Tardis

The Doctor dashed to the console the moment they all woke up again in the familiar blue box. Only, unlike usual, it was shaking violently and wheezing in a way that definitely did not sound good.

Terry left the Doctor to examine the Tardis while she sat with her legs spread wide in front of her, frowning at her hand which now had the familiar ring sitting on the fourth finger. She waved her hand again, trying to see if anything looked off and again, not succeeding. Rory and Amy on the other hand looked around in absolute confusion as once again their surroundings changed while the Doctor let out a groan.

"Oh, this is bad. I don't like this!"

The Doctor abruptly kicked the console in a fit of frustration. That caught Terry's attention.

"Hey! Leave Sexy alone!"

The Doctor barely heard her as he keeled over in pain. "Argh! Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case… always use force."

"Or, you don't use force and save your toes." Terry remarked, recalling the last time he'd kicked the Tardis in frustration after falling into a parallel universe and how he'd ended up nursing his toes then too. She shook her head. "You really never learn."

The Doctor grimaced, probably thinking of the same thing Terry had been. Needing something to do, especially as the Tardis continued to wheeze and spin, the Doctor moved to go below the console platform while Amy called out to the pair, "Shall I run and get the manual?"

"There isn't one anymore." Terry informed the companion shortly. Amy looked at her in confusion.

"Why not?"

"Doctor?" Terry looked at the Doctor pointedly. "Care to explain it to Amy?"

"I threw it in a supernova." The Doctor grumbled, turning away sulkily.

Amy's brow shot up.

"You threw the manual in a supernova?"

At the Doctor's petulant nod, she couldn't help but ask.

"Why?"

"Because I disagreed with it." The Doctor sniped back. "Stop talking to me when I'm cross."

"Leave him, he'll just keep sulking until he feels important again." Terry advised the companions. The Doctor's pouting got even worse, but Rory had something more pressing on his mind.

"Okay, but whatever's wrong with the Tardis, is that what caused us to dream about the future?" He questioned, looking from the Doctor to Terry.

Terry started to open her mouth to respond but the Doctor corrected bluntly, "If we were dreaming of the future."

"Well, of course we were. We were in Leadworth." Amy pointed out, only for Rory to cut in.

"Upper Leadworth."

"Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this." The Doctor explained impatiently, walking back toward the others. "Don't you get it?"

"No, okay?" Amy snapped, not liking the Doctor's tone. "No, this is real. I'm definitely awake now."

"You said that in Lead- Upper Leadworth." Terry answered, shooting Rory a look when he opened his mouth automatically to correct her.

Rory was appeased but Amy wasn't, so the Doctor added helpfully, "You thought you were definitely awake when you were all… elephanty."

He mimicked a puffed body with his hands and Amy glared at him.

"Hey." The redhead lifted a spanner threateningly as she emphasized, "Pregnant."

"And you could be giving birth right now." The Doctor shot back. "This," he indicated the Tardis, "could be the dream. I told you. Trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true."

As the Doctor finished, Rory gave him a bland look.

"Okay, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside-"

"-With a bow tie-wearing alien and his time-hopping girlfriend." Amy added.

The Doctor paused as their words sank in and Rory finished pointedly, "So maybe what rings true isn't so simple."

Realizing that his companions were right, the Doctor admitted, "Valid point."

It was at that moment that the whole Tardis suddenly switched off, throwing them all into darkness. The only light was coming from the center where the time rotor was. It reminded Terry of the time in the parallel universe with Rose and Mickey and Pete. Which meant one thing.

"It's dead." Terry gasped, staring at the faintly lit time rotor.

"What does that mean?" Rory asked, sounding like he was hoping they'd say anything besides the obvious.

His hopes were dashed when the Doctor whispered in a voice that echoed slightly in the abruptly silent Tardis, "We're in a dead time machine."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the birds started singing in their heads again. Rory quickly moved to hug Amy, who clutched at him as Terry reached for the Doctor. The Doctor entwined their hands even as he urged the whole group, "Remember, this is real. But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels."

"It is real." Amy replied with conviction. "I know it's real."

Leadworth

A teacher led a line of children down the road. Terry frowned at the young faces that looked curiously at her before facing forward again and the children chattered amongst themselves. The church clock chiming in the distance seemed to wake Rory and Amy up as well.

As the pair stretched on the bench, Amy declared, "Okay, this is the real one. Definitely this one. It's all solid."

She patted her stomach as if to prove her point and the Doctor shook his head.

"It felt solid in the Tardis too. You can't spot a dream while you're having it." The Doctor retorted as, this time, he waved his hand in front of his face.

