Amy’s Choice

[Kitchen]

(In the quiet countryside, a cockerel crows. A very heavily pregnant Amy is mixing ingredients in a bowl, when she suddenly puts it down and gasps.)

AMY: Rory!

[Outside the house]

(Long haired Rory returns home on his bicycle.)

AMY [OC]: Rory, it's starting!

[Kitchen]

(Rory dashes in to find Amy contentedly eating cake mix.)

RORY: Ah. Okay, okay.
AMY: False alarm.
RORY: What?
AMY: Well, I don't know what it feels like. I've never had a baby before.

(The sound of the TARDIS materialising.)

AMY: No.
RORY: I know, leaf blowers. Use a rake.
AMY: No, it's.

(The TARDIS parks herself directly outside the front window.)

AMY: I knew. I just knew.

[Front garden]

(The Doctor has to try and step over a small rockery to get out.)

DOCTOR: Rory!
RORY: Doctor.
DOCTOR: I've crushed your flowers.
RORY: Oh, Amy will kill you.
DOCTOR: Where is she?
RORY: She'll need a bit longer.
DOCTOR: Whenever you're ready, Amy.

(Amy waddles out.)

DOCTOR: Oh, way-hey! You've swallowed a planet.
AMY: I'm pregnant.
DOCTOR: You're huge.
AMY: Yeah, I'm pregnant.
DOCTOR: Look at you. When worlds collide.
AMY: Doctor, I'm pregnant.
DOCTOR: Oh, look at you both. Five years later and you haven't changed a bit, apart from age and size.
AMY: Oh, it's good to see you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Are you pregnant?

[Leadworth]

DOCTOR: Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever.
RORY: It's Upper Leadworth, actually. We've gone slightly upmarket.
DOCTOR: Where is everyone?
AMY: This is busy. Okay, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their nineties.

(Including the old woman twitching her net curtains as they pass.)

DOCTOR: Well, don't let that get you down.
AMY: It's not getting me down.
DOCTOR: Well, I wanted to see how you were. You know me, I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of your old pal the Doctor so easily.
AMY: Hmm. You came here by mistake, didn't you?
DOCTOR: Yeah, bit of a mistake. But look, what a result. Look at this bench. What a nice bench. What will they think of next? So. What do you do around here to stave off the, you know
AMY: Boredom.
DOCTOR: Self harm.
RORY: We relax.
DOCTOR: (silent) Relax.
RORY: We live. We listen to the birds.
AMY: Yeah, see? Birds. Those are nice.
RORY: We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days, did we?

(The bird is very loud.)

DOCTOR: Oh blimey, my head's a bit. Ooo. Er, no, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good old

(Rory, Amy and the Doctor fall asleep.)

[TARDIS]

(The Doctor wakes up on the console floor. Short haired Rory and non-pregnant Amy enter.)

DOCTOR: Days. What? No, yes, sorry, what? Oh, you're okay. 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.

(The Doctor hugs Amy.)

AMY: Oh, okay.
DOCTOR: 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? Red flashing lights. I bet they mean something.
RORY: Er, Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing.
AMY: Yeah, so did I.
RORY: Not a nightmare, though, just, er, we were married.
AMY: Yeah. In a little village.
RORY: A sweet little village, and you were pregnant.
AMY: Yes, I was huge. I was a boat.
RORY: So you had the same dream, then? Exactly the same dream?
AMY: Are you calling me a boat?
RORY: And Doctor, you were visiting.
AMY: Yeah, yeah, you came to our cottage.
RORY: How can we have the same dream? It doesn't make any sense.
AMY: And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?
DOCTOR: It was a bit similar, in some aspects.
RORY: Which aspects?
DOCTOR: Well, all of them.
AMY: You had the same dream.
DOCTOR: Basically.
RORY: You said it was a nightmare.
DOCTOR: Did I say nightmare? 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.

(A bird is singing.)

AMY: Doctor? If we're back to reality, how come I can still hear birds?
RORY: Yeah, the same birds. The same ones we heard in the

[Leadworth]

RORY: Dream. Oh! Sorry. Nodded off. Stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS.

(The Doctor checks his braces and walks away.)

