Brooding (Early Relationship)
Something was wrong, the young ex-handmaiden decided, something was very wrong indeed. She rolled over to face the other side of the bed, and sighed; it was empty, and it had been empty for quite some time over the past several days. Even though her wife's body temperature was cooler than hers the large plush queen-sized bed felt empty without her, and overly massive too boot. There was a knock at the door and she pulled herself up, wrapping the sheet around her half naked form she dragged herself over to the door, blinking blearily as she pulled it open.
"Strax?" she stated, surprise lilting her voice. "Wha' on earth are you doin' 'ere?"
"I think you should see this boy," Strax muttered, stomping away from her and leading her down the stairs. With her curiosity peaked and she followed the sontaron nurse down the stairs and into the conservatory. The conservatory itself was a large lush greenhouse, which had been specifically designed to keep as much heat in as possible and radiate the heat and moisture around the room, giving it a constant humid temperature all year round. To to her surprise she saw her lover curled up in a large nest by the fire. The nest itself was made from supplies from around the house (including one of her beloved vests), that had been haphazardly shaped together in a concave circular nest. Strax gave her a look and existed the room, stomping away into the sitting room to hide from the argument she guessed was going to arise from this situation. She saw Vastra curled up in the middle of the nest, her chin resting on the rim and her legs curled up underneath her. The ex-handmaiden knocked quietly on the door, causing the lizard woman too look up, her deep blue eyes hardening at the sight of her.
"I was wondering when you'd show up," the woman hissed, her voice low, Jenny blinked, wondering where this sudden (apparent) animosity had come from.
"Ma'am?" Jenny inquired, her voice soft and curious, when the silurian grunted in reply Jenny squatted down next to her, placing a tender hand on her crests. "Vastra wha' is all of 'his?"
"I was hoping that you'd share my affections in the light of my ovulating, but you have not-"
"Wai' a second, ovulatin'?" Jenny asked, her voice unnaturally high at the end of the sentence. "As in-"
"Yes dear. As you do so once a month," (Vastra ignored the pinkness in her wife's cheeks at her tactlessness). "I ovulate once every few years. If you will I am in heat, and have been for the last week, which it seems that you have not noticed,"
Realising that she was tiptoeing on cracking ice Jenny stepped forwards, surprised when her lover hissed loudly before turning away and curling up into herself, glowering at the flickering fire. Shrugging off her partner's displeasure she crouched down next to her, resting her warm fingers on the back of her lover's crest, and allowing them to make their way down the familiar scaled territory. "Love please," Jenny sighed, resting her hand on the central crest and tenderly stroking the central ridge of scales, which – to her surprise – were slightly warm to the touch. "If you don't tell me 'bout these thin's I ain't goin' ta be able ta 'elp you,"
"You say that it is not socially correct to talk about one's heat, so I did not," came the stubborn and bitter reply.
Jenny tried not to sigh and pinched her fingers across the bridge of her nose. "You're diff'rnt you know you are Vastra," she soothed the suffering lizard by gently caressing her scales in small circular motions. To her surprise she heard a deep rumbling purr emulating from the lizard. "You goin' ta explain now?"
"No," the lizard replied, curling into herself and pressing her face against the side of the nest, but still making small hopeful purring noises. "I don't feel the need too," Jenny stopped her soothing administrations, and the silurian growled low in her throat, turning her head so she could look Jenny directly in the eyes. "Why did you stop?" she demanded, her eyes twinkling curiously.
"'cause you're bein' stubborn, 'hat's why," Jenny replied, trying to keep her voice level and calm. Hesitantly she rested her hand against the nest, surprised and relieved that the silurian didn't hiss or spit at her actions. "So wha's all 'his then?"
There was a moment of bitter silence before Vastra spoke up. "When a silurian finds a partner that they want to spend the rest of their life with the dominant one would normally make an offering as a sign of respect. Partners were hard to come by but when an offering was made it was for life," she paused, her eyes softening. "If the dominant partner was going through heat the action of Wreath Building would take place and a nest such as this one would be made. It's a symbol of connection between mates,"
"Why all the odds an' sods?" Jenny asked, trailing her finger around the nest's rim, touched by the gesture (now she understood).
"When the clutch of eggs hatch the chicks are ravenous and eager, they will eat and attack anything that moves. With the mixture of odds and sods that you call them, the chicks would gather their parents smell immediately, and would not attack or violate their authority,"
"Oh," Jenny's eyes met her lover's. "Does 'his mean tha' you want ta 'ave children?"
"In some sense, yes," the silurian sighed. "But I know because of our differing biologies that this is not possible. So I suppose this is my offering," her head tilted and their eyes met, Jenny felt a warm knot deepen inside her stomach.
"Offerin'?" she replied, her hand immediately seeking the warmth of her partner's. To her inner delight Vastra took it, lacing her fingers through Jenny's and rubbing the soft warm skin with her thumb.
"Yes. Although I may have become delirious and forgetful in my present state. This is my offering, I am asking if you would beseech me the offer in becoming my life mate,"
Jenny was lost for words, her tongue had glued itself to the roof of her mouth and she couldn't make any sense of the reason for the sudden proposal. She swallowed dryly wondering if the silurian had realised that she had technically just proposed.
"Oh I-" Vastra took Jenny's silence as a negative answer and was about to curl back in on herself, but Jenny stopped her with a gentle hand on her arm.
"Vastra you realise you just proposed- not that I'd ever say no, but I would need some time to thin' 'bout it," to her surprise Vastra's head twisted around and she looked up to her lover in confusion.
"I wasn't proposing Jenny," her voice was alight with a teasing humour. "I was asking you to be my mate, which is an entirely different proposition all together. If I had proposed you'd definitely know about it, it would be a rather messy affair,"
The handmaiden blushed and decided not to ask, but squeezed her lover's hand gently.
"As my official Mate it would mean that only you would have access to my body and my belongings. I am not partial to harem relationships and I do not believe, as many of my species did, in polygamy-"
"Yes," Jenny replied, crouching down to her lover's level, and cupping her scaled face tenderly with her warm hands. "I will, mate's. Tha' stands on my area as well?"
"Most definitely," Vastra grinned, her eyes lighting up with happiness. She leaned into kiss her lover, before pausing (eliciting a soft sigh of annoyance from Jenny). "What about the nest?"
"We'll deal with tha' later-"
"And the chicks?" to Jenny's surprise she heard a tone of hopefullness in her lover's voice.
"We'll deal with that even later, okay?"
Vastra hummed in agreement and leaned over to kiss her mate, tenderly and eagerly.
She supposed that could be their agreement for now.
Hope you enjoyed it. Once again still taking suggestions, I hope they're not too repetitive, as this is the first drabble series I've actually done! I am feeling extreemly ill at the moment so any review would make my day! (Not that I'm fishing I generally am feeling terrible, I've missing lectures I'm that bad!)
Anyway thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows totally made my day!
Ciao LostLyra.
