a/n: Thank you to Grumpywinter for encouraging me to write this. (he rocks) Originally written for the LJ sncross_bigbang 2012. I've never written Doctor Who before, so I'm nervous about it.

June 2010

The Doctor was despondent. He spent his day sulking and his night brooding.

Rory was gone, forgotten forever. Worse actually, Rory had never existed and it was all the Doctor's fault. Beautiful, sweet, loyal Rory, gone. And Amy, Amy Pond, the girl who waited, Rory's fiancé, had completely forgotten him. The Doctor wondered how he could have let that happen.

Amy should never forgive him, yet Amy had no idea he had done anything that needed forgiving. If Amy could just be angry, if she would just lash out at him, the Doctor would feel so much better.

Taking her to meet Van Gogh was a disaster. Well, not a disaster exactly, but Amy was still sad they hadn't prevented Van Gogh's suicide. The Doctor needed another way to return the smile to Amy's face.

The Doctor took Amy home to Leadworth, only to have become perfectly clear that 'home' wasn't the balm for the wound Amy didn't know she had.

Instead, it became a chance for Amy to gather a few of her favorite belongings to join her on the TARDIS. The Doctor picked at things in Amy's room, examining each, then returning it to the spot he thought it should belong rather than from where he took it. Clapping his hands together he asked, "All right Miss Pond, where would you like to go? When would like to go? Who would you like to meet?"

Amy dropped the blouse she was folding. "I don't know, Doctor, it's hard to narrow it down when I can choose from all of space and time."

"Yes, I suppose it is," the Doctor replied distractedly. He was staring at Amy's book shelf. "Why do you have so many books that are all the same?"

With a quick roll of the eyes Amy said, "They're not the same, Doctor, they're a series."

"Oh! Like Harry Potter. That Rowling, she's a fun one."

"You know J.K. Rowling? Wait, of course you do," Amy mumbled to herself. "Well, I wish you knew that guy."

The Doctor pulled a book from the shelf. "Supernatural: Asylum by Carver Edlund?"

"Yeah. I'd like to give him a piece of my mind. I bought all these books only to have it end in that rubbish."

The Doctor looked at her questioningly, waiting for her to explain.

"He lets the hero die."

"It's called tragedy, Amy, people die, unfortunately."

"I know that, Doctor, but that's not what happens in these books. In these stories, something always happens to stop it, to save them. Here," knowing she can't explain it in a way for the Doctor to understand, Amy grabbed a book from the shelf. "In this one, he almost dies from electrocution, but they find a healer. Here," she grabs another book, "in that one, he nearly died from car wreck, but the father makes a deal with a demon and saves him. Here, this one," she handed him another book, "Sam dies, but Dean makes a deal and brings him back. And, here," one more book on the pile, "Dean dies like a hundred times, and in the morning comes back. Well, that was a trickster."

Amy grabbed the last book from the shelf. "But this one, he doesn't just die, he goes to hell! How is that right? How can Mr. Edlund have them get out of it every other time but not this one? And believe me; Dean doesn't deserve to go to hell, certainly not for saving his brother's life." Amy paused in her rant to look at the Doctor who was both shocked and amused by Amy's vitriol. "You think I'm being silly."

"No, Amy, it's sweet that you care so deeply about a fictional character," he replied hoping not to sound condescending.

"Well, he saved a lot of people and sacrificed so much, he didn't deserve to go to hell."

"All right, Miss Pond, you've convinced me. Let's go meet this Mr. Edlund and have him explain himself."

"Really, Doctor? Why would you do that?" Amy asked, though she smiled at the idea.

"Because we can," the Doctor answered, though the return of Amy's smile was reason enough for him.

Aboard the TARDIS, Amy handed the Doctor her battered copy of No Rest for the Wicked. "Here you go," she said, adding nervously, "I can't believe you're doing this."

The Doctor turned the book over several times in his hands. "Carver Edlund." He thumbed the pages, flipping through them. "This Dean charactor, he goes to hell?" he asked as he set the book on one of the TARDIS' many scanners.

"Yes, Doctor that's how the series ends. Hell hounds have torn him apart and he's on these grotesque meat hooks in hell."