RORY: You had the same dream, didn't you?
AMY: Weren't we just saying the same thing?
RORY: But we thought this was the dream, didn't we?
AMY: I think so. Why do dreams have to fade so quickly?
RORY: Doctor, what is going on?
AMY: Is this because of you? Is this some Time Lordy thing because you've shown up again?
DOCTOR: Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel.
RORY: But we're awake now.
DOCTOR: Yeah. You thought you were awake on the TARDIS, too.
AMY: But we're home.
DOCTOR: Yeah, you're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which? Are we flashing forwards or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going be a tricky one.

[TARDIS]

DOCTOR: Oh, this is bad. I don't like this.

(He kicks the console, and hurts his leg.)

DOCTOR: Argh. Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case, always use force.
AMY: Shall I run and get the manual?
DOCTOR: I threw it in a supernova.
AMY: You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?
DOCTOR: Because I disagreed with it. Stop talking to me when I'm cross.
RORY: Okay, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?
DOCTOR: If we were dreaming of the future.
AMY: Well, of course we were. We were in Leadworth.
RORY: Upper Leadworth.
DOCTOR: Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this. Don't you get it?
AMY: No, okay? No, this is real. I'm definitely awake now.
DOCTOR: And you thought you were definitely awake when you were all elephanty.
AMY: Hey. Pregnant.
DOCTOR: And you could be giving birth right now. 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.
RORY: Okay, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside.
AMY: With a bow tie-wearing alien.
RORY: So maybe what rings true isn't so simple.
DOCTOR: Valid point.

(The TARDIS switches off. There is just a faint glow from the time rotor left.)

DOCTOR: It's dead. We're in a dead time machine.

(A bird sings. Rory hugs Amy.)

DOCTOR: Remember, this is real. But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels.
AMY: It is real. I know it's real.

[Leadworth]

(A teacher leads a crocodile of schoolchildren past. The church clock is chiming as Rory and Amy wake up on a bench outside the Library.)

AMY: Okay, this is the real one. Definitely this one. It's all solid.
DOCTOR: It felt solid in the TARDIS too. You can't spot a dream while you're having it.

(The Doctor waves his hand in front of his face.)

RORY: What are you doing?
DOCTOR: Looking for motion blur, pixilation. It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though.

(A little old woman walks past.)

HAMIT: Hello, Doctor.
RORY: Hi.
DOCTOR: Hello. You're a doctor.
RORY: Yeah. And unlike you, I've actually passed some exams.
DOCTOR: A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed. How interesting.
RORY: What is?
DOCTOR: Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream.
RORY: It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it, Amy?
AMY: Yes. Course it is, yeah.
DOCTOR: What's that?
AMY: Old people's home.

(The sign outside says SARN Residential Care Home. A man is looking out of a window, then a woman and another man.)

DOCTOR: You said everyone here lives to their nineties. There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick.

(The Doctor runs off, followed by Rory.)

AMY: Oh. Can we not do the running thing?

[Care home lounge]

WOMAN [OC]: Oh hello, Doctor Williams.
POGGIT: Hello, Rory love.
RORY: Hello, Mrs Poggit. How's your hip?
POGGIT: A bit stiff.
DOCTOR: Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus. No, you don't have that yet. Forget that.
POGGIT: Who's your friend? A junior doctor?
RORY: Yes.
POGGIT: Can I borrow you? You're the size of my grandson.

(The Doctor has to try on the sweater Mrs Poggit is knitting.)

DOCTOR: Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out. You're incredibly old, aren't you?

(The rest of the residents in the lounge stare at him, then the birdsong starts and they fall asleep.)

[TARDIS]

AMY: Okay, I hate this, Doctor. Stop it, because this is definitely real. It's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?
RORY: It's bloody cold.
DOCTOR: The heating's off.
RORY: The heating's off?
DOCTOR: Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do.
RORY: Er, yes. Sorry about Mrs Poggit. She's so lovely though.
DOCTOR: I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you.
AMY: What do you mean, act?
DOCTOR: Everything's off. Sensors, core power. We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone, something, is overriding my controls.

(A little man in a red bow tie and tweed jacket suddenly appears on the stairs behind the Doctor.)

DREAM LORD: Well, that took a while. Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm. Him in the bow tie.
DOCTOR: How did you get into my TARDIS? What are you?
DREAM LORD: What shall we call me? Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord.
DOCTOR: Nice look.
DREAM LORD: This? No, I'm not convinced. Bow ties?

