He woke up to a teacher leading school children past them.
"Okay, this is the real one." Amy stated immediately. "Definitely this one. It's all solid."
"It felt solid in the Tardis too." He said at the same time John mentioned. "You can't spot a dream while you're having it." He turned to look at John and saw him waving his hand in front of his face.
"What are you doing?" He asked him exasperated.
"Looking for motion blur, pixilation. It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though." He nodded slowly with both his eyes still on John. A little old woman was walking past and she turned to look at John.
"Hello Doctor," She said pleasantly.
"Hi." John responded cheerfully.
"Oh so you have decided to go by the Doctor?" He asked him.
"Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams." John responded glaring at him. Rose stood up and took John's arm and started rubbing it gently.
"A doctor, not a nurse." He hissed at John. "And my wife, just like you've always dreamed. How interesting."
"What is?" Rory asked speaking up.
"His dream wife, my son, probably his dream baby. Maybe this is his dream."
"It's Rose's dream too. Isn't it, Rose," John asked her kissing her on the head. Dream or not he was going to leave John somewhere, he decided.
"Yes. Course it is, yeah." She said hesitantly, as though she wasn't sure herself anymore. He watched them for a few seconds before taking Kiam's hand and turning to a nearby building, noticing that there was a woman and two men staring out the window at them.
"What's that?" He asked Kiam.
"Old people's home." Kiam responded.
"You said everyone here lives to their nineties." He stated not bothering to look at the others to see their reply. "There's something here that doesn't make sense." Still holding Kiam's hand he took off running towards the home. Behind him he heard Rose complain.
"Oh. Can we not do the running thing?" She huffed. Entering the home he headed into the main living room where a group of patients had gathered.
"Oh hello, Doctor Smith," One of the woman addressed John.
"Hello, Mrs Poggit. How's your hip?" John responded going over to her.
"A bit stiff." She turned to Rory. "Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson." She handed him a sweater and he heard Amy chuckle at it and mumble, "She must hate him"
"Slightly keen to move on." He spoke up. "Freak psychic schism to sort out. You're incredibly old, aren't you?" He noticed the rest of the residents staring at him. He opened his mouth to speak as he heard the birds start again and he fell to the floor.
Waking up on the Tardis, he was starting to get mad.
"Okay, I hate this, Doctor." Amy stated. "Stop it, because this is definitely real. It's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?" She looked confused.
"It's bloody cold." Rose wrapped her arms around Kiam trying to keep him warm.
"The heating's off." He told her as he took his coat off the coral he had thrown it on and put it over the two of them.
"The heating's off?" Rory asked.
"Yeah. Put on a jumper." John stated, he was glaring at the Doctor and Rose as he held her, trying to warm her up. Seeing the look on John's face he stood up quickly and went over to him. He was intent on hitting John and had raised his fist as Rory stepped in front of him.
"Sorry about Mrs Poggit." Rory said, "She's so lovely though."
He lowered his fist but continued to stare past Rory at John. "I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you."
"What do you mean, act?" Amy inquired.
"Everything's off. Sensors, core power. We're drifting." He pointed towards the blank screen that normally showed where they were. "The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone, something, is overriding my controls. You wouldn't know anything about this now would you John."
John opened his mouth to respond as a little old man in a black pin striped suit and a dark red bowtie appeared beside them.
"Well, that took a while. Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm." The man gestured with his thumb out at him.
"Friend of yours." He asked John and John shook his head. "How did you get into my Tardis? What are you?"
"What shall we call me?" The man thought for a moment. "Well, if you're a Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord." He said finally.
"Nice look." He said as he took out a ball from his pocket and threw it at the man. He watched as the ball goes straight through him.
"Interesting. I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord." He huffed.
The man disappeared and reappeared behind him. He turned around to look at him. "Rose want to take a guess at what that is?" He asked her.
"Er, Dream Lord. He creates dreams." Rose guessed.
"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks." Rory added on.
"And what about everyone else, do they get a guess?" The man asked him. "What about the gooseberry here?" He asked going up to John.