The Doctor was too busy reading the screen before him to pay attention to Amy. "Hmm, just as I suspected, Carver Edlund does not exist."

"What? He most certainly does. He's written several books. He -"

"Pseudonym, Amy. Carver Edlund doesn't exist, but the author does." He twisted a few more knobs and spun around. "Chuck Shurley is the name of the man with the answers we want."

"Ooh – kay. Where do we find Mr. Shurley?"

The Doctor spun to face her. "That is where this gets really interesting, Amy." He rubbed his hands together as he grinned mischievously. "Our friend, Mr. Shurley, is a bit of an anomaly. It appears that he is in two places at once. And, even better, he's in two time lines at once."

"What? Doctor, how is that even possible?"

"I don't know Amy, but what do you say we find out?"

2014 Camp Chitaqua

Dean Winchester was slowly becoming conscious. Slowly being his choice. He didn't know where he was, or who hit him or why. All he knew was he was handcuffed and it was 2014 and that Zachariah said he'd be here a few days. The angel wanted Dean to see what happens to the world if he continued to say "no" to Michael. When he finally opened his eyes, he found himself across the room. "What the hell?" he muttered.

2014Dean looked over. "I should be asking that." He approached his hostage. "In fact, why don't you tell me why I shouldn't gank you right here?"

"You'd only be hurting yourself," Dean quipped.

2014Dean glared. "Funny. I know you're not a demon or a shape-shifter, but I need you to come clean about this uncanny resemblance we've got."

"Zachariah."

"The angel? Where is he?"

"I don't know where he is. He zapped me here so I can see how shitty the world is now."

They studied each other for a moment, finally allowing the smallest bit of trust for the other.

2014Dean leaned back. "Croatoan virus. It's efficient, it's incurable, and it's scary as hell. Turns people into monsters. Started hitting the major cities about two years ago. World really went in the crapper after that."

Dean nodded his understanding. "What about Sam?"

2014Dean swallowed. "Heavyweight showdown in Detroit. From what I understand, Sam didn't make it."

Dean didn't believe his ears. "You weren't with him?"

"No. No, me and Sam, we haven't talked in—hell, five years," 2014Dean admitted with a touch of sadness underlying his cold demeanor.

Dean felt the loss instantly. "We never tried to find him?"

2014Dean turned his back and grabbed some keys from a hook. "I don't have time to explain everything now. I've got an errand to run. When I get back, I'll show you why you have to say yes."

"You're just going to leave me here?"

2014Dean looked at his younger self with contempt. "Yes. I got a camp full of twitchy trauma survivors out there with an apocalypse hanging over their head. The last thing they need to see is a version of The Parent Trap. So, yeah, you stay locked down."

The moment he was alone, Dean began to scratch at a nail in the floor. Just over an hour later, he escaped the cuffs and made his way out of the cabin.

He nearly crashed into Chuck as he made his way around camp. "Dean, we're running low on some essential supplies. We need..."

"Hey, Chuck, um, yeah, about that, I'll deal with it later. Is Cas still around?"

Chuck stared at Dean, knowing something was off about the man, but unable to put his finger on it. "Aren't you supposed to be on some mission?"

"I'm leaving after I talk to Cas. Where is he again?"

Chuck pointed. "In his cabin. I doubt he'll be leaving any time soon."

Just outside Camp Chitaqua, the TARDIS landed with its usual grace. The Doctor threw open the door and Amy looked around the desolate landscape. "Are you sure this is right, Doctor?"

"Amy! Of course I'm sure. How could you ask that?"

"Oh, I don't know, Doctor. I remember a trip to Rio that never quite happened. And this doesn't look like what I thought America would look like."

"Well, Miss Pond, I have been to America before and this is exactly what it looks like." After a quick scan with his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor said, "Yes, Amy. 2014. Camp Chitaqua. Chuck Shurley is around here somewhere." Seeing two people ahead of them, the Doctor called out, "Hello, there. Could you tell me where we can find Chuck Shurley?"

The couple turned and Amy and the Doctor found guns being pointed at them. "Doctor they have guns. I don't like guns," Amy mumbled in a panic.

