An: there is always a startling lack of mentioning in TV, films, literature etc how people who have periods deal with them in different eras and apocalyptic situations and I wasn't having that in this fanfic
They settled into an easy routine. Jenny would wake, dress and bring Vastra tea before going out to procure food for the day. If she bought pie or anything with meat in it, Vastra would share a little with her but otherwise Jenny didn't enquire too closely about Vastra's dining habits. Jenny would then clean up (Vastra bought her a plate and a knife and fork which she clumsily learnt how to use although not with a great deal of etiquette) and dust the flat before chopping some wood for them, which built up her muscles nicely. She learned how to wash her clothes with help from Missus Blackett, who called her "a piss poor excuse for a maid" when she discovered Jenny wrangling with the mangle.
In the afternoons Jenny would try to crochet rough rugs for the flat or she would help Missus Blackett out and in the evenings she read voraciously and soon was reading Vastra's books too. Vastra bought her a dictionary to stop the woman pestering her with a list of words every day but doubted that anything would improve that accent and didn't comment on it.
And at night, Jenny would curl up in bed and Vastra would lie alongside her, always on the outer edge. Unless Vastra went out in which case Jenny would wake up the next morning to find her there.
24th February 1887 (a Thursday)
Even in such a short space of time, Vastra had become accustomed to their routine and was therefore surprised when she woke and Jenny was still curled up next to her, groaning slightly.
"Jenny?" her tongue flicked out automatically and to her surprise tasted blood in the air. "Jenny!" she turned the still groaning woman onto her back. "What's wrong? Have your wounds re-opened?" She had re-dressed them but two days ago and they'd been healing fine.
"Leave off…" Jenny muttered, knocking Vastra's hands away as Vastra tried to lift up her night gown. "It's that bleedin'…ha lit'rally bleedin' an' all time thas all." She massaged her stomach slightly.
"You are bleeding?" Vastra stared in confusion.
"Do lizards not do the whole bleedin' thing?"
"…no. What do you do?"
"Do? I don't do nuffin'. Maybe stick a rag up if it gets heavy."
"You stick…rags up?"
"You were the one sayin' you'd seen it all before. Ain't you never met a woman?"
"And you don't die?"
"No. Although some as will say they'd gladly kill durin' it." Jenny turned onto her stomach, groaning into her pillow.
"Does it hurt?"
"Yff." Came the muffled reply.
"Can I do anything?"
"Nhh."
"Would you like me to get some rags?"
Jenny stuck her head back up. "Well s'either that or I make a mess of the bed clothes."
With a task to do at least, Vastra dressed swiftly. She tore up an old dress that was far too ragged to wear, washed the strips vigorously and then fashioned them into small wads.
Jenny had gone to relieve herself and come back and curled back up again.
Vastra gave her privacy after handing her a wad but hovered a little uncertainly.
Jenny mostly ignored her, so she made tea and then went out to get food for the ape, for she didn't look well at all.
Jenny was surprised at being handed a cup of tea and even more surprised when Vastra came back with some fresh rolls from the bakery.
She ate them gratefully and then curled back up in bed, Vastra squatting by it. Jenny almost laughed, she looked like a cat or something, head tilted curiously. She wriggled to the side of the bed and leaned to look her directly in the eye.
"Yor bein' a bit nice ent yer?"
"You are in pain. And bleeding."
"S'what happens to us 'umans. Well, the women ones. Means yer can have kids."
"You're going to have a child?" Vastra fell over backwards with a thump at the thought of a mewling ape cub.
"Nooooo." Jenny sighed, flopping forward. "S'just that y'know…if you went with a bloke…it could happen."
"Oh. I have never heard of any other creature having to suffer such a thing. It seems terrible." She regained her squat stance.
"It 'urts."
"Where?"
"Me stomach. Me back, me shoulders. I ache a bit." Jenny bit off another groan.
"Hm. Stay on your front." Vastra commanded as she stood up.
"Why?" Jenny asked but acquiesced all the same, arms still hanging off the edge of the bed. Vastra knelt carefully over her, resting on her heels and placed her hands on Jenny's shoulders. She twitched. "Yer 'ands are cold!"
"My apologies." Vastra muttered tartly. She ran her hands firmly over Jenny's shoulders and then began working down Jenny's spine. There were a few grunts if she hit a tense spot but they turned into soft exhalations and even moans when she began massaging Jenny's lower back. She felt the a…human relax beneath her, softening as if she were about to melt.
"Thas magic that is."
"A massage." Vastra corrected her. "They were commonly used to help recuperation from strains and injuries."
"Magic." Jenny sighed.
"Hm. It is barbaric if women have to endure this every month with no form of relief." Vastra shook her head, moving her hands to Jenny's sides. And got thrown on her back as Jenny suddenly convulsed.
