Leadworth

Terry shot up as though waking from a nightmare to find herself on the floor of the empty care home lounge. She hurried to her feet as the others also woke up and struggled to get upright as well, the Doctor still half shoved into the hideous sweater Mrs. Poggit had forced on him. They were barely on their feet when the Dream Lord strolled in wearing glasses and a blue suit and tie.

He stopped in front of the Doctor and held up some x-ray scans as he said pitifully, "Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray. Your brain is completely see-through."

The Dream Lord peered up at the Doctor with his strange gold eyes.

"But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."

"Say what you really want to say." Terry snapped in an annoyed tone and the Dream Lord tutted at her.

"You really are getting old. So impatient." But he straightened his tie and said briskly, "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?"

Terry scoffed before she smacked her face in her hand when Rory actually asked, "What happens?"

The Dream Lord shot him a dark glower. "You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality."

Rory swallowed but Amy was interested in something else the Dream Lord had said.

"Have you met the Doctor before? Do you know him?" She glanced between the Doctor and the Dream Lord, missing Rory's hurt expression and Terry's incredulous one as she asked, "Doctor, does he?"

The Doctor didn't reply while the Dream Lord cooed, "Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy. Oh, whoops, guess I shouldn't say so much in front of the missus."

The Dream Lord pretended to feign apology as he put a hand over his mouth and looked at Terry.

"But then, I suppose you two aren't married yet. In this world, at least."

The Dream Lord removed his hand and smirked while Terry gave him a cold look.

"Are you finished yet?" She asked. The Dream Lord's lips only curved higher but he shrugged.

"Hurry along, Doctor, your missus beckons. And you've got a world to choose."

He looked the Doctor up and down like he was disappointed.

"One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning."

Before they could retort, the man vanished. Terry shook her head in frustration while the Doctor stared with cold green eyes at the place the Dream Lord had been.

"Okay, I don't like him." Rory complained the moment the Dream Lord was gone.

Amy meanwhile folded her arms and stared the Doctor down. "Who is he?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know. It's a big universe."

"Liar." Terry scoffed in his mind. The Doctor didn't reply, especially as Amy continued to press angrily.

"Why is he doing this?"

"Maybe because he has no physical form." The Doctor murmured. "That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us," he glanced down and realized he was still wearing the ugly sweater, "who can touch and eat and feel."

The Doctor peeled off the sweater while Terry looked around the empty room again. With the Dream Lord gone, she returned her focus to the key question she'd had as soon as she opened her eyes while Rory continued to think aloud.

"What does he mean, deadly danger, though? Nothing deadly has happened here. I mean, a bit of natural wastage, obviously."

"Rory, remember what the Doctor said earlier about not trusting what you see?" Terry cut the companion off. Rory frowned at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in this case, what do you see?" Terry asked insistently and Rory looked around the empty room.

"Uh… we're in Upper Lead-"

"They've all gone." The Doctor interrupted as he grabbed Terry's hand and ran for the front door. "They've all gone."

Terry ran with the Doctor while Rory scrambled to follow and Amy followed much less willingly. Outside, the Time Lords stopped just outside the front gate of the care home. From their current position, they could see the playground across the field where the children from earlier were playing and laughing and a teacher watched over them.

"The children… It's something to do with the children." Terry murmured and the Doctor nodded.

Together, they started for the playground even as Rory called after them, "Why would they leave?"

"And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's nice old lady act?" Amy shouted after them as she waddled behind the other three.

Terry tugged the Doctor to stop, indicating that they needed to explain. It wasn't like they really knew what was going on anyway.

"One of my tawdry quirks." Doctor explained distractedly as he continued to eye the children while Terry lifted her gaze up to the sky and squinted to see if she could see anything odd.

"Sniffing out things that aren't what they seem. So, 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," he pointed out, "in conventional dreams."

With that, the Doctor turned to walk away again when Rory added, "And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time."

The Doctor turned back.

"Yes, sort of communal trance. Very rare, very complicated."

Terry had given up looking for any signs of a forcefield in the sky and the Doctor's frustration peaked as he also failed to notice anything new.

"I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull!" He suddenly shouted in his annoyance and he pointed at the Ponds.

"I'm slowing down, like you two have."

Rory glared; but Amy suddenly gasped and clutched her stomach.

"Ooo." The redhead gasped, looking up at the Doctor with wide green eyes. "Ow. Really. Ow!"

