A/N: I'm really glad so many of you enjoyed the first part. Here's the second.
As she predicted, they ended up back in the TARDIS again. "Okay, I hate this, Doctor. Stop it, because this is definitely real. It's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?" She said, looking over at Rory.
"It's bloody cold." Rory commented, rubbing his arms, trying to warm himself up.
"The heating's off." The Doctor called, running up from under the console, a selection of different things in his hands.
"No it isn't." Kari whispered, getting the Doctor to look at her. "It's not a heating malfunction, it's something else. Why can't I remember?"
The Doctor was quickly standing in front of her, placing his hands on the sides of her face. "Whatever it is, Kari, we will work it out. I promise you."
She nodded at him. "I know, but it's annoying me. I should remember, I know I should. I know what's going to happen, so why can't I remember?"
"I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know." He whispered to her, before kissing the top of her head. "Everything's off. Sensors, core power. We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone, something is overriding my controls." He said, getting more and more frustrated.
"Well, that took a while." A short man in a bow tie and tweed jacket called, suddenly appearing right behind the Doctor. "Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm. Him in the bow tie."
The Doctor quickly put a protective arm around Kari, pulling her away from the man. "How did you get into our TARDIS? What are you?" The Doctor asked, not noticing the frown and confused look that Kari was giving the man.
The man just smiled at him smugly. "What shall we call me? Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord." Instantly something in Kari's mind clicked, and her frown was replaced with her wide eyes.
"Nice look." The Doctor said, looking at his outfit.
"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties?" He said, making Kari laugh before she threw a screwed up piece of paper at him. It went straight through him and he just glared at her. "Interesting. I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord. It's in the name, isn't it? Spooky. Not quite there." He said, before disappearing and reappearing behind them all. "And yet, very much here."
"I'll do the talking, thank you. Kari, want to take a guess?" The Doctor asked, finally looking over at her.
"Oh, I don't need to guess. Because now I know exactly what the hell is going on. The Dream Lord, with his dreams, delusions and his cheap tricks." She said, grinning madly. "Oh, it's all coming back to me now. Every single detail. I know who you are, I know what you're trying to do. I know what you will do."
"Well now, that's a delusion I'm not responsible for." The Dream Lord said, his face impossible to read.
"The only delusion is you thinking you can win this game, that there is a choice to be made. I know the truth, sweetie." A flicker of fear flashed across his face as Kari called him that. "Are you scared yet? Because you sure as hell should be."
He opened his mouth to speak, but the Doctor got there first. "Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" He asked him, holding Kari just that little bit tighter. He has seen her eyes starting to glow, and he knew she was getting close to loosing it. He didn't want that to happen.
"Me?" The Dream Lord asked, pretending to be shocked. "Oh, you're on shaky ground."
"Am I?"
The man smirked at him. "If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, 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." He said, completely going off track. "Where was I?"
"You were…" Rory started, only for the man to glare at him.
"I know where I was. So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here, in the time machine, and there, in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting, you're going to face, in both worlds, a deadly danger. But only one of the dangers is real. And no cheating, little Angel. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep." He called, as the birds started singing. "Oh, or are you waking up?" He asked, before all four of them fell to the ground asleep once more.
The next thing they knew, they were all waking up, in the same place they fell asleep. Except something was different, everyone was gone. "Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad." The Dream Lord said, walking into the room with an x-ray in his hands. "Look at this x-ray. Your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."
Kari couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, you're a fine one to talk." She managed to say, getting a glare from him.
"Now then, the prognosis is this." He said, totally ignoring Kari. "If you die in the dream, you wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?"
Rory was the only one that fell for it. "What happens?"
"You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality." The man spat at him. "You've got a world to chose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning." He said, before vanishing.
"Okay, I don't like him." Rory announced, letting out a breath of relief.
"Who is he?" Amy asked, looking from the Doctor and then to Kari.
The Doctor glanced at her, and she had to avoid his gaze. That just told him everything he needed to know. "I don't know. It's a big universe." But he knew that Kari did know, she knew who he was, and what he wanted.
"Why is he doing this?" The red head asked, trying to get at least something out of the Time Lord.
The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe because he has no physical form. That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel."
"Sorry, but we really need to leave, just like the old folk did." Kari said, rushing outside and making her way over to where the small playground was. She spotted the teacher, trying to get all of the children under control.
"Why would they leave?" Rory asked, as he finally managed to catch up with Amy in tow.
