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When Jenny was just a little girl she never would have imagined that her life would be completely different from that of any other woman on Earth. She was living with a lizard woman from the dawn of times that had asked her to marry her no later than two days ago. In her mind, since that day, she had done nothing but wander around imagining herself in a white dress in front of their friends while Vastra made her her wife. Or rather the Doctor, their friend, he would have made them one another's wives.
Never she would have expected so much luck or love in her life again. The last woman she had loved had turned out to be a dirty liar who had hurt her deeply. She had continued to love her for a long time. Jenny goes back in her mind to her first moment with Vastra, she hadn't known it then but at that moment her heart had still be occupied by the annoying and overwhelming presence of Helen.
For years she had dreamed that the girl would knock on their door and ask her to run away together, and would tell her she still loved her as when they had parted. But it had never happened and, with time, Jenny had fallen in love with her beautiful Vastra. There was no woman like her on Earth, not only for her unique appearance, no, Jenny was in love with what she was inside. Her knowledge, her wisdom, her life experience forged her character as much as her tie with Jenny had.
They were not only compatible , they were made for one another, and soon she had forgotten the beautiful girl with blond curly hair and a smile that promised trouble. She was happy now, happy with the woman she loved more than anything else in the world, and most importantly, who reciprocated her feelings, and who never ever would dare to hurt her or leave her. A woman who was honourable and out of the ordinary.
A voice from the living room shakes her out of her thoughts, the kettle whistles loudly and Jenny seems to finally be able to hear it over the chaos of her own thoughts.
Helen. God know why after such a long time she had popped up in her thoughts right then.
She moves toward the greenhouse. They have guests, a young woman it appears, for she hears a soft voice from the hallway while knocking for permission to enter. The voice of Madame who invites her gently to bring the tea. When she enters she sees the young woman and freezes, in a state of shock. She cannot be really there, in their home. Not on the eve of her wedding. They look at each other, Jenny and Helen, sitting on wicker chair in obvious difficulty.
Jenny barely registers Vastra's voice at her side as she got up just in time so that not all of the contents of the tray could pour on the ground.
And Vastra suddenly feels uncomfortable in between the two humans who continue to stare dumbfounded at each other. She looks at them, first one and then the other, as if she were following a tennis match.
Helen is the first to act, she embraces the girl in front of her so hard that Jenny suddenly is short of breath.
«Oh my god Jenny, I've been looking for you for so long.» Says the guest squeezing her again, and for a moment Jenny thinks it's sincere, but then remember, remembers all too vividly the morning when she woke up in the company of just a note from Helen saying goodbye.
«What the hell are you saying?» She has the strength to break away from the other girl's body and Vastra feels a pang in my heart. She would want to say something, throw their guest out and hug Jenny to herself begging her not to leave her. But she doesn't. She's too proud to make a scene and get caught up in jealousy, and she trusts Jenny, she knows that she loves her and that she will always choose her in the end. Or at least that's what she hopes.
«After Walter disappeared a few months ago.» Tries to explain Helen and suddenly understanding makes its way in Jenny's brain.
«Oh, the old man finally kicked the bucket and you will inherit his fortune.» She spits poisonous as if all those years had never passed, and suddenly the hatred, resentment, anger are exploding in her chest again.
«It's not what you think. But please why don't we talk about it calmly?» The girl asks, settling back into the wicker chair, suddenly feeling much older than she really is.
«Explain.» It is the first time that Vastra has intruded but everything is becoming extremely dangerous and she does not want to be left out.
«As I said before ... Well before Jenny came, my husband, » Helen notes with the corner of her eye her ex-girlfriend's contrite expression. «He disappeared a few weeks ago. And I would like for you, Madame, to find out if he's really dead or he has left me, for a younger girl maybe. To the south, where it is warmer.» Jenny's mocking chuckle attracts the attention of two women.
«It would break your heart, wouldn't it?» She says sarcastically, making both women uncomfortable. There is some resentment never resolved, this Vastra understands. It hurts her ore than she'd like to admit and she can't wait for this case to be close and done with, so she'll never have to see Helen Johnson beside them.
«Mrs. Johnson, are you sure you didn't poison your husband's tea accidentally?» Questions the Silurian certain of a quick solution.
«Oh no, you didn't, did you. You wouldn't get a single penny without the body as proof of a natural death.» Jenny is awake and attentive on this case, she wants Vastra to know exactly what kind of despicable person lies before them.
