An: Bank Robbery and 13 Paternoster Row. Well that escalated quickly...Long chapter is loooooooooooonnnnggg. Longer than previous chapters at any rate. I confess I may have little to no idea as to what I'm doing with this fic any more

"If we're gonna rob a bank, we need practice, information an' an awf'l lot of plannin'." Jenny said firmly when she got back from her "walk" as Vastra called them, cheerfully depositing a few coins in the box. "Now I c'n think of a few places as would be easy enuff ter get into but…" she eyed the Silurian. "I don't think you got nat'ral abilities as a thief."

"I am a highly trained Silurian warrior!" Vastra snorted in affront.

"Yeah well thievin' is a bit diff'rent from fightin'. Mainly as regards the noise level of the proceedin's."

"So train me." Vastra waved her off. "What are you thinking?"

She was thinking that training a haughty Silurian Warrior to break into a bank was going to take a lot of effort and then some. Vastra could move silently enough, in a kind of squat hop on her hands and feet. The trouble turned out to be the dresses. They just weren't silent and Vastra's Silurian get up was distinctive enough to be memorable if they were seen.

"Reckon yor mate c'ld do us some trousers an' the like?" Jenny asked one evening, studying a map of underground tunnels she'd drawn from memory. "They'd need ter be tight but flexible."

"Like a cat suit, you mean."

"A what?"

"Something the Doctor mentioned. But what you describe sounds similar enough to what the acrobats would wear that I'm sure George could come up with something for us. What is this map?" Vastra leaned over her shoulder, sipping a cup of tea.

"The gangs used disused tunnels fer stashin' things, places ter sleep, hideouts an' the like. S'a bit dangerous cos they ain't kept up or nuffin' but I reckon they c'ld be useful. C'ld dig through ter the bank vault or at the very least they'd be useful as a bolt hole."

"The tunnels of the Underground."

"You know about it?"

"You could say that. But I've never broken into anywhere before. I think I should practice somewhere."

"You got somewhere in mind?" Jenny eyed Vastra suspiciously, particularly when she grinned that grin again.

"What would you say to paying a visit to your old boss from the factory?"

"An' what would we steal from a factory like that'n?" Jenny snorted.

"I was thinking more…his house."

Thus Jenny learned that Vastra had some very firm ideas about revenge. She persuaded the Silurian not to eat him though, that this would only lead to trouble and they were about to risk getting into enough of that as it was.

Digging through to the bank was impossible without a great deal of time, but the tunnels would serve as an escape route in their plan.

Vastra was an excellent climber, Jenny noted as she clung to the Silurian's back as she scaled a wall. She stove in the window quietly, leaning over Vastra's shoulder, remembering how Gribble had first taught her, when they'd set up together. She clambered up and dropped down into the carpeted hall, Vastra hauling herself through after. She took out guards with swift ease and Jenny got a glimpse of the highly trained warrior that Vastra had mentioned. The movements were so fluid it was like a dance. Down into the vaults, running barefoot through the halls, it was Jenny's turn to shine. She'd looked up an old friend at a pawn shop and had acquired a new set of lock picks and they were made to perfection. With a little bit of grease to solve any squeaks of keys or hinges, they were through. The main safe was the trouble. Could she remember enough to crack it? She sweated in their new clothes, black and skin tight. Cat suits as Vastra had called them.

There was a noise in the distance and Vastra went to investigate.

"It was a guard. I suspect there will be more, particularly if they discover the others. Hurry!" The Silurian fell into a battle ready stance after she returned.

"Alright! Got it! Now c'mon!" Jenny hissed.

They got the money. And got out, fleeing out a window and diving into the tunnels. They changed into the clothes they'd left there, stuffing the rest into a sack cloth bag that they dumped on the back of a rag cart they'd stolen from the factory after all.

They were silent all the way home, the only noise the clatter of the wheels on the cobbles as they tugged it behind them and their own laboured breathing. Jenny grinned, looking at their haul and then at Vastra.

