped on either side of the tunnel.

“Who the hell hid art down here?” Marty asked, knees quaking. “Is the world really gonna miss this art?”

“The Nazis will in 150 years if we don’t retrieve it now.”

Marty sighed wearily. Groaned.

God, I hate Revolutionary France…”

Chapter 8: Used Pinball Machine Parts

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The irony was not lost on Emmett that the pinball machine he used for this harebrained scheme was a “Fireball.”

It was just sitting behind the roller rink in Pine City, waiting for scrap pick-up when he drove by in the van after picking up the radiation suits from his post office box.

He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

He was playing a game far more dangerous than pinball.

But he’d been party to bigger gambles in his life and won—with a fireball.

Emmett huffed. Swallowed.
Lobbed the gearshift into park.

At least the odds were better.

Chapter 9: Canada

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“Yo, Doc, I think I’ve got a good one,” Marty said, falling on the sofa in the I.F.T. Director’s office. He held up his hands. “Oak Island.”

Doc stopped writing. Blinked once, slowly, at the Newton’s Cradle on his desk.

“We don’t touch Oak Island.”

Marty made a face. “We don’t touch it?”

“It’s a myth,” Doc said, standing. “And there’s a curse.”

Marty furrowed his brow. Chuckled.

“Doc, you can’t dismiss a myth and believe in its curse.”

“Oh, yes, I can.”

“What happened that we ‘don’t touch’ Oak Island?”

Doc’s eyes glazed. He raised his eyebrows.

A lot.”

Chapter 10: Jennifer Senaks Out

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Jennifer blinked awake, lifting her head and squinting at the blurry, blinding rectangle on the wall. A cover of “Route 66” registered the antics of Lightning McQueen’s friends in Radiator Springs materialized before her, accompanying the credits.

The remote was by the DVD case—just out of reach.

Jennifer’s family was sprawled all over the couch: Junior and Marlene’s feet tangled under a Pokémon blanket, Marty flopped over the opposite arm, snoring.

Carefully, Jennifer slid Junior off her lap.

She almost didn’t make it—upsetting a popcorn bowl—but she did.

And she had the bed to herself all night.

Chapter 11: One in a Googolplex

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“—you never know what the future might bring.”

Emmett scoffed at that infernal word.

“Oh, the future,” he mused derisively. “I can tell you about the future.”

The peddler looked skeptical.
But Emmett was adrift.

“For instance…”

He took out his pocket watch, jumped when it popped open, cleared his throat at the peddler’s bemused frown, and placed it over his wrist.

“In the future,” Emmett said, positioning the twelve at the top, “we wear our clocks here. To better see the time.”

“Why not just listen for the chimes?”

A huff. A wry grin.

“Some clocktowers…no longer chime.”

Chapter 12: Lorraine's Bedroom Window

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They still go to Grandpa and Grandma Baines’ house every other Sunday for dinner. Most everyone goes into the living room after to watch reruns or baseball.

Marty drifts upstairs.

Grandma Stella’s sewing room is the same as ever: fabric scraps, tomato pin cushion, the dress form stained by time and tar from Grandpa’s cigars. It smells like old carpet and spilled perfume and maybe a hint of gold.

Marty parts the thin floral curtains, sunlight illuminating the dust suspended in the stale air around him.

Sees the robust camphor tree across the street is still going strong—and smirks.

Chapter 13: Spin the Bottle

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The Prince of the Hill did not typically frequent the royal alchemist’s chambers when he was away. The books whispered and flasks burbled, gossiping about him and his dreams of being a bard.

But Doc left Vitello behind, and Marty took it upon himself to feed the mutt while his friend was away.

“Vitello! Here, boy—“

A shelf creaked.

Marty looked over his shoulder.

A shelf of potions and tomes leaned forward, and Marty dove away from the great, glassful crash, screaming.

When he sat up, stunned by the destruction, an unbroken flask spun on the stone.

Marty whimpered.

Chapter 14: Lucky Man

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The morning after his 21st birthday, Biff Tannen wakes up a millionaire on his grandma’s couch with a raging headache and the glossy cover of Gray’s Sports Almanac sticking to his face.

He winces at the passing ring-ring of the paperboy’s bike bell and groans when the paper rattles the screen door before thudding to the stairs.

Dogs start barking.

Someone lays on their car horn.

“Oh, give me a break!”

Biff stumbles to his feet, rips the door open—“Shut up!!”—and swipes up the newspaper.

Slows at the headline.

HILL VALLEY MAN WINS BIG AT RACES

Biff smirks.

“Cool.”

Chapter 15: Getting a Perm

Chapter Text

“Guys, I’m not doing it,” Marty said, backing away with his hands up. “Nuh uh.”

