An: Vastra's past!

The Doctor and Martha had barely been gone out the front door for a moment when the doorbell rang at the back. Vastra thankfully had not yet removed her veil and was able to answer it to find a stern looking woman, carrying a brown doctor's bag.

"You are Madame Vastra, I take it?" she asked officiously, stepping over the threshold without being invited in. "Two very curious people arrived at my door an hour ago, claiming there was a medical emergency here. Thusly being summoned, I have arrived. I am a physician. My name is Elizabeth Garrett Anderson." She wiped her feet and grabbed Vastra's hand to shake it.

Vastra bowed her head, a little bemused. The Doctor it appeared had been time travelling again. "My maid has broken her arm. I believe it requires plaster of Paris."

"Show me the arm." Elizabeth demanded, striding into the hallway. Jenny stepped forward. "Do you have a dining room or likewise a table?"

Jenny nodded and led her into the dining room where Elizabeth gestured at her to sit in a seat whilst she set her bag up on the table. Small vials and pots, a pestle and mortar, a large steel bowl all were brought out. Elizabeth removed the sling with care but Jenny gritted her teeth as the physician examined Jenny's arm.

"Most professionally set." Elizabeth nodded, her eyebrows raised in surprise. "This shouldn't take too long. Rest your elbow on the table and hold your arm straight and steady."

She mixed up the plaster of Paris, the powder for which she had in her bag, Vastra getting the water for her to fill the steel bowl. She laid strips of bandages around Jenny's arm. Jenny hissed in pain as Elizabeth applied the plaster of Paris mixture liberally over them with a small brush, before wrapping more bandages and repeating the action.

"Right." Elizabeth said decisively as she applied one final layer and began to clear away. "Leave that to dry for a few hours. 3 weeks with the cast on. Send for me again then and I shall remove it. But you will need to rest it a further 5 weeks from that. No strenuous activity, no matter what your employer says." Elizabeth scowled at Vastra who had come to hover beside Jenny.

"She will not be over-taxed, I assure you." Vastra inclined her head again.

Jenny looked at Vastra, faintly disgusted. No strenuous activity would mean curtailing sword practice. She wondered if doing some of the basic leg exercises and stances would count as over-taxing.

"And try not to get the plaster wet once it has dried. Be particularly careful when bathing."

"I can assist her to ensure that doesn't happen." Vastra declared unthinkingly. Jenny stood on her foot, smiling fixedly at Elizabeth Anderson who looked between them oddly.

"That…would be helpful of you, I am sure. Most mistresses are not so understanding and it results in bad healing." The physician said carefully. "I will leave some laudanum for pain relief. Even taking the utmost care, it will pain you. The laudanum will also help you sleep." She drew a small bottle out of her bag and set it carefully on the table. "A teaspoon is the usual adult dose. I will see you in 3 weeks. You can pay me then. I can show myself out, thank you." She snapped her bag closed and strode out.

Vastra snatched up the bottle, read the label, uncorked it and sniffed gingerly. "Laudanum."

Jenny looked at her puzzled. "Yeah? Da used to give it us kids when we were sick. S'medicine."

"It is not." Vastra snorted in disgust, walking out the room with the bottle.

"Oi!" Jenny followed her into the kitchen where Vastra was pouring it down the sink. "Wot are you doin'?!"

"Making sure you aren't poisoned any further by foolish doctors!"

"S'just laudanum."

"It is opium and alcohol. The Goddess alone knows what your father was thinking."

"Same as ever other parent I 'spect." Jenny went to fold her arms and winced. "An' what were you on sayin' you'd help me 'ave a bath?"

"I have helped you before." Vastra shrugged, putting the empty bottle on the top shelf.

"In private. Out there, mistresses don't go round helpin' their maids 'ave baths."

"How inconsiderate of them!" Vastra shouted suddenly. Jenny stood stunned by the abrupt raised voice, watching the Silurian stride back and forth across the kitchen in consternation.

"Woss wrong?"

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing."

Such a blatant lie was another rarity from the Silurian but Jenny let her stalk upstairs without pushing the matter further. She was hungry. Alas cooking would probably count as strenuous activity so she satisfied herself with some ham and bread for lunch, hooking an apple out the bowl on the side. Vastra never touched fruit but Jenny had developed a taste for them.

Wondering who on earth going to do the washing up, Jenny left her plate in the sink and went upstairs to have a shower. It'd been yet another long day and she felt grimy for it. Her dress wouldn't pull over the plaster so Jenny fetched a pair of scissors from the large sewing box that held her crochet hooks and cut the sleeve away, stepping out of the remains of her dress. Her corset gave her trouble but it was a front fastening one and she was able to unhook it with one hand eventually. She grabbed towels from the closet and made her way to the bathroom, her chemise and drawers not a problem.

