Jenny wasn't really surprised to find she was in the bed when she woke but this time she turned over to see the face of the lizard woman. Despite having seen it before, seeing it close up still startled her. Without those blue eyes, it seemed more distant. She resisted any urge to touch the scales.

In what was swiftly becoming routine she wriggled out without disturbing her and got up, making the lizard woman tea and leaving it on the floor by the bed. She collected her clothes and went to have a wash so as the lizard woman couldn't make any more comments about stinking. As she stood upright in the tin bath tub, washing carefully around the bandage, there was a knock on the door.

"I got some nice bacon yesterday from the butchers, would you be fancyin' a slice or two before you start yer chores?"

"Yes please Missus Blackett." Jenny called out, not about to turn down some bacon despite her utter confusion over this reversal of treatment. "I dunno…" she muttered to herself. "Throws you out an' then offers yer bacon. Threatens to eat yer an' then gives you a bed an' a place to stay. Some people jus' can't be consistent."

There was an egg thrown in for good measure by the time Jenny clattered her way downstairs.

"You is a skinny little scrap aren't yer." Missus Blackett tutted as she sat awkwardly at the kitchen table. "Get yer jaws around that."

"I ain't little." Jenny said through a mouthful of bacon that muffled her words enough that Missus Blackett didn't hear, taking it as thanks instead.

"Thas alright dear, s'no skin off me, though I imagine it was off the pig." She laughed to herself.

Despite herself, Jenny's mouth quirked up into a grin.

Jenny's mother had died when she was 4, giving birth to her sister and after that there had not been an abundance of caring mother figures in her life, but as she wolfed down breakfast without ceremony and with little table manners, it appeared Missus Blackett had decided to take up the role.

Jenny returned upstairs to empty the bath tub but it was already occupied by a lizard woman. She tripped over her dress hem in her haste to turn back round, not wanting to get accused of staring again.

"Ah. It's you. Have you come to help me bathe?"

"Wot? No! I came to empty the ol' bath water is all!" Jenny felt her cheeks flame red.

"Well, if you insist." She heard the lizard woman stand up and wrap a towel round her. With carefully averted eyes, Jenny walked past her to retrieve the bath tub and went to empty it out.

By the time she went back up to the flat, the lizard woman was decent again. Jenny wondered briefly why she didn't just leave. Sure, hot food, a fire, a bed but she'd lived on the streets enough in her life that she wasn't soft. She could always find some fresh game or adventure, especially if the Tong gang truly was done for.

"Come!" the lizard woman beckoned her, lifting a veil onto her head, instead of her usual cloak.

Maybe because the lizard woman felt like an adventure. Jenny looked at the veil critically as she followed the lizard woman. It didn't exactly disguise anything.

"Don't people notice?" she asked, on their way to wherever it was they were going.

"Notice what?"

"Weeeellll…yer veil ain't much use is it? See through as a window." Jenny shrugged. The lizard woman stopped and Jenny walked into her back with a faint 'oof'.

"You can see through it?" The lizard woman didn't turn round, her voice wondering and stunned.

"Fink arf a London can see through that."

"On the contrary, you are the first." The reply baffled Jenny but they were walking again and Jenny wasn't entirely sure where they were so she kept close to the lizard woman's heels. They got some very odd stares again.

"You sure they can't see through it?"

A bitter laugh. "Positive."

"Only people seem to be starin' somethin' chronic."

"Maybe they're staring at you, a scruffy little ape tailing around."

One more…one more 'ape' and thwack that was it, even if she did get eaten for it. She kept her silence and her temper for now as they reached a small book shop.

"I would like to purchase some children's novellas." The lizard woman told the proprietor as she strode through the front door with an air of grandeur.

"Right you are ma'am."

Jenny stood stunned as several books were brought out, inspected, declared fit and bought and unceremoniously loaded into her arms.

Eventually they were full and she struggled with the packages as they made their way back to what Jenny was already thinking of as "home" despite herself.

"Thinkin' of startin' a library as a means fer money?" Jenny asked, a little out of breath as they reached the small attic room.

"Hmph. There." The lizard woman gestured towards the packages Jenny was holding. "Something simpler for you. Even you should be able to read those." She said dismissively and curled up reading her own book.

Jenny stood in the middle of the room, her jaw hanging open, debating whether to throw the books at the lizard woman, whether the lizard woman was serious about her reading children's books and what precisely to do next.

