A/N: I shall admit now, I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, or episode. I went over it to many times trying to make it right. But I now leave it to you, deadr readers.
Kari strolled into the console room, her hair hanging over her shoulders and down her back and still slightly damp. "Where's Martha?" She asked, spotting the Doctor sitting down on the double chair by the console.
"Gone for a bath and then bed." The Doctor told her, as she plonked herself down beside him. "Nice bath?"
She nodded at him. "Oh yes, I definitely needed that. Been a really tough few days for me. Really didn't think I was going to make it through that at one point." Kari admitted, resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder without even realising it. "I'd just like a little time out to rest and not have to worry about saving anyone or fighting off a monster or stopping someone from trying to take over the universe."
The Doctor chuckled a little. "So, how about we just go and relax in the library for a while then?" He suggested.
"Nah, I'm okay right here for now, thanks." Kari said, snuggling up towards him a little more. The Doctor wasn't even sure she knew what she was doing, but he wasn't going to complain.
"Kari, did you want to go to bed? You don't have to stay here if you don't want to." The Doctor told her, noticing that she had closed her eyes now.
"Nope, like I said, I'm okay here." She managed to mumble. She really was happy to just stay there for a while, she was with the Doctor, it didn't really matter what room they were in. Kari just needed to be near him right now, to know that he was there. So much had happened in such a short space of time, and she didn't want to let it get to her too much.
All this stuff with Mr Saxon was bothering her, but she knew she couldn't tell the Doctor about it. She really did want to talk to someone about it, but the only other person who would understand is Jack. Without meaning to, she let out a sigh.
"What's the matter?" The Doctor asked her, having heard her clearly.
"Nothing. Just something that happened that is bothering me. But now isn't the time to talk about that." Kari told him, opening her eyes and lifting her head up a little. "You've got a while to go till that happens."
The Doctor looked at her sadly. "Spoilers?"
She nodded at him. "Yeah, stupid bloody spoilers." Kari mumbled. It was going to keep bothering her now until she had spoken to someone about, but even then, she wasn't sure it was going to do any good.
"Come on, bed time I think." The Doctor said, trying to push Kari away a little so that he could get up.
"No, I want to stay here." She moaned, wrapping her arms around him to stop him from going anywhere. "I slept a few days ago, I don't want to go to bed."
He couldn't help but let out a little chuckle. "You may have slept, but I haven't. And I know you don't want to be left on your own in case you get pulled somewhere else. So you get to come with me."
She let out another groan. "Can't you just sleep here? I'm comfortable, I don't want to move."
"No, now come on. Or am I going to have to carry you?" He asked, causing Kari to glance at his face. She knew that look, she had seen it before, and he really would carry her if she didn't move.
"Go on then. I'm not moving." She said, closing her eyes and willing herself to be too heavy for him to pick up.
Unfortunately, as with before, he was able to pick her up easily. Kari didn't even try to fight with him or struggle, everything that had happened really had wiped her out, even if she didn't want to admit to it. And the way her mind was working overtime really wasn't helping her.
"You going to get changed, or are you going to sleep like that?" The Doctor asked her, putting her down gently on the bed in his room.
"I've only just put this on. I am not getting changed again." She told him stubbornly. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a blue top.
The Doctor frowned at her. "You're going to bed dressed like that?" He asked her, taking off his jacket and trainers.
"Yes. Yes I am. Do you have a problem with that?" Kari asked him, still not willing to admit to her lack of energy. She wasn't ready to give in to the sleep that was trying to take her over, she wanted to spend more time with the Doctor.
"No, of course not. Now budge over." He said, coming over to the bed and pulling down the covers, making Kari have to move more than she really wanted to. "Right, now you can sleep as much as you want."
"Hmm, I'm not going to sleep." She mumbled, closing her eyes and shifting her body in the bed so that she was right up against the Doctor. "Now, shut up and go to sleep yourself."
He shook his head and wrapped his arms around the woman beside him. "Goodnight, Kari." He whispered, before kissing her forehead.
"Night, Theta." She whispered back to him, already starting to lose consciousness. The Doctor just smiled at the nickname she had called him, he always smiled when she called him that. He was happy that she was there, and that she was happy, and it made it even better that she had fallen asleep in his arms.
When Kari woke up, she found herself alone in the Doctor's bed. She stretched out her arms as she dragged herself into the land of the living. Her head was pounding, and she was feeling very disorientated and a little bit sick.
She shrugged it all off, getting herself out of the bed and shuffling to the console room, which she found empty.
