There were several ways Robert could have responded to the Doctor. That he decided to laugh at him was perhaps not the most diplomatic.

"So this is all a dream? And you're… what? The part of me that wants to wake up?" Robert asked without hiding his skepticism.

"Well, it's more than a dream. And I'm not part of you. Well, more to the point, I'm a part of you made from the Doctor to help you stay sane given what you did." The Doctor shrugged. "Of course, I never expected you to be in something like this."

"You mean you expected me to be in, what, a different dream?"

"I expected you to be trapped in a recurring cycle of images and places from across time, going mad from exposure to the Time Vortex," he answered. "I didn't expect you to be here. I'm not even sure where 'here' is, but I'm pretty sure how you got here. You've got that life energy connection going for you. That may have shunted your mind in here to protect you."

Robert crossed his arms. He thought of calling for Julia, or his parents or grandparents, and asking why they let this man into his room. Then another thought came to him, and he couldn't quite hide his fear when he asked, "Where's my family?"

"Hrm?"

"My family," Robert repeated. "Where are they? Why would they let you bring me in here and not come in?"

"Because I told them you needed rest and quiet," the Doctor said. "Although they really didn't pay me much heed. This place doesn't know how to deal with me. I'm inside of you, but I'm not really you… it's rather complicated, actually."

Robert got off the bed and went to the door. The Doctor shook his head but said nothing, following Robert out into the empty house. "Julie? Robby?" Robert walked across the second floor and looked down to the dim lights of the dining room and kitchen. "Mom, Dad? Grandpa? Grandma?" He went down the stairs and looked around the dark house before looking back up at the Doctor, still standing on the second floor. "Where did they go? What did you do with them?"

"Nothing," he replied. "I imagine you'll be told they went out. Although it's more likely this realm removed them for the moment so we could talk."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Robert shouted. "You keep saying things about this not being the real world, but it doesn't make sense!"

"You and I both know that's wrong," the Doctor said. "I can sense it in you. You keep having glimpses of the life you had before. Of your ship, your friends, the world you came from. And it hurts, and that's why you keep having these blackouts. But you can't deny who you are forever. You have to accept the truth and recognize what this place is."

"I don't have to do a damned thing," Robert shot back. "I want my family back and now."

"You can't just ignore this, it's going to get worse. The fact is that you are not Robert Dale, member of the local farming family. You are Robert Dale, Captain of the Alliance Starship Aurora."

Again the name was familiar. Robert bit back his response as he considered just how familiar it sounded. How right it sounded. He swallowed at the thought he'd felt earlier in the evening, about his grandparents being dead since he was a child.

A real, terrible fear came to him. What if this man was right? What if this was all a dream of some sort, so powerful he forgot what was real and what wasn't? If it was… then what was the truth? What had happened to his family? Were his grandparents really dead? His parents? His sister?

The Doctor nodded. "Yes," he said. He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Julia arrived at the medbay as quickly as she could once she received Leo's call. She found him looking over Robert. "What happened?"

"We've had more anomalous behavior in his brain," Leo said. "The last was severe enough that I gave him a mild neuro-sedative."

"Any idea what's causing it?" she asked.

"I've got no idea." Leo nodded to the biobed display. "Honestly, I've looked through records on coma patients, and I've yet to find anything like this in them. Whatever's going on with Robert, it's something we've never seen before."

Julia nodded and looked at her sleeping friend. She set her hand on his and grasped it. "Is he awake somehow? I mean, could that be it? He's awake but paralyzed?"

"I can't tell. He can't be fully awake, not going by these scans, but there is something going on in his brain."

"Then… do you think it's time?"

"Time?" Leo asked the question a second before realizing what she meant. He quickly added, "If you're talking about transferring him, it wouldn't matter. There's nothing that the Fleet Hospital can do that I can't. Whatever this is…" Leo shook his head. "I can't tell you how it'll end."

It was painful for her to hear that and to see Robert's condition. She could see the same was true with Leo. "Just… tell me if anything more changes?"

"Like you have to ask."

Julia sighed and nodded, accepting the point. "I just wanted to…"

The blue light of her omnitool lit up at the back of her left hand joined by a tone. She tapped the light. "Andreys here," she said.

