Chapter Seventeen: Dreamscape

"Winston, I can't just hop in every time there is a crisis you need averted, especially when it's as trivial as a public speech." The Doctor listened to the Prime Minister on the other end of the TARDIS phone. "Why? Because I'm dealing with something much more important right now." Again, he listened to the impatient voice of Winston Churchill on the other end. "Can't go into the specifics of it, because it's rather hard for me to explain."

As the conversation continued, the door to the TARDIS slowly opened and Henry timidly walked in. The Doctor caught sight of him while on the phone and waved both as a greeting and as a gesture for Henry to give him a second. Henry acknowledged his request with a nod as he walked onto the console platform and sat in the padded chair across from the control console, listening to the last half of the Doctor's phone conversation.

"Well, if it's constructive advice you're looking for, try using a bunch of pronouns and conjunctions. That's the best I can give you on such short notice." He listened to more of Churchill's ramblings over the phone while talking over him. "Winston, Winston! I have to go! A friend just popped in the TARDIS! Good luck on the address!"

Henry watched as he hung up the phone on the console. "I didn't know you had a phone in the TARDIS."

"Didn't always have one, but after one of my companions gave me hers, it seemed like the smart idea to have one for such occasions."

"Who was it you were talking to?"

"Winston Churchill."

Henry's eyes sparked with wonder. "The World War II Prime Minister? But he died years ago. How were you able to talk to him over the phone without traveling back in time?"

"It's complicated. Let's just say it's all in the sound waves. Although I wish the calls wouldn't come so frequently. Nefertiti called just this morning about organizing a honeymoon for her and John Riddell with Genghis Kahn in the Battle of Thermopylae." He then took his mind off the subject and focused on his current guest in the TARDIS. "But enough with me, Henry. What brings you here this afternoon?"

Henry took a deep breath before answering. "I've been having these really bad dreams where I'm in this room…and it's red…and there were no doors, no windows…and these curtains that are on fire…and I'm in this corner…and I'm looking up…and there was someone else there with me. She stares at me through the flames."

He stops, urging the highly interested Doctor to ask, "And then what happens?"

Henry shook his head. "Nothing. Then I wake up."

The Doctor nodded understandingly. "Sounds like a nightmare more than a dream you're having."

"Tell me about it. Each time it gets more and more real, like I can actually feel the heat of the flames."

That one bit of detail greatly concerned the Doctor. "Have you told your mother – Regina – about this?"

"No. The only other person I've told is my grandpa."

The Doctor remained silent for a long period of time and focused. Finally, he told Henry, "I'm going to try something that I haven't in a long time. Do you trust me?"

Henry smiled. "Of course! Why else would I come to you for help rather than anyone else, including Mr. Gold?"

The Doctor smiled back, stepping in closer to Henry and kneeling before him to be at his eye level. "Alright. Just stay still for a second. This won't hurt a bit." He placed his fingertips on the sides of Henry's head and closed his eyes.

Recognizing the gesture, Henry joked, "Isn't this the Vulcan Mind Meld?"

The Doctor briefly frowned. "Don't be silly, Henry. The Vulcans stole it from us. Now I need you to concentrate with me. Focus on that room you told me about in your dream. Remember all the details you described – the fire…the corner…the girl."

As much as it troubled Henry, he did exactly as the Doctor instructed, closing his eyes and concentrating. It wasn't long before the Doctor found himself standing in the room itself. He and Henry stood at one side of the room, separated from the other side by a wall of flames. The fire was all around them, surrounding them in an insane inferno and making it virtually impossible to escape. The Doctor saw a panicked Henry crying out to the girl in the room with him; she was just as scared as Henry was, crouching down low to the floor and hiding her face from the flames – making it impossible for Henry (or the Doctor, for that matter) to see her face.

The Doctor attempted to get a closer look at the girl, but the veracities of the dream made it impossible for him to get near her. Even within a memory of the dream, Henry's subconscious was overwhelmed by the immense force that made the situation so real to him. It was this same force that severed the Doctor's link to Henry's mind, shutting him out completely.

He removed his fingertips from Henry's head, which was drenched with sweat as he was breathing heavily. "I'm sorry," he repeatedly told the Doctor.

"It's O.K. It wasn't your fault."

"W-What's happened to me, Doctor?"

"I don't know for sure, but I promise you that I'll find out."

It was then that the phone on the TARDIS console rang, which attracted a moan from the Doctor, who moved away from Henry to answer it.

"Winston, if this is you again, I will…" He stopped and listened to the voice on the other end, which turned out not to be the famed Prime Minister. "Oh, it's you, David. Uh, I-I'm sorry for the outburst. I was just…" Once again, he stopped to listen to the urgency in Charming's address.

From behind the Doctor, Henry could not see what emotions were running through his face as he listened to what his grandfather was telling him. Once the conversation was over and the Doctor slowly hung up the phone, Henry waited for him to turn around and face him, so that he could see if he was alright or not. But the Doctor remained rigid in his stature, his back still facing Henry; with the exception of hanging up the phone, he did not make a single move after his conversation with James.

Now becoming heavily concerned, Henry asked, "Doctor? Is everything okay?"

It was Henry's voice that brought him out of the trance he unwittingly put himself in. He finally turned and faced Henry, showing the intensely mortified expression that covered his face. In a soft, unsteady voice, he said, "No, Henry. I'm afraid everything's not okay."