"I've crushed your flowers." She head the Doctor saying, from outside of the blue box. A frown formed on her face, as she tried to work out who he was talking to.
"Oh, Amy will kill you." Kari recognised that voice, it was Rory Pond, husband to Amy and father of her best friend.
"Where is she?" The Doctor asked, as Kari made her way over to the door, curious as to what was going on.
"She'll need a little bit longer." Rory told him. "Where's Kari?"
The Doctor poked his head in the door, just as Kari made it there. "Here she is, my beautiful, brilliant Kari." He said, wrapping an arm around her waist and gently pulling her out of the TARDIS. "Whenever you're ready, Amy." The Doctor called out.
"Hey, Rory, how are you?" Kari said, letting Rory pull her away from the Doctor so that he could giver her a hug.
"I'm brilliant, what about you?" He asked her, beaming away.
Kari knew something was wrong, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. "Right now, I think I'm going to throw up. I really don't feel all that great right now." She admitted, trying to work out what was wrong.
Before he could say anything his wife came out of the cottage, waddling like a duck with a rather huge stomach. "Oh, way-hey!" The Doctor called as he spotted her. "You've swallowed a planet." He said, noticing the size of her.
"I'm pregnant." Amy told him, smiling away as she came over to the trio standing in her garden.
"You're huge." He noticed, taking a closer look at her swollen stomach.
"Yeah, I'm pregnant."
The Doctor didn't seem to be paying much attention, as he held onto Kari tightly. "Look at you. When worlds collide."
"Doctor, I'm pregnant." Amy said once more, as Kari managed to slip out of his hold and give Amy a hug.
"Oh, look at you both. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit. Apart from age, and size." The Doctor rambled, looking back at Amy again as her and Kari ended their embrace.
"Oh, it's good to see you, Doctor." Amy said, when he finally gave her a hug.
"Are you pregnant?" He asked, finally realising.
Amy and Kari both shook their heads at him. "Yes, Doctor. Amy is pregnant. She's going to have a baby." Kari told him, before getting a little dizzy. "Oh, I really am not feeling too good today. I swear I'm going to be sick." She mumbled, as the Doctor held onto her tightly.
"Hey, come on. It will pass. You've been suffering from it rather badly, and I wish there was something I could do to help, but I can't." The Doctor told her, holding her tightly.
"Amy, can I please use your bathroom, I really think I'm going to be sick." Kari said, clutching her stomach and really trying to overcome the sickness she was feeling.
The next thing she knew, Rory was at her side. "Come on, I'll take you." He said, leading her into the house. "You going to be all right?" He asked her, as they stopped at the bathroom door.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just give me a few minutes and I'll be absolutely perfect." She said, before shooting into the bathroom and becoming more aquatinted with the toilet.
Rory decided the best thing to do was to just leave her to it, he knew how bad it was when a woman was throwing up after having to deal with his wife's morning sickness. "Doctor, is Kari okay?" He asked, finding him in the kitchen with his wife.
The Doctor let out a sigh. "She'll be fine. There's something we have to tell you both, but I best wait till she is back." Amy and Rory just looked at each other, both of them trying to work out what was going on.
They made small talk until they heard someone coming down the stairs and a minute later Kari appeared. "Sorry about that. I'm all over the place recently. A little unsure why." There was a worried look on her face, like she was forgetting something important.
"So, what was it you wanted to tell us, Doctor?" Amy asked him, putting her finger in the bowl of icing and licking it off.
Kari looked at him in confusion. "Yeah, what is it we want to tell them, Doctor?"
He frowned at her. "You know… about the… well the…" Kari just shrugged at him, she had no idea what he was talking about. "It really is effecting you badly isn't it?" The Doctor asked her, the worry seeping through in his voice.
"Doctor, I really have no idea what you are talking about. Right now, I can't even remember what happened yesterday. I remember going to bed, I remember waking up on my own, and then here we are." Kari told him, not really sure what had happened. Her mind just seemed a blank, like everything was being rewritten as she thought about it, and she knew that wasn't right.
He took Kari by the hand and led her out of the door, away from Amy and Rory. "Kari, is it really that bad that you don't remember anything recently?" He asked her. Now he sounded hurt as well as worried.
"I'm sorry. I just… I know I don't feel all that great right now, and I know my memory is messed up. Doctor, I have no idea what is going on." She told him truthfully.
The Doctor pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "Kari, you're pregnant." He whispered to her.
