Chapter Four

"But you just said you knew how to get rid of it!" Robyn exclaimed. "And now you're telling me we don't!"

The Doctor grinned. "That's right."

"Are you bleeding bonkers?"

"I've been called worse."

Robyn shook her head in disbelief. "I... I... Oh brother!"

"Look," said the Doctor. "We don't get rid of Menolissian Wolverines because they go away of their own accord when they lose interest in what they're pursuing."

"Before or after they've eaten us?"

"Before, because Menolissian Wolverines aren't carnivorous."

Robyn snorted. "Tell that to the one that's trying to eat me."

"No, seriously, it won't eat you, because Menolissian Wolverines are just pets. They were a domesticated animal before they died out."

"So, what's it doing?"

"It's playing."

"What?"

"It's only a puppy, so to speak."

"So, all this time, I've been worried about a puppy?"

The Doctor nodded. "That's right. Just an overgrown puppy. It thinks you're its owner."

"Oh that's rich," Robyn scoffed. "I hope you're right, and that's all it is. Because if you're wrong, and it does eat me, then I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life!"

"Is that a threat?" the Doctor asked, the hint of a smile playing on his lips. "Or a promise?"

Robyn smiled back at him, despite herself. "Oh, it's a promise all right."

"Then I'll hold you to it." He moved to the entrance of the side street, and then poked his head out. "The cost is clear, for now, at least."

"Good."

"Let's get back to your house, and we'll see if anything there has changed."

Robyn looked at him in confusion. "You think it might have?"

"Anything's possible here, especially when the Dream Lord is about."

"So nothing should be left to chance?"

"Exactly."

The walk back to Robyn's house was either very long, or very short, depending on how you looked at it. It was difficult to judge how long the Doctor and Robyn had been travelling, since time practically had no meaning while they were in the nightmare world. If they'd been in the waking world, the Doctor would've found it quite dull because everything was moving slowly, and in the right order. Of course, he still find it quite dull, because that was nothing unusual about his character.

"What do you think might've changed at my house?" asked Robyn. "Do you think that the Dream Lord might've brought my parents back again?"

"That's one possibility," the Doctor replied. "Or he might have found the Menolissian Wolverine, and it's waiting for us there."

"What, so it can lick me to death?" said Robyn. She sensed that there might be one more thing that the Doctor wasn't telling her, but she wasn't about to make it obvious to him that she did. "If it really is an overgrown puppy, I mean."

"Oh, it can't hurt you," the Doctor assured her. "Menolissian Wolverines, like I told you before, aren't carnivorous. They're herbivores, but they were hunted to extinction for their pelts by people... aliens... who didn't realise they were killing people's pets."

Robyn winced. "Thanks, I really needed to know that," she said sarcastically. "Makes me think of that story with the Dalmatians and that woman trying to turn them into a fur coat."

"I always preferred 'The Lion King' myself," the Doctor replied absently.

"Me too."

Robyn's house loomed on the horizon, and almost immediately, the Doctor set to work, checking for any signs that the nightmare world could be dissolved. There was a strange feeling in the air, and Robyn instantly became afraid. The fear seemed to come to her easier and easier with each passing moment. But she was sure there was nothing to be afraid of, except for the Dream Lord, and she wasn't even sure she should have been afraid of him. There was really nothing in the nightmare world that was able to hurt her, and the one thing she believed that would hurt her, in reality, was nothing more than a harmless animal.

"He's not a tame lion," she said, watching the Doctor race about the perimeter of the building. "But he's good."

The Doctor stopped in his tracks, and turned to face the little girl. "What did you say?" he asked.

Robyn bit her lip. "Just something from The Chronicles of Narnia," she replied. "Something that stuck with me, ever since I could remember."

"Yes, that's good. Remembering's good. Keep doing it; it might help you one day."

"How?"

"You'll know, when you need to."

"Whatever you say," Robyn replied, smiling at him and rolling her eyes.

The Doctor turned back to the house. "Now, this house does not exist, correct?"

"That's right."

"And therefore, the people in it, other than you and I, should not exist either."

"Yeah, because my parents died in a car accident, and then my godparents died in the fire that burnt it down."

"And you're sure that actually happened?"

Robyn frowned, unable to understand where his train of thought was going, or whether it had even left the station in the first place. "Of course, I'm sure."

