This was definitely entertaining to write. :) Thank you to all who helped me figure out what to do for the end of this, and you know who you are. ;) In this chapter, we'll see just what the Dream Lord thinks of Jessie, Rory defends his Pilot, someone makes an appearance a few books early, and just how deep into Amy's dreams does the Dream Lord go to prove her wrong?

Read on. ;)

***

A very pregnant Amy Pond was working on mixing ingredients for a cake mix, when she suddenly gasped. "RORY!" she screamed. "Rory, it's starting!"

Rory dashed in a few moments later, his hair long and in a ponytail, to see Amy sitting on the floor and snacking on her cake mix. "Ah," he nodded. "OK, OK."

"False alarm," she told him.

Rory blinked. "What?"

"Well, I don't know what it feels like!" she protested. "I've never had a baby before - " She paused, hearing a familiar wheezing outside. "No!" she gasped.

"I know, leaf blowers," Rory rolled his eyes. "Use a rake."

"No, it's - !" She jumped to her feet, looking out the blinds and beaming when she saw the TARDIS sitting outside. "I knew it!"

***

Jessie jumped after the Doctor as they exited the TARDIS. "Rory!" the Doctor cheered when the man ran out.

"Doctor!" he answered with a smile, giving Jessie a hug. "Bad Wolf!"

"We've crushed your flowers," the Doctor pouted, eyeing them.

"Oh, Amy will kill you," Rory told them.

"Where is she, anyway?" Jessie asked.

"She'll need a bit longer."

"Whenever you're ready, Amy!" the Doctor called. Amy finally made it out the door, and the Doctor blinked. "Oh, way-hey!" he greeted, pointing at her in surprise. "You've swallowed a planet!"

"I'm pregnant," was all Amy said as she hugged them.

"You're huge!"

"Yeah, I'm pregnant."

"Look at you, when worlds collide!"

"Doctor, I'm pregnant."

"Oh, five years later, and you haven't changed a bit," Jessie chuckled, shaking her head fondly.

"Apart from age and . . . size," the Doctor eyed Amy.

"Oh, it's good to see you, Doctor," Amy beamed.

The Doctor nodded before blinking and asking, "Are you pregnant?"

That earned him a swat in the chest from his wife.

***

"Ah, Leadworth," the Doctor beamed as they walked through the town, arm in arm with Jessie. "Vibrant as ever."

"It's Upper Leadworth, actually," Rory said. "We've gone slightly upmarket."

"Where is everyone?"

"This is busy." Amy shuffled when the Doctor and Jessie looked at her incredulously. "OK, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their nineties."

"Nice," Jessie complimented.

"Well, don't let that get you down," the Doctor told her.

"It's not getting me down," Amy frowned.

"Well, we wanted to see how you were. You know us, we don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life! You don't get rid of your old pals the Doctor and the Bad Wolf so easily!"

"Is that code for coming here by mistake?" Rory asked Jessie.

"Yes," she nodded.

The Doctor pouted. "Fine, bit of a mistake," he grumbled. "But look! What a result! Look at this bench. What a nice bench." The four of them sat down, Amy next to the Doctor, Rory next to Jessie. "What will they think of next? So, what do you do around here to stave off the . . . you know - "

"Boredom?" Amy guessed.

"Self harm," the Doctor corrected.

"We relax," Rory shrugged.

Jessie blinked. "Relax?" she repeated.

"We live," Rory explained. "We listen to the birds."

"Yeah, see?" Amy smiled as the birds sang. "Birds. Those are nice."

"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days, did we?"

"Bit loud," Jessie mumbled, the song getting louder and louder.

"Oh, blimey, my head's a bit . . . " The Doctor shook his said head. "Ooo. Er, no, you're right. There wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good old - "

Jessie's head drooped onto Rory's shoulder, the Doctor slumping forward, Amy leaning against him as the four of them fell asleep at the same time.

***

" - days," the Doctor mumbled, starting awake on the floor of the console, jerking Jessie awake from where her head lay in his lapp. "What?" he asked, shooting upright, Jessie cringing and rubbing the back of her neck as Amy and Rory entered. "No, yes. Sorry, what?"

"OK, that was weird," Jessie shook her head. "What the hell was that?"

"Oh, you're OK!" the Doctor gasped, running to hug Amy. "Oh, thank God! I had a terrible nightmare about you two. That was scary. Don't ask. You don't want to know. You're safe now."

"Oh," Amy blinked in surprise as he hugged her. "OK."

"I don't think that was a nightmare," Jessie said, walking up. "But I'll give a hug."

"I'll receive a hug," Rory nodded, hugging her.

"That's what counts," the Doctor nodded, clapping his hands. "Blimey, never dropped off like that before! Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you."

"And we've never really dropped off at the same time," Jessie frowned in confusion. "And there's red lights on the console."

"Er, Doctor?" Rory spoke up. "I also had a kind of dream thing."

"Yeah, so did I," Amy nodded.

"Not a nightmare, though, just, er . . . we were married."

"Yeah, in a little village."

"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant."

"Yes, I was huge," Amy nodded, Jessie turning to stare at them. "I was a boat!"

"So you had the same dream, then?" Rory blinked at her. "Exactly the same dream?"

"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy folded her arms.

"And you both were visiting," Rory added to the Time Lords.

"Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage," Amy agreed.

"How can we have the same dream?" Rory asked. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"And you had a nightmare about us," Amy added to the Doctor. "What happened to us in the nightmare?"

"It was a bit similar, in some aspects," the Doctor answered, looking over the red flashing lights.

"Which aspects?" Rory asked.

"Well . . . all of them."

"We all had the same dream," Jessie summed up.

"Basically," the Doctor pointed at her.

"You said it was a nightmare!" Rory frowned.

"Did I say nightmare?" the Doctor asked, wide-eyed. "No, more of a really good mare. Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track or something. Forget it. We're back to reality now."

Jessie frowned, hearing a bird sing from somewhere. "Funny bird song . . . "

"If we're back to reality, how come I can still hear birds?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, the same birds," Rory agreed. "The same ones we heard in the - "

***

" - dream," Rory finished back in Leadworth, Jessie starting awake, the Doctor sitting upright. "Oh! Sorry, nodded off. Stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS." The Doctor and Jessie looked at each other before getting up to explore. "You had the same dream, didn't you?"

