Chapter Four

Cass and the Doctor sat in the Library, she was tense about his reaction to her revelation, he was shocked. Of course he'd known Cass was probably a killer, half of her was of course an animal, a territorial predator at that, and she had explained that Otherkin where prone to violence around each other. But to kill her family?

"What?" he asked, no emotion in his voice.

Cass worried her lip, sitting opposite him in a chair, she fiddled her hands together. "Otherkin metabolisms don't allow us to get sick, or at least it doesn't usually." She began. "But when I was eighteen, my entire clan got sick. I'm not sure what it was, but it started off with just one or two having a more fragile temper than usual… then more began displaying the same symptoms… they began fighting, slaughtering each other for no reason other than because they were there. My clan was mostly wolves, but we had a few other species there too. I wasn't the only one who seemed immune – my cousin was a crow shifter, she didn't get sick either. She helped me cage our families when they got sick – we were waiting for help to come from the outside, but before anyone came to help, the ones we caged broke free. My cousin wasn't fast enough, and she was no match for the wolves. I tried to save her, I really did, but they got her before I could, killed her almost instantly… I had no choice. I fought so they couldn't kill me too – I shouldn't have survived, but the sickness drove them mad, they were unable to fight and kill like they could when they were well, and I won… I won by killing them…" she sighed, she had stopped looking him in the eyes while she was speaking instead choosing to look at her feet. "While I was sitting in the middle of all that… help finally arrived. I was put on trial and banished because half agreed my actions justified, and half wanted me killed. That's why no other shifters will give me the time of day."

"Cass…" The Doctor said after a few minutes. "If they were sick, it wasn't your fault…"

Cass nodded, though she wasn't looking at him. "I know Doctor, I do. In fact I'm sometimes glad that my actions stopped whatever disease that was from spreading to other shifters outside our clan – that would have been disastrous. But that doesn't stop me feeling horrible and guilty about it. And I thought you'd prefer if I told you the truth rather than finding out some other way."

"Ah well, U.N.I.T did a good job at wiping your past from any records." The Doctor tried making a joke.

"I figured you'd try looking me up." Was Cass's reply with a wry smile.

The Doctor sighed. "Cass, look at me." He said, wanting to see her vibrant green eyes again.

She did and he sighed. "Cass, for centuries I believed I was responsible for killing my entire species. That I was the last of my kind and that it was completely my fault. I did that because of a war that was destroying everything. So yes, I understand what you did, and I understand that it was not your fault."

A little light came back to her sad green eyes. "What a pair we make eh?"

"Considering I'm an alien with two hearts, and you spend half your time shedding fur all over my ship, I'd say an odd pair." The Doctor grinned.

Cass punched his arm lightly. "It's your fault I'm shedding. My body can't tell what season it is because you keep taking us to summer, then winter, then summer again."

Cass lay in her bed in the TARDIS, tossing and turning. Tonight it seemed that old blue was determined she should not be able to sleep and had cranked the heating up high, causing Cass a great deal of discomfort.

It wasn't just the room temperature that was keeping her awake of course. Cass's mind was wandering and not in a good way. She couldn't help but think about the Doctor in ways that she hadn't thought about a man in a long time. Of course, he was the only person she had been around for longer than a week it was understandable that she would develop an attached attraction to him wasn't it?

Cass rolled over, wiping with disgust at her head which was slick with sweat. Lovely, she thought. There could of course be another reason for her sensitivity to the heat tonight, and her wandering thoughts, but she didn't want it to be that so she tried to ignore it.

Another hour passed, Cass still couldn't sleep. Irritated at her suspicions and wandering mind, she threw the blanket back and got out of the bed. She stalked down the corridors of the TARDIS suddenly knowing a way to check her suspicions before she did something stupid because of them.

"Alright big blue" she said quietly in the console room, ears and eyes alert for signs of the Doctor. "I know you can probably check my body for chemical and hormonal imbalances. I also know you're aware of what I'm looking for, so don't suppose you'd like to help me out here?"

The screen of the console span around to face her, flashing the word 'scanning'. Eventually it showed up a bar graph of the different hormone levels in her own body. "Of fuck…" Cass groaned at the results.

It was the middle of the night, at least she thought it was things like night and day are hard to tell in the middle of deep space, but Cass headed for the library anyway. She knew she wouldn't sleep anymore, and she also knew she had to explain to the Doctor why she was about to start acting very strange, and hope he would understand…She could also understand if he recommended locking her in her room for the next few days however.

He was in the library, luckily. He claimed to have a bedroom somewhere, though she'd only ever seen him catnap in the library. Right now however he was reading a large book. He looked up at her approach, eyebrows raising in surprise as he looked her up and down. Cass wished he wouldn't do that right now – any other time she'd have been curious so his glances – however now she just froze in her step fighting to control her body.

"You look hot." He said simply, returning to his book.

"What?" Cass squeaked.

"Oh er, temperature wise of course." The Doctor blushed a bit.

"Right. Okay."

"I was going to wait until morning to wake you, got a phone call from some friends who're having a little problem. Asked if we'd go take a look. You up for an adventure?"

"Not really. I have a problem." Cass bit her lip.

His book snapped shut abruptly and he turned to her, giving his full attention. "Cass what's wrong? Are you sick? I know a great hospital on New Earth. Actually it's called new new new new –"

"Doctor" Cass cut across him, trying not to sound pissed. "That sounds really interesting and all, but it's a shape shifter thing. I'm going into heat – so I'm going to be acting well… weird for a while."

The Doctor looked…well… stunned. "Ah- so – uh…"

"Don't worry, it'll pass in a day or two."

"So… is there something you want me to do?"

They both blushed at the way that could be interpreted.

"If I say run, run fast and far. I don't like this, I don't like knowing I'm going to embarrass myself."

The Doctor gave a grin. Usually he was the one telling people to run. "You still want to go on an adventure? Might take your mind off things?"

"When are we going?" Cass grinned taking a slouched seat on the couch near him.

"North East England, 1817."

"Ah, I do not remember it."

"How old where you then?"

"Five I think… maybe six, depends what month we go in doesn't it?"

The Doctor smiled and returned to his book. Two thousand year old and she was still not done reading the entire TARDIS library. He had a hunch that she kept adding new books just to spite him every time he got close to reading them all. It didn't matter, it stopped him getting bored when there was nothing to do but float around in space.

Something touched his leg.

Startled the Doctor jumped a little, looking down however he smiled a fraction. Cass was asleep, though her head was nuzzling his leg slightly.

"Do I really have to wear this goddamned bonnet? It itches like mad, and it's getting in the way of my ears."

"Do you have to keep complaining? It's the fashion, you should remember it. Anyway it makes you look cute for a change."

Cass looked affronted as they say in a little pub in 1817. Apparently the only Victorian dress the TARDIS could find in her vast wardrobe had been a gorgeous red corset dress that Cass was embarrassed to admit made her look like she had far more cleavage than she actually did. It was earning her far more stares than she cared to have – even the Doctor had glanced a few times – apparently the ship had no care about Cass's mental state while she was going through the heat. Not to mention the dress had been paired with a giant lace monstrosity of a hat/bonnet.

"Yes well luckily when I was a pup I didn't have to wear giant lace bonnets." She crossed her arms at him. "Anyway I can look cute whenever I want, don't need a bonnet for that. I just haven't tried to look cute for you… yet."

The Doctor's eyebrows raised and he leaned just as close to her- their noses almost touching. "Cass, I'm going to assume that was your sudden hormone imbalance speaking." He leaned away, smiling slightly.

If Cass had been in her regular mind she would have blushed. However in the heat her wolf instincts mostly took over and instead she was mildly irritated that he hadn't responded to her flirting.

Cass froze suddenly. The hair on the back of her neck went up and almost of their own accord her lip pulled back from her teeth in a snarl.

The Doctor looked shocked. "Cass-?"

She was up and out of her seat, moving to his side of the table and sitting on the bench seat beside him so her back could be to the wall giving her an almost full view of the pub in which they sat. she wasn't oblivious to the fact her new seat cornered the Doctor between her, the walls and the table, an instinctual urge surged in her to protect him like he was her pack… which she supposed, he now was.

"Sorry." She breathed, still inhaling deeply through her nose trying to scent exactly where the danger was.

"What are you doing?" he asked not too quietly.

"Just scented another supernatural. Kind of an instinct urge to stay on guard… I wasn't accepted in 2014 by all shape shifters. In 1817, no supernatural species accepted each other. We were constantly fighting with each other."

The Doctor mumbled something like 'can't take you anywhere' but she wasn't really listening anymore.

In fact she was paying him so little attention she didn't notice people joining their table. Not until the Doctor's hand patted her leg under the table in the 'you're being rude' kind of way. She jumped high and gave a tiny yelp before she glared at him. "Really, my little issue and you decided to do that?" she practically growled.

He shrugged, looking rather smug.

Cass glanced up at their guests. The first was either defiantly an alien of he was very unfortunate at birth. He looked like someone had a love child with Mr. Potato head while he was wearing his angry eyes. The second was a young woman, though her appearance was young Cass could swear her nose said she was older, she smiled brightly and welcomingly unlike her potato companion. The third and tallest… was dressed head to toe in black, including a black veil that hid her face from Cass, though Cass could swear the woman was watching her. Her head was angled towards her anyway.

Cass sniffed the air none discreetly. She had lost her urge to be discreet with the Doctor around anyway. She tried to scent the stranger. She did it twice over just to be sure of her findings.

She leaned close to the Doctor, trying to ignore her body's response to their touching thighs and arms she asked quietly "Do I smell a lizard?"