"Then who," the Doctor picked Robyn up and held her so she could look through the window, and into the kitchen, "is that?"

There was a woman sitting at the kitchen table, minding her own business, who had more than a passing resemblance to the little girl in the Doctor's arms. There was no mistaking who it was, but Robyn knew that he was asking so the idea of her was firmly at the forefront of their minds. Robyn sighed. "That's my mum, well, the person the Dream Lord says is my mum."

The Doctor replaced Robyn on the ground. "I think we should go inside, don't you?" he asked.

"Why?" said Robyn. "She's only going to act the way the Dream Lord makes her act. She's probably not even going to realise you're there!"

"All the better for me to observe what she does," the Doctor replied, tapping the side of his nose with his finger. "And to do that you're going to have to talk to her like she is real."

"But she's not," Robyn replied, suddenly feeling very scared again, even though she couldn't explain it. "She never was, and I can't talk to her like she is. I barely know her!"

The Doctor looked down at the girl tenderly. "Then maybe this is your chance to do that. Just for a little while."

Robyn stared at him for a few moments, trying to make a decision, but it wasn't the one the Doctor thought she was making, but something else. Her parents, her godparents, the house. All that was her past, and it was clear, in her mind at least, that her future lay in the stars.

With the Doctor.

It was at this point, this insignificant point, that Robyn Lawson decided she wanted to be adopted.

Furthermore, she wanted to be adopted by the Doctor.

She would still do as he wanted, and talk to her not-mother like she was her real mother, but once they were back in the real world, she was going to do everything in her power to ask the Doctor to let her stay. She could see that he was a father without a child, and she was a child without a father. Where was the harm in that?

"So, coming?"

"Yes."

And they would've walked straight into the house... or they would have if the Menolissian Wolverine hadn't appeared out of nowhere and attacked the Doctor, spiriting him away, and out of sight.

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"DOCTOR!" Robyn screamed, as the beast took him away. She started to run after it, hoping that she would get to it before it could hurt him. But something held her back, just a little bit. The Doctor had told her that the Menolissian Wolverine was just a pet, and in this case just an overgrown puppy, but the way it attacked her before, and now that it had taken the Doctor, proved that there was something else about it that was wrong. It didn't feel like it should've been harmless, it didn't have that thing that gave you a sense of security, false or otherwise. Why did it feel like it was trying to hurt her, and now it was trying to hurt the Doctor?

"DOCTOR!" Robyn screamed again, this time hoping to get some kind of answer, because if she didn't, it meant that the Doctor was hurt... or worse, and that wasn't a possibility she wanted to think about.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had a problem. The Menolissian Wolverine had just attacked him and carried him off right in front of Robyn's eyes. He'd hoped she would've been inside the house before it turned up, so she wouldn't have to see him like this, but that hope had been dashed as soon as the beast tackled him. He'd lied to Robyn, telling her that Menolissian Wolverines were herbivores, and merely domesticated animals, but they weren't. They never were, and he knew that from the very beginning. Menolissian Wolverines really were carnivorous, and they were also very clever, only choosing prey they were sure wouldn't fight back.

Of course, this one had made a huge mistake.

The beast slammed the Doctor onto the ground, hovering over the supine Time Lord. He panted heavily, his hot breath filling the air.

The smell of it all was excruciating, and the Doctor wrinkled his nose. "What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Are you waiting for your master, is that it?"

The beast snorted. This meat was playing with him, trying to buy himself some time, but it wasn't going to work. He raised one of his claws and prepared to bring it down upon his prey. He would feast well on this catch, and then he would move on to the young one, the one that had been evading him all this time and disappearing before he could feel her life-blood between his jaws.

"You're not going to get her," the Doctor taunted, though in hindsight he knew this was a bad idea, and would only succeed in making the beast angry. "She's going to wake up soon, and she'll be safe."

"That's a lie, and you know it, Doctor," said the Dream Lord, who had now appeared behind the animal. "She's no more safe here than she is anywhere else. Her own life story so far even proves that much."

"She's safer out there, with real people who can protect her, than here with nothing but memories, and fairy tales, and people like us."

The Dream Lord sniffed. "Now that's where you're wrong, Doctor," he replied. "Here she's probably better protected than she would be out in the real world. Here she's got her family."

