So the Doctor saves Jenny Flint when Vastra and her first meet but the letter tells about a later thing?
Only one thing for it then! They met more than once before Jenny started living with Vastra.
She sat, coughing, wondering if the police were going to pick her up. She debated the Ragged Schools, wondered if they'd help at all. People passed in the streets but didn't even glance, even when she hacked a cough and spat out blood, vivid red against the slush that had been snow earlier. Despite the cold, she still felt hot and shivery. Her broom had been stolen a few hours ago by an unscrupulous urchin and she didn't have the energy or the heart to blame them. Her clothes were soaked, either by slush or sweat she couldn't tell. She slumped over, lying there now, watching feet pass, and not even having a voice with which to beg a few pennies. She was dying and she knew it. She thought of her mother and her brother and all the others who had gone before her. How they'd been when they were dying. How it was before they died. There'd been a stillness and she felt it now, her limbs slowly stiffening. Her eyesight blurred and blackened and she heard rather than saw a swish of a dress and a clump of shoes stop in front of her.
"I still don't see how you can say these apes are worth anything. Look, they leave their young to die and pass by without even looking. Without even picking up the dead body and burying it."
Jenny stirred at such a tone of voice. It sounded so contemptuous. "'m no' dead yet…" she tried to say, whether she acutally did or not, she couldn't tell.
"So you aren't. You woulda buried him too early, Vastra." She opened her eyes, with the last of her energy, to find a man crouching in front of her. "Hello! I'm the Doctor. Who're you?"
She shook her head. "Can't 'ford no doctors…" she rasped out, slightly louder.
"Ahh well that's where you're lucky. I don't charge." He grinned but she couldn't keep focus and slumped to the floor again.
She had a vague sensation of being picked up, like a small child and carried somewhere. There were bright lights and flashes and a brief sting of something. She wondered if this was dying and then everything went black.
"Ey! Look! He's coming round." She opened her eyes to find herself lying in a bed. It was fairly comfortable. And warm. And soft.
"I do believe, Doctor…" the scornful voice, more amused this time than derogatory. "…it is a she."
She turned to find the cloaked woman (Vastra was it?) and the doctor man standing by the bed.
"A she?" he turned back to her and she flushed slightly and struggled to sit up. "Well whatever they are, they're getting better. Here. Eat this." He plonked a bowl of some sort of stew in front of her and after a brief glower of suspicion; she grabbed it and gulped it down, ignoring the burning heat that made her eyes water. "And hungry too."
She paused in chewing and glowered at him again. "And angry. What is it with the Victorian era? I rescue you and you just glower. She was the same." He jerked a thumb at the cloaked lady.
She felt considerably better but still didn't quite trust the Doctor. She cautiously got out of bed, feeling no dizziness when she stood up.
"Hey now. Better rest some more maybe." He cautioned. "You've been out for a while."
She looked at him properly now, with his short cropped hair and leather jacket. He didn't quite fit somehow. She turned to look at the lady in the rather ragged dress and cloak but could see nothing.
"Here. What's yer name?" he asked. She stared at him mutely, debating whether to give her brother's name as she had been doing. But then that lady had already guessed, already knew; though how she did was anyone's guess.
"Jenny. Jenny Flint. 'ard as 'em." She crossed her arms to look more impressive.
The woman in the cloak snorted.
"You wanna start an argy?" Jenny turned to look at her, annoyed at that cynical snort.
"Why on earth would I "start" something with a little ape?"
Jenny scowled. "I ain't little neither. I'm thirteen." She stuck out her tongue.
"I'm two hundred and thirteen." A rather more impressive tongue appeared from the hood, making Jenny's eyes go round as marbles.
"And I'm nine hundred and thirteen. Can we act our age ladies?" The Doctor rolled his eyes.
Jenny shrugged. "She started it."
This seemed to rile the lady. "I told you. I don't "start" things with little apes."
"An' I tol' yer I ain't little! Nor a bleedin' ape fer that matter." Jenny gestured vigorously with her fingers.
The lady whipped off her hood and if Jenny's eyes had gone wide before, it was nothing compared to now. She was struck dumb. All those green scales, that snub little nose and limpid blue eyes that seemed a little at odds but complimented the green perfectly. Her heart thumped harder in shock but still there was a thought that crept in. You're beautiful…
"Vastra." The Doctor sighed. The lizard woman grinned and flicked out her tongue again, snapping the air by Jenny's ear. It jerked Jenny out of her reverie and she stuck her chin in the air to show that she wasn't scared. It seemed to annoy the lady who hissed.
The Doctor grinned. "Yer not scarin' this one."
"What'd I be scared of a stupid lizard woman for? E'en if she IS two 'undred 'n' thirteen."
"Because I eat little apes like you for breakfast." The lizard woman hissed, swishing towards her and trying to stare her down.
Jenny shrugged to signal her distinct lack of caring. "Go on then."
The Doctor burst out laughing. "Oh I like this one. We'll have to keep 'er."
"Feel absolutely free to take this wretched urchin on any amount of journeys in the TARDIS. But it will not be staying anywhere near me." The Lizard Woman picked her up by the scruff of the neck. "Get out, little ape. Next time, I will eat you."
Jenny gnashed her teeth at the Lizard Woman's arm, making her drop Jenny to the floor. She rolled and then scarpered. After all, bravado aside, you ran whenever you could and a being that could haul a thirteen year old aloft with little trouble was not someone to be tangled with.
"Awh why did you say that for Vastra? I liked her." She heard the Doctor complain as she darted out the door.