"It's America, Amy, everybody has a gun," he whispered to her before calling out again, "Hello, no need to aim those at us. It's just me, the Doctor, and Amy."

The gun toting Americans raised their weapons; the woman cocked hers. "Stop right there."

"Stopping," Amy and the Doctor replied in unison, raising their hands in surrender.

With a wave of her gun, the woman directed her partner to approach them. He looked both of them in the eye and then squinted at the Doctor. "Christo."

"Christo?" The Doctor squinted back at the man. "Odd greeting even for Americans."

However, Amy's eyes became huge with excitement. "Christo! Why are you saying Christo? We're not demons."

The Doctor laughed. "Demons? You think we're demons? Nooo, I'm the Doctor and this is Amy." He reached into his coat pocket, but was stopped by the man cocking his gun. "Oh, sorry, just getting my identification." He looked beyond the man to the woman, who was obviously in charge and repeated in a louder voice so she could hear, "Just getting my identification!" He held out his psychic papers.

The man looked impressed but only said, "Come with me, Doctor"

The woman however, stopped them with a stern look at the man who explained, "They're British intelligence. He's a doctor. They're here to see Chuck."

The woman's brow cocked in disbelief. "British Intelligence?" She handed them a canteen. "Drink this."

Amy took it with glance to the Doctor. He deftly scanned it with his sonic and pronounced it, "Water." Amy drank some and handed it to the Doctor.

"What's this about, saying 'Christo' and making us drink water? Is that Holy water?" Amy asked.

"Making sure you're not a Croat," the woman answered plainly and waved them by.

Amy and the Doctor exchanged confused looks but followed the man to the main camp.

"There, that's Chuck."

"That man there, the scruffy looking one?" the Doctor asked, pointing to Chuck.

"Yep, that's him. Shoulda known he'd have contacts in high places."

#*#*#*#*#

Amy grinned and nearly ran to the prophet. "Chuck? Chuck Shurley?"

"Yeah?" He instantly regretted answering. He wondered who was going to complain now. He held up a hand to prevent the question he knew he'd be asked. "It's your responsibility to ration your own toilet paper. I can't give you any more."

"That's quite all right. We're set with our toiletries," the Doctor replied.

Amy impatiently demanded, "Chuck? Are you the Chuck Shurley that writes the Supernatural books?"

"Yes, I am. I mean I was." He studied them for a minute wondering if he was actually hearing an English accent or if he was delusional. "I don't write those books anymore." For a moment, he squinted at them; they were new refugees, very unusual.

"We know you don't write any more," the Doctor replied. "That's why we're here. We want to know why you stopped writing. We need to know what happened next."

Chuck gaped at them, bewildered. "What happened next? It's the apocalypse and you want to know about some books I wrote years ago?"

"I knew something was off about this place," the Doctor said as he looked around.

Amy worried slightly at Chuck's words. "The apocalypse?"

Chuck looked at them like they were from Mars, "Yeah, the – what did you think was going on?"

The Doctor scanned the area with his sonic as he looked around. "Couldn't say for sure. Been a while since I've been to America, but something is definitely off."

With everything he's seen Chuck couldn't worry about every odd event. "Well, welcome back. You picked a hell of a time to visit. Where are you from? England? I thought London fell months ago."

"Doctor, what's he talking about?"" Amy spoke under her breath.

"I don't know for sure," he answered quietly before turning to Chuck. "What do you mean London fell? Fell how?"

"To the Croats. You know, the demon infection?"

They continued to follow Chuck, but Amy grabbed the Doctor's arm. "Croats? Croatoan? That's real? The Croatoan virus is real?"

Chuck stopped walking. "Of course it's real. It was the first step in Lucifer's plan."

Amy squeezed the Doctor's arm tighter, attempting to remain calm, and whispered, "Lucifer?"

Patiently, the Doctor took Amy's hand off his arm and explained, "Lucifer was an angel..."

"I know who Lucifer is Doctor," she snapped at him. Taking a breath, she looked around. "Chuck, all those stories you wrote about Sam and Dean, those weren't real, were they?"

