15th February 1888

There were times when Jenny would wake up to find that Vastra had not curled up around her as if she were a huggable bed warmer but instead had tugged as much of the blankets around her as she could, leaving Jenny lying, frustratingly cold, next to what could only be described as an oval shaped cocoon bearing no resemblance to a Silurian whatsoever. Not that this helped Vastra in her quest to keep warm in winter. Without a source of heat within the blankets, she inevitably ended up chilled by the morning.

Jenny would have re-wrapped the blankets round the both of them whenever she awoke to such a situation but Vastra also had the skill of so entangling the blankets and the duvet and the quilt that Jenny would find it futile to try and tug any of them free. For such cases, she kept a spare blanket underneath her side of the bed and would resignedly curl up under it as near to the cocoon as possible. Jenny had heard before of inconsiderate partners with cold feet and blanket hogging habits but she reckoned she had any complainant regarding those issues beat, with such a bed mate as Vastra.

Jenny was already twitching to wakefulness due to just such a circumstance of being left coverless, when there was a loud knock at the front door. She ignored it, grabbing her spare blanket and burying her head under the pillow with a grunt. She still felt exhausted after yesterday and was not ready to accept another case. The knock moved from a sharp rat-tat to a heavier and more insistent thump. Jenny felt the bed move as Vastra stirred and lifted the corner of the pillow to find an emerged Vastra watching her, blinking her eyes slowly.

There was one last stern knock and then no more.

"The Doctor was right." Vastra said with a sigh. "We need a butler."

"Maybe." Jenny shivered her way deeper under the blanket. Vastra noticed and unwound a few of her own to give to Jenny. "I feel sore."

"I imagine so." Vastra made a note to check the gashes on Jenny's back when they got up.

"Who d'yer think it was?"

"Inspector Gregson most likely. Come to report on yesterday."

"Should've answered it." Jenny sighed, throwing the covers away from her though she made no movement to get up.

"You need rest." Vastra pulled the covers back up to Jenny's neck, carefully shuffling under them to be closer to Jenny. Jenny looked at her oddly but snuggled into the blankets, making a cocoon of her own, around them both this time. She swiftly fell back into sleep.

They lay in, Vastra observing the smallest flicker of Jenny's eyes whilst she slept. Vastra heard the back door being opened surreptitiously. Heard Parker go about the fires downstairs. Heard the urchins complaining at the lack of food or even money. These noises disappeared soon enough. Vastra assumed Parker had given them some.

A soft whinny as Parker took Alice out for her morning walk, the ringing sound of horse shoes on cobbles. A tuneless whistle from his son as he swept the stable and washed down the yard. Around midday, the clatter of Mrs Parker in the kitchen, cleaning up and making lunch. A soft conversation with her husband. A small laugh. Happiness. Togetherness.

Vastra led on her side, staring at Jenny's slack face, listening to the steady breathing, content to let her little ape sleep.

A year was not a long time. Vastra had lived over 200 of them, although she'd never tell Jenny her real age. What did it matter? She wasn't human anyway. But the last year seemed precious, in a way that the others did not. The years learning and training, with her mother, with her sisters. Fighting. With swords and words. She'd been different then. More skilful. Less childish. Reserved almost, within a society that demanded a degree of it. SIlurians played, but Vastra felt more playful. As if she'd been opened up in some strange way, that for the previous 200 plus years she had not been. There were new and sudden urges. She supposed the apes would call that love.

Bonds between Silurians were rare. The strange connection of the mind, the gentle unfolding of the layers. Vastra pondered whether such a connection would be possible with an ape. And if so, why Jenny? Why herself? It was a strange and random occurrence.

Jenny woke up mid-afternoon and felt like she could still sleep another day but her bladder was insistent on being relieved. She gave in and shuffled her way out of bed for the toilet and a quick wash whilst Vastra got dressed. Afterward, Vastra checked her bandages but no blood had seeped through. The rest of the scratches looked clean and the bruises colourful. Having been given the all clear Jenny proceeded to get dressed.

