Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who (worlds, aliens, etc.) or any of the characters. I only own my OC, Selene, and the beach planet of Deniz.

14. After The Storm

There'll come a time, you'll see, with no more tears,

And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.

Get over your hill and see what you find there,

With faith in your heart and flowers in your hair.

-After The Storm by Mumford & Sons

The Doctor sat anxiously in the pilot's chair, tapping his Converse clad feet. It had been nearing a three or four days-okay, maybe it was nearing a week-since he and Selene had saved Donna; though Selene had seemed on better terms with him after he apologized for practically hurling his anger into her face about losing... about losing Rose... she still seemed hurt by what he'd said.

I am dropping you off somewhere far, far away and don't you expect me to come ever pick you up again.

Well, he supposed he'd be hurt too if someone shouted that at him... especially if it were a friend who did said action. He needed to make it up to her. He needed to prove that he was truly, very, really sorry-he wanted things back to normal again. So, he was going to propose a relaxing trip. Any sign of trouble and they'd leave, find somewhere else to go rest. And he'd let her pick where they'd venture off to.

When the Doctor spotted Selene, he jumped up to his feet and jogged over to her exclaiming,

" Ah, Selene! I have a surprise for you." Selene arched a brow and pushed hair out of her face. She wondered what he had in store this time, and wondered what fresh hell would get stirred up. " I think we both need to relax, so I want you to choose somewhere to go. Anywhere in the universe, you choose, we'll go there." Something in her eyes perked up at the mention of getting to choose.

" Anywhere?" she asked, voice sounding lighter than it had for a few days. He grinned and nodded emphatically. " Um... let me think... could we go to a beach?"

" Just a beach? Anything... specific?" the Doctor asked, scrunching his face up a bit. Selene bit her lip and thought for a long moment.

" A beach on a different planet?"
" Ah, there we go! Lets see, lets see, lets see... we can go to the beach of singing monkeys... though that may get a bit annoying... forget that, we can go to this beautiful beach where the sand literally sings when you step on it! Legitimate singing!" he exclaimed happily, giving her options to choose from. He eyed a smile beginning to creep up the corner of her lips. That's what he wanted to see! " Oh, what about a beach where the waters are purple. The shells there shine like mirrors; they're valued very highly by some royalty and are used in their crowns and their necklaces and what not. But there, they just sit in the sand."

Selene, for the first time in four days, was smiling fully. He was reminded of that little one she'd given him after that slow dance; that one that said she'd forgiven him. But he hadn't realized how much he'd actually hurt her till Donna smartly pointed it out. He hoped he could fully make it up to her.

" So, have an idea?"

" I think that purple water sounds incredibly interesting," Selene said, leaning back against the console. The Doctor grinned and leapt over to the monitor, finding the correct location. He then bounded to the other side and punched in the coordinates.

" Right then! Off to the beach planet of Deniz!"

OOOO

Selene waited by the console, pulling at the waistband of her jean shorts. She'd pulled them on over her one piece black and white pinstriped bathing suit, which had a sort of 50's style to it. They'd landed on Deniz less than ten minutes ago, but the Doctor had run off to grab something. When he reappeared, he was still wearing his brown pinstriped suit, clearly not having changed. Selene's brow furrowed when he stopped in front of her. He nodded innocently to the door.

" Ready to go?" he asked. She laughed a bit and pointed to what he was wearing.

" You're not going to change?" she asked with disbelief. She couldn't imagine a suit would be comfortable for beach weather. The Doctor looked down at his outfit and shrugged. He didn't see what was wrong with it; he always wore this suit. Selene even told him she liked it.

" No."

" You're not even going to wear swim trunks and a t-shirt?"

" Don't think so."

" It's the beach."

" I can wear a suit to the beach."

" But that doesn't make sense."

" It makes sense to me."

" You are one confusing Time Lord, sir."

Their playful banter stopped for a moment, the two smirking at each other. That felt wonderfully light hearted and normal; maybe things were already getting better. Selene crossed her arms, her bag slipping down to the crook of her elbow.

" I'm serious, I think you should change," she told him. The last thing she needed was for him to get heat stroke. Also, it wouldn't kill him to dress in something else... it also wouldn't kill her to admit that she wanted to see him in something like swim trunks.

" Mm, I think I'm okay. C'mon then, don't want to waste precious relaxation time!" he told her, physically pushing her all the way to the door. She snorted and pulled on her Ray Bans, pulling the squeaky door open. At least he wasn't wearing his wool coat...