The Doctor scoffed, "Amy don't be silly. Those are fictional stories. They could only be real if the Sam and Dean in the books were Sam and Dean Winchester and this Chuck Shurley was Chuck Shurley the prophet." The Doctor stopped his ramble for a moment and quickly scanned the rather exasperated scruffy man with them. "Oh."

"OH?" Amy shouted at him. "Oh? I find out all that was real and that he's a prophet and all you say is 'Oh'?"

Dean quietly entered Castiel's cabin and found the angel sitting with several women in a circle on the floor. When Castiel spotted Dean, he groaned internally. "Excuse me, ladies. I think I need to confer with our fearless leader for a minute. Why not go get washed up for the orgy?" As the women began to leave, Cas reminded them, "You're all so beautiful." Then he stood and stretched his back, grunting.

Dean stared at the angel in disbelief. "What are you, a hippie?"

Castiel rolled his eyes as he rolled his neck. "I thought you'd gotten over trying to label me."

Dean nervously crossed the room, knowing something was wrong with Cas but didn't know what to do about it. "Cas, we've got to talk."

Castiel took a long look at Dean. "Whoa. Strange."

"What?"

Castiel approached Dean carefully. "You...are not you. Not now you, anyway."

Relieved, Dean practically shouted, "No! Yeah. Yes, exactly."

"What year are you from?"

"2009."

"Who did this to you? Was it Zachariah?"

"Yes."

Castiel's only response was a calm, "Interesting."

Dean couldn't believe that was Cas' reply. "Oh, yeah, it's friggin' fascinating. Now. Why don't you strap on your angel wings and fly me back to my page on the calendar?"

"I wish I could just, uh, strap on my wings," Castiel said with a sheepish grin, "but I'm sorry, no dice."

Finally, Dean took a long look at FutureCastiel. "Wait, are you stoned?"

"Uh, generally, yeah."

Dean wiped a hand wearily over his face. "What's going on—w-with the drugs and the orgies and the love-guru crap?"

Castiel shrugged. "Life. I'm not an angel anymore."

"What? What happened to you?"

The former angel smirked, "Yeah, I went mortal."

"What do you mean? How?"

Castiel handed Dean a glass containing his homemade alcohol. "I think it had something to do with the other angels leaving. But when they bailed, my mojo just kind of— psshhew!—drained away. And now, you know, I'm practically human. I mean, Dean, I'm all but useless. Last year, broke my foot, laid up for two months."

"Wow. That sucks, but, well, welcome to the club." He raised his glass in a toast.

Castiel accepted with a nod. "Thanks. Except I used to belong to a much better club."

Chuck took a few steps away from Amy and the Doctor. It had been years since he met a fan and this was not looking to end well. "Uh, if you don't mind, I'm really busy."

Amy grabbed his arm. "If that was real, all those things that happen to Sam and Dean, that was real?"

"'Fraid so?" Chuck shrugged meekly.

"You sent him to hell? You let Dean go to hell? How could you do that?" Amy demanded, slapping Chuck's arm with each word and looking more threatening than the Doctor had ever seen her.

"He-he made the deal. It's not like I had any control over -"

Amy slapped Chuck's arm again. "You could have stopped him!"

The Doctor pulled Amy back with a worried look to the sky. "Amy! Stop! Don't hurt him."

"Don't hurt him? After what he did to the -" Amy noticed the Doctor's anxious look. "Doctor what's wrong?"

"There should be an angel," he said, now with more curiosity than concern.

"Angel?" Amy asked in alarm, looking around for a statue.

The Doctor ignored her and turned his attention to Chuck. "Why is there no angel? Where is your angel?"

"Angel? There are no more angels. Oh, do you mean Cas?" Chuck turned, grateful to get away from the angry red head, "Last I saw Cas, he was in his cabin." Chuck pointed to where Dean and Cas were stepping out of a cabin.

"I wish I could help you, Dean, but I'm mostly powerless," Castiel said as he walked with Dean. "I'm hapless, I'm hopeless. I mean, why the hell not bury myself in women and decadence, right? It's the end, baby. That's what decadence is for."

