She woke up screaming, but she expected that. What she didn't expect was to wake up on the ground and in the Doctor's arms. She also didn't expect him to wake up with enough time before her to cradle her head into his chest to muffle her screams.
Clearing her throat after she's stopped screaming, Rose slowly lifts her head to look at the Doctor. "Thanks."
"Do you really like my bowtie?"
"Shut up," Rose reprimands with a smile and a roll of her eyes, and then herself, and got up off the ground. "Yes, I do." Offering her hand, she pulled the Doctor up, but he doesn't let go of her hand once he's upright.
Behind Rose, bells were tolling from some far off building out of sight, and school children were walking by. The Doctor started to walk around, looking around, whistling, and dragging Rose along in tow. Amy and Rory are sat together on a bench, also looking around as Amy rubbed her stomach.
"Okay, this is the real one. Definitely this one. It's all solid," Amy determined as Rory helped her up off the bench.
"Yeah, but it felt just as solid in the TARDIS as it does here. And every time we're here, you're entirely convinced it's real, and every time we're there, you're entire convinced that's real." Rose said, and the Doctor turned to give her a proud smile.
"Exactly. And you can't spot a dream when you're having it-"
"Unless it's lucid-"
"Yes lucid, but this isn't." With the Doctor's free hand, he started waving it about in front of his face.
"Right, I've seen that before. What are you looking for?" Rose asked, trying not to remember the Doctor making similar motions at Canary Wharf, and then again at Pete's world's Torchwood, oh so long ago. But she didn't want to think of that now. Or ever.
"Motion blur, pixilation." He put his hand down. "It could be a computer simulation." The Doctor dropped Rose's hand and grabbed Rory's face, pinching his cheeks and stretching them out before letting them go, looking slightly disappointed. "I don't think so, though."
An old lady started to pass by the group, stopping for a moment to address Rory. "Hello, Doctor."
In response, Rory and the Doctor both smiled and said their hellos. Amy and Rose both pinched their lips into firm lines as they looked at each other to stop themselves from giggling at the Doctor's, yet again, disappointed, if not offended, face as he starred down Rory.
"You're a doctor?"
"Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams."
At that, Rose finally did laugh. The Doctor looked at her, wounded, before walking away and continuing what Rory took as partly an assault.
"A doctor, not a nurse, just like you've always dreamed. How interesting."
"What is?" Rory asked, trying to keep his voice level and calm as the group begin to follow the Doctor.
"Well, your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby." He turned around, the group stopping mid step, and he walked right up to Rory. "Maybe this is your dream."
"It's Amy's dream, too. Isn't it, Amy?" Rory didn't sound entirely confident, but still very much so.
"Yes, of course it is." Amy sounded even less confident; more uncomfortable, if anything, as she laughed awkwardly.
"Could be your dream, too," Rose nodded to the Doctor, letting the attention fall on her and away from a very grateful Amy.
"Maybe it's yours?" Rory offered.
"Can't be, she doesn't know the two of you, or this face."
"This face?" Amy asked, confused and even more uncomfortable. She rubbed her stomach in comfort.
"Long story, doesn't matter. Point is, it can't be her dream."
"But it could be yours." Rory starred down the Doctor. "You know us, you know her, you probably want her here. I've heard that name before, Rose Tyler-"
"Yeah, me too." Amy's brows knitted together as she tried to remember where she'd heard that name before.
"Oh, you know me, I talk about my old companions all the time-"
"No, you don't," Amy and Rory said in unison.
"That is not true, I mentioned Sarah Jane-" The Doctor offered to Rose.
"After we met her." She inhaled sharply through her nose as she thought. "Although when I first came back, that Martha Jones seemed to know just about exactly who I was. And Donna."
"So, you only ever mention her?" Amy wasn't sure if she should be offended or curious. What could be so special or different about this one woman, that the Doctor would only ever talk about her, but no one else? And where had she heard her name? Would the Doctor ever mention her and Rory? Had he ever mentioned them? When they had all first figured out they were in a dream, Amy had to introduce herself and Rory since the Doctor didn't do so, himself. Which usually, he did.
"What's that?" the Doctor asked as he thrusted his thumb over his shoulder to point at a small building. If this was all just a dream, eventually he'd wake up and Rose would be gone. She always was. He didn't want to dwell on that now and planned to run away and avoid any and all conversations and mentions of Rose once everyone had woken up. Especially since he, in fact, knew exactly when he had mentioned Rose to Amy and Rory.
