Amy's Choice
The TARDIS materialized in the garden of a quaint cottage, the Doctor popping his head out to look around before noticing the flowers they were parked on top of. He stepped out, nearly tripping over a stone of the flower bed's small retaining wall as the Professor stepped out after him.
"Rory!" the Professor shouted, having run a scan in the TARDIS of where they were.
A moment later Rory ran out of the house, smiling at them, "Professor!" he pulled her into a hug and spun her around, having missed the Time Lady quite a bit over the years.
"Oi!" the Doctor mock grumbled, "Hands off my wife."
The Professor laughed as she felt herself being pulled away, her back against the Doctor's chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist, "Possessive much?"
"Of you?" he nuzzled the side of her face, nipping her ear and making her give a little squeal, "Very."
"Doctor," Rory laughed, moving to shake his hand.
"We've crushed your flowers," the Doctor told him, still keeping the Professor close even as he shook Rory's hand.
"Oh, Amy will kill you."
"Where is she?" the Professor looked past him towards the house.
"She'll need a bit longer."
"Whenever you're ready, Amy!" the Doctor called. A few seconds later Amy stepped out, heavily pregnant, "Oh, wahey! Wahey. You've swallowed a planet!" he rested a hand on her stomach as she came over.
"I'm pregnant," Amy beamed.
"You're huge."
"Yeah, I'm pregnant."
"Look at you. When worlds collide."
"Doctor, I'm pregnant."
"Oh, look at you both. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit," the Professor nudged him and he let go of her to go hug Amy himself, "Apart from age and size."
"Good to see you, Doctor."
The Doctor looked at her a moment, then her stomach, and back, "Are you pregnant?"
"No," the Professor answered sarcastically, "She's stuffed a pillow under her shirt to mess with you."
"Really?"
The Professor blinked as Amy stared, if anything, he'd grown more oblivious with time.
"Oh Doctor," she shook her head at him fondly, "What am I going to do with you?"
He looked at her, confused, but she just gave him a peck on the cheek and moved to link arms with Amy, "How are you? How is the baby doing?"
Amy smiled and led her into the house, leaving the boys to follow.
~8~
The quartet walked down a village lane later on that day, the Doctor looking around at the rather empty road and peaceful setting, "Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever."
"It's Upper Leadworth, actually," Rory corrected, "We've gone slightly up market."
"Where is everyone?" the Professor asked, growing just a bit ill at ease with how there were so few people around, it almost seemed deserted.
"This is busy," Amy told them, "Ok, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their 90s."
"Well, don't let that get you down," the Doctor remarked.
"It's not getting me down."
He moved to sit on the bench of a cul-de-sac, Amy and Rory sitting on either side of him while the Professor continued to look around warily.
"We wanted to see how you were," the Doctor said after a moment of unending silence, "We don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of the Doctor so easily."
"Which can be a blessing to some," the Professor called, heading over to them, "But a curse to others."
"Oi!" he mock whined.
"A blessing for me," she smiled at him as he beamed.
"You came here by mistake, didn't you?" Amy fought off a laugh.
The Professor nodded, "He was aiming for the Great Findar Rebellion of Rou during the Third Great and Bountiful Human Empire."
"But look, what a result," the Doctor smiled, "Look at this...bench. What a nice bench. What will they think of next?" they sat there in silence, bored, when the Professor moved to sit on the ground, ignorant or uncaring of the dirt and her white skirt, to rest against the Doctor's legs, her arm on his knees, "So. What do you do around here to stave off the, you know..."
"Boredom?" Amy supplied.
"Self harm."
"We relax..." Rory said as the Professor mouthed 'relax' to the Doctor, "We live, we listen to the birds…"
"Yeah, see, birds," Amy nodded, "Those are nice."
"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days."
The birdsong became louder and the Doctor winced, "Oh, blimey. My head's a bit, ooh..." he grabbed his head in his hands as the Professor reached up to his forehead, frowning as she tried to scan him. He sat back up a moment later, "No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good..." he started to nod off, "Old...days."
And then the four of them fell asleep on the bench.
~8~
The Doctor woke up on the glass floor of the TARDIS, "What?" he jumped up, spotting the Professor getting up off the steps to the under level controls, clearly having woken up as well, "No, yes, sorry, what?" Amy and Rory walked down the steps from the halls, joining him by the console as did the Professor, "Oh, you're ok," he turned to them, "Oh, thank God. 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 hugged Amy.
"Oh, ok…" Amy frowned.
"That's what counts. Blimey," he looked at the Professor as she frowned, rubbing her head, "Never dropped off like that before have we? Well, never, really," he sighed, turning to Amy and Rory, "We're getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you."
"The console..." the Professor's attention drifted to a blinking red light on it as she walked over.
"Red flashing lights..." he joined her, "I bet they mean something."
"Nothing good."
"Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing," Rory remarked.
"Yeah, so did I," Amy nodded.
"Not a nightmare, though, just...we were married."
"Yeah, in a little village."
The Doctor and Professor looked at them, surprised, before glancing at each other. Because of their mental bond, they had shared dreams before, often when they fell asleep near the other, so that was nothing new to them, but this…
"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant."
"Yeah, I was huge. I was a boat."
"So you had the same dream, then?" Rory asked as the Professor moved behind him and tugged down his hoodie to look at his hair, "Exactly the same dream?"
"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy glared at him.
"And you and the Doctor, you were visiting Professor."
"Yeah, yeah," Amy recalled as the Doctor tugged the edge of her jacket to the side, looking at her stomach, "You came to our cottage."
"How can we have the same dream? It doesn't make sense."
"And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?"
"It was similar, in some aspects," he muttered.
"Which aspects?" Rory frowned.
"All of them," the Professor replied.
"You had the same dream!" Amy's eyes widened.
"So it would seem."
"You said it was a nightmare," Rory accused the Doctor.
"Did I say nightmare?" he fished, "No. More of a really good...mare. Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track," the Professor looked up as the birdsong began, "Forget it, we're back to reality now."
"Doctor, if we're back to reality how come I can still hear birds?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, the same birds," Rory nodded, "The same ones we heard in the…"
~8~
They all woke up on the bench, Amy leaning to the side, the Professor with her head on the Doctor's lap, and the Doctor and Rory with their heads together.
"…dream," Rory pulled away from the Doctor, embarrassed, "Oh. Sorry. Nodded off, stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS," the Professor got up and looked around, suspicious, alert, as the Doctor stood as well. Rory looked at Amy, "You had the same dream, didn't you?"
Amy nodded, "Back in the TARDIS. Weren't we just saying the same thing?"
"But we thought this was the dream."