Their bathroom had been installed with very modern contrivances when they'd moved in. There was a flushable toilet although there was still an outhouse in the yard that Parker used. Vastra had insisted on the bath and Jenny found she liked the luxury of it. Turning on a tap and getting hot water was something she had gotten used to very easily. She didn't like the heavily scented washes however, preferring to stick with plain soap.

Bathing without getting her cast wet proved difficult. She hung the cast over the side of the bath and did the best she could but washing her hair was impossible and her body and arms didn't quite contort enough to be able to single-handedly scrub her back.

Giving up, she relaxed against the wooden panelled edge as there was a knock at the door.

"I'm in 'ere."

"May I enter?"

"Might as well. As you oft point out, ain't nuffin' you ain't seen before." Jenny reclined further into the bath as Vastra entered, dressed in her night gown. The Silurian crouched beside the bath, watching Jenny curiously.

"Do you need assistance?"

There was a pause. "I carn't do me back properly."

"Allow me?" Vastra asked and Jenny threw the wash cloth at her. "Really." She caught it deftly and edged around to the end of the bath tub as Jenny leaned forward. She ran the wash cloth over Jenny's shoulders, eye ridges drawn together. "Why is it you have no qualms about me assisting you in washing and yet you shy away when we are in bed?"

Jenny straightened. "Wot about you? You regularly used to go on about apes an' us not likin' to be naked, wandered around with yer scales out but I arsk to touch yer and…" she cut herself off. That was not what she was irritated about and she kicked herself mentally for taking out her frustration on Vastra.

The Silurian was still, cloth still pressed against Jenny's back. With a sigh, Vastra rested her forehead between Jenny's shoulder blades. Jenny sat there in the cooling water, waiting.

"When I was in the circus, I was captured initially, I told you on the train yes?"

"Aye."

"And I believe George told you what they did to me."

"'e said they took yer clothes." For the first time Jenny considered Vastra's strength. The way she'd held Jenny aloft the first time they'd met. What it would take to relieve Vastra of anything. To lock her in a cage.

Vastra felt the young woman tremble; Jenny was crying. Crying for her again.

"Would you like me to tell you what happened?" Jenny didn't respond but Vastra began anyways, taking up the old chipped mug and pouring water over Jenny's hair.

/

Vastra had been hunting in the tunnels for months now, evading women with handbags, policemen, trappers, soldiers and dogs. She had dragged her latest prey, some ape or other down a dark side tunnel and was busy tearing into its flesh when she heard the sound of footsteps crunching on the bones that littered the tunnel floor.

A small blue light flickered over her briefly, accompanied by a strange humming noise.

"Hello." The word came in Silurian, not English and threw Vastra completely.

"You…are not afraid of me?" Vastra's voice was muffled by the piece of ape she'd been eating. She swallowed and tried again, feeling relief at speaking her native tongue out loud. "You do not smell of fear."

The man lit a small lantern with the blue light and came closer to her, crouching down beside her. "What are you eating?" he asked. His Silurian had a Northern accent to it which she liked. Her family had originally been from the North.

"Ape. It's a little tough. Would you care for some?"

He looked at her bemused. "Think I'll pass, thank you. So. What's a beautiful creature like you doing in a place like this?" When she didn't response he coughed awkwardly. "I know what you are. I know you belong to an intelligent species that once ruled this planet, if no more. It's ruled by humans now. Apes. They'll hunt you down, for killing their men."

"They killed my sisters. Slaughtered them."

The man shifted on his feet. "I know that too. You have every right to be angry. But anger is the shortest distance to a mistake. And I think it'd be a very big mistake for you to die down here, all alone. You're not a mindless animal to be hunted down with dogs in the sewers and tunnels of London."

Her eyes narrowed. "So what happens now?"

"Well." He leant forward, resting his arms on his knees. "You can carry on fighting them. And you will die."

She waited for him to continue. Even in her wrathful state, it didn't sound like an enjoyable future.

"Or…" he grinned winningly at her. "You can live. Which may well be more fun."

The grin did its job and if not fully charming Vastra, at the very least intrigued her.

He held out his hand and she took it, standing upright to face him.

"Try them out. The apes. You might get on better than you think. Even with the scales." He made a gesture around his face. "I'll have to leave you to it I'm afraid. Got to be off. In me TARDIS."

"TARDIS?"

"Time and Relative Dimension In Space."

"A time travel device?" Vastra was awed. He nodded and walked a little way through the tunnels to a blue box.

"It's a police box. They uh…they won't be around for a while I don't think. Can't remember." He grinned again as he unlocked the doors. "'course you could always come with me if you like. I couldn't take you back but I could take you forwards."