"Well, I'm glad you finally took off the trench coat and got laid, but I could really use 2009Cas right about now."

Cas laughed. "Tell you what. Join in the orgy later, it's the least I can do," Cas stopped talking and grabbed Dean's arm when he saw who was with Chuck. "Whoa."

"'Whoa' what?"

Cas nodded in Chuck's direction. "Them. That couple by Chuck. They're not from here either. Believe me; I would have noticed that red head and a man in a bow tie."

Dean took a moment to study the couple, and then shook his head. "Holy tax accountant is now the fashion police. Awesome." But, he knew that even a stoned Cas would know if the 'red head and a skinny guy in a bow tie' were strangers to the camp.

Dean took a deep breath. The couple had to be part of what Zack wanted to teach him. "Better see what they want," he said to Cas.

Cas smiled. "This day keeps getting more interesting."

#*#*#*#*#

Amy and the Doctor looked to where Chuck pointed and again Amy sighed in exasperation. "That's Dean?" Amy demanded after staring at the hunter for a minute. "That. That man is Dean? The Dean from your books?"

"Yeah, that's Dean."

Suddenly, Amy lit up. "If that's Dean, he's out of hell! Doctor, he's... how is he out of hell?"

"Well," Chuck began, "after he had been there for-"

When she saw Dean starting to walk over, Amy quietly interrupted him. "You may be a prophet, but you're terrible at descriptions." Seeing that Chuck looked offended, Amy continued her argument, "For starters, you called him the short one."

"He is shorter than Sam," Chuck mumbled.

"Hey, Chuck, what's going on?" Dean asked as he cautiously approached. "Don't you think you should introduce your friends?"

The prophet began to stammer, "They, they're not..."

"What Chuck is trying to say is we're not his friends, she's his fan. I'm the Doctor. She's Amy Pond, and we're here to see what happened to you," the Doctor answered Dean, though he was becoming more fascinated by Cas as he spoke. "Well, you're an interesting chap, aren't you?"

Cas tilted his head and stared at the Doctor, reminding Dean of his angel for the first time since he met this version. "You make me wish I was sober."

Amused, the Doctor asked, "Are you drunk?"

"Stoned," Cas replied.

The Doctor laughed, "Oh my, that must have taken quite a bit to accomplish."

Cas shrugged, "Not as much as it used to."

Amy cleared her throat. "Doctor."

Immediately, the Doctor stepped back. "Right, sorry. We just popped in to ask Chuck why he let you go to hell."

"He didn't let me do anything. I made a deal with a demon to save my brother," Dean began to explain. "But, who are you exactly?"

"Well, obviously you didn't really go to hell, because you're here now." Amy paused and her eyes widened incredibly as she looked at the serious expressions of the men around her. "Wait, you really did go to hell?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah. But -"

Amy didn't let him finish. "And, Chuck, you said this was the apocalypse?"

Chuck nodded, "Yeah."

Amy spun to the Doctor in distress. "That means this is The Apocalypse, Doctor! What are we going to do? Can we stop it?"

"Amy," the Doctor soothed, "don't worry, of course we can stop it. We always stop it. We'll stop this one, too." Then the Doctor turned to Chuck. "Alright, Chuck, how do we stop it? You're the prophet, what's the plan?"

"I, I don't have a plan. Dean has the plan."

Dean looked from Chuck to Cas to Amy. "I, I don't have a plan. I -"

#*#*#*#*#

Dean was interrupted by the arrival of two jeeps. They watched as the passengers climbed from the vehicles and popped open some beer cans. Chuck and Amy did several double takes between the two Deans.

As 2014Dean aimed a gun at one of his men, Dean yelled, "Watch out!"

But, 2014Dean fired the gun, killing the man instantly.

The camp residents in the immediate area looked between the two Deans.

2014Dean gritted his teeth. "Damn it." He turned to his men. "I'm not gonna lie to you. Me and him—It's a pretty messed-up situation we've got going. But believe me, when you need to know something, you will know it. Until then, we all have work to do."

As 2014Dean approached the small group, Cas snickered. "Look at you. You are so mad. It would be funny if it wasn't so... no, actually it is funny."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" 2014Dean growled.

