Chapter Twenty:

Scarlett let out a relaxed sigh as she sunk into the couch in the TARDIS's TV room. After the whole 'fish from space in Venice' fiasco, the Doctor decided that they should all take a day or two off to relax and unwind. Naturally, the Leadworth group agreed wholeheartedly.

Amy and Rory had chosen to lounge in their room and the Doctor was doing God knows what, and so Scarlett decided it was time for popcorn and Netflix. After taking at least twenty minutes to choose what to watch – she eventually settled for Modern Family – Scarlett lifted up her bowl of popcorn and lay back, completely ready to watch the adventures of three of the funniest families on television.

"Sir, please tell your wife to calm down."

Scarlett laughed. She had just reached the point of the episode where Cam and Mitchell accidentally locked their daughter Lily in the car when she heard it. It sounded like… birds singing. After concluding that the noise was not, in fact, coming from the television, Scarlett frowned.

"Do you know where that's coming from?" Scarlett asked the TARDIS. She had been told many times by the Doctor that the TARDIS was, in fact, alive and sentient. The TARDIS gave a small hum in response, which Scarlett took as a no.

Sighing, she made to sit up, but her body fell back down instantly like it was made of jelly. This couldn't be possible. There couldn't be birds in the TARDIS. But when she tried to get up again to investigate, a huge wave of exhaustion fell over her and her eyelids started to close. The bowl of popcorn fell from Scarlett's hands and clattered to the floor as, a little further away in the TARDIS, the Doctor had collapsed over the controls, and Amy and Rory had passed out in their bedroom; Amy hanging off the bed and Rory on the floor.

Each of them had just expected a day of relaxation but instead, they were in for one exhausting adventure.

"Rory's going to kill us when he sees this mess," Scarlett laughed as she passed the mixing bowl to Amy.

"Yeah, well, he's going to be cleaning it up either way so I don't care," she shrugged, leaning over her pregnant stomach to look at the contents of the bowl.

Scarlett let out a laugh in response as she did her best to clear up some of the mess for Rory. She was just about to put the carton of eggs back in the fridge when Amy gasped and set the bowl down on the table.

"Amy? What's wrong?"

Instead of responding, the ginger clutched her stomach and yelled at the top of her voice. "RORY-Y-Y-Y-Y! Rory, it's starting!"

As if by magic, Rory then ran inside to find Amy eating batter from a bowl as Scarlett rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"False alarm," Amy shrugged.

"What?" Rory asked; his eyes wide.

"False alarm," Scarlett repeated.

"What?"

"Well, I don't know what it feels like. I've never had a baby before," Amy reasoned, feeding Rory some of the batter off of the spoon.

Scarlett smiled at the couple before a whooshing sound from outside caught their attention.

"Oh my God," Scarlett said.

"I know – leaf blowers. Use a rake!" Rory rolled his eyes.

"No, it's…" Amy said as she stood up and looked out of the window to see the TARDIS.

"I knew," she continued. "I just knew."

They each turned to smile at each other before Rory and Scarlett ran outside, leaving Amy to hobble after them.

"Rory!" said the Doctor as he stepped out of the TARDIS.

"Doctor," Rory grinned.

"And Scarlett! Hello, you," the Time Lord smiled, pulling them both in for a hug. "I've crushed your flowers."

"Oh, Amy will kill you," said Rory.

"Where is she?"

"She'll need a bit longer," Scarlett told him.

"Whenever you're ready, Amy," he called as she stumbled out of the house, "Oh, wahey! You've swallowed a planet!"

"I'm pregnant," she frowned.

"You're huge!"

"Yeah, I'm pregnant."

"Look at you! When worlds collide."

"Doctor, she's pregnant," said Scarlett.

"Oh, look at you lot. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit. Apart from age and," he paused to glance at Amy's stomach, "size."

"Good to see you, Doctor," Amy smiled.

There was a slight pause before the Doctor said, "Are you pregnant?"

Scarlett laughed and shook her head as Rory rolled his eyes.

"Come on then," said the English man before leading the way down a village lane.

"Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever," said the Doctor sarcastically.

"It's Upper Leadworth, actually," Rory said, as if that were any better, "We've gone slightly upmarket."

"Where is everyone?" asked the Doctor.

"This is busy," Amy said before adding, "Okay, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their 90's."

"Well, don't let that get you down," he shrugged.

"It's not getting me down," she replied.