At first she'd thought Vastra was staring as she did so; she wouldn't put it past the Silurian. Then she thought Vastra was worried, was keeping an eye on her, watching for any sign of emotional upset or further physical injury. But Vastra still watched her and Jenny finally recognised the thought in the stare. Curiousity. That puzzled Jenny immensely. What on earth could the Silurian be finding curious? They'd lived with each other for over a year. Surely Vastra had studied her during that time? Enough for there to be little to be curious over. Intrigued beyond annoyance, Jenny mimicked the tilt of Vastra's head.

"What are you thinkin'?"

"About the past." Vastra answered, taking Jenny by surprise. Jenny had expected silence or deflection, not a simple answer.

"About how we met?" It had only been the anniversary of it a couple of days ago.

"No." Vastra gave a small laugh. "These pasts do not exist."

Jenny stared in complete confusion. "Wot…like time travel?"

"No." Vastra drifted away to the window. "I told you before. That I thought my life would be lived out in a cage."

Jenny couldn't help the anger that tensed her body; it was instinctive.

"I am imagining ends, and looking back on the past. I see my life without the Doctor. Without disaster. I see a life lived out among Silurians and it is a fine life. I see my life cut short with my sisters; it is a fitting end. I see my life in a cage, growing older by the year and dying, when I am too old to work, alone. Perhaps the Doctor is there in the end. Perhaps I go back to be buried among my ancestors. I see my life without you. Without the various meetings that gave me hope, that apes were not all alike, that there were a few, although they were all you."

Jenny waited.

"I think I understand your feelings. About Albie and Jess. It's instinctive, isn't it?" Vastra's voice wobbled. "To look to them, to family. I don't believe I will ever stop seeking other Silurians, to see for the briefest of moments, glimpses of my society."

Jenny felt her heart grow heavy at the thought of such loneliness. After all, she was still surrounded by other humans.

Vastra shook herself and huffed out a breath. "But now I see you. An ape who has not lived a tenth of my life. Who has renewed that life. Restarted it. And I would ask the same."

"The same what?" Jenny was confused again.

"The same question. For you. To stay with me." Vastra was still gazing out the window into the street.

Jenny couldn't help but smile. Walking up behind Vastra, Jenny looped her arms around Vastra's waist, resting her head on the Silurian's back with a happy sigh. "'course."

The knocking began again, and with an exhalation of exasperation and a roll of her eyes, Jenny let her arms fall, walked out the bedroom and down the stairs to answer it. But even the interruption could not remove Vastra's satisfied grin as she retrieved her veil and followed Jenny down.

"Ah." A grave looking man with a full and bushy beard stood there, Inspector Gregson hovering nervously behind him. "Is Madame Vastra in?"

"She is." Jenny nodded, holding the door open. "If you'll wait here a moment." She gestured them into the conservatory but Vastra was ready, lounging in the wicker chair that Missus Blackett had given them, repaired once or twice in the interval since it had left the gin shop flat but still strong and still Vastra's favourite.

"Gentlemen." She inclined her veiled head. "What can I do for you today?"

"I merely wished to convey my thanks. For the rescue of my wife. I can't make head nor tail of what went on, but she is safe, if a little shaken, and for that I am grateful." The Prime Minister, for it was he, bowed stiffly.

"The thanks must go to my maid, Jenny. She journeyed to…the place where your wife was being held captive." Vastra gestured towards Jenny.

"Was it the Irish?" the Prime Minister turned to address Jenny directly with a tone of pointed suspicion.

"No!" Jenny shook her head disbelievingly. The Prime Minister raised his eyebrows and stared at her. "Um…it was like…a faction. Of a gang. They called themselves the Hawks." Jenny spun a tale swiftly. "I think they gave her opium."

The Prime Minister frowned. "And how did you come to be in the lake?"

"S'like…an underwater entrance. We escaped through it." Well it wasn't technically a lie. "I wouldn't bother searching for it. It collapsed. The gang's probably dead by now. Suffocated." Jenny nodded.

