AN: This is a sequel to my "Through the Forest" series and comes directly after "Solace" but can be read as a stand alone.

Amelia stood up and brushed the dirt from her knees as she peered at the small planter beside her front door. Sad looking seeds were thrust deep into the moist clay like dirt and left to sprout, or die. Shaking her head at the tiny planter, she returned inside, setting herself to some coffee.

Mail had been piling up at the door for some time now, and she regarded it with a kind of disdain. Amelia had no need for any sympathies, and after the first blue toned get well soon cards, wishes, and sympathies for your loss cards had been opened, she ignored the rest. There was a part of her that wished to find a letter addressed to her in the good doctors sloppy script, containing even just a trifle "Thinking of you" message.

But he would probably just jumble it up, and send it along to her anyway being the good intentioned man that she knew he was.

Amelia couldn't count the times she had picked up a quill and ink; with the intention of writing some of these well wishers. Then, without another thought, she put down the writing utensils with a small sigh.

There wasn't much about living in the tiny spaceport apartment that didn't remind her of Arrow. She had left his room alone, and shut the door to contain the memories. Still, for all the picture frames left turned down, all the personal effects packed away, her efforts showed little reward. Each time she stepped into the tiny flat, his spirit washed over her in waves.

Deciding she needed to get out, she donned a light jacket and grabbed her keys, whisking out of the memory riddled apartment.

Having no direction, or errands in the spaceport, she boarded the transport for Montressor. It would dock at the ashes of the Benbow Inn, and she remembered Jim talking fervently about the night of the fire at his mothers inn.

"It was big, huge even! The fire must have been fifty feet high. By the time it was put out, there was nothing left." Jim's arms flailed above his head, his eyes wild with excitement.

Nothing left indeed. That one small discovery of a map possessed by a dying salamander had left ripples in everyone's life. Sarah had lost her livelihood, Delbert had gotten the adventure of a lifetime, and Jim had straightened up.

Her ship had taken quite the beating. One mast had been destroyed and each of the solar sails had to be replaced. The labor would take months, and being a strict charter Captain, she had to wait for it to be completed, before she could take on another contract. Just as well, she couldn't sail without a first officer anyway.

Which led her to the next problem: Clearly, she couldn't trust the financier of the voyage to hire on a crew, and Amelia had tried to find a set of men she could trust. But they were few and very far in between. Still, the idea of working with the same people time and time again held a spark of appeal to her.

Amelia was shaken out of her thoughts as the transport docked. Her emerald eyes wandered out the window and found the construction site for the new Benbow Inn. Little more than timbers for a basic frame had been erected, and irritation found her as she inspected the foreman and his crew.

Stepping off the transport, her boots made contact with the splintered wood of the loading dock. At first, it was a leisurely stroll past the several tool pocked posts. Then her feet quickened to a lively trot as familiar voices wafted into her ear on waves of miniscule dust particles.

"No, it's like this." Jim laughed, twisting the hammer in his hands expertly. His face fell when the tool hit the dusty earth with a thunk and Amelia chuckled quietly.

"Like this like this like this!" A tiny babbling reached her ear and she looked up into the framework to find Jim aloft with a box of nails and Morph, substituting as a hammer.

"Yeah buddy. Like that." Jim laughed, shedding his jacket and letting it fall to the dusty ground beneath him to join the hammer. Dusting his hands off, he looked up and furrowed his brow at the figure in the distance.

"Captain Amelia?" The teen's eyes found her and she raised her hand in greeting.

"James," Her tone betrayed little of her inner turmoil as she watched Jim climb down from the rafters. "Have you submitted your application to the academy?"

Jim rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes. "No, not yet. I haven't told mom yet."

Amelia narrowed her eyes. "James, this is your future. I would be loathe to watch you squander it in your mothers establishment." Did she really just say that? Amelia knew she could be callous, but she hadn't expected that to fly from her lips.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" A human woman in her early thirties approached Amelia, a firm scowl set on her petite features. "What right do you have to be dictating to my son what he should be doing with his life?" Her voice raised in octaves and Amelia watched anger play on her face.

"Mom, no. It's okay. I know her."

"Well, Jim don't be rude. Who is she?" The human woman's brown hair, limp from the heat shook around her head like leaves on a weeping willow.

"Mom, this is Captain Amelia. Doc hired her and her ship for the voyage. Ma'am, I would like you to meet my mom, Sarah Hawkins."

Sarah's lips made a slight 'o' in recognition. "Well then, it's uh, nice to meet you."

Amelia extended a manicured hand and grimaced as Sarah pumped her arm up and down enthusiastically.

"The pleasure is all mine," Amelia said through gritted teeth. Sarah smiled brightly, not catching on to Amelia's discomfort.

"Mom, cut it out" Jim muttered, jabbing his mom in the ribs.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" A blush bloomed on the matriarch's face and she dropped her hand.

