‘I’m sorry I ran off. