The Doctor laughed as he landed the Tardis with a rather strange bump that had Terry raising her delicate brow.
"You landed on Amy's flowers!" She said accusingly as she straightened herself after their rocky landing, and the Eleventh Doctor raised his hands in surrender.
"Guilty." He admitted.
Terry shook her head and she straightened his bowtie with her free hand, smoothing the fabric.
"She's going to kill you." Terry observed as the Doctor straightened her red sweater dress for her before taking her hand in his.
"Well then, you'll have to protect me." He answered as they walked toward the Tardis doors together.
Terry shook her head again, this time in amusement. She clambered after him down the small rockery that he'd landed them in, stepping carefully in her black Oxfords so as not to wreck Amy's flowers any more than they already were under the Tardis. It had been a week since she had been traveling with this Doctor - or, rather, a week in their time since she'd woken up to somehow find herself in Eleven's Tardis. Depending on how well the Doctor had hit the controls on the Tardis, it could have been another month or so for Amy and Rory. But when the door to the small cottage that the garden belonged to opened, Terry realized it must have been much longer than a month for the Ponds.
"Rory!" The Doctor called delightedly, apparently not noticing anything different about their friend as Rory waved at them and came out to greet them.
"Doctor." Rory greeted back jovially. "Terry."
"Rory." Terry replied, staring at Rory's hair rather than his face. Rory's long hair.
"The Doctor crushed your flowers." Terry added absently, still staring at Rory's ponytail, and Rory turned to the Doctor.
"Oh, Amy will kill you." Rory informed the Time Lord, who grimaced before brightening up once more.
"Where is she?" The Doctor asked, looking around for the redhead expectantly.
"She'll need a bit longer." Rory answered mysteriously, catching Terry's full attention.
Removing her gaze from Rory's hair, Terry tilted her head curiously as she examined the smothered excitement and delight on her friend's face while the Doctor called again, "Whenever you're ready, Amy."
The door to the cottage opened again, and Terry blinked as a balloon disguised as Amelia Pond waddled out. Something about the sight felt like deja-vu to Terry and she tried to think if she had seen pregnant Amy somewhere before - either in her past or in her foresight.
Strangely, everything seemed a little bit blurred and Terry couldn't shake the fog-like feeling even as the Doctor exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, way-hey! You've swallowed a planet."
"I'm pregnant." Amy explained unnecessarily, unphased and still beaming as she reached her friends.
Or perhaps her explanation was necessary as the Doctor went on, apparently not hearing her, "You're huge."
"Yeah, I'm pregnant." Amy repeated
But the Doctor spoke almost over her as he patted her stomach, "Look at you. When worlds collide."
"Doctor, I'm pregnant."
Amy glanced at Terry for help as she spoke while the Doctor went on obliviously, "Oh, look at you both. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit, apart from age and size."
He gestured to Amy vaguely, and the redhead gave up. With a smile and a shake of her head, she just greeted warmly, "Oh, it's good to see you, Doctor. And of course, you too, angel."
"Amy." Terry greeted, hugging her friend carefully and unable to smile widely as she glanced down at the huge bump that now got in her way. "Congratulations."
"Thanks." Amy beamed while Rory grinned broadly like the proud father that he was.
The Doctor paused, glancing from Terry to Rory to Amy.
"Are you pregnant?"
"Ah, Leadworth." The Doctor mused with mildly disguised disgust as he glanced around the small and fairly empty village. "Vibrant as ever."
Terry exchanged grins with Amy as the pair walked arm in arm behind the men while Rory corrected the Doctor in a proud tone, "It's Upper Leadworth, actually. We've gone slightly upmarket."
The Doctor scrunched his face slightly and he looked around again as he questioned, "Where is everyone?"
"This is busy." Amy answered lightly.
At the Doctor's look of utter disbelief, she sighed and admitted in defeat, "Okay, it's quiet, but it's really restful, and… and healthy."
"I can see that." Terry commented dryly, eyeing Amy's stomach.
"Oi." Amy swatted her friend while Rory added, "Loads of people here live well into their nineties."
"Well, don't let that get you down." The Doctor sniffed. Amy glared at him this time.
"It's not getting me down." The redhead snapped as she led Terry to a nearby bench, needing a break.
Terry helped her friend sit while the men joined them naturally, and Rory settled in beside his wife while Terry remained standing as the Doctor quickly changed subjects at Amy's snippy tone.
"Well, I wanted to see how you were." He said cheerily. "You know me, I don't just abandon people when they leave the Tardis."
He settled in between Amy and Rory naturally and pulled Terry onto his lap. She went easily with a fond look at him as the Doctor continued blithely, "This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of your old pal the Doctor so easily."
Amy raised her brows high and she looked at Terry and then back at the Doctor and then back at the Time Lady.
"Hmm. You came here by mistake, didn't you?" She guessed.
Terry nodded, grinning and sending the redhead a wink while the Doctor admitted rather sheepishly, "Yeah, bit of a mistake. But look, what a result. Look at this… bench. What a nice bench."