Amy began to scream, her voice going extremely high-pitched.

"It's coming!"

She grabbed both men, who instantly panicked. Rory started flailing wildly as he tried to look around for help, hold Amy steady, figure out how to deliver a baby in under a minute, not kill his as-yet unborn child and not pass out all at the same time. The Doctor meanwhile had turned absolutely white; and his solution was to try to pass the responsibility over to Rory.

"Okay, you're a doctor, help her."

The Doctor gestured at Rory, who snapped back in a panicked tone, "You're a doctor!"

"It's okay, we're doctors!" The Doctor yelled as he squatted down beside Amy, holding out his arms in an odd cradle shape as though he were ready to catch the baby if it should just drop out of the redhead.

"And if it wasn't clear before, one of them's not the medical kind." Terry interjected dryly as she watched the Doctor.

"Not helping, angel!" The Doctor cried, wondering why she wasn't panicking. Not that she ever really did, this incarnation of his Terry, but she was interestingly uninterested in Amy's plight and more preoccupied with the children's playground.

His attention was quickly diverted back to Amy however as the redhead squealed again in pain and breathed heavily. The Doctor bent further down in what looked like a ready position to catch a bowling ball while Rory yelped, "What do we do?"

Amy took a deep breath; and then, in her normal voice, said, "Okay, it's not coming."

The Doctor stood up, aghast. "What?"

Rory looked equally flabbergasted but Amy had only eyes for the Doctor as she glared at him fiercely.

"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet," she hissed. "So don't you call it dull again, ever. Okay?"

The Doctor blinked slowly at his friend before he finally muttered, "Sorry."

"Yeah." Amy nodded before she stomped toward a pair of swings nearby. Rory meanwhile turned to Terry.

"How did you know she was faking it?" He asked.

"Please, Amy wouldn't have turned to the Doctor first if she were really having the baby." Terry scoffed. "Not unless he was the last person left in the room. As much as she trusts him, Amy's not an idiot to believe the Doctor could help deliver a baby of all things. And yet, it was the Doctor who she turned to first. Conclusion? She was faking."

The two men stared at her while Terry just walked off after Amy. Rory finally turned to the Doctor.

"Are we really lucky or unlucky guys to have got girls like them?"

A short while later, Amy swung on one of the two swings in the playground while Terry watched the stone castle where all the children were now gathered to play. Rory stood nearby, shifting on his feet behind Amy's swing, while the Doctor settled into the remaining swing as he too watched the stone castle. Or, more specifically, he watched Mrs. Poggit as she walked toward the little stone castle.

"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room." The Doctor finally broke the silence to say.

Amy's temper, still simmering from her earlier outburst at the Doctor, rose again and she snapped, "I have to be this size, I'm having a baby."

Terry glanced over at the Doctor as well, wondering what he was trying to say. It didn't seem clever to antagonize Amy again but for a genius, he could be rather stuupid. But the Doctor didn't back down as he simply shook his head.

"No, no. The hormones seem real, but no." He moved his eyes to Rory. "Is nobody going to mention Rory's… ponytail?"

As he'd hoped, the Doctor succeeded in lightening the mood as Amy failed to suppress a smile while Terry chuckled and Rory made a face. Pleased at his success, the Doctor suggested to the two women with him, "You two hold him down, I'll cut it off?"

"I want that honour." Terry interjected and Rory rolled his eyes at them as Amy laughed.

"This from the man in the bow tie and the woman in a scarf in the middle of summer." Rory shot back.

"Bow ties are cool." The Doctor answered, fixing said item proudly at the same time that Terry retorted, "It's England, we're lucky if it's not raining half the time and sleeting the other. A scarf is only sensible."

"For what? It's not exactly going to keep you dry or warm once you're wet." Rory pointed out. Terry shook her head in disappointment.

"Oh, Rory, Rory, Rory. Haven't you learnt yet that not everything is as it seems?"

Rory started at Terry's implication while the Doctor suddenly piped up in a much darker tone, "Speaking of things not being as they seem.. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter."

The other three turned to look at the Doctor before following his gaze toward the old woman who was watching the children play before she turned creepily to look back at them with curiously dead eyes.

"What's she doing?" The Doctor wondered. "What does she want?"

But then, the birds started to sing again. Amy groaned.

"Oh, no. Here we go."

Tardis

Terry wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to preserve body heat as Amy and Rory joined her and the Doctor at the console.