The sun was pleasingly warm, and Selene found herself relieved she'd worn shorts. She smiled and let her feet sink into the sand, which was a bright, perfect white, some of the grains glinting from the crushed remains of the shells the Doctor had mentioned. The TARDIS had landed under a cluster of what reminded Selene of palm trees, except the broad fronds were a natural yellow, and some sort of fruit grew beneath their shade.

" What d'ya think?" the Doctor asked with a smile, staring up at the trees. Selene took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the familiar salty tang of ocean air.

" I think I'm already liking this planet," she admitted, " Now lets go find some water."

After a couple of minutes of walking straight ahead, they came to one of the beaches the Doctor had told her about. And the water was, in fact, purple. In the shallows, the color was more lilac or violet colored, but the deeper it went, the richer the color; the most prominent shade was the color reminiscent of amethyst. She wondered if said crystal had anything to do with the color...

The two settled down on a spot a couple of feet from the water, alone on the seemingly empty beach. Selene lay out a red blanket that the duo stretched out on, enjoying the heat of the midday sun. The beach was the epitome of perfect-even if it was an alien planet. The American set her bag off to the side and placed her shoes beside it, readying herself to relax. Fully lying down, Selene pulled off her sunglasses and let them rest at her side. The heat of the sand warmed her back through the cotton beneath her, and she felt her muscles relaxing. This was exactly what she needed... the last few days had been stressful, what with the memory of an angry Doctor replaying in her head. The way he yelled, the repressed anger flaring in his eyes...

No, no, no. Stop. He apologized, you're relaxing. Forget about it, she told herself, clasping her hands behind his head.

The Time Lord sitting beside her pulled out his glasses and the Sonic; leveling the blue end of the Sonic at the lenses, he switched the setting and let the device turn on and pulse for a minute. The lenses began to darken, giving him instant sunglasses. He smiled and slid them on, tucking the Sonic away again. The breeze coming off of the purple ocean ruffled his spiky hair and cooled the heat of the sun on his face. The gentle crash of the surf was calming and urged him to lean back on his elbows to enjoy it. So, he did.

But as the quiet, relaxing moments wore on, the Doctor did find that it was getting rather hot. He loosened his tie a bit and sniffed nonchalantly, not wanting to admit that maybe Selene had been right. He was used to moving around in hot weather and not being too bothered by it... but now... he was just sitting still. He was just relaxing. Selene, who heard his sniff, turned her head to look at him and laughed quietly, seeing the contemplative look that drew his mouth down into a slight frown.

" Feeling alright there, Doctor?" she asked, clearly teasing him.

" Me? Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine..." His voice trailed off and he sat forward, rubbing sweat off the back of his neck. Rolling her eyes, Selene moved into a sitting position, crossing her legs.

" Just take off the jacket."

He stared down at the buttons on his jacket and sighed. He reached down and slid the round pieces of plastic through the holes, shedding the pinstriped article of outerwear. It left him in his pale blue button down shirt that was a bit baggy around his arms. Well, that did help, actually... Selene smirked and pulled her hair down and around her shoulders, letting it protect her fair skin from the sun. She had to admit-it was nice being able to relax. Though she had been trying to push aside everything that had happened about a week ago, leave it in the past like a broken memory, it was hard to. There was also the stress of realizing she could barely remember what was about to happen in the future. The Doctor seemed eager to put it all past him-and Selene wanted to do that as well, but unfortunately, she wasn't as skilled as he was with doing such actions.

A little sigh escaping the Doctor's lips ripped Selene out of her thoughts again.

" I told you that you should have just changed into something more environment appropriate," Selene chuckled, mimicking something he'd said to her a few times before. Grumbling a bit, the Time Lord knew she was right so he yanked on his tie a bit. With each yank it got looser, till the loop was large enough to be pulled over his head. The tie was placed with his jacket and, sitting up more, he worked on rolling up his sleeves to the elbows; next on his list of ways to fix his ill-picked outfit was to undo some of the buttons around his neck.

" That's better..." he mumbled to himself, smirking a bit over at Selene. She shook her head a bit and nodded to the amethyst water after a moment.

" Do you know why the water is purple?" she asked. The Doctor nodded and opened his mouth in means to explain, but then stopped himself. He didn't have to explain why; they were there to relax, not to question everything around them like they'd learned to do whenever an alien snuck up and caused all sorts of problems.