Helen doesn't respond. It is only the truth after all and she's heard of these detectives cleverness all over London.
«Well, then, will you take on my case, Madame?» Questions Helen placing a bag of clinking coins on the table between them. Vastra considers her for a minute before asking, not saying a word, her future wife's consent.
Jenny thinks about it, after all money is always handy, and now she can buy a better dress for the ceremony, but then it would also mean having to see Helen again till the end of the case and she has already suffered enough for her in all those years.
«Alright.» Says Vastra as soon as Jenny gives a barely noticeable nod.
«On one condition.» Warns the Silurian before the other woman has a chance to leave.
«We're going to send news. You will not come here to ask for more information.» Vastra's tone is harsher than she expected, maybe they shouldn't have accepted the case.
«I'll have Strax escort you to the door.» She concludes trying to soften her tone.
«No need, I will accompany her.» Jenny does not know why she proposed to do so but is determined to find out more about Helen's story.
«Let's see each other again.» Offers immediately the blonde grabbing Jenny's wrist.
«I can not.» The brunette knows that she should disengage from her hold but suddenly millions of memories invade the head. A human girl's skin touching her own. It is so different from the skin that has touched her over the years. There are no fresh and shiny scales. This is what human skin feels like, she suddenly remembers Hot to the touch, a light down on the arm. So soft, familiar, the smell Helen's skin, and like a flash, the background smell of them as they made love in a filthy hovel but still happy to be together.
So young, so inexperienced.
«You have to leave.» An unconvincing whisper.
«I still love you, you know that Jenny. You know why I had to go to Walter. I did it for me and for you, to have a future, money, a beautiful house. Now that I have, we can go back to what we were.» Helen's is a heartfelt appeal and Jenny seems to waver for a moment.
Vastra listens to everything hidden in the shadows and feels her heart breaking. She knew that this could happen. She always knew. Jenny is a human, and in her heart she always knew that it was better for her to be with someone of her own kind. A woman who understood her fully, who understood the society in which they lived and that could make her happier.
«We are no longer those girls , we're adults now, and I'm happy here, with Madame.» She smiles at the memory of Vastra's warm smile, of her hands embracing her, holding her. Their kisses, the room where they make love. There is no more space for Helen, she has Vastra now and she is the happiest woman in the world for this.
«I'll wait for you tomorrow at the old tea room. Do you remember? I'll be waiting all afternoon. And if you don't come I promise you I won't try again.» It happens so fast that Jenny doesn't even have time to react and she can only feel her lips wet with Helen's saliva.
When the door is closed Vastra is in front of her and she trembles at her menacing look and does not know what to say. Her instinct tells her to run away , she now knows that the Silurian has seen and heard it all and when she feels herself being gripped she closes her eyes only to open them again in shock as she feels Vastra kissing her forcefully, as if she was trying to prove that she is hers.
But Jenny already knows she is Vastra's and has no plans of chasing a skirt that made her suffer so much. Vastra is furious as she tastes the other woman on the lips of her Jenny and now she wants her completely. She wants to erase the memory of that dirty liar from Jenny's mind and body and so raises her up against the door. She doesn't care that Strax could arrive at any moment. She search underneath Jenny's skirts with her free hand and takes her while the girl moans and holds her own hands on Vastra's shoulders, clinging to her tightly.
Lets her future wife take her neck and bite it softly. She likes feeling the adrenaline of knowing that, if she simply wanted to do it, she could kill her in an instant. She feels Vastra's frantic fingers inside of her she collapses in the arms of the Silurian who holds her without effort.
They kiss again, without urgency this time, with more calm after the emotional storm Vastra allowed to take over her.
«You have nothing to fear.» Whispers Jenny caressing her skull and the Silurian suddenly feels shy and would like to answer that she knows that, but then how would she explain the urge to take her against the front door?
Touché.
«I'll marry you in a week. » Jenny reassures with a final chaste kiss on her lips and Vastra smiles because suddenly in her mind she can see them together again while the Doctor marries them.
The next day they wake up soon. They accepted a case and Vastra is determined to solve it as quickly as possible. She send Jenny to the market where she knows people and knows how to defend herself from them. Not that they are bad guys, but they always tend to want something in return for their information, and not all are content with a piece of bread , cheese and half a sausage. But Jenny now knows how to defend herself against them, and if they only try to touch her, Jenny knows that for that day she wouldn't have to cook for her beloved lizard. She gathers information, not as many as she had hoped, but at least they have a place to start. She keeps thinking of Helen, after all she has been so important to her in a life she doesn't belong to anymore.
