Last Christmas (Part 2)

Evy coughed as she rolled to the side, the Dream Crab scuttling away from her as the Doctor blindly reached out to take her hand, gasping for air as well. The doors to the lab opened and Clara ran in, LJ in her arms, the boy calling out for his parents.

"LJ," Evy held her arms out for him, Clara quickly placing the boy in his mother's arms as she held him tightly, one hand on the back of his head as she just took in her son.

The Doctor made his way beside them, gathering the two into his own arms as he looked over their head, watching as the Dream Crabs seemed to seize on their backs before they turned to dust. He let out a breath, closing his eyes at that, resting his head to the back of Evy's before he pressed a kiss to her hair, feeling relief surge through him. He glanced up when he heard a shuffle to se Clara had moved over to the small ashes, carefully, using rather large tongs, picking up a part of the crab that hadn't disintegrated completely to put into the specimen jar, Shona hurrying to get a dustpan for the rest of it.

"So these creatures, when their feeding goes wrong, they die?" Bellows asked cautiously, not wanting to interrupt the small reunion before her but the scientist in her wanted to know.

"The carnivore's hazard," the Doctor agreed, slowly pulling away from Evy, "Food has teeth too," he reached out, brushing her hair behind her ear so he could look at her more closely, "You ok?"

She nodded, though she winced a moment later, bringing her head up to her temple, "There's still a pain there…like an ice cream pain…"

"Ice cream pain?" Shona repeated, dumping the last bits of ash into a bin and turning to them, "Just here?" she pointed to the side of her head, "Cos I've got that."

"It's the cold, I think," Bellows offered, unintentionally telling them that she had the same pain, "Some sort of reaction."

"But only on one side?" the Doctor looked at the crew, frowning, "Just that spot there? Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"Well, we've all got it," Albert shrugged, which made the Time Lords stiffen.

"And me…" Clara breathed, looking at the others with wide eyes, "WHY do we all have that pain?"

"Work it out Clara," Evy encouraged her, standing with LJ in her arms some effort, the Doctor helping her up.

"I was at my flat," Clara began, frowning in concentration, "I was sleeping and I heard a noise on the roof, it woke me up. I was dreaming and I woke up…"

"Did you?" the Doctor asked her cautiously, "Have you ever woken up from a dream and discovered that you're still dreaming? Dreams within dreams. Dream states nested inside each other. All perfectly possible, especially when we are dealing with creatures who have weaponized our dreams against us."

"I don't know about anybody else, but I'm pretty certain I'm awake right now," Bellows tried to laugh it off.

"Which is odd, when you think about it."

"Odd?" Ashley gave him a look.

"Impossible, in fact," he glanced at Evy and Clara, "More impossible than you two combined."

Evy inhaled sharply as she realized what he was getting at, "HOW can we even be awake?"

Shona shook her head, "I don't understand."

"The infirmary," Evy turned to her, "We were there and the Crabs were attacking us. We didn't know what to expect," she gestured at the Doctor, "And they're very quick. Think about it, isn't it odd how we survived?"

"Well, we, we were rescued."

Clara closed her eyes, understanding what was going on, "By Santa Claus…someone that doesn't actually exist."

"Not-Jeff," LJ nodded, trying to adopt his father's serious expression.

"Exactly boyo, Not-Jeff indeed," the Doctor agreed, they knew Father Christmas…and if that wasn't him, then it wasn't the REAL him…which meant it was a lie…exactly like the dream crabs were trying to spin around them.

~8~

The Doctor strode into the control room, Evy and LJ behind him, Clara just behind her with the crew hurrying to keep up. He spared a single glance at the fat man in the red suit as he appeared to be speaking on a mobile phone with someone before he turned to walk further away for privacy. He shook his head and hurried to a set of matching manuals sitting on a small table.

"The Helman-Ziegler test," he began, "The only reliable dream test that I know. Your base manual," he handed them to the four crew members, "I take it none of you have memorized this?"

"Oh I haven't, I haven't read it," Shona laughed.

"These books should be identical in the real world. But as they don't exist in your memory, in a dream, they can't be. Agreed?" they nodded, "Clara," he snapped his finger and pointed at Clara, "Give me any two digit number."

"57," Clara answered instantly.