“Oh, come on, man!” Andy said, flipping his long, kinked mane. “It’s the style!”

“Every rock band’s doing it!” Mick said.

Marty stared at his bandmates, baffled that he was even slightly intimidated by such ridiculous hair.

“Yeah, well, this Pinhead isn’t,” Marty said, jabbing his thumb at his chest. “We’re not hair metal, you guys!”

“But we’d look so kick-ass!”

“Next, you’ll want me paint my face black and white!”

The other three Pinheads scoffed.

“Nah,” Steve said. “We could never pull that off.”

Chapter 16: Comic Convention

Chapter Text

When George came out to his table, he froze.

A tight sea of cosplayers, Klingons, and comic book collectors blanketed the convention floor with popcorn, blocks of fandom-themed fudge, and one-of-a-kind finds from Artist’s Alley.

He loved it.

Turning A Match Made in Space into a comic book might have been the best idea he’d ever had.

These were his people.
These were his fans!

He signed everything with a flourish, smiled big for the selfies, had a mound of presents next to him by the end of the day.

He felt whole. 
Fulfilled. 
Accepted.

“Book whatever cons you can!”

Chapter 17: A Spectacular Wreck

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Marty had witnessed a great many “spectacular wrecks” in his time-traveling escapades.

He watched the Hindenburg fall from the sky, dripping with fire.
He watched Challenger explode, Columbia combust.
He watched trains plunge into rivers,
racecars crumple like cans.

He watched the second plane hit.

He avoided the Titanic like he did the Black Plague,
but Britannic seemed safe.

Only thirty people died.

And only when Marty’s lifeboat was being sucked toward the giant, exposed, still-churning propellers did he remember how those thirty poor souls died.

Well, McFly, how’re you gonna get yourself out of this one?

“God damn it…”

Chapter 18: "Did you hit your head?"

Chapter Text

Deep in the forest, Marty’s head collided with a low branch, knocking him flat on his back.

Verne turned, watching him groan on the ground.

“Did you just hit your head?”

Marty propped himself up on his elbows, glaring incredulously.

“Did you just ask me that after watching me hit my head?”

“I guarantee that’s how all the D.B. Cooper nonsense started,” Jules deadpanned, passing them, “he hit his head.”

“Yeah, well, that’s definitely how all the time travel nonsense started!” Marty shouted after him.

“You’re not D.B. Cooper!”

“And you’re only here because your dad fell off a toilet!”

Chapter 19: Distant Relative

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“Doc?”

“What?”

Marty pointed his torch at his likeness painted on the ancient stone wall.

“That’s me.”

Doc tilted his head. “It does look like you.”

“How?” Marty whispered fretfully. “It’s 1955 BC! I don’t think puny little Irish runts were roaming around Ancient Egypt at the time!”

Doc wet his lips, waving his torch further down the wall. He didn’t have to go far to find his own likeness etched in the relief spanning the sandstone.

Marty’s eyes doubled.

“What the hell?”

“We’ve been here before.”

Marty raised an eyebrow. “But this is our first trip to BC.”

“Obviously, it isn’t.”

Chapter 20: McFly July

Chapter Text

Marty crossed his arms in my office doorway, giving me some kind of stink eye, like I cared.

I defiantly slurped the last of my frozen margarita at him.

“What’s up, buttercup?”

“Margaritas?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s my infinite office,” I said. “And it oddly curbs my weird, which means you get put into more plot than pain.”

“You still torture me in McFly July.”

“With what?” I flashed some sarcastic jazz hands. “Cozy story time?”

No Pines Marty slung his arm over Marty’s shoulder.

Marty glared at me. “Just tell me the Magical Reset Ice Cream is handy.”

“Uh…”

“Seriously?”

Chapter 21: Last Day at Hill Valley High

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It’s rainy, cold, and windy—June dressed up as April.

Not exactly “last day of school” weather. Not exactly “your future is bright” weather.

It feels a little unlucky. Like a cheat.

George eyes the rain rippling in the large puddle pooling along the sidewalk.

Everyone’s stampeding out the doors. His writing folio gets knocked to the ground.

Biff’s hand beats him to it.

George’s chest clenches reflexively, wholly unprepared when Biff extends it with a civil, “Hey.”

George tentatively accepts his folio from Biff.

“Hey. Thanks.”

Biff nods, then leaves. That was it.

George blinks. A smile threatens.

“Huh.”

Chapter 22: TV Marathon

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When Jennifer saw the tie Marty had picked out for his father’s birthday gift, she intervened, driving all the way to Peardale’s Suncoast for the complete 8-tape box set of The Honeymooners.

“Oh, no, Jen,” Marty groaned. “Don’t enable him.”