The Professor picked up a small stone from the path and examined it closely, frowning even more before looking at the Doctor, slightly alarmed, 'Nothing,' she told him, tossing it to the ground, she was getting absolutely nothing from her scan. He looked down at it and then at her.
"I think so," Amy stood, "Why do dreams fade so quickly?"
Rory walked over to the aliens, "Professor, what is going on?"
"Is this because of you?" Amy asked them, "Is this some Time Lord thing because you've shown up again?"
"Listen to me," the Professor tuned to them, "Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear, or feel."
"But we're awake now," Rory shook his head.
"You thought you were awake on the TARDIS too," the Doctor countered.
Amy looked around, "But we're home."
"Yeah. You're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which? Are we flashing forwards…or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going be a tricky one."
~8~
Amy woke up on the jump seat in the TARDIS with a gasp to see the Doctor and the Professor by the console, working on the controls. The Doctor was gripping a lever, trying to move it without success.
"This is bad," he remarked, "I don't like this!" he kicked the console and grabbed his foot, "Argh!"
"Never use force," the Professor replied, "You just embarrass yourself."
"Unless you're cross, in which case, always use force," he argued, sitting down on the chair as Amy got up, rubbing his foot. The Professor turned away from the console and headed down the stairs to look under it.
"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy asked her.
"Impossible," she called up.
"Why?"
"Doctor?"
He sighed, "I threw it in a supernova."
Amy looked at him oddly, "You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?"
"Because he disagreed with it," the Professor laughed.
"What did you dis…" Amy turned to the Doctor.
"Stop talking to me when I'm cross," he wagged a finger at her.
"Ok...but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?" Rory frowned, not following.
"If we were dreaming of the future..." the Professor warned as she headed back up, finding nothing wrong beneath the console.
"Of course we were," Amy frowned, "We were in Leadworth."
"Upper Leadworth," Rory reminded her.
"Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this," the Doctor explained, "Don't you get it?"
"No, ok, no, this is real," Amy insisted, "I'm definitely awake now."
"And you thought you were awake when you were all elephanty."
"Hey, pregnant."
"And you could be giving birth right now. This could be the dream."
"I told you," the Professor added, moving to stand beside the Doctor, putting a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it in comfort as he put a hand on hers in return, "Trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true."
"Ok, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside," Rory began as the two headed to the console.
"With a bow tie wearing alien," Amy added, "And his trigger happy wife."
"I'm not THAT bad," the Professor pouted a bit, "Believe you me I was much worse before."
"So maybe 'what rings true' isn't so simple," Rory finished.
"Valid point," the Doctor muttered.
And suddenly the TARDIS powered down, leaving them in darkness.
"It's dead," the Doctor breathed, "We're in a dead time machine."
"Oh not again," the Professor sighed, though more irritated than frightened this time.
And then the birdsong returned.
"Remember," the Doctor turned to the humans as they held each other, his own hand taking the Professor's, "This is real, but when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels."
"It is real," Amy nodded, "I know it's real."
~8~
The Doctor and Professor were standing in the middle of the road as a group of school children passed by. Amy and Rory woke up on a bench just outside the library.
"Ok," Amy got up, "This is the real one, definitely this one," she rubbed her stomach, "It's all solid."
"It felt solid in the TARDIS too," the Professor remarked with a frown, glancing at the Doctor.
"You can't spot a dream while you're having it," he waved his fingers in front of his face.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked.
"Looking for motion blur, pixilation," the Professor explained.
The Doctor nodded, "It could be a computer simulation."
She frowned, "I don't think so, though."
"Hello, doctor," an old woman greeted as she walked by.
"Hi," the Doctor smiled.
"Hello," Rory waved.
The woman paused to look at the Doctor oddly before continuing on.
"You're a doctor?" the Professor smiled at Rory, recalling what he'd told her about his aspirations to become one.
"Yeah," he smiled back before turning to the Doctor, "And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams."
"A doctor, not a nurse," he eyed Rory, "Just like you've always dreamed. How interesting," he turned and walked away.
"What is?"
"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream."
"It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it, Amy?"
"Yes," Amy answered, a bit too quickly and tensely for the Time Lords not to notice, "Course it is, yeah."
"What's that?" the Doctor pointed over his shoulder at the building behind him.
"Old people's home."
They turned to look at the home, spotting several residents at the windows, looking back at them.
"You said everyone here lives to their 90s," the Professor remarked, "There's something here that doesn't make sense."
The Doctor grinned, excited, "Let's go and poke it with a stick!" he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the home, Rory following with a groan.
"Oh," Amy put her hand on her back, "Can we not do the running thing?"
But they'd already run in. She sighed and made her way after them, following them into a lounge area where quite a few old people were sitting around, relaxing.
"Oh, hello, Dr. Williams," one of the residents greeted Rory as they entered.
"Hello, Rory, love," an old woman looked up at him, smiling from where she was knitting.
"Hello, Mrs. Poggit," Rory walked over to her, "How's your hip?"
"A bit stiff."
"Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus..." the Doctor began but the Professor quickly put a hand to his mouth, stopping him. She gave him a smile, kissing the back of her hand before he pulled it away, dropping a kiss of his own onto her palm, smiling at her and turned back to the residents, "No, right, you don't have that yet, forget that."
"Who's your friend?" Mrs. Poggit asked Rory, "A junior doctor?"
Rory grinned, smug, "Yes."
"Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson."
The Doctor knelt down before her as she put a jumper over his head, "Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out."
The Professor looked at the woman closely, her eyes still able to assess at least, "You're incredibly old, aren't you?"
The residents looked over at her as the birdsong began, the four of them falling to the floor.
~8~
They woke up, leaning against the console, "Ok, I hate this," Amy groaned, "Stop it, because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?"
The Doctor stood up and moved to the upper level controls.
"It's bloody cold," Rory complained a bit.
"The heating's off," he called.
"The heating's off?"
"Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do."
"Yes, sorry about Mrs. Poggit. She's so lovely though."
"Oh, I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you," the Professor warned as she looked at the console.
"What do you mean, 'act?'" Amy frowned.
"Everything's off, sensors, core power..." the Doctor grumbled.
"We're drifting," the Professor added, "The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere."
The Doctor frowned, heading over to her, "Someone, something, is overriding our controls."
A short, tubby man with a receding hairline and a tweed jacket, stripped shirt, and a big bow tie appeared at the top of the steps to the halls, "Well, that took a while," he remarked as they spun to face him, watching him walk down to them, "Honestly, I'd heard such good things about the two of you. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm and his Academic Bonded, I'd have thought for sure YOU would have figured it out," he eyed the Professor, disappointed, before continuing, "Him in the bow tie, her with the blaster…"
"How did you get into my…" the Doctor began.
"Our," the Professor reminded.