"You lot," Evy looked at the four crew, "Turn to page 57 and tell us what the first word on that page is. Ashley you start."

Ashley frowned, but read the word, "'Isotope.'"

Bellows blinked when they looked at her standing next to Ashley, next in line, "'Extremely.'"

The Doctor nodded at that, at how the words were different, gesturing for Albert to continue, "'Inside.'"

"'Chocolate,'" Shona finished, huffing, "Why did I get chocolate? What's that about?"

"This can't be right," Albert shook his head, "We must have got it wrong, that's all."

"Then take another go," Evy offered, "What page LJ?"

"24!" the boy called.

Ashley sighed but turned to it, "'We.'"

"'Are,'" Bellows continued.

"'All.'"

The Doctor looked at Shona as she hesitated to say the last word, "Shona?"

Shona took a deep breath, "'Dead.'"

"So then…everything since the infirmary has been a dream?" Clara worked it out, looking at the Doctor and Evy.

"The attack is still going on," the Doctor countered, "This is it!"

"We've been dreaming since then?" Albert repeated, not seeming to grasp the situation.

"Oh, for Easter's sake!" Santa huffed, ending his call and striding over, "Of course you've been dreaming. Haven't you been paying attention?"

"Rudolph," the first elf added, stepping beside Santa, "Did you see the nose?"

"The North Pole?" the second elf seemed disappointed in them, "Come on, with stripes?"

"This…"

"Is…"

"A dream!" the three shouted.

"How much more obvious do you want me to make it?" Santa huffed, "Because I can text the Easter Bunny, you know."

"Seriously?" the Doctor eyed the fat man, "You're trying to help?"

"As you stand here, chatting, chatting, your lives are ending," Santa ignored him, "Unless you wake up, unless you free yourselves from these dreadful creatures, they're…they're going to destroy you. ALL of you," he glanced over at LJ, the little boy frowning and trying to tap the side of his head as though searching for the Dream Crab.

Evy's arms tightened around her son as the truth she had been trying to ignore was forced on her and the Doctor…the Dream Crabs had latched onto their son too. She had hoped he was just a product of the dream, that he was just a dream-LJ…but he wasn't, was he? He was actually there, joined in the dream with them…because a rock crab had scuttled onto him and trapped his little head and…she was going to destroy the lot of them when this was over.

NO ONE attacked her son!

"You're a dream who's trying to save us?" Shona held up her hands, trying to sort this, but it was getting harder to focus.

"Shona, sweetheart," Santa sighed, "I'm Santa Claus. I think you just defined me."

"This makes perfect sense," the Doctor murmured.

"Does it?" Clara scoffed, "Well I'm glad one of us thinks so."

"The Dream Crab tries to make the dream as real as possible to trap you inside it," the Doctor explained, "It creates dreams within dreams so you can never be sure if you are really awake."

"Oh this is the Dream Lord all over again," Evy muttered, rubbing her head, starting to feel that ice cream pain increase.

The Doctor nodded and pointed at her, "Your brain knows something is wrong. Your subconscious fights back. This is your mind trying to tell you this isn't real."

"So it gives you me," Santa agreed, "Sweet Papa Chrimbo."

"It gives you comedy elves, flying reindeer," the first elf listed.

"Exactly," the Doctor pointed at him as well.

"A time-travelling scientist dressed as a magician…" Santa began.

"Ooh with a mob bossette!" the second elf pointed at Evy.

"No," the Doctor started to shake his head, seeing that it was starting to grow more realistic than dream, "No, no. Hang on. No, no, no, no…"

"Living in a phone box," the first elf added.

"It's a spaceship in disguise!" the Doctor defended.

"You see how none of this makes any sense?" Santa laughed.

"Ooh shut up, Not-Jeff," Evy huffed.

Santa sobered, seeing Evy rubbing the side of LJ's head, the boy seeming to feel the uncomfortable ice cream pain now, "I have watched over you all your lives," he told them, more serious, "I've taken care of you from Christmas to Christmas…"

"But you're not real," Bellows insisted, the Time Lords staying quiet at that, whatever helped wake the humans up.

"And yet that never stopped me. All of you, come near. Come here, come on. Join hands."

"Look," the Doctor shook his head as the man tried to gather them into a circle, "No. Look, we don't need all this touchy-feely stuff."