"It's really cold." Amy shivered, her already pale face looking even more so now. "Have you got any warm clothing?"

"What does it matter if we're cold?" The Doctor snapped back irritably. "We have to know what she is up to."

Amy was clearly taken aback by his tone, and the Doctor rubbed his face tiredly.

"Sorry, sorry." He muttered and Terry placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

"There should be some extra clothes and blankets down there, Amy." The Time Lady suggested, gesturing to the storage underneath the console platform.

The companions walked off without a word although Rory did send the Doctor a reproachful look. The Doctor grimaced while Terry hugged his side, tucking herself inside his tweed jacket.

"I am sorry." He mumbled and Terry nodded.

"I know."

She was loath to move away from his extra warmth but the iciness nipping at her nose reminded Terry they urgently needed to fix the cold problem.

"Now, come on."

Terry led the Doctor down below the console where they dug around to try and find something that might help them. The Doctor paused to look down at Terry's hand, his gaze lingering softly on the ring she wore. Terry didn't notice as she picked up a whisk and was about to toss it away when the Doctor suddenly grabbed it.

"Brilliant!"

Terry looked at him blankly as the Doctor started gathering up some other random junk before reaching for some tools. It wasn't until Terry watched the Doctor start to assemble the pieces that understanding dawned. She shook her head in admiration.

"You're right: you are brilliant." Terry declared.

The Doctor beamed at her praise as he finished building his device. He then grabbed Terry's hand once more and the two returned to the console. Amy and Rory returned carrying blankets just as the Doctor wired his device into the Tardis console.

"Ah, Rory, wind."

The Doctor pointed at the whisk and Rory stared at him blankly. But the Doctor had already turned to where Terry was wrapping a blanket gratefully around her shoulders.

"Angel, attach this to the monitor." At her expression, the Doctor added, "Please."

Terry did as bid while Rory took the whisk-device and grumbled, "I was promised amazing worlds. Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitcheny wind-up device."

He trailed off slightly as he glanced at the object in his hand. The Doctor didn't look up from where he was fiddling with the console as he explained, "It's a generator. Get winding."

Rory finally did as he was told, turning the whisk reluctantly. But the monitor stayed blank.

"Not enough." Amy muttered and Terry called, "You need to go faster."

"That's what she said." Amy quipped.

Terry turned to give Amy a 'Really?' look while Rory wound the device faster. The Doctor meanwhile worked the console, pressing buttons and reconnecting wires as he tried to reboot the Tardis engine.

"Why is the Dream Lord picking on you?" Rory asked in-between whisking. "Why us?"

"If you have time to talk, you're not going hard enough." Terry interjected.

She caught Amy's face and Terry groaned. "Mind out of the gutter, Pong."

It was at that moment that the scanner finally switched on. They all turned to look and Terry's hearts stopped at what she saw.

"Where are we?" Amy asked slowly, apprehension already creeping into her voice as she looked at the icy-blue sun on the scanner.

"We're in trouble." The Doctor answered grimly.

"Why?" Amy demanded while Rory pointed at the scanner and directed his question at Terry.

"Angel, what is that?"

"A star." Terry replied in a tone filled with dread. "A cold star."

The two companions jumped as the Doctor suddenly dashed for the doors. He wrenched the double doors open and they all flinched as a bright light flooded the Tardis while a freezing wind blew over their already cold skin.

"That's why we're freezing." The Doctor declared in understanding. "It's not a heating malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun. There's our deadly danger for this version of reality."

The Doctor slammed the doors shut while Rory wondered aloud, "Is that possible?"

"I can't know everything." The Doctor snapped as he dashed back toward them and ran up to the console. "Why does everybody expect me to, always?"

Rory's shoulders slumped and he deadpanned, "Okay, this is something you haven't seen before."

The Doctor couldn't protest. Rory glanced at Terry.

"Angel?"

Terry shook her head and Rory suggested, "So if neither have ever heard of a cold star, does that mean this is the dream?"

"I don't know," the Doctor answered in exasperation. "But there it is, and I'd say," he checked his watch, "we've got about fourteen minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."

Terry grimaced while Rory asked hopefully, "Because you know how to get us out of this?"

"No." Terry sighed at the same time the Doctor said brusquely, "Because we'll have frozen to death by then."

Rory's face filled with incredulity but Amy interjected with a growl, "Oh, then what are we going to do?"