Amy looked behind the Doctor, then back at him with a dribbled-on-your-shirt look. "Old people's home."
They all turned to look at the building. There was a sign in the front, surrounded by some plant life that said, "Sarn Residential Care Home." Behind the sign lay a big window, and behind that big window sat an old man who was starring out at the group. He did not look happy, nor curious; in fact, it was difficult to place any actual emotion on his face. Looking around at some more windows, there were other elderly patrons staring out at the group with facial expressions too hard to place other than "eery," which wasn't much of an emotion to start with.
"You said everyone here lives to their nineties. There's something that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick." Rose could practically hear the smile in the Doctor's voice.
Immediately, the Doctor took off running and Rory rushed to keep up. Rose got ready to chase after them, but as Amy started moaning and whining out, she tensed up and turned to her, trying to make sure she was alright. If she was having contractions, or possibly even going into labor, she would need at least one person on hand.
"Can we not do the running thing?" Amy called out exasperatedly. She put her hands on her hips, and arched her back, which caused her protruding stomach to show off even more.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Rose began to laugh. "Blimey, you had me scared there for a second. Thought another contraction was coming on."
Amy smiled at her. "No, I'm alright. Thanks for staying behind, though. 'Preciate it. I could have a baby hanging out right between my legs and those two idiots wouldn't even notice."
Rose laughed even harder. "One time, the Doctor moved the TARDIS while my mum was onboard. Got all in my face all excited how impressively sciencey he thought he was being. Didn't even notice my mum until I told him. She threatened to kill him if we ended up on Mars or should've seen his face." Amy noticed the way Rose's face faltered every time she mentioned her mother, but she didn't say anything about it.
"For a genius, he's a complete idiot most of the time."
"Can't disagree with you there. Now, c'mon." Rose put her hand on Amy's back to help push her along. "Let's catch up to our idiots."
Amy smiled, thankful for Rose helping her along, and glad to hear her call the Doctor and Rory 'our idiots.'
"Y'know, I think I might be starting to like you," Amy decided aloud.
"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself."
"Oh, I know." And together the girls laughed at they made their way into the old people's home.
By the time the two women made their way into the Sarn's sitting room, one of the old ladies had asked the Doctor if he could 'borrow' him.
"You're the size of my grandson," She had told him, trying to find the hem of the jumper she was knitting.
"Ah, slightly keen to move on." The Doctor hesitated as he slipped the unfinished garment on, dropping to his knees. "Freak psychic schism disorder." Once it was on, the Doctor placed both hands on either side of the woman's chair and leaned close into her face. He stared at her for a moment before speaking. "You're incredibly old, aren't you?"
"Doctor, rude." Rose chastised him, holding back the urge to smack him in the chest- a habit she picked up long, long ago.
Everyone failed to notice all the elderly turning their heads and sitting up straight to stare down the four companions. However, none of them missed the sounds of the birds.
They all woke up in the TARDIS, leaning against the console.
"Okay, I hate this, Doctor," Amy whined. "Stop it. Because this is definitely real. It's definitely this one."
"You keep saying that," Rose said, sounding rather sad. "Every time we wake up."
"It's bloody cold." Rory shivered.
"The heating's off!" the Doctor called out from somewhere about the TARDIS.
"The heating's off," Rory repeated, blandly.
"Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do," the Doctor replied, coming back into view.
"Yeah, sorry about Mrs. Poggit. She's so lovely though."
The Doctor was crouched down, out of sight, until he looked through a hole in the banister wall and gave a slow, cryptic response while eying Rory. "I won't believe her nice old lady act, if I were you."
"What do you mean, act?" Amy stepped forwards.
"Everything's off," Came the Doctor's response as he stood up. "Sensors, core power, we're drifting." He started making his was back down the staircase and towards the console. "The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere."
"And that's the problem," Rose chimed in, not entirely sure how she came to the conclusion but somehow knowing it was an important thing to consider. But she spoke low and only to herself, as the Doctor continued his rant, raising his voice to an accusing shout.
"Someone — something is overriding my," He flared his arms about for a moment before lowering his voice. "Controls!"
"Well, that took a while," said a small, little man who appeared at the top of the stairs. He was dressed like the Doctor as if he was mocking him. Everyone turned to look at him. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things." He smiled then dropped his face as he made his way down the stairs. "Last of the Time Lords. The Young Coming Storm." He mocked. "Him and the bowtie." The man laughed and smiled, as if he was so clever, stepping up to face the Doctor.
