Chapter2

He woke up with a start, sweat pouring off of him. He glanced around his bedchamber to make sure he was really there. "Rassilon, that was so real!" He took a deep breath, and tried to calm his hearts. He checked the time, barely an hour had passed. No wonder he didn't feel refreshed. Some cocoa should help. He got up, put a dressing gown on (silently wondering why, since no one else was aboard, and the TARDIS didn't care...) and padded off to the galley to make himself a cuppa.

As he sat in the galley sipping his cocoa, he contemplated his dream. He was, of course, intelligent enough to realise that such dreams were simply the unconscious manifestations of his actual concerns.

"She's happy," he said aloud, to no one in particular, "she told me so. Time to think about something else." And so he tried to. He concentrated on the time-lines swirling around in his mind and could find nothing amiss. He listened to his TARDIS and could find nothing that required any tinkering with. Finally he felt himself growing tired again. "Good," he thought, "A nice nap will set me right again."

He padded back to his bedchamber and climbed into bed. Before long, he was fast asleep.

He woke up in yet another back yard, it was evening. He looked to his side and saw a woman. "OK, Susan – should I call you Susan? What now?"

The woman turned to face him, her face illuminated by the fading sunset. It took his breath away. "Romana?!"

She smiled sweetly at him. "Doctor! How you've changed! You're actually physically attractive this time around. How pleasant!"

He shook his head. "I know you are simply the manifestations of my thoughts. If I think hard enough, I'll wake up in my bedchamber, and you'll be gone."

"Why then go ahead and do it," she replied, the sarcasm dripping from each word. "Get rid of me, if you think you can."

He tried. He really did. He pinched himself until he was sure he'd left a bruise. He slapped himself, hard enough to have done Jackie Tyler proud. Nothing happened. He looked at Romana wearily. "Alright, where are we?"

"Are you talking philosophically or geographically?"

He rolled his eyes. "Both."

"We're at Rose and Jonathan's new home. They're just about ready to take their first tour. Shall we watch?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"No."

Suddenly they were in the master bedroom. Rose walked into the room, stared at the wall, and gasped. The Doctor looked where she was staring, and gasped as well. "Bad Wolf," he read.

"Sshh..." said Romana, "watch and listen."

He watched events play out in front of them. He was a little relieved to see that Rose hadn't been embellishing when she said the Bad Wolf had communicated to her that it had helped to create Jonathan and that things were meant to be the way they were. But when Jon proposed, he was a little shocked, "He stole that gem from me!"

"What do you care?" Romana asked, "You got it for her, then put it away. You wouldn't even know he had it if we weren't right here, right now."

"I'd have missed it eventually!" he said defensively. But he knew she was right.

Suddenly they were out in the yard, eavesdropping on Jon and Rose's evening conversation. Romana remarked, "She really is a brilliant young woman. I can see why you chose her."

The Doctor nodded. "I always knew there was something about her, something very special, but I could never quite put my finger on it."

"She's very perceptive," Romana observed, "and very selfless. That's why the Time Vortex interacted with her the way it did. Her motives for looking into it were pure."

The Doctor arched an eyebrow. "I wouldn't call putting things in motion to create my clone an unselfish act."

"Actually, it was. Both of them are necessary to your future. And you are necessary to Creation."

"'Creation' implies a 'Creator'. Are you telling me she's right about the Time Vortex being God?"

Romana smiled at him in the starlight. "That isn't for you to know right now. Let's move forward, shall we?" They moved forward in time to a remarkably sunny day in the same backyard. It was a festive occasion, with flowers, ribbons, and balloons, and a quartet was playing. People were in formal wear. It was Jon and Rose's wedding day. Romana took the Doctor's hand and they walked near the gathering of people. They watched as Pete led Rose down the aisle, a small girl bore flowers and a young boy bore the ring.

"That must be Tony," the Doctor whispered. Rose and Jon could be seen discretely scanning the crowd, "are they looking for me?" he wondered. Rose looked radiant. Her blond hair was in long ringlets and adorned with fresh sky-blue flowers. Her dress was a long, sleeveless cream-colored silk gown that hinted at slinky without being too much so. Jon wore a cream-colored tux with silk lapels that matched Rose's gown and a light blue shirt that matched the flowers in her hair. They exchanged vows, and the small crowd gave a thunderous ovation as they kissed. As they proceeded down the aisle and waited to greet people, Romana drew him near to them.

"This was so perfect," they overheard Rose telling Jon, "if only he were here."

"I'm a little surprised that he isn't," Jon agreed. "It would have been nice to share this with him."

Romana took his hand and whispered, "Time to leave."

He woke up in his own bed. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. He sat up and wiped them away. Were these dreams, was he simply seeing what he wanted to? "At any rate," he said aloud, "they're much better than the nightmares I usually have." Two more hours had gone by. He debated with himself whether he should bother trying to sleep any more. "I'll read a bit. Then I'll try to sleep again."