"Our TARDIS? What are you?"
"What shall we call me?" the man wondered, "Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord."
"Nice look."
"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties?"
The Professor plucked an item off the console and tossed it at him, it passed through him, "Interesting."
"Finally," he rolled his eyes, "Some of those infamous brains seep through. Though I was so hoping to be impressed, but Dream Lord? It's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there," he reappeared behind them, "And yet, very much here."
"We'll do the talking, thank you," the Doctor glared, "Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?"
"Um," Amy fished, "Dream Lord. He creates dreams."
"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks…"
"And what about the gooseberry here, does he get a guess?" the Dream Lord nodded at Rory.
"Listen, mate, if anyone's the gooseberry around here, it's the Doctor," Rory remarked.
"There's a delusion I'm not responsible for."
"No, he is. Isn't he, Amy?"
"Oh, Amy, have to sort your men out. Choose, even."
"I have chosen," Amy stated, her gaze flickering to the Professor, "Of course I've chosen," she smacked Rory on the chest, "It's you, stupid."
"Oh, good, thanks," Rory remarked.
"You can't fool me," the Dream Lord smirked, "I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face."
"Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" the Doctor tensed, sensing the Professor tensing as well.
"Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground."
"Am I?"
"If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the 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. Where was I?"
"You were..." Rory started.
The Dream Lord appeared on the upper level, "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. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep," they started to fall to the ground as the birdsong began, "Oh, or are you waking up?"
~8~
They woke up in the now empty lounge, all the elderly gone.
The Dream Lord entered, dressed in a suit with an x-ray in his hand, "Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this x-ray. Your brain is completely see through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."
"Always?" Amy frowned, "What do you mean, always?"
"Now then, the prognosis is this," he looked at the Doctor as he sat down in Poggit's chair, "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?"
"What happens?" Rory asked.
"You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality."
"Have you met the Doctor before?" Amy turned to him, "Do you know him? Doctor, does he?"
"Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy. Never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning," and with that, he disappeared.
"Ok, I don't like him," Rory remarked.
Amy crossed her arms and looked at the Doctor, "Who is he?"
"Don't know," he shrugged as the Professor sat on the chair's armrest in thought, his arm automatically going around her waist, "It's a big Universe."
"Why is he doing this?"
"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," he pulled the jumper off.
"What does he mean, 'deadly danger?'" Rory frowned, "Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously."
"They've all gone..." the Professor remarked, "They've all gone!" she grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him out of the room, the others following as they ran out onto the road, looking around to where the children were playing on the local ruins with their teacher.
"Why would they leave?" Rory asked.
"And what did you mean about Mrs. Poggit's act?" Amy asked.
"One of my tawdry quirks," the Doctor nodded, "Picked up from the Professor, sniffing out things that aren't what they seem. So come on, let's think."
"The mechanics of this split we're stuck in..." the Professor began, "Time asleep matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams."
"And we're dreaming the same dream at the same time," Rory tried to follow along.
"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "Sort of communal trance..."
The Professor shook her head, "But those are very rare."
He had to agree, "And very complicated."
"There must be a dream giveaway though, somewhere..."
"We'd have spotted it by now but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull! We're slowing down.."
"Speak for yourself," the Professor scoffed.
"...like you two have!" the Doctor continued, ignoring her as he gestured at Amy and Rory.
Amy suddenly grabbed her stomach, "Oh. Ow. Really. Ow!" she screamed, "It's coming."
"Help her, you're a doctor!" the Doctor turned to Rory, frantic.
"You're a doctor!" he countered.
"You're both doctors," the Professor reminded them with just a faint smile on her face at the ploy in the works.
The Doctor turned and squatted down before Amy, as though to catch the baby should it fall out, "What do we do?"
Amy stood up, calm, "Ok, it's not coming."
The Doctor stood as well, "What?"
"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet. So don't you call it dull again, ever. Ok?"
"Sorry."
"Yeah," she walked off and Rory followed.
"Never upset a pregnant woman," the Professor told the Doctor sagely, "You'd think you'd have learned that dealing with Mayra."
He paled even more, "Don't remind me."
He'd spent the better part of the pregnancy hiding in the Professor's rooms in the Academy, trying to avoid her rampant cousin. Very near the end, Mayra had been on a war path if someone so much as looked at her funny. He did feel bad about seemingly abandoning her for so long during a crucial part of her pregnancy, but…she was mad scary and he wanted to at least live to see the birth of his child.
He looked over to see the Professor looking at the ruins, watching Poggit head towards them before moving to join Amy over by the swings. The Doctor moved to take the swing beside Amy before Rory could but the Professor somehow managed to beat him to it, sending Amy a small triumphant smile in the process.
"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room," the Doctor remarked as he leaned against the side of the swing.
"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby," Amy snapped.
"No, no. The hormones seem real, but no. Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail?" he started to smile before looking at the Professor, "You hold him down, I'll cut it off."
"And trust you with scissors?" she laughed, "Not on your life. Knowing you, you'd end up cutting him bald and nicking one of your own arteries in the process."
"That only happened once!"
She shook her head and laughed, "And that's only because I never let you near scissors again after!"
She'd had collected a doll or two on Gallifrey and would often get bored with their unchanging hair styles and try to fix them up herself. The Doctor had walked in on her once and, being so incredibly bored at the moment, asked to help…the rest was a sad affair involving a pair of shears, a mutilated doll, the Doctor half bleeding to death on her floor, and a relative fear of ever letting him near anyone's hair with anything even remotely sharp.
He pouted and Amy laughed.
"This from the man in the bow tie," Rory muttered.
"Bow ties are cool," the Doctor remarked, looking over at Mrs. Poggit as she watched the children, "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs. Poggit as a babysitter."
The Professor frowned, "What's she doing? What does she want?"
The birdsong began again.
"Oh, no, here we go," Amy groaned.
~8~
The Doctor and Professor stood at the console, trying to get it to work when Amy and Rory woke.
"It's really cold," Amy rubbed her arms, "Have you got any warm clothing?"
"What does it matter if we're cold?" the Doctor snapped, "We have to know what she is up to!"
"Doctor," the Professor put a hand on his shoulder.
He dropped his head onto it and she moved her hand to run through his hair quickly before he straightened, "Sorry. Sorry."
"There should be some stuff down there," she nodded at a chest by the wall, "Have a look."
Amy turned and moved to the chest down where the Professor had nodded with Rory as the Doctor moved to the space under the console and looked around. He spotted a box with a crank and pulled it, the crank fell off and the box opened, showing a number of odds and ends inside. He gathered them up and carried them back to the Professor, the two of them getting to work building something. A few moments later, they had just completed it when Amy came back, a handful of blankets in her arms.