"Weren't we just saying the same thing?" Amy asked.

"But we thought this was the dream, didn't we?"

"I think so. Why do dreams have to fade so quickly?"

"Doctor? Bad Wolf?" Rory asked, hurrying to catch up. "What is going on?"

"Is this because of you?" Amy asked. "Is this some Time Lordy thing because you've shown up again?"

"Listen to me," the Doctor ordered, turning. "Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear, or feel."

"But we're awake now," Rory said in confusion.

"We thought we were awake back on the TARDIS, too," Jessie told him.

"But we're home," Amy frowned.

"Yeah, you're home," the Doctor nodded. "You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which? Are we flashing forwards or backwards?" He looked up, hearing faint birds again. "Hold on tight," he said. "This is going to be a tricky one."

***

"Oh, this is bad," the Doctor whined back on the TARDIS. "I don't like this!"

Jessie quirked an eyebrow as he kicked the console and hurt his leg. "Didn't you learn from the parallel world?"

"Argh!" he complained. "Never use force! You just embarrass yourself."

"Exactly."

"Unless you're cross, in which case, always use force."

"Not exactly."

"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy suggested.

"I threw it in a supernova," the Doctor waved her off.

Amy blinked. "You threw it in a supernova?" she repeated. "Why?"

"He disagreed with it," Jessie sniggered.

"Stop talking to me when I'm cross!" the Doctor huffed.

"OK, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?" Rory asked.

"If we were dreaming of the future," he nodded.

"Well, of course we were," Amy nodded. "We were in Leadworth."

"Upper Leadworth," Rory corrected.

"Or we could still be in Upper Leadworth dreaming about this," Jessie corrected. "Do you get it?"

"No, OK?" Amy glared at her. "No. This is real. I'm definitely awake now."

"She's trying to help!" Rory glared at her, taking the side of his Pilot.

"And you thought you were definitely awake when you were all elephanty," the Doctor took his wife's side as well.

"Hey!" Amy scowled at him. "Pregnant!"

"And you could be giving birth right now," he added. "This 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."

Jessie folded her arms. "Says the bow tie-wearing alien with a spaceship that's bigger on the inside," she pointed out.

The Doctor winced. "Valid point," he admitted.

The TARDIS suddenly shut down, and the time rotor glowed faintly. Jessie gaped at it. "Oh, my God," she whispered. "She's dead!"

"Dead time machine," the Doctor agreed, hearing a faint birdsong as Rory hugged Amy. "Remember, this is real," he told them. "But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels."

"It is real," Amy nodded. "I know it's real."

***

Amy started awake from where she sat on the library bench with Rory. "OK, this is the real one," she nodded. "Definitely this one. It's all solid."

"The TARDIS felt solid, too," Jessie said from where she was inspecting everything. "You can't spot a dream while you're having it."

"What are you doing?" Rory asked the Doctor.

The Doctor waved his hand in front of his face. "Looking for motion blur, pixilation," he explained. "It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though."

"Hello, Doctor," an old woman said as she walked past the group.

"Hi," Rory nodded.

"Hello," the Doctor said at the same time before blinking and turning to Rory. "You're a doctor?"

"Yeah," he nodded ."And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams."

"That's my companion," Jessie praised proudly.

Rory beamed at her, but the Doctor just frowned. "A doctor, not a nurse, just like you've always dreamed. How interesting."

"What is?" Rory asked.

"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby."

"This might be your dream," Jessie said.

"It's Amy's dream, too," Rory pointed out. "Isn't it, Amy?"

"Yes," Amy nodded, but she seemed skeptical. "'Course it is, yeah."

The Doctor pointed at a building across the street. "What's that?"

"Old people's home."

Jessie frowned, looking at the old people looking out of the windows. "You said everyone here lives to their nineties, yeah?" They nodded. "Something's not making sense . . . "

The Doctor grinned. "Let's go and poke it with a stick!" he cheered, grabbing Jessie's hand and running towards the home.

"Oh, can we not do the running thing?" Amy complained, waddling after them all.

***

"Oh, hello, Doctor Williams," a woman greeted Rory as they entered.

"Hello, Rory, love!" an old woman in an armchair greeted.

"Hello, Mrs. Poggit," Rory smiled, crouching by her. "How's your hip?"

"A bit stiff," Poggit answered.

"Oh, easy, D-96 compound plus," Rory nodded before frowning and turning to Jessie. "Do we have that yet?"

"No," she shook her head with a smile.

"You don't have that yet," Rory nodded to Poggit. "Forget that."

Poggit eyed the Doctor. "Who's your friend? A junior doctor?"

Rory smirked. "Yes."

"Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson."

"Slightly keen to move on," the Doctor said nervously as he was subject to trying on a knit sweater. "Freak psychic schism to sort out. You're incredibly old, aren't you?"

"Rude," Jessie began before the birdsong began and they all slumped forward, dozing off . . .

***

"OK, I hate this, Doctor," Amy decided when they woke on the TARDIS. "Stop it, because this is definitely real. It's definitely this one . . . I keep saying that, don't I?"

"Yes, you do," Jessie nodded.

"It's bloody cold!" Rory exclaimed, rubbing his hands together and looking around.

"The heating's off," the Doctor nodded.

"The heating's off?" he repeated.

"Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do."

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

"I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you," the Doctor warned.

"What do you mean, act?" Amy asked.

"Everything's off," Jessie reported, looking over the TARDIS controls. "Sensors, core power. We're drifting. The scanner's down, so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone or something is overriding the controls."

"It would be her to figure it out," a voice from behind them said, and they spun around to see a small man in a bow tie and tweed jacket standing on the stairs behind them. "Honestly, she's brilliant," he added, walking down the stairs. "Last of the Time Ladies, the Deathbringer of Asgard. Loving the pirate look."

"Er . . . " Jessie took a quick look over herself. "Thanks, I think?"

"How did you get into our TARDIS?" the Doctor demanded, frowning at the implied flirting. The only one who flirted with his wife was him. "What are you?"

