Amy's and Ginny's Choices - Part Three

I woke with a start and was horrified to find myself back at the house rather than in the senior center with the Doctor, Amy and Rory. I raced down the stairs and was beyond relived to find Thomas waking up on the couch, fairly confused and almost just as scared.

"Oh thank god you're here too," he said, "I was worried the Dream Lord was gonna keep us separated in this reality too."

"He did though," I said quickly, leaving the house and walking briskly through the front garden. "We've been separated from the other three. They're all still at the senior center right now. For some reason that… thing is trying to keep us all apart. But why?"

I was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. I barely ever watched this episode when it was still a show for me, so I didn't have a clear idea of what would happen next. I certainly didn't know why the Dream Lord wanted to separate me and Thomas from the rest of the group. And above anything else, why in any and all star systems did he think Thomas was my boyfriend?!

Then one of those mysteries was solved when Thomas pulled me in for a hug; I must've been rather anxious as I quickly returned it and held on quite tightly. He was making quite an effort to calm me down as he spoke in a rather soft voice.

"Hey, hey, it's gonna be alright, Ginny. We're gonna figure this out one step at a time. We're gonna find everyone else, and we're gonna stick together here. Let's not turn this dream into a nightmare ourselves, okay?" he said.

I looked up at him and nodded slowly.

"You're really taking that role to heart, aren't you?" I said as we walked over to the car and started driving back to the senior center.

"What role?" he asked.

"The one the Dream Lord made about you being my boyfriend."

"But I thought we were engaged in this world?"

"I mean we are," I looked down at the ring on my finger, "But what about reality? What does that mean for us in the real world?"

Thomas paused for a second and looked down at his ring, then looked at mine, then looked at me.

"I guess that means one of us has feelings for the other. Or that one of them wants us to be together. I mean, dreams come from your deepest unconscious thoughts, right? So maybe those thoughts are being projected."

"My money's on Amy," I blurted out, trying not to think about my deep-seeded crush.

"Amy?" Thomas asked.

"I feel like she wants us to be together. She told me about you a few days ago when she was asking if I had a boyfriend so maybe she's trying to play matchmaker?"

"That could be a possibility. I mean from what Rory has told me she has a knack for finding the right people for each other. So many school couples probably had her to thank."

We kept talking about similar topics and some rather off-the-rails topics until we parked outside the senior center. And when we got out of the car we felt nothing but relief when we saw the three of walking to the playground by the castle. I probably looked like a crazed freight train with Thomas in tow as we ran for the trio. We called out to them and when they saw us running towards them they looked just as relieved as us.

"Thank goodness you're both alright. We were worried sick!" Amy said, pulling me in for a quick hug.

"Yeah, we're fine. Ended up back at the house actually so it wasn't too far of a drive," Thomas said.

"Do either of you know where you're both at in the Tardis?" the Doctor asked.

I shook my head. "I fell asleep right after being teleported. Never got a chance to look around, I'm afraid," I said.

"Neither did I," Thomas added, "Although it didn't feel as cold as it was in the control room. Dunno if that helps though."

"It helps a bit, Thomas," the Doctor said, "You could be near the engine room because that's the hottest place on the ship. The temperature change could be the last bits of energy coming off of those engines."

"Sounds about as good as any of my theories, but how can we let you know that's the case back on the ship?" I asked.

"Do you have your sonic screwdriver on you in this reality?"

"Yeah," I said, retrieving it from my coat, "Picked it up at the house just now. Why?"

"Because you can use it as a direct line to my screwdriver now," the Doctor said as he soniced my screwdriver.

"What, like walkie talkies?" I asked.

"Exactly like walkie talkies!" he said, tossing my screwdriver back to me, "The update should cross over whenever we wake up back on the Tardis as well. Just press the button three times, hold down the button on the third, and speak into the crystal like a microphone."

"That's definitely going to be helpful in case we get split up again. Thanks!" I said, taking a seat on the merry-go-round behind the swings.

"Well, now that we're all back together, we all know there's an elephant in the room," the Doctor said.

"I have to be this size. I'm having a baby!" Amy said rather defensively.

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

And in that moment Thomas looked over at his brother and smirked.

"Told you it wasn't a hit," he said.

"You hold him down, I'll cut it off?" the Doctor asked.

"This coming from the man in the bowtie and the guy with a blue streak in his hair?" Rory said.

"Bowties are cool!" the Doctor said.

"And so is my hair!" Thomas added.

The Doctor suddenly rose from his swing and looked at the castle. Thomas and I got up as well and stood behind him next to Amy and Rory. While they tried to figure out what the Doctor was looking at, I joined him in staring right at Mrs. Poggit at the top of the ramp into the castle.

"I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs. Poggit as a babysitter," the Doctor said.

She continued to stare right back at us. It was hard to tell because of the distance between us, but I'm pretty certain she wasn't blinking. My concentration was broken though when I heard the birds again.

I quickly got to my feet from the now freezing cold floor and was finally able to get my bearings.

Why were we back in the library? I thought, Why would the Dream Lord send us back here?

Then I remembered what happened the last time I was in here, and I made a beeline for that couch all the while calling out for Thomas. The library wasn't as sparsely lit as the control room was; the medival design of the library meant torches and candles to light the way rather than electricity, so navigating the place was made much easier. For some reason I had been dropped off in the textbook section, so I had to fight through many a cobweb just to get back into the common area. Once I got back there, lo and behold, Thomas was just waking up in front of the fireplace.