"Shut up, Doctor. Join hands. Come on, concentrate."

"Why?" Bellows hesitated to join hands though the crew did begin to draw closer.

"You are deep inside this dream, alright, and it is a shared mental state, so it is drawing power from the multi-consciousness gestalt which has now formed telepathically and…"

"No!" LJ cut in with a pout, "Daddy! Daddy talk science! Not Not-Jeff!"

The Doctor had to chuckle at that, reaching out to take LJ's hand as Evy set him down, "I agree boyo, Santa Claus does not do the scientific explanation."

"Alright," Santa rolled his eyes, "As the Doctor might say," he cleared his throat, taking on a Scottish accent, "Oh, it's all a bit dreamy-weamy."

"Why don't you just go and…and make a naughty list?" the Doctor taunted, ignoring Evy sniggering behind him.

"I have, mate, and you're on it."

"Don't give me that. Look, you're supposed to be warm and friendly and cheerful…"

"Oh, yeah," he mimicked the Doctor again, "Well, look at your great bedside manner."

"Don't be so hostile…"

"Oi, you two," Evy pointed between them, "You are not brothers, nor family, you don't get to bicker like that in the middle of a situation threatening my child's life. Focus."

"I don't understand something though," Clara shook her head, standing closer to the Doctor's other side, letting LJ hold his parent's hands, "Why would the part of our brain that is trying to keep all of us alive choose you for a face?" she eyed Santa.

"Is anyone else asking that?" Santa glanced around.
Shona nodded, always blunt, "Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All of us. All of us. Why you?"

"Why me? It's the North Pole, it's Christmas Day. You're dying. Who you gonna call? Just one last time, huh? One last Christmas, as if your lives depended on it. Please! Ho, ho, ho. Believe in Santa."

The Doctor sighed, giving up as the other humans formed a circle with the aliens beside them, "I'm not very good with this holdy-hand thing…"

"Tough," Clara grabbed his hand instead.
"Well this is very Grinch Who Stole Christmas, isn't it?" Evy offered him a small smile though he knew she was nervous about this, the fact that the crab had gotten their son was putting them all on edge and they wanted out, wanted him safe again.

"Ok," Ashley took a breath, looking over to Santa, "So what do we…" only to see he'd disappeared with his elves.

"Where did he go?!" Bellows exclaimed.

"We're waking up," the Doctor reasoned, "That part of the dream is over. We're on our own now."

"Well, then, what do we do?" Albert frowned.

"The ice cream pain in your head," Evy looked at them, "Make it worse, push towards it, push through it…pain is a trigger to waking up. Like when you get hurt in your dream, you wake up before it really hits you."

"So when we wake up, what do we expect?" Ashley nodded.

"Only a few moments will have passed at the most," the Doctor warned, "The attack is still in progress."

"I'm scared," Shona admitted.

"Congratulations. That means you're not an idiot."

"Me and LJ?" Clara glanced at the two other Time Lords, a question in her eyes that they nodded to.

Clara would take LJ and get him away from the attack while they held off or dealt with the crabs.

"Good luck," Ashley squeezed the hands of her crew, "Stay calm. And God bless us, every one."

They all closed their eyes, focusing as much as they could…till the world whited out around them…

~8~

It was chaos as the Dream Crabs fell off the faces of the crew and Time Lords in the infirmary. The Time Lords managed to jump to their feet, the Doctor, who was still holding LJ, quickly pushed the boy into Clara's arms and moved her behind him as he and Evy pulled out their sonics, aiming it at the four Dream Crab victims that were clutching their sides in pain.

"Run!" the Doctor shouted, looking over to see the crew waking up on the ground, the Dream Crabs that had attacked them withering into dust around them…but the four victims were recovering quickly.

"Go!" Evy pushed Clara on towards the doors they'd been running towards.

"Out, out, now!" Ashley was hauling her crew to their feet and shoving them on, "NOW!" she turned, her gun ready, taking the defense with the Doctor and Evy, all of them backing towards the doors and shutting them as quickly as they could.

"Everyone alright?" the Doctor looked around at the people who nodded, "Good. Bye!" he reached out, taking his son, and turned to stride out of the hall.

"Doctor!" Evy moved after him.

"Sorry," Clara winced an apology to the crew, "I'll just go and…" before she too rushed after the duo.