"What shall we call me?" the man hummed. "Well, if you're the Time Lord . . . let's call me the Dream Lord."

The Doctor looked him over. "Nice look."

"This?" the Dream Lord looked himself over. "No. I'm not convinced. Bow ties?"

"Bow ties are cool," Jessie frowned.

The Doctor smirked, pointing at her, before throwing his sonic screwdriver over his shoulder, right through the Dream Lord. "Interesting," the Dream Lord tilted his head. "I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord. It's in the name, isn't it? Spooky. Not quite there." Jessie jumped when he suddenly appeared right behind her. "And yet . . . very much here."

"I'll do the talking, thank you," the Doctor cut in, tugging Jessie to his side possessively. "Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?"

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

"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks."

"And what about the gooseberry here?" the Dream Lord nodded to Rory. "Does he get a guess?"

"He's not a gooseberry!" Jessie protested.

"If anyone's the gooseberry round here, it's the Doctor," Rory confirmed.

The Dream Lord huffed. "Well, now, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for."

"No, he is," Rory insisted. "Isn't he, Amy?"

"Oh, Amy," the Dream Lord tutted. "Have to sort your men out. Choose, even."

"I have chosen," Amy narrowed her eyes. "Of course I've chosen!" She slapped Rory in the chest. "It's you, stupid!"

"Oh, good," Rory sighed in relief. "Thanks."

"You can't fool me," the Dream Lord said as he popped up behind them. "I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice. Amy . . . " He whistled. "Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face."

Jessie raised an eyebrow before looking at Amy. "Oh, would he?"

Amy flushed. "Not recently!"

"Oh, are you so sure?" the Dream Lord smirked.

"Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?" the Doctor asked.

"Me?" the Dream Lord pointed to himself. "Oh, you're on shaky ground."

"Am I?"

"If you had any more tawdry quirks, you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student." The Doctor blinked, looking himself over. "I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are."

"Actually, I had a raven," Jessie offered.

The Dream Lord ignored her. "Where was I?"

"You were - " Rory began.

"I know where I was," the Dream Lord interrupted. "So, here's your challenge. Two wolds. Here in the time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. 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." He perked up as the birdsong began again. "Oh, or are you waking up?"

***

"Oh, this is bad," the Dream Lord sighed as he walked into the care home with an X-ray in hand. "This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray! Your brain is completely see-through." He smirked. "But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor."

"Always?" Amy echoed with a frown. "What do you mean, always?"

"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."

"We die," Jessie deadpanned.

The Dream Lord pouted at her. "You always have to steal the fun, don't you?"

"This regeneration's specialty, it seems."

"Have you met them before?" Amy asked. "Do you know them? Doctor, does he?"

"Now, don't get jealous," the Dream Lord smirked at her. "They've been around, these two. But never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning."

"OK, I don't like him," Rory decided as the Dream Lord vanished.

"Ditto," Jessie nodded, giving him a fist bump.

"Who is he?" Amy asked.

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

"Why is he doing this?"

"Maybe because he has no physical form? That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel."

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

"Ahem," Jessie coughed into her arm, and they looked at her. "Bit empty in the room, isn't it?"

They all looked around, and the Doctor's eyes widened, as if he'd just noticed. "They've all gone," he realized. "They've all gone!"

"Exactly," Jessie sighed as they ran outside.

"Why would they leave?" Rory asked.

"And what did you mean about Mrs. Poggit's nice old lady act?" Amy asked.

"One of my tawdry quirks," the Doctor answered. "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 in conventional dreams."

"And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time," Rory added.

"Yes, sort of communal trance," the Doctor nodded. "Very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village is so dull!" He huffed. "I'm slowing down, like you two have."

Jessie smirked. "Oh, you haven't slowed down a bit, love."

The Doctor opened his mouth to counter when he realized what she was saying, and he gawked at her. "Jezebel!"

She burst out laughing at his face when Amy suddenly paled. "Ooo," she panted, clutching her swollen stomach. "Ow! Really, ow! It's coming!"

"OK," the Doctor panicked, turning to Rory. "You're a doctor! Help her!"

"You're a doctor!" Rory countered, just as panicked.

"It's OK, we're doctors!" the Doctor nodded, then crouched down, hands outstretched as if the baby was just going to plop down into his hands, Jessie watching in amusement.

"What do we do?" Rory asked hurriedly.

Amy took a deep breath, then relaxed. "OK, it's not coming."

The Doctor blinked. "What?"

Amy pointed at him. "This is my life now, and it just turned you white as a sheet, so don't you call it dull again, ever. OK?"

The Doctor had the grace to look embarrassed. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Yeah," Amy huffed.

***

"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room," the Doctor began as Jessie pushed him on the swing, Amy sitting on the other one, Rory leaning on the metal post.

"I have to be this size," Amy huffed. "I'm having a baby!"

"No, no, the hormones seem real, but no. Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail?" He looked up at Jessie. "You hold him down, I'll cut it off?"

"Bow tie," was all she said.

"Bow ties are cool!" the Doctor protested before something caught his eye. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs. Poggit as a babysitter," he said, watching the woman head up the steps to the ruined castle by the playground where the children had gone. "What's she doing? What does she want?"

Amy groaned when the birdsong began again. "Oh, no. Here we go."

***

"It's really cold," Amy complained back on the TARDIS. "Have you got any warm clothing?"

"What does it matter if we're cold?" the Doctor huffed. "We have to know what she is up to!"

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Down there," she said, pointing down the stairs. "Have a look."

The two nodded and headed down as the Doctor ducked under the console. "I want the other life," Rory admitted to Amy quietly. "You know, where we're happy and settled and about to have a baby."

"But don't you wonder, if that life is real, then why would we give up all this?" Amy asked. "Why would anyone?"

"Because we're going to freeze to death?" Rory asked dryly.

"The Doctor'll fix it."

Rory decided not to comment about not hearing his Pilot involved in the answer. "OK . . . because we're going to get married?"

"We can still get married some day."

Rory stared at her, feeling a bit heartbroken. "You don't want to anymore," he accused. "I thought you'd chosen me, not him!"

"You are always so insecure," Amy rolled her eyes.

"You ran off with another man!"

"Not in that way!"

