"They'll be on high alert now," the Doctor scratched his head and tossed his screwdriver impatiently from one hand to the other. The three of them had their eyes fixed on the settling dust that hid the damage caused by Strax. The Sontaran looked up to River Song whose eyes were narrowed upon him.

"What?"

"You've ruined everything," she frowned back at him shaking her blaster gun at him as if she would strike him if she were to lose her temper further. The Doctor swallowed hard and put his hand up to his collar; his heart sank when he realised he had abandoned his bow tie. The small comfort of being able to play with the soft material was now no longer a luxury, "You never said where the Tardis was," His wife's voice distracted him from his slight upset.

"Sir's Time Machine resides in Madame's home on Paternoster Row," Strax informed her.

"Shut up Strax," the Doctor snapped irritably.

"What good is it there?"

The Doctor waved his hands and held them up as if he were trying to calm some wild animal about to strike, "It's complicated," he uttered hoping it would deter River from asking any more questions – It didn't of course.

"Why don't you use the key and bring her here?"

The Doctor gritted his teeth, "Why don't you just shut up and leave me alone?!" River glared furiously at him and struck him with a harsh slap across his cheek. Time stopped momentarily as the Time Lord put a hand up to touch his stinging skin, "I probably deserved that," he grumbled.

"Yes," River breathed, her voice shaking with anger, "You did" His green eyes, shiny with the onset of tears, looked up at her – She was positively livid with him, of that he was sure. He sniffed back the urge to cry and returned his gaze to the now cloud-free, visible entrance.

"I hope the others are doing better than we are"

Madame Vastra pressed her back against the cool stone wall. She interlocked her fingers carefully and rested them atop her slightly bent knee, "Ready Jenny?" she asked of the darkness before her.

"'ang on, can't get this bleedin' blade in the 'olster. 'ow you wear it on your back I'll never know" The Silurian rolled her eyes impatiently. It had been Jenny's idea that they should enter through a window to save them going through a possibly guarded door – Which Vastra conceded was a fairly good idea. She just hadn't anticipated that Jenny would need to prepare herself to be vaulted up to a high window. Wearing her sword on her belt she surmised would be dangerous; she may hit Vastra with it as the woman boosted her up or she may even find herself stuck on it trying to clamber through the window. Thus she had spent the last few minutes fastening the damn nuisance to her back, imitating how her Silurian wife wore her own. Vastra was stunned out of her daydream as Jenny appeared through the darkness sprinting at her at full speed, 'Ready!' she yelled as she leapt at her wife. The Silurian barely found that her sharp reflexes were quick enough as Jenny's foot came to rest in her hands. Vastra threw her little human with all her strength up at the open window above her. The second that Jenny's weight left her hands Vastra turned to see the girl's legs disappearing over the window ledge.

"I wasn't ready!" she hissed irritably up after her wife.

Jenny popped her head out of the window happily, "Well you looked ready love," she stretched a hand out down towards the grumpy looking lizard, "You comin'?" Vastra flicked her tongue out with a disgruntled hiss before backing up away from the building. She didn't require the same long run up as her wife, "You're takin' your bleedin' time" Jenny called down, knowing full well that it would only annoy her love further. The Silurian, irritated as she was, shot at the wall like a bullet from a gun and managed to scramble a good few meters up the side of the building before locking a firm grip around Jenny's forearm. Though she was secured firmly within the building Jenny felt the Silurian's weight pull her a few inches over the window sill, "Bloody 'ell Vastra," she huffed screwing her face as she struggled to help the warrior clamber up the short distance, "Nearly ripped me bleedin' arm off you did"

"Do be sensible," Vastra lifted herself through the open window now no longer requiring Jenny's assistance. The girl rubbed her arm over and over; eyebrows furrowed as she puffed her cheeks out at the ancient lizard.

"Oh I'll be sensible, I'll be orderin' less from tha' butcher when we get 'ome" At this Vastra's head jerked up sharply to look at her wife.

"What exactly are you trying to imply? Are you saying that I've put on weight?"

"I'm jus' sayin' that' maybe you've got a bit too used to me lookin' after you. An' there'll be no more popcorn when we watch those films" Vastra sighed loudly, she thought back to how simple everything was when they were about to snuggle together in front of the fire and watch some of the human entertainment she had acquired. It seemed a forever ago since the night the Doctor had emerged from his time machine. She'd kill him if she survived this ordeal. Then she'd have to set up her own arrangement on the side with the butcher if Jenny actually went through with her threat of starving her.

"Okay" Jenny had moved to the door of the dark room they were in. The Silurian's eyes had adjusted to the darkness quite quickly and as Vastra panned her gaze around the room she could see that they were in an office of some description. By her standards at least it had all the makings of one. A wooden desk stood offset to her right, and upturned chair she could just make out was present behind it. Papers were strewn about, which unbeknown to her looked pretty similar to her own filing system at home thanks to Jenny's erratic searching of her desk. Vastra watched now as her wife wrapped her hand slowly and carefully around the rounded doorknob. From this angle she looked so delicate, the Silurian's eyes flowed over her slim exposed wrist, up the length of her arm to the soft features of her face. Her dark hair, usually tied back without a strand out of place, did in fact at that moment make her look as though she'd been thrown through a window. Lost in the sight of her human wife, Vastra without another thought reached forward and tucked the untamed strands behind Jenny's ear. The girl paused and turned her eyes on Vastra; she raised an eyebrow slowly, "You alright?" The Silurian was very rarely stuck for words, so when she didn't reply Jenny immediately released her grip on the door and turned to face her, "We'll get out of this together, me an' you. You ain't got to worry love, savvy?"