She bumps into someone, as lost in her thoughts as she is, and before the boy can fall she grabs him by pulling him to his feet.
«Tommy?» She question before he even apologizes.
«We have news. Be at the usual corner at dusk. We are waiting.» Mutters the boy, ten years or so, before disappearing back into the crowd adjusting the cap on his blond head.
Jenny is torn while pretending to read a book in the library, she does not know what to do. To get to the corner and get the information she needs she must pass in front of the old tea room but she does not want Helen to see her, she does not want to be there. You can not go, you should not see her again. She is getting married and only the day before she had sworn to Vastra she would be her wife.
She closes the tome in her hand and observes Vastra stealthily. It was time to close that old story.
«Is something wrong?» Question the Silurian without taking her eyes from her papers.
«No, everything's all right. I just forgot to buy a few things this morning. I'll go out. I'll be back in a few minutes.» She says hoping Vastra will believe her. The Silurian looks up, opens her mouth because she wants to say something, but then stays silent. She does not want to have total control over Jenny, she must choose with whom to stay, and for how bad the realization she could not come back home to her that evening makes her feel, she smiles.
«Of course, dear.» She strives to take on a neutral tone, and fears she is failing miserably, but Jenny pretends not to notice and gets up from her chair, laying a gentle kiss on her crests she leaves the room.
It is only four in the afternoon, but the cold wind whips the face, the pale sun as it begins its descent cools the winter air and she tightens her black coat. One step after the other, and her conviction is strengthened and when she arrives at that street she takes a deep breath before reaching the old tea room.
She sees Helen as she looks at her radiant and for a second Jenny feels like she is betraying the woman she loves.
«I'm not here for what you think.» She hastens to say and Helen's wry smile annoys her.
«But you're here.» She notes as she takes a sip from the cup that is already on the table while Jenny takes place in front of her old friend.
«How did you know I would come?» Questions the girl looking at the two cups filled with hot tea.
«I know you Jenny. And you know me. I knew you would not resist. We were so happy. You are my true love, and I know that I am yours. It is useless to try to suppress it. We know both it.» Helen's so assured speech doesn't impress Jenny who hastens to explain.
«I am happy now. I don't need either you or to suffer anymore for you. It is true that I loved you very much but now I love another woman.» She smiles and then takes a long sip of the thick hot liquid.
«No... not her? Really? Your mistress? We can leave with Walter's money, you never have to work a day next to me.» States Helen, suddenly conscious of the real situation, trying to convince Jenny.
«She is great. You will never be the woman that she is, Helen.» Warns Jenny while withdrawing the hand that Helen had tried to grab.
«An old widow? I didn't think she was your type. And when you have sex does she remove her dentures?» Helen is angry and disappointed, Jenny has changed,
at one time she never would have dared answer her that way. She used to hang from her lips, and now she dared to challenge her.
Jenny is used to these jokes, so many nights criminals of every stripe have tried to make them uncomfortable suggesting something that actually happened between the two women of Paternoster Row.
«I thought about it. I must be honest.» Admits Jenny suddenly observing the interesting background of the china cup.
«I thought of you, of us. But then it was enough to look once in the eyes of Vastra and I knew what was my place. She will never leave me like you did.» She leaves money for the tea on the table and leaves that place and the woman who is now a stranger to her. And finally, after years she finally feels free.
She heads out to the second meeting, the body of a man was found wedged between the grates of a sewage drain and Jenny is almost certain that's the man they seek.
Meanwhile Vastra cannot quiet her thought at home, she is no longer able to control her anxiety and her fear of losing her girlfriend a few days before their wedding. When she finally hears the front door slam and Jenny's voice announcing she's back she rushes down the stairs to the first floor to greet her.
«And what was that for?» Question the girl when they come up from their kiss, even though Jenny suspects that her beloved has spent all afternoon in worry. Vastra does not answer, she knows that she doesn't need to. The only thing she wants now is her mammal in their bedroom.
The case doesn't take a lot of their time. It was a quite simply financial motive that had them finding Walter Johnson face down in the river. His business partner ran away with all the money and Helen found herself again without a penny but with a lot of her late husband's properties to her name.
«She'll be alright.» Says Jenny as they are tidying up the study.
A familiar noise bursts in their living room and a blue box makes its appearance as the two women share a radiant smile.
Their big day is here.