"It was the night before our wedding, and it was a married man!"

"I didn't know he was married," Amy snapped, and Rory closed his eyes at the double meaning in her words. "And it can be the night before our wedding for as long as we want."

"We have to grow up eventually," Rory pointed out.

"Says who?" Amy looked at him pointedly before giving him a blanket and heading back up.

Rory sighed and followed her, not seeing Jessie giving Amy a look to kill. "Ah, Rory!" the Doctor beamed at him, handing him a weird gizmo. "Wind. Amy, could you attach this to the monitor, please?"

"I was promised amazing worlds," Rory sighed, winding up the gizmo as Amy attached it to the monitor. "Instead, I get duff central heating and a weird, kitcheny wind-up device."

"It's a generator," the Doctor corrected. "Get winding."

"Not enough," Jessie shook her head, watching the scanner.

"Rory, wind!"

"Why is the Dream Lord picking on you?" Rory asked as he wound faster. "Why us?"

The scanner lit up, and Jessie blanched. "Where are we?" Amy asked, worried immediately.

"In trouble," she managed to say.

"What is that?" Rory asked, going to look over her shoulder.

"Well, I would say that looks like a star. A cold star."

The Doctor ran to the doors and looked down at the frozen star they were drifting towards. "That's why we're freezing. It's not a heating malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun. There's our deadly danger for this version of reality."

"So this must be the dream," Amy said. "There's no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn."

"This one's burning," Jessie told her. "It's just burning cold."

"Is that possible?" Rory asked.

"We don't know everything."

"OK, this is something you haven't seen before? So does that mean this is the dream?"

"I don't know, but there it is, and I'd say we've got about . . . " The Doctor checked his wristwatch. "Fourteen minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem."

"Because you know how to get us out of this?" Rory asked hopefully.

"Because we'll have frozen to death by then."

"Fantastic," Jessie sighed.

"Oh," Amy said softly. "Then what are we going to do?"

"Stay calm," the Doctor answered. "Don't get sucked into it, because this just might be the battle that we have to lose."

"Oh, this is so you, isn't it?" Rory glared.

"What?" the Doctor blinked.

"Huh, what? A weird new star, fourteen minutes left to live, and only one man and woman to save the day, huh? I just wanted a nice village and a family!"

"Oh dear, Doctor," the Dream Lord sighed. "Dissent in the ranks. There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends, and - " He was cut off by the bird song. "Oh, no. We've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here."

***

The Doctor looked around, frowning the moment he woke up in Leadworth. "Where have the children gone?" he asked, looking around the castle yards.

"Don't know," Rory shrugged. "Play time's probably over. You see, this is the real one," he told Amy as Jessie scanned the molehills that appeared curiously. "I just feel it. Don't you feel it?"

"I feel it both places," Amy shrugged.

"I feel it here. It's just so tranquil and relaxed. Nothing bad could ever happen here."

"Not really me, though, is it? I mean, would I be happy settling down in a place with a pub, two shops, and a really bad Amateur Dramatics Society?" Jessie couldn't help but snort loudly, quickly turning away when both of them gave her a look. "That's why I got pregnant, so I don't have to see them doing Oklahoma. Bad Wolf, what are you doing? And what are those piles of dust?"

"Play time is definitely over," Jessie said grimly.

Amy's jaw dropped, her hand going to her stomach in horror. "Oh, my God!"

"What happened to them?" Rory breathed.

The Doctor frowned at the old people walking down the street. "I think they did."

"They're just old people," Amy said as they ran back to the playground.

"No, they're very old people," the Doctor corrected. "Sorry, Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive."

"Hello, peasants!" the Dream Lord's voice called gleefully as he popped in. "What's this, attack of the old people? Oh, that's ridiculous. This has got to be the dream, hasn't it? What do you think, Amy? Let's all jump under a bus and wake up in the TARDIS. You first!"

"Leave her alone," the Doctor narrowed his eyes.

The Dream Lord chuckled. "Do that again. I love it when he does that. Tall dark hero. Leave her alone!" he imitated.

"Just leave her!" Rory huffed.

"Yes, you're not quite so impressive," the Dream Lord eyed him before turning to Amy. "But there's only room for one woman's heart in the Doctor, isn't that right, Amy Pond? Or should I say hearts?"

"Shut up," Amy snapped, turning away. "Just shut up and leave me alone."

"But listen," he smirked. "You're in there. Loves a redhead, the Doctor. Has he told you about Elizabeth the First? Well, she thought she was the first - "

"What do people think about me and Elizabeth?" the Doctor huffed. "Nothing happened with me and Elizabeth! And besides, is this girl ginger?" He gestured to his wife, who held out her hair for inspection. "Nada. I don't think so. I prefer blondes and brunettes, thank you very much." Rory smirked, hearing blonde come out first, knowing who he meant immediately, the Second Bad Wolf, the one he'd married. "And I know who you are."

The Dream Lord laughed. "'Course you don't."

"'Course I do," he retorted. "No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do."

The Dream Lord shook his head, watching the old people approach on the grass. "Never mind me. Maybe you should worry about them."

"Hi," Rory smiled nervously at the old people. "Hello."

"Hello," the Doctor grinned. "We were wondering where you went. To get reinforcements, by the look of it. Are you all right? You look a bit tense."

"Hello, Mr. Nainby," Rory told one of the men.

"Rory," Jessie warned as he approached.

"Mr. Nainby ran the sweet shop," Rory explained, walking up to him. "He used to slip me the odd free toffee - " He was cut off when the old man lifted him by his shirt collar. "Did I not say thank you?" he stuttered before he was thrown back into the mud. "How did he do that?!" he gasped, sitting up.

"I suspect he's not himself," the Doctor guessed. "Don't get comfortable here. You may have to run, fast."

"Can't we just talk to them?" Amy asked, then blinked when an eye poked out of each old person's mouth. "There is an eye in her mouth!"

The Doctor quickly scanned Mrs. Poggit. "There's a whole creature inside her," he corrected. "Inside all of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting."

"That is disgusting," Rory grimaced. "They're not going to be peeping out of anywhere else, are they?"

"Dear Odin, I hope not," Jessie sighed.