"Jenny, don't be silly, I'm not at all concerned I…"

"An' if you believe tha' you daft ol' lizard then you'll believe anythin'"

River Song took a deep breath, standing atop the debris of the destroyed entrance she held her sonic blaster out in one hand and her trusty pda in the other; "Ready boys?"

A good few paces behind her both Commander Strax and the Doctor simply stood gawking at her, "Do you have to be so, so… tomb raider?" The Doctor flicked his screwdriver out and covered the short distance between them with a few steps.

The Time Lord shook her head in exasperation and sighed, "Just shine the light dear…" The screwdriver hummed its comforting tune as light shone from its tip and lit up the seemingly abandoned lobby. The Doctor led the way slowly, waving the light rhythmically from side to side. There was no sign of any Angels, but that wasn't to say they weren't lurking; waiting, "We need to keep ourselves back to back, clear lines of vision on all sides," River instructed; she twisted the dial on the front of her gun barrel; it emitted a light though it was far less powerful than that of the Doctor's screwdriver. Strax followed her lead and shone his dimly lit gun torch in time with the Doctor's. Turning on the spot he opted to walk backwards; covering them from the rear.

"Look," The Doctor's voice was no more than a faint whisper yet it seemed to echo around the high ceilinged corridor in which they had just entered. The doors that lined each side of the lengthy corridor were shut tightly; all locked the Time Lord imagined as he tried to pull the first one on his left open without success. Framed in each door was a small square window; just about at head height for the tall, lanky Doctor. About five doors into the corridor lights could be seen flickering from inside the rooms, "I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered as they edged on. With Strax still shuffling backwards covering the door through which they had entered from and the Doctor covering the front; it left River free to cover both. She turned regularly to double check that nothing was sneaking up on the Sontaran. As they passed the first few cells she stood on her tiptoes and peered into the blackened rooms; the light from her torch reflecting on the glass made it difficult to see if anyone or anything was inside. She turned on her heel; holding her pda at arms-length and caught up the few paces that had grown between herself and the Doctor. Without warning the small device started to beep. The Doctor turned sharply to look at both her and it – There were life forms detected, quite a lot of life forms.

"Doctor!" River cried spotting the Angel screaming silently over his shoulder. With the creature quantum locked under River's stare the Time Lord managed to lunge out of its range; he shone the light from his screwdriver over it.

"Sir…" Strax's voice sounded unsteady.

The Doctor swallowed hard, "You want to, uh, you want to get that dear? I'm a little tied up" Free to blink momentarily River turned to see what the problem was behind them. She squinted into the dim light cast by her gun.

"Sweetie… We have a problem…"

"Do I want to know?"

Staring wide eyed at the now wide open cell doors River hadn't realised that she'd been holding her breath. As she released it and the tightening in her chest subsided she shook her head slowly. Keeping her eyes fixed on the stone fingers curled around the door edges she just about managed to respond with a meek, "Probably not dear…"

Finally able to catch her breath Vastra's eyes fluttered open as Jenny's lips released hers. She had no idea what she'd done to deserve such a welcome display of affection from her little lover; but she wasn't about to complain and spoil the moment. She did however feel slightly guilty, here they were, sharing an intimate kiss when the Time Lords and Strax were probably fighting off Angels left right and centre.

"Jenny…"

"I know," a gloved finger came up to press firmly against Vastra's lips, "Let's go"

For a second time Jenny took hold of the door handle; this time she managed to turn it slowly without interruption. Pulling the door open a crack she peeked through the gap into more darkness, "Can't see a thing it's so dark" Vastra nudged Jenny gently out of the way to have a look; her 'lizard vision' as Jenny so fondly put it was slightly better than a humans, especially in the dark.

"Everything seems to be in order" She widened the opening and crept stealthily into the corridor. The darkness was simply, too dark for Vastra's liking; it was inhuman; but as the Doctor had rightly put it, time was breaking. Squinting didn't help her, which she found highly annoying, "Do we have a torch or a candle Jenny?" She waited patiently for the reply; still attempting to force her eyes to adjust to the pitch black. A cold and harsh realisation struck her quite suddenly, "Jenny?" The Silurian turned on the spot, she cursed loudly in her native tongue - She couldn't see a thing, let alone the form of her wife. Vastra edged, slowly, back in the direction she'd come from, though it was only a few steps it felt like a fair few metres came between her and the open doorway, "Jenny my love?" She asked of the empty upturned office. The silence was almost as stifling as the darkness engulfing her. The rapid sound of a match being struck caused the usually unflappable Silurian to practically jump out of out her skin. A warm glow suddenly filled the room. The light danced off Vastra's green scales as she stared utterly horrified into the face of a white haired old woman. She recognised instantly the chocolate brown eyes, and the old, torn navy waistcoat that hung on the woman's thin and frail frame.

"You daft ol' lizard. Got tha' candle you wanted; took a while; sorry ma'am. 'ope you ain't been waitin' long"