"No, I don't," came a small voice behind him, sad and forlorn. "I have memories, brought to life by someone who never thought about how it might hurt me. I am Robyn Guinevere Lawson, daughter of Phillipa and Damian Lawson, and I saw my parents die in a car accident that happened right in front of my house. Then I lost my house, and my godparents, to a fire that could've been avoided, but wasn't. I have to remember that every single day, and I'm only a kid." Robyn stepped into the clearing, the beginnings of tears springing to her eyes when she saw the Doctor lying on the ground. "You brought them back, and you had no right to do that. I mean, you may be part of the Doctor, Dream Lord, and you may make up part of what makes him so great, but you're not the only thing. I've seen who he is, and I can see where you live inside him, but you are not the only thing that makes him who he is. He's got friends, and they're just as much a part of him as you are. They make him good, and kind, and the most wonderful person to be with. Sure he's got his moments, the little windows where you show yourself, but that's all they are. Windows." Her eyes narrowed. "As for you being here, I have no idea how you got here, and I don't care to find out, but I know that I want you, and this place, gone."

The Dream Lord did not look impressed by the child's speech. "And your point?"

"You play on my fear, don't you?" Robyn asked, ignoring his response. "You play on my fear, the Doctor's fear, even Amy's fear, despite the fact that she can't remember it." She frowned, realising what she was saying. "I don't even understand how I know it, but the point is, if you think you can get by thinking that I fear you, and that I fear that," she pointed to the Menolissian Wolverine, "then you've got another thing coming." She smiled brightly. "I will never fear you ever again."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"I'm not, but as long as the Doctor remains in the world, then there's always a bit of hope." She grinned. "And now, if you don't mind..."

Racing forward and pushing past the Dream Lord, Robyn ran towards the Menolissian Wolverine. "Hey, wolfie," she called. "Why don't you leave him alone, and come and get what you've really wanted!" She waved at the beast in a manner that she hoped was enticing enough to distract it long enough for the Doctor to get away.

The beast looked at the Doctor, then at Robyn, trying to decide whether to stick with what it already had, or to go for the morsel that was practically offering itself to him. It sniffed the Doctor once, then looked at Robyn again. As much as he hated letting meat go, the beast decided that it would take the opportunity presented and make another attempt to catch the young one.

The one that smelt like time, and old things, could wait for another day.

Of course, the Doctor knew what Robyn was doing, and he didn't like it one bit. Distractions were one thing, but once you got the attention of the thing you were distracting, everything seemed to go downhill from there. "Robyn," he said carefully, picking himself off the ground and shaking the dust from his clothes. "Stay where you are, and don't move a muscle."

Robyn smiled at him. "It's okay, Doctor," she replied. "I'm not afraid of it anymore."

"I know, and that's good, but it can still hurt you."

"I know it can, and that's why I have to let it."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "What?"

"Something I saw, in your head," said Robyn, taking a tentative step away from him. "I peaked, or maybe you wanted me to see it, but..." She smiled sadly. "The last time you encountered the Dream Lord, he said that if you die in a dream, you wake up in the real world."

"Oh, Robyn..."

"See you when we wake up, Doctor."

And then she ran.

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Robyn ran until she thought her lungs would burst from the strain. The Menolissian Wolverine was hot on her heels, but she knew she couldn't stop, not when there was one place, and two people, she wanted to see one last time before she let it catch her. She ran towards the house that shouldn't exist, to the mother and father that left her so long ago. She'd accepted that they would never replace her real parents, and the Doctor, when he adopted her, if he adopted her, would never replace them either, but that was all right, because the family she would make with him, and Amy, and the beautiful big blue box, would be the best family anyone could have.

She raced into the kitchen of her old house, nearly knocking Phillipa down with the force of the hug she gave her.

"What's brought this on?" she asked, not realising the enormity of the situation.

"I just wanted to say... I love you, Mum," Robyn replied. "And I'm sorry for saying you're not real, because you are, and you were, and you always will be, even though I'm not going to see you again."

Phillipa looked at her daughter in confusion. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course you're going to see me again."

Robyn shook her head. "Not this time, and not any time soon. I can't explain it, but... I'm going to go away soon."

"What are you talking about?" Phillipa said with a laugh. "You're talking like you're about to die or something."

