HOWLING HALLOW
Chapter Five After changing into swim trunks and bathing suits and getting some large beach towels and a beach ball, Rose led her friends to the swimming pool. It was in the middle of a large aquatic center with a spa, sauna and whirlpool. Rose relaxed in the whirlpool while the others used the diving boards and had fun splashing around. But while they were doing that, Rachel was still upset at Max's reaction to the play marriage between her and the Doctor and the fact that he resented him. When no one was looking at her, she got one of the towels, dried off and snuck out. She stood in the middle of the corridor and looked around. "Um," she said. "TARDIS, can you take me to the Doctor? I wanna talk to him for a moment. She blinked when the door to the lab instantly appeared in front of her. She walked to it and peeked inside. The Doctor had his back to her while he stood in front of a large machine. The machine was making a humming noise and weird alien symbols were appearing on a monitor on the front of the machine. "Doctor?" Rachel said hesitantly as she stood in the doorway. The Doctor looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Ah, the misses," he said with a wink. "Coming to hen peck me about working too hard?" "Can…I come in?" she said. "Sure, come here, I'm finishing my analysis of the pelt," he said, beckoning to her. "This monitor is giving me the results. It's in Gallifreyan but it says that the hair follicles contain DNA that is a mixture of human and wolf. So this is definitely lycan." "So at some point, a lycan was slaughtered and skinned?" "Yes," the Doctor said grimly. "I'm wondering if that vendor did it but even so, it shows that lycans are not respected here." "Um…well, that's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about," Rachel said. "Rose said that the TARDIS is so big that you don't even know how big it is." "Yes, that's true. She's alive and growing all the time," the Doctor said. "She also said that you have rooms where they have artificial moons?" "Yes, I do and…" The Doctor trailed off when an idea came to his head. "Rachel, would you be willing to take part in a little test of those medallions?" he asked her. "I can take you to a room with the artificial moon. Hopefully, your DNA won't realize it's fake and you'll change but I want to see if the medallions do work before we step outside. Would you like to help me?" Rachel nodded. "Then come, misses, and continue talking while we find a nice moon room." "Anyway, I was thinking that if you can't find anything suitable," Rachel said as they walked out the door, "that we could live here and the TARDIS could make a place for us." "Well, you could, I s'pose, but I'd rather you lot lived outside where you can live in a real forest and not live your life in a machine. It's not for everyone, believe me." "Sorry, it was just a suggestion." "I know and it's a good suggestion but I think we'll be able to find you somewhere to live without resorting to the TARDIS." "The other thing I wanted to talk to you about is Max." She explained the argument and the Doctor sighed when she got finished. "I'm not trying to replace him as alpha male; I wish he'd understand that. I like you lot and I just want to be friends, nothing more. There is no competition, except maybe where Rose is concerned but Rose wants to be with me and she's told him that. And as for our pretend marriage…it's just a joke and you're right, he needs to lighten up. Still, I can understand all of you being leery of strangers, especially since we've seemed to found more people who love persecuting and killing lycan. That's another reason why I don't think it would work if you came to live in the TARDIS. I don't think Max would go for that." "Yeah, he's already said as much," Rachel said. "Hopefully, he'll see I'm not a threat but until then we just have to be patient with him. After being persecuted for so long, it takes a leap of faith to trust a stranger," he said. The TARDIS moved a room in front of them and the Doctor opened it after telling Rachel to give him the medallion. Once he had it, he smiled and beckoned Rachel inside. The room was a field with a simulated night sky. The Doctor closed the door and knelt with Rachel when the moon made her change. He stayed at her side, offering her encouragement as he did Rose until she changed completely. "The other reason why I didn't run off and leave you lot is because it's not often one gets the opportunity to be around lycan and not be threatened," he said to Rachel. "You lot are just magnificent." He patted her head and she wagged her tail. The Doctor knelt down and put the medallion around her neck. He stepped back when almost immediately, she changed back to her human form. The Doctor stood over Rachel in an impressed silence while she looked at her hands in shock and then looked up at the moon. "It…worked," Rachel said. "Yeah, it did! Even I'm shocked Witchy-poo was able to pull it off. Which makes me think…TARDIS, could you bring the pelt to me along with a change of clothes for Rachel?" Rachel gasped when she remembered she was naked in front of him. The Doctor chuckled at that and turned his back when the clothes and wolf pelt appeared behind him. He handed Rachel the clothes and she watched while he put the pelt around his waist. The moment he put it on, he groaned and staggered forward. "Doctor?" Rachel said, dropping the clothes and going to him. She watched in fascination while the Doctor changed into a werewolf. "Oh my God, that works too?" Rachel said, watching while he changed. She had a thought and took off the medallion. She dropped to the ground and changed back into her lycan form while the Doctor finished his change. The Doctor got up from the ground when he finished and turned to watch Rachel finish up. When she was finished, she got up and sniffed the Doctor. The Doctor sniffed her in return and both of them shared a look before they took off across the field, running full speed on all fours. Oho! The Doctor thought. Now I see what Rose was on about, this is wonderful! I do feel freer doing this. That's why I love being a lycan, Rachel thought to him. They ran halfway across the field and yipped as they stopped and played with one another. The Doctor rolled in the grass, barking out laughter while Rachel leaped and bounded around him. Then he stopped and tried to stand up on his hind legs. He was a bit unsteady at first but then he began walking around while Rachel walked beside him on all fours. He looked down and noticed that he could still see the leather part of the belt and the belt buckle. He unbuckled it and the pelt dropped to the ground. Immediately he began to change back and Rachel watched while he changed back into his normal self. Once he was finished, he gasped and sat up while Rachel came near. "I think I'm gonna like being a lycan," he said, petting her, "least we know it works now. Except I'm the one who's naked now," he said, looking down while Rachel barked out laughter. "So, let's get changed, into our normal forms and into our clothes and go tell the others what we've learned." Rachel nodded and the Doctor scratched her ear fondly before he got up, grabbed the pelt and followed her back to the front door.
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