Disclaimer: Anything you recognise belongs to the BBC and whichever writer came up with the ideas I use (usual drill ;) )

Note: Hello my lovelies, how are we all doing? Okay, so, I have really missed writing Home and, despite not having even made a dent in my reading list for uni (it's over 40 books, making a dent in that list isn't as easy as it sounds!) I have decided that I'm going to start writing the sequel and hope that it motivates me to read more rather than spending all of my time wanting to write. To my new readers I should probably tell you that this fic won't make any sense if you haven't read Home yet, so I suggest you go and read that before getting stuck into this one. And to my returning readers, welcome back! I hope you're as excited about this as I am and you're ready for more heartbreak but also more fluffy cuteness and, of course, lots and lots more lesbian lizard love. So, let's begin.

Love always

Shadow of a Black Rose xxx

Warning: Probably some violence, explicit sex, bad language etc at some point or another throughout the fic- where's the fun in writing a fic without them?!

Home - The Tale Continues

A single gunshot right between the eyes, that was what the officer who came to the house had said. There were signs on the body of a struggle, bruising on the upper arms and wrists, a blackened eye, a broken nose and the front two teeth were missing. The body had been found around an hour ago, floating face down in the Thames. The officer had asked if Vastra would accompany him to the police station, they wanted her to look into the case. The Silurian was afraid that she may already know what had happened.

"I'm comin' with you."

"Jenny, I really do not think..."

"I wasn't askin'." Jenny had only just managed to stop her tears but already she seemed to have steadied her nerves. The girl was determined to end this, to find the man who had taken her father and daughter and remove his head from his body. There was nothing Vastra could say that would change her mind. The Silurian watched as the girl did up her cloak and placed her hat securely on her head. She was so busy worrying about how this whole ordeal would affect Jenny that she had completely forgotten about the officer still waiting for her outside the front door.

"Darling, did you hear what I just told you? They have found a body. A man. He was shot between the eyes. Are you sure you want to... what I mean is, there is a chance that it may be..." Jenny wasn't listening and Vastra sighed in frustration. Why did the girl have to be so stubborn? Why did she have to insist on placing herself in situations that Vastra wanted to protect her from? Only a matter of hours ago Jenny had been shrieking and crying having found the nursery empty, and now she wanted to risk taking on this case despite the fact that the body they were being taken to see could very easily be that of her father - Vastra just didn't understand it.

"Are you not comin' or somethin'?" It wasn't until Jenny turned to Vastra, pulling her gloves on to ward off the cold morning air, that the Silurian realised that she had neglected to make any preparations for leaving the house. Her veil hung loosely over her face and her hands were clad in thick leather gloves but aside from that she was not prepared to leave the warmth of the entrance hall at all. The Silurian parted her lips to protest against Jenny's accompanying her once more but already the girl had turned her back and was rummaging through a draw in search of something. It began to dawn on Vastra that Jenny's involvement in this case was non-negotiable and that, no matter how much she voiced her opposition, the girl simply was not going to change her mind. So, in a rather begrudging manner, Vastra hurriedly located her winter cloak and hat and threw them on quickly, straightening her veil before fixing her hat to the top of her head.

The early morning air was bitterly cold outside and once the officer from Scotland Yard had helped each woman into the carriage that awaited them both Vastra and Jenny were thankful for the door that shut out the howling winds. The door, however, could not warm the atmosphere that hung between the two women. Ever since they had found the note left by their daughter's kidnapper there seemed to have been a heightened tension between the Silurian and the maid which neither of them could ignore. Vastra blamed herself. If she had only gone after the deformed man when she had had the chance; if she had only allowed the Doctor to locate him rather than insisting that he take her home perhaps none of this would ever have happened. Aria would still be there with them. John Flint would be at home with his wife and son. Instead Vastra and Jenny were heading for Scotland Yard, possibly about to investigate the murder of Jenny's father. The Silurian wouldn't have blamed the girl if she never wanted to speak to her again. However, Jenny did not blame Vastra in the slightest, she didn't blame anyone but the monster who had taken two of the three most important people in her life from her, but the maid couldn't bring herself to look at Vastra. It wasn't because she was angry with the Silurian but because she knew that if she glanced up into those soft Cerulean eyes, even for a second, she would not be able to keep her composure. Vastra was all that she had left.

The officer who had been sent to fetch the veiled detective had parted from the two women at their home leaving Vastra and Jenny to make their way to Scotland Yard unaccompanied, and as the carriage slowly made its way through the streets of London an uncomfortable silence had fallen over them. Every so often Vastra would look over to the girl sat opposite her but Jenny's eyes were firmly fixed on her hands that lay motionless in her lap. She seemed distracted, as though she were looking at something, and for the first time it occurred to Vastra that she had not asked what the girl had been looking for in the draw before they left the house.