"I could only find three…" Amy remarked, setting the blankets down.
The Doctor nodded and handed the gadget to Rory, "Ah, Rory, wind," and then gave Amy a wire connected to it, "Amy, could you attach this to the monitor, please."
"I was promised amazing worlds," Rory sighed, "Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitchen windup device."
"It's a generator," the Professor smiled at him reassuringly, "Get winding."
"It's not enough," Amy called from the monitor.
"Rory, wind," the Doctor called.
"Why is the Dream Lord picking on you?" Rory asked as he wound faster, "Why us?"
The monitor flickered to life, revealing a starscape, Amy frowned, looking at it, "Where are we?"
"We're in trouble," the Doctor breathed as he and the Professor spotted a large, white star looming.
"What is that?" Rory asked.
"A star," the Professor replied, "A cold star," she sighed, "And we've no environment checks so…" she walked over to the door and opened it. A blinding light shown through it, gusts of cold air rushing in, "That's why we're freezing. It's not a malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun," she shoved the door closed.
"That's our danger for this version of reality," the Doctor nodded.
"This must be the dream," Amy decided, "There is no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn."
"So's this one. It's just burning cold."
"Is that possible?" Rory shook his head.
"I can't know everything. Why does everybody expect me to, always?" he turned to sit on the jump seat dejectedly.
The Professor sighed, "Not even I know if that's possible," she told them.
"Ok," Rory nodded, "This is something you haven't seen before. So does that mean this is the dream?"
"Don't know," the Doctor shrugged, "But there it is, and I'd say we've got about 14 minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."
"Because you know how to get us out of this?"
"Because we'll have frozen to death," the Professor winced, having to tell them that.
"Then what'll we do?" Amy asked.
The Doctor stood and took out a stethoscope, pressing it to the console, "Stay calm. Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle we have to lose."
"Oh, this is so you, isn't it?" Rory scoffed.
"What?"
"What, a weird new star, 14 minutes left to live, and only you two to save the day. I just wanted a nice village and a family."
"Oh, dear, Doctor," the Dream Lord appeared behind him, "Dissent in the ranks. There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He ran from his love and..." he stopped, hearing the birdsong, "Oh, no, we've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here."
~8~
The Doctor and Professor rushed up the steps of the ruins, looking around at the now empty area, "Where have the children gone?" the Doctor breathed, running over to a few small piles of dirt and cloth, sonicing them as the Professor looked at them sadly, not needing to touch them to know what they were.
"Don't know," Rory shrugged as he and Amy joined them, "Play time's probably over," he looked at Amy, "You see, this is the real one. I just feel it," he turned to look out at the village, "Don't you feel it?"
"I feel it both places," she replied.
"I feel it here. It's just so tranquil and relaxed. Nothing bad could ever happen here."
"Not really me, though, is it? Would I be happy settling down in a place with a pub, two shops and a really bad amateur dramatics society? That's why I got pregnant, so I don't have to see them doing 'Oklahoma.' Doctor, what are you doing? And what are those piles of dust?"
"Play time's definitely over," the Professor murmured as the Doctor let a handful of dust fall through his fingers.
"Oh, my God," Amy gasped, realizing what the dust was.
"What happened to them?" Rory gaped, horrified.
The Doctor stood, looking out to the village where the elderly were walking along the path, "I think they did."
"They're just old people," Amy shook her head.
"No," the Professor replied, "They're very old people."
The Doctor took her hand and they headed down the steps, "Sorry, Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive."
As the elderly lined up along the path, facing them, the small group headed towards them, when the Dream Lord appeared, "Hello, peasants," he grinned, "What's this, attack of the old people? Oh, that's ridiculous. This has got to be the dream, hasn't it? What do you think, Amy? Let's all jump under a bus and wake up in the TARDIS," he turned to the Professor, "You're all about rushing into danger now, you first!"
"Leave her alone!" the Doctor snapped, glaring at the man as he pulled the Professor behind him.
"Do that again. I love it when he does that. Tall dark hero, 'leave her alone.' What do you think Amy?"
"Just leave her!" Rory tried to defend Amy, not quite as intimidating as the Doctor though.
"Yes, you're not quite so impressive. But I know where your heart lies, don't I, Amy Pond?"
"Shut up!" Amy frowned, "Just shut up and leave me alone."
"But listen, you're in there. Loves a redhead, the Doctor! Can't wait for the day he gets to be ginger. Has he told you, though, that he prefers a blonde? After all the Professor here was blonde first, so, naturally, that'll always be his favorite…"
The Professor looked at the Doctor, a bit shocked at that new bit of information, she hadn't known that.
"Drop it," the Doctor blushed before clearing his throat, "Drop all of it. I know who you are."
"Course you don't."
"Course I do. No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the Universe who hates me as much as you do."
"Never mind me! Maybe you SHOULD worry about them."
The elderly had arrived.
"Hi," Rory greeted as they stepped closer, the Dream Lord disappearing.
"Hello," the Doctor added, "We were wondering where you went. To get reinforcements! Are you alright? You look a bit tense."
"Hello, Mr. Nainby!" Rory smiled, stepping towards one of the old men.
"Rory..." the Professor warned.
"Mr. Nainby ran the sweet shop. He used to slip me the odd free toffee," Nainby grabbed Rory by the collar and lifted him up, "Did I not say thank you?" and threw him back onto the mud, "How did he do that?" he quickly got to his feet.
"I suspect he's not himself," the Doctor remarked, "Don't get comfortable here. You may have to run. Fast."
"Can't we just talk to them?" Amy tried when the elderly opened their mouths to reveal a green, reptilian eye, "There is an eye in her mouth!"
The Doctor soniced them, "There's a whole creature inside her. Inside all of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting."
"That is disgusting," Rory grimaced, "They're not going to be peeping out of anywhere else are they?"
Mrs. Poggit leapt forward and shot a green mist at Rory. He jumped back, pulling Amy back with him.
"RUN!" the Professor shouted as she and the Doctor stood in front of the aliens, blocking the elderly as the two ran off.
"Ok, leave them," the Doctor kept his eye on the old people, "Talk to us. Talk to us."
"You are Eknodines," the Professor eyed them, "A proud, ancient race, you are better than this."
"Why are you hiding away here? Why aren't you at home?"
"We were driven from our pl..." Poggit began.
"…planet by upstart neighbors," the Professor nodded, glancing at the Doctor, "That should have been obvious, we learned that in school."
"Did we?" he looked at her.
She rolled her eyes, "We did a project on them," she reminded him, "We dressed up as them for extra points?"
"Oh right!" he smiled, "The Master was really cross that we got better marks than him for that. He tried to sabotage my woodshop project."