"It's getting me down," Scarlett mumbled as her friends sat down on a bench, leaving no room for her. With a dramatic sigh, Scarlett decided to make do with what she had, and perched herself on top of them. She was sitting on one of the Doctor's legs and one of Rory's.

"I wanted to see how you were," said the Doctor as he wrapped an arm around Scarlett's waist to keep her upright. "I 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."

"You came here by mistake, didn't you?" Scarlett asked.

"Yeah, bit of a mistake," he admitted, "But look, what a result. Look at this… bench. What a nice bench. What will they think of next?"

Scarlett snickered as the group just sat there; bored with nothing to say.

"So," the Doctor tried again, "What do you do around here to stave off the, you know –"

"Boredom?" asked Amy as the Doctor opted for "Self harm."

Scarlett's laugh grew louder and Rory did his best to speak over it.

"We relax," he said. "We live, we listen to the birds."

"Yeah, see? Birds. Those are nice," said Amy, though anyone could hear the doubt in her voice.

"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days," said Rory as the birdsong around them grew louder.

"Oh, blimey. My head's a bit…" said the Doctor as drowsiness fell over all of them. "No, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good… old… days."

As soon as the last word had left his lips, the group fell asleep instantly on the cold, hard bench.

Scarlett's eyes snapped open and she found herself back in the TARDIS in the TV room with her popcorn splattered all across the floor. Modern Family was still playing as if she had been watching it the entire time. Shaking her head, Scarlett stood up quickly and made her way to the console room, set on asking the Doctor what had just happened.

When she met up with him, Amy and Rory had just entered.

"What? No, yes, sorry, what?" the Doctor said to nobody in particular. "Oh, you're all okay. Oh, thank God. I had a terrible nightmare about you lot. That was scary. Don't ask; you don't want to know. You're safe now," he sighed in relief before pulling the two girls into a hug.

"Oh, okay," said Amy in confusion.

"That's what counts. Blimey, never dropped off like that before. Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you. Now, what's wrong with the console?" the Doctor continued as he examined the console. "Red flashing lights... I bet they mean something."

"Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing," said Rory, much to Scarlett's surprise.

"Yeah, so did I," added Amy.

"And me," nodded Scarlett.

"Not a nightmare, though, just… we were married," Rory said to Amy.

"Yeah, in a little village."

"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant."

"Yeah, I was huge," nodded Amy. "I was a boat. And Scarlett lived next door."

"And we were baking and you said Rory would clean up the mess," Scarlett frowned. How could they all have had the same dream?

"You what?" Rory said, looking somewhat offended before shaking his head to clear his thoughts. "So, you both had the same dream, then? Exactly the same dream?"

"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy said forcefully.

"And Doctor, you were visiting," Rory quickly said, clearly not wanting to offend Amy any further.

"Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage."

"How can we have had the same dream?" Rory asked. "It doesn't make sense."

"And you had a nightmare about us," Scarlett turned to the Doctor. "What happened to us in the nightmare?"

"It was similar, in some aspects," said the Doctor, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"Which aspects?" she asked.

"Well, all of them."

"You had the same dream," Amy noted.

"Basically," he shrugged.

"You said it was a nightmare," Rory pointed out.

"Did I say nightmare? 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 Doctor rambled as the birdsong was heard overhead. "Forget it; we're back to reality now."

"Doctor, if we're back to reality, how come I can still hear birds?"

"Yeah, the same birds," nodded Scarlett.

"The same ones we heard in the…" Rory said before he woke up again on the bench in Upper Leadworth, "dream."

Scarlett's head was on the Doctor's shoulder and Rory's head was on Scarlett's.

"Oh, sorry," Rory continued as he pulled his head away, "Nodded off. Stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS," the Doctor gently nudged Scarlett off of his lap and stood up, dragging her along with him as Rory continued to speak. "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," Rory frowned.

The Doctor continued to walk, picking up a small stone from the path before throwing it back onto the ground.

Amy and Rory stood, catching up with the Doctor and Scarlett.

"Why do dreams fade so quickly?" Amy sighed.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Scarlett asked.

"Is this because of you?" Amy continued. "Is this some Time Lord thing because you've shown up again?"

"Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel," the Doctor said.

"But we're awake now," Rory replied.

"You thought you were awake on the TARDIS, too," he retorted.

"But we're home," Amy said as she looked around.

"Yeah, you're home," nodded the Doctor. "You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, Scarlie, which is which? Are we flashing forwards… or backwards?" As he spoke, Amy and Rory joined hands and, instinctively, the Doctor grabbed Scarlett's tightly. "Hold on tight. This is going to be a tricky one."