“It’s his birthday. He’s entitled to enablement.”

Little did Jennifer know that George would make them all sit down for an impromptu four-hour marathon as soon as he opened it.

“You’ll come back tomorrow, right?” he asked.

Marty put his arm around Jennifer’s shoulder with an exaggerated smile.

“Oh, we’ll be here. Right, Jen?”

Jennifer smiled stiffly. “You bet.”

“Great!”

Chapter 23: Fanfiction

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“Hey, butthead.”

Griff rolled his eyes at his grandfather’s voice. He put down his pita and spun around on his stool in the Café 80’s, ready to fire back when Biff chucked a spiral-bound notebook at him.

Griff’s eyes doubled.

“I’m gonna assume, judging by that stupid look on your face, that this belongs to you.”

Griff scoffed, tossing the tattered red notebook onto the bar dismissively. “You’re out of your mind, old man.”

Jaws?” Biff pressed. “Really?”

“Shut up.”

“They all end the same way!”

Griff picked up his pita, growling under his breath.

“Yeah, well…not in my version…”

Chapter 24: School Night

Chapter Text

It’s a weird afternoon.

Once the authorities show up at the train tracks, Marty takes Jennifer home, promising her they’ll throw a couple of sleeping bags in the back soon.

Then, he drives home—home to a whole family full of bacon, buttered waffles, and breakfast breads that still bicker but more affectionately.

“Marty, you sure you don’t wanna play a round of Boggle?” his dad asked after dinner.

“Ah, no, I’m gonna…get to bed.”

Linda glanced at the clock. “At 7:10?”

“Yeah, it’s been a…long weekend. And it’s a school night, so…”

“Well, alright,” Lorraine said. “Goodnight!”

“…Goodnight.”

Chapter 25: George's Notepad

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“Lorraine, have you seen my notepad?”

“Which one?”

“The black one with the leather cover?”

Lorraine, who is standing in the middle of George’s office down the hall, frowns at the piles of black leather-bound notebooks scattered all over the room.

What’s more, they’re all opened—lying upside down, pens between pages.

She shakes her head when George comes in.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Writing.”

Lorraine raises her eyebrows. She has never understood all this chaos.

George lunged forward, plucked up his current notebook from under two identical ones, and kissed Lorraine on the head.

“Thanks, babe!”

“…Anytime!”

Chapter 26: The Ripple Effect

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“I know it’s Thanksgiving Break and all,” Marty said, “But don’t you have a paper to write?”

“Already wrote it,” Junior said without breaking eye contact with the TV.

Marty didn’t buy it.

“You already wrote your science paper?”

“What science paper? I wrote about the ripple effect.”

Marty stared at him. Junior sighed and raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a film studies paper, Dad. I had to write about an iconic movie scene? I picked the T-Rex sequence in Jurassic Park. With the little cup?”

“…You’re taking film studies?”

Junior tensed. “Yes, I am!”

“And you didn’t pick Terminator?”

"No!"

Chapter 27: A Different Jennifer

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This is No Pines Jennifer?” Marty asked.

No Pines flashed his eyebrows and swung his arm over her shoulder—and was immediately slapped. Hard.

“Don’t touch me.”

No Pines Marty cupped his burning cheek with a hiss, forcing laughter against more pain than he expected.

“She’s hot, right?”

Marty blinked. She looked just like his Jennifer—soft, smart, kind.

“You’re not…” He gestured between her and No Pines. “You’re not with him, are you?”

“Never.”

No Pines smirked. “Playing hard-to-get.”

“Do I look like I’m playing?” No Pines Jennifer asked.

“You look like you want me—“

“To go away!”

Chapter 28: Vanity Plate

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They did it.

The Pinheads saved up enough to get a van for their equipment.

(AKA Doc Brown sold them his step van cheap.)

“We need a license plate, dude,” Andy said. “For the band.”

“Yeah, people gotta know it’s us,” Steve said.

They came up with a list:

4PNHDZ
R0K0UT
TIME2RCK
SDAEHNIP

“Mick, that’s stupid.”
“No one even knows what that says.”

2DRNLOUD
HIBISCUS

“Hibiscus?”

PINWHEELS

Pinwheels?

“Mick, that’s—“

“Genius!” Marty laughed. “It’s actually perfect!”

Mick perked up.

“Yeah, dude! We could even, like, tie a pinwheel to the antenna—“

“No.”
No.”
“Quit while you’re ahead, dude.”

Chapter 29: "Don't nobody go nowhere."

Chapter Text

The night before Black Tuesday, Marty slipped into a speakeasy off Wall Street, careful to avoid eye contact with the cigarette girls and mobsters.

