A/N: Written for a one-shot challenge (200 words or more.) The prompt was 'Old Friends.'

Halfway out of the Dark

Certain sounds, Ada felt certain, must stay in the memory a lifetime, no matter what else might have occurred since the hearing of them.

Sometimes when sleep evaded her she would recall the sea shanty her father used to lull her with in infancy, the expletives carefully replaced by a soft toneless note. On bad nights her dreams were filled with Sweetville's mechanical roar, and the echo of her mother's body as it fell.

Though Ada had long grown used to doubting her own perceptions, sound rarely failed her, and tonight it brought her heart into her mouth.

Whatever lurked out there in London's winter fogs, there was no mistaking that wheezing groan.

Madame Vastra stopped in mid-sentence and ran to the hallway, her veil brushing Ada's cheek as it passed. She resisted the urge to follow Jenny's example and go in pursuit, though her fingers gripped the cane so tightly that their tips went numb. After a minute's whispered conference the footsteps drew close, and Vastra tapped her on the wrist.

In their early days, the rigid touch had alarmed Ada. Now its peculiarity was a comfort to her, forever associated with innumerable kindnesses. "Did I hear right? Is it him?"

"Yes, my dear. The Doctor has come. But I should warn you, he won't be as you remember him. He is- changed."

Alarm caught like a sob in the back of Ada's throat. "You mean hurt?"

This time it was Jenny who replied. "No. He's well, but he looks different now. Talks different, too." Her friend laughed, softly. "Didn't half give me a shock when Madame first explained it, I can tell you."

Ada weighed up each of their voices in turn, searching them for hesitation. "If you were not my dear companions I should think this a jest in poor taste. And Clara?"

"Here with him, waiting for your answer," Vastra said. "You mustn't be afraid. He remembers you."

"Afraid? No. But I am in awe. It is a cunning monster who can disguise himself at will." Ada felt for the chair, and sat. "Have them come in, Jenny, but quietly. We shan't be long. Madame Vastra informs me we are nearing the end to The Final Problem, and I am most anxious to see Professor Moriarty apprehended."

Waiting there in the evening hush, while Vastra's voice unfolded the story before her, it was easier still to banish Sweetville into the recesses of her nightmares. In the street below somebody laughed, and the wheels of a trap scraped at the kerb as they went by.

Then the hall door slid to. Without turning, Ada extended her right arm.

"'-him whom I shall ever regard as the best and the wisest man whom I have ever known'", Madame Vastra read, and stopped.

There were tears on Ada's face, but for the first time in all her recollection she was not ashamed to feel them. "My old friends." A strange hand grasped her own, and she returned the hold.