Dreamscape Part 3

The Doctor opened his right eye, letting it scan the library. He noticed the time on the mantlepiece clock and opened his other eye, sitting bolt upright in suprise.
`Good grief! I've slept that long?' he exclaimed before realising his head felt like he'd been blasted by Nyssa's sonic booster.
He sank back into his armchair. `Got to help...Nyssa...' he managed before losing conciousness.

Nyssa felt like she was floating on a cloud as the drug took effect, and suddenly it didn't matter who she really was. The angst in her mind subsided and she looked dreamily across at the flowers by the mirror. Such pretty flowers. Who would want to send them to the Doctor? She smiled. Maybe he had a number of fond admirers.
Mirian re-entered the room. `I've phoned David, all right?'
Nyssa nodded dreamily.

`Wait a minute,' interuppted Tegan. `Why didn't you ask where I was? I mean, if it were some show, then I'd be a regular too.'
The Doctor grinned, poking the fire with his stick. `At the time, we had no clue as to whether we'd ever see you again - you'd just left the series, so to speak.'
`As had Eric,' added Nyssa, vacantly.
`Who?' asked Tegan.
The Doctor glared. `If you let the poor girl finish, she might just get to that part.'
Tegan raised her hands to ward off the Doctor's hostility. `Sorry!'

Nyssa heard the door open.
`Mary?' asked a young man's voice. `Mary, are you all right?'
`This one's bad, Doctor Simmonds,' Mirian explained. `Amnesia. She thinks she's Nyssa, Dave.'
`Oh God,' breathed David.
`Ah, you must be David,' mumbled Nyssa. `You're Mary's... Mary's...'
`Husband, yes, who would very much like Mary back. Has she been drinking again?' The question was directed elsewhere. Nyssa certainly felt like she had.
`Yes, and I've given her some of her pills too.'
`Given the circumstances, you did the right thing. I'll take her home now, I think. Can I take the costume? There's no point in trying to undress her in this state.'
`Sure, just don't tell IMS that Nyssa "I'm a nun" of Traken was seen being dragged out of Television Studios in a state of higher conciousness. This is a kid's show, after all.'
Nyssa, distanly aware of the conversation, felt horrified that what she'd been through could possibly be used for entertaining children. Her whole planet had died, by the Keeper! But even that didn't matter now. After all, it was supposed to be fiction, wasn't it? Her only sense of reality had been shattered when the Doctor acted... acted... well, like a human.
David picked her up, and she wrapped her arms around his neck for support.
`I, I think I can walk, thank -'
`Nonsense, doctor's orders.'
It all seemed rather amusing that she was married - supposed to be married - to a doctor...
`What's funny?' asked David as he took her out to the car, but she just shook her head, and continued to giggle.

The Doctor came to again. He'd managed to crawl towards the library's exit before blacking out. This time he felt refreshed and awake.
He stood up. He still had a headache, but the pain had subsided. Someone had used a powerful sleeping drug, no doubt to enhance and trigger the dreams. But who? There'd been something terribly familiar about Richard...
`Nyssa!' the Doctor gasped in alarm.
He dashed out of the library, running down the corridors of the TARDIS until he reached Nyssa's bedroom.
She was there, in bed, asleep, covers pulled up tight around her as if for security.
The Doctor reached out and shook her.
Nyssa's head rolled towards one side, but she did not stir. Her eyes were closed, and he could hear shallow breathing.
`Nyssa!' he shouted, shaking her again. `Wake up, Nyssa!' He checked her pupils, lifting up her eyelids. They were dilated, as he had presumed. There was no telling what a drug powerful enough to sedate him would do to Traken physiology.
He had to find out what it was. With one last anxious look at her unconcious form, the Doctor rushed out of Nyssa's bedroom, heading for the console room.

`Nyssa!'
Someone was calling her...
`Nyssa!'
Nyssa opened her eyes. David had a hand on her shoulder. She was in the passenger seat of an automobile. The door was open, and David was crouched next to her in the open doorway.
`Mary, thank God. I thought you'd gone into a coma.'
`It's Nyssa,' she managed before shutting her eyes again. `What have you people done to me?'
`Let's get you into the house.' David reached out to pick her up.
She pushed out a hand to stop him. `I'll be fine, thank you,' she declared a little more coldly than she meant to.
Concentrating, Nyssa managed to put both feet on the pavement.

Strogen finished locking up the bar and turned to survey the masses of empties that still remained to be cleared up. That was the problem with running one of the most popular interdimensional bars around - there was always more cleaning up to be done.
He reached down to the nearest table and began stacking pint glasses.
There was a banging on the door.
`We're closed! Can't you read the signs?' roared Strogen.
The was a repeated barrage of banging.
Strogen flicked a switch on the camera monitor. It was the Doctor. He looked like he was desparate for a cup of tea.
`Okay, okay,' he shouted, unlocking the security bolts.
The Doctor squeezed past and looked Strogen up and down. `I've got a spot of bother, and was wondering if I could inspect the beverage containers my assistant and I were drinking from.'
`Sure,' the bartender replied, as they both scanned the forest of mugs, cups and glasses. `Which ones were they again?'