Straight away she pulled away and stared at him with wide eyes. "Excuse me? I'm what? Did you just say I was…" Kari shook her head. "But that's not possible. I mean, we haven't… you know, we…"
The man in front of her let out a sigh. "Sometimes the hormones play tricks on you, making you forget little things or feel things that aren't there. It usually isn't too bad, but for you, well, it seems to be a lot worse than I ever expected." He told her softly.
"How… how many times have you had to tell me now? Because you didn't seem that surprised that I had forgotten." Kari asked him. She didn't know what the hell was going on, but he felt like she was missing something so important. Kari wondered how she could be pregnant and not know a thing about it.
He nodded at her. "This would be the fifth. It's usually when we're outside of the TARDIS that you forget. We've been staying in a little more since we found out."
"Doctor, I am so sorry for acting like this. I really am." Kari said, reaching up and putting her arms around him. "I don't know how I keep forgetting, and I know you've already told me, but still, I shouldn't forget something like this." There was something scratching away at the back of her mind, trying to tell her something, but she just couldn't work it out.
"Oh, Kari, it's okay. It is not your fault. Now, shall we go and tell the Ponds the good new?" He asked, kissing the top of her head and getting her to smile. She nodded and they made their way back into the kitchen.
"Sorry, again." Kari said, entering the room with the Doctor holding her waist. "I seem to be suffering from more than just morning sickness. All part of being a Time Lady, I guess." She told them casually, waiting to see their reaction.
At first they were shocked, but it suddenly changed into happy smiles all round, and Amy and Rory both congratulated the couple. Even though everyone was happy, she was still suspicious, and couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
"How about we go and get some nice, fresh air?" The Doctor suggested, wanting to go off out and explore where he Ponds lived.
It didn't take too long for Amy and Rory to get their coats on. Amy let Kari borrow one of hers, since the Doctor kept fussing over her and checking that she really was all right. They were a little shocked at the revelation, but knew that it explained the way that Kari was behaving.
"Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever." The Doctor said, as the four of them walked down the empty road.
"It's Upper Leadworth, actually." Rory corrected him. "We've gone slightly upmarket."
"Uh, where is everyone?" Kari asked, noticing that it was, well, empty everywhere. There was so much that was bothering her, and she knew that something was wrong. How could the Ponds have been gone for five years? How could she not remember that? How many adventures with the Doctor was she missing? They way he was acting with her, and with her being pregnant, she knew their relationship had seriously changed.
"This is busy." Amy said, getting a pair of raised eyebrows from Kari. "Okay, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people live well into the nineties."
"Well, don't let that get you down." The Doctor told her, without really thinking about it.
"It's not getting me down." Amy said, as she sat down on the bench. The Doctor sat beside her, tugging at Kari's waist and making her sit on his lap. Rory was left with the spot on the end.
"Well, I wanted to see how you were. You know us, we don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord and Lady's for life. You don't get rid of your old pals the Doctor and Kari so easily." The Doctor rambled.
But Amy knew the Doctor better and didn't quite believe him so easily. "You came here by mistake didn't you?" She asked, looking at the Doctor and then to Kari, who simply nodded her response.
"Yeah, bit of a mistake. But look, what a result. Look at this bench. What a nice bench. What will they think of next?" He asked, really not knowing what else to say. "So, what do you do around here to stave off the, you know…"
"Boredom?" Amy said, looking at the Doctor while he opted to suggest self-harm.
"We relax." Rory told them, seemingly enjoying just sitting on the bench. "We live. We listen to the birds."
"Yeah, see? Birds." Amy said, making all of them listen to the birds chirping away in the background. "Those are nice."
"We didn't get much time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days, did we?" Rory asked, and the sound of the birds started getting louder and louder.
Kari rubbed her head at exactly the same time that the Doctor rubbed his. "Oh, blimey, my head's a bit… ooh. Er, no, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good old…" The next thing, they had all fallen asleep, and the Doctor's eyes suddenly snapped open as he lay on the TARDIS floor. "… days. What?" He said, looking around and trying to work out what had happened.
Amy and Rory walked into the console room, both of them checking themselves over, looking for things, things that weren't there. "No, yes, sorry what?" He carried on rambling. "Oh, you're okay. Oh, thank God." The Doctor said. "I had a terrible nightmare about you two. That was scary. Don't ask. You don't want to know. You're safe now." He quickly went and hugged Amy.
A moment later, Kari walked into the room as well, a very confused look on her face. "Uh, Doctor? What's going on?" She asked, slowly making her way down the stairs and trying not to stumble. Something still felt wrong as far as she was concerned.
