Prologue – Locked Away With You

May 1886 – London

There were several things that Madame Vastra noticed upon awakening. The first being that she was completely unclothed. Not a terribly shocking find as sleeping in the nude seemed to be a common habit these past few weeks. The second thing she noticed had been the tapping of rain against the window pane. She craned her neck to glimpse through the half open curtains to find a rather dark and gloomy sky staring back at her.

She laid her head back down on the pillow, letting out a content sigh. The last thing she noticed, and most important, was the warm body that slept soundly beside her.

Hence the reason for being nude.

Vastra coiled her arm around the girl, pulling her back against her chest. Jenny Flint stirred only for a brief moment at the sudden movement, but otherwise remained asleep. She made a small noise in the back of her throat that the ancient lizard thought to be most becoming.

It had been customary for her to hold her little human upon awakening. The warmth her mammalian body gave off was too tempting for Vastra. That warm skin against her scales felt just as good as basking in the sun.

To think, she mused, this had only been a recent discovery.

The last few weeks had been nothing that Vastra could have imagined for herself since awakening in this new era. To think, it had taken her seven years to arrive here, to this moment with this human beside her. It had begun with Vastra saving Jenny Flint six years ago. After a rather rocky start, they formed a partnership and began working together for Scotland Yard. It was not without difficulties. Slowly, over the course of those years, they became close friends and had found solace in each other's company. That friendship evolved somehow. Vastra had found herself deeply in love with her little human. To her extreme delight, she had discovered that those feelings were reciprocated.

It had been Jenny that broke the silent stand still they had found themselves in while in Japan. Upon returning to their home in London, the pair gave themselves to each other. It had been a wonderful experience and a night that Vastra would remember for a long time.

Feeling that warm skin against her cold scales for the first time had been nothing she had ever imagined before. She felt she could bathe in it. Her warmth. Her scent. It had become insatiable afterwards. Something that Vastra wasn't completely used to. The need of another's touch. To feel them and to hold them. Watch them lose themselves and become completely undone.

Vastra trailed light kisses up Jenny's bare arm, stopping at the crook of her neck to enjoy the slight moan that escaped her. Jenny began to stir more in the ancient lizard's arms. With a smile, Vastra let her tongue glide over her shoulder and down to a breast. Jenny trembled and lazily opened an eye. Realizing the position she was in, she chuckled lightly.

"Well, ain't this a way to wake up," she mused as the tongue began to retract. Slowly, she turned in Vastra's arms, giving her a kiss that immediately became opened mouth. Reluctantly, Jenny pulled away. "'Ow do you even 'ave any energy after last night?" she asked with a laugh.

Vastra placed a gentle kiss on Jenny's forehead. "Silurians have very little need for sleep and much more stamina than humans," she explained simply.

Jenny's brow rose at this, giving her lover a very skeptical, if not, a unimpressed look. "Well, I need sleep," she told her, sternly. "And as far as that other thing, well, I can hold my own just fine."

Vastra laughed at this and began placing kisses along Jenny's jawline until she reached her ear. "You needn't tell me that, my love," she said in a husky whisper.

The former match girl's cheeks burned and she began to feel herself slowly losing to her rapidly increasing arousal. She turned onto her back. Vastra propped herself up on an elbow, slightly hovering over the small human as her other hand slowly caressed Jenny's side. Her blue eyes watched as her green hand moved slowly downwards to her hip before trailing back up.

Jenny glanced at the window, seeing the darken skies. "Looks awful out," she commented.

"Hm."

"Do we have to get up?" she asked almost with a pout, causing the reptilian woman to laugh.

She ran a hand over Jenny's cheek. "Not unless you wish to."

"Well, don't we have to go to the Yard?"

"I'm sure they can make do without us for one day," she assured her.

Jenny raised a brow, still torn between her duty and her selfish wish to remain in bed with her lover as long as she possibly could. She sat up, leaning back against the headboard as she placed a hand on Vastra's cheek. "I have wanted this for years," she admitted to her and a smile tugged at her lips. "To be with you like this. Now that's its 'appened, I just want to be locked away with you."

Confused, Vastra tilted her head. "Years?" With a smile, Jenny leaned in and kissed her. "You've hidden your feelings from me for years?"

Vastra sat up. Leaning against the headboard, she watched Jenny carefully. She had always known Jenny cared for her, but always suspected it to be on a platonic level. It was only recently that they had admitted to each other how deeply that care went and it was far from being platonic. It hadn't occurred to Vastra to ask her how long she had harbored these feelings. For Vastra had only just discovered these feelings only months before. And she had tortured herself over what to do with this discovery ever since. The idea that Jenny had gone years...

Vastra, you are incredibly daft, she berated herself.