"No need for chatting," the Doctor muttered as they walked on, "You'll only get attached. This isn't FaceBook," he shoved through a door on the side of the hall, stepping out into the snow, the TARDIS right in front of them.

"Er, what about the Dream Crabs?" Clara shook her head.

"Oh, they're fine."

"They're still attacking those four people," Evy argued.

"Who are now beyond help," the Doctor reasoned, turning to them, "If the crabs didn't fall off when the others died, then it's because the people they're eating are already gone."

"Be that as it may," Evy shook her head, "Bellows and Shona and the others are still in danger of them."

"Only if they're stupid," he continued, really wanting to get into the TARDIS, wanting to get his Link and son as far away from there as possible, "There are polar bears on this ice cap. Am I supposed to do something about that, too?"

"We know Dream Crabs are still on Earth," Clara tried to argue, moving to Evy's side.

"There are lots of dangerous things on this funny little planet, Clara, most of which you eat. I'm the Doctor, not your mam."

"Santa!" LJ cut in, hitting his father on the arm to get his attention, "Santa!"

"Yes, boyo, we'll go and see Jeff again."

"No," LJ huffed, rolling his eyes at his father, before pointing at Clara, "Roof!"

Clara blinked, her eyes widening as LJ picked up something none of them had, "If Santa was only in the dream in there…why was he on my roof before?"

The Doctor stared at her a moment, stunned by that question…because, if Santa had been on her roof…it meant that the Crab had been active even then and…

"There were FOUR victims," Evy realized as well, "Four manuals, but EIGHT crew?"

The Doctor let out a frustrated growl, one that sounded like a cross between a grunt and a scream, starting to stalk back to the base, "Do you know what I hate about the obvious?"

"What?" Clara hurried after him with Evy.

"Missing it!" he pulled the door open, stepping back into the base and looking left and right for his bearings, before leading them to the control room at a quick job, coming upon the four crew, all standing around and talking quietly about the security footage, the four victims lying back in their beds in the infirmary, "As you were!" he called when the crew turned to them, startled, "No saluting. Are you the same people as before?"

"Of course they are," Clara sighed.

"Oh, sorry, I deleted you."

Shona huffed at that, "Well, that's not a very nice attitude, is it?"

"You had four manuals…" Evy stepped past the Doctor, moving to the manuals as he was holding LJ this time."

"Yes, why?" Ashley asked hesitantly, not sure if Evy was asking a question or making a statement.

Evy picked them up, looking through the other books nearby incase there were some missing, "One for each of you then," she muttered to herself, "And that is SO wrong."

"Sorry, what?" Albert shook his head.

But Evy just rounded on them, "Shona," she handed the girl a manual, "In the infirmary, when we came in, what were you doing?"

"It's a long story," Shona laughed a bit, thinking of a little dance she'd been doing to Christmas music.

"And you, uptight boss one," the Doctor called as Evy gave Ashley a manual too, "What is the primary mission of this polar base?"

"It's a long story," Ashley shook her head.

"Are you seeing this Clara?" Evy glanced at the slightly confused girl, "Bellows," she continued, yet another manual, "Why did you decided to join this expedition at your age?"

"It's a long…" Bellows began automatically, before realizing what they'd been doing, before she realized she was giving the exact same answer, "Story."

"Oh that is freaky," Clara breathed, "Why are they all giving the same answer?"

"It's not just them Clara," Evy murmured, thinking about when SHE had said that exact same phrase before, before they'd even gotten to the Pole.

"Clara, we were in the TARDIS," the Doctor looked at her, "Why did we come here?"

"It's a long story," Clara answered, and blinked as it hit her, "What…why did I…"

"Dreams," the Doctor shook his head, "They're funny. Ha, ha, ha. They're disjointed. They're…they're silly. They're full of gaps. But you don't notice, because the dream protects itself. Stops you asking the right questions."

"Questions like why are there only FOUR manuals when you have EIGHT crew members?" Evy nodded at the books in the crew's hands as she gave Albert the last one,

"But we woke up…" Albert argued.

"Dreams within dreams, I warned you," the Doctor shook his head.

"This isn't a dream," Bellows defended, "I know it isn't."

