Title: Rewind
Summary: A collection of vignettes, scenes, and drabbles that rewrite bits and pieces of Season 4 finale. Because fanfiction is cheaper than therapy, and sometimes what should happen and what does happen are entirely different things.
Rating: PG-13
Take 4 – Hungry Like the Wolf
She hears the faint refrains of the siren song as soon as she steps into the TARDIS, but all of her focus is on the injured Doctor and she pays it no heed. She helps lay him down upon the metal grating, and does her best to comfort him. She cradles him to her, hands shaking, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She knows it is inevitable, that he is powerless to stop it. She has seen it happen once before, after all. That does not stop her from pleading with him, begging him to stop the cycle, asking him not to change again. She has broken in two versions of him so far; she is not sure her heart is up to the challenge of breaking in a third.
Jack comes forward and tries to wrest her away, telling her all the things she knows but does not want to accept. She struggles against him, pushing him away. She has traveled so far to be with the Doctor, surely there is something…
It is then that she pays attention. The song, the lullaby that has been serenading her ever since she stepped foot in the TARDIS is telling her what to do. Telling her that this is the reason she is back.
She gives Jack a violent shove. "Jack! I know what to do," she yells.
Neither the Doctor nor Jack believes her, but Donna does. Donna, who hears the sound of heartbeats but does not know what it means. "Oi. Leave her be."
Surprisingly, Jack listens and moves to the side.
Rose spares a wan smile for Donna, then turns her attention solely to the Doctor. He is protesting and struggling as much as he is able. She runs her fingers through his hair and brings him even more fully into her embrace.
"Ssshhh," she says softly. "I think you need me."
She kisses him then, her lips gently pressing against his own. He tastes of death and ash, sorrow and regret, but beyond that she tastes time. The slight tang awakens a ravenous hunger she has not been aware of before. Her eyes widen with the discovery before closing once again.
It takes an extraordinary amount of will to not plunder the depths of his mouth and drain him dry of the energy her body is now screaming for. Cut off from the TARDIS and the time vortex for over a year has left her near starving, and her instincts are howling.
He continues to struggle against her, certain that she is sacrificing herself for him once again. His struggle is counterproductive, making it harder for her to keep tight reign over the beast that even now howls with hunger. Smoothly and quickly she shifts, straddling him, thighs pinning thighs, knees pinning hands, hands holding his head still. Once she is in place, he explodes with vortex and regeneration energy, bathing them both in swirling golden light.
Still with her lips sealed to his, she concentrates. She feels all of what makes him the Doctor – cells, molecules, DNA, atoms. The energy pours through him and she can see each cell repairing one by one. She waits until they are all repaired and the energy shifts to change him into someone else. In that split second, she pulls.
Like recognizes like and the two energies pour into her. She uses her tongue to force the Doctor's mouth open wider and releases the tight hold she has on the beast. She devours the vortex, its taste sweeter than anything she has ever experienced. As it rushes inside her she feels it filling the gaping holes in her soul that make her feel as if she does not fit within her own skin. Finally, she is whole.
The regeneration energy flows into her on the heels of the vortex, and it needs to be put to use. She makes a slight change to her molecules there, adds a few extra cells to her body there. She takes his blueprint and adapts it into something that is uniquely her. Not quite human, not Gallifreyan, but wholly and completely Wolf.
She continues to ravage his mouth, sucking the energy out of him until there is no more energy for her to consume despite her desperate pulls. Finally, she gathers herself and sits back. She runs the sleeve of her jacket over her mouth to wipe away the vestiges of her meal.
The Doctor sits up immediately, his hands on her shoulders. "Rose, no! Humans aren't made to hold that kind of energy. You know that! You'll burn!"
He shakes her hard even as she laughs. "Why did you do that? You'll burn! You're… not burning. Why aren't you burning?" His grip eases, but his intense glare still bores into her. "What have you done?"
Rose pushes herself to her feet and gives him a predatory smile, her eyes twinkling with a victorious glow. "I came home."