(The Doctor throws his sonic screwdriver through the Dream Lord.)

DREAM LORD: Interesting. I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord. It's in the name, isn't it? Spooky. Not quite there.

(He pops up behind them.)

DREAM LORD: And yet, very much here.
DOCTOR: I'll do the talking, thank you. Amy, want to take a guess at what that is?
AMY: Er, Dream Lord. He creates dreams.
DOCTOR: Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks.
DREAM LORD: And what about the gooseberry, here. Does he get a guess?
RORY: Er, listen, mate. If anyone's the gooseberry round here, it's the Doctor.
DREAM LORD: Well now, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for.
RORY: No, he is. Isn't he, Amy.
DREAM LORD: Oh, Amy, have to sort your men out. Choose, even.
AMY: I have chosen. Of course I've chosen.

(Amy is standing close to the Doctor, but she hits Rory.)

AMY: It's you, stupid.
RORY: Oh, good. Thanks.

(The Dream Lord pops behind them again.)

DREAM LORD: You can't fool me. I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice. Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face.
DOCTOR: Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?
DREAM LORD: Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground.
DOCTOR: Am I?
DREAM LORD: 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. I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are. Where was I?
RORY: You were
DREAM LORD: I know where I was. So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. 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.

(Birdsong.)

DREAM LORD: Oh. Or are you waking up?

(The Doctor tries to stay awake, but finally fails.)

[Care home lounge]

(The residents are gone. The Dream Lord walks in wearing a dark suit and tie, with an x-ray in his hand.)

DREAM LORD: Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray. Your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor.
AMY: Always? What do you mean, always?
DREAM LORD: 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?
RORY: What happens?
DREAM LORD: You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality.
AMY: Have you met the Doctor before? Do you know him? Doctor, does he?
DREAM LORD: Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy. 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.

(The Dream Lord vanishes.)

RORY: Okay, I don't like him.
AMY: Who is he?
DOCTOR: I don't know. It's a big universe.
AMY: Why is he doing this?
DOCTOR: 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.
RORY: What does he mean, deadly danger, though? Nothing deadly has happened here. I mean, a bit of natural wastage, obviously.

(The Doctor is suddenly in his jacket again, not the sweater.)

DOCTOR: They've all gone. They've all gone.

[Leadworth]

(Directly opposite the care home is a play area and a ruined castle. The teacher is trying to keep control of the children as they play.)

WOMAN: Stop. You two, over there. Come along, where's the rest of you? Come on, come on. We're going up to the castle now. All of you, come on.
RORY: Why would they leave?
AMY: And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's nice old lady act?
DOCTOR: One of my tawdry quirks. 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.
RORY: And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time.
DOCTOR: Yes, sort of communal trance. 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! I'm slowing down, like you two have.
AMY: Ooo. Ow. Really. Ow! It's coming.
DOCTOR: Okay, you're a doctor, help her.
RORY: You're a doctor.
DOCTOR: It's okay, we're doctors.

(The Doctor squats down to catch the baby.)

RORY: What do we do?
AMY: Okay, it's not coming.
DOCTOR: What?
AMY: This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet, so don't you call it dull again, ever. Okay?
DOCTOR: Sorry.
AMY: Yeah.

[Playground]

(Amy goes to sit on a swing as Mrs Poggit walks up the steps to the castle.)

DOCTOR: Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room.
AMY: I have to be this size, I'm having a baby.
DOCTOR: No, no. The hormones seem real, but no. Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail? You hold him down, I'll cut it off?
RORY: This from the man in the bow tie.
DOCTOR: Bow ties are cool. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter. What's she doing? What does she want?

(Tweet, tweet.)

AMY: Oh, no. Here we go.

[TARDIS]

AMY: It's really cold. Have you got any warm clothing?
DOCTOR: What does it matter if we're cold? We have to know what she is up to. Sorry, sorry. There should be some stuff down there. Have a look.

(Amy and Rory go down the steps. The Doctor goes underneath the console with a tin mug and opens a tool box. It contains a piece of rope, a bottle opener and a whisk.)