"T-there's your t-temperature change, dude," I said, pointing at the barely glowing embers and shivering quite a bit.

"Oh geez, what happened to your blanket?" Thomas asked.

"M-must've been left in the c-control room." I knelt down by the embers and tried to will some warmth back into my bones. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Thomas go back to the couch to grab something, and when I turned around I saw him coming back over to me with a hoodie in his outstretched hand.

"Here. It's a bit big on me, so you might be able to pull it around your legs to stay warm," he said.

"No, you keep it," I said, "You're probably just as cold as I am."

"Not really, actually. And besides, I've got on a long-sleeve and jeans. I'll be fine."

"Maybe for now."

"Come on, Ginny. You're freezing."
"I'm f-fine."

"You're really not."

"Yes I am!"

At that moment the fire went out, and I wasn't really left with much of a choice. Even in death the Tardis was still trying to get a rise out of me. Begrudgingly, I held out a hand, and soon enough the sweatshirt was bequeathed to me. Thomas wasn't wrong about it being big. The sleeves were probably twice my arm's length and the hood covered my entire face when up. And just like he thought, I was able to pull it around my legs to keep them warm as well.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked, "We definitely need to stay warm, and we need to find everyone else."

"Oh, and we also need to let the Doctor know where we are!" I exclaimed, fishing my screwdriver out of my sleeve and activating the walkie talkie setting, "Doctor can you hear me? We're in the library!"

"Yeah, the temperature change I mentioned was just the fireplace. Turns out it's just as cold in here as it was out there."

A few seconds later we got a response from the control room.

"The library, eh? Yeah, that's not too far from here. Try the doors, see if they still work," the Doctor said.

"Why wouldn't the doors still work. They're doors," I said, getting up and heading back to the main entrance.

"Becuase the Dream Lord probably took notice of how easy it was for the two of you to reach us in Leadworth and now he's probably taking extra precautions to keep us separated."

"Well, you're right on the money then, Doc," Thomas said.

"And why's that?"

"Because Tom and I are locked in the library," I answered.

All over the large oaken doors were shoddily placed chains and locks from varying time zones. I tried to sonic some of the locks but nothing seemed to happen. We were deadlocked inside the library, and there was nothing we could do to get out.

"Nothing's working," I said, "We can't get back to the control room."

"Don't worry Ginny. Well, don't worry yet, I guess I should say. Don't worry yet because there are probably more important things to worry about in the future," the Doctor said.

"Has anyone ever told you what a ray of sunshine you are?" Tom asked.

"Not yet in this life, no. Listen, I've got to check something right quick but I'll talk to you both soon, okay?"

"Doctor, wait!" I said, "What are we going to do to keep warm?"

"What do you think I'm going to say?"

"Burn the textbooks in the fireplace?"

"They're taking up space anyways. Just don't burn any that look cool!"

With that we were left to fend for ourselves. Tom and I made a beeline for the textbook section and grabbed as many generic-looking math books as we could find.

"Y'know, if we weren't about to freeze to death, I might actually enjoy this," Tom said.

"I know right?! Throwing away all of my math stuff was my favorite part of school year's ending. I'd never have to see any of those F's again," I said as a threw a pre-calculus book into the fireplace, "I mean, it's not like I'm terrible at basic math, but when in my adult life am I going to have to find the circumference of a frisbee?"

"Exactly! And plus calculators are going to be readily available to me in my adult life, so yeah!"

Once there were enough books on the pile, I pulled out my sonic and pointed it towards the fireplace. That point-and-think function was definitely going to save my skin someday as a small spark landed on the books, which quickly grew into a roaring fire. Tom grabbed some cushions off the couch and set them down closer to the fireplace for us to sit on.

"Don't think I'd like to wake up to a sore butt next time around, would you?" he said as he set down a few pillows behind us, "Or a killer headache for that matter."

"That's… actually really thoughtful, dude," I said, sitting down on the cushion.

"And I've been thinking about it a bit more. It's actually not that bad. Us being separated from them, I mean."

"And why's that? Is it because it's like there's someone sort of like the Doctor with both groups?"

Tom paused for a moment, which didn't really do much good for my mind.

Oh! You said the absolute wrong thing this time, Parks! He hates you now for sure! it screamed, but when he spoke again it really did a whole different kind of number on my head.

"I was actually gonna say it's because—" Thomas was interrupted by a familiar but not-so-welcome voice.

"Just a second, Casanova. Maybe we should save that for the next time around," the Dream Lord said from behind us, "Though I must say, love the setup, you two! Very romantic, don't you think Ginny?"

"Alright bootleg, you've got about ten seconds to cut the crap before I find a way to give you a physical form just so I can smack that smirk off your face!" I shouted, quickly getting up to lunge at him before he teleported out of the way.

"Someone's got a temper," he said from the mantle, "You'll wanna watch out for that, Tom."

"Don't call me Tom," Thomas said in a low voice that sent chills down my spine.

"Blimey, it's like you were made for each other. But enough tension for now. You've got bigger things to worry about than feelings. Toodaloo."

As soon as the Dream Lord vanished, my sonic screeched to life followed by a message from the Doctor.

"Ginny! Thomas! It's not a heating malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun! That's our deadly danger for this version of reality," he said.

"Well that's nice to hear!" I said, "How long would you say we've got until impact?"

I never got to hear his response before the birds began singing again, and I felt my head crash against something soft.