"Whatever is the matter now?!" she asked affronted.
"That tickled!" Jenny clutched at her nightgown, glowering in equal amounts back.
"Hmph." Vastra snorted and moved off the bed to make more tea.
Jenny sighed. Vastra, hearing it, moved awkwardly back. How strange that she should feel so protective and worried over the little ape…
"Did it help?"
"Hm?"
"The massage. Until I tickled you at least. It was not my intention."
"Ain't you ticklish?"
"Not that I am aware of, no." Vastra sat on the edge of the bed. Later she realised she'd rather let herself in for what happened next.
Jenny grinned and grabbed her round the middle, twirling deft finger tips in circles on her sides. Vastra yelped and knocked Jenny backwards.
"Perfidious ape!" She snarled, pinning Jenny beneath her.
"You was the one who said you weren't tickliyyEEP!" Jenny squealed as Vastra imitated the swirling movements. "Oi!" she gasped, trying not to laugh as she wrestled with the Silurian, trying to get her own back until they were both rather entangled in the bed sheets and breathless. And then Jenny did something which Vastra found entirely captivating, and would do from that day forth. She laughed, so openly, so freely that Vastra found herself grinning. Jenny subsided into sniggers and turned to face Vastra who hastily wiped the grin off, but not before Jenny caught it.
"Well, I'm glad that has cheered you up at any rate." She blustered, incredibly glad that no-one else had seen that. Only imagine what her sisters would've said…playing like that with an ape! "I'll go and get you lunch shall I?" she fought herself free, grabbed her veil and swept grandly out the flat.
The smile on Jenny's face faded into confusion but her lips quirked at the memory of Vastra yelping and that grin. Fun. That was fun. Playing. A quick cramp made her groan and she flopped backwards. At least this time she didn't have to worry about finding a corner to curl up and bleed in. Vastra had even washed the rags! Luxury.
"I c'd get used ter this." Jenny grinned, devouring half the pie Vastra had bought with ease, tucked back up in bed.
"I would suggest not." Vastra sniffed, removing her veil and setting more tea ready. Jenny's lip quirked and she tilted her head to regard the lizard woman.
"S'pose yer right. After all, when yer get bored o' me an' kick me back out on the streets, I won't exactly be livin' in the lap of luxury no more."
"This is hardly the lap of luxury now."
"True it ain't. You said you wanted to live some of it tho. Ain't you got no plans? What d'yer do fer money?"
"I…work in a circus." Vastra admitted, determinedly not allowing shame to creep up on her. "Well, used to."
Jenny remembered the circus and wondered if Vastra remembered her. "Why'd yer stop?"
"They had nonsensical ideas. I didn't mind being in a cage, terrifying apes as they came through, but doing tricks with my tongue? Utterly disgusting."
"Sounds awful."
"It was a job. Being a criminal sounds awful."
Jenny shrugged. "Ain't much other employment for the likes of me. S'all I know really."
There was an awkward silence.
"I meant what I said." Vastra shifted uneasily.
"'bout what?"
"That you may live here. I don't particularly care what else you do. But, if you care to, this can be your home. I won't kick you out, even if I do get bored of you."
Jenny eyed her knowingly. "Gotten to like me around 'ave yer?"
Vastra snorted. "I wouldn't go that far. The Doctor told me something once. He'd read it in a book. Those that we save, we are responsible for."
"So this is some kind of obligation? You fink yer doin' me a favour? I lived on the streets long enough, I can get by well enough without you!" Jenny felt stung.
"Really? Then why is it I have had to save you! Twice now, remember."
"So now I owe you, is that it?"
"And you think you are repaying that by staying here, eating through my money?" Vastra scoffed.
"If you want me to go, I can go fine enough."
"I just said, ape, I will not kick you out. It is your own decision."
They glowered at each other for a minute.
"I'm on'y stayin' fer the food. An' the bed." And she had her promise to keep but she wasn't about to tell Vastra that.
"Fine."
A frosty silence was maintained between them for the rest of the day. It gave Jenny plenty of time to think about what they were going to do about money though. She'd peeked into Vastra's box and it was looking a lot emptier than it had been. And if Vastra had quit the circus, well that meant they had no income whatsoever. Maybe that was how she could look after the Silurian? Get a job somewhere. Couldn't be in an office but maybe in a factory? Something. A Silurian wasn't exactly going to survive long on the streets or in a workhouse and Missus Blackett was kind but hardly in a position to give out charity herself, even if Jenny did help her with the chores.
With her head aching from thinking too much and her body cramping and in pain, Jenny decided she'd sort it out once this was finished and curled back up to sleep.
An: as far as I can find out by researching, that's they did in the Victorian era. Rags or just lettin' it bleed.
Again not my best chapter due to being a sad Flintlock.