Mrs. Poggit breathed green gas towards them, which Jessie quickly batted away. "Run," the Doctor ordered Amy and Rory, and they ran off. "OK, leave them!" he ordered. "Leave them. Talk to us! Talk to us! You are Eknodines. A proud, ancient race. You're better than this! Why are you hiding away here? Why aren't you at home?"

"We were driven from our planet by - " Mrs. Poggit began.

"Planet by upstart neighbors," the Doctor guessed.

"So we've - " Mr. Nainby continued.

" - been living inside the bodies of old humans for years," Jessie finished for him. "No wonder they live so long. You've been keeping them alive."

"We were humbled and destroyed," Mrs. Poggit said. "Now we will do the same to others."

"OK," the Doctor nodded. "Makes sense, I suppose. Credible enough. Could be real."

"Morning!" a paper boy called as he biked past.

Mrs. Poggit breathed gas in his direction, and the boy turned to dust. "OK, you need to leave this planet," Jessie ordered, her eyes flashing red angrily.

She really couldn't stand the idea of seeing children hurt, let alone killed.

***

"Wait!" Amy shrieked. "Stop!"

Rory skidded to a halt as four old people advanced from the road. "After all I've done for the over seventies in this village," Rory muttered as they reached their cottage. "OK, this is crazy," he shook his head, seeing a familiar woman by the door. "She loves me. I fixed her depression. She's just a little old lady!"

"Mrs. Hamill, we don't understand," Amy began.

An Eknodine looked out of her mouth, and Rory shook his head. "I'll deal with this one, Chubs. Now - " He quickly dodged the gas the Eknodine released, and he picked up a piece of wood. "I can't hit her!"

"Tut," Amy shook her head. "Whack her!"

Rory whacked Mrs. Hamill down and ran inside, and he started locking the doors and windows. "We just ran away," Amy breathed. "We just abandoned the Doctor. Don't ever call me Chubs again," she warned. "We don't see him for years, and somehow, we don't really connect anymore, and then, then he takes the bullet for us!"

"Give the Bad Wolf some credit, will you?" Rory snapped at her, fed up with the attitude, and Amy blinked, startled. "Ever since I've joined, it's been 'Doctor this,' 'Doctor that,' and who do you leave in the dust? The Bad Wolf!"

Amy gaped. "I don't - !"

"Venice?" Rory retorted. "You wanted to stop every moment they had, and you suggested going as the Doctor's fiancée when you knew he was married. You tried to seduce him when you knew he was married! Amy, who does that?"

"I didn't know!" she protested.

"Oh, yes, you did," Rory narrowed his eyes at her. "You have no idea what she's been through to get to where she is now, and you are not going to get in the way. So give her credit once in a while, and don't think it's just the Doctor behind it all. Got it?"

Amy swallowed and watched as Rory went back to defending the cottage . . . feeling sick and disturbed that Rory was defending another woman instead of her.

***

"Oh, I love a good butcher's, don't you?" the Dream Lord asked, grinning as he leaned on the counter, watching the Time Lords try and fight the birdsong. "We've got to use these places, or they'll shut down. Oh, but you're probably vegetarians, aren't you, you big flop-haired wuss and Asgardian girl."

"Oh, pipe down!" the Doctor huffed. "We're busy!"

"Maybe you need a little sleep," the Dream Lord suggested, and the two slumped. "Oh, wait a minute! If you fall asleep here, several dozen angry pensioners will destroy you with their horrible eye things!"

Jessie jumped to her feet. "Idiot!" she shouted, running to the back.

"Fingers in the ear!" the Dream Lord laughed as the Doctor bolted after her. "Brilliant! What's next, shouting boo? Come in!" He grinned as the old people entered. "Yes, we've got lots at steak here this week. Lots at steak. Get it? Are these jokes wasted on you?"

"Wait, wait!" the Doctor shouted as they tried to get a storage door closed. "Stop!"

"Oh, oh, I can't watch!"

Jessie finally managed to lock the door . . .

***

"Ah, it's colder," Amy shivered on the TARDIS.

"The four of us have to agree, now, which is the dream," the Doctor told them, Jessie wrapping her coat around her tighter.

"It's this, here," Rory insisted.

"He could be right," Amy nodded. "The science is all wrong here. Burning ice?"

"No, no, no," the Doctor shook his head. "Ice can burn. Sofas can read. It's a big universe. We have to agree which battle to lose. All of us, now."

"OK, which world do you think is real?" Amy asked.

"This one," Jessie put in her opinion.

"No, the other one," Rory shook his head.

"Are we disagreeing or competing?" the Doctor asked. "Because I think it's this one, too."

"Competing?" Amy frowned. "Over what?" They all looked at her, and she blinked. "Oh."

"Nine minutes till impact," Jessie reported, checking her watch.

"What temperature is it?" Amy asked.

"Outside? Brr," the Doctor answered. "How many noughts have you got? Inside? I don't know, but I can't feel my feet, and . . . other parts."

"I think all my parts are basically fine," Rory shrugged.

"Oh, this is just wrong," Jessie groaned. "Where's Jack to lead the new innuendo squad?"

"Can't we call for help?" Rory asked, picking up the TARDIS telephone.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, taking the phone. "Yeah, because the universe is really small, and there's bound to be someone nearby!" he snarked, hitting Rory in the head with the phone before putting it away.

"Put these on, all of you," Amy said, handing out blankets with holes in the middle.

"Oh, a poncho," Rory eyed the blankets as he put his on. "The biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen."

"Here we go," Amy nodded to Jessie. "Our boys. Our poncho boys. If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band."

"Eurgh," was all Jessie had to say.

"We're not going to die," Rory shook his head.

"No, we're not, but our time's running out," the Doctor pointed out. "If we fall asleep here, we're in trouble. If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why? Why? What's the logic?"

"Good idea, veggie," the Dream Lord smirked as he appeared. "Let's divide you four up, so I can have a little chat with our lovely companion. Maybe I'll keep her, and you can have Pointy Nose to yourselves for all eternity, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality."

Rory frowned, hearing the birdsong again. "Can you hear that?" he mumbled.

"What?" Amy asked, but then the Time Lords started nodding off as well. "No!"

