Hey. At least it's not My Immortal.

She was grateful for her memory that even the brief demonstration Strax had given her, she remembered the buttons. Relief flooded through her when he stirred…

Jenny was glad that Strax came with them so easily. It was hard to imagine a kindred spirit in the form of a belligerent potato, but she felt Strax was one. River Song, she wasn't so sure about it. She'd liked the woman immensely, but the near constant flirting had had Vastra's hackles up, even when it was directed at the Silurian. Jenny amused herself by imagining what would happen if River Song and Captain Jack ever met. Probably the universe would explode.

The difficulty Jenny hadn't really considered was getting Strax to blend in. It was easy to imagine in the midst of a space battle or on the TARDIS, but seeing him stand in the servants quarters of 13 Paternoster Row, reality took over. No amount of perception filter was ever going to disguise his attitude and she felt no amount of coaching would ever get him to tone it down. Declarations of war were the norm and everyone, but everyone was "Boy!" although she supposed that was mildly preferable to "ape". Vastra was unimpressed and despite her initial welcome, reminded Jenny that if you save someone, you are responsible for them and promptly left the Sontaran under Jenny's supervision with strict instructions that he was NOT to come upstairs.

Jenny felt mildly guilty, but Strax seemed happy with his new quarters. Apparently, they were larger than he got on a Sontaran ship. Of utmost urgency was getting him clothes and knowing only one person who could make clothes that wouldn't turn a hair at Strax, she took him along to George, hiding the armour underneath a large black cloak She winced when Strax called him "boy" but George merely raised an eyebrow and set about measuring, entirely unintimidated. He chattered on, with his trademark "ey?" at the end of every sentence. Strax was intrigued by the circus and Jenny was concerned he was going to run away to join it, until George made the mistake of telling him that the entire point of the knife throwing was to not hit the other person and that the lions weren't allowed to eat anyone. "Pathetic." Strax sneered.

As Jenny predicted, the urchins fell instantly in love with Strax. He was useless at pickpocketing, but they found him an excellent distraction, being very attention grabbing. Vastra pointed out that the urchins adopting him was going to be equally as large a problem as him running away with the circus, seeing as they were meant to be on the windy side of the law now, and Jenny had to curtail their activities.

One of the main problems Jenny had to deal with was Strax's tendency to get bored and start tinkering with something. He'd been fascinated by her photography equipment, particularly the chemicals used in the flash. Seeing a way to channel his energy, she supplied him with as much cutting-edge technology as the Victorian Era could provide, and in turn he made grenades and scanners and gadgets. A little haphazard and liable to spark out, Jenny thought they showed promise. And it kept him quiet and out of Vastra's way.

The Silurian was irritable at the lack of decent cases in the run up to Christmas. Jenny found her languishing in the plant room, a couple of weeks before the holiday and decided something had to be done. She'd taken to hanging out with Strax in his quarters, indeed she found him easy company and interesting to talk to, or at least listen to. Gregarious and generous, for someone's who default mode was "CHARGE!", she'd learnt a lot about the universe and the weaponry and his armour. And it was preferable to being snapped at. However, after the disaster of the previous Christmas, Jenny was determined this one would be better.

"You need a hobby." Jenny slumped down in the chair opposite her.

"I have a hobby. Catching criminals and solving cases." Vastra frowned at a copy of the Times.

"No, I mean like…something beside that." Jenny gestured vaguely around the Plant Room.

"What would you have me do?" Vastra sighed, folding the newspaper and flinging it onto the small coffee table.

"Welllll…you're technologically advanced too. Why don't you help Strax with some of his devices?" Vastra's expression made Jenny give up on that idea immediately.

"What do you intend to do with him anyway?"

"Well, with a bit of training, I reckon he could be useful like. Helping us out. He's not bad you know. He's taken a shine to the urchins. And Mrs Parker." That alliance had amused Jenny. Strax had been waxing on about defeating his enemies in battle and generally just being Strax and Mrs Parker, completely unflappable, informed Strax that her job as a cleaning lady meant that dirt was her greatest enemy. 'It always comes back too. You can never defeat it. Only fight it.'

Jenny hadn't witnessed it herself but apparently Strax had bowed and asked Mrs Parker to teach him her warrior ways. Which had resulted in Strax learning to mop, as a few disastrous attempts with a duster had resulted in more than a few ornaments being smashed. Mrs Parker had been mortified but Jenny had had to leave the room quickly before she affronted them both. She liked Strax even more after that. It felt like a while since she'd laughed that hard.

"And you." There was an edge to Vastra's voice that surprised her.

"I s'pose." Jenny shrugged.

