Author's Note
I do not own Doctor Who.
Liz had never felt so alone and out of control.
The wolf in her yearned for the moon, for the land to roam, for the meat to eat-
And not only on the full moon anymore. She could feel it during the day, the expectation, and feel the need grow as the sun went down. She was hungry all the time, a gnawing, gnashing, furious hunger that devoured her from the inside. She longed to run and be free.
She wasn't sure what had changed. Was it how often she was shifting, as she had assumed? Or some sort of natural maturing? Or- Or something to do with the fact she had pack now? Not like her of course, there was no one like her, but they were pack, and maybe the wolf felt the need to protect them.
On top of that, she was beginning to feel more and more like UNIT property, what with the Brigadier telling her what to do and where to be and everything else short of what to wear, and the Doctor didn't really need a scientific assistant (he needed someone to pass him test tubes and tell him how clever he was, a role which Liz did not fulfil).
"Can't you get him an actual assistant?" she complained to the Brigadier. ""I was brought in as a scientific adviser for UNIT, not to fetch and carry. Or be studied."
"I would have thought helping repair a supposed time machine was your kind of job."
Liz sighed. The wolf under her skin growled. "Brigadier, I am a fully qualified scientist, not a glorified tea lady."
The Brigadier agreed to look into getting the Doctor an actual assistant, although Liz doubted his sincerity somewhat. He didn't exactly smell sincere.
She gazed at the closed blinds that night, drumming her fingers against the table as the Doctor prodded at the newest chunk of rust to be brought to them.
"Is everything alright Liz?"
"Hm?"
"You've been quite distracted lately."
"Oh, just thinking."
He put his spanner down and joined her. "Anything you want to talk about?"
"I'm bored."
"Ah."
"I didn't come here to fetch and carry."
"No."
She got to her feet. "I want to go running."
She half expected him to try and talk her out of it, but instead he smiled. "Why not?"
They took Bessie as far away from the UNIT Headquarters as they could, into the moors, and Liz pulled off her shoes and clothes before stepping out into the moonlight.
It felt like forever since the wolf had last been able to run free, to stretch her legs and explore the land. She had done so in her younger years, up until the day she was nearly shot dead by a farmer.
She howled at the moon, the sound ringing out in the black silence. When she was younger she had hoped, wished, longed for a reply. It never came.
The not-human man couldn't keep up, not with her four legs and strength and stamina, and she went exploring over this new territory.
The wolf wished the night would never end.
Exactly why she never did this before she would never know.
When the sun finally started to come up she found a place to settle down until the Doctor could find her and bring her dress.
"Feeling any better?"
"Not really," she replied, but it didn't matter any more.
She didn't need a reply from the dark and the silence and the moon.
She wasn't alone, not really, and while she wasn't alone she still had control.
She had what she needed right here.
Author's Note
I went back and forth on this chapter and ending, hence why it took so long, and I'm still not entirely happy with it. Will I come back to this verse? There's a vague possibility for sometime in the future, since I did enjoy writing it, but this is the end for now. A big thank you to everyone who read and enjoyed!