Terry shot him a look that said, 'Really?'. The Doctor just shrugged as he trailed off awkwardly before muttering sarcastically, "What will they think of next?'
"Massage chairs that don't move anywhere, so you're in a relaxed, peaceful, still state for hours and hours-"
"So!"
The Doctor cut across Terry's words, already looking ill. Tery and Rory grinned at each other while the Doctor asked in an almost desperate tone, "What do you do around here to stave off the, you know…"
"Boredom?" Amy suggested at the same time the Doctor said, "Self harm?"
Amy's look could have stopped a Dalek in its tracks. Rory took over before the Doctor could dig himself into a deeper hole.
"We relax." He began.
"Again with the relaxing." The Doctor groaned in Terry's mind.
"Be nice, this is what Rory's always wanted and we always knew Amy would choose what Rory wants as long as they're together." Terry scolded even as Rory continued, oblivious to their silent conversation.
"We live." He trailed off into another awkward silence before he added, "We listen to the birds."
"Yeah, see?" Amy added quickly as they all listened to the birds chirping cheerily in the distance. "Birds. Those are nice."
She trailed off and the Doctor shot Terry a meaningful look. "There, see, she's not happy here."
"Okay, so it's a bit too quiet. We don't need to smash Rory's dreams just because it's not exactly ideal for everyone." Terry replied in annoyance.
The Doctor looked like he was going to argue when he suddenly grimaced even as Rory said aloud, "We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the Tardis days, did we?"
The Doctor barely heard him; neither did Terry. Instead, both Time Lords clutched their heads as the birdsong became increasingly louder like it was on a concert speaker at max volume right against their eardrum.
"Oh blimey," the Doctor groaned. "My head's a bit… Ooo. Er, no, you're right."
He tried to answer whatever Rory had been saying but his words were starting to slur. Terry was drooping against him, fighting to keep her eyes open as she heard the Doctor yawn.
"There wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good…"
Amy and Rory's heads lolled as they started to lose against the sudden drowsiness that had claimed them. Terry's head dropped against the Doctor's shoulder.
"Old..."
The Doctor trailed off as their heads all fell forward and sleep claimed them.
Inside the Tardis
"-Days." The Doctor mumbled as he woke up with a start on the Tardis floor.
Terry's eyes fluttered open as well and she peered up at him from where she was entwined in his arms.
"Hello, Sweetie." Terry murmured, and the Doctor hugged her.
"Oh, thank goodness. You wouldn't believe the nightmare I just had."
The Doctor kissed Terry soundly just as short-haired, regular Rory walked out from the passage leading to his room, looking rather dazed. A non-pregnant Amy followed shortly from the other side of the console room. Spotting them, the Doctor jumped to his feet and pulled Terry up with him as he hurried over to the companions.
"Oh, you're okay." The Doctor cried in relief. "Oh, thank God. I had a terrible nightmare about you two."
He gripped the console, still in some shock although his relief overshadowed everything else as he looked around at the familiar scene around him.
"That was scary. Don't ask." He shushed Rory before the companion could do more than open his mouth. "You don't want to know."
The Doctor hugged Amy next, breathing, "You're safe now."
"Oh, okay." Amy patted the Doctor's back in confusion.
He pulled back and snapped his fingers at Rory as he finished in satisfaction, "That's what counts."
With that, he turned back to beam at Terry. She was frowning slightly and the Doctor nodded, thinking it was in reaction to his falling asleep as he had.
"Blimey. Never dropped off like that before. Well, never, really."
He shook his head as he looked back at the Ponds where Amy was peering at the back of Rory's head while he eyed her stomach.
"I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you."
"Er, Doctor-" Terry started but the Doctor had spotted the flashing lights on the console.
"Don't worry, angel, I've got it. Red flashing lights… I bet they mean something…"
He bent down to examine the bottom of the console, when Terry stated slowly, "I had a weird dream too."
"So did I." Rory agreed and Amy nodded.
"Me too."
"Not a nightmare, though." Rory added quickly. "Just, er, we were married."
Terry paused in the middle of arching her back to see if she could get a look at the back of Rory's head, while Amy nodded along to her fiance's words.
"Yeah. In a little village."
The Doctor also froze as the companions continued to talk.
"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant." Rory gestured at Amy while the Doctor slowly raised himself back upright to stare at Terry and then the couple as Amy again agreed with Rory.
"Yes, I was huge. I was a boat."
Rory looked confused and he checked, "So you had the same dream, then? Exactly the same dream?"
Terry glanced at the Doctor as he also looked at the back of Rory's head. This confirmed to her that they had all had the same dream, as impossible as that sounded. Her head suddenly ached as she felt like she was having deja vu - she'd seen something like this before, she was sure of it. Hadn't she?
"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy meanwhile demanded sharply.
Rory wisely avoided the question as he turned to the Doctor instead to say, "And Doctor, you and Terry were visiting."
"Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage." Amy nodded, getting over being potentially called a boat.