"Amy, don't be scared," the Doctor told her as they slumped. "We'll be back."

"Rory, Doctor, Bad Wolf, don't leave me!" Amy begged, but the three fell asleep, Jessie in between the two men.

"Amy, we're going to have fun, aren't we?" the Dream Lord smirked evilly, and darkly.

"No, please," Amy sobbed. "Not alone!"

***

"OK, where is it?" the Doctor mumbled, getting the sonic screwdriver to work. He opened the door and zapped the lights, the old people closing their eyes and mouths. He was about to go out with Jessie when he realized something horrible . . .

She was still asleep. "No!" he gasped, grabbing her and checking her over. Still breathing, yes . . . but if she wasn't here . . .

Where was she?

***

Amy shivered, the frost everywhere in the TARDIS, the Dream Lord chuckling as he stood above her. "Poor Amy," he mocked. "He always leaves you, don't he? Alone in the dark. Never apologizes."

"He doesn't have do," she glared.

"That's good, because he never will," the Dream Lord said bluntly. "And now he's left you with me. Spooky old, not to be trusted me. Anything could happen."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Amy glared at him. "The Doctor knows you, but he's not telling me who you are, and he always does. Takes him a while sometimes, but he tells me. So you're something different."

The Dream Lord narrowed his eyes. "Oh, is that who you think you are? The one he trusts?"

"Actually, yes."

"The only girl in the universe to whom the Doctor tells everything?"

"Yes."

The Dream Lord smirked. "So what's his name?" Amy faltered, and the Dream Lord shook his head. "There is only one girl in the universe to whom the Doctor tells everything, and she's the one lying with him." Amy looked over at the Bad Wolf, curled towards the Doctor, but one hand reached out towards Rory. "One girl who knows his name, one girl who promised forever and has managed to keep it in the most intimate of ways. To separate them both would be to kill them. The way to separate them without killing them would be just as hard, and is considered a sacrilege. She would never, ever leave him, and after all that he's done, he could never betray her." Amy swallowed and ducked her head as the Dream Lord looked at her pointedly. "Now, which one of these men would you really choose? Look at them. You ran away with a handsome hero, and a married one at that. Would you give him up for a bumbling country doctor who thinks the only thing he needs to be interesting is a ponytail?"

"Stop it," Amy grumbled.

"But maybe it's better than loving and losing the Doctor to a woman you know has claimed him already," the Dream Lord pointed out. "Even though now she is gone in both worlds." Amy blinked at him in surprise. "She is asleep, but she is in neither world. Gone, like you wished. And how does that make you feel?" Amy swallowed, that was not what she wanted. "Pick a world, and this nightmare will all be over. They'll listen to you. It's you they're waiting for. Amy's men. Amy's choice."

***

"Everybody, out, out, out," the Doctor snapped, gesturing the families he'd rescued out of the van, Jessie on the seat next to him, the girl limp. "Into the church, that's right! Don't answer the door!"

"It's make your mind up time in both worlds!" the Dream Lord announced with a grin.

"Fine," the Doctor ground out. "But I'd like my blood bonded back, if that's all right with you."

"Oh, you mean she hasn't woken up?"

The Doctor glared at him. "What did you do?!"

"Oh, me?" The Dream Lord raised an eyebrow. "I did nothing. I only rely on dreams, don't I?"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "Amy," he growled.

The Dream Lord simply nodded instead of making a snarky reply, and he disappeared as the Doctor drove at a too quick speed towards the cottage . . . and slamming on the brakes when he saw the old people shuffling towards it. "OK . . . "

***

Amy jolted awake with a gasp, seeing she was now in the nursery. "How did I get up here?" she asked in surprise.

"I carried you," Rory answered from where he was by the door. "I'm afraid you may experience some bruising."

"Where's the Doctor?" Amy asked.

"I don't know. I want to do something for you."

Amy gaped as he cut off his ponytail with a pair of scissors. "I was starting to like it!"

There was a warp noise, and the Doctor stepped in, Jessie in his arms, his eyes narrowed. "Sorry. We had to stop off at the butcher's."

"What happened?" Rory demanded, going to her side.

"She's not waking up," the Doctor answered, shaking his head. "I'm getting nothing from her." He looked over at Amy with a glare. "But the Dream Lord said he relies on dreams."

Rory looked at Amy as well, a hurt look in his eyes that made her swallow and look away. "What are we going to do?" he finally asked.

"I don't know!" the Doctor snapped. "A freezing TARDIS I think could be real, especially when my wife is not waking up!"

"Oh!" Amy gasped. "I think the baby's starting!"

"Honestly?" Rory glared, if this was just to get them away from the Bad Wolf . . .

"Would I make it up at a time like this?" she glared.

"Well, you do have a history of . . . " He trailed off, still scared of her looks. "Being very lovely. Why are they so desperate to kill us?"

"They're scared," the Doctor answered. "Fear generates savagery."

Something crashed through the window, and they all turned as Mrs. Poggit breathed in green gas. The Doctor got away in time, but Rory was caught in the gas. "Rory!" Amy gasped as he collapsed.

"No," Rory choked out as the Doctor used a lamp nearby to knock Mrs. Poggit off of the roof. "I'm not ready!"

"Stay!" Amy begged as he turned to dust.

"Look after our baby," Rory breathed to her before he turned to dust entirely.

"No," Amy sobbed. "No, come back!" She turned to the Doctor, eyes tearing up. "Save him!" she pleaded. "You save everyone! You always do! It's what you do!"

"Not always," he shook his head, swallowing as he looked down at Jessie, still asleep. "I'm sorry."

"Then what is the point of you?" Amy shouted angrily. She touched the dust for a moment, then narrowed her eyes and stood. "This is the dream," she decided. "Definitely this one. Now, if we die here, we wake up, yeah?"

"Unless we just die," the Doctor pointed out.

"Either way, this is my only chance of seeing him again," Amy sniffed. "This is the dream."

"How do you know?"

"Because if this is real life, I don't want it. I don't want it!" The Doctor carried Jessie bridal style outside, Amy getting into the driver's seat of the van. "Why aren't they attacking?" she asked, looking at the old people just . . . standing there.