"No, it's quite alright." Her right arm settled behind her back and her ears picked up, listening to the foreman and his team.

"-Nah, Hawkins is cool. She will let us get away with anything."

"You sure about that?"

"What is she gonna do? Crawl up here and kick my ass?"

Amelia's emerald eyes narrowed towards the team of slackers. "Missus Hawkins, how much are you paying these brutes?"

"Oh, not enough. They are doing a good job, aren't they?"

Amelia sighed, looking at the brown haired, naive woman. "We should have a chat, you and I."

Sarah smiled at this. "It's been so long since I've had another girl friend to chat with. I mean, Delbert is wonderful, but it's just not the same thing."

Amelia felt her spirits lighten at the mention of Delbert's name and she found a fond smile creasing her features. "I am rather fond of him as well, yes." How strong was this pain medication anyway? She had never known herself to be this freely honest with anyone she hadn't known. Coughing to hide the embarrassed chuckle that nearly escaped her throat, she turned her attention to Jim.

"Mister Hawkins, I do not relish the idea of you keeping secrets like this from your mother."

Jim deadpanned, his face going from a portrait of calmness to hysteria. "You, but I, she!" His word vomit left Sarah's eyebrow arched and her hands found her hips in a motherly fashion.

"James Pleidies Hawkins, what are you hiding from me?"

"It's a long story" Jim muttered the half explanation under his breath, his head hanging.

"Were it not for your son's quick thinking and intuitive nature, things might have turned out very differently." Amelia quirked a smile in Jim's direction. "The interstellar academy could use a man like your son. You should be proud of him." Amelia's quiet alto voice wavered on the last bit and her eyes found approval shining from Sarah's face.

Just when Sarah opened her mouth to shower her son with praise, dust kicked up from the road and the trio turned to the source of the disturbance. A cart pulled by the doctors trusty steed Delilah stopped by the construction site, holding a load of stone.

When the dust settled, Amelia's eyes found him. He held a handkerchief up to his nose with one hand, and in the other he bore a carefully balanced basket covered with a blanket.

"Delbert! We were just starting to think you had gotten lost." Sarah turned to intercept her friend and much against Amelia's better judgment or wishes, a smile came to grace her features.

"Oh, I stopped to pick us up some lunch. I figured you might be hungry."

Sarah hugged him gently. "That's so sweet of you." Staying on the fringes of the gathering, Amelia thought about walking back down to the dock until his brown orbs made contact with her hardened forest green eyes.

For a moment, Amelia wasn't sure what to do, and she could tell that the doctor shared her mixed feelings. They had, for the most part, fallen out of contact after they returned from the burial at the academy. Delbert left for a symposium, and Amelia had sunk into depression headlong.

Looking back, she couldn't recall the last time any man had made her this weak in the knees. The empty space in her mouth quickly filled with cotton as he approached her.

"Jim, lets set out the spread, and leave these two to catch up." Sarah turned to the small picnic style table, an arm around Jim.

Amelia watched Delbert take a few tentative steps towards her before stopping, a strange look on his face. His lips had turned up into a gentle smile, much like the many they had shared together while she had tripped through a fevered delirium.

"I must say," he started, as he came close to her "I never expected to find you here."

Amelia hummed, her long stride outmatching his nervous shuffling. "Is there something wrong with that?" The wry grin on her face made Delbert gulp unknowingly

"No, not at all!" Delbert sputtered nervously, wringing his hands together.

Amelia chuckled, shaking her head derisively. "My my, Doctor you never change."

"I suppose that's a good thing," he offered, a smile slowly coming to his face. "Well then. Would you like to join us, Captain?"

Amelia glanced over towards the ragtag bunch of carpenters, then towards the tiny family unit at the table, and finally at Delbert. She watched his soft brown eyes regard her kindly, as they so often did, and she smiled.

When she thought about it, she hadn't really had any other plans. She did come here, and maybe that's what she intended to do all along. Perhaps in her subconscious mind she knew that Doctor Doppler would be here. And maybe, just maybe, she had been missing him.

"That sounds lovely, Delbert."

The pair turned to the table, and Amelia didn't miss the way Delbert's hand found it's way to the middle of her back in a leading gesture.

"So, what have you been up to?" It was a stupid question, and she fought the urge to roll her eyes and let a sarcastic remark fly off her lips.

"As of last week, I submitted my official report to the contracting agency as well as the interstellar navy."

"Captain," Delbert stopped her with a nervous look on his face. "There is something that we need to make clear."

"Concerning what?" An eyebrow arched itself before she could stop herself.

"Jim and I haven't found the time to tell Sarah about what happened on the trip."

Amelia's eyebrows knitted together, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. It had been at least three weeks, should they not have told her by now?

"I take it she has a very tender disposition?"

"Sarah doesn't take well to strange, or violent occurrences. I have occluded her from the true nature of the inn's fire, but that may only last so long."