"We've heard that before," Evy remarked, the Dream Lord coming back to her, how Amy had kept saying that over and over, "You never realize you're having a dream while you're in it."

"Evy?" the Doctor looked at her, solemn, knowing their theory was about to be proven, "Page number. Make it a good one."

She smiled sadly at him, "12."

"'Very,'" Ashley read on that page, her crew doing the same.

"'Very,'" Albert nodded.

Bellows started to smile, thinking that it had to mean this was really real now that it was all the same word, "'Very!'"

But Shona was quiet, breathing out, "'Dead,'" a moment later.

The Doctor looked at the crew as they turned to each other in shock, "And who's going to be the first to admit it?"

"Admit what?" Ashley swallowed.

"That the pain is still there."

LJ raised his hand at that, the Doctor pressing a kiss to the top of his head for it.

"Actually, I think it's getting worse," Shona admitted.

"Yes, there is an alien organism in your brain, eating it. Of course it's getting worse."

"Doctor?" Clara called, something at the side of the room catching her attention, "Evy? What are they doing?" she pointed to the monitors where the four victims were starting to rise from their beds once more.

"Factually, getting up. Significantly, sensing the endgame."

"How?"

Ashley shook her head, "I don't understand…"

"Because you're thinking about it," Evy looked at them, "You're wanting to wake up and they know the next time you do, it'll be for real. They can't let you four go."

"Why us?" Albert frowned.

"Look at them," Evy gestured to the monitors, "Cant' you see who they are?" she turned, putting in a command in the controls, zooming the image in to a name badge on one of the victim's chest, one that read 'Prof Rona Bellows' and shook her head at them, "Those four…they're YOU."

"How can they be us?" Shona gaped, able to recognize herself now in how one of the victims was moving, how they were standing, they're body type.

"Because it's all a dream."

"This base isn't real," the Doctor agreed, "None of us are actually standing in the room. Evy and I are probably asleep in our TARDIS, LJ with us. Clara's probably in bed. God knows where the rest of you are, probably scattered all over the world. But wherever you are, the Dream Crabs have got us, and we're all being networked into the same nightmare."

"What are they doing?" Bellows gasped as their doubles began to move towards the cameras.

"They're trying to lure you in," Evy warned, "They're the part of your subconscious that has already given up and let the Crabs get them. Just like you four right here are the part that's fighting to survive."

"That's me?" Albert moved closer to the monitors, squinting at himself, "That's actually me?"

"No, it's a metaphorical construct representing a psychic attack within a shared dreamscape," the Doctor huffed, bobbing LJ a bit as the boy fussed, sensing his father's frustrations, "Do please keep up."

"But it's me."

"Don't get too close," Clara warned as she saw the man lean in more, his other self reaching for the camera.

"Why?"

"Well it's a nightmare isn't it?" Clara shook her head, "The laws of physics don't…"

Whatever she was about to say, whatever clever thing was about to escape her, was cut off when Albert gasped and screamed, his double's hand shoving out of the monitor and grabbing him, pulling him through it before any of them could move.

"DON'T!" Clara cried, seeing Bellows and Ashley reaching out towards their own selves as well, startling them into stopping, though her rushing forward to push their arms down helped as well.

"They're coming through!" Evy jumped back as a hand shot out of the screen, "Go! Run!"

"Out!" the Doctor turned to help push the humans out of the room, "Outside, now! Run, run, run, run! Run! Run, all of you, run. Run!"

Evy quickly flicked the sonic over her shoulder, causing a spark in the system that made the monitors and lights of the room flicker off, thinking, perhaps they might be like the Weeping Angels, that to cut the monitor's power would keep them from getting through…but it was too late, the victims were already in the room.

"Evy!" the Doctor reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him as they followed the crew and Clara down the hall, rushing out another door and into the snow, the laws of the dream allowing them to be in the same spot as before, the TARDIS right before them.

"We'll freeze to death out here," Bellows gasped as the Time Lords used their sonics to lock the door, Clara shoving a piece of metal through the handles to help bar it more.

"But it, it's just a dream," Shona tried to wrap her mind around that.

"This dream just killed your friend," the Doctor turned to her, "Start taking it seriously."

"Where's Albert? Where's the professor?"

"He probably just woke up somewhere in the real world, dead. If we don't wake up now, we'll do the same."