"Captain." The voice was accented. It took Julia a moment to realize it was Lieutenant Sabiha Neyzi, one of the new officers assigned to the ship due to their casualties and transfers. "Admiral Maran would like to speak with you. And Commander Locarno has returned."

"I'll see both in my old office on Deck 3."

"Very well. I shall relay the call."

Julia lowered her left arm. "That's Jupap's replacement, right?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Julia said.

"A lot of changes, a lot of new faces," Leo said. "It's funny how life changes sometimes."

"And sometimes it's not." She said nothing else before walking out.

After the lift trip to Deck 3, Julia went to her office. Or rather, her old office as First Officer. Once she was in her chair Julia tapped a key on her desk's control panel. Admiral Maran's image appeared on the screen. "What can I do for you, Admiral?"

"I'm just checking in, Captain," he said. "Commander Scott's filed his final report on the repairs. It looks like you're good to go in six days."

"All we're missing now is a full crew," Julia noted. "Will we have them all by then?"

"I've made sure Fleet Personnel is on the ball. I'm aware that you've had difficulties before due to certain influences."

"Davies and Hawthorne," Julia murmured.

"It's not my place to remark on how the Defense Minister and the Vice Chief of Naval Operations do their duties," Maran remarked. He knew how the political game was played too. "The reason I called is that I notice your command crew is missing someone. Have you found a First Officer?"

"I'm going to interview Commander Jarod and Commander Locarno," Julia said. "If not them, well, I'll let you know if I can't find someone." Even as she said it, Julia knew her face gave away the truth.

And it was clear Maran knew it. She was grateful he didn't outright remark on it. "I understand. But if they don't accept, I'll need to find a replacement from the officer listings. There are some promising young officers coming up."

"And how many of them have politics involved in putting them on this ship?"

"More than I care to count. But I wouldn't stick you with a political officer, Captain, rest assured the officers I'm proposing have been thoroughly vetted. I want to avoid any more issues like you had with Captain King when she was commanding the Sladen."

Julia didn't bother hiding her distaste at that memory. King had been in command of the ship filling in for the Koenig while it was escorting the Galactica and its Refugee Fleet. But she hadn't been full command branch; she had been a Naval Intelligence officer sent by Admiral Davies to spy on the Aurora crew. The prospect of Davies doing that again was one Julia had already considered. "I'll give them a look if it comes to that, sir. But I'm hoping to get one of the others into the position. I think the remaining crew will find that… easier."

Maran gave a nod of understanding. "Of course. Maran out."

Julia let the call end and looked to her digital readers. She'd just started looking over a list of further officer replacements when the chime went off. "Come in," she said. She watched Locarno enter and said, "Welcome back, Nick."

"Thanks." He nodded once and gave the room a close look. "Still in your old office?"

"I'll move in a few days," she said. "Or whenever I have a First Officer selected."

"Ah." Locarno smiled slightly and nodded. "Yeah, I imagined you'd bring this up again."

"Well, we're not getting split up anymore," she noted. "So I'd like you to reconsider."

Locarno plopped into the chair and shook his head. "I'm not interested in a command position right now. I… I just don't think it's right."

"It's got to be someone," Julia pointed out. "And you've come a long way since Nova Squad."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm ready to command," he pointed out. "My answer is still no."

For a moment Julia considered continuing to ask. But she stopped herself. If he didn't want to do it, forcing him to wouldn't work. "I suppose I was hoping you'd decide otherwise," she said. "Alright. I'll find someone else." She smiled at him despite the feeling of being let down. "How was the Academy?"

Locarno shrugged in reply. "It was good. I had no trouble with the trainees. They're all great pilots and will make great helmsmen and helmswomen. Or helmspeople, in the case of the Gl'mulli recruit."

"A Gl'mulli? Really?"

He nodded. "We're getting volunteers from a number of the other species. We even had an Andorian and an Asari."

"Huh. That's good, I suppose. Anything interesting happen? Any funny stories?"

"Well…" Locarno cracked a grin upon thinking of one. "There was the point when Trainee St. Clair messed up his pre-flight check and missed the faulty thruster."

"Ouch. I bet he hated missing his flight time."

"Oh, he didn't." Locarno's smile became bemused. "I thought it might be character-building to make him do his full training flight with just one working maneuvering thruster. I had a shuttle ready to tractor him the entire time, of course, but seeing him spin around like a dog chasing its own tail was funny. And it works as a good reminder to everyone to pay attention on pre-flight checks."