According to Doc, Mugsy Tannen came all the way from Chicago for the crash he shouldn’t have known was about to happen. So, Marty was coming for him.

He blinked as the band’s frontman sat beside him.

Marty‘s eyes grew.
This was his contact?

“Your name wouldn’t happen to be Berry, would it?”

“It is. Thought we said no names, though?”

Marty chuckled.

You got stuff on Tannen?”

“Boy, I got all the stuff on Tannen.”

Chapter 30: Movie Poster

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They did a Secret Santa exchange one year with one rule: no time traveling to acquire gifts.

Doc gave it no nevermind until he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he had given a present to someone without using his time machine to acquire it.

And he got Marty this year.

His friend deserved something special.

Something personal—a laugh just for them.

Marty unwrapped the long tube, spun the paper inside tight, slid it out, and unrolled it.

TARANTULA!

Linda made a face. Marlene cringed. George gasped.

Marty laughed.

He smiled across the room at Doc.

“Good one.”

Chapter 31: Marlene's Dream

Chapter Text

The sweet song of bluebirds and scent of freesias coaxed Marlene from her slumber, and the weight of the mid-morning sunlight was swept from her face by the fragrant breeze.

She blinked up at her porch roof. Furrowed her brow.

Carefully gripped the porch swing as it swayed beneath her.

“What the hell?”

Jennifer came outside then. A sigh of relief rushed out of her.

“There you are!”

Marlene slowly sat up. “Mom. I just had the weirdest dream. You were there—twice.”

“Hm, yeah,” Jennifer deadpanned, tucking Marlene’s hair behind her ear. “That happens.”

“…What happens?”

“How about breakfast?”

Chapter 32: Broadway Musical

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Chapter 33: Rooftop View

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Typically, Emmett would join in when they were short an outfielder.

Ollie got a day pass at the last minute, and Millard was a musician, not an athlete.

“You can still join us,” Winters said to Emmett’s assistant. “You can play the National Anthem before the first pitch!”

Millard pushed his glasses up his face.
“On the clarinet?”

But Trinity was set for next week. How they had time for baseball, Emmett didn’t know.

He watched the barracks’ roof as he thought.
Watched them coax Millard into the game eventually.

And wouldn’t you know it—the kid got a hit.

Chapter 34: Biff's Garage

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Those hours spent locked in Biff’s garage were strange.

Marty spent the first stretch of time hunkered down on the floor in the back of the car with the blanket in his fist, ready to throw it over his head, hands shaking.

Then he got a cramp, got out and stretched.

Paced.

Breathed.

And then, for a time, he was blessedly distracted by the things on the walls and on the workbench, smirking at stuff he’d seen in his own grandparents’ garages.

His stomach was still knotted tight, waiting for Doc.

But, for a little while, his heart didn’t hammer.

Chapter 35: Inheritance

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“Whoa, Dad. I didn’t know you had a gun.”

George chuckled, looking up at Marty in the garage’s doorway. His five-year-old son trotted up to his side, standing on tiptoes to see the shotgun he had disassembled on the workbench.

“It’s more of an heirloom,” George said as he continued to clean it. “I don’t even know if it still fires.”

“It looks really old.”

“It is. It belonged to my great-grandfather. He used to shoot rabbits with it.”

Marty made a face. “Rabbits? What about bad guys?”

“No, he was a farmer, not a lawman.”

“That’s boring.”

George laughed.

Chapter 36: Wake-up Juice

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Marty slowed as we passed the vending machine on the sixth floor. I groaned and spun around, half of my papers flying out of my arms.

“Yo! McFly! You have a date with a strappado! Vámonos!”

He pointed at the drinks.

“Wake-up Juice?”

“Yeah? So what?” I motioned around us. “Again—imaginary infinite office. Anything goes.”

“You know you’re basically encouraging people to show up to work drunk, right?”

“I am not,” I said, snatching up my papers. “I know things happen…and if anything, I’m promoting sobriety!”

Marty scoffed.

“Don’t sigh at me like you’re morally superior!”

“I probably am.”

Chapter 37: Kissing My Brother

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“Oh, please,” Lorraine begged, bouncing the baby in her arms. “Please stop crying.”

Joey couldn’t live in a playpen forever.

When her parents left, Lorraine tried to let him out to explore, thinking she could handle the fussing, but he always ended up right back in her arms, her hovering near the playpen guiltily, trying not to betray her intentions.

She hugged him close, still bouncing, kissing his hair, and laying her head on his with a teary sigh.

“Please…”

Moments later, Joey quieted in her arms.

Lorraine held her breath.

“Hiii,” Joey said.

Lorraine laughed. Sniffed.

“Hi, sweet boy.”

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