"But how?" Clara asked.

"I don't know."

"The Dream Crabs might be aware of what we're doing," Evy added, "That we're aware of them now. Even if we push on that ice cream pain, I don't think it would wake us up this time."

The Doctor looked back as the victims started to pound on the door, actually causing dents to form in the metal, "The TARDIS!" he called, "Come on! Come on!"

"Doctor, it's not the real TARDIS," Clara tried to remind him.

"Well, let's hope that we dreamed it really well, then."

They had just reached the doors when they opened, doubles of the Doctor, Evy, Clara, with LJ in the Doctor's arms, stepped out, all four of them with Dream Crabs latched onto their faces.

"It's us…" Clara gasped, stumbling back.

"Of course it's us," the Doctor muttered, "We're dreaming too."

"Oh, my God," Shona jumped, the door thrown off its hinges as their doubles existed, more filing out than just the four that there should have been.

"How is that possible?!" Bellows shouted as they found themselves quickly surrounded by more than a dozen doubles, "How can there be so many?"

"It's a nightmare," Evy repeated Clara's words, "Logic and realism don't apply here!"

"So tell us how to wake up," Shona shouted, "Because you two are always talking like you're so clever, going on and on. So tell us what to do!"

"We have to leave this place," the Doctor stated.

"Leave it?"

"How?" Bellows gasped.

The Doctor blinked, Evy's words echoing in his mind, 'logic and realism,' they needed something illogical and completely unrealistic, "Use your imagination!"

"Excuse me?"

"Dream yourselves home!"

"But how?"

"Come on," he actually started to smile, taking LJ's hand as he bobbed the boy that actually seemed a little frightened, "It's Christmas, the North Pole. Who you gonna call boyo?"

LJ looked up, hearing jingling bells above them and beamed, clapping, "Not-Jeff!" he giggled seeing Santa and his sleigh of reindeer, led by Rudolph, swooping above them.

"Whoa!" Santa called as he landed the sleigh only feet away, "Whoa. Ah. Get in the sleigh!"

The Doctor took Evy's hand and pulled her with him towards it, helping her in, then Clara, passing LJ to his mother as he hopped in as well, the crew clambering into the back of the wooden sleigh.

"Fortunately, I know all your home addresses," Santa cheered, snapping the reins and sending them into the air with a, "Yah!"

"So what happens now?" Clara called over the wind as they flew into the night's sky, "This is us just waking up, right?"

"Could be," the Doctor agreed, "Well, I hope so. Waking up or…"

"Or?"

"Let's just say waking up," Evy laughed, beaming as LJ clapped his hands and cheered at being able to fly in Santa's sleigh (even if he wasn't Jeff).

"Tell us Clara," the Doctor smiled a swell, "Do you believe in Santa Claus?"

"I've always believed in Santa Claus, and Mrs. Claus," Clara nodded, "But they look a little different to me," she gave the two Time Lords a pointed look, making them laugh.

"Hey," Santa nudged the Doctor beside him, "You want to take the reins, Doctor?"

He scoffed, "You're a dream construct, currently representing either my recovering or expiring mind."

"Yes, but do you want a go?"

"Oh give it a go," Evy laughed, LJ watching his father with wide eyes, wanting to see his father pilot the sleigh.

"Yeah," the Doctor gave in, "Alright. Watch this boyo," he took the reins from Santa just as they passed over St. Paul's, nearly causing the sleigh to tilt to the side a bit too much, "Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

"Easy!" Santa shouted as they nearly hit a set of roofs, "This way!"

"No, no, no," the Doctor tugged the reins back, wanting to do it himself, complete with a, "Ho, ho, ho!"

"Up a bit," Santa tried to instruct, "Lift up. There we go!"

"Look at me!" the Doctor started to whoop and cheer, having a grand old time as they drifted over Parliament, Big Ben chiming midnight, Christmas Day, "Look. Look at me!" he pulled the reins back, sending them even higher, above the clouds, "Look at me! I'm riding a sleigh. I'm riding a sleigh."

"I see," Evy called to him, laughing at his exuberance.

"Yippee ki-yay!" he laughed, till the sleigh began to shake and he saw just how HIGH they were, "Oh. Maybe you could…" he handed the reins back.

"I work in a shop," Shona said suddenly.