"Either because this is just a dream, or because they know what we're about to do," the Doctor guessed. He hesitated when Amy held out her hand expectantly for the key. "Be very sure," he waned. "This could be the real world."

"It can't be," she shook her head instantly. "Rory isn't here. I didn't know. I didn't . . . I didn't . . . " She took a deep breath. "I honestly didn't, till right now. I just want him."

The Doctor eyed her, sensing the double meaning, and nodded, giving her the key. "OK. OK."

Amy revved the car up, the Doctor nodding to the Dream Lord as he climbed into the passenger side. "I love Rory, and I never told him," Amy declared. "But now he's gone." She drove the van at the cottage -

***

The Doctor woke up with a start, instantly reaching for Jessie, starting to panic when she didn't wake as well. "Bad Wolf?" he asked, his eyes wide as Amy reached for Rory the moment she woke up as well. "Jessie!" When that didn't work, he tried telepathically getting to her. "Jezebel!"

She still didn't answer.

"So, you chose this world," the Dream Lord said as Rory slowly woke up. "Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Let's warm you up." The TARDIS power kicked back in, but the Doctor raised his gaze to the Dream Lord angrily. "I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imagination, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw."

"You give me back my wife!" the Doctor snarled.

"Give her back to him," Amy nodded firmly. "That's . . . " She took a shaky breath. "That was not what I wanted."

The Dream Lord raised an eyebrow. "Was it not?"

"No!"

"If you are who I know you are, then I know you," the Doctor said, narrowing his eyes. "And I know you want to protect her. Why separate us? Give her back to me!"

The Dream Lord paused, as if considering. "You said you thought they were a nightmare," he finally said, looking at Amy and Rory. "They were not in a nightmare."

"What?" Rory blinked, confused . . .

But the Dream Lord just snapped his fingers, and the TARDIS faded around them, and Jessie did, too, and suddenly they were standing in a completely different TARDIS. "What the hell?" Rory asked, looking around at the coral on the walls.

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asked, not recognizing the hallway they were in.

The Doctor's eyes widened when he heard familiar furious shouting down the hall towards the console room. "Martha," he realized, looking around. "Oh, no." He took off down the hallway in a different direction.

"Doctor, where are we?" Amy repeated, running after him quickly to see him working on the lock of a door with a tree on it.

"In the past," the Doctor answered, looking around. "This was the previous TARDIS. And I know when this is."

He got the door open, but instead of the Second Bad Wolf sobbing on the bed, it was the current one. "Jessie," he breathed, eyes wide, running to her side immediately.

Amy's eyes widened as Jessie actually tried to get away from him, Amy looking at Rory in horror. "When is this?" she asked.

"I don't know," he admitted truthfully, the Bad Wolf hadn't told him everything.

"It's me," the Doctor promised Jessie. "It's me."

"You wouldn't do this," Jessie shook her head, unable to muster the strength to pull his hand away from her face when he tried to comfort her. "You wouldn't do this to me!"

"I know," the Doctor told her in a whisper, kissing the top of her head. "It's a dream, it all is," he promised. "Come on, wake up!"

Jessie let out a small sob, before everything around them changed again.

***

Amy sighed, looking around before letting out a whoosh of air. "Blimey, it's hot!" she quickly took off her poncho, rolling up her sleeves. "Where are we now?"

"Oh, not this," the Doctor shook his head, taking off running when Jessie's screams hit them yet again. "This was even worse!"

"What's the Dream Lord doing?" Rory asked as they ran.

"Putting her through every single nightmare of hers," he answered, watching as his past self and Martha ran past, knowing they were trying to save the sun . . . leaving Jessie all alone. "The first one where she was crushed by my denial of acknowledging her . . . this one where she feared she would be alone to die."

"Die?" Amy gasped in shock as the Doctor ran past the corner when the two were gone, heading for a trembling Jessie in a spacesuit. "Doctor, explain!"

The Doctor just dropped down next to this Jessie. "Come on," he pleaded with her. "Come on, Jess, open your eyes."

"I can't!" she shook her head fiercely, biting her lip, the pain obviously eating at her. "You'll die!"

"You don't have to die alone," he told her.

She swallowed. "Isn't that what you implied?"

The Doctor cringed openly, knowing that the Dream Lord had done this on purpose, had done this to help him see what Jessie was still hurting from, and there was only one way to do this. "I can force you to open your eyes if I have to," he said.

Jessie swallowed hard and started to open her eyes, bright light shining from them -

***

And the dream shifted yet again. And this time, the Doctor knew for a fact where they were. "Oh, no," his eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, no!"

"What?" Rory asked, looking around, seeing they were somewhere now in the early 1900s. "Where are we now?"

The Doctor ran through corridors of the school from 1913, looking desperately for a way out, when a clear voice called, "Are you looking for someone?"

The Doctor spun, seeing a brunette with curly hair in a maid's uniform looking at him, her head tilted. "Yes!" he nodded quickly, he needed to do this now. "Young woman, late twenties, did she run by?"

"That way, sir," she nodded, pointing down a corridor. "She was heading for the dance, I believe."

"Thank you!" the Doctor nodded, bolting off, Amy and Rory following.

The brunette just smiled softly. "Run, you clever boy," she whispered. "You warrior girl. And remember."

***

Before they made it anywhere, the dream shifted again, and the three of them fell onto the ground, onto green grass with golden stepping tiles around them. "Oof," Amy groaned, sitting up and blinked. "Wow!"

The Doctor looked around as well, recognizing where they were. "Asgard," he realized before turning around. "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Rory asked, following the Doctor, seeing that black girl hurry by again. "Doctor, when is this?"

"The nightmare she experienced more than anyone," the Doctor answered, climbing up the staircases, quickly pulling the two of them back as his past self and Thor walked past, deep in discussion, concern written all over his face. "The fear of dying for someone you love, and that someone loved you in return, and they never knew."

Amy bowed her head, swallowing as they went on. That had been exactly what she'd been scared of the most in that dream. Rory had died . . . and she'd never gotten to tell him.