"I see." The Prime Minster was eyeing her very suspiciously but she held her ground. "It sounds like rather an adventure. I'm grateful." He turned back to Vastra. "You will of course be rewarded, a not insubstantial sum." He nodded and rose out the chair. "Gregson. If you would wait outside?"

The Inspector dithered and then beat a hasty retreat back into the hallway.

"Do you require something else of us?" Vastra shifted in her seat a little nervously.

"In my role as Prime Minister, I do have occasion to visit the Queen you know. Indeed, she recommended that I contact you through Gregson and Scotland Yard."

"I see."

"I would like the full story. If you wouldn't mind. I doubt it is as banal as a simple gang abduction."

"I don' think that would be in the best interests." Jenny interjected. "Your wife…she slipped through a gap she weren't meant to. An' there's people on the other side of that gap, it's best if you leave 'em be. They weren't lookin' fer trouble. It was an accident."

The Prime Minister walked over to stand directly in front of Jenny, looking down her, face still covered in scratches. His hand reached out and Vastra stood up abruptly. He took the warning and pulled it back. "It wouldn't do you no good to get involved in it. You an' the Queen c'n rule Above. But Below…" Jenny trailed off.

"You fought them then. My wife's captors. Are you wounded?"

"A few scratches…" Jenny looked at Vastra a little helplessly. An investigation from Above into Below was precisely what Albie had been trying to avoid.

"You must be very brave. The Queen told me the same. The maid who defies, the maid who fights."

"I does me best." Jenny stuck her chin in the air.

"Mm. And you would give me an assurance that this…this Below will be of no further bother?"

"If they do, I think I c'n handle 'em." Jenny nodded.

"I shall make a note of it. Torchwood can put it in their files. If ever something arises claiming to be from Below, call on Jenny Flint." The Prime Minister smiled, a little coldly. "Madame Vastra will see that the reward money reaches your pocket too?"

Jenny looked at Vastra again who was about to reassure the Prime Minister that this was indeed the case when some small bubble within Jenny broke. "'ow about a favour?" she said quickly.

"A favour?" The Prime Minister looked at her askance.

"Yeah. Say you owe me a really big favour. It's 'ow Below works."

"A really big favour." He enunciated each word slowly and precisely.

They regarded each other for a long minute, during which Vastra did not draw breath, amazed at Jenny's nerve.

"Very well then! I shall make a note of it for any as might succeed me as well. Owed to Miss Jenny Flint, one really big favour." The Prime Minister repeated. He tucked his hat beneath one arm and then held out his hand. Jenny shook it. "Good day." He gave a small bow before pivoting on his heel and walking swiftly out.

Jenny looked at Vastra a third time but the Silurian merely raised her eye ridges at such audacity. Jenny shrugged. "Can't do no 'arm to have the Prime Minister owe you a favour."

"Particularly a really big one." Vastra's face was serious as she rose from her chair but her amused tone belied it. "I wonder if he'll still pay us as well."

"I dunno. Queen Victoria never did." Jenny let out a nervous laughter.

"Isn't it ironic, a Silurian from the ancient world and a maid are acquainted with the Queen and Prime Minister of Great Britain." Vastra mused, considering whether it was too early for dinner, as she walked towards the kitchen.

"An' enough they made note of us. We was specifically recommended after all." Jenny nudged her.

"Our reputations precede us." Vastra was about to laugh but she sobered at the thought that such attention might bring trouble, even as it brought more business. The Doctor had mentioned 1888 as a 'rough one'. Still, she thought as she watched Jenny cut her off some meat from a joint before broiling the rest of it, she couldn't imagine anything that they wouldn't be able to overcome together.

An: The Prime Minister at the time was one Robert Gascoyne-Cecil who was the Marquess of Salisbury. His wife, Georgina Alderson became Marchioness and it was she wot got kidnapped. Do visit Ravenscourt Park if you can. S'a nice one.