"I'm sorry?" Ashley looked at her with a grin.

"I thought I was a scientist. That's rubbish."

"Finally, something that makes sense," Bellows laughed.

"You're horrible, you."

"Perfume…" Ashley murmured.

"What?"

"I'm an account manager for perfume," she realized, glancing at the Time Lords, "Does this mean we're waking up?"

"It could," Evy agreed.

"With any luck we'll all wake up in our proper times and places," the Doctor nodded.

"Proper times?" Clara blinked at that, "You mean time zones?" she clarified, not thinking that the people in the sleigh would be from different time periods, the Doctor pointed at her for that.

"We might not know each other?" Shona seemed more upset about that than the fact that a Dream Crab had just tried to eat her brain, "Not any of us?!"

"No," Ashley seemed to realize that, "Possibly not."

"Well, you know what we should do? We should swap numbers. We should have a reunion!"

"Bellows!" Ashley gasped when she turned to ask the woman what she thought only to see she was nowhere to be found, just…vanished.

"It's fine," Evy reassured her, "It means she's woken up."

"Good…"

"Er," Shona's face scrunched in concentration, "Now I'm pretty sure I can remember my number so, if you memorize it, then you text me, we can go for a curry and…"

The Doctor shook his head, "The chances of you remembering any of this are very slim."

"Well, don't say that. We'll remember, won't we, Ashley?" she turned to the woman, "Ashley?" but she was gone as well, making her pout, "Am I next? Is it me now?"

"Shona, you're going home," Clara reached out to put a hand on Shona's arm, "You're surviving."

"Do you want to hang out sometime?" Shona turned to Clara then, "We can just hang out."

"Sure," Clara chuckled.

"Santa, can I stay a bit longer?" Shona turned to the man…and disappeared before their eyes.

Clara blinked at that, but looked over at the Time Lords, reaching out to play with LJ's little hand as he sat on Evy's lap, speaking to his parents, "It's a pity we have to wake up, really," she admitted, "It's not really something we do every day, is it?"

"No, no," Santa agreed, "Strictly once a year."

"We stay, we die, Clara," the Doctor stated, though his gaze flickered to Evy.

"I know, I know," Clara nodded, "This will be quite a Christmas story though," she smiled.

"Reindeer?" LJ pointed at the flying ones, looking up at his parents with wide eyes.

"No," Evy shook her head, "No reindeer for pets."

The Doctor chuckled at that, reaching out to take his son's hand as well, wondering how the boy would react when he found out that they had actually gone and gotten him a goldfish for Christmas?

That was the last thought that flittered through his head before the world whited out around him…

~8~

The Doctor gasped, rolling to the side as the Dream Crab leapt off his face, quickly pushing himself up and scrambling to LJ's side as the boy laid only an arm's length away from him, swatting at the crab that had got him, shoving it off. He grabbed it and threw it as far as he could, gathering his son into his arms as he looked over to see Evy had managed to get her crab off and was helping a gasping Clara up as well, having seen him taking care of their son.

He looked around at where they were, at Clara…they were in an igloo, of all things. And he remembered the truth. It HAD been six months, Clara had called them on Christmas Eve and asked to take her to see the Northern Lights, saying she wanted to give LJ a Christmas gift on Christmas, but had wanted it to be a surprise. LJ had gotten excited to see Clara back and when he saw the lights he'd started to clap and cheer that he wanted to make an igloo. So they'd pitched in and gotten one made, they'd been sitting inside, exchanging small gifts, when the Crabs had gotten inside, lured in by the brainwave activity of the aliens gathered in one spot and attacked.

"Everyone alright?" he called, "Evy? Clara?"

"We're fine," Evy nodded, helping Clara steady herself, "But I think we should get back to the TARDIS, now."

The Doctor agreed, clutching LJ to him as he crawled out of their dome, Evy and Clara following behind them.

"That's…that's good, actually," Clara murmured as they headed to the blue box, "That's…that's actually my gift for LJ."

"Gift!?" LJ looked up at her.

She chuckled and crouched down, taking his hands as they stood outside the box, "Mhmm. My Christmas present for you little man…"

"What is it?!" his eyes grew impossibly wide.

"I'm done with my little vacation," she told him, smiling, "I'm gonna start travelling with you three again," she glanced at his parents, "If that's still ok."