Vastra halted as she was about to cross the threshold and looked at him properly. Her tongue snapped out. He looked…old. And alone. As she was. Haunted by a strange grief, as she was.

"I…do not think that would be wise." She backed away.

He nodded, resigned. "Possibly not. I'm the Doctor by the way. What's your name?"

"Vastra."

"Be seein' you then. Vastraaaaa." He winked and closed the door and she watched wide-eyed as with a whooshing, grinding noise the box disappeared from in front of her.

Vastra stood thinking for a long while in the gloom. She could not go back, but she could go forward. Perhaps there were other apes that were kind, as the Doctor had been.

She came up from the tunnels near the river where there was a multitude of brightly coloured tents clustered together. It was nearly dusk, the river and the air reeked of ape and refuse. She kept to the shadows, wandering furtively between the tents. One smelt of animals and she crept in to find locked cages. There were strange beasts inside them which she had never seen before. Other mammals. Even monkeys, chattering at her. Apes locked their ancestors in cages? She was appalled and turned to leave but ran straight into a group of apes.

They shouted at her, grabbing her and forcing her to the floor, pulling off her mask to gasps of horror. She struggled against them but one of them hit her around the head with a pail.

When she woke, she was in a cage, locked the same as the animals. A man was standing outside, watching her thoughtfully.

"We could make it an exhibition. The Amazing Lizard Lady!" he clapped his hands together. "Dress it in a gown of some sorts. I'll sort out the advertising." He motioned to his men who unlocked the cage warily. She stood proud and aloof as they grabbed her clothes from her and tugged a grubby shift over her head. She didn't say a word as they retreated and locked the cage again. She had thought apes were barbarous and this was the proof. The Doctor had been wrong and she cursed her hopefulness. Her sisters were dead and her future was in a cage. She could fight, of course. She could eat them even, if they came to her cage again. She could wait, plot revenge but if escape from this cage merely led to another, what was the point? The Doctor had warned that way lay death. And Vastra, despite her current conditions, had no wish to die. It seemed the only way for her to survive in this ape filled world was like this. Resignation swallowed her whole as the chill of the night crept into her bones and she curled up in the bed of straw in the corner of the cage.

From that day forth she did not leave the cage. They fed up her through the bars as they did the lions, with chunks of raw meat which tasted sour. They took away dirty straw and replaced it by herding her with staffs to the back of the cage. The summer was tolerable, the first winter nearly killed her. Afterwards they gave her warmer bedding.

The first anniversary of April, she found herself almost glad that her sisters had perished, if the future they would have had was this one. She mourned by night, wailing softly after the circus men had gone home. Never before in her life had she felt so alone. Always there had been her clutch, her sisters, other Silurians around her. A Silurian alone meant death. She wondered why death hadn't come for her.

She stayed in her cage for three years and in all that time she spoke to no-one. She hissed and snapped at the apes that passed in front of her but was wary of the staffs of the apes and crouched quietly whenever they came into her cage.

She saw another Doctor, she knew it was him, his scent was unmistakeable somehow. He looked…younger. Dressed in a straw boater and a ridiculous pullover. A young woman was with him. He stared at her horrified and later that night, the young woman snuck into the circus and blasted a hole in her cage. The Doctor beckoned her out, reassuring her once more that he knew what she was and that however she'd ended up there, he would rescue her. When she didn't move the young woman hopped into her cage and tried to drag her out, the Doctor begging her to hurry as the blast from her "nitro-9" had alerted people within the vicinity.

Vastra hissed at being touched and chattered out a string of Silurian curses.

"I don' understand!" the young woman cried helplessly, letting her go. "Why won't she come Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at her, eyes piercing her. "I will return for you. And that is a promise." He doffed his boater at her and then ran as men burst into the tent.

She watched them disinterestedly as they stared at her in amazement, swiftly ushering her into another cage, confused at her composure.

/

"He did come back din't he. Like 'e said 'e would." Jenny was now wrapped in several towels and sat on their bed, the bath water long having grown cold.

"Yes, he turned up once more in a leather jacket, carrying the scent of grief. He bought my freedom. The first night he took me inside the TARDIS, so that I would be able to understand and speak the ape English. I duly informed him afterwards that I would only step inside the TARDIS again to save his life. There is something…unnerving about having something so vast telepathically communicate with you. They were rather amazed that I was intelligent. He stayed on for a while, as a juggler. I believe you met him." Vastra continued talking as she delicately combed Jenny's damp hair.

Jenny nodded, causing a tut of irritation from Vastra, who held her head to still it once more.

"But even with my freedom, I was still in a cage, day after day, all the years I worked for the circus. Everyone who came through, who saw me, they were afraid of me, or laughed at me, or were disgusted by me. I was a spectacle."

