An: they argued. Again.
"Come, ape, we must collect your clothes." Vastra called to Jenny where she stood in front of the fire, attempting to do something with her hair.
"Not. An. Ape!" Jenny growled, abandoning her hair to stalk over to Vastra and wave the hairbrush under the Silurian's snub nose. Vastra snapped her teeth, causing Jenny to instinctively hit out. Vastra stepped backwards and neatly jerked Jenny to the floor, knocking the breath from her.
But Jenny had survived on the streets and Vastra soon joined her by way of a sure and swift tug to her ankle. With a snarl Vastra rolled and pinned her easily, despite Jenny's fish like wriggling.
"Grrrghh!" Jenny's hand reached for Vastra's head crests but the outcome that would've resulted from this action was never known for there was a knock at the door. They both froze and turned to look at it as a sorrowful man in a leather jacket walked in.
"Vastra!" he scolded as he saw them and she released Jenny, hastily getting to her feet. "Thought you didn't eat children."
"She started it." Vastra sniffed.
"I never!" Jenny Flint leapt up to defend herself, her breath now recovered. "An' I ain't a child!" She brandished her hairbrush at the Doctor.
"You threatened me with a hairbrush." Vastra rounded on her, relieving her of the item in question.
"Only cos you called me "ape" again! Dunno how many times!"
"Ape?" the man asked, looking from one to the other.
"Don' you start!" Jenny, divested of her weapon, resorted to shaking her fist in warning.
"Wouldn't dream of it. Hello again Jenny Flint. Still 'ard as 'em I see."
Jenny dropped her fist in shock. And then her jaw dropped in shock too as she recognised the man. "Doctor?"
"Hello!" he waved. "She didn't manage to scare you off after all then."
"Not exactly." Jenny fidgeted.
"Sounds like a story. Anyone for a spot of tea?"
Jenny nodded and went to get the cups, glancing at a scowling Vastra.
"So!" The Doctor said, sitting on the small stool that Vastra hauled out from under the desk for him and leaning back against the desk in the most relaxed fashion. She remained standing and Jenny crouched on the floor by the fire, monitoring the kettle. "What's been happening? Still fighting I see?" He inspected his nails. "You're like an old married couple!"
He grinned as the pair of them simultaneously glowered at him, wagging a finger between them. "See? You're even in perfect sync."
"Ain't nuffin' like it. She's jus' keepin' me orf the streets for a while."
"She was in some trouble and I rescued her." Vastra added.
The Doctor looked at Jenny oddly. "Ahh. You're the mysterious match girl too are you? Have you solved the problem with the gang?" he turned to Vastra.
Vastra smiled smugly and licked her lips. "They won't be bothering her again."
"So what happened with you Vastra? I got most of the story but still. This is new. Offering charity?"
"It is…convenient. Having an ape around. I'm employing her as my maid." Vastra shrugged.
"Pull the other one." The Doctor grinned at Jenny's indignation as she handed him his tea. "What's this?" He hooked the toe of his boot through Jenny's abandoned blanket. "Crochet? Gettin' a bit domestic aren't you Vastra? For a warrior?"
"It is hers."
"Ahh." The Doctor stopped taunting and got up, looking around to inspect the flat. He crouched by Jenny's pile of books and examined them. "Alice in Wonderland. Wonderful book! You like it?" he asked Jenny.
"Yeah. We 'ad a tea party like the one in it."
"Was Vastra the Mad Hatter?" he grinned at her.
Jenny snorted into her tea and sniggered. Vastra seemed to have gone a darker shade of green and her blue eyes held fire.
"No. She were…she were the Dormouse."
"You're the one who keeps falling asleep." Vastra stuck her tongue out. "How many times have I had to carry you to the bed now?"
"On'y cos you want a bed warmer! I slept on 'arder places 'n the floor. Stupid lizard!"
"Little ape!"
The Doctor grinned to himself, watching as they bickered. "Well this does seem a cosy set up."
They both turned in unison to glower at him again.
"So! How about some food then ey? Run out and get us some Jenny could you? You look fair starved. Haven't you been feeding her Vastra?"
Vastra snorted but gave her some money and she stepped out into the cold February air that made her breath cloud in front of her. She suspected he wanted to talk to Vastra alone, as he had done all those years ago when she'd eavesdropped. This time she didn't, granting them privacy and the pie shop was at least warmer than crouching on a doorstep.
"So, you decided to keep her after all then?" The Doctor asked, placing Alice in Wonderland carefully back on the pile and rising to his feet, dusting his trousers off.
"You suggested, a while ago, that I find a companion and this ape is not scared, nor does she stink quite as badly as the others."
"So you said."
"You think she is unsuitable?"
"Nah. I think she's perfect fer you. Thought so the first time we all met." He leaned against the desk once more. "But be careful ey Vastra?"
"Careful about what?"
"She'll be yer companion, if she chooses to stay cos you can't make 'em in the end. She won't be a pet or a toy. Or a maid. Or whatever else you're thinking of her as. You let 'er get away once. Don't be stupid again."
"I don't know what you mean." Vastra shrugged dismissively.
"Well if you don't, I'm sure she'll soon tell you. I'll leave you two to it. But I'll call again soon."