" I do," is all he replied with, staring out at the aforementioned water. Selene could visibly see the internal war he was having-explain or don't explain-and she smiled at that. That was one of the things she loved about the Doctor; he had this enthusiasm infused into every part of his being... an enthusiasm that drove him in everything he did and made others excited just because he was. At that moment, he was fighting to keep that enthusiasm down in hopes of not disturbing their relaxation.

" Don't hold back, I'm legitimately interested in why."

A tense breath seemed to escape the Time Lord's lips and he began to speak.

" It's purple because every inch of water on this planet contains the mineral ametisti; it turns the water purple for the very reason that the mineral itself is, in fact, that color. But it isn't just a nice color. It has a sort of-sort of, um, minor-very minor, may I add-revitalizing effects," the Doctor explained, keeping it short and maybe it was a bit redundant-but he didn't really care. He was, surprisingly, relaxing and it felt nice after all of the stress they'd been put through lately.

" This planet is just chock full of impressive things isn't it? The shells, the water... sounds like it would be more tourist attraction," Selene admitted, looking around at the completely empty beach. Everything was just so gorgeous and unique and yet no one was actually there.

" Actually, it is. We seemed to have landed on the un-tourist populated half of the planet, which is completely fine by me," the Doctor admitted, laying down on the blanket.

" The Doctor actually relaxing... never thought I'd see the day," Selene joked. She glanced down at him and caught herself staring at the now exposed bit of his chest; she awkwardly stood up and avoided looking down at him. " Well, while you work on some sort of awkward neck tan, I am going to go swim." She shed her shorts and made her way down to the waters edge, where the waves slowly crept up towards her toes, before teasingly retreating backwards. Though she'd been assured by the Doctor's explanation that, while the water was purple, it was practically harmless, she was cautious about stepping into it.

The amethyst colored water rolled over Selene pale, bare foot and wrapped up around her ankle; it was cold, much like the oceans back on Earth, but it was a comforting bit of normality. Selene watched as the water deepened in color as she waded deeper and deeper in-from lilac to violet to rich, dark, amethyst. Once the water was above the the time traveler's waist, she sucked in a breath and dove under before she could decide to not do it; she hated the initial shock of water tickling her spine it always felt weird.

Under the water, cut off from the world above her, everything was quiet and peaceful. She willingly shed thought of painful goodbyes and rage filled shouts and tried to forget about the smiling Time Lord that sat on the beach. The current that washed over her body and pulled towards the shore pulled away the tension in her muscles and even when she broke the surface for air, there was a lingering sense of peace. She swept water droplets out of her eyes as a wave gently bumped over her shoulder. She glanced back at shore to find the Doctor propped up on his elbows, his head turned in her general direction; it was hard to tell if he was actually watching her with the sunglasses.

" See if you can find any shells!" the Doctor called out to her, heaving his body upwards to sit cross-legged. Selene gave him a thumbs up before disappearing back under the water.

She wanted to move past all of the tension caused by Rose's departure-it was draining her energy and causing the TARDIS to be a much less enjoyable place for not only her, but the Doctor as well. Selene could see he'd been trying to lighten the mood and make up for yelling at her; albeit she knew he still was trying to get past the whole 'hiding Rose's fate from me' situation, but he was trying... and she was trying... and hopefully they'd resolve it as soon as possible.

It was under the water while she was looking through the purple water, that something pulled back into mind. Or, rather, a bit of a memory came back. She remembered when, back at the twenty-twelve London Olympics, the Doctor had caught her when she'd tripped over a cracked flagstone. He'd had an arm wrapped around her waist tightly, and he held on for longer than necessary... and the look that flitted over Rose's face... something close to jealousy... and Selene found that she loved those moments she shared between the Doctor. The close ones. The ones where she could smile up at him and smell that slightly pepperminty scent that wafted around him, the ones where she could hug him or feel his hand brush up against hers...

Or when she could dance close to him, like at Donna's wedding.

Sure, it had been awkward, but why wouldn't it have been? She'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't like being that close to him. Selene always felt safe with the Time Lord, even if he was upset with her. She hadn't minded his hands resting gingerly on her waist, didn't mind being so close that she could feel his breath skim cooly over her skin... because... because...

Dammit, because she had one of the largest crushes ever known on the handsome Time Lord.