RORY: I want the other life. You know, where we're happy and settled and about to have a baby.
AMY: But don't you wonder, if that life is real, then why would we give up all this? Why would anyone?
RORY: Because we're going to freeze to death?
AMY: The Doctor'll fix it.
RORY: Okay. Because we're going to get married?
AMY: We can still get married some day.
RORY: You don't want to any more. I thought you'd chosen me, not him.
AMY: You are always so insecure.
RORY: You ran off with another man.
AMY: Not in that way.
RORY: It was the night before our wedding.
AMY: We're in a time machine. It can be the night before our wedding for as long as we want.
RORY: We have to grow up eventually.
AMY: Says who?

(Amy gives Rory a blanket and they go back up the stairs. The Doctor has assembled the whisk, rope and bottle opener into a gizmo.)

DOCTOR: Ah, Rory, wind. Amy, could you attach this to the monitor, please.
RORY: I was promised amazing worlds. Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitcheny wind-up device.
DOCTOR: It's a generator. Get winding.
AMY: Not enough.
DOCTOR: Rory, wind.
RORY: Why is the Dream Lord picking on you? Why us?

(The scanner comes to life.)

AMY: Where are we?
DOCTOR: We're in trouble.
RORY: What is that?
DOCTOR: A star. A cold star.

(The Doctor opens the door.)

DOCTOR: 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.
AMY: So this must be the dream. There's no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn.
DOCTOR: So's this one. It's just burning cold.
RORY: Is that possible?
DOCTOR: I can't know everything. Why does everybody expect me to, always?
RORY: Okay, this is something you haven't seen before. So does that mean this is the dream?
DOCTOR: I don't know, but there it is, and I'd say we've got about fourteen minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem.
RORY: Because you know how to get us out of this?
DOCTOR: Because we'll have frozen to death by then.
AMY: Oh, then what are we going to do?
DOCTOR: Stay calm. Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle that we have to lose.
RORY: Oh, this is so you, isn't it?
DOCTOR: What?
RORY: Huh, what? A weird new star, fourteen minutes left to live and only one man to save the day, huh? I just wanted a nice village and a family.
DREAM LORD: Oh dear, Doctor. Dissent in the ranks. There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends and

(The Dream Lord looks startled as the bird song starts up.)

DREAM LORD: Oh, no. We've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here.

[Ruined castle]

DOCTOR: Where have the children gone?
RORY: Don't know. Play time's probably over.

(The Doctor scans the molehills and objects left next to them.)

RORY: You see, this is the real one. I just feel it. Don't you feel it?
AMY: I feel it both places.
RORY: I feel it here. It's just so tranquil and relaxed. Nothing bad could ever happen here.
AMY: 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? That's why I got pregnant, so I don't have to see them doing Oklahoma. Doctor, what are you doing? And what are those piles of dust?
DOCTOR: Play time's definitely over.
AMY: Oh, my God.
RORY: What happened to them?

(The old people are walking along the street.)

DOCTOR: I think they did.

[Playground]

AMY: They're just old people.
DOCTOR: No, they're very old people. Sorry, Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive.
DREAM LORD: Hello, peasants. 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.
DOCTOR: Leave her alone.
DREAM LORD: Do that again. I love it when he does that. Tall dark hero. Leave her alone.
RORY: Just leave her.
DREAM LORD: Yes, you're not quite so impressive, but I know where your heart lies, don't I, Amy Pond?
AMY: Shut up. Just shut up and leave me alone.
DREAM LORD: But listen. You're in there. Loves a redhead, the Doctor. Has he told you about Elizabeth the First? Well, she thought she was the first.
DOCTOR: Drop it. Drop all of it. I know who you are.
DREAM LORD: Course you don't.
DOCTOR: Course I do. No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do.
DREAM LORD: Never mind me. Maybe you should worry about them.

(The old people are walking across the grass. The Dream Lord vanishes.)

RORY: Hi. Hello.
DOCTOR: Hello, we were wondering where you went. To get reinforcements, by the look of it. Are you all right? You look a bit tense.
RORY: Hello, Mister Nainby.
DOCTOR: Rory.
RORY: Mister Nainby ran the sweet shop. He used to slip me the odd free toffee.

(Nainby grabs Rory by the collar and lifts him off his feet.)

RORY: Did I not say thank you?

(Rory gets thrown into the mud by the swings.)

RORY: How did he do that?
DOCTOR: I suspect he's not himself. Don't get comfortable here. You may have to run, fast.
AMY: Can't we just talk to them?

(The old people open their mouths, and an eye looks out.)

