22nd April 1888

It was with a sigh of relief that Jenny opened the back door of 13 Paternoster Row and let Peggy, Bach Wrach and Vastra through before her. They'd spent their final night in Flint discussing what should be done with Bach Wrach, and for that matter, Peggy. Whereas the ex-Ratspeaker could very well run with the Irregulars, Bach Wrach posed a bit of a problem. It'd been difficult enough getting them on the train, smuggled in a spare suitcase loaned by a puzzled Mr Jenkins.

Still, as she ordered Peggy to bed in the spare room and set about airing the servant's quarters for Bach Wrach, Jenny knew without a doubt it was a case they would have to solve. Jenny found herself almost wishing the Doctor would turn up on one of his visits, maybe he could take Bach Wrach home, or find somewhere a little more suitable than 19th Century London for them. But then, technically this was Bach Wrach's home. That's what Vastra had argued last night. The child had been born on earth, had known nothing else. Then again, they hadn't known that much of earth either. In the compartment, when they were assured no-one would come in, they had let Bach Wrach out. They'd viewed the scenery with awe and astonishment, and almost complete incomprehension. But what would the child do anyway? Jenny looked up to find Bach Wrach staring at her. She tried to smile reassuringly.

"Well, you c'n sleep 'ere for now right? Til we find you somewhere more suitable." She patted the bed she'd just finished making up. Bach Wrach nodded, resignedly.

23rd April 1888

"What are we gonna do with 'em both?" Jenny asked Vastra as she sat morosely on the toilet bowl the next morning, watching Vastra soaking in warm water.

"Start an orphanage? For little lost aliens?" Vastra sighed, scratching at her scales.

"Peggy's not an alien." Jenny pointed out.

Vastra glowered at her. "You bring home the strays, they're your responsibility."

"I didn't bring them home! I could hardly 'ave left 'em there."

"Couldn't you…" The Silurian muttered.

"No. And neither could you in a better mood." Vastra had told Jenny her scales were beginning to shed, hence the soaking. Jenny had been alarmed to receive news that she too, even as a human, shed her skin on a regular basis. Far more regular in fact than Vastra, a fully-grown Silurian, did. "'ow long did you say this shed goes on for?"

"A few days, a few weeks. It happens very infrequently these days. I'm not exactly a growing hatchling anymore."

"You never did say whether you were really two hundred years old."

"And I have no intention of telling you now!" Vastra snapped.

Jenny gave her up for a lost cause and went downstairs to make herself lunch. Bach Wrach and Peggy were both sat at the kitchen table in silence, looking awkward.

"Food?" Jenny asked simply. They both nodded and she plonked some bread rolls down on the table along with some fruit. She wondered briefly what Bach Wrach ate but the alien seemed happy enough with an apple so Jenny left her to it. She was interrupted from debating her own lunch by a knock at the back door. The Doctor? She opened to find a hooded figure standing there that strode past her into the kitchen and revealed itself to be Me.

She smiled winningly at Jenny who merely raised her eyebrows. "I believe I may have…left something behind." She looked over at Bach Wrach.

"Not a thing." Jenny scowled.

"Well, either way, I have a vaguely worried parent looking for them."

"'ow did you find us?"

"I have my sources." The smile became smug. "Come along…" Me somehow managed to pronounce the incomprehensible syllables. "After all, they'll be much better off among their own people than on the streets of London." Me pointed out as Jenny moved in front of Bach Wrach. "And you needn't worry. I've rescued all sorts of strays in my time. They'll be well cared for."

"D'you want to go?" Jenny turned and asked them.

Bach Wrach stared at the kitchen table. Jenny's heart went out to them.

"Can I come too?" Jenny stared at Peggy, gobsmacked.

Me raised her eyebrows, taken aback. "Why would you want to? You're human."

"So're you."

Me inclined her head, grinning wryly. "I'm a little more than that. But in any case, the Street is intended as a shelter, for alien refugees, if you like. Surely you'd sooner stay with Jenny? Join her little band?"

"I've paid my debt to her." Peggy stared blankly at the opposite wall. "I want to go home. Seein' as 'ow I can't, I'd sooner move on."

"As well you might, alas I cannot allow you to move onto the Street." Me told her, a hint of sadness in her tone. She called Bach Wrach's name again. "Come."

The alien child got up and went to follow Me out the door.

"Bach Wrach!" Jenny called. "If it don't work out, on the Street, you c'n always come back 'ere."

Bach Wrach smiled. "You said yourself Jenny, until I found somewhere more suitable. With my kind is as suitable as I'll get."

The door shut behind them, leaving Jenny unable to argue with the logic.

"So you want to leave too?" Jenny didn't turn around to look at Peggy.

"You've bin very kind. But it just…"

"We could set you up with lodgings…"

"I'll be fine." Peggy cut her off and stood up. She saw Jenny's hurt and baffled face as she went to leave and stopped. "Madame said, that being outside the cage was scary. An' that I was lucky, to have you watchin' out for me. An' I was. But if I stay 'ere, s'just gonna turn into another sort of cage ain't it. Even now, you don't want me to go. Though I dunno why. You're happy enough to let your urchins run around. I mean, I was a Ratspeaker." Peggy's head dropped. "I can get by fine enough on my own."