"Jenny?" She didn't respond. Not even a glance was thrown in Vastra's direction and the Silurian sighed to herself. She didn't blame Jenny for ignoring her but she couldn't deny that it hurt. Realising that she was not going to receive a response Vastra leant forwards slightly and, peering into Jenny's lap, she caught sight of what the girl held in her hands. It was a photograph of Aria. Jenny had taken the picture herself only a few days before and, as Vastra's eyes absorbed the image, the Silurian couldn't help but wonder what her darling girl was thinking as she stared down at it.

Jenny's mind had gone into overdrive and as she studied the picture of her daughter she had to force herself to stay calm. Despite her determination to accompany Vastra the girl's mind was far from easy and, as she held back her tears and restrained the urge to chew on her bottom lip as she always did when she had a lot on her mind, Jenny couldn't seem to fight the fears that kept washing over her. What if the body that they had found did belong to her father? Imagining losing him when she had only just got him back killed a part of her deep inside and just the thought of Aria being out there somewhere, all alone, with no one but her deformed captor for company made Jenny feel sick. She heard Vastra say her name but still the girl couldn't bring herself to look up. Was Vastra as scared as she was? Somehow Jenny couldn't imagine that. The Silurian was too strong to allow fear to control her - she was a warrior. Jenny didn't think that Vastra was afraid of anything.

"Darling..." Finally Jenny allowed her eyes to lift from the picture in her lap and as she looked up at the Silurian she felt her heart constricting in her chest. Cerulean eyes filled with pain and fear stared back at her and Jenny knew that she was wrong about the woman. Of course there was one thing that Vastra was afraid of, just one thing - the Silurian was terrified of having her family taken from her. She had proved it time and time again but still Jenny always managed to forget. Vastra could fight a thousand armed men at once singlehandedly without even slight concern gracing her features but if Jenny or Aria were in danger then something in the Silurian would break and she could only pretend to be strong while inside she was falling apart.

"Vastra, what if..." shaking her head Vastra moved to sit by Jenny's side and gently pressed a gloved finger to the girl's lips. She didn't want to hear the fears that were coursing through Jenny's mind. She couldn't listen to the girl's worries while knowing that she was to blame.

"Hush now my love, we should not concern ourselves until we know for sure what the police have found." The Silurian was trying to maintain her mask of serenity but she knew that her shields were breaking down. She could feel the cracks forming in her calm facade and she knew that she could break apart at any moment.

"You don't 'ave to be like this Vastra," Jenny's voice was quiet but Vastra could hear her trembling as she spoke, "you don't 'ave to pretend that you're okay when I know you're not. You're as scared for Aria as I am, I can see it in your eyes. An' if my father... if 'e really is..." The girl's voice trailed off and she looked back down into her lap, shaking her head. Jenny could feel her heart breaking at the thought of her father's body lying in a morgue somewhere but in a way she loved him even more with the thought of it. She knew that John would do anything to protect Aria, he would give his life for her. Jenny only hoped that it hadn't come to that yet. "It's okay to be scared for 'er. It's normal to feel like the world is fallin' apart without 'er 'ere. But pretendin' that there's nothin' wrong... love, all you're doin' is 'urtin yourself by tryin' to be brave." Vastra watched as tears rolled down her sweet little Jenny's cheeks and she felt her own heart shatter. The Silurian pulled the girl into her arms and buried her face in her neck as all of her own emotions took hold and her body shook slightly with the pain of it all.

"I am so sorry my love, this is all my fault." Vastra hissed the words over and over but Jenny wouldn't listen to them. She knew in her heart that it wasn't the lizard woman's fault, no matter how much Vastra believed that it was.

"Stop. this aint your fault an' I won't 'ave you thinkin' that it is." Slowly Vastra extracted herself from Jenny's arms and the girl could see a few tears resting in the crevices of her fiancé's scales. Removing one of her gloves Jenny lifted her fingers to the Silurian's face and gently she brushed away each of the tears in turn, forcing a small smile before she leant forwards and whispered into Vastra's ear: "Now, you listen to me. We're goin' into that morgue an' we're gonna see if the man they've found is who we think 'e is. Then we're gonna go out an' we are gonna do everythin' we can to find our baby, an' my father if we still can, an' we aint gonna stop lookin' until everythin's okay again. Yes?" All Vastra could do was nod. It was times like this that made her truly realise just how much she loved Jenny and how she knew that she was lucky to have her. They had to find Aria, no matter what; Vastra couldn't let her mistake take both her baby and her love from her. She wouldn't let that happen.