"I'll bet…"

The moments stretched on like a yawning abyss that threatened to swallow Robert whole. He wanted to reject everything this strange 'Doctor' was telling him. But when he tried to, he found he couldn't. Within his heart Robert could sense that truth, that his family wasn't intact, that he had lost them. So many of them. This world where he woke up every day surrounded by those he had grown up loving was just an illusion.

And that horrified him.

Even worse was the Doctor's apology, which seemed to confirm his worst fears. His family wasn't with him anymore. Some, maybe all, were dead. He was alone.

Robert went over and dropped onto the couch, where he cradled his head in his hands. The thought of being alone, of lost family, was tearing through him. Images came to mind of hospital beds and funeral caskets. A sheriff's deputy knocking on his door. The sterile halls of the county morgue.

And three mangled, broken bodies on mortuary tables.

"They're all dead," he murmured. "My grandparents. My parents and sister. I… oh God, they're all dead." He looked up at the tall figure calling himself the Doctor. "And the others. Their parents are all…"

"It would appear so," said the Doctor.

"And I'm… Julia and I aren't…" He swallowed. "And Little Robby isn't…"

"You still have the others," the Doctor said. "And you nearly destroyed yourself saving them."

Another series of images came to Robert. Of pleading with some sort of control console. Golden light erupting from within it when the console opened up. The bridge of that ship again… and Julia pleading with him to stop.

She had kissed him. He could remember that. And he remembered the feeling of a link between them. Energy flowing from one to the other…

"Julia saved my life," he said. "We… we connected. And it's what saved me." After a moment his head snapped up and his eyes focused on the Doctor. "Julia, she… is she okay? If that stuff nearly killed me…"

"Well, that's a tricky one. I'm part of you, remember? I know what you know, roughly speaking. And you don't know how she's doing. Of course, if you're alive, there's good odds she is."

"But that's not a guarantee," Robert pointed out. "I… she might be gone too." The thought hurt and brought forth tears to join those he'd felt over his lost family. "I can't… it's not fair." His voice grew hoarse. "Why do I keep losing the people I love?"

"It's part of life. You know that," the Doctor said. "The others have suffered the same."

This was true. But at that moment, at that time, it was a truth Robert found more painful than useful. In this world, everyone was happy. All of the families were intact. His family, Julia's, Zack's…

They were all still alive. And everyone was happy.

"You want me to leave," Robert said. "To leave this world and go back to… to whatever that other place is."

"It's where you belong. This?" The Doctor gestured around. "Whatever this is, it's not real. It's…"

"It's real enough," Robert insisted. He reached over to the coffee table and picked up a photo of his son, which he thrust at this interloper. "He's real. I know that every time I hold onto him, every time he smiles at me and I feel that lump inside of me. He loves baseball and basketball. He loves to sit in my lap and watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. Whenever he has a nightmare he comes to us and climbs into our bed, and Julia puts one arm over him and I put another, and he gets this look like he's the happiest little boy who ever lived..." Robert stopped at that point and set the photo down, his point made.

"He's a creation of this place," the Doctor insisted. "That's all."

"He's more than that to me!" Robert shouted. He stomped up to the figure, who stood and met his glare. "I'm not leaving my family."

"They're not your family. Out there is where the people you care for actually exist."

Out there. In a world where his family was dead. Where his precious, sweet, loving little boy didn't exist.

Outside there was a rustle of wind. It was already dark, but even the moonlight vanished behind dark clouds. A storm was forming.

"You're needed," the Doctor insisted. "I'm sorry, but you need to wake up."

Robert heard him and walked over to the window. Lightning flashed outside. The wind continued to grow stronger. As he listened to it, more images came to him. Images of struggle and strife and pain and fear.

Images in contrast to this place. This warm, pleasant house, with his family alive, with all of his worries about romancing Julia meaningless. With a little boy he cherished.

"I don't want to," Robert said. "I don't want to leave. You… you say this place isn't real, but for me? It's real enough. It's everything I could ever want in life, with everyone happy."

"Except nobody else is happy," the Doctor pointed out. "Nobody else in this world is really alive. They're just extensions of your memories and desires."

"And what does that make you? Some… mental program left by someone to steer me in the right direction? Or you actually a part of my mind in the end?"