"Because they aren't who they say they are. Because they knew we are here. Because they know that I know." Kari told them, turning and giving them a huge grin. "I remember more now. I can't tell you, but you just have to trust me on this one. Okay?" The Doctor looked at her and nodded with a smile, of course he trusted her. "Now, back to Mrs Poggit and her nice old lady act."
The Doctor smiled at her some more. "One of my tawdry quirks. Sniffing out things that aren't what they seem. So, come on, let's think. The mechanics of this reality split we're stuck in. Time asleep exactly matches time in our dream world, unlike conventional dreams."
"And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time." Rory pointed out.
"Yes, sort of communal trance. Very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull!" The Doctor ended up shouting the last bit. "I'm slowing down, like you two have."
And right on cue, Amy bent over in pain, like Kari had anticipated. "Ow. Really. Ow!" The red head screamed, clutching her swollen stomach. "It's coming."
Both Rory and the Doctor decided now was a good time to panic. "Okay, you're a doctor, help her." The Doctor said, looking over at Rory.
Rory simply looked at him. "You're a doctor."
"It's okay, we're doctor." He replied, bending down, holding his hands out, as if the baby was going to pop right out and drop down.
"What do we do?" Rory asked in a panic.
Only Kari couldn't take it any longer and burst out laughing. "Amy, I'm sorry. I just…" She burst out laughing yet again. "Sorry, sorry. Give me a minute."
Amy just rolled her eyes at her. "Okay, it's not coming." She said, standing up straight now that Kari had ruined her little piece of drama.
"What?" The Doctor asked her, looking at her in confusion.
"This is my life now and it just turned you as white as a sheet, so don't you call it dull again, ever. Okay?" She asked him, letting her own anger flare a little.
"Sorry." The Doctor said, before turning his attention to Kari. "Hush, you." He said, grabbing her face gently and pressing his lips against hers. It worked, and her giggling stopped in an instant.
Amy and Kari sat down on the swings, while their boys stood beside them. "Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room." The Doctor said, his hand playing with the ring on Kari's finger.
"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby." Amy snapped back at him.
"No, no. The hormones seem real, but no. Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail?" The Doctor said, making Amy chuckled a little. "You hold him down, I'll cut it off?"
"This coming from the man in the bow tie?" Rory retorted.
"Oi, bow ties are cool, you hippie." Kari called over to him.
The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle at the way she always defended his bow tie. "Exactly, bow ties are cool. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter." He said, spotting her following the class of children. "What's she doing? What does she want?"
That was when they all heard the singing once again. "Oh, no. Here we go." Amy said, as they all started to drift off once more.
Then they were all back in the TARDIS once again. "It's really cold. Have you got any warm clothing?" Amy asked, bouncing up the stairs and to the console where the Doctor and Kari were standing.
"What does it matter if we're cold?" The Doctor said, before getting a smack on the back of the head from Kari.
"Rude and not ginger. That's all I'm going to say." She growled at him, giving him a glare as well.
"Sorry, sorry. There should be some stuff down there." He said, pointing to a section down a few of the steps. "Have a look."
"Time to make a kitcheny wind up thing?" Kari said, beaming away at the Doctor.
"Kitcheny wind up thing?" He questioned, charging down the stairs and rummaging through a metal box.
"Ah, you'll find out soon enough." She replied, still smiling at him.
"So, you know what's going on now?" The Doctor asked her, as he starting building his gizmo.
Kari nodded at him. "Yeah, I know where we're up to now. Slightly confused as to how I go here, there's a lot that I still can't remember and can't make sense of. But I know who he is, and I know that it won't take you long until you work it out as well."
"And what if you're wrong?" He asked her, actually shocking her slightly. "He's the Dream Lord, what if… what if he's playing with your memories, altering what you know?"
Kari didn't really know what to say. Of course, that had passed through her mind, but the more the time past, the more sure she was that she was right. "Okay, spoiler alert. It's not a heating malfunction, that is not why we are freezing. I'm pretty sure I already said that. And we have fourteen minutes."
"Fourteen minutes till what?" The Doctor asked her, not completely sure he knew what she was saying.
"Like I said, spoiler alert. You'll understand soon enough. We have fourteen minutes, Doctor." Kari told him, just as Rory and Amy reappeared. "Oh, and listen to Rory."
The Doctor frowned at her, before seeing the couple. "Ah, Rory wind." He said, passing him the hand whisk that was connected to a wire and something else. "Amy, could you attach this to the monitor please."