"I am. There's a creature, it's called a Menolissian Wolverine, and it wants to eat me. I have to let it eat me, or I'll never have another proper dream again. I've been dreaming about you, and Dad, and our house, but they're all gone, and this... person... was trying to convince me they were real. I'm asleep right now, and you're... well... you're dead, Mum."

Phillipa's face darkened. "Now that's not a nice thing to say, young lady."

"But you are," Robyn insisted. "And Dad too... and Uncle Tommy, and Aunt Daisy. I've been living in an orphanage, and the only way for me to get back there is for me to die."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"I'm not dead, Robyn, and neither is your father, nor are Uncle Tommy and Aunt Daisy. Stop saying such malicious things."

"Even though you're starting to believe they're true?" said a familiar voice, coming from the doorway.

Robyn turned, and her eyes widened. "Doctor!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping you." He sauntered into the room and took Robyn by the hand. "And making sure you knew exactly what you're doing."

"Who are you?" asked Phillipa, eyeing the new arrival apprehensively. "How did you get in my house?"

"I'm the Doctor," he replied. "I'm a friend of your daughter's... so to speak. She let me in."

Robyn looked up at him, confused not only by his swift arrival, but the distinct lack of a certain Menolissian Wolverine. "I did?" The Doctor looked at her meaningfully. "Oh, I mean, yeah, I did. I let him in."

Phillipa looked at the both of them suspiciously. "How come I've never seen you before?"

"He's not around very often," said Robyn. "And when he's here, it's only in very special circumstances." She started to drag him from the room. "I'll be back in a minute, I need to talk to him up in my room."

"All right," Phillipa replied, the look of suspicion never leaving her eyes. "But don't stay up there too long."

"We won't, Mum."

Once they were upstairs, Robyn turned to the Doctor, looking at him with disbelief, and the smallest hint of joy. She was glad that he managed to get there without the beast catching him, but she was also confused that he'd shown up and the Menolissian Wolverine hadn't. It'd been right behind her, there'd been no mistake of that, so how was he there before it was?

"I know what you're thinking," said the Doctor quietly. "You're asking yourself how I can be here before the Menolissian Wolverine."

Robyn nodded. "I thought it would get to me first," she admitted. "But I'm... happy that you're here instead."

"Are you really?"

"What sort of question is that?" Robyn countered. "Of course I am."

The Doctor smiled. "Well, that's good." He sat down on the bed. "Now, while we wait for it to show up, why don't you tell me what you plan to do after this is all over, hmm?"

Robyn blushed. "Well, for a start... I thought I could come with you."

"You've been inside my head, and you've seen what the Dream Lord can do, you've seen what I can do..." He frowned. "Are you sure coming with me is what you really want?"

"More than anything," Robyn replied, a hint of determination creeping into her voice. "I want you to adopt me... if that's all right with you."

"I've been a father before, and a grandfather, but you should know that from looking at my memories. I've said it once, and I'll say it again... are you sure coming with me... are you sure me adopting you is what you want?"

Robyn nodded. "I've never been as sure about anything in my life, Doctor."

"You know you'll be in for a lot of heartbreak, don't you?"

"I do, but I'll deal with it when it happens, and not before."

"Good answer." The Doctor paused for a moment and looked Robyn up and down, as if sizing her up for something. "How old are you?"

Robyn grinned. "How old are you?"

"You tell me, and then I'll tell you."

"I'm eight, but I'll be nine in a couple of months."

The Doctor nodded, processing the information. "I'm nine-hundred and seven," he replied offhandedly.

"Wow, that's old."

"Everyone seems to think so, but that's only because I haven't told them how old I really am."

Robyn looked at him in confusion. "How old are you really, then?"

"I don't remember," the Doctor confessed. "Time travel. After a while the days all start to blend together, and then you don't remember whether you're coming or going. But then that can work in your favour, or it can't."

"And how do you know when it will, and when it won't?"

"You don't. You just keep muddling on, and hope for the best."

Just then, the two of them heard a scream, then a crash, and then nothing.

"It's here," said the Doctor sadly. "It's time."

Robyn looked down at the floor. "I suppose it is."

She took the Doctor's hand and clasped it tightly. "You never said whether or not you were going to adopt me, Doctor," she added. "Will you?"

"We'll see."

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