AMY: There is an eye in her mouth.
DOCTOR: There's a whole creature inside her. Inside all of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting.
RORY: That is disgusting. They're not going to be peeping out of anywhere else, are they?

(Mrs Poggit breaths a stream of green gas at them.)

DOCTOR: Run. Okay, leave them, leave them. Talk to me. Talk to me. You are Eknodines. A proud, ancient race. you're better than this.

(Rory and Amy run off.)

DOCTOR: Why are you hiding away here? Why aren't you at home?
POGGIT: We were driven from our planet by
DOCTOR: Planet by upstart neighbours.
NAINBY: So we've
DOCTOR: Been living here inside the bodies of old humans for years. No wonder they live so long. You're keeping them alive.
POGGIT: We were humbled and destroyed. Now we will do the same to others.
DOCTOR: Okay. Makes sense, I suppose. Credible enough. Could be real.

(A paper boy wheels his bicycle past.)

LAD: Morning.

(Mrs Poggit breaths on him and he turns to dust.)

DOCTOR: You need to leave this planet.

[Outside the cottage]

AMY: Wait. Stop.

(Four old people are advancing through the sheep meadow across the road.)

RORY: After all I've done for the over seventies in this village.

(Mrs Hamill is by the front door.)

RORY: Okay, this is crazy. She loves me. I fixed her depression. She's just a little old lady.
AMY: Mrs Hamill, we don't understand.

(The Eknodine looks out of Mrs Hamill's mouth.)

RORY: I'll deal with this one, Chubs. Now

(They dodge the blast of green gas. Rory picks up a piece of wood.)

RORY: I can't hit her.
AMY: Tut. Whack her!

(Rory swings and knocks Mrs Hamill down. They run inside.)

[Cottage]

AMY: We just ran away. We just abandoned the Doctor. Don't ever call me Chubs again. We don't see him for years, and somehow we don't really connect any more, and then, then he takes the bullet for us.

(Rory is locking doors and windows, and building a barricade.)

RORY: Hey, he'll be fine. You know the Doctor. He's Mister Cool.

[Leadworth Butchers shop]

(The Doctor is fighting the bird song's effect. Guess who is behind the counter?)

DREAM LORD: Oh, I love a good butcher's, don't you? We've got to use these places or they'll shut down. Oh, but you're probably a vegetarian, aren't you, you big flop-haired wuss.
DOCTOR: Oh, pipe down. I'm busy.
DREAM LORD: Maybe you need a little sleep.

(The Doctor slumps to the floor.)

DREAM LORD: Oh, wait a moment. If you fall asleep here, several dozen angry pensioners will destroy you with their horrible eye things.

(The Doctor gets up.)

DREAM LORD: Fingers in the ear. Brilliant. What's next, shouting boo? Come in, come in.

(The old people enter the shop.)

DREAM LORD: Yes, we've got lots at steak here this week. Lots at steak, get it? Are these jokes wasted on you?
DOCTOR: Wait, wait, stop.
DREAM LORD: Oh. Oh, I can't watch.

(The Doctor locks himself in a store room.)

[TARDIS]

AMY: Ah, it's colder.
DOCTOR: The three of us have to agree, now, which is the dream.
RORY: It's this, here.
AMY: He could be right. The science is all wrong here. Burning ice?
DOCTOR: No, no, no. Ice can burn. Sofas can read. It's a big universe. We have to agree which battle to lose. All of us, now.
AMY: Okay, which world do you think is real?
DOCTOR: This one.
RORY: No, the other one.
DOCTOR: Yeah, but are we disagreeing or competing?
AMY: Competing? Over what? Oh.
DOCTOR: Nine minutes till impact.
AMY: What temperature is it?
DOCTOR: Outside? Brrr. How many noughts have you got? Inside? I don't know but I can't feel my feet and other parts.
RORY: I think all my parts are basically fine.
DOCTOR: Stop competing.

(Rory picks up the TARDIS telephone.)

RORY: Can't we call for help?
DOCTOR: Yeah, because the universe is really small and there's bound to be someone nearby.
AMY: Put these on, both of you.

(Amy has cut a slit in the middle of the blankets.)