"I was promised amazing worlds. Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitcheny wind up thing." Rory moaned, making Kari smile and the Doctor look at her. She had just proved to him that she knew what was going on, or at least, she hoped she had.
"It's a generator. Get winding." The Doctor said, patting him on the shoulder. Only it wasn't enough and he had to tell him again.
"Why is the Dream Lord picking on you?" Amy asked, as she looked at the scanner. "Why us?" Suddenly the scanner came to life and they looked at the massive, fiery, blue ball that was outside of the doors to the TARDIS. "Where are we?"
"A star. A cold star." The Doctor said, not knowing if he should be excited or worried. He was a little bit of both already. "That's why we're freezing." He said, opening the doors, letting the freezing air in before closing them again. "It's not a heating malfunction, just like Kari said. We're drifting towards a cold sun. There's our deadly danger for this version of reality."
"So, this must be the dream then." Amy concluded. "There's no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn."
Kari just looked at her and smiled. "So is this one. It's just burning cold. And before you ask, The Doctor doesn't know everything. I mean, come on, I know more than he does."
Rory looked at her for a minute, before finding his voice. "Okay, this is something you haven't seen before. So does that mean this is the dream?" He asked.
"I don't know, but there it is, and I'd say we've got about fourteen minutes…" The Doctor trailed off as he looked over at Kari, a smug and satisfying grin on her face.
"Until we crash into it. But hey, we'll have frozen to death before then." She said, bouncing around the console. "Who knows, this might just be the battle we have to lose. Or not. What do I know? Oh, that's right, I know too much. And here he comes." Kari said, just as the Dream Lord appeared.
"Oh dear. Looks to me like someone had a little too much caffeine this morning. Every up has a down. Maybe you should take a little nap, darling." The Dream Lord snarled at Kari.
Suddenly her head started spinning, as the birds tweeted in her ears. The Doctor only just managed to catch her before she hit the glass floor of the TARDIS. "Kari? Kari, come on, wake up." The Doctor said, holding the sides of her face. "What have you done to her?" He growled, looking at the man standing there in the bow tie.
"She's having a nap." He replied, just as the tweeting started up for everyone else as well. "Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here." He said, before they all fell to the ground.
Kari let out a groan as she woke up. She realised how cold she was and forced her eyes to open. What she saw made all of the colour drain from her face. "No… no it can't… it just can't…" She whispered to herself, as she looked around the garden she was sitting in.
The night sky was above her, and she still had her laptop beside her. "No, please. It can't have just been a dream." She said, before jumping out of the chair she was in and charging into the house.
Everything looked the same, except something was wrong. Her dad was standing there, in the kitchen, looking at her with wide eyes. "Who the hell are you?" He shouted at her.
Her eyes widened. "It's… it's me. Karianne, your daughter." She told him, wondering why he didn't recognise her. She quickly glanced at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were the same dull brown that they had been before, and her hair was browner as well. She was human again, she wasn't Kari, she was Karianne.
"I don't have a daughter." He told her. "Get out! Get out of my house right now!" He bellowed, taking a step toward her.
Kari could feel the tears brimming in her eyes as she ran out the back door, yanking the gate at the side open and tearing off down the empty street. Her father didn't remember her, he didn't have a daughter, and now she had nowhere else to go.
She carried on running, ignoring the burning in her legs and her chest. It certainly felt different, being human once again. There were no twin hearts beating in her chest, no feeling of the Doctor in her head. Kari felt empty, even more so when she looked down at her left hand and saw the ring the Doctor gave her was missing.
In the end, she found herself by the water tower, at Cardiff Bay. A small smile formed on her face as she saw it standing there, fully intact and not a thing out of place. "Jack… he might be here. He might remember me." Kari mumbled to herself, before taking off once more and heading towards the tourist shop, where she knew the entrance would be.
When she got there, she found the door locked. After letting out a groan, she decided to force her way in, which didn't prove to be that difficult. Once in there, she smiled as she leaned over the desk, finding the button to open the door that led down to the secret base. Torchwood Three was up and running once more. All she could hope was that Jack was there and remembered her.
The metal cog door was rolling open just as she reached it, and standing there before her was none other than the man she was seeking out. Kari let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God, Jack. You're here, you're actually here."
The next thing she knew, he had pulled his gun out of its holster and was pointing it at her. "Who the hell are you and how did you get in here?" He spat at her.
Kari let out a groan. "Again? Seriously? You're pointing a gun at me, again?"