"Er, listen, mate. If anyone's the gooseberry round here, it's the Doctor." John said.
"Well now, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for." The Dream Lord chuckled with John.
"No, he is. Isn't he, Amy." Rory looked to her for support.
"Oh, Rose, have to sort your men out. Choose, even."
"I have chosen. Of course I've chosen." Both John and the Doctor turn to look at her curiously.
"It's you," She says meeting the Doctor's eyes. He smiles warmly at her.
"Oh, good." He can't help the relief in his voice as the Dream Lord disappears again and reappears behind them.
"You can't fool me. I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice. Rose. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face." He says and Rose's face does turn bright red as she looks away from the two of them.
"Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" John asks.
"Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground." The Dream Lord tells John.
"Am I?" John asks suddenly curious.
"So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here, in the time machine, and there, in the village that time forgot." The Dream Lord says with glee." One is real, the other's fake." He sings. "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." The birds start chirping again as the others pass out around him. "Oh. Or are you waking up?"
He grabs ahold of the side of the console staring at the Dream Lord trying desperately to stay awake. His eyes grow heavy and he hits the floor.
-DW-
He opens his eyes and they are back in Leadworth and all the residents are gone. The Dream Lord enters the room wearing a white suite this time with a cream colored tie. In his hand he is holding an x-ray and tutting at it. "Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray. Your brain is completely see-through." He holds the x-ray up to the window. "But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."
"Always? What do you mean, always?" Rose asks.
The Dream Lord ignores her. "Now then, the prognosis is this. 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?" he ponders.
"What happens?" Rory asks.
"You die, stupid." Amy answers. "That's why it's called reality." She rolls her eyes at Rory as Kiam snickers.
"Have you met the Doctor before?" Rose says accusingly. "Do you even know him?" She turns to look at him. "Doctor, does he?"
"Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy. But 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." The Dream Lord says before vanishing in front of them.
"Okay, I don't like him." Kiam says.
"Who is he?" Amy asks him.
"I don't know. It's a big universe." He answers.
"Okay then, why is he doing this?"
"Maybe because he has no physical form." John responds. "That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel."
"What does he mean, deadly danger, though? Nothing deadly has happened here. I mean, a bit of natural wastage, obviously." Rory inputs. He looks at Rory before he runs out of the building and to the streets hearing Rose moan about the running again. He starts looking for the elderly and sees across the way a play area filled with kids in front of the ruins of a castle.
"Why would they leave?" Rory asks, catching up first. "And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's nice old lady act?"
"Come on, let's think. The mechanics of this reality split we're stuck in. Time asleep exactly matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams." He states
"And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time." John adds on. "Sort of communal trance. Very rare, very complicated."
"I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull!" He yells out. "I'm slowing down, like you lot have."
Rose chooses that moment to double over and grab her stomach. "Ooo. Ow. Really. Ow! It's coming." She says sounding slightly panicked. He looks at John and smirks before leaning up against one of the parked cars.
"Okay, you're a doctor, help her." He smiles and gestures towards Rose as John turns pale.
"You're a doctor." John responds.
"Yes but I want to see how you handle this. I've been through it before remember." He taps his head.
"It's okay, I'm a doctor." John says as he squats down and holds his hands out like he is going to catch the baby.
"What do we do?" Rory asked seriously as Rose let go of her stomach and straightened up.
"Okay, it's not coming." She said and started to walk again.
"What?" John said in amazement.
"I was trying to get to him and he just stands there with that smirk on his face. "What if I hadn't been faking?"
He hangs his head slightly still smiling. "Sorry."
"Yeah." She says and heads over to the swingset and sits down. John goes behind her and Amy and Rory nab the free ones. He leans against the pole watching Mrs. Poggit walk up the steps to the castle. He turns to look at them and sees Kiam now sitting on Rory's lap.
"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room." Rory says.
"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby." Rose scoffs.
"I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter. What's she doing? What does she want?" He points towards the castle and hears the birds starting again.
"Oh, no. Here we go." Kiam moans.