Amelia made an 'oh' sound. She didn't agree with this, but it was his decision to make. She couldn't tell him it was wrong.

"I understand, Doctor. I'll not reveal a thing."

Lunch was followed by hours of casual conversation as Amelia looked over the toiling workers, occasionally offering commentary.

She hadn't realized how late it was until scarlet and amber hues stained the horizon. The weather had tuned chilly as the sun continued to sink below heaps of mining machinery and stone piles.

"Well thats it for the day boys!" Sarah pulled the bell rope, alerting the workers to the days close. Four armed giants, humanoids, and a gnome hopped down from the framework and trudged to the loading dock, slinging their tool belts behind their backs.

Sarah smiled, "They must be so tired, they didn't say a word to me when they left."

Jim brushed past his mother, grabbing his solar surfer and launching himself into the nearest large gap. "I'll see you guys back home!"

Rolling her eyes, she turned to Delbert and Amelia, who seemed to be perfectly at ease in each others company in the growing darkness. Sarah saw the way his eyes lit up when she touched an affectionate hand to his arm. They whispered in low tones, their eyes revealing nothing but their posture spelling everything out.

It was then that Sarah knew what was happening. They had fallen in love. She knew that the Doctor meant well, but a woman like Amelia was certainly out of his league, even at his most charming.

But, it gave her hope. Maybe if someone as bumbling as the Doctor could find someone, perhaps she could too.

Amelia's ears picked up footsteps and she turned her head in time to see the Doctor shrugging his jacket off.

"The nights get cold here, I'm used to them, but I can see you aren't" Delbert's careful hands draped his jacket over her shoulders, his hands lingering not a moment too long.

Amelia breathed in his musky, familiar scent and allowed her mind to wander for a split second. His scent was something wholly unlike anything she had previously encountered. It was a gentle blanket of his own musk mingled with the scent of a well loved book.

The silence was comfortable between the two as he led them towards the carriage. "How have you been?"

She chose not to tell him the whole truth. "I've been wonderful actually. There's been plenty to do." In the lonely weeks following Arrow's funeral, she was a little rusty.

"Come on, I know you can do better than that Amelia. How have you really been doing?" Her bowed head told him everything. Reaching over, his hand caressed the side of her face, willing her to look at him.

"Alright, so maybe it's been a little rough adjusting to living alone." Amelia admitted her shortcomings in quiet tones as the last of the dark purple hues was swept off the horizon by a blanket of stars.

"I know how that can be. No matter where you are, it just seems empty." Amelia had forgotten entirely about his late wife and she nodded understandingly.

"And no matter how many picture frames you turn down, or how many doors are closed it just seems so overpowering sometimes." Amelia clenched her fist by her side, willing the return of her control.

"Perhaps you need a change of scenery darling." Delbert's suggestion, while initially innocent carried connotative undertones.

"I suppose I could move planet side. The Legacy won't be ship shape for quite some time. But then the question becomes where to? There seems to be a shortage of inns in the immediate area." Amelia chuckled, her eyes lighting up.

"I happen to know of a wealthy astronomer with a vast property and no one to share it with." Delbert gave her a thoughtful smile, caressing her shoulder softly. Amelia's expression changed from surprise to understanding in record time.

"Well, you should relay to this wealthy astronomer that he is going to have to try harder than that." A sly smile cracked her lips as her auburn hair blew in the errant wind.

Then, Delbert did something utterly unexpected. Planting one hand on her hips, and one around the back of her head, he swung her into his arms and crushed his lips to hers. After a few heated moments, he released her only when her chest pounded for air. "Honestly woman, must you be so difficult?"

"To be quite frank, it is rather funny." Amelia chuckled, raising a clawed finger up to circle his nose. Amelia fought the urge to laugh as his nose twitched and his eyes followed her finger.

Interrupted by a clearing throat, the two turned to Sarah, who held a bemused look on her face. "Are we done? I would like to get back to the mansion sometime this evening."

Delbert turned to Amelia, whose pleasured face had turned to anger. "Amelia, is something wrong?"

"That blasted transport was the last one till morning." Amelia continued to fume silently, kicking at the dirt around them.

"I seem to recall a discussion involving a rather large house." The Doctor put his thumb and forefinger on his chin in mock thought until Amelia's fiery gaze settled on him.

"Uh, Amelia." Delbert's voice cracked with nervousness. "You are more than welcome to stay with us."

"Oh that will be perfect! I have a huge dinner planned. Dinner..." Sarah trailed off, her eyes going wide with shock. "My Roast! Delbert my roast is going to burn!" Sarah's had jumped into the carriage, anxiously awaiting the pair still on the ground.

"After you, my dear." Delbert helped her into the carriage with an offered hand before mounting his steed, his tongue clicking.

AN: I am most pleased to announce that this is not over. I have a couple more things planned for this one, so stay tuned.