"I'm going to ask you again, who are you and how did you get in?" Jack asked her, only this time, there was a lot more threat in his tone.
She just looked at him and blinked. "You… you don't remember me, do you?" He carried on looking at her, his gun still aimed. Kari took a deep breath, readying herself for what she needed to say. "Captain Jack Harkness, ex-time agent, turned con man, turned leader of Torchwood Three. Travelled with the Doctor, became immortal, pretty much. You can't die, but you still age. You first met the Doctor in 1941, where you were trying to con him with a Chula ambulance, which was not empty but full to the brim with nanogenes. The Doctor abandoned you on Satellite Five after saving the universe from the Daleks once more. The next time you found him, using his spare hand, he had regenerated. You went to the year one hundred trillion and met Martha Jones. You also met the Master, and spent a year being constantly killed and tortured by him." She said, pausing to take a breath. "Need me to carry on?"
Jack just blinked at her, processing everything that she had just said. "Who the hell are you? How do you know so much?" Kari knew he was freaked out, he had been the last time she had told him what she knew, but that had only been a small amount, nothing like what she had just said.
"Kari, my name is Kari. I used to be Karianne Conner, but I no longer exist, or I've never existed."
"I don't believe you." Jack spat at her, holding his gun a little tighter.
She closed her eyes, trying her best to ignore the tears that were now streaming down her face. "The Doctor's gone, my father doesn't know me, and you can't remember me either." Kari whispered. "You know, the first time we met, you were pointing a gun at me, the same gun. Funny really."
"I have never met you before in my life. And trust me, it's been a long one." Jack told her, still being very hostile towards her.
"I know, Jack. You've lost so many people. You've lost Owen, and Tosh, and… Ianto. Oh, Ianto always made the best coffee in the universe." She said, before letting out a small chuckle. "And he was always wearing a suit."
"How… how do you know that?" The man asked her, his voice wavering slightly, and his aim dropping just a tiny amount.
Kari let out a sigh. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you. I never met the Doctor, so I never met you. It was all just a stupid dream." She said, before completely breaking down. "And now I have nothing. I don't have the Doctor, or my dad. I don't have Rose, or Mickey or even Jackie. I've lost Sarah Jane, Martha and my loud mouthed Donna Noble. All my friends have gone, I have no Amy or Rory, no Melody Pond. Just me, alone."
"You're… you're telling the truth, aren't you?" Jack said, finally lowering his gun completely. "You really do know the Doctor, and his companions. You know me as well, don't you?" He asked her.
Kari just nodded a little, finally giving in and letting her legs give way beneath her. "But not any more. Now I have nothing. The Doctor was everything to me, everything. Without him, what's the point anymore?" She had now completely given up, all her hope had faded and her energy was simply draining from her now.
"Hey, we can find him. If you want the Doctor, then I know we can find him." Jack said, crouching down on the floor and dropping an arm over her shoulder.
She just shook her head at him. "We can't. He won't remember me, I'm not the person that he wants. I'm just Karianne Conner, a simple human from Cardiff."
Jack was at a loss of what to do. He could tell she wasn't acting, that everything she had said to him had been the truth. And there was something inside of him, something telling him to help her, to do something to make her smile. "Something must have happened. The Doctor never forgets any one, not ever. And why would I forget a pretty thing like you?"
Kari couldn't help but let a small laugh slip out. "You called me that before, when we first met. But you had a nickname for me as well, something that only you were allowed to call me." She told him, trying so hard to pull herself together. Her whole world was just falling apart around her, and she couldn't stop it.
"And what was it? What did I always used to call you, Kari?" Jack asked her softly as he carried on trying to work out what to do.
"Princess. I was always your princess. You were like a big brother to me, Jack, a really overprotective one at that." She said, looking up at him. He was still the same man, the same Jack she had spent so much time with, talked to, confided in. Except he wasn't, because he didn't have those memories. "But now I'm a stranger to you."
"We can find him, Kari. Whatever it takes, we will find the Doctor." Jack said, trying to reassure you.
All she could do was shake her head at him. "No. He doesn't need me. He has River now, just like he had her before. She's good for him, you'd like her, a real bad girl." Kari told him. She had no idea what to do next, there was nothing left for her now. "It was all just a dream for me. I dreamed of meeting the Doctor, of meeting you and everyone else. It was just one great, big dream." That was when Kari's eyes widened. "A dream… it was…"
Jack frowned at her. "Hey, Kari, what is it?"