"I remember that," she nodded, she still couldn't believe he'd signed up for woodshop, given how much he disliked wood because of how much it interfered with the sonic. But then she shook her head, "Probably not the best time for the nostalgia tour."
"Right yes," he nodded, turning back to the threat at hand, "Sorry, continue."
"We've been..." Nainby continued.
"…been living here inside the bodies of old humans for...years," he sighed, realizing that as well, "No wonder they live so long, you're keeping them alive."
"We were humbled and destroyed," Poggit added, "Now we will do the same to others."
"Ok, makes sense, I suppose. Credible enough, could be real."
A man pushing his bike walked past them, "Morning," and Poggit simply shot her green mist at him, turning him to dust.
"You need to leave this planet," the Professor turned to Poggit, serious, but she just screeched.
~8~
The Doctor and Professor were running down the road as the elderly followed. The Doctor stumbled, nearly falling asleep as he ran, fighting off the birdsong while the Professor simply tensed, having experience being exhausted and fighting to stay awake from her training.
She turned, pulling the Doctor towards a nearby butcher shop, half shoving him in as she turned and flipped the sign to 'closed.'
"Oh, I love a good butcher's don't you?" the Dream Lord appeared behind the counter, dressed every bit the butcher, "We've got to use these places or they'll shut down. But you're probably a vegetarian, you big flop-haired wuss."
"Oi, stuff it!" the Professor snapped as she grabbed a key from a shelf and moved to unlock another door in the back, her hands only just starting to shake from the birdsong.
"Oh, snippy are you? Agitated? Maybe you need a little sleep. Some rest to relax…" the birdsong got louder and the Professor nearly slipped to the floor. The Doctor though, grabbed her, "Oh, wait a moment," and pulled her up, taking the key and unlocking the door, "If you fall asleep here, several dozen angry pensioners will destroy you with their horrible eye things," they managed to get through the door and into the hall, the Doctor sticking his fingers in his ears, "Fingers in the ear? Brilliant!" the Doctor slid down the wall, as the Professor stumbled, "What's next, shouting 'boo?'" he turned and motioned the elderly in, "Come in. Come in. Yes, we've got lots at 'steak' here this week. Lots at steak. Get it?" the Professor let out a groan and pulled the Doctor up, gripping the handle of a freezer, "Are these jokes wasted on you?"
She tugged at the freezer but it was locked, "Wait, stop..." the Doctor mumbled, reaching into his pocket.
"Oh, I can't watch," the Dream Lord lamented, putting his hands over his eyes, but peeking through his fingers at them.
The Doctor soniced the lock and they ran into the room, slamming it shut behind them, locking it again, and falling to the floor as the elderly pounded at the door.
~8~
The Doctor and Professor jolted awake in the TARDIS, Amy and Rory across from them.
Amy grabbed a blanket and clutched it, "Ah, it's colder."
"The four of us have to agree, now, which is the dream," the Professor turned to them, buttoning the Doctor's jacket up.
"It's this, here," Rory said.
"He could be right," Amy nodded, "The science is all wrong here, burning ice?"
"No, no, no, ice can burn, sofas can read, it's a big Universe," the Doctor sighed.
"We have to agree which battle to lose," the Professor corrected, "All of us, now."
"Ok, which world do you think is real?" Amy asked them.
"This one," the Doctor said.
"No, the other one!" Rory countered.
"Yeah, but are you disagreeing, or competing?"
"Competing over what?" Amy frowned.
Rory looked at her while the Doctor kept his eyes on Rory. The Professor looked back and forth, knowing what they were on about. Here, Rory was in an awkward state with Amy while the she and the Doctor were close, but in the dream world, he had the ideal life with Amy and the aliens out of the picture, not that she could blame him for seeing it that way, they did tend to disrupt lives wherever they went.
Amy just rolled her eyes at them and stood.
The Doctor checked his watch, "Nine minutes till impact," he stood up, helping the Professor up as well, buttoning her jacket like she had his.
"What temperature is it?" Amy asked.
"Outside? Brrrr. How many noughts have you got? Inside? I don't know but I can't feel my feet and...other parts."
"I think all my parts are basically fine," Rory remarked.
"Stop competing!"
"Can't we call for help?" Rory picked up the phone.
"Oh yes, because the Universe is really small," the Professor responded lightly, if sarcastically, "There's bound to be someone around," she tapped Rory gently on the head with the phone and put it back.
"Put these on, the lot of you," Amy cut in, tossing them a blanket with a slit in the middle.
"Oh, a poncho," Rory remarked as Amy put one over his head, "The biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen," he frowned, seeing Amy didn't have one, "No, take mine…"
"No…"
"Here Amy," the Professor moved and put her own over Amy, "I'm fine."
"Oh no you don't," the Doctor turned and put his over the Professor, pointing a finger at her as she turned to argue, "No arguments. We don't have time," he glanced at the monitor as the star loomed closer.
The Professor sighed, her eyes on the star, and the Doctor looked at her, concerned, "What is it?"
She shook her head, "Nightmares and new stars," she murmured, glancing at him, "Haven't we done this bit before?"
~/~\~
He frowned, watching her. She was standing before the observation window on the deck of the ship their class had taken for their trip. Any moment now a star would be born and they all had a front row view of it. It was exciting and amazing and he was nearly buzzing to see it…but she wasn't.
He could tell, he could just tell, just by looking at her, that something was wrong. She was pale, and there were little dark spots under her eyes which just looked so tired, slightly red, she seemed dazed, as though she hadn't gotten much sleep. And he knew she hadn't.
Last night she had activated the teddy bear, he'd woken up in the middle of the night to a small light flashing and immediately bolted out of his room. He'd snuck out of his dorm, raced down the halls to her room. He'd come to a bit of a pickle when he got to the door, but managed to pick the lock well enough to get in, thinking that he really should try and find a better way of opening locks, she needed him! The dorm room was almost exactly like every other room, a circular sitting room with four doors, three for the bedrooms and one for the bathroom. He'd looked around, not sure which room was hers, but then he'd heard it, a soft crying sound, and made his way to the first door on the left. He'd tugged on the knob and found it was open, peering in to see her curled up on her bed, clutching the bear, crying, trying to do so as silently as possible so as not to disturb her roommates.
He'd spent the night barely sleeping himself as he tried to calm her down. From what little he'd gotten from her, she'd had a terrible nightmare…about him getting hurt, about someone hurting him, and had to make sure he was ok. But he knew it had shaken her badly, she'd refused to go back to sleep so they'd spent the night talking, well, he talked, a lot, but he did get her to smile twice.
He shook himself out of his thoughts and walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, startling her a bit, "It's alright," he assured her, "Just me," he smiled at her and was rewarded with a little one back, "You ok?"