Bursting to the surface again, Selene sucked in a large breath and then let it out in a sigh. She'd finally admitted it to herself. She could actually feel the stress run off her shoulders from actually thinking the confession-but now it was just going to get harder now that she'd allowed it to be fully recognized. When she raised her hand to brush water droplets from her eyes, she realized she was gripping onto something shiny-a shell. So, slowly thinking on her new found revelation that had been sitting in her head waiting to be noticed, she waded back towards the shore.

By the time Selene had toweled water droplets off her skin and sat back down beside the Doctor, she was staring at the shell curiously. It looked like an abalone shell, but, like he had said, it was like a warped, scuffed, foggy mirror; it was certainly reflecting just like one.

" Wow..." she muttered to herself. She noticed that, unlike an abalone shell, the shiny surface was its entirety, which was one of the reasons she supposed that they were valued so much. The Doctor smiled at her, watching as she titled the shell this way and that, letting it catch the light at different angles. But as she didn't engage in any conversation, his smile faltered a bit and he found himself swallowing thickly; he didn't like not being able to talk to her.

" Say, Selene..." the Doctor said, trailing off slightly. She looked over to him, brows raised, prompting him to go on. " I think that... over the last few days... we-we haven't really talked about what happened..." A wary expression overcame the woman's face and she nodded once, setting the shell on the blanket beside her feet.

" I guess we should, uh, talk about it now," she agreed, tucking wet strands of hair behind her ears.

" I truly am sorry... I don't-I don't think I actually said that to you. Everything was just emotionally piling up faster than anything I've ever experienced... and you know me with my emotions..." the Doctor began, laughing a bit at the last bit, " and I really can't and don't want to lose someone else. And... and... you thought you were doing what was right, and-and don't I do that all the time? And how many times does it fire right back into my face?" He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. Selene gently and slowly rested a hand on the Doctor's bare forearm. His skin was warm under her water-cooled fingertips. She squeezed his arm a bit and drew his attention towards her; his face was worn, tired, sad... guilty.

" Please don't apologize. Honestly, I could have told you... should have, actually... and I know that's what your most hung up about. Me not telling you. So, I promise, I promise with everything I have that I'll tell you everything I can without making the universe implode. I feel as if I need to truly tell you how much I wanted to save her, and... it would be hard to verbally say. I'm not always eloquent with words..." she told him, letting her hand slide down to his hand. His brows furrowed when Selene's other hand took hold of his free one; what was she on about?

Selene turned to face him and brought his hands to rest on her temples. The Time Lord felt his brows arch.

Oh. So that was what she was talking about.

" Selene, I don't have to..."

" It'll make me feel better, Doctor. Please."

After a long moment of serious deliberation, he sighed and gave a nod of consent. He turned to face her straight on and adjusted his hands. He took in a few relaxed breaths before just closing his eyes; Selene shut hers as well, feeling a slight ache in her head. She remembered that from the first time he'd done this.

" Remember, anything you don't want me to see, picture-"

" A door, I remember," she assured him, resolving to not picture many doors... besides ones that hid away her feelings for him. The Doctor searched her memories, seeing the days she'd spent thinking up the dozens of scenarios to save their blond friend. He felt the ache of defeat when each scenario ended badly or would have been impossible to carry out... he was surprised to see that when Selene had told him she would have let herself get sucked into the void to save Rose, she was telling the truth. When her hands had weakened on the grip of the lever in the Torchwood Institute, it had been by her own volition. That made his chest hurt a bit.

" Selene..." he whispered, shaking his head sadly. But his sadness turned to confusion when he had, in fact, come upon a door. Unlike the many of the others that had been either opened or unlocked, this one was completely solid. " Oh. There's a door."

" I... didn't think up a particular door there..." Selene muttered with confusion. She'd put all thoughts of her feelings behind one door, all the others were free for him to explore. So what on earth was her head doing?

" Oh, it's a strong one too... it's like... it's made out of wood and then deadlock sealed, I can't open it... you sure you didn't think it up?" the Doctor asked, confusion creeping into his voice.

" I'm sure."

" Huh..."

" Oh..." Selene's voice held a note of realization, her blue eyes flicking open and meeting his brown ones. " I know what's behind there." The Doctor's brow rose. " My knowledge of the show, oh, it all makes sense now!"

" What makes sense?"

" Back with Donna, I was desperately trying to remember what was going to happen, remember all of the details so I could tell you... but I couldn't. But when things actually happened, it was like a-like a switch had been snapped on. I remembered." The Doctor's hands dropped away from her face and he ruffled his hair.