"And we crushed your flowers?" Terry asked, shaking off the mild headache caused by her efforts to try and remember why all of this felt familiar.
"Yeah..." Amy agreed slowly while Rory asked in confusion, "How can we have the same dream? It doesn't make any sense."
Amy turned to the Doctor shrewdly. "And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?"
Terry folded her arms as she eyed her fiance- er, boyfriend? When was this, exactly? - while the Doctor avoided looking at them as he answered in a mutter.
"It was a bit similar, in some aspects."
Amy's eyes narrowed while Rory asked slowly, "Which aspects?"
"Well, all of them." The Doctor answered awkwardly.
Terry sighed; she knew it. Amy also folded her arms as she said accusingly, "You had the same dream."
"Basically." The Doctor admitted and Rory frowned.
"You said it was a nightmare."
"Did I say nightmare?" The Doctor feigned ignorance, trying to do damage control that fooled no one. "No, more of a really good… mare."
Amy's bland expression told him how impressed she was with his excuse while Rory sighed and Terry shook her head at him.
"Smooth."
"Oi." The Doctor wagged a finger at the Time Lady before he said to the companions, "Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of… psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track or something."
"Because that's a thing." Terry scoffed and the Doctor whined, waving his hands.
"Angel!"
Amy suddenly frowned. "Are you two married?"
The Doctor started before he looked down at his hand to see a wedding ring on his left finger. Looking over, he saw Terry staring at a similar ring on her own finger. Rory gaped at them.
"Since when?" He demanded.
"That… uh..." The Doctor floundered in confusion while Terry tilted her head as she heard a bird singing in the distance. "I don't know?"
"How can you not know when you got married?" Rory demanded incredulously and the Doctor shrugged.
"Time, space, wibbly-wobbly, it's not a straight line! We were in Vegas once recently with Marilyn Monroe, anything could have happened."
"Oh, I remember that." Terry said thoughtfully. "Didn't she kiss me under the Eiffel Tower?"
"You did what?" Rory asked when Amy suddenly piped up, "Am I the only one who hears birds?"
They all went quiet as they listened to the same thing. Birds singing in the distance.
"Doctor? How come I can still hear birds?" Amy demanded.
Terry's legs meanwhile buckled and she staggered while Rory said in a puzzled and gradually drowsy voice, "Yeah, the same birds. The same ones we heard in the-"
Leadworth
"-Dream."
Rory opened his eyes and he jumped as his eyes met the Doctor's green ones. The pair's foreheads were pressed together while Terry was passed out on the ground with her head against the Doctor's lap. She jerked awake however when the Doctor and Rory jumped apart.
"Oh! Sorry. Nodded off." Rory rambled while Terry yelled, "OW!" when the Doctor accidentally stood on her hand.
"Oops, sorry, angel." The Doctor muttered distractedly as he stared from her empty left hand to Rory and Amy on the bench where the redhead was clutching her bloated stomach once more.
Rory was clearing this throat in embarrassment and he muttered, "Stupid. God, I must be overdoing it."
The Doctor meanwhile looked down at his braces with a frown before he stood abruptly. Terry stood with him but while she peered around from one spot, the Doctor wandered around the bench as though searching for something. Their companions had yet to notice their odd behaviour as Rory continued briskly.
"I was dreaming we were back on the Tardis…"
Amy was staring at him with a slightly shocked expression and Rory sighed.
"You had the same dream, didn't you?"
"Back in the Tardis." Amy agreed before she asked with mild confusion, "Weren't we just saying the same thing?"
"Dreams have that quality, where you can't quite remember what you were dreaming after you wake up." Terry replied absently, staring at her hand as she flexed it before shaking it with gradually increasing speed.
Amy eyed the Time Lady like she was crazy while Rory questioned, "But we thought this was the dream, didn't we?"
"I think so." Amy shrugged, her memories of the time in the Tardis already fuzzy. As Terry finally stopped shaking her hand, Amy pushed herself heavily to her feet.
Rory helped her even as he asked Terry, "What were you doing just now, angel?"
"Checking something." Terry muttered, looking toward the Doctor who had been watching her hand almost as closely as she had been.
The two Time Lords exchanged grim looks and Amy piped up warily, "Wait, I know that look. That look always means trouble."
"You're right." Terry looked at the companions. "And it's quite possibly the worst trouble we've been in as of late."
"What?"
Rory gaped while the Doctor informed the companions urgently, "Whatever you two do, trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel."
"But we're awake now." Rory protested.
"Yeah. You thought you were awake on the Tardis, too." The Doctor retorted.
"But we're home." Amy looked around at the familiar scenery of the village she'd been living in for years.
The Doctor shook his head.
"Yeah, you're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which? Are we flashing forwards or backwards?"
He looked meaningfully between them as realization slowly dawned on the companions. Terry meanwhile had moved to take the Doctor's hand in her own. He squeezed her hand in response. With his eyes now on the Time Lady, the Doctor finished in a foreboding tone.
"Hold on tight. This is going to be a tricky one."