The Doctor ran into the healing chamber, seeing Jessie lying unconscious still in that golden cage, energy from the Aether, the Tesseract, and regeneration swirling around her skin. "You never knew, during this time," he whispered to her, deactivating the cage and taking her hand. "But I think you still did. He loves you. I love you. And I think that was what kept you fighting." He squeezed her hand, hard, almost seeing her relax. "Just keep fighting it."

The dream shifted one last time . . .

***

Three screams sounded around them. Fire erupted nearby, and Rory pulled Amy back quickly. "What's going on?" he yelled.

But the Doctor stood, wide-eyed, watching as Jessie, Jenny, and Donna held on for dear life as they plummeted down into the heart of the Crucible. Jessie's hand found the heart of the TARDIS, and the energy from their regeneration and the Vortex swirled out, surrounding her . . .

Time lapsed, and Jenny and Donna were gone, outside, and the Doctor slowly walked up to Jessie, seeing the tears in her eyes. "You can do it," he promised her, taking her hand, seeing the tears in her eyes, even as they glowed gold and orange.

She swallowed. "You never knew," she said, her voice cracking. "You never knew how far I would go . . . "

"And now I do," he whispered. "Jessie, I promise, I would do anything to keep you safe. Just come back," he begged. "Please." He swallowed, and admitted in Gallifreyan, "I need you."

Jessie stared at him before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes -

***

The Doctor shot up from the dream, hearing Amy and Rory cough from nearby, but then Jessie sat bolt upright with a gasp, her eyes wide, looking petrified, and the Doctor hugged her instantly. "Oh, my God," her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, hugging him back, squeezing her eyes shut and clinging to him tightly, Amy and Rory watching, mouths hanging slightly open, they'd known she'd gone through a lot, but all of that?

"You're OK," the Doctor whispered as if trying to reassure himself. "You're all right . . . "

"Thanks to you," she whispered back. "Now go blow up the TARDIS."

"What?" Rory asked in surprise.

"The Dream Lord," Jessie tried to explain as the Doctor hefted them both up, them going to the TARDIS. "He was very helpful, excluding the misinformation, red herrings, malice, and that was a very awful limerick. He always did want us to choose between dream and reality . . . in both worlds."

"What are you doing?" Amy asked as they started flipping switches on the TARDIS.

"Doctor, the Dream Lord conceded!" Rory told them. "This isn't a dream!"

"Yes, it is," the Doctor told him.

"Stop him!" Amy shouted.

"The Dream Lord appeared here to have you help get me out of a dream," Jessie told them. "The Dream Lord should only appear in dreams. And really, a star burning cold? That's never gonna happen. The Dream Lord controls dreams. He was offering choices between two dreams."

"How do you know that?" Amy asked, no malice in her voice.

"Because we know who he is," the Doctor answered, flipping a lever, the TARDIS exploding . . .

***

Amy and Rory entered the console room later to see Jessie sitting on the console, the Doctor holding her hand tightly with one of his hands, the other holding something small and yellow in his palm. "Any questions?" he asked.

"Er . . . what's that?" Amy asked, gesturing to his palm.

"A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava," the Doctor answered. "Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up, and induced a dream state for all of us."

"So that was the Dream Lord, then?" Rory asked as the Doctor took the pollen and blew it out into space. "Those little specks?"

"No, no, no," the Doctor shook his head. "Sorry, wasn't it obvious? The Dream Lord was me! Psychic pollen. It's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you, gives it a voice, turns it against you. I'm nine hundred and seven. It had a lot to go on."

"But why didn't it feed on us, too?" Amy asked in confusion.

"The darkness in you pair, it would've starved to death in an instant," the Doctor shrugged. "We choose our friends with great care. Otherwise, I'm stuck with my own company, and hers, and that usually doesn't always work out."

"And if he'd chosen me . . . " Jessie shrugged. "Well, I'm wondering how many of us would have gotten out alive."

Rory blinked. "But those things he said about you . . . you don't think any of that's true?" Amy asked in surprise.

"Amy, right now, a question is about to occur to Rory," the Doctor told her. "And seeing as the answer is about to change his life, I think you should give him your full attention."

Rory blinked, as if just realizing it as well. "Yeah. Actually, yeah."

"And there we have it," Jessie smirked.

"Because what I don't get is, you blew up the TARDIS, that stopped the dream . . . but what stopped the Leadworth dream?"

Amy shifted awkwardly. "We crashed the camper van."

"Oh, right," Rory nodded before blinking. "I don't remember that bit."

"No, you weren't there. You were already . . . " Amy swallowed, not wanting to say it.

"Already what?"

"Dead. You died in that dream. Mrs. Poggit got you."

"OK," Rory nodded, accepting it. "But how did you know it was the dream? Before you crashed the van, how did you know you wouldn't just die?"

"I didn't," Amy mumbled.

Rory blinked again, startled. "Oh."

"Yeah," Amy nodded.

Rory's eyes widened. "Oh," he repeated in a completely different tone.

"Yeah, oh."

Jessie smiled when Rory kissed Amy, and the ginger kissed him back. "So, well then, where now?" the Doctor asked with a grin when they stopped. "Or should we just pop down to the swimming pool for a few lengths?"

"I don't know," Rory shrugged, a wide grin on his face. "Anywhere's good for me. I'm happy anywhere. It's up to Amy this time. Amy's choice."

"Great!" the Doctor cheered, turning around - before blinking. "Bad Wolf?" he asked, looking around for his now missing wife.

Amy and Rory looked around as well. "Bad Wolf?" Rory called, Amy doing a quick check under the console.

But Jessie was gone.

***

Well, the last two times this has happened, most of you should know where she heads off to. ;)

I hope you understood why I took Jessie into her own little nightmare areas. Part of it was for Amy to understand a bit more of what Jessie's had to go through to get to where she is now. The other part was for the Doctor to see that she is still scared that she's going to go through that again, where he will either give up on her, leave her to die alone, etc. :) But who loved how the Dream Lord stood up for her and wanted to protect her like that, even if it was in a twisted way?

Heads up: the Apocalypse's takeover days will be next weekend, February 27/28, and for a treat, we'll get the Season 2 preview of the next OC series after "Cold Blood," since that's when Rory leaves, and I think we'd need some cheering up.

"Apocalypse Rising" is next to be updated!