The Doctor eyed her, before whipping out his sonic screwdriver and scanning her with it. He looked down at it, his face unreadable. "Nothing. It was nothing. You're all safe now. Everyone's safe. That's what counts." For some reason, Kari wasn't so quick to believe him. "Blimey. Never dropped off like that before. Well, never really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you." He rambled, walking around the console and getting a little annoyed. "Now, what's wrong with the console? Red flashing lights. I bet they mean something."
"Yes, they mean something's wrong." Kari said, trying to get her brain to work properly. There was a haze, and it wasn't going anywhere. "Doctor, I feel a little… off. I had this… dream."
"Er, Doctor. I also had a kind of dream… thing." Rory said, looking over at Amy.
"Yeah, so did I." The red head told them all.
"Not a nightmare, though, just… er, we were married." Rory assured her, while Kari watched from a distance. This who thing seemed familiar to her, but she just couldn't work it out.
"Yeah, in a little village." Amy said, her face showing more worry than it had before.
"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant." The moment Rory said that, the pair looked over at Kari, as did the Doctor.
She just stood there, trying to puller herself together and piece it all together. "We all had the same dream, didn't we?" She said, looking over at them all, her expression unreadable. "Where Amy and Rory were living in Upper Leadworth, Amy was pregnant. The Doctor crushed her flowers. We fell asleep on the bench."
"So we all had the same dream?" Rory asked. "Exactly the same dream?" Kari just nodded, not taking her eyes off the Doctor who was trying his best not to look at her. "How can we have the same dream? It doesn't make any sense."
That was when Amy approached the thing that was now bothering Kari. "And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?" She asked him.
"It was a bit similar, in some aspects." He said, still not able to look at Kari.
She let out a sigh. "Doctor, don't lie. You had the same dream, except you… you called it a nightmare." Kari whispered the last part, wondering what it was that had made it a nightmare for him. Was it the fact that Amy and Rory were living in a dull village and no longer in the TARDIS? Or was it her fault, because she was pregnant? She wanted the answer to that.
"Did I say nightmare? No, more of a really good… mare." He said, just not able to bring himself to look at her. "Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track or something. Forget it. We're back to reality now."
"You're lying, Doctor." Kari told him, closing her eyes as she heard the birds starting up again. "You're lying about so much. Because the birds are still singing, and if this was reality, we wouldn't be hearing birds singing in the TARDIS."
Clearly Rory and Amy had heard them as well. "Yeah, the same birds." Rory said. "The same ones we heard in the…" Everyone opened their eyes, and they were all still sitting on the bench in Upper Leadworth. "Dream. Oh, sorry. Nodded off. Stupid." Rory said, sitting himself upright. "God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS."
Kari pushed herself away from the Doctor. "We all had the same dream, and we were just saying that it was a dream when we were in the TARDIS." She told them. Her emotions were running all over the place at the moment, and she hated it.
"Is this because of you?" Amy asked, going after the Doctor as he stood up from the bench. "Is this some Time Lordy thing because you've shown up again?"
"Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel." The Doctor told them, risking a glance at Kari. There were tears building in her eyes, and he was sure he understood why.
"But we're awake now." Rory protested.
Kari just let out a sigh as she blinked rapidly, trying to force the tears away. "Yeah, but you thought you were awake in the TARDIS as well." She told them all.
"Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which?" The Doctor said, keeping his eyes locked on Kari's. "Are we flashing forwards or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going to be a tricky one." He told them, before stepping over to Kari.
She took a step away from him. "What made it a nightmare?" She asked him, wrapping her arms around herself. "What made this the nightmare?"
Suddenly his face fell as he realised exactly what she was talking about. "Oh, Kari. No, no, that wasn't what I meant." He told her, still advancing on her. "No, that could never be a nightmare, you can't ever think that."
"Doctor, I don't know what the hell is going on, and usually, I'm pretty good with knowing things. Right now, nothing makes any sense." Kari told him, not letting him get close to her. "My instincts are tell me that something is wrong, with all of this. Not just here in Upper Leadworth, but back in the TARDIS as well." She said, just as the birds started singing as well.
The four of them once again woke up, this time, back in the TARDIS. "Oh, this is bad. I don't like this." The Doctor growled, kicking the console before letting out a small cry of pain. "Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case, always use force."
"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy asked, looking over at the Doctor.
Kari had moved and was now standing beside him. "No, he threw it in a supernova, because he disagreed with it." She said, a confused look on her face. "And no Rory, we don't know if we are dreaming of the future, but I am confident that it isn't the TARDIS causing it." The Doctor looked at her with wide eyes.