"If I weren't a part of you, I wouldn't be here," came the reply. The tall man drew up to him and met Robert eye-to-eye. "I'm here to bring you back to reality. To make sure you survived the process. And to tell you that you can't stay here forever. This…" He gestured around the house again. "...it's not what's real, and for that I'm truly sorry. You deserve to have a life like this."

Their eye contact continued until Robert looked away and drew in a breath. The more he thought about it, the more this conversation continued, the more his memories asserted themselves. The bridge of the Aurora kept appearing in his thoughts. His friends and comrades on the ship and how often he had felt awed by the fact they let him lead them. That was where his life had led him.

A life that ended.

The voice of the TARDIS sounded in his head. You were warned. That life is over now. You cannot go back to it.

"I was told I can't go back," Robert said quietly. "That my life was over. I'm supposed to be dead."

"There are a number of ways to interpret what the TARDIS meant," the Doctor pointed out. "Odds are that your life will change from everything you knew before. That's what happens when you look into the Time Vortex."

Outside the storm was howling now. Rain and hail beat against the walls of the house. Robert listened to the roar of the wind against his home. "I don't want to go."

"I know."

"You said I deserved this."

"You do. But this… isn't real living. And you can feel that now."

He could. The memories flooding into him made that clear. His eyes kept moving to the family pictures. The pain in his heart grew to fill the loss he was feeling as he understood that they were gone.

Finally he asked, "What am I supposed to do, then? How do I leave here?"

The being in the form of the Doctor stepped toward the main door. He pulled it open, revealing the raging storm outside. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed. Robert felt the cool, vicious wind of the storm press against him. "You want me to go out into that?" Robert asked. "Why is it storming?"

"Funny thing about these things. The metaphors can be rather unpleasant." The Doctor motioned to the outside. "You know that there is danger in the future. You've seen it in your dreams. This place responds to that knowledge. Stepping out into the storm shows you're ready to accept facing it. And you and I both know the answer to that."

To that Robert swallowed. Every fiber of his being resonated with tension, the struggle between the part of him that was indeed accepting this, and the part of him that didn't want to leave the warmth and comfort of his family.

His foot moved and he took his first step toward the door.

Meridina and Lucy left the Lumantala home after a family breakfast and heartfelt goodbyes. Karesl provided them transportation to the Jantarihal Spaceport, where they would catch a shuttle to a transport ship about to jump to Earth L2M1. His driver remained behind while he escorted them to the terminal. "Again, my congratulations are to you, Lucy Lucero," he said, bowing his head toward her. "I am not so prideful to be incapable of admitting my error. My daughter showed great wisdom in training you."

"Thank you again, Mastrash Karesl," Lucy said. She returned the head bow.

Karesl turned his attention to Meridina. "I miss having you in the Order, Meridina. But I am happy with one consequence of it." He extended his arms toward her, prompting Meridina to moved toward him and embrace him. "I am no longer obligated to treat you as anything but my daughter."

"And I am happy that you are my father again," she replied.

"I look forward to hearing more of your accomplishments in the Alliance," Karesl said before letting go. "Mi rake sa swevyra iso, daughter."

"Mi rake sa swevyra iso, father."

With that, the two separated. Lucy and Meridina took up their bags and headed for the shuttle terminal.

The storm howled outside of the door. The vicious wind blasted Robert in the face as he took another step toward it. Another step toward a life of loss and danger and away from the life of family, of happiness and safety, that he had been enjoying. With each step his memories became clearer. He looked toward the Doctor, or rather the piece of him touched by the Doctor and made to help him, and drew in a breath before taking his next step.

Every step was pain. Every step was one he didn't want to take. He didn't want to be without his grandparents again. Without his parents and sister. To see the pain in the others whenever their lost family was brought up. To go back to that existence where he and Julia were afraid of letting their relationship become romantic.

To lose the son he never knew he'd wanted.

The steps became harder to make from these thoughts. He felt like he was wading through mud instead of walking toward his front door.

"It's for the better," the Doctor said to him as Robert finally stepped up beside him. Outside the door the winds drove on rain. Lightning flashed, thunder roared. Something terrible was out there, and it would fall to him to fight it.