~.~.~.~.~.~

As she watched Vastra conversing with Inspector Abberline Jenny had to put all of her effort into controlling her emotions. Somewhere in this very building lay the body of a man who had been found earlier that morning, floating face down in the Thames. Somewhere under the same roof that hung above her lay a man who had fought for something but had been shot between the eyes to end his tireless fighting. Somewhere close by lay the body of a man who could possibly have been Jenny's father before he met his horrible end. The girl knew that she couldn't lose her composure now, not when she had been telling Vastra how they would fight for the life of their daughter no matter what it took only minutes ago.

Vastra turned away from the Inspector and Jenny subconsciously stood up a little straighter. She knew what the Silurian was going to ask her. Vastra lifted her veil and kept her back to Abberline as she approached the girl. Being careful to keep the gesture hidden from as many people as possible, she took Jenny's hand in both of her own and she squeezed it gently as she whispered, "are you sure that you want to see this?" Vastra was only trying to protect her, and from the description of the body that the Silurian had relayed to her earlier Jenny could hardly blame her fiancé for being protective, but despite her fears the maid knew that she had to see the body for herself. The girl had to know for sure if her father was alive or dead and if, god forbid, it was his body that they had found then she wanted to see exactly what the monster who had taken her daughter was capable of.

All Jenny could do in response to Vastra's question was to nod her head. Looking up into the other woman's eyes she could see that the Silurian wasn't at all happy about the situation but Jenny knew that Vastra understood. With another slight squeeze of the girl's hand Vastra lowered her veil once more and she turned back to face Inspector Abberline.

"We are prepared to view the body whenever you are ready."

~.~.~.~.~.~

Despite having attempted to hide her intimate touching of her maid's hand while they were out in the main entrance hall of the police station Vastra seemed to forget herself (along with proper Victorian decorum) as she and Jenny stood outside the door to the station morgue and, subconsciously, the woman had laced her fingers through the girl's as they stood staring at the brass door handle. It seemed to have been an age since Inspector Abberline had disappeared behind that door under the pretence of ensuring that the body was covered so as not to startle the women on first entering the room but Vastra had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying to make her nervous. The inspector had always hated how calm Vastra could remain under great strain and, as such, often made it his aim to make the woman lose her composure. He didn't know, of course, that under the current circumstances Vastra had more reason than normal to be a little on edge.

"What is taking him so long?!" the Silurian hissed irritably, holding onto Jenny's hand a little tighter than necessary.

"It's only been a few minutes love..." Jenny's voice was so small as she spoke that Vastra turned her head to look at her, mild surprise painted on her features. As her eyes scanned the girl's face Vastra sighed softly and she gently lifted Jenny's hand to her lips to kiss it. Somehow, in all of her haste to get the matter of viewing the corpse out of the way, the Silurian had almost forgotten that the body on the other side of that door could be that belonging to Jenny's father. It had entirely escaped Vastra's mind how terrified the girl must have been feeling or the fears that must have been plaguing her.

"Are you alright my love?" The words were so much softer than Jenny had been expecting and as she nodded slightly she felt the fingers of Vastra's free hand guiding her head to face away from the door.

"I've been better, but I'm copin'" Vastra lifted her veil so that she could press a kiss to the girl's forehead but just as she was about to speak again the door before them gave a loud creak and Inspector Abberline was revealed just over the threshold. His face was set in an expression of indifference but from the creases on his forehead Vastra could tell how troubled he had been by what he had seen behind the morgue door.

"Better prepare yourselves ladies, a sight like this isn't for the faint hearted." Jenny glanced up at Vastra uncertainly but the Silurian just squeezed her hand gently and took a step past Abberline, pulling Jenny with her into the room.

The walls of the room were lined with shelves, some covered with thick velvet curtains while others openly displayed bottles and glass jars along with many other strange and disgusting looking things. Against the right hand wall there was a grubby looking sink that was stained with blood (Jenny could have recognised those stains from a mile away) and along the left there was a metal table holding all manner of scalpels and knives and a number of other medical tools whose function Jenny grimaced at the thought of. The maid had to avert her gaze from what lay in the centre of the room. Under a bright light there was a table, covered in a grubby cloth that had once been white but had long since lost its original colour, and under that cloth was the reason for Jenny and Vastra's visit.

Not once did Vastra loosen her grip on Jenny's hand and as she felt the girl's fingers begin to shake slightly the Silurian softly stroked that back of her hand with her thumb, hoping that the motion would ease Jenny's fears somewhat. All of a sudden Jenny wasn't sure if she was ready for what she was about to see. The smell of slowly dying flesh that was coming from under the sheet was invading her senses and all that Jenny could think was that that very smell could be the smell of her father, the man who had cared for her as an infant and who had loved her despite everything she was that he had not wanted her to be. Was she really ready to see his lifeless body laid out before her?

Inspector Abberline took hold of the end of the sheet furthest away from them and just as he was about to pull it back to reveal the body underneath Jenny shut her eyes tightly. She wasn't ready, not even close.