" The memories were from your original home... from the parallel world that's been sealed off, so thus... the memories were sealed off as well. But why just those? Why not ones about your family, your friends, your past... unless... unless somehow your subconscious knew those thoughts were dangerous and thought 'oh, I better make sure these don't get loose!' And now you can't remember much of it... Well, it seems like the memories will just be slipping out once they've happened, become actual real life memories," the Doctor said, clearly thinking out loud. His eyes were wide and distant, mind pulled from the subject they'd been on before hand. He always loved a good mystery, and there could honestly be a simpler explanation... but what was the fun of simple?

" I'm gonna just agree with that, 'cause I've got no better idea," Selene laughed blowing a wispy strand of dried hair out of her face. The Doctor, hearing the quietness of her voice, turned his gaze back to her. She had her head turned to look out at the ocean, her drying hair fluttering around her face. He felt the pain from earlier clench at his chest. As upset as he'd been with her, the idea that she'd been actually ready to act on the idea of getting sucked in the void to disappear forever, made him, well, sad.

" Selene. When I was searching your memories... back at Torchwood you were going to... sacrifice yourself..." Selene slowly looked over at him, biting the inside of her cheek.

" I was..." she confirmed, rubbing some sand off the side of her leg.

" You shouldn't have been considering it," the Doctor told her seriously, shaking his head.

" It would have saved Rose-"

" And you would have died. I think I've just realized that either way I would have lost someone that day... I could have lost you both... but I didn't." The Doctor shook his head with a sad smile.

Leaning over, the Doctor's arms pulled her into a hug, thankful she was still there. She did have the choice to leave, but she chose to stay. Selene wrapped her arms around his neck and rest her forehead on his shoulder. When his arms tightened around her waist, she felt her heart flutter a bit. Rolling her eyes at herself, Selene thought,

For man is a giddy thing...

After their long embrace, the two sat for a while, just enjoying the quiet again. The tension had seemed to lessen a great deal more; as the day wore on, they talked more and discussed anything else that needed resolving. Selene attempted to convince the Doctor to go swimming, but he refused, saying he wasn't about to muck about the TARDIS in wet clothes.

When the sun finally set over the purple ocean, creating one of the most interesting sunsets Selene had ever seen, the two time travelers got ready to leave, preparing for what their next adventure.

Afterword: So, there's that chapter! Sorry if it's a bit lame; just thought that they needed some down time before being tossed into season 2. Sorry if it's redundant in places or doesn't fit the tone of the story in general; I'm not too sure about this chapter. But I have all written up so I figured I'd post it anyway XD

REVIEW REPLIES:

toomanyobsessionstocount:If you do write it, let me know XD Donna will always be awesome, I agree! I hope you enjoyed! Thanks again!

The Yoshinator: He apologized a bit more in this chapter and things will be getting better :) And, yes, Martha is coming next chap XD Thanks again, hope you enjoyed!

grapejuice101: I'm sorry I made you cry... again... Here's the chapter and I hope it didn't suck. Thanks again!

dream lighting: I will be doing the Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith, I just have to figure out when it happens according to the DW timeline. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

ShadowTeir: Yay for tense chapters! They're actually fun to write, though not usually my cup of tea XD I'm surprised it had come out so well! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will keep on reading! Thanks again!

Ashtyn: I'm glad you're looking forward to more Doctor/Selene moments-'cause they're coming! WOO! Hope you keep on reading! Thanks again!

ash: I'm glad you like the story! As for when I update, it's a bit sporadic-I've been updating more and more recently 'cause I'm still on summer break. I go back to school in two weeks, so the updates then may get more spaced out. As for days, the weekends usually give me more time to write (during the school year). And you have NO IDEA how much you telling me I could write books made me smile! Thanks again so much!

Guest: Thank you so much for the compliment! :D I hope you keep on reading! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!

: So, I sent you a PM answering your questions, so I won't re-answer them all XD But I'm really glad that you've been enjoying the story! I hope you'll stick around to read more, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Tanks again!

Zoom: I will be doing episodes like the Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and Death of the Doctor; Ima try to squeeze a Torchwood episode in here somewhere too. I hope you've been enjoying the story! Thanks again!

And to those who have added this to their story favorites/story alerts, it means a lot to me, thank you!

That, my friends, is it for this chapter! Next up is Smith and Jones! And that means Martha! I'm looking forward to this season, 'cause I have plans.

Oh, yes, do I have plans! :D

Stick around to find them out! Thanks again you guys!

~Mary