RORY: Oh, a poncho. The biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen.
AMY: Here we go. My boys. My poncho boys. If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band.
RORY: We're not going to die.
DOCTOR: No, we're not, but our time's running 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?
DREAM LORD: Good idea, veggie. Let's divide you three up, so I can have a little chat with our lovely companion. Maybe I'll keep her, and you can have Pointy Nose to yourself for all eternity, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality.
RORY: Can you hear that?
AMY: What? No.
DOCTOR: Amy, don't be scared. We'll be back.

(The Doctor and Rory fall asleep.)

AMY: Rory, Doctor, don't leave me.
DREAM LORD: Amy, we're going to have fun, aren't we?
AMY: No, please, not alone.

[Cottage]

(Rory wakens to the sound of the front windows being smashed. Amy sleeps on the bottom of the stairs so he tries to drag her up them.)

RORY: Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

(He lays her on the nursery floor.)

RORY: Sorry.

(He looks out of the window where the old people have got a battering ram and are also pushing at the TARDIS. He jams the door handle with a chair and sits on it.)

[Leadworth Butcher's shop]

(The Doctor activates his sonic screwdriver.)

DOCTOR: Okay, where is it?

(He gets the frequency, then opens the door and zaps the lights. The old people close their eyes and mouths, and he escapes.)

[Leadworth]

(Mister Nainby is attacking a camper van parked nearby.)

MAN: Oh help, somebody.
DOCTOR: Oh, you couldn't live near the shops, could you.
MAN: Help me!

(The Doctor knocks Mister Nainby down and gets into the driver's seat.)

DOCTOR: It's okay, it's only me.

(They drive by the playground where a group of mothers is being attacked.)

MAN: Get in, get in, get in. Quickly, quickly, over here. Quickly. Get in.
DOCTOR: Come on, jump in. Quickly, get in now. Quickly. Hurry up. Are we in?

(Then they rescue a family by a gate.)

DOCTOR: Come on, let's go.
MAN: Quickly, in here.
DOCTOR: All four, quick.
MAN: That's it. Clear.
DOCTOR: Everyone in.

[TARDIS]

(There is a thick layer of frost over everything.)

DREAM LORD: Poor Amy. He always leaves you, doesn't he, alone in the dark. Never apologises.
AMY: He doesn't have to.
DREAM LORD: That's good, because he never will. And now he's left you with me. Spooky old, not to be trusted me. Anything could happen.
AMY: Who are you, and what do you want? 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.
DREAM LORD: Oh, is that who you think you are? The one he trusts?
AMY: Actually, yes.
DREAM LORD: The only girl in the universe to whom the Doctor tells everything?
AMY: Yes.
DREAM LORD: So what's his name? Now, which one of these men would you really choose? Look at them. You ran away with a handsome hero. Would you really give him up for a bumbling country doctor who thinks the only thing he needs to be interesting is a ponytail?
AMY: Stop it.
DREAM LORD: But maybe it's better than loving and losing the Doctor. 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.

[Outside the church]

(The Doctor gets rid of his passengers.)

DOCTOR: Everybody, out, out, out. Into the church, that's right. Don't answer the door.

(He drives off.)

[Camper van]

(The Dream Lord appears wearing a peach racing suit and holding a full face helmet.)

DREAM LORD: It's make your mind up time in both worlds.
DOCTOR: Fine. I need to find my friends.
DREAM LORD: Friends? Is that the right word for the people you acquire? Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never see you again once they've grown up. The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?

(The Dream Lord vanishes again, and the Doctor arrives outside the cottage to see the slow motion onslaught of the elderly.)

DOCTOR: Okay.

[Nursery]

(Amy wakes up.)

AMY: How did I get up here?
RORY: I carried you. I'm afraid you may experience some bruising.
AMY: Where's the Doctor?
RORY: I don't know. I want to do something for you.

(He gets a pair of scissors and cuts off his pony tail.)

AMY: I was starting to like it.

(The window opens, making them jump.)

DOCTOR: Sorry. I had to stop off at the butcher's.
RORY: What are we going to do?
DOCTOR: I don't know. I thought the freezing TARDIS was real but now I'm not so sure.
AMY: Oh! I think the baby's starting.
RORY: Honestly?
AMY: Would I make it up at a time like this?
RORY: Well, you do have a history of (gets a Look) being very lovely. Why are they so desperate to kill us?
DOCTOR: They're scared. Fear generates savagery.

(Something is thrown through a window. A gnome, I think. Mrs Poggit breaths at Rory, and some of the green gas touches him.)