She was starting to shiver again and the Doctor shrugged as he withdrew a stethoscope from his pocket.

"Stay calm." He suggested as he placed the stethoscope on the console. "Don't get sucked into it, because this just might be the battle that we have to lose."

As the Doctor started to work, Rory suddenly bit out, "Oh, this is so you, isn't it?"

"What?" The Doctor looked up, confused. Rory just scoffed and folded his arms.

"Huh, 'what'? A weird new star, fourteen minutes left to live and only one man to save the day, huh?" Rory gestured at the Doctor.

Amy dropped her head into her hands while the Doctor pursed his lips and Terry shook her head

"I thought we got over this in Venice? Stop competing." She demanded and Rory threw up his hands.

"I just wanted a nice village and a family." He retorted.

Terry was tempted to hit the companion to knock some sense into him. A feeling that amplified when a voice cooed from behind them.

"Oh dear, Doctor."

The four whirled around to face the Dream Lord, who continued to taunt, "Dissent in the ranks."

The Dream Lord tsked and shook his head as though disappointed.

"There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends and-"

Terry opened her mouth to snap at the tiny man but she was instantly knocked off balance as she heard birds singing again.

"Oh, no." The Dream Lord feigned disappointment. "We've run out of time."

Terry's legs were giving out and she sank to the floor even as the Dream Lord waved them off with a sweet reminder.

"Don't spend too long there, or um… you'll catch your death here."

Leadworth

The Doctor dashed up the steps toward the stone castle with Terry right on his heels as Amy and Rory stood up groggily from where they were sprawled on the ground. Amy was growing increasingly annoyed with the continual back and forths. But Terry was too busy trying to stop the growing anxiety she was feeling as they faced impossible situations in both worlds. She stooped down to examine one of the piles of sand that were scattered like small ant hills all around the now empty courtyard while the Doctor looked around grimly from where he had stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Where have the children gone?" The Doctor wondered as he looked around the grassy field.

"Don't know. Play time's probably over." Rory suggested as he and Amy joined the Doctor.

The Doctor just pulled out his sonic and joined Terry near one of the sand piles. He started sonicing it while Rory said somewhat happily and a little too firmly, "You see, this is the real one. I just feel it. Don't you feel it?"

He turned to Amy, but the redhead shook her head.

"I feel it both places." She admitted shakily and Rory looked faintly disappointed.

"I feel it here." Rory said pointedly, looking back around at the quiet town. "It's just so tranquil and relaxed. Nothing bad could ever happen here."

Terry wasn't even listening to him as she watched the Doctor's face when he read the results of his scan on his sonic.

"Theta?"

He ignored her probing question in his head and the Doctor instead ran over to another sand pile with a gradually darkening expression. Terry frowned as she saw the storm brewing in his green eyes while behind the two Time Lords, Amy and Rory continued to argue.

"Not really me, though, is it?" Amy was saying. "I mean, would I be happy settling down in a place with a pub, two shops and a really bad Amateur Dramatics Society?"

Rory gasped, appalled, but Amy continued impatiently, That's why I got pregnant, so I don't have to see them doing Oklahoma."

Rory continued to gape at her but Amy just turned away from him to look at Terry and the Doctor.

"What are you two doing? And what are those piles of dust?"

Terry had by now wrestled the sonic from the Doctor so she could look at what he was hiding from her. Her expression also darkened infinitel and as Amy walked over, she saw the Time Lady's eyes flash an oddly bright colour. The Doctor missed it as he was too busy looking around at the various piles of sand with the little toys and bags around them.

"Play time's definitely over." The Doctor said in a dark voice. Amy and Rory stopped in their tracks as the realization hit them like a ton of bricks.

"Oh, my God." Amy whispered as she stared at the piles of sand in horror.

"What happened to them?" Rory asked shakily.

The Doctor glanced back towards the care home where a line of old people were walking down the street. They moved in an eerie synchronization and Terry also lifted her gaze to the old people.

"Them." She muttered as she handed the Doctor back his sonic.

"They're just old people." Amy protested.

"No, they're very old people." The Doctor corrected her as he pocketed his sonic and grabbed Terry's hand. "Sorry, Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive."

Rory didn't answer as he and Amy followed the two Time Lords as they ran toward the old people. The redhead was much slower as usual, barely going faster than a waddle. But they couldn't wait for her, although it turned out not to matter as the old people all stopped and turned in unison to face them as they approached.