Dean glared back at him as he left the others and met his future self half-way. "Me? What the hell are you doing? You just shot a guy in cold blood."

2014Dean looked towards the new comers for a second; he'd deal with them in a minute. First, he had to deal with his 2009 self. Before he answered his younger version's question, he grabbed Dean's arm, and dragged him towards his cabin, "We were in an open quarantine zone. Got ambushed by some Croats on the way out. One of them infected Yeager."

"How do you know?" Dean asked sounding less demanding than he did before.

2014Dean sighed. "'Cause after a few years of this, I know. I started seeing symptoms about a half an hour ago. Wasn't gonna be long before he flipped. I didn't see the point in troubling a good man with bad news."

Dean couldn't believe his ears. "'Troubling a good man'? You just blew him away in front of your own people! Don't you think that freaked them out a little bit?"

"It's 2014. Plugging some Croat, it's called commonplace," 2014Dean explained. "Trading words with my friggin' clone – that might have freaked them out a little."

"All right, look –," Dean began.

"No, you look," 2014Dean ground out. "This isn't your time. It's mine. You don't make the decisions. I do. So, when I say stay in, you stay in."

"All right, man. I'm sorry. Look, I—I'm not trying to mess you—me—us up here."

"I know," 2014Dean grudgingly admitted.

Dean saw the difference in his future self. "What was the mission, anyway?"

2014Dean's attention was on Amy and the Doctor. "In a sec, who are those two? Where'd they come from? We don't get tourists, you know?"

"Um, I don't know, really. They're friends of Chuck's, fans actually."

"Yeah, I don't think so," 2014Dean replied.

#*#*#*#*#

"Hey," he called to get their attention. "Who are you? How did you get here?"

Chuck held out his hand in an 'after you' gesture and the Doctor and Amy headed towards the Deans. "Uh, Dean, this is Amy and, uh, the the -"

"This is Amy Pond and I am the Doctor. We were here to meet Chuck. But," he paused and pointed between the Deans. "There are two of you. Why are there two of you? Chuck?" He turned to the prophet.

Chuck stammered, "I – I d don't know."

"Zachariah, the angel, did it," Dean answered, earning a glare from his future self.

"Another angel?" Amy shuddered. "I hate angels." she took a furtive look around.

"You and me both, sister." Dean huffed a laugh and cut his eyes to Castiel. "No offense."

Castiel shrugged, "None taken."

Amy looked Cas over. "You're no angel."

He swayed drunkenly as he turned to her. "No'm not. Not anymore."

The Doctor studied the Deans. "All right. Two of you. That's not right at all. There shouldn't be two. Why are there two? What is the angel trying to accomplish?"

"He wants me to see -" Dean began but is cut off by a harsh look from his future self.

"Doesn't matter," 2014Dean growled. He turned to Cas. "Did anybody bother to test these two?"

Cas shrugged. Chuck pointed over his shoulder. "They passed Risa and Don. I'm sure they tested..."

"Oh, yes, holy water, Christo, the whole thing," Amy replied nervously nodding.

2014Dean gave them another once over before pulling a gun on the Doctor

The Doctor squinted at the gun 2014Dean was holding. "Is that, is that Samuel Colt's gun?" He took a step forward but was immediately pulled back by Amy.

"What do you know about the Colt?" Dean demanded.

"What do I know? What don't I know!" The Doctor looked around, then lowered his voice and asked, "Why? What do you know about it?"

Amy looked between the men who had all decided it was best to stay silent. She took a breath and began, "Back in 1835, when Halley's Comet was overhead, Samuel Colt made a gun. A special gun."

"That gun can kill anything," Dean added.

"No, it can't." The Doctor dismissed Dean and turned to Amy gushing, "Halley's Comet? Really? Is that what – oh what 'til I tell her that!"

"Tell who what?" Dean asked.

"This is the last time I ask," a very frustrated 2014Dean growled as he aimed the Colt. "What are you and what are you doing here?"

The Doctor ignored him, still giddy over the 'comet' comment. "That was no comet. That was the TARDIS."