Chapter One: It Begins

The TARDIS lurched to a stop, landing with a thud as the Doctor bounded around the console to the front doors. He paused, checking his distorted reflection in the time rotor to make sure his hair was in place and his blue bow tie was on straight. Have to look good wherever you go, he thought as he pulled the doors open and stepped out, straight into a flower bed now crushed from his TARDIS.

Oops.

He looked up at the sound of a door opening to see none other than Rory Williams, his hair long and in a ponytail (Yowzah! He was going to have to talk to him about that), walking straight toward him. The Doctor smiled brightly.

"Rory!" he shouted happily.

"Doctor," Rory replied slightly less enthusiastic, but glad to see his old friend none the less.

"I've crushed your flowers," the Doctor said lamely, almost blushing. Rory scoffed.

"Oh, Amy will kill you."

"Where is she then?"

"She'll need a bit longer."

At that moment, a very heavily pregnant Amelia Pond-Williams waddled out the front door of their cottage house. The Doctor's eyes widened at the sight as he chuckled, "Oh, woh-hey! You've swallowed a planet!"

She laughed with an eye roll as she pulled him into a tight embrace. "I'm pregnant, you daft alien."

The Doctor could not keep the smile off his face. He had missed his Ponds so much, hadn't been to see them since their wedding; it was great, amazing to see them again. "You're huge!"

She rolled her eyes once more. "Yeah, I'm pregnant." She over exaggerated the word.

"Oh, look at you both: five years later and you haven't changed a bit." He quickly checked his highly accurate time sense to make sure he was correct. Like always, he was. The Doctor continued, "Well, apart from age and…size."

Amy's smile lit up her whole face. "It is so good to see you, Doctor."

"Why don't we go for a walk through the village?" Rory suggested, putting his arm around his wife. The Doctor clapped his hands together excitedly.

"Yes, a walk! Walking is good, excellent plan. A walk through Leadworth…vibrant as ever, I see," he commented as they began their trek through the quiet countryside.

"It's upper Leadworth, actually," stated Rory, a hint of pride in his voice. "We've gone slightly up market."

"Where is everyone?" The Doctor asked, the unusual stillness and lack of people out and about catching his attention.

"This is busy," Amy mumbled. "Okay it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy." She said it kind of rushed, as if she was trying to defend her now passive life to the Doctor. "Loads of people here live well into their nineties."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes subtly at her. Was she happy here? He certainly hoped she was. "Well, I wanted to see how you were. You know me, I don't just abandon people when the y leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord is for life!" he wrapped his arms around them as he moved to walk between his two friends. "You don't get rid of your old pal the Doctor so easily!"

Amy scoffed light-heartedly. "You came here by mistake, didn't you?"

The Doctor blushed as she raised an eyebrow in his direction and waited for him to answer. He caved, "Yeah, bit of a mistake. But look, what a result! Like…this bench!" the Doctor sat in the center of the street bench and animatedly tapped it with his hands, prompting him to sit on either side of him, Rory on the left and Amy to his right. "What a nice bench. I mean, what will they think of…next...?" his words drifted off into nothing as he caught a glimpse of a familiar face down the street to his left; an impossible face. But the blonde woman disappeared around the corner before he had a chance to confirm who it was.

"Doctor?" Amy placed a hand on his shoulder and looked to where the Doctor was starring, seeing no one. "You all right?"

"Yeah…" he said hesitantly. "…I'm fine." He shook his head slightly to clear it. He was just imagining things; he had to be. The Doctor cleared his throat. "So, what do you do around here to stave off the…you know—"

"Boredom?" Amy offered, looking adequately bored. The Doctor swore he saw Rory frown out of the corner of his eye.

"I was going to say self-harm."

"We relax," insisted Rory, an adamant look on his face. "We live, we…listen to the birds." The trio looked up at the sound of birds chirping above their heads.

"Yeah, see? Birds. Those are nice." Amy stated dryly.

Rory yawned. "We didn't get much time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days, did we?" the chirping birds grew louder and louder as in turn, Amy, Rory, and the Doctor began to grow very drowsy.

"Oh blimey, my head's a bit…" the Doctor's speech slurred as he yawned once again. "…er, no, you're right…there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good…" his eyes fluttered closed and his head was beginning to feel heavy with sleep. "…old…"

"…days. What?" The Doctor opened his eyes, waking up to find himself laying down on the console floor. "No, yes, sorry, what?" he pushed himself up off the floor as a short haired Rory and a non-pregnant Amy walked in. "Oh, you're okay! Oh, thank god! I had a terrible nightmare about you two. And I thought I saw…" his thoughts wandered to the blonde woman he thought he had recognized. He shook his head. "Never mind. That was scary. Don't ask, you don't want to know. But you're safe now," he fiercely hugged Amy, who was making a confused face. "That's what counts. 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. Now, what's wrong with the console? He pointed to where a cluster of lights were flashing red. "I bet they mean something."

"Er, Doctor," Rory said almost shyly from behind. "I also had a kind of dream…thing."

"Actually yeah, so did I." Amy nodded and moved a step closer to her fiancé.

"Not a nightmare though, just…er…we were married." Rory blushed, but Amy readily agreed with him.

"Yeah, in a little village."

"And you were pregnant."

"Yes! I was huge, I was a boat." Amy made a face at the same time that Rory frowned.

"So you had the same dream then? Exactly the same dream?"

Amy pouted slightly, her ginger hair framing her face as she glared at him. "Are you calling me a boat?"

Rory purposefully avoided answering that question by turning to the Doctor and saying, "And Doctor, you were visiting."

"Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage," Amy said, forgetting the boat comment.

"But how can we have the same dream? It doesn't make any sense."

"You had a nightmare about us," Amy said to the Doctor. 'What happened to us in the nightmare?"

The Doctor rubbed his neck sheepishly. "It was a bit similar…in some aspects."

"Which aspects?" asked Rory.

"Well…all of them"

"You had the same dream?" Amy asked, eyebrows raised.

"Basically."

Rory narrowed his eyes. "You said it was a nightmare."

"Did I say it was a nightmare?" the doctor asked nonchalantly. "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."

"Doctor?" a nearly inaudible voice sounded from behind them. Amy and Rory spun around quickly, startled, but the Doctor stayed perfectly rigid. He recognized that voice, that beautiful, light-hearted timbre that made his hearts beat a mile a minute in his chest. It was an impossible voice that was sure to match an impossible face, but he was too afraid to turn around to see it.

"Okaaaaaay…who are you?" he heard Rory ask.

"Doctor, who is she?" Amy demanded, turning back to the Doctor expectantly. The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his fists, bracing himself for who he was about to see. He turned and opened his eyes, coming face to face with the blonde-haired, brown eyed woman he never thought he would be able to see again.

"Rose," he said, barely above a whisper. "Her name is Rose Tyler."