"How did you know I was going to ask that?" Rory replied, looking at her in shock as well.
That was when Kari realised what she had said. "I… I don't know. Ever since all of this started, I've had the strangest feeling. It's like I know what's going to happen, but I just can't remember it." She let out a sigh. "If I could remember, we could sort this all out. Amy thinks this is real, Rory thinks Leadworth is real, and I… I don't think either of them are."
"Kari, we will work this out. I promise you." The Doctor told her, grabbing hold of her before she had the chance to get away from him.
"What one do you want to be real, Doctor? Do you want Leadworth to be real, or this one?" Kari whispered to him, not even trying to fight against his hold.
"I don't care. As long as I have you there, I don't care what one is real." He whispered to her, before getting back on track with everything else. "Now, I told you, trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for the details that don't ring true." He said, mainly to Amy and Rory.
"Okay, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside." Rory commented.
"With a bow tie wearing alien and a psychic alien." Amy added, making Kari frown at her for what she had called her.
"So maybe what rings true isn't so simple." Kari said, at the exact same time as Rory did.
"Valid point." The Doctor decided, before all the lights in the TARDIS went out, leaving the glow from the time rotor to help them all to see. "It's dead. We're in a dead time machine." The Doctor said, reaching out for Kari. That was when the birds started singing once more. "Remember, this is real. But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels." He said, as Rory held onto Amy tightly.
"It is real. I know it's real." She replied, clinging onto her fiancé.
The next thing they knew, they were outside of the library, back in Leadworth once more. "Okay, this is the real one. Definitely this one. It's all solid." Amy said, feeling her baby bump.
The Doctor walked around a little, Kari beside him and chewing on her bottom lip a little. "It felt solid in the TARDIS too. You can't spot a dream while you're having it." The Doctor replied, before waving his hand around in front of his face.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked him, getting up from the bench with Amy.
"He's, uh, looking for motion blur, pixilation." Kari said, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"It could be a computer simulation." The Doctor said, watching Kari closely. He was very worried about her, and he wasn't sure of what he should be doing to help her.
"It's not." Kari said, before her eyes widened. "And Rory's a doctor." She mumbled, just as an elderly lady walked passed, saying hello to Rory, calling him the doctor.
Rory just smiled a little as the lady carried on. "Yeah, and unlike the Doctor, I've actually passed some exams." He said, sounding rather proud of himself. Well, it was a big deal to study and pass all those exams to become a doctor.
"A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed. How interesting." The Doctor said, taking Kari's hand and starting to walk down the street with her.
"What is?" Rory asked, following them with Amy at his side.
The Doctor and Kari both stopped, turning and facing the pair. "Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby, Maybe this is your dream." He told them.
"It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it Amy?" The new doctor asked his pregnant wife.
"Yes. Course it is, yeah." She answered, a little too quickly and with a little too much laughter. Kari had a feeling that she wasn't exactly telling the truth.
"Look, enough of this." Kari said, getting them all to shut up. "None of this makes sense, and…" She bit her lip again, looking over to the old peoples home.
The Doctor frowned at her. "Kari, what is it?"
She let out a sigh. "The old folks home. People live well into their nineties here. Now that doesn't make sense. Let's go poke it with a stick." Kari said, before frowning at the Doctor. "You were going to say that, weren't you?" He nodded at her, before gripping her hand tighter and charging off to the old peoples home.
"Oh, can we not do the running thing?" Amy moaned, struggling to run to keep up with the pair.
When they made it inside of the old peoples home, the residents continued to call Rory a doctor. "Hello, Mrs Poggit." Rory said to one of the ladies. "How's your hip?" He asked.
"A bit stiff." The woman replied. Kari frowned at her, there was something wrong with the woman, she just knew there was.
"Oh, easy, D-96 compound…" The Doctor started, before getting elbowed in the side by Kari. "No, you don't have that yet. Forget that." He said quickly covering up his mistake.
"Who's your friend?" The old lady asked, nodding towards the Doctor. "A junior doctor?"
"Yes." Rory said, a little smugly as well, which made Kari giggle a little.
"Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson." She said, forcing the sweater on him that she had been knitting.
"Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out." He said before looking straight into her eyes. "You're incredible old, aren't you?"
"Back to the TARDIS." Kari mumbled, hearing the birds starting to sing once more.
A/N: So, what did you guys think, honestly? I'm happier with the check chapter if I'm honest, but your views are appreciated.
Thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed, welcome aboard! And a massive thank you to all who have taken the time to review, please keep them coming.
Pippa.