"Of course. After all, we are friends." Vastra smiled but she was unnerved slightly. What did he mean by "Don't be stupid again."
"Hm." The Doctor grinned. "You've changed Vastra. Goin' from eating apes to bein' friends with 'em? Jenny must be good for you." He got up to walk out the door but popped his head back round for one final word. "But uh do try to keep the fighting to a minimum." He winked and disappeared out the door.
The Doctor was just closing the door to the flat as Jenny came back up the stairs, bearing pie. He placed his hands on her shoulders and stopped her.
"Here. Listen, Jenny Flint. Vastra is important to me. An' I care about her a lot. She's one of me oldest friends and that means somethin' when I say it, trust me. But I can't be here all the time. She'd get annoyed at me and I'd get bored." he shrugged. "So I want to ask you something. A favour, if you like."
"Wot?" she eyed him suspiciously.
He grinned as he heard the door open behind him to reveal a piqued looking lizard. "Will you look after yer stupid Silurian for me an' keep her out of trouble?"
Vastra snorted contemptuously and disappeared back inside the flat. Jenny stared seriously into the Doctor's eyes. He stared back and despite his grin, seemed equally serious. "Alright." She nodded once.
"Promise?" he waved a finger at her.
"I promise."
"Fantastic!" he ruffled her hair. "Now be good. Both of yer!" he called loudly over his shoulder."Especially to each other." He grinned once more and slouched off whistling and jingling something in his pockets.
Jenny paused before going back into the attic room, wondering just what she'd gotten herself into and also since when was the Silurian hers? She opened the door to find Vastra standing behind it as if she'd been eavesdropping, not that Jenny could particularly judge. She twitched away, on edge, a strange disturbed restlessness. Jenny deposited her pie on the hearth and looked at it. Then at her books. And her crochet. And the nightgown that was crumpled at the bottom of their bed. Vastra, in their few days together, had given her quite a lot. And there were clothes on order for her too.
How did you even go about looking after a Silurian that ate people, Jenny considered, glancing at Vastra again as she ate her way through half a pie. The Silurian was ignoring her, sitting at her desk and staring at the small chest on it. And yet Jenny had promised, without a thought. Without a hesitation. She'd never made a promise before, not to anyone and she felt a small weight settle in her chest. She supposed it was what responsibility felt like.
A long awkward silence later, Vastra stood up suddenly.
"Come." She gestured imperiously for Jenny to follow but at least didn't call her ape. She must've been nervous about something Jenny noted for she wore both her cape and her veil as they walked out in silence.
Vastra didn't say a word as they went to collect Jenny's clothes, giving Jenny plenty of time to think through the few scenarios she could come up with where she could look after Vastra.
Still, her clothes were new and made for her and she was rather delighted not to have to trip on hems any more. It'd made moving silently almost impossible when she walking.
"Gaw don' I look like a lady." She grinned at Vastra once they'd returned home, spinning to make her skirts swish, trying to get Vastra to laugh. The Silurian merely smiled formally in return as Jenny stumbled, disappointed she hadn't succeeded.
She went downstairs to see Missus Blackett who was appropriately admiring of her new dresses, plain though they were and spent the afternoon being taught how to put her hair up in a proper maid's bun so that she could "look right proper smart!" as Missus Blackett exclaimed, taking Jenny up to her bedroom so she could see herself in the small spotted mirror.
Jenny peered at herself curiously. Wide brown eyes, curly black hair, that mole. She twitched her nose. She looked a bit respectable like this, all clean and tidy. Another gift from the ape-hating lizard woman.
But, Jenny pondered, as Vastra curled up with her back to her later on when they went to bed, it was rather odd that this ape-hating lizard would rescue one, give it gifts and share her bed with it, warmth or no warmth. Her lips bent into a small grin. Vastra had said a pet, a maid, someone to make her tea and keep her bed warm, but Jenny thought perhaps, just perhaps the lizard had taken a liking to her, surely must have, otherwise she'd've been eaten or back out on the streets long ago. She found herself liking Vastra at any rate. There was an awkward kindness, mixed with uncertainty covered by blustering bravado that was cute, in a lizard hungry for humans and disgusted by "apes" kind of way. The image of a hissing lizard woman in a grubby shift behind bars flashed in her mind. Possibly the disgust was understandable. Jenny's heart twinged with guilt suddenly, at the thought she might have been cruel earlier, laughing at Vastra having played the dormouse. Playing was clearly important to Vastra and she'd laughed.
"Vastra…" she whispered as she turned over onto her back.
"Yes?" the Silurian didn't move.
"I was on'y teasin' earlier."
"Yes."
There was a silence. Jenny picked at the front of her nightgown.
"Vastra?"
"Yes…" came a little more tersely and wearily.
"I like me clothes."
"Good."
Another small silence. Jenny rolled onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow, not that she could see anything in the darkness.
"Vastra."
"Yes?" came a snapped response from a head that finally turned to look at Jenny.
"I never said thanks for savin' me life."
"No." A tone of indifference as the Silurian flopped her head back down.
"...thank you."
"…You're welcome Jenny."
Jenny was about to drop off to sleep when it struck her that Vastra had just called her by her name for the first time. She grinned at the Silurian's back and then shook her head at the fact that it pleased her so much, rolled over to mirror Vastra and promptly fell asleep.