All the acts looked hokey and fake and Jenny was rather bored as they wandered round the circus. The Strong Man in particular did nothing for her and Lettie teased her about being jealous.

"C'mon then maybe this'll be more your style." Lettie laughed and dragged her to the next tent.

"Lizard woman?" Jenny's eyebrows shot up at the sign. It surely couldn't be but as they stumbled through the tent flap, Jenny's eyes were drawn to the green scales, iridescent still against a grubby white shift. Lettie looked at her dumbfounded expression.

"Oi. I was on'y kiddin'." But Jenny ignored her. Her first thought was that they'd captured her and were keeping her prisoner to entertain the crowds. She walked straight up to the man outside the cage, pattering away and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

"Oi! How come she's inna cage?"

"Cos she'd eat you alive if she were free!" the man mock snarled, clasping her round the shoulders with one burly arm and the lizard woman hissed at her and shot out a tongue to snap at the air. "You see the fearsomeness of the lizard woman!" he called to the crowd who laughed.

"So?" Jenny shoved him off. "None of the others is inna cage! The Strong Bloke nor the Fire Eater! Why's she?"

"Whas up with you ey? Bloody Lizard Liberation League?" the man grabbed her and hauled her into a headlock. "Shall we feed this brave young gent to the lizard woman? Will he survive or will he get eaten?" he yelled to the crowd as she struggled. There was more laughter and she felt the cruelty of it.

"I bet she ain't never eaten no-one really!" She bit down on his arm and he released her cursing. She heard the lizard woman hiss, almost like a laugh and she turned to look at her. Their eyes locked and Jenny saw once again the blue that seemed at odds with the green skin and yet was so beautiful too. The moment was broken as she was cuffed soundly round the back of the head.

"Get 'im outta here!" the man picked her up off the floor where she'd dropped and flung her into the arms of two bulky men who had appeared from the back of the tent.

"No!" Jenny yelled, grappling against them, still half stunned from the blow. "Let 'er out! You let 'er out! Let 'er out right now!" it came out as a scream as they dragged her outside and round the back of the tent.

"He'll be the lizard woman's dinner later!" she heard the show man cry in an attempt to cover it up, the crowd cheering and gasping.

The two men knocked her to the ground and kicked her hard in the ribs a few times for good measure but were stopped by a third man who silently warned them off.

"An' don't come round 'ere again else we will feed yer to somethin'." They threatened before walking off, leaving her groaning on the ground. She coughed, trying not to vomit as she dragged herself upright to find a familiar face watching her from a body that was crouched down beside her.

"Whatchoo lookin' at?" she spat out a bit of blood and tried to wipe mud off her face.

"I don't like seeing her in a cage either." He grinned.

She looked at him oddly, with his short cropped hair and his leather jacket. He looked familiar.

"Oo 're you then?"

"John Smith. I juggle here at the circus."

"You say you don' like it yet yer a part of it all?" Jenny snorted in disgust. She staggered upright, massaging her ribs and stormed off without looking back. The man watched her curiously.

She met up with Lettie by the entrance.

"You're a bloody mad 'un you are! What did you go off like that for? She's a lizard int she? Prob'ly eat you alive like a lion or a tiger, what did you even care for?" Lettie berated her.

"So? She ain't an animal. She shouldn't be inna cage!" Jenny yelled and Lettie stalked off angrily.

She didn't follow Lettie home but instead hung round the circus until it closed down for the evening, dodging the guards and fingering her lock pick set.

Once it got dark enough she light footed her way between tents until she found the Lizard Woman's one again, peering through a gap to see if anyone was around. She was about to slip inside when the Lizard Woman unlocked the cage herself. And then undressed. Jenny's eyes went wide again at all the scales, proving once and for all that the Lizard Woman was real and no prosthetics or anything like that was involved.

She shook herself and followed when the Lizard Woman went to a small tent round the back, where the juggler man was sat waiting. She hid and listened in. Now she recalled the face. The Doctor who had saved her life. He'd been with the Lizard Woman before. She wondered if they were lovers.

"This wasn't what I had in mind, Vastra."

"There is no other occupation available in this ape filled time and besides, they seem to enjoy the scares and thrills I give them. How is that not helping humanity? And all for a very cheap price!"

"What about that boy earlier? He didn't seem too happy." The Doctor pointed out.

"That was a girl." Jenny wondered once again how precisely the lizard woman could figure that out.

"Either way, they kicked up…wait another girl dressed as a boy? Are all the boys in Victorian London secretly women? Mind you some of the books I've read it wouldn't surprise me…" the Doctor trailed off and then regained focus. "Either way, they kicked up a fuss about you being in a cage." He grinned. "One of those good ones I was telling you about. Even accused me of being part of it."

"One. Out of all who have come to see me, one." The lizard woman snorted. "Hardly redeeming."

"One's enough, sometimes. The right one in the right place at the right time."

"She certainly wasn't. I wonder if they will feed her to me."

"Nah. I stopped her getting beaten too badly and then she scarpered." The Doctor shrugged. "That's two good ones you've lost now Vastra. No wonder you don't have much hope for humans."

"Any good apes seem to be punished soon enough. It's small wonder they're so rare. It's a miracle they manage to survive at all in such a barbaric society."

The Doctor sighed. "Look, I know you didn't exactly get off to the best of starts with them. And I know they take some getting used to and they'll take some getting used to you too but believe me humans…"

The Lizard Woman held up a hand suddenly, darting out a tongue to taste the air.

"We are not alone." She muttered and stalked across the tent.

Jenny did not wait to be discovered and fled, running all the way back home. She felt ashamed at her flight but the Lizard Woman didn't need rescuing anyway it seemed. She was perfectly content to stay in her cage. And probably wouldn't thank an "ape" for rescuing her anyway.

An:

in the brilliant book 2012, on Vastra's poster there is a Jovial John Smith, Doctor of Juggling. I'm only guessing here and I could be wrong of course...

Anyways, I wanted to include it in the story so I had Jenny run into them there. Given her reaction in Silhouette, I don't think Jenny would've been pleased at Vastra being in a cage.

Yes Jenny is still running round disguised as a boy at the current time.

Lettie is an OC, more will be found out about her later.