"I've been meaning to ask, why do you and Terry keep doing that?" Rory gestured at the Doctor's odd behaviour that mimicked what Terry had been doing before.

"Looking for motion blur, pixilation. It could be a computer simulation." The Doctor muttered as he looked to Terry to see if she'd spotted anything. She shook her head and he sighed.

"I don't think so, though."

The Doctor glanced at Rory briefly before returning his gaze to Terry just as she turned away to look back down the street. The Doctor frowned suddenly as something caught his eye.

"Angel?" The Doctor called, his voice a tad sharp. She looked back at him in confusion.

"What?" Terry asked. But the Doctor's brows only furrowed further as he stared into her eyes.

"Nothing. Must have been the trick of the light." He said finally. It was Terry's turn to frown, puzzled by the Doctor's strange tone, but it was at that moment that an elderly woman hobbled by.

"Hello, Doctor." The woman greeted as she passed their group.

"Hi." The Doctor answered at the same time that Rory said kindly, "Hello."

The old woman eyed the Doctor in confusion as she continued on her way while Terry looked sharply up at Rory. The Doctor had also turned his gaze back on the companion and he said suspiciously, "You're a doctor."

"Yeah." Rory nodded before he added pointedly at the Doctor, "And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams."

Amy rolled her eyes at his complaints but the Doctor didn't even seem to hear Rory. Instead, he said slowly, "A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed."

He glanced briefly at Terry again, examining her eyes, before he started to walk down the street.

"How interesting."

"What is?" Rory asked as he and the two women hurried to catch up.

"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby." The Doctor listed. "Maybe this is your dream."

"It's Amy's dream too." Rory answered defensively, turning to his wife. "Isn't it, Amy?"

"Yes. Course it is, yeah." Amy said a little too quickly.

"Really?" Terry's skepticism was poorly hidden. Amy grimaced in response while Rory faltered but the Doctor had already moved on.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing to the building where the old woman who had greeted Rory had disappeared into.

"Old people's home." Amy replied as though it was obvious. And really, it was.

The Doctor examined the building, pausing on the sign that read, 'SARN Residential Care Home'. Terry meanwhile stared hard at the first four letters. They reminded her of something… but for the life of her, she couldn't recall. It had to do with the Doctor, that she was certain. Maybe not this Doctor? Why was her mind going fuzzy all the time and refusing to cooperate?

"You said everyone here lives to their nineties." The Doctor murmured suddenly.

He was now looking at the windows where they could see several old people peeking out through the frilly curtains.

"There's something here that doesn't make sense." The Doctor muttered in a low voice. Terry glanced at her boyfriend and she grinned.

"Shall we?" She asked, holding out a hand. He grinned and grabbed her offered hand.

"We shall."

"Where are we going?" Rory called as the Doctor and Terry started for the front door.

"To poke it with a stick!" The Doctor called back as he and Terry dashed into the care home. Rory followed quickly behind them while Amy whined as she clutched her enormous stomach.

"Oh. Can we not do the running thing?"

None of her friends heard her as they were already inside the home. Reaching the main lounge, the Doctor and Terry stopped in the doorway for a moment while the residents looked over before beaming at Rory who had just arrived behind the Time Lords.

"Oh hello, Dr. Williams." One of the elderly women called.

Rory waved back while the Doctor peered around and another old woman called from where she was sitting and knitting, "Hello, Rory love."

"Hello, Mrs. Poggit." Rory said genially as he walked over to the old dear. "How's your hip?"

The Doctor and Terry moved around the room separately, circling around the edges as they examined the interior and all the occupants even as Mrs. Poggit responded to Rory in a pleasant tone.

"A bit stiff." The old woman admitted.

"Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus." The Doctor rattled off absently.

Rory and Amy glanced at him with raised eyebrows while Terry made slicing motions with her hand near her neck and mouthed, 'Not yet'. The Doctor hastily amended, "No, you don't have that yet. Forget that."

The Doctor strolled leisurely back toward the Ponds while Mrs. Poggit asked Rory curiously, "Who's your friend? A junior doctor?"

It was the Doctor's turn to raise his brows. Rory glanced at the Doctor helplessly before replying briefly, "Yes."

The Doctor looked vaguely amused by that but his smile was quickly wiped away when Mrs. Poggit asked, "Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson."

Without waiting for an answer, the old woman picked up the sweater she was almost finished knitting and she started to push it over the Doctor's head. Unable to politely decline, the Doctor let her. As the Doctor was unhappily forced to tug on the sweater, Amy turned toward Terry.

