Having been unsuccessful in stopping Jack hanging all the mistletoe up ("Aw c'mon Miss Jenny she carn't remain a widder forever."), and figuring that she hadn't decorated a Christmas tree before so she couldn't claim a level of expertise in the matter, Jenny left them all to it in order to get lunch ready.

It wasn't that she bought too much food but in a household of two, where one was a Silurian whose eating habits were not conventional, there was always food left over and the Paternoster Irregulars were not fussy. Thinking on Vastra's eating habits as she munched on a roll, Jenny thought back on their journey to Japan. Vastra had struggled, being unable to dine with the other travellers and there was only so much meat Jenny could smuggle from the table. It had to have been the longest Vastra had gone without eating someone since Jenny had known her. The thought made her laugh and then frown at the fact she'd laughed. Her morality was flawed, Vastra was right.

"Penny fer 'em, Miss Jenny?" Parker asked as he came in from the stables, stamping his boots off.

"Not worth it." She put down her roll and passed him a plate with some ham and bread on.

"Thankee. Our mistress is ver' kind ter let 'n look after those scamps ain't she." He remarked, hearing a sudden increase of noise from the living room as he was about to take a bite.

Jenny snorted.

"Now Miss Jenny, ain't every mistress 'd allow a set of urchins roamin' round 'er 'ouse. Madame's very good to us." He waggled a slice of bread at her.

"Yeah. She is." Jenny sighed, toying with the crumbs of her roll. If I was just a maid, she thought to herself, this'd be a bit of heaven.

"Where did 'arf of 'em even come from anyways? More of 'em appear every time I comes in from the yard I'd swear it."

Cris had been the first. The Gentleman of Leisure who'd been quite happy to take a sovereign for reporting on what he'd seen but honourable enough to bring others for the same reward. Jenny hadn't asked what he did but she'd lived on the streets enough to have a reasonable guess.

He'd brought Boggin, who had been a great help in one case. Gang runners would quite often use getting their boots cleaned as a way to keep idle in one place, waiting for information or a parcel. And it was amazing how many adults forgot that the little urchins at their feet had ears. Parker had taken a liking to Boggin and she suspected Boggin called as often on Mrs Parker as he did at Paternoster Row. Well, Parker kept him steady at least.

Soljer was old to still be on the streets and not dead. He'd said he didn't have a name but Soljer. His mother used to say that he was his mother's little soljer and that was that then. She'd died of something, he didn't know what. Just woke up to his mother cold in bed beside him and scarpered before anyone turned up. He'd joined up briefly in the service of a gang as a snake but messed up his third job. He didn't know whether the gang was still in jail. He'd been in a reform school, much the same as Jenny and had learned carpentry. After spending time with the mudlarks, he found driftwood enough to whittle shapes and carvings that he sold for a penny. He'd debated the army but had found Cris instead. He was quiet and stolid although he seemed to be enjoying himself placing Jack's statues around the dining room.

Jack was a seller and was perfectly willing to add information to the things he sold when offered. And he was full of it too. Not just information on street news but he had an eye for recognising a weird and wonderful thing and an encyclopaedic memory. And he never stayed still; Jenny watched as he half danced into the kitchen to hang mistletoe in the doorways there. She was going to have a time explaining that one to Vastra, if the Silurian asked.

Ada and Dotty. Two young girls, not much older than Jenny had been when she'd first ended up on the streets. Ada's mother had died in the workhouse and she'd escaped rather than do laundry. Dotty worked as a maid and had found her nicking food out the dustbin one morning. When Dotty lost her job after being found out stealing food for Ada, they'd set up their own little gang of three with Thrupp, who would usually act as distraction.

Thrupp, so called because of the lucky thruppenny bit she carried with her. She looked small; a scrap of a thing and Jenny could see how those big soulful eyes could very easily distract someone. But Jenny had seen her when she had stood in Jenny's kitchen and stood tall and grinned as she casually walked about the place as if she owned it. Theatres would pay for such an acting talent, Jenny had thought on more than one occasion. Thrupp was self-confident and self-reliant and it didn't seem as if she'd found a challenge yet she couldn't overcome. Despite being the smallest of the gang size wise, she was older than Ada and Dotty by a few years but had evaded questions about her past.

"I asked her once why it was her that ran distraction; she's more'n capable of lifting anything she wants. An' s'not like Dotty or Ada couldn't look suitably mournful. She just grinned and said "Aye well, use yer talents an' gifts ey?" Jenny handed Parker a pear which he took gratefully.