AMY: Rory!

(The Doctor knocks Mrs Poggit off the porch roof.)

RORY: No, I'm not ready.
AMY: Stay.

(Rory begins to turn to dust.)

RORY: Look after our baby.
AMY: No. No. Come back. Save him. You save everyone. You always do. It's what you do.
DOCTOR: Not always. I'm sorry.
AMY: Then what is the point of you? (Amy touches the pile of dust then gets up.)
AMY: This is the dream. Definitely this one. Now, if we die here, we wake up, yeah?
DOCTOR: Unless we just die.
AMY: Either way, this is my only chance of seeing him again. This is the dream.
DOCTOR: How do you know?
AMY: Because if this is real life, I don't want it. I don't want it.

[Outside the cottage]

AMY: Why aren't they attacking?
DOCTOR: Either because this is just a dream or because they know what we're about to do.

(Amy holds out her hand for the camper van key.)

DOCTOR: Be very sure. This could be the real world.
AMY: It can't be. Rory isn't here. I didn't know. I didn't, I didn't, I honestly didn't, till right now. I just want him.
DOCTOR: Okay. Okay.

(Amy starts the engine. The Doctor looks at the Dream Lord then gets in the passenger side.)

[Camper van]

AMY: I love Rory, and I never told him. But now he's gone.

(Amy revs the engine and drives the camper van through the pensioners and at the cottage.)

[TARDIS]

(There's a thick layer of ice over everyone and everything now. First the Doctor, then Amy, then Rory wake up. Amy reaches for Rory's hand.)

DREAM LORD: So, you chose this world. Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Fair's fair. Let's warm you up.

(The TARDIS power is restored.)

DREAM LORD: 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. Farewell.

(The Dream Lord vanishes.)

RORY: Something happened. I. What happened to me? I.

(Amy hugs him.)

RORY: Oh. Oh, right. This is good. I am liking this. Was it something I said? Could you tell what it was so I can use it in emergencies, and maybe birthdays.
AMY: What are we doing now?
DOCTOR: Me, I'm going to blow up the TARDIS.
RORY: What?
DOCTOR: Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was? Okay, there was misinformation, red herrings, malice, and I could have done without the limerick. But he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality.
AMY: What are you doing?.
RORY: Doctor, the Dream Lord conceded. This isn't a dream.
DOCTOR: Yes, it is.
AMY: Stop him.
DOCTOR: Star burning cold? Do me a favour. The Dream Lord has no power over the real world. He was offering us a choice between two dreams.
AMY: How do you know that?
DOCTOR: Because I know who he is.

(KaBOOM. The TARDIS is back to normal. Rory and Amy enter to see the Doctor looking at something small and yellow on his palm.)

DOCTOR: Any questions?
AMY: Er, what's that?
DOCTOR: A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell in the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us.

(He takes it to the door and blows it into space.)

RORY: So that was the Dream Lord then? Those little specks.
DOCTOR: No, no. No. 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.
AMY: But why didn't it feed on us, too?
DOCTOR: The darkness in you pair, it would've starved to death in an instant. I choose my friends with great care. Otherwise, I'm stuck with my own company, and you know how that works out.
AMY: But those things he said about you. You don't think any of that's true?
DOCTOR: Amy, right now a question is about to occur to Rory. And seeing as the answer is about to change his life, I think you should give him your full attention.
RORY: Yeah. Actually, yeah.
DOCTOR: There it is.
RORY: Because what I don't get is, you blew up the TARDIS, that stopped that dream, but what stopped the Leadworth dream?
AMY: We crashed the camper van.
RORY: Oh, right. I don't remember that bit.
AMY: No, you weren't there. You were already
RORY: Already what?
AMY: Dead. You died in that dream. Mrs Poggit got you.
RORY: Okay. But how did you know it was a dream? Before you crashed the van, how did you know you wouldn't just die?
AMY: I didn't.
RORY: Oh.
AMY: Yeah.
RORY: Oh.
AMY: Yeah, oh.

(Rory kisses Amy, then she kisses him back.)

DOCTOR: So, well then, where now? Or should I just pop down to the swimming pool for a few lengths?
RORY: I don't know. Anywhere's good for me. I'm happy anywhere. It's up to Amy this time. Amy's choice.

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

Back to top