"Angel, what's going on? Where are we really?"

"We're in Upper Leadworth." Terry deadpanned back as she glanced toward the windows.

Rory threw up his hands and turned away in annoyance. But Amy suddenly frowned as she thought she saw something odd.

"Terry?" Amy asked, and Terry turned to the redhead.

"Yeah?" Terry asked. Amy shook her head.

"Nothing - must have been the sunlight." Amy replied and Terry cocked her head.

"What?" Terry asked, but it was at this point Mrs. Poggit finished pulling the sweater down over the Doctor and the Time Lord finally put his foot down.

"Slightly keen to move on." The Doctor stressed. "Freak psychic schism to sort out."

But with his head through the sweater and his eyes much closer to Mrs. Poggit, the Doctor noticed something. Leaning in suddenly, he examined the tiny woman closely.

"You're incredibly old, aren't you?" The Doctor asked.

The entire room went silent and every resident in the lounge stared at the Doctor. Terry had turned at the Doctor's question, but suddenly she was overcome by a drowsiness that made her legs buckle. In the distance, birds started to sing again as the four dropped down once again as sleep claimed them.

Tardis

"Okay," Amy muttered in a strained voice as she wrapped her arms around her cold body. "I hate this, Doctor. Stop it, because this is definitely real."

The Doctor ignored her completely as he started working away at the unresponsive console. He dashed off with a small contraption while Amy continued insistently.

"It's definitely this one! I keep saying that, don't I?" She directed her question to Rory and Terry, who were shivering beside her.

"Yeah, a bit." Terry muttered while Rory hugged himself.

"It's bloody cold." He complained as the Doctor returned.

"The heating's off." The Doctor explained.

"The heating's off." Rory repeated incredulously.

From the other side of the Tardis, Terry shivered as she rubbed her arms, her red sweater dress and even her yellow scarf doing little against the Tardis's freezing and gradually dropping temperature.

The Doctor noticed her movement and he moved over to her even as he snapped snarkily at Rory, "Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do."

The Doctor hugged Terry, enveloping her in his warmth to her relief, while Rory grimaced.

"Er, yes. Sorry about Mrs Poggit." Rory said sheepishly. "She's so lovely though."

"I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you." The Doctor warned darkly as he pulled Terry with him toward the upper balcony.

"What do you mean, 'act?'" Amy called after them.

"Angel, hint?" The Doctor asked at the same time, distracting Terry. She just shook her head.

"I don't know either."

The Doctor pursed his lips while Terry frowned as she glanced at the Doctor's scanner.

"Why can't you scan her?" She questioned and the Doctor made a face.

"I don't know. Everything's off. Sensors, core power. We're drifting, but the scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere." His tone was growing gradually more and more agitated. "Someone, something, is overriding my-!"

As the Doctor's voice grew louder, Terry said sharply, "Doctor!"

The Doctor cut himself off. He took a deep breath before finishing in a much calmer voice.

"Controls."

"Well, that took a while."

Terry jumped as the voice sounded from behind her. She and the Doctor whipped around while Amy and Rory positively started downstairs as they saw the little man with light ginger hair in a red bowtie and tweed jacket who had suddenly appeared on the stairs behind Terry and the Doctor. Terry's brows furrowed and she eyed the short man's gold eyes particularly warily while he continued in a mocking tone aimed at the Doctor.

"Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords. The Oncoming Storm. Him in the bow tie."

The little man chuckled darkly. Terry narrowed her eyes at him as he walked down the stairs toward them and leered.

"The Oncoming Storm." He purred.

The Doctor had slowly pulled Terry to stand partially behind him and he said in a low voice, "How did you get into my Tardis? What are you?"

"Hmm..."

The little man hummed as he strode passed the Doctor and Terry like he wasn't particularly interested in them.

"What shall we call me? Well," he spun around suddenly and looked the Doctor up and down. "If you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord."

He moved his gold eyes to Terry and he winked mockingly.

"Hello, Sweetie."

Terry glared at the Dream Lord as she and the Doctor stood in a tense stand-off with the little man for a moment. The Doctor broke the silence first as he jerked his chin at the Dream Lord's outfit.

"Nice look."

"This?" The Dream Lord scoffed as he looked down at himself derisively. "No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties?"

He twiddled the accessory for emphasis before letting it go in disgust.

"Even you didn't like them. Well, before." He gestured at Terry, who suddenly tossed a bone-shaped dog toy she'd pulled from her pocket at the Dream Lord.