Vastra liked the way that Jenny's eyes lit up. She truly was a bit of a criminal, wasn't she? But of course, now was Vastra.

They repeated it twice but on the third time nearly got caught, Vastra's tongue whipping out to stun the guards just in time and they didn't stop until they'd safely scaled the drainpipe back into the attic flat.

"Think we might 'ave enuff now?" Jenny gasped, lying on the floor to recover from the run.

"Possibly not for a life of indolent luxury but certainly enough for a high degree of comfort." Vastra panted, doubled over herself. "Shall we agree to stop?"

"While we still lucky? Aye." Jenny nodded, grasping the hand that was held down to her and staggering up right.

They went straight to the business of finding somewhere. The money they'd stolen was sufficient that they could afford to buy a nice house, furnish it and still have some money to live on. The story they'd given the agent was that Vastra was a widow who'd been left the money by a rich uncle who had died (Jenny had told her that rich uncles dying were a common source of unexpected windfall, she'd learned it in a song the dray man used to sing). With cash in hand and papers forged by a friend of the pawn shop owner, there were few questions asked. They'd found a nice little three story house, a little tall and thin but long enough. 13 Paternoster Row. Vastra liked the 13 because, as she put it, superstitious apes didn't.

On the ground floor there was a medium living room and dining room at the front and a small back room, a large backroom, a cold room larder and a large kitchen area with a servant's quarters out the back. There was a long-ish passageway through to the back of the house where there was a courtyard and a small stables. On the second floor there were two small bedrooms, a small room with a bath and a water closet in it and a large bedroom and on the third floor two small attic rooms.

Vastra spent a large amount lavishly getting the large backroom roofed over with glass, setting it up with large plants and wild flowers. She told Jenny it mimicked her home, the sun coming through the glass made it a hot house, steamy and fragrant.

Missus Blackett was very sorry to see them go once 13 Paternoster Row had been furnished enough that they could live there.

"Best lodgers I ever 'ad." She sniffed, taking a pull of gin.

"Aw we'll come round an' visit." Jenny promised.

"Well, you be good to each other now. You'll afta be a bit more respectable, bein' a maid in a big house." Missus Blackett clipped her fondly around the ear. "Get goin' with yer. Glad I am that yer got some fortune."

"We c'ld spare you some." Jenny offered.

"Oh mercy, I'm set up well enough 'ere. But it would be nice if yer c'ld remember enough to visit aye."

Jenny got a firm hug and Vastra got a quick bow and a handshake and they were off, their small possessions loaded up onto the rag cart ready to transport to their new home. Missus Blackett insisted on them taking the wicker chair and Vastra, having grown fond of it, didn't refuse.

Seeing as they were now to be living an easy life, every available space became filled with books. The passageways were lined with bookshelves, as was the dining room. The attics were filled with various sculptures and art pieces that Vastra collected randomly at markets as an ongoing project to ward off boredom.

Jenny was kept busy, the pretence that she was Vastra's maid fitted well enough to almost be reality. 13 Paternoster Row took some cleaning. But for some reason, despite the fact there were three bedrooms and large fireplaces, not to mention servants quarters, neither Jenny nor Vastra mentioned not sleeping in the same bed. Vastra had merely waltzed into the main bedroom, declared it to be theirs and that was about all the conversation that was had on the matter. It was just a larger bed, with a thick quilt although they didn't really need it and soft pillows.

Jenny felt like she was being swallowed by a marshmallow the first night she slept in it. It was so hot. Too hot. She tossed and turned in her sleep as the stickiness and the heat reminded her.

/

The lady from along came to see to Mrs Flint when Jenny ran for her on her mother's orders but she could tell as she watched the way woman looked over her mother that something wasn't right. The woman placed careful hands on Mrs Flint's stomach as she went pale with pain. She turned to Jenny and ushered her into the kitchen. "You jus' stay there wiv yer brother an' sisters pet."