"How did you get into my TARDIS?" The Doctor tried to keep his voice low and level as the man walked about the console. "What are you?"
"What should we call me?" the man retorted with a click of his tongue. "Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord."
The Doctor nodded to the Dream Lord, looking him up and down, considering him. "Nice look."
"This?" The Dream Lord now looked himself down and up. "No, I'm not convinced. Bowties," he scoffed, with a face of disgust and disapproval.
The Doctor reached into his pocket, pulling out a ball and throwing it at the Dream Lord. It went right through him, like a projection.
"Interesting," the Doctor mused.
Amy and Rory shared a nervous look, but Rose, with her features still schooled, kept her eyes on the Dream Lord.
"I'd love to be impressed but, um, Dream Lord — it's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there." And then the Dream Lord disappeared, only to reappear behind the group. "And yet very much here. Although," he looked to Rose, "I'm not entirely convinced that I'm the most impressive thing here."
Rose tightened her jaw, but kept eye contact with the Dream Lord. There were a number of things he could have been talking about. Or he could have just been trying to turn the others against her, or get the Doctor angry. She thought it safest to best on all of the above.
"I'll do the talking, thank you." The Doctor stared down the Dream Lord, stepping protectively, maybe even a little possessively, in front of Rose, putting one hand on the console, the other behind himself and by Rose's side. This forced the Dream Lord to meet the eye of the Time Lord and neither dared to look away. "Amy, want to take a guess at what that," he nodded to the Dream Lord. "Is?"
Amy stepped up next to the Doctor, getting closer to the Dream Lord, but still keeping her distance. "Um, Dream Lord, he creates dreams." Amy looked towards the Doctor to see if what she said was correct, and failed to notice the Dream Lord looking at her.
"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks," the Doctor added on.
"And what about the gooseberry here?" started the Dream Lord, referring to Rory. "Does he get a guess?"
"Uh, listen, mate, if anyone's the gooseberry around here, it's the Doctor."
Under any other circumstance, Rose and Amy may have laughed.
"Ah, well, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for," the Dream Lord said with a smug smile.
"No, he is. Isn't he, Amy?"
"Oh, Amy. You have to sort your man out."
"He doesn't need sorting out." Amy tried to sound as confident as she could, but her hesitancy was obvious.
Again, the Dream Lord disappeared and reappeared behind them. Rory jumped behind Amy, and Rose moved the Doctor's arm- that was now in front of her stomach, almost holding onto her hip- down to his side.
"I've seen your dreams." The Dream Lord said, looking at everyone in turn, ending with Amy. "Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face." Then he turned to Rose. "And you. Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?" he asked slowly.
"Yeah, 'cos I haven't heard that one about a million times over the years." Rose chortled, dryly.
"And how many years has it been?" the Dream Lord asked, narrowing his eyes. No one saw the flicks of gold swirl in Rose's eyes, except him.
Before Rose could respond, the Doctor brushed past her and walked up towards the Dream Lord. The gold is Rose's eyes dissipated. "Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?"
"Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground-"
"Am I?"
"If you had any more tawdry quirks, you could open up a tawdry quirk shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair," the Doctor, feeling entirely low about himself, started to look about but refused to meet anyone's eye, except Rose's. But only for a brief moment. "The clothes designed by a first year fashion student. I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are," The Dream Lord finished with a self satisfied grin. The Doctor could only nod in response. "Where was I?"
"Um," offered Rory. "You were—"
"I," the Dream Lord started as he disappeared and reappeared above the banister. "Know where I was.. So here's your challenge… two worlds. Here in the time machine and there— in the village that time forgot."
"Time forgot?" Rose asked, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
The Dream Lord ignored her and continued. That seemed to be happening to her a lot today. Was it always like this? She was certain it wasn't. "One is real, the other's.. fake."
"Or so you say," Rose mused, and this time the Doctor looked at her, but only for a moment. Once more, Rose wasn't sure where she was coming up with any of this, but she was.
Again, the Dream Lord ignored her. "And just to make it more interesting, you're to face in both worlds a deadly danger, but only one of the dangers is real." He smiled.
"Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep."
And once more, the birds.
"Oh, or are you waking up?" the Dream Lord asked.
"Shut up." Rose mumbled.
The Doctor tried to stay away, keeping his eye on the Dream Lord who started to walk away. But it was too late.