Amy jumped as the toy went right through the man like he was a ghost. Terry meanwhile scoffed.

"I knew it."

"Interesting." The Doctor murmured in agreement while the Dream Lord looked disappointed.

"Why do you even have that kind of toy? Unless your hubby has an unusual kink we don't know about." The Dream Lord sniffed.

Terry didn't rise to the bait as she answered evenly, "You never know when you need to distract mutant canine dogs. Or irritate annoying spectres."

"Oh, you don't think it's spooky?" The Dream Lord smirked. "After all, 'Dream Lord'. It's in the name, isn't it? Not quite there..."

He disappeared and then reappeared suddenly right behind Amy, who gasped.

"And yet, very much here." The Dream Lord purred.

"I'll do the talking, thank you." The Doctor interrupted sharply, drawing the attention back to himself. The Dream Lord leaned back on his heels in a bored gesture while the Doctor gestured to his companion without once taking his eyes off the Dream Lord's gold ones.

"Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?"

"Er," Amy hesitated. "Dream Lord. He creates dreams."

The Dream Lord looked offended by her simple answer but the Doctor prevented him from saying anything as he rattled off mockingly, "Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks."

The Dream Lord scoffed.

"What about the gooseberry, here?" The Dream Lord asked, popping up behind Rory this time. "Does he get a guess?"

The Doctor frowned while Rory shook his head.

"Er, listen, mate." Rory said firmly. "If anyone's the gooseberry round here, it's you. The Doctor and Terry are together, and Amy and I are going to get married soon."

"Well now, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for." The Dream Lord said in a tone that was all the more insulting because of how dead serious it was.

The Doctor pursed his lips while Rory protested, "No, it's true. Isn't it, Amy?"

Amy hesitated and the Dream Lord shook his head in mock disappointment.

"Oh, Amy. You haven't told him yet. But of course, it is partially the gooseberry's fault isn't it? After all, how could he fail to notice your jealousy?"

"Jealousy?" Rory asked at once while Amy's face went white. Rory noticed. "Amy?"

"Nothing." Amy said quickly - too quickly. Rory's expression crumpled in confusion but the Dream Lord interrupted again.

"You can't fool me."

Amy jumped as the Dream Lord appeared behind her again, the diminutive man sneering as he whispered near her ear.

"I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice. And I know the thoughts you've had. The curiosity, the longing, the jealousy."

"What jealousy?" Rory demanded. Terry frowned as Amy glanced guiltily first at Rory and then at her before the redhead quickly looked down, refusing to meet their eyes.

"Amy?" Rory asked, a note of dread entering his voice as he caught the look toward Terry, and the Dream Lord chuckled.

"Come now, isn't it obvious?" The Dream Lord asked before he looked at Terry. "Why do you think dear Amy was always so unhappy whenever you showed up, angel?"

Terry narrowed her eyes while the Dream Lord looked back at Amy, who was extremely pale.

"And even when she always left him behind, the Doctor never looked at you, did he, Amy? And he got so cross when you kissed him, dear, dear."

Rory was now as pale as Amy, when Terry interrupted sharply, "Are you done?"

"You tell me." The Dream Lord answered slyly.

The Doctor finally decided enough was enough. "Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?"

He succeeded in drawing the Dream Lord's attention back to him. The little man feigned surprise as he asked, "Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground."

"Am I?" The Doctor countered.

The Dream Lord chuckled.

"If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop."

The Dream Lord waved around, gesturing at the Doctor's general appearance, even as he listed off, "The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student, and the crazy girlfriend you can't hang on to."

Terry glared as the Dream Lord gestured at her last but he ignored her dark look as he finished off with a sniff.

"I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are. Where was I?"

"You were-"

Rory began but the Dream Lord snapped at him as he disappeared and reappeared above them on the second-level balcony, "I know where I was."

The Doctor drew Terry behind him again although his eyes never left the Dream Lord's as the little man announced, "So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here, in the time machine, and there, in the village that time forgot."

Terry and the Doctor quickly exchanged looks before looking back at the Dream Lord as he continued to call down at them.

"One is real, the other's fake. 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."

Before the words were even fully out of the Dream Lord's mouth, Terry could hear the bird song again. She slumped against the Doctor even as he also sank to the ground. Together, they struggled to stay awake as the Dream Lord continued his taunts.

"Oh. Or are you waking up?"

If I catch you, you're dead, Terry said to the Dream Lord. Or, she thought she said it. She might have garbled it. Or it might have all just been in her head as she drifted off yet again.