Nyssa felt better after the cup of strong coffee David had made for her.
That was two cups today. Normally she didn't touch such a dangerous mixture of chemicals, especially after her last... no, but that was all in her mind, or at least was supposed to be. Perhaps she was trapped in an alternate reality?
She was unsure of how to react around David. He acted quite casually around her, probably because he thought they were married. But they weren't, were they?
`I think I might reccommend that the doctor takes you off those pills,' David said as he sipped his own coffee. `I know you'll get nervous, but I really think its doing more harm than good.'
`I'm sure they are,' agreed Nyssa. `On the other hand, I wouldn't know. I'm not very sure of anything at the moment.'
`They've been working you too hard, you've become too involved with Nyssa. Maybe its time to let her go.'
`I am Nyssa!'
David gave her a sympathetic look. `It's all very real to you, I know, I even had to shout "Nyssa" to wake you up in the car, but I've seen this before with actors. It soon passes, and you accept who you really are again.'
`But I really don't remember anything about Mary.' She smiled apologetically at him. `I'm sorry, but I don't. Everything Nyssa's done seems so... so real.' She nodded, resolute. `I am Nyssa.'
David shook his head, putting his coffee down and reaching out to touch her shoulder. `Let's go to bed and get a good nights rest. Maybe things will be clearer when all those drugs and that alcohol is out of your system.'
Nyssa froze. She looked down, embarrassed. `David, I...'
David stood up quickly and faced the window. `Oh Jesus, Mary! Don't tell me you're too scared to go to bed with your own husband!' He closed his eyes and sighed. `I know, I know, you're Nyssa still, and that means I'm a stranger to you.' His eyes traveled to the sofa. `Let me show you where our bedroom is, at least.'
Nyssa coughed awkwardly. `Thank you,' she muttered. `You're very patient.'

Nyssa was trapped inside her own body, screaming, reaching out for the Doctor. Her body would not respond to her will as she desparately tried to wake up before she drowned in silent blackness.
As she sunk underneath the waves of sleep, the dream began to fade. The last thing she heard was only a distant whisper:
`Wake up, Nyssa! Wake up!'
There was a knock at the door...

Nyssa sat nervously in David's car. Her `costume' lay in her lap. She looked with trepidation at the studio door. She wasn't an actress - she didn't think she could perform from a script, even if she was playing herself.
David had woken her in the morning with a knock on the bedroom door. He'd prepared a bountiful breakfast, which she'd picked at with apprehension.
Then she had got up and dressed from Mary's wardrobe, picking a practical pair of trousers made of denim, a casual shirt and a warm pullover to take the chill out of the early morning weather.
Now, sitting in the car, she wished she'd taken the time to eat more of her breakfast. He stomach rumbled and she felt light-headed and queasy.
David opened the car door and Nyssa moved to get out. She caught sight of her reflection in the rear view mirror.
`I can't go in like this,' she said. `I look like death warmed up.' She stared at the puffed up, bleary eyed face. She could easily imagine it was Mary Simmonds staring back at her.
David helped her out and kissed her on the forehead. `You look beautiful.' He smiled, and she couldn't help but return a smile of her own.
`Now go in there and show them how good you really are.'
Nyssa nodded and moved towards the building. She stopped and looked back at David. `Thankyou,' she said again. `For understanding,' she added.
David swung his arms out in an exaggerated shrug. `Hey,' he laughed casually, `I'm your husband. What else am I supposed to do?'

The studio was a hive of activity as Nyssa entered. Faces she didn't recognise greeted her with obvious concern. She politely returned the welcomes and headed for her dressing room.
Phillip caught her by the arm on the way. Dressed in his costume, Nyssa fought hard to remember that this was not the Doctor.
`Mary,' he began, `are you up for this?'
Nyssa nodded. `I suppose so,' she replied.
Phillip grimaced. `Right. We're doing the TARDIS scenes. You're okay with the script?'
It was best to play along with this world until she could find some way of returning to her own reality. `No, I'm a little rusty. Could I borrow yours?'
He handed her a stapled document. `I've made a copy. Your lines are highlighted in pink.' He grinned a Doctorish grin. `I thought you'd need some help.'
Nyssa smiled warmly. `Thank you, Doc- Phillip. You're too kind.'
Phillip blushed a little. `Look, if you slip up again, you're going to get the boot for sure. Worse than that, you could get committed. I don't want either of those things to happen to you. You're young and very talented. This show can't afford to lose you.'
`Don't worry,' Nyssa affirmed. `I won't let you down.'

One month later, Mary Simmons sat by the stage door, sipping her nth cup of coffee and breathing in the afternoon air. The studio had just broken for lunch - stress levels were high and they were overunning by half and hour. Things usually got hectic towards the end of recording. Once it was all over, it would be two weeks of holiday and then back into the fray.
David was taking her to Barbados to help her unwind from the breakdown. Mary guessed he was also hoping to ressurect the romance in their marriage, but she knew that she didn't love him. Maybe things had changed after her period of insanity. He was terribly kind and sweet, but something inside her kept him on the sofa. She supposed he'd get frustrated and leave her eventually. She didn't want that either, but if it came to the crunch, she'd let him go.
Instead, Mary had thrown herself into her career, and found that Nyssa's lines somehow came almost naturally to her. It was good to hang onto a dream, and she enjoyed working with Phillip.
`Mary?'
A distantly familiar voice alerted her to the outside world. It was a voice that sent a shudder down her spine.
Trying to cling to reality, Mary looked up into the eyes of a ghost...