She took a breath and nodded, but he frowned, she wasn't talking. He'd worked for ages getting her to talk to him, actually talk.
"No you're not," he sighed and she looked away, "That's ok, you know," she looked at him, "It's normal to get scared, nightmares are scary. I get nightmares sometimes."
"You…do?" she asked quietly.
"Oh yeah, everyone does," he nodded, smiling a bit more now that she was talking, "But they're just dreams, they're not real, no matter how much they seem so at first."
She just crossed her arms, uncomfortable, her right hand rubbing her right shoulder as he'd noticed she did when she got uncomfortable.
He reached out and took her hand, placing it on his own right shoulder, letting her feel his right heart beating, "See, I'm fine. I'm not going anywhere," he placed his own right hand on her right heart too, "Neither are you."
She looked down, tears in her eyes, "You can't promise something like that."
He let out a little laugh, "Oh can't I?" she looked up at him, confused, and he just nodded to the window, where a little light grew brighter, the star forming. He reached back to his chest and pulled her hand away, clutching it in his right hand, "You know a promise before a new-born star is unbreakable yeah?" she nodded, "I promise, I will never leave you, never ever."
"R-really?" she clutched his hand.
He nodded, "And if I'm ever forced to leave you, which'll likely be against my will, kicking and screaming," she gave a little laugh at that, "I'll come back. Nothing'll stop me. I'll find you again."
She smiled, "I promise not to leave you too, that I'll come back," she smiled a bit more, "But…I think I'll find you first."
"You will, will you?" he beamed.
She shrugged a bit, "I always find you during 'Hide and Peek.'"
"That's 'Hide and Seek,'" he laughed, making her laugh too.
He squeezed her hand once more and they turned to watch the star as it finished forming, the light shining off it, casting a warm light around the room.
~/~\~
"Yeah we have," the Doctor said softly, kissing the side of her head.
"We're not going to die," Rory muttered, coming to stand by them and look at the monitor, not having heard them.
"No, we're not," the Doctor agreed, checking his watch, getting back to the danger at hand, "But our time's running out. If we fall asleep here, we're in trouble," he started to pace.
"If we could divide up," the Professor spoke in thought, "Then we'd have an active presence in each world…"
"But the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why? Why? What's the logic?"
The Dream Lord appeared in a poncho, pacing alongside the Doctor, "Good idea, sergeant," the Doctor jumped back and stood by the Professor as the Dream Lord faced them, "Let's divide you four up, so I can have a little chat with our lovely Companion and resident Time Lady," Amy and the Professor exchanged an anxious look, "Maybe I'll keep them and you can have pointy nose to yourself for all eternity, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality."
"Can you hear that?" Rory asked as the birdsong began.
"What?" Amy shook her head, "No."
"Doctor…" the Professor turned to him, scared for him more than her.
"Don't worry," he reassured her, "We'll be back."
And then they slumped to the floor.
"About time," the Professor remarked, pulling off her poncho and slipping it around the Doctor now that he couldn't complain.
"Oh, we are going to have so much fun, aren't we?" the Dream Lord grinned.
~8~
The Doctor awoke in the freezer to find the Professor still asleep and curled up beside him. He looked at the door and back to her, before moving to lift her up. He put his arm around her waist, holding her to him, as he flicked the settings of the sonic a moment before throwing the door open and blasting the lamp above the elderly.
They covered their eyes at the explosion and he quickly scooped the Professor into his arms and ran, straight out of the shop and across the street, through another yard and onto a different road where an elderly man was attacking a man in an old VW bus.
"Oh, help, somebody!" the man called.
"You couldn't live near the shops, could you?" the Doctor muttered, holding the Professor closer as he ran over, he quickly put her in the passenger's seat, before racing around and shoving the elderly man away to hop in the driver's seat, "It's ok, it's only me."
He floored it and the bus sped through the village, slowing only when they saw two young women surrounded by elderly. The man in the back slid the back door open.
"Get in!" the Doctor shouted, "Get in, get in. Quickly, quickly, over here. Quickly, come on, jump in. Quick get in now, quickly. Hurry up," the two women ran after the car, jumping in the side as the man slammed the door closed, "Are we in?" he asked, continuing on, only to shake his head, seeing a young family at the corner of another street. He jammed on the brakes, "Come on!" he called, ushering them over, "Let's go, quickly, all four, that's it everyone in!" before taking off again.
~8~
Amy sat on the steps, a layer of ice coating the inside of the TARDIS, as the Professor sat with her back resting against the console, the Doctor's head on her lap, just running her hands through his hair.
"Are you ok?" Amy asked her, shivering a bit. She couldn't understand how the girl seemed so unaffected by the cold. Granted her lips were turning blue, there was ice in her hair, she was clutching her jacket with one hand, but she didn't seem as outwardly effected as her and she didn't even have a poncho!
"Fine," she replied, "We were trained to be able to endure in any extreme."
Amy nodded, the Doctor and Professor had told her about the war, about her training, about the Daleks after they had encountered them with Churchill. They'd spoken of the horrors of the war, exactly what sort of soldier the Professor was, how it ended…she had truly felt for the Professor when she'd said the training, that sort of experience, would never leave her. Some things left such a deep scar on them that it carried over in every incarnation they would have. The Doctor's guilt over what happened to the Time Lords would never go away nor would her training. She would always have it in her, always feel more comfortable with a gun than without, always have the ability to tap into that training when need be…
"Poor Amy," the Dream Lord appeared beside her, "He always leaves you, doesn't he? Alone in the dark. Never apologizes."
"He doesn't have to," she got up and moved away from him.
"That's good, because he never will. The only one he'll ever apologize to for leaving is her," he nodded at the Professor, "She's the only one he'd ever regret leaving for that matter. But now…he's left you both here with me. Spooky old, not-to-be-trusted me," he relocated to a chair, lounging back, in a robe that bared his chest, "Anything could happen."
"Almost anything," the Professor corrected, not even perturbed, as she focused on the Doctor.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Amy demanded, facing him, "The Doctor knows you, but he's not telling me who you are. And he always does. Takes him awhile sometimes, but he tells me. So you're something different."
"Oh, is that who you think you are?" the Dream Lord asked, amused, "The one he trusts?"
"Actually, yes."
He stood, "The one girl in the Universe to whom the Doctor tells everything?"
"Yes."
"So what's his name?"
"You know we're not allowed to tell anyone our names," the Professor remarked.
"But he told you his," the man smirked, "Before you were even Bonded."
She nodded, "As I told him mine."