"We'd love it," Evy told her as LJ launched himself at Clara and hugged her, excited and very happy.

"Welcome back, Clara Oswald," the Doctor snapped his fingers and the TARDIS doors opened.

Clara stood, hefting LJ up with her as the boy still hugged her, having 6 months of hugs still to make up for, "Merry Christmas," she smiled at them.

"Merry Christmas," they both returned, letting Clara step into the box.

The Time Lords glanced up at the colored sky and back at each other, into the box where their son was excitedly trying to show Clara the different controls of the console as though she'd forgotten in the last few months before he jumped and took her hand to lead her over to his play pen where his little golden fish was swimming in a small bowl. Evy let out a light chuckle, the Doctor shaking his head at the boy before he looked at his Link, "Merry Christmas, Luna," he murmured, leaning in to kiss her.

She beamed as she pulled back, "Merry Christmas, Theta," she returned, leaning in to give him a peck.

And with that the Doctor wound his arm around her waist, the two of them stepping into the box, the doors shutting behind them as the box faded away, the small group of aliens inside ready for their next adventure.

To be continued...in...Time Lords Together!

A/N: Ok, sort of a good news/bad news/good news thing to come :(

Good news...I got a call today and...I got a job! Woo! Finally!

Bad news...I start this Wednesday for an unofficial introduction to the company and then begin training next Monday in an official 'I have a job' capacity.

Bad news meaning...I'm going to have to rework my posting schedule again :'( I'm determined not to push anything to next year again, I am determined NOT to let that happen. I am, however, going to have to push around some things for the rest of 2015 to make sure I can get all the stories posted while not letting my work suffer at my job :(

I am going to be posting, on my tumblr, tomorrow night, the updated order of stories to come. For the most part I think it will mean only posting one series of a story at a time, not trying to do one story and the DW stories at the same time. BUT! There will be times that I'd post perhaps a movie-story series along with another TV-story series. I still have to work it out, but some of the posting dates will likely be changed. I need to see if I can manage to fit everything into the coming months without going too overboard. Right now I'm managing to do 2 story-series at the same time (OUAT and DW) but I had no job and had more time to work on them. Now that I've got a job coming up and will likely be losing about...10ish hours a day, I'm going to have to cut it down to just 1 series at a time for the most part.

Good news...the stories will STILL continue, I'm just going to need to work out a better/less stressful system at the moment.

On a lighter note, I should never name a child Ashley (though I do think it's a beautiful name, one of my roommates was an Ashley and my cousin is an Ashley too), because I literally wrote the entire episode spelling it as 'Ashely' and had to do a find/replace feature to fix it lol :)

For this chapter, I couldn't really see the final dream sequences playing out like in the show. With Clara being a Time Lady now, she wouldn't have grown old, in being Linked with the Captain she probably wouldn't have lived so long on Earth so it felt like it flowed better to have them all together when they woke up for real, having it been their first adventure with Clara after some time and them being a bit 'rusty' lol :)

But now we're here, at the end of Evy's story for Series 8! O.O I'm so sad that it's over but, at the same time, happy that it's completed what with the break I'd had to take in the middle lol :) So before I say goodbye to Evy till Series 9 is over, I just want to take a second to say thank you, to all of you. To anyone that read/reviewed/favorited/followed/anything the story, I really am so glad that you've enjoyed it so far. And thank you, so much, for your understanding about the break in the middle, for your well wishes to my dad and family, I really love you guys so much, I really really do. You all are amazing people :')

Some notes on reviews...

That's ok if you hate LJ, to each his/her own, I know not everyone will like an OC and that's fine :) I'm glad you're enjoying the series so far even with LJ in it if you managed to make it through the last few stories with him in it ;)

I feel so bad for Evy too :( I saw the trailer (SO excited!), and I sort of hope they don't just make the Master die again but just sort of go off on his own. I think Evy would like it very much if she at least knew, when her brother(sister) goes off that he's still alive and not dead or dying all the time :) I actually have it up on a post of my tumblr's Upcoming Stories page that I plan to do an AU of just that, where the Doctor Links to her on Gallifrey ;) I just have to find time to watch the classic series first to know how I want to spin that one, but I do plan to do it in the future yup :)