Sorry for the wait! I had heaps of time to write over the holidays but now that school is back on my writing pace has slowed considerably. I hope the rest of the story will be worth the wait!

*Clara*

It just so happened that the next time The Doctor took her out, they landed on Earth, in Victorian London.

"What year is this then?"

Clara asked casually, recognising the period from the 'Sweetville' escapade and wondering how Madame Vastra and her gang were doing.

"1895! August 7th, 2:03pm!"

He read the last part off of his watch and finished with a flourish, spinning around to smile at her. She smiled back, but crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, asking,

"Really? No one loves a show off."

"Course you do, now! While we're in the area lets check up on the locals!"

He countered, clapping his hands together and heading off in a seemingly random direction. At least, Clara hoped it wasn't random. Keeping pace with his excited trot Clara pulled Donna's phone out of her pocket and wrote the text with information that Donna had requested, crossing her fingers as she hit the send button that somehow, miraculously it would work – not that there were any phone towers or anything in the area so how on Earth Donna expected to get the message Clara had no idea. When she wasn't hounded with an error message suggesting that the text had bounced back she smiled, pleasantly surprised and pocketed the phone again. Catching up to walk stride by stride with the Doctor she asked,

"So, the locals, that's Vastra, Jenny and Strax right?"

Instead of answering her he asked,

"You're bouncing, why are you bouncing?"

"I'm not bouncing, I'm striding to keep up with you – not all of us have legs as long as yours you know."

"Okay then, you're striding with a bounce!"

Clara laughed and he joined in with her.

A couple minutes later they arrived at the house of the famous detective Madame Vastra. Strax greeted them and made his usual quip involving violent warfare, this time it was something to do with blasting unwanted visitors behind them to smithereens with a supersonic laser canon. In the drawing room they found Madame Vastra and Jenny, examining multiple files.

"Doctor!"

Jenny exclaimed, getting up and greeting them along with Vastra.

"You two seem to have quite a knack for picking up trouble,"

Vastra commented, nodding to the spread out files over the coffee table and around the room.

"Why, what's happened now?"

The Doctor asked and Clara laughed.

"You really don't have any control over where or when the TARDIS lands do you?"

She asked, and The Doctor muttered something incoherent under is his breath. Without meeting Clara's eyes he straightened his bow-tie, wanting to reclaim his dignity but not being able to.

"People have been disappearing,"

Jenny said, summing it up in one sentence. When The Doctor asked for more information Vastra explained.

"It started two months ago. People started disappearing, sometimes from the middle of streets, sometimes from homes in front of their families. They just, vanish."

"Teleport?"

The Doctor asked, and Clara wondered if it was that simple. Seeing as Vastra and Jenny were still at it after two months, she didn't think it would be.

"We don't think so… Or if it is it's a new development in the technology that we haven't dealt with before. The residue energy footprint is different and tastes rancid."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?"

The Doctor asked, clapping his hands together.

"Take us to wherever the last disappearance was!"

Vastra and Jenny gave each other a sideways glance and then looked over at Strax.

"There's… a slight complication…"

Jenny started, as Clara and the Doctor followed the couples gaze to Strax?

"What's the complication?"

Clara asked.

"Four days ago Strax got it into his head to insult and threaten a passing officer of the Scotland Yard. Our liaison Inspector Gregson was able to smooth the situation out somewhat, however we have been forbade to continue this investigation."

The Doctor snorted,

"Forbade? A policeman forbade you to investigate? And you're listening to him?"

"But I thought you were 'The Great Detective'? Why won't they let you on this case?"

Clara asked.

"You're very kind dear,"

said Vastra, like she was speaking to a child,

"But this is 1895, and the idiotic monkeys who run this city are so quick to pounce on a woman doing a 'man's' job!"

Her frustration was evident in her last words, and Clara felt a bit embarrassed – never mind the fact that Vastra wasn't even human, it was her gender that didn't fit the times.

"What about you Doctor?"

Jenny asked.

"What about me?"

"What if you were to come with us and talk to Detective Inspector Gregson and the other men helping with the case? You could convince them to let us get back in the game!"

The Doctor seemed to think over it for a moment and then replied,

"Okay, yes could work, maybe! Right then, Clara and I'll go chat with dear old Gregory and you three can go back to where the last disappearance was and continue investigating."

Jenny and Strax looked confused, and Vastra sighed.

"Firstly, Strax is under house arrest, he's not going anywhere. Second, his name's Gregson, not Gregory! And third, were you even listening to what we were saying? We can't investigate!"

"Yet, but by the time I'm done with Gregory you will be able to so to save time and effort you two then can go straight to the scene and I'll catch up with you in a mo. Come along Clara! We're off to Scotland Yard!"

"Actually,"

Clara said, making her decision,

"I'm not feeling to well actually, I think I'll just stay here for a bit and look after Strax."

Strax didn't agree with that though, complaining to The Doctor,

"Sir, I must protest! I am not some misbehaving child to be supervised by this belligerent boy!"

Turning around to face him The Doctor countered,

"Actually Strax that's exactly what you are, except Clara isn't a boy. Clara,"

He spun back around and lowered his voice.

"Are you sure you want to stay here?"

"Yes, I'm sure…"

"Okay… Right then! Strax, stay put and don't get into trouble, Clara, make sure he stays put and doesn't get into trouble. Jenny, Vastra! Crime scene please, we want more information! Right then gang, off we go!"

He was flapping about like a giddy idiot, and Clara couldn't help smiling. She wasn't really feeling ill, but she had a niggling feeling that Rose was going to be somewhere about investigating the same situation. A) Clara didn't want to get in the way if The Doctor and Rose did meet up again and B) She suspected that if Rose saw her she would run.

The Doctor, Vastra and Jenny headed out, leaving Clara alone with Strax, who was looking at her with distaste and annoyance. She pulled out Donna's phone and was surprised to find that there was a new message. She didn't recognize the number, it certainly wasn't her own, but there was only one person the text could be from considering the era.

"On our way :)"

The message read, and Clara smiled. She never knew plotting against The Doctor could be so much fun.

Thanks for reading so far and I promise the next chapter will be up by the end of the weekend!