The Dream Lord smiled and glanced at Amy, nodding at the Professor, "Amy Pond meet the only one he trusts and tells everything to," he disappeared a moment later and appeared between the Doctor and Rory's feet, "So, knowing that, which one of these men would you really choose? Look at them. You ran away with a handsome hero. Would you really give him up for a bumbling country doctor who thinks the only thing he needs to be interesting is a ponytail?"
"Stop it!" Amy glared, even though her heart could hear the truth in his words, she was not going to make the same mistake and lose both the Professor and the Doctor because of it.
"But maybe it's better than loving and losing the Doctor," he stood, "Pick a world and this nightmare will all be over. They'll listen to you. It's you they're waiting for. Amy's choice."
He disappeared, leaving the two women in silence. Amy knelt down by Rory and straightened his poncho, unable to help a glance at the Doctor where the Professor was still stroking his hair.
~8~
The Doctor pulled the bus up in front of a church, quickly shooing everyone out, "Everybody, out, out, out! Into the church, that's right. Don't answer the door."
He then proceeded to drive the bus back towards Amy and Rory's cottage, glancing at the Professor every so often to make sure she was alright. He looked up to see the Dream Lord sitting in the backseat, wearing a racecar driver's suit, his helmet on his lap
"It's make your mind up time in both worlds," he remarked.
"Bye," he glared, "I need to find my friends."
"Friends? Is that the right word for the people you acquire? Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never see you again once they've grown up. The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?"
He disappeared and the Professor jolted awake.
~8~
The Doctor pulled up to the cottage, only to see the elderly laying siege to it. He glanced at the Professor to see her eyeing the building for a way in.
"Ok," she nodded, spotting it and leading him out from the bus.
~8~
Amy gasped as Rory cut his ponytail off, "I was starting to like it!"
The couple looked over at a squeaking noise to see the Doctor and Professor climbing into the yellow nursery through one of the windows.
"It's alright," the Doctor called, falling to the floor, "We had to stop off at the butcher's."
The Professor jumped down beside him, dropping into a crouch automatically before straightening.
"What are we going to do?" Rory asked them.
"I don't know," he sighed, "I thought the freezing TARDIS was real but now I'm not so sure."
Amy gasped, clutching her stomach, "I think the baby's starting."
"Honestly?" Rory turned to her.
"Would I make it up at a time like this?"
"Well, you do have a history of..." she glared at him, "Being very lovely," Amy cried out, "Why are they so desperate to kill us?"
"They're afraid," the Professor said, helping the Doctor up, thinking back to a time when fear had led a group of humans to attack the Doctor, a time when their fear had forced her to do an unspeakable thing to save him, sacrifice what was left of a human life, "Fear generates savagery."
The Doctor squeezed her hand tightly, knowing she was thinking about their trip to Midnight.
A piece of garden statuary flew through the window. Rory ran over to check and Poggit popped up, shooting him in the shoulder with the green mist. He fell back with a groan, stumbling away and dropping to the ground by Amy as the Professor ran over, whacking Poggit with a lamp only for the woman to spit the green mist at her as she fell back, striking her right in the chest.
"No!" the Doctor shouted, running to the Professor's side as she slumped down the wall, "Professor!"
She winced, her body already starting to dissolve from the direct hit, "This wasn't how I wanted to go…"
"And how was that," he grabbed her hand.
"Kicking and screaming," she laughed a bit, looking at him, serious, squeezing his hand, "You know what to do," he nodded, "I love you."
"I love you too," he breathed as she fell into dust before he could even kiss her goodbye.
"Rory!" Amy wept at her husband's side, the Doctor wiped his eyes and turned to look at Amy as Rory fought the disintegration.
"No!" he groaned, "I'm not ready…" he started to dissolve.
"Stay…"
"Look after our baby…" he breathed before dissolving.
"No. No. Come back!" Amy looked at him, tears in her eyes, "Save him. You save everyone. You always do. It's what you do."
"Not always," he swallowed hard, glancing at the Professor's pile of ash, "I'm sorry."
"Then what is the point of you?" she demanded, before taking a breath and pushing herself up, "This is the dream. Definitely, this one. Now, if we die here, we wake up, yeah?"
He nodded, "Unless we just die."
"Either way, this is my only chance of seeing him again. This is the dream."
"How do you know?"
"Because if this is real life, I don't want it. I don't want it."
"I agree," he breathed, placing a gentle hand on the Professor's ashes and getting up. He turned, following Amy down the stairs and out of the house where the elderly made no move to attack.
"Why aren't they attacking?" Amy asked.
"Either because this is just a dream or because they know what we're about to do," he sighed as they walked to the car, Amy held out her hand, "Be very sure. This could be the real world."
"It can't be. Rory isn't here. I didn't know. I didn't, I didn't, I honestly didn't, till right now. I just want him."
The Doctor nodded, "He's a lucky man," he remarked, "Took me a nearly century to realize I loved the Professor," he handed her the keys.
She nodded and moved to the driver's side, getting in and starting the car as the Doctor got into the passenger's side.
"I love Rory, and I never told him, but now he's gone," Amy murmured, flooring it, before turning the wheel and plowing the car into the side of the house.
~8~
There was a thick layer of ice covering everything in the TARDIS as they woke up, slowly opening their eyes. Amy reached out her hand to Rory, clasping his hand as the Doctor pushed himself to his knees beside the nearly frozen Professor and hugging her tightly to him, shaking his head as he realized just why he had a poncho on when he was sure he'd given his to her.
"So..." the Dream Lord appeared, "You chose this world. Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Fair's fair. Let's warm you up," he walked over to the console and pushed a lever, restoring the power and starting to melt the ice, "I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imagination, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw. Farewell," he disappeared.
The Doctor stood slowly, helping the Professor to her feet as they both started to work the controls.
Amy and Rory knelt, facing one another, "Something happened," Rory frowned, "I...what happened to me? I..." Amy just pulled him into her arms, "Oh. Oh, right. This is good. I am liking this. Was it something I said?" she pulled back and just looked at him softly, "Can you tell what it was so I can use it in emergencies? And maybe birthdays."
The TARDIS started up again and they looked over, "What are we doing now?" Amy asked.
"Us?" the Professor grinned a bit, "We're going to blow up the TARDIS."
"What?" Rory's eyes widened.
"Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was?" the Doctor remarked, "Okay, there was misinformation, red herrings, malice, and I could have done without the limerick, but he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality!"
"What are you doing?" Amy gasped.
"Doctor!" Rory shouted, "The Dream Lord conceded. This isn't the dream!"
"Yes, it is," the Professor nodded.
Amy looked at Rory, "Stop them!"
"Stars burning cold," the Doctor scoffed, "Do me a favor!"
"The Dream Lord has no power over the real world," the Professor explained, "He was offering us a choice between two dreams."
"How do you know that?" Amy asked.
"Because I couldn't scan anything in either so called reality."