Robert couldn't help it. He stopped at the doorway for the moment. He couldn't move forward without focusing his will on it. He felt like he was about to tear out his own beating heart. "Right," he murmured. "I have to do it." He nodded to the other figure. "Let's go."

He lifted his foot and moved it toward the door.

"Daddy?"

Robert stopped. He set his foot back down inside of the house before he turned.

Little Robby was standing at the base of the stairs wearing his pajamas, with an unfamiliar comic book character as the prominent feature of the otherwise blue and green nightclothes. On the second floor was the rest of the family - Allen and Anne, Michael and Leigh, Susanna, Julia - standing and watching quietly. "Daddy, why are you going?" Robby asked.

Robert swallowed. His throat felt parched. "I… I have to," he managed.

The little boy ran up. "Please don't go, Daddy," he pleaded. "I'm scared."

Sheer paternal instinct brought Robert down to a knee, allowing Robby to stretch his arms out as wide as he could and embrace Robert. The little boy and his head of golden blond hair pressed against his chest. "I don't want you to go," the boy cried. "I'm scared."

Robert's arms came up and wrapped around the boy. "Don't be," he said softly. "Don't be scared."

"Why are you going?"

"Because…" Robert swallowed and considered the answer. So much of him didn't want to go. Wanted to stay here with those he loved. "I have to," he finally managed. "People need me."

"But I need you. And Mama and Grandpa and Great-Grandpa…"

Robert's eyes journeyed back up to his loved ones on the second floor. "This is where you belong, Rob," Allen Dale said. "You've done enough good. It's time for you to be happy with us." Allen's arms stretched out to take in Anne, Leigh, and Michael. Susanna and Julia stood to either side, putting their arms around the waists of Michael and Anne. "We're your family, and family is what matters."

Pain filled Robert's heart. He knew this wasn't reality. This was something else. He should accept that those he loved were gone.

But here they were. This wasn't some illusion. It was his grandparents. His parents. His sister. Alive, well, happy. With him, back on the family's farm, where generations of Dales had lived out their lives.

And there was Julia, with him, all of their doubts gone. And the son they had brought into the world together, the sweet little boy crying in his arms. "Don't go Daddy," Little Robby pleaded again. "I don't want you to go."

"I don't want to either," he whispered back. His tears dripped from his chin and fell into the boy's hair.

"They're not real," said the Doctor. "You know that."

Not real. Robert heard those words. He knew they were right.

But they didn't feel right. Not when he could feel the warmth of his little boy. Or the very real hair from where his hand was holding Robby's head. And Robby's wet tears through the fabric of his shirt... How could this not be real?

"I love you Daddy, please don't leave," Little Robby pleaded. Robert's eyes blurred from the tears in his eyes. Everything about this hurt.

Especially the fact that he was hurting his son.

A hand touched his shoulder. "You know what you have to do," said the Doctor. His voice sounded over the growing howl of the winds outside.

Robert drew in a breath. He let go of the little boy and gently stood up. He looked down at the pair of aquamarine eyes, reddened with tears, and thought his heart would rip itself in half.

That feeling persisted when he turned to the open door and to the Doctor. The Doctor nodded and gestured to the door again. He held his arm out.

In one lightning move Robert grabbed two fistfuls of the Doctor's shirt. The being, whatever he was in this place, stared at him in surprise in the second before Robert snarled and shoved him into the doorway. "What are you doing?!"

"Get out of here!" Robert shouted. He gave the tall figure another shove, sending him flying out the door and into the storm. "Stay away from my family!"

The suited figure scrambled to his feet. But he was too late.

Robert slammed the door in his face.

"You can't do this!" the Doctor cried through the door. "This isn't real! You've got to move on!"

The words fell on deaf ears. Robert's hands gripped and turned the deadbolt lock and the knob lock next. Once the front door was secure, he turned and lifted his son into his arms. "I'm not leaving you," he promised Little Robby, while his tear-filled eyes glistened at the sight of his smiling, relieved family. "I'm not leaving any of you. Never again. Never again!"

Outside there was more frantic knocking on the door. The winds howled louder, the lightning was brighter, and the thunder sounded like the roar of an offended sky god.

Robert ignored it all. He walked with his smiling little boy back to the warmth of the living room, where his family waited for him.

This was the life he wanted. The life he deserved. And the smiles on the faces of those he loved? That was all that mattered.