I lived on the streets long enough, I can get by well enough without you! Jenny shook away the echo. Wordlessly she went to the back door and opened it again.

Peggy stepped warily towards it and then ran. She turned at the back gate, glanced back for a moment and then her coat tails vanished behind the wall.

Jenny closed the door.

Vastra was silent when Jenny related the two incidents to her later, sat on the edge of the bed.

"Bet you're happy though. No more strays underfoot at least."

"Hmm. You seem strangely depressed about this." Vastra uncurled from underneath the sheets and sat up. "I think it's the best possible outcome. Bach Wrach should be with their kind, and this "Street" whatever and wherever it is, is the best they're going to get. And Peggy? She has not shown the best…aptitude for being an Irregular. Leaving you to fight the hawks, swallowing unknown alien pills. If she wants to find her own way, let her." Vastra narrowed her eyes, staring at the figure curled up at the foot of the bed. "What makes her so special anyway? From all the other urchins? Did her pathos get to you? Or is it the link with your brother? You feel a kindred spirit with her? Both of you, young urchins, abandoned by him to the fates. You feel a sense of responsibility? Atone for his sins? Prove yourself the better sibling?"

"She said livin' here would become another cage." Jenny ignored the barbs.

Vastra sighed and crawled across the bed. "Jenny…Peggy's dream was of a warm place, people having fun, comfort and laughter. It was a very…safe dream."

"An' our life ain't very safe." Jenny conceded.

"Indeed. If she stays here, what are her choices? Become an Irregular? Against her natural instincts and abilities? Stay inside all the time? Not exactly useful or fulfilling, although safe. She dreams of a home, Jenny. Despite what you may wish, she will not find it here." Vastra laid a hand on Jenny's arm, squeezing it briefly before retreating back under the covers.

"What do you dream of?" Jenny asked after a short silence.

"That a certain someone would come to bed." The muffled reply came back.

Jenny scowled at the lump, got up, walked round to her side of the bed, picked up one of her pillows and thumped it down on top of Vastra. There was a moment of perfect stillness. Then, in a lightning fast movement, Vastra whipped out from under the covers, grabbed the pillow and threw it at Jenny, almost knocking her off her feet. Vastra's eyes were blazing, with something half way between fun and fury.

"And what, might I ask, was that for?" she asked icily, one hand reaching for her own pillow.

"Bein' stupid!" Jenny gripped her own pillow, knelt on the bed, and went to thwack it across Vastra's head but Vastra parried. There was a hard thwap as the two pillows collided.

"Well, what would you like me to say? Something trite?" Vastra swung her pillow and Jenny dodged it.

"Somethin' serious would do me." Jenny raised her pillow over her head and brought it down. Vastra grabbed it and tried to tug it out of Jenny's grasp. Jenny pulled hard and then let go, causing Vastra to topple forward across the bed. Jenny snatched up her second pillow and thumped Vastra across the back of the head. There was a ripping sound and an explosion of feathers. The pillow had caught on Vastra's head crest. Jenny froze. Then, biting her lip, she gently tugged the pillow off, causing a cascade of more feathers all over Vastra.

The Silurian pushed herself upright, rocking back to kneel on the bed, a curiously blank expression on her face. Jenny looked at her warily, aware that Vastra still had a pillow in each hand. Vastra didn't even spare her a glance as she placed the two pillows on top of her own undisturbed one and then led back down, pulling the covers over her.

Jenny sighed, whether through sadness or relief, she couldn't tell, and went to lie down herself, only then realising she was completely without any pillows.

"Oi!"

"No." Vastra refused to budge. When Jenny went to tug her pillow back, Vastra merely pressed down even harder.

Jenny sat on the bed for a while, staring at the prone Silurian.

"D'you know what I dream?" she asked softly.

"Yes."

"What?" Jenny was startled.

"In Swindon, when we were caught up in those dreams. Nightmares. You ended up in mine and I in yours, remember?"

Jenny flushed slightly at the recollection but sadness overtook embarrassment. "So you still dream of 'em?" Vastra didn't reply. The realisation that it was April crept in and Jenny winced at her own insensitivity. "Sorry." She moved off the bed, thinking she should get something to gather up the feathers. She was nearly at the door when a pillow hit her square in the back. She spun round but it was as if the Silurian hadn't even moved. She stared, confused, at the pillow, then rolled her eyes at her stupidity. Gathering up the pillow, she moved back towards the bed, swept the worst of the feathers onto the floor and then clambered into bed, fluffing up her one sole pillow as much as possible. She'd just got settled when another pillow came down on her face.

"Oi!" She tore it off with a huff. "Fine then." She shoved it under her head and flopped backwards with a sigh.

She was about to drop off, led on her back, her head curled into the crook of her arm, flung up on the pillow, when there was a rustle of sheets from beside her. An arm slithered across her stomach, tickling her but she didn't move. A leg bumped against her own and a head nudged her in the side before resting on her breast.

Dreaming of her coming to bed indeed… she thought wryly before she fell asleep.