"And…" the Doctor added, "I know who he is."
He pulled a lever and the TARDIS exploded.
~8~
The Doctor was leaning against the console, his hand out as the Professor pushed around something in it when Amy and Rory came down the steps from the hall.
"Any questions?" the Doctor asked.
"What's that?" Amy nodded at the small, glittering bits in his hand.
"Specks of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava," the Professor assessed, smiling, happy she could once again scan things.
"Must have been hanging around for ages," the Doctor nodded, "Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us," he went to the door and blew them into space.
"So that was the Dream Lord then, those little specks?" Rory frowned.
"No, no. No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me."
"Psychic pollen, it's a mind parasite," the Professor explained, "It feeds on everything dark in you. Gives it a voice, turns it against you."
"I'm 907. It had a lot to go on."
He was actually quite relieved it had seemed to take on his more recent thoughts and nothing from the war. The dreams the Dream Lord had provided had finally forced Amy to make her choice, to pick the man she truly loved, Rory. She could say all she wanted that she picked Rory and chose Rory and loved Rory, but now...now she truly believed it and realized it was true. The Professor had begun the process of helping Amy realize that, by turning her attention away from him and warning her off, but the he, or at least the Dream Lord, had succeeded in finishing it, making it real. Now Amy could see what he and the Professor had known, that Rory was the one for her.
"But why didn't it feed on us, too?" Amy shook her head.
"Darkness in you pair?" the Doctor nearly laughed, "It would've starved to death in an instant."
The Professor nodded, "We choose our friends with great care."
"Otherwise we're stuck with our own company, and you know how that works out."
"Just be happy it got the Doctor and not me," the Professor added, very thankful it had happened that way.
"Why?" Rory frowned.
"I guarantee you wouldn't have survived my darkness."
Rory eyed her a moment, before shaking his head, "I can't quite see you having a darkness."
She smiled, truly touched, "Thank you Rory."
"But," Amy cut in, looking at the Doctor, "Those things he said about you. You don't think any of that's true?"
The Doctor didn't answer.
The Professor walked over to him, "Doctor…" she got his attention, "While you may be a tawdry quirked, cockamamie haired, badly dressed, gooseberry…"
"Is this supposed to cheer me up?" he frowned at her.
"You're MY tawdry quirked, cockamamie haired, badly dressed, gooseberry and I wouldn't have you or your madcap vehicle any other way," he grinned at her, "And on another note…while the Dream Lord may be the one person in the Universe who hates you as much as he did…there is NO ONE in the Universe who loves you as much as I do," and with that she gave him a deep kiss which was only broken by the Doctor's inability to stop smiling into it.
Amy smiled lightly, watching them, she could see it now. How much they loved each other, how much they needed each other. The Doctor needed her to pull him out of his guilt at times while she needed the Doctor to remind herself that no matter the darkness within there was always light as well.
"There's still one thing I don't understand," Rory said after a moment, "'Cos what I don't get is you blew up the TARDIS, that stopped that dream, but what stopped the Leadworth dream?"
"Amy?" the Doctor grinned, pulling the Professor to his side, "You want to take that one?"
Amy turned to Rory, blushing, slightly embarrassed, "We crashed the camper van."
"Oh, right," Rory nodded with a frown, "I don't remember that bit."
"No, you weren't there, you were already..."
"Already what?"
"Dead," she swallowed hard, "You died in that dream. Mrs. Poggit got you."
"Ok...but how did you know it was a dream? Before you crashed the van, how did you know you wouldn't just die?"
"I didn't," she admitted.
Rory's eyes widened, "Oh."
"Yeah."
And then he smiled, realizing something more, he reached out and took her hands, "Oh."
"Yeah, 'Oh.'"
Rory leaned in and kissed her, Amy quickly kissing him back as the Doctor and Professor watched with smiles.
"So..." the Doctor applauded, "Well, then, where now? Or should we just pop down to the swimming pool for a few lengths?"
"I don't know," Rory shook his head, the smile still etched on his face, "Anywhere's good for me. I'm happy anywhere. It's up to Amy this time. Amy's choice."
The Doctor clapped his hands and turned to the controls, pausing when he saw the Dream Lord smile back at him in his reflection. But then a hand landed on top of it. He looked up to see the Professor look at him before she gave him a peck.
"You know," she began, smiling at him, "I think I'd like to finally get some use out of that swimming pool," she remarked. She hadn't gotten a chance to use it since they'd fallen into it when the TARDIS crashed. They'd rushed off to the Starship UK, then got called to Churchill's office where she'd broken her hand and so swimming had been out of the question due to her cast, till only recently.
"That's alright," Amy told her, "I think Rory and I'd just like some time together," she took Rory's hand and squeezed it, smiling at him.
The Professor nodded and took the Doctor's hand, "Come on you," she tugged him to the steps, "We're going swimming, right now."
"But..."
"No ifs, ands, or buts about it."
"Our swimwear is in our room," he reminded her.
The Professor just gave him a peck, "We won't be needing the swimwear," she whispered and suddenly she was the one being tugged along by him, down the various halls to the library, which still held the swimming pool in the center of it.
The Doctor didn't even wait before running for the pool, pulling her in with him, both of them still completely clothed. The Professor laughed as she resurfaced, that hadn't exactly been her intention.
"Oh I know," the Doctor said, catching her thought as he swam over to her, "But you, my dear, are far too tempting," he swam closer to her still, till she was practically against the wall of the pool.
"And you, my love, are just lucky my blaster is waterproof," she whispered, reaching out to put her arms around his neck, "Or else I'd be very cross with you...again."
He let out a little groan, dropping his head onto her shoulder, "Of course, bring up the image of you with a blaster now," he nuzzled the side of her neck, "Tempting, that's all I'm saying."
She sighed contentedly as he started to place small kisses on her neck, "Now who's being tempting?" she breathed.
He grinned against her skin, "Still you," he pulled back, looking into her eyes, "Always you," before leaning in and kissing her deeply...
A/N: I was debating having a Dream Lady appear as well, but I felt like I sort of wanted this to be the Doctor's way of making Amy see she loved Rory, much like the Professor had helped Amy see that she couldn't have the Doctor in the previous chapter. And, like the Professor said, with all she's seen and done during the war, they probably wouldn't have survived a Dream Lady's world because she would NEVER harm the Doctor or put him in danger, so they'd basically be on their own in dealing with her darkness.
I love how the Doctor and Professor get off topic when dealing with enemies or when put in dangerous situations, like they forget they're facing a threat when they're with each other, because they know they're safe with the other there. But, idk, if it's too unrealistic, let me know :)
As for the swimming pool...well...I'll just leave it up to your imaginations what else they get into there...