"Did something 'appen?" Jenny turned round

Vastra had only ever seen those brown eyes hold so much fury once before. And that had been at her.

"Occasionally some group of young men or other would come to the circus after it'd closed and try and get in my tent. They usually got thrown out by the warders or the strong man. They wanted to hunt me or kill me…I don't know." Vastra stared at her hands where they had fallen into her lap, still holding the comb. "Once, I hadn't yet left my cage and they came in, rattling the bars, jeering at me. They tried the lock and found it open, they left it open for me after the Doctor freed me…" she paused, distracted by a strange chattering sound. It was teeth rattling against one another in helpless rage. "They were not as capable as the circus men and drunk no less. The ringmaster passed it off that they'd broken into the lion cage when the police came to investigate." Vastra smiled humourlessly as she turned Jenny's head again. "They didn't want a scandal I suppose." She began combing once more.

"You ate 'em?" Jenny asked flatly, more of a statement than a question.

"Yes."

Jenny turned her head to the side, looked at Vastra out the corner of her eye, her expression unreadable and uttered just one word. "Good." She looked back at the wall once more.

Vastra raised her eye ridges but remembered Jenny enquiring why she didn't eat the circus people. Apparently the little ape's morals truly were flawed. "And you?" she asked, curious if there was a similar awful story to Jenny's aversion.

"Me?" Jenny looked puzzled. "Nuffin' like that 'appened. S'just…" she fiddled with the bed sheets with her left hand. "S'intimate y'know."

"And a bath is not?"

"A bath is just washin'. An' you only did me hair an' back."

"Rather than doing you?" Vastra grinned, flashing her teeth at Jenny. "But I suppose, even if it did raise Doctor Anderson's eyebrows, it is at least explainable if someone walked in?" it was a shot in the dark and judging by the way Jenny's shoulders slumped, an accurate one.

"I used to be look-out for me mates. The two girls in the reformatory. Whenever they wanted to be alone. The time they got caught, I wasn't there. They were stupid. 'ow c'n you explain it away when yer caught like that?"

"With the metaphorical and literal trousers down. And you think a pair of drawers would stop suspicion?" Vastra leaned in and whispered in Jenny's ear.

"Not really, no." Jenny shrugged.

"The last vestige? Of respectability?"

"I s'pose. I'd be completely vulnerable."

"And you don't trust me?"

Jenny laughed. "Yor a man-eatin' lizard. An' I trust yer with me life. S'the rest of the world I don't trust."

"How cynical." Vastra mused, idly plaiting Jenny's hair. She had learnt that it made Jenny's hair go curly and she rather liked the brushing out the waves in the morning. When she'd finished, Jenny leaned back into Vastra's lap with a soft sound of contentment.

"Jenny?" Vastra stroked Jenny's hair, wondering if the ape would fall asleep on her.

"Mm. When you 'old me like this, I feel so safe." Jenny murmured.

Vastra tensed and moved off the bed.

"Oi!" Jenny slid off the bed, clutching the towels to her as she followed the Silurian. Vastra was hissing, tugging at her head crests, agitated, even more so than earlier in the kitchen.

"It is foolish." Vastra muttered to herself.

"Wot is?"

"To feel safe. With me. To trust me with your life. I could not keep you safe."

Jenny glanced at her arm in its cast. "I don't think anyone could against the likes of Croup and Vandemar."

"They hurt you!" Vastra cried. "To get to me!"

"So I make you vulnerable." Jenny scoffed. "I c'n look after meself fine enough, y'know. 'specially with all the trainin' you've been givin' me."

"It wasn't enough!"

"It never bleedin' will be!" Jenny snapped back. "So learn to live with that. Unless you really are gonna eat everyone, learn to live with that!" she took a breath and walked over to Vastra. "Ain't it enough? Just fer this time, this moment? Ter feel safe, with you."

Vastra looked shamefaced at Jenny. "I would wish to keep you safe always."

"Thas impossible."

"In this moment then." Vastra smiled sadly and gently held Jenny to her.

"You don' hafta hold me like I'm made o' glass." Jenny grumbled and then promptly let out an 'oof' as Vastra squeezed her tightly in retaliation. "Ow! Careful of me arm!"

"Ha." The smile became a grin.

Vastra held Jenny as the young woman slept, the broken arm cradled against Vastra stomach with care. It'd taken a while for Jenny to be able to sleep; the pain had troubled her so. Vastra had stroked her head, wishing she could send soothing thoughts of sleep into Jenny's mind. But she did not believe apes capable of telepathy and she did not wish to explain what such a connection might mean.

An: Look Elizabeth Garrett Anderson up. Badass woman.