Chapter 2-

Attempted Recovery

"'Y'all righ' Miss? 'Ey, wek' up!"

The accent was alarming. It had been months since Jenny had heard anyone speak like that to her. Her vision cleared, and she saw a pair of chestnut eyes look into hers. They instantly lit up when they saw Jenny gain conscience, and a grin spread on the face.

"'Ow are ye'?"

Jenny shook her head a little to try and clear her grogginess before replying.

"M'all right…where's Madame?" With the last two words, she sat bolt upright and proceeded to get to her feet before a jet of pain sped up her left leg. Luckily, someone was there to catch her. Or rather, two people.

The first was the brown-eyed boy who'd woken her up, and let go of her arm as soon as the other person had a firm grasp. The other person…Jenny couldn't mistake those misty-blue eyes.

"Ma'am!"

Vastra smiled warmly before looking over curiously at the mammal pup. Why wasn't it deterred by her appearance? The boy suddenly became aware of his air of mystery, so hastily introduced himself.

"Timuffy miss, but Tim'll do," he said, thrusting out a hand that Jenny gingerly shook. Vastra ignored the gesture.

"How did we get here?"

"I…ah, found you 'ere, missus," he replied.

Vastra didn't look convinced.

"I didn't get this far when I got out o' that building last night..." Jenny thought out loud. With this new piece of information, Vastra turned back to the puny ape (oh God, she was turning into Strax) before her.

"I'll repeat the question: How did we get here?"

With a tired roll of his eyes, he replied monotonously.

"I carried you 'ere. But I'm not sayin' nothin' more, yeah?" The latter half of the reply was decidedly fiercer than the former half. 'And more illiterate as well,' thought Vastra.

Nevertheless, both women were slightly taken aback, both by the sincerity in his eyes, his rush of anger and the pure incredibility of the action he'd just described.

"Are you…sure?" Vastra asked, dubious of the signs of child fantasies. Tim glared at her.

"I've got better things to do than lie, ok? Take it or leave it, I say," he spat at her. Vastra stood there, stunned, unknowing in how to deal with feisty mammal pups.

"Madame was jus' checkin', tha's all," Jenny interjected, sensing her mistress' unease.

"Thank you anyway, pup-" Jenny gave Vastra a swift elbow to the ribs "-Tim," she corrected herself, and turned to leave, supporting a limping Jenny.

"An' by the way Ma'am," Jenny said after they were well out of earshot "They're called children. No' pups."

Strax's snores were vibrating throughout the house when the pair arrived back home. They were lucky that Strax was a deep sleeper. Like, a very deep sleeper. Even if all of his grenades in his (worryingly extensive) collection exploded simultaneously now, (even the Sonic-Boomer grenades) he wouldn't even turn in his sleep. That was, until bang on 6:37am. The advantages of having a military-born potato as a butler (if there were any) was that they were diligent in waking up on time and starting their training. In Strax's case, his mandatory-and thorough-sweep through the house. Whilst this was very effective when it came to keeping mice out of the kitchens, many a time Jenny had woken up to find the greenhouse/conservatory/kitchen/drawing room/dining room/bedrooms/bathroom/any piece of solid material nearly in smithereens.

A fitful night followed for each party. Vastra knew the dangers of the December snow that could debilitate her so; she'd underestimated the October showers. It seemed that all forms of inclement weather that visited London, as Jenny so frankly put it, 'had it in for her'. The chill from the rain clung to her flesh like a leech, even though all her sodden clothes had been removed. She started shivering violently, her body's attempt to create kinetic-formed heat energy that it could then feed off.

Jenny was struggling to sleep due to the fact that Vastra was crying out in anguish every other minute. It wasn't the noise itself that broke Jenny's heart, it was the being behind the sound. Unable to listen to another moan without bursting into tears herself, she fell out of bed and practically scrambled down the hallway to Vastra's room, ignoring her left leg's protests. She knocked quietly on the door. No reply, as was rather expected. Carefully, she opened the door and peered inside. Vastra was curled up as tightly as was possible whilst semi-unconscious, and still as death itself. Or so she thought. Tentatively, she placed a hand on one of Vastra's exposed shoulders and almost snatched it back again immediately. She was vibrating. Vibrating.

What should she do? Fetch hot water bottles? No, that'd take too long. Vastra could die. With a mix of apprehension and curiosity, Jenny realised the only way to convey a large amount of heat in a short amount of space was to transfer her 'mammal heat' (as Vastra so commonly called it) into her mistress.

She'd have to join her in bed.

Jenny didn't know if she should be horrified or happy. There she was, in her nightclothes, trying to do her best of holding onto a giant, freezing, vibrating lizard. She pressed her body more firmly against her employer's back, as if willing her heat into her.

After an hour or two of this, Vastra stopped vibrating, but had violent sporadic shivering fits instead. Jenny didn't know which one was worse. Just as she was on the brink of dropping off, a mass of shivers would jerk her awake again. By now, she'd gotten used to the dull aching resonating from her biceps.

Time was edging into the early hours of the morning now, and Jenny was desperate.

"C'mon Ma'am, 'old on," she whispered.

"Uhh..."

The reply, despite being rather muffled and vague, was enough to stoke Jenny's hope and melt away those icy fingers of doubt that had started clawing at the back of her mind.

Due to the very late hour and the long day, Jenny soon fell into a peaceful, albeit stiff, slumber.

Despite her obvious lack of sleep, Jenny's body clock jerked her awake at 7 o'clock sharp.

"Stubborn as a mule," she muttered darkly under her breath, casting a glance over at Vastra to check her curse didn't rouse her. She placed two fingers on Vastra's forehead, and frowned. Strange, she was still a few degrees cooler than usual. Stretching out from her stiffness, the maid decided that there was enough time for hot water bottles now, in comparison to the night before.

After pulling on her uniform, 3 hot water bottles were prepared. She knocked quietly on Vastra's door. There was a brief hiatus, then a clear 'Come in' sounded, surprising Jenny. Madame Vastra was already awake?

"You were a bit chilly, so I go' you a few 'ot water bottles, Ma'am," Jenny explained as she entered, holding out the said objects.

"Thank you, Jenny." The maid stiffened a little, but continued listening to her mistress for all she was worth. Was she talking about what happened the previous night after their misadventure?

"Wha' for, Ma'am?"

"Everything. Your efforts, everywhere." Jenny remained stiff. That would mean Vastra was also referring to last night. She simply nodded, hoping her mistress wouldn't judge her any differently now.

A/N: When it comes to emotions and awkward situations, there are better authors than me who can cover them properly. Yeah, sorry.