Jenny hugged Margaret and Megan to her as she sat by the stove. It was warm but in the heat of the summer it was too warm. The woman boiled water there and went in and out with a bustle and a harried look. Thomas thudded around, bored, occasionally stopping to pick in the floorboards, going still when the cries of pain started in earnest, huddling close to Jenny when the shrieking began. The woman's voice intermingled with it, soothing and yelling by turns. In the heat, the metallic tang stained the air.

Jenny was silent, as her brother wailed in fear and her sisters cried softly.

They sounded all the more loudly in the sudden silence from the back room.

She carefully shifted Margaret and Megan onto the floor and tiptoed in her light foot way to the door.

The woman was whispering to herself, sat back from the bed, holding a bundle. Jenny pushed the door open and came in; the woman seemed to be in a stupor for she didn't stop her walking right up to the bed, where her mother lay pale and twisted. The smell of blood was almost overwhelming, a tangible stickiness. The sheets were drenched with it. She reached out and touched her mother's hand, it was still warm and it suddenly clutched hers. Jenny jumped and nearly pissed herself at the touch.

"Ma?"

"S'alright me little one. Where's me little one? Ohh…"

The woman looked up at the groan.

"What in hell?! Git out! This ain't no place…" she trailed off sharp and stood up with a sigh. "You gotta nuvver lil daughter. Nuvver lil sister fer yer." She nodded at Jenny as she placed the baby by their mother, and then took the small pile of coins on the bed side table. "Well that's my job an' done. The rest be up to you." She walked out.

"What shall we call her Jenny? Another J name ey? Howz Joanne? We'll call her Joanne. Yer father be home soon I 'spect. From work. They'll all be back soon." She sighed and the breath seemed to leave her all at once. Jenny half thought the bed would swallow her. But she merely sank back and lay still, exhausted.

"Ma?" she whispered after a while, daring to reach out and take her hand again. The baby…Joanne stirred and Jenny poked her, curious. "Joanne…"

She returned to the others. "Come on nah, come meetcha sister Joanne." She carried Megan and Margaret through and they crawled up onto the bed. Margaret fell asleep next to her mother. Thomas prodded Joanne much as Jenny had.

"She don' play. She borin'."

"She's a babe, they don' play. You nivver played." Jenny pushed him out the way to sit on the edge of the bed.

"Ma's col'." Megan said, climbing into Jenny's lap.

Jenny touched her mother's hand again. Where it had been warm before, now it was clammy.

"She's red dahn there." Thomas pointed out. "She sick?"

"She just 'ad a babe. S'what happens." Jenny shrugged, remembering when Thom and Megan and Margaret had all been born.

Albie walked through the door whistling but stopped as he saw the tableau.

"What an' she 'ad the kid then?" he wandered over. "Ma. Ma!" he shook her and then jumped back as if burned.

"Woss wrong Albie?" Jenny turned to him.

"Jenny, youse takes the kids into the other room nah." He pushed her upright. She stared at him sullenly.

"I ain't leavin'."

The room got crowded suddenly as Jess and Cathy came back too.

"Aw sweet hell Albie, what you abaht lettin' 'em in 'ere?"

"They wuz in 'ere when I came in an' I tol' 'er to leave an' she wouldna." Albie shrugged.

"Git out!" Cathy pushed them all out the door. "Aw cry…aw cry…"

Jenny felt the heaviness of the heat and the smell then and she hugged Megan to her and followed Jess carrying Margaret and Albie dragging Thom.

Her father came home and then there was a bustle and men came and took away something wrapped in blankets and then a small bundle as well. She heard whisperings between Cathy and Jess. "She lost two twixt us and Jenny y'know." "An' Jenny was lucky to come out alive." "Too much fer 'er after Margaret." "Too soon." "What'll 'appen nah?"

She was hungry. That's all she knew and too hot with all the other children huddled close around her by the stove, where the fire was still burning. Far too hot.

/

With a gasp she started upright or at least tried to. She struggled frantically out from under the heavy duvet, sweating and gasping for breath. She pulled her hair away from where it was sticking to her face and tried to calm down, pacing round the room. Tears mixed with the sweat and she darted from the room, down into the coolness of the kitchen, running to the sink in time to vomit.