"Leadworth, the TARDIS, they were both dreams. The Dream Lord." She mumbled to herself, trying to piece it all together.
"Who's the Dream Lord?" Jack asked, sounding very, very confused.
Kari pulled herself up off the metal floor. "The Dream Lord, I remember. Amy's Choice. He creates dream worlds, and there's only one way out of them."
"Okay, and what way is that?" Jack asked her, now standing in front of her.
She swallowed the lump that was in her throat. "Death."
His eyes went wide at her word. "What? The only way out is to die?" He half shouted at her, making her nod. "You can't be serious?"
"I am, Jack. The only way out of the dream, is to die. Die in the dream, wake up in reality." Kari told him, preparing herself for what she was going to ask next.
"But what if this isn't a dream Kari? What if this is real?" He wanted her to think about it, to reconsider, to think it through properly.
But Kari's mind was made up. "It can't be real. If my real world is a world without the Doctor by my side, then it's not mine, not anymore. You don't understand, Jack, but if this is real, if I've never met the Doctor or you and it was all just a dream, then I don't want it."
"Kari, you need to think about this." Jack pleaded with her.
"I have. You know the Doctor, everyone loves him. But no one loves him more than I do. And do you know what? I've never even told him. I've always known, but I've always been too scared. Now I know how Amy felt, crashing the campervan after she had seen the love of her life die." She said, looking Jack straight in the eyes. "Do it, Jack. Please."
"Kari… are you sure about this?" Jack asked her, holding his gun up at her again.
She shook her head. "No, and I'm absolutely terrified. But I have to try. If this is the only way back, I have to do it, Jack."
He slowly nodded at her, understanding everything she was saying. "Are you ready?"
Kari chuckled a little. "Of course not." She told him, before closing her eyes. "Do it, Jack." She held her breath, the blood pounding in her ears. She was so scared, but all she wanted was to be back with the Doctor.
"See you soon, Princess." Jack whispered, before pulling the trigger.
Kari's eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright, the covers falling away from her as she gasped for breath. She almost screamed when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her. "Oh, Kari. You're okay. You're okay." The Doctor whispered to her, holding her tightly and rubbing her back.
Immediately she burst into tears. "It… it worked. It worked." She choked out between her sobs.
"Hey, hey, it's okay now. Everything's okay." He said, trying to calm her down.
Kari managed to move her arms and wrap them tightly around the Doctor's neck. "I was so scared, I didn't know if it was going to work. You weren't there, and Jack didn't know me, my own dad didn't know me. And I was terrified."
"Shush, come on. It was psychic pollen. It was just a dream, it's all okay now. Everything is okay."
She held onto him even tighter, never wanting to let him go, as she let some more tears flow. Kari had never been so scared in her life, and travelling with the Doctor was always scary. "Please, please don't ever leave me."
"Kari, I would never, ever, leave you. I swear." The Doctor told her, burying his head into her golden hair.
"I couldn't live without you, you mean everything to me. I… Doctor I…" Kari knew what she wanted to say, but she was struggling to get her words out.
The Doctor just let out a sigh. He had no idea what had happened to her, and he didn't know if he really wanted to with the state she was now in. "It's okay. I'm here now."
She choked on another sob. "Theta, I love you." Kari managed to say. "I love you so much."
His grip tightened, and his head ended up even further into her hair. "Oh, Kari, I love you too. I've always loved you."
Kari managed to pull away from him a little, needing to look at him, to see his face and those eyes of his. The tears were still streaming down her face, but she didn't care, she was with the Doctor and she had finally admitted how to really felt about it.
Before anything else could be said, she crashed her lips against the Doctor's, taking him slightly by surprise. But Kari just didn't care. She needed him, more than she ever thought she would, and she would do anything to keep him by her side.
A/N: And Kari has finally said those 3 little words to the Doctor. Took her long enough, don't you think? It took the thought of the Doctor not being real again for her to finally admit it.
Well, I hope you all liked this chapter, and everything else so far. I am working on the earlier years (Classic Doctors 1-8), but it's taking some time at the moment while I get everything together for it.
Also, for those of you who read any of my other stories, I really am sorry for the lack of updates. I've been very ill and haven't had the energy to write. You guy's are lucky I'm always so far ahead with this story.
So, as always, thank you to everyone who has favourited/followed. And a massive thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Please keep the reviews coming, because they make me smile.
Until next time (don't worry, I have plenty more chapters prewritten ready for posting).
Pippa.