"Don' know how Madame trusts 'em all roamin' round the 'ouse if most of 'em are criminals. 'Cept Boggin. He's a good lad." Parker took the knife off the cutting board to slice his pear up.

"None of 'em are stupid enough to nick anythin'." Jenny shrugged, rolling an apple in her hands.

"Don't bite the 'and that feeds hm?"

"'sides, wot with Madame's line of work, 'avin' an 'and in the criminal classes is a bit necessary really."

Parker looked at Jenny thoughtfully as he chewed the last of his pear. "An' what about yerself Miss Jenny?" he asked when he'd finished. "'ow'd you end up in 'er service?"

Jenny took a gulp of tea so she didn't have to answer. "S'pose I'd best check on 'em all the same. They're still kids after all."

Parker stood up hastily. "Aye Miss Jenny, I know you said about yer family, 'ow yer not on best terms, I didn't mean anythin' by it. You an' Madame been ver' good ter me an' the wife an' I'd not judge yer fer anythin' much."

She picked at a knot in the table top. "I done my time in places, on the streets. Lost most me family an' friends along the way. Lost most everythin'."

"Not everythin' Miss Jenny." Parker reminded her gently.

She nodded. "I gained some back this last year, s'true. Enough to be grateful for. C'mon. I think they're trying ter put the angel on the top of the tree. An' they'll burn the place down if they try an' light the candles."

They walked into the living room that was far less chaotic than the amount of noise would suggest. The Irregulars fell back from the tree where Cris was sat on Soljer's shoulders, balancing precariously. He hopped down at Jenny's expression and handed the small glass angel to her and they all stood in a small cluster, following at a safe distance as she inspected the house.

Soljer had meticulously arranged all the statues into little scenes on the mantel pieces and although Jenny wasn't quite sure she understood all of them, they were still tasteful enough. He nodded at her praise and stood proudly as Cris patted him on the back. The mistletoe she supposed she would just have to explain and at least it smelled nice. The tree was a little haphazard but Thrupp's expression defied any criticism. Dotty and Ada looked immensely satisfied with it.

"It's grand, grand." Parker assured them. "Never seen a better tree."

"Just needs the angel but none of us are tall enough, not even Soljer." Jack put his hands in his pockets and sighed. They all looked at Jenny.

"Well it ain't like I'm bleedin' tall enough." She folded her arms and looked at Parker who she realised was not really much taller than herself.

"I've got an idea. Wait here." He gestured excitedly and ran out.

There were many things Jenny was expecting, step ladders and the like, but it was not for Parker to walk back in leading Alice.

"Well there was an 'oss in the nativity weren't there?" he said at her expression. "Up yer get an' pop it on then."

She looked around at the crowd of awed and delighted faces staring at her. Thrupp was clapping delightedly and whooping. A chorus of "Gwan!"s started up and she gave in. It was more difficult to mount a horse with no saddle and in a skirt but Alice stood steady for her as she scrambled up to sit side-without-a-saddle. Parker clicked the horse round while the urchins watched with baited breath as Jenny leaned forward and…

The door opened suddenly and Vastra and an unknown gentleman walked into the living room.

Jenny dropped the angel in surprise but Dotty caught it in a reflex response that caused gasps of approval from the other urchins. They looked round when they saw Jenny staring at the doorway and Parker looking desperate, as the oldest and therefore most responsible person there, trying to concoct an acceptable explanation for the scenario. At the sight of the gentleman, who was dressed in a pinstripe trousers and a tailcoat and wore a very dour expression, the urchins all scarpered. Dotty thrust the angel into Jenny's hands and then followed Ada and Thrupp as they hopped it out the window which they fought to get open. The rest sidled with haste past Vastra who was still stood in the doorway.

She was wearing her veil but Jenny could see right through it to her expression. In all their adventures together, she hadn't yet seen Vastra look quite so questioning as to what on earth was going on.

"I have some business with you, Jenny. If you're not otherwise occupied?"

"No! No…uh…no ma'am. We're…" she hastily leapt off Alice but words failed her. Parker came to the rescue.

"We're about finished 'ere aye. Aye I'll uh…I'll take Ali…ah the 'oss I'll jus' be takin' the 'oss back to 'er stable. Where she belongs. Aye. In the stable." He nodded continuously as he spoke, gently taking Alice's reins and leading her out through the house, leaving Jenny alone to face Vastra and the gentleman.

An: Me too, Parker, me too. I have no acceptable explanation for that scenario either.