Jenny's face was unreadable as she ran a hand up the lizard's arm. "Reckon for at least four years," she admitted with her expression turning forlorn. "I convinced meself that nothin' would ever come of it. So, I ignored it. But, it was always there." Seeing Vastra's downcast face, Jenny smiled at her and placed a warm hand against her cheek. "Oi," she chided affectionately. "None of that now."

Vastra covered Jenny's hand and pressed it firmly against her cheek. "I wasted so much time..."

"We had a lot of growin' to do, you and I," Jenny reminded her, kindly. "We had to take the time to become who we are." The human paused for a moment, watching as her lizard companion thought over her words. With a smile, she moved her hand below Vastra's chin, urging her to look back up at her. "I would have waited forever for you," Jenny told her.

Vastra nodded, offering a smile of her own in return that didn't quite reach her eyes. "So much time wasted," she grumbled causing Jenny to chuckle.

"Exactly why I suggest we spend the day in bed!"

The couple laughed at this and fell into a content silence. They linked their hands and Jenny leaned into Vastra to rest her head on her green shoulder. After a long moment, curiosity got the better of the ancient lizard.

"Jenny?"

"Hm?"

"How did it happen for you?" Jenny looked up at her, finding that her lizard companion was unable to meet her gaze. "Falling in love... you recognized it so easily. I fear, it was not so for me."

Troubled by her lover's pained expression, Jenny sat up. "Now, I wouldn't say it were easy for me," she told her. "But I had figured it out durin' our fight," she answered simply. "I mean, the huge one we had just after we moved in."

Vastra's eyes widened. "I care not to remember that fight..."

"Aye, nor I," Jenny told her. "I had been so ready to leave you and all this behind me. Think we came close a hundred times before that. But, that fight were diff'runt somehow. It showed me what I really thought of you and how I felt."

Vastra thought back to that memory, feeling a pain of sadness at how she had treated her dear human. That fight had been one of the worst of their entire friendship. "I believed you had left for good," she said with a sigh. "However, you came back for me. Just as you had when we fought the Sangrium."

With a grin, Jenny placed a kiss on her lover's lips. "Aye, I did. I'll always come back for you, Ma'am."

Vastra withdrew slightly from Jenny's embrace, feeling somewhat ashamed by the memory. That had been a terrible time and not something Vastra cared to dwell on. Sensing the change of her mood, Jenny grabbed hold of Vastra's shoulders.

"It were also Stanbury," she admitted after some hesitation. Vastra's eyes widen at this. "Well, it were a large number of things that led me to realize aside from that fight. Stanbury had helped me realize the... depth of it all."

"What sort of things?"

"It's a long story," Jenny answered with growing hesitation.

Vastra glanced at the window and then offered a mischievous look to her lover. "Well, we do have the entire day..."

Jenny's eyes narrowed at the suggestion. "You may not like to 'ear my side o' things."

"Probably not," Vastra agreed as she let her head rest on the human's shoulder. "I shall promise not to overreact."

"I 'ad almost gone to the states," Jenny told her and she could feel Vastra stiffen in her arms. She bit her lower lip, immediately regretting having blurted out such a statement. She had never told Vastra of her brief romance with Annie. The girl had left to the Americas and Jenny had almost followed. It had been Annie, who had told Jenny what she had already knew, but could not admit. That she was hopelessly and utterly in love with her employer.

"I could not fault you for that," Vastra said at last. Her voice betrayed her and Jenny could tell that her admission had slightly wounded the ancient warrior.

"I made a choice," Jenny told her, scooting downwards and turning Vastra's head to her. She traced the area just below her reptile's eyes with her thumbs as if to wipe away imaginary tears. It seemed to sooth the reptile slightly. "I chose to stay here. As you can well see."

Vastra's face softened at this. "So, it began around the time we moved in?" she asked her after a long moment of silence had passed between them.

Jenny thought for a moment. "I think so. So, that was 1882. I think it were the spring."

"No, it had to have been winter of 1881," Vastra interjected with a shake of her head.

"No, we moved to Paternoster in 1882," Jenny insisted and the pair sat up on the bed. "Just after we worked that stupid case where people were being killed by genetically modified jelly fish in the Thames."

"We were already moved in by the time we received that case," Vastra told her with a shake of her head. Jenny crossed her arms over her chest, giving her lover a stern look. Recoiling slightly, Vastra waved her hands upwards. "For the sake of the story, it began in 1882."

"Right," Jenny said and then scooted upwards to lean against the headboard. She opened her arms towards the reptilian woman. "Now, come 'ere and make yourself comfortable."

Vastra smiled at this and then moved to lay beside her beloved human. She brought the blankets up, covering both of them up as Jenny's warm arms embraced her. Once they were settled, Jenny cleared her throat.

"So, as I was sayin'," she began. "It were the spring of 1882..."