The blood. The sight and smell of it. And the heat and the stickiness. It'd been so long ago. She hadn't even really thought about it for so long. She shivered now, the sweat cooling her in the early morning air.

"Jenny? Are you ill?" Vastra was wrapped up in several blankets and a woollen gown as she wandered into the kitchen, perturbed by Jenny's pale appearance and the smell of sickness.

"Nah. I'm fine ma'am. Just a bad dream." She washed the sink out and started to lay the fire in the hob. Vastra draped a blanket around her shoulders.

"What about?" she filled a kettle and sorted out the cups ready.

Jenny sat cross legged on the kitchen table. She'd fallen in love with it when she'd seen it, a big solid oak thing that didn't shift easily. She snuggled into the blanket, feeling comfortably warm again now.

"Day me Ma died." She said softly and told Vastra her dream.

"I felt so guilty y'know?" she sipped the tea that Vastra had made whilst she'd been talking.

"Because you were meant to have saved her?" Vastra was sat on a chair by the table, looking up at her.

"Cos I was responsible."

"You were an infant yourself, how could you possibly be expected to…"

"Cos that's how it works! In families like ours, that's how it works. Whoever's the eldest of any left in the house at any time, that's who's in charge. Don't matter yer age."

"You were a child! No-one could possibly…"

"I was still there. An' no-one else was. An' I could've, I dunno, I could've…" Jenny trailed off. "Done somethin' different. Somethin' right."

"Such as what? A medical procedure? Suddenly learned the technology to build machines that could keep her alive?" Vastra said scornfully.

"But I was right there! An' I couldn't do anythin'! I was just…"

"Helpless." Vastra finished for her and nearly got a belt round the head for it. "Would you deny it?" she eyed Jenny's raised fist.

"You don' know nothin' alright?"

"I know what it is to grieve a mother." Vastra replied quietly. "To feel helpless. Enough to know what it looks like." She echoed Jenny's words back at her. The young woman relaxed as she recognised them.

"You said she died huntin' beasts." Jenny prompted.

"Yes."

"Were you there?"

"…yes. She had taken me out, as a trip. As a treat. We laid the devices, she made me climb into a tree whilst she brought it down. And then a part of the stunning equipment failed and it got free. Tore her to pieces. I sat frozen in the tree, just watching. There was nothing they could do for her. Not even machinery could bring her back. It was after that I decided I would be a warrior. So I would not ever freeze ever again. So I could always fight, even if just in an attempt to save those I love."

"Warrior?"

"It is one of the roles within a tribe. Scientist, Warrior, Poet. Although at that point, there were not many wars that needed a Warrior. She mainly kept away beasts and worked as a…hm…she travelled between tribes, to keep the peace through talks and negotiations. An ambassador. Our tribe prospered greatly because of her. A true Warrior knows there are many different ways to fight." Vastra paused to look at Jenny. "What prompted your nightmare? Is today the day?"

"Nah. If I marked all the anniversaries of people dyin' I'd never stop grievin'. Nah, it was just too hot. S'like sleepin' in a bath of softened lard that bed is. Ain't used to it is all."

"Hm. Well we can buy a firmer mattress. And move the thicker cover into storage, at least until winter."

"Won't yer be cold?"

"Of course not. I have my little bed warmer after all." Vastra grinned, standing up to ruffle Jenny's hair with a blanket-covered hand.

Jenny hmphed and smoothed her static-y hair back down before starting breakfast.

Vastra was true to her word and had another mattress delivered that day and Jenny had no further nightmares.

An: Hoo-RAH for the NHS!

The song Jenny referenced about uncles suddenly dying and leaving windfalls of fortune is Wotcher! Knocked 'Em In The Old Kent Road, a song of my yoof and best sung by Stanley Holloway although Marlene Dietrich singing it is a wonder that I didn't hear until last year and is well worth looking up.

TECH-nically it wasn't written/performed until 1891/2 but bugger a few years in the Doctor Whoniverse. In this timeline, it's already a popular music hall song sung by the lower classes wot frequent them.