The lizard woman sighed at her and got back up. "These books." She rested a finger on them. "They are yours." She pointed at Jenny. "Read them." She swirled away again back to the bed.

Pique at being ordered to read was overcome by innate curiosity and Jenny carefully piled the books up in a corner and sat reading one. It was still complicated as anything to read but at least had pictures in it. There was a small girl and bizarre animals having a tea party. Jenny had seen rats and the like but not the animals depicted in the books.

It was a little bit violent really and she didn't think much of the young girl but she liked the idea of the tea party. She read that bit out loud without realising it and the lizard woman smiled at the description of the tea party and made her read it again, flushing at having been caught and still stumbling slightly over the words.

She tried to set up a tea party in the evening, having gone out and procured some pie and biscuits with a coin from the chest given to her. The lizard woman uncurled again and came to sit cross legged with her, which surprised her.

"You are playing." she grinned, when questioned why.

"So?"

"I suspect you have not had much opportunity for 'play' before. It is essential for the development of the imagination."

"I played."

"What did you play?" the lizard woman asked, pouring out the tea.

"Pickin' locks. Stones. Thas like marbles. Only wiv stones. Tag."

"Tag?"

"Like…you chase after someone…and then when you catch 'em and hit 'em then they have to chase after you. I dunno. Weren't…well like you said. Not a lot opportunity for it. Not in the Schools or on the streets. Too busy tryin' ter survive." Jenny shrugged, suddenly not as keen on playing. It seemed paradoxically both immature and above her level.

"As long as you do not disturb the landlady you can play as much as you want." The lizard woman sipped her tea.

"I ain't little y'know. You an' Missus Blackett both, you treat me like a kid."

"So? Should play stop when one becomes fully grown?"

"…dunno. I ain't never seen no adults play."

"So many negatives in one sentence. I'm amazed. Am I not an adult?"

"Dun' even knows what you are." Jenny shrugged.

"I am a Silurian." The…Silurian answered tartly, thrusting a cup into Jenny's hands.

"Silurian."

"Yes." There was a pause. "My name is Vastra."

"Vastra." Jenny tried out the word on her tongue. She found she liked it. "Vastrraaaa." She slurred the r's and a's.

"Do not say it like that." Vastra looked affronted. "Although, if you are to be my maid, you should possibly call me ma'am or something similar."

"Of course, me lady grace." Jenny doffed a pretend hat in mock obeisance, looking back at the book to see what else the Tea Party should have but also to avoid Vastra's glare. "Hm. Wonder if we could catch any mice to be the dormouse…"

Vastra laughed. "There are no mice around here. I shall take their place."

Jenny stared at her strangely, a hulking great big lizard woman pretending to be a mouse. But it was fun. She was acutally very good at it. Jenny tried her best to be the grandiose and mad hatter, waving her tea cup about violently and stifling her giggles. Fun. Playing. It was new.

Missus Blackett knocked on their door, wondering what all the thumping was about and Jenny threw Vastra's veil at her and then let her in.

"We're havin' a tea party!"

"Yer makin' more noise than me customers do when they're soused is what you are."

"Aw c'mon Missus Blackett. You gotta come 'ave a cup o' tea wiv us now!"

Jenny's exuberance flustered the old woman and she somehow ended up sitting down with them on the floor and drinking tea.

"Though lord knows 'ow I shall get me ol' bones back up again." She rolled her eyes.

Vastra smiled behind her veil as she watched Jenny point out the requirements of a tea party. Somehow the little ape charmed the crotchety old landlady into being the March Hare and bouncing round the flat, complaining slightly that she didn't know what people would think if they saw her. Vastra pondered this, wondering if all adult apes thought that fun was prohibited beyond drinking alcohol.

They played together a little longer, Missus Blackett regaling them with some tales of her childhood and then with a final "ooh me old bones" Missus Blackett departed downstairs again, thanking Jenny for the wonderful evening. "You made me feel quite young again." She grinned.

Vastra followed soon after, once again dressed up in her peculiar outfit. Jenny was too energetic to sit down and read some more so she had another exploration of the apartment. Spartan though it was, it was also rather filthy. She sneaked into the bar, currently not at its busiest and asked Missus Blackett for something to clean with. Armed with a broom and some rags, she cleaned vigorously. After all, if she was going to be a maid, she should at least attempt to do something and it tired her out.

No carpets to beat though. She went to bed, deciding that it was simpler than having the …Vastra pick her up every time, with a grin and an idea. She vaguely remembered how to do it.