"You seem to spend a lot of time with him."

"Well he's been to so many planets. You should 'ear some of his stories! And he's…creative. In his own way. He's teaching me how to shoot, he thinks I'm a fair shot."

"Guns are inferior to swords."

"All them Silurians at Demons Run had guns." Jenny bit back and then hated herself for it. The Silurians at Demons Run had died. She'd promised herself she wouldn't bring that up, not wishing to depress Vastra.

"A warrior must be adept in many. Speaking of which, we haven't trained in a while. Despite the lack of cases, we shouldn't be lax."

No laxness about that, Jenny grumbled to herself after a rather bruising session. She was glad that both the criminal and alien elements were taking a break. She had Christmas to prepare for and make pleasant Which, she sighed, might be a little difficult with a Sontaran in the house, particularly if Vastra was still being standoffish towards him.

The urchins had taken it upon themselves once more to decorate the house, although by mutual agreement there was absolutely no mistletoe. And no horses. She sat on the sofa, observing the chaos around her as Cris tried to explain precisely what Christmas was to Strax. The Sontaran was convinced it was something to do with Cris.

"So you get masses of Cris. And then you fight them? Tactically the best way to defeat a large force…"

"No! No! It's about like…peace. And goodwill."

"Peace?" Strax was not impressed.

She left them to it, once more under the strictest edict not to destroy the house. Or let Strax turn the baubles into grenades, as he'd been threatening. ("They'd make such excellent tactical short-range hand missiles!")

This time last year, she'd been thinking about how far she'd come from the cold. This year, she was contemplative of how far they'd come together, her and Vastra. Being together buoyed her up with confidence, seeing Vastra stand up to Silurians had quelled a few unspoken fears. But there was still a lot left unsaid, a lot Jenny didn't know about Silurians. It was, in part, why she found Strax's company refreshing. Strax shared his stories with ease and pride.

She pondered as she wandered about the kitchen, what to get everyone. The urchins were easy, food and a few toys. Parker and his family, a few special things. Even Strax would be contented with some sort of new technological thing. Perhaps the latest camera. She hadn't given up on teaching him photography, as much as his enthusiasm had diminished when she'd explained that you didn't acutally shoot someone. But Vastra?

Jenny knew what she wanted to give Vastra. Almost as a gift to herself as well. She wanted to create a place, a day, a time, just for a while, where Vastra could be herself. As they had been on Demons Run. It'd been awful but they hadn't had to hide or use veils. They had dressed as they wished, acted as themselves. That liberating feeling. Vastra had said before that here in this house, well in their room, they were both free from expectations but that was beginning to feel as if it wasn't enough. She leant against the doorframe, watching the urchins still trying to explain what Christmas was about and she had an idea, remembering a dream.

The first stop was heading back to the gin shop and leaving a rather strongly worded letter to her sister underneath the flagstone. She replaced the knife, not at all hopeful that anyone would visit to see it. The second was George's shop, selling the idea to him, reminding him of the offer he'd made a year ago. The third was various shops. The fourth and final shop, Vastra might not be pleased about but Jenny had called there a few times now, since a certain acid remark about what it took to get her to visit. It was risky, of course. It could all implode on her. But if it worked, it would be very much worth it.

She'd decided it would be best to arrange everything for Christmas Eve. That way, if it all went disastrously wrong, she had Christmas Day to make it up with Vastra and everyone else had Christmas Day to recover in. Vastra spent most of the time in the run-up staring at her suspiciously. She knew Jenny was plotting something but couldn't get her to let slip a thing except that it was a gift for them both.

"It's something I think we both need. After everything that's happened this year." Was all that Jenny told her as they led in bed on the eve before Christmas Eve.

"You mean all the near-death experiences?" Vastra's fingers traced the scar on Jenny's abdomen from the Ripper's knife.

"And then some." Jenny rolled onto her side and pressed her forehead against Vastra's. She'd tried this a few times now, but it never worked. She never felt the flow of emotions she'd felt then.

"That…"

"Won't work, little ape. Yeah. I know." It'd been Vastra's soft reply every time, frustrating Jenny every time. "Why not?"

"Jenny, I told you, even among Silurians, such a connection was rare. And…" Vastra hesitated. "We should sleep before tomorrow. Whatever you have planned."

"An' afterwards?" Jenny persisted. "Will you tell me more about it then?"

"For Christmas then. My gift to you." Vastra kissed her softly. "Believe me, I am equally intrigued about your gift to me." She rolled onto her back with a huff.

"Guess we'll both just have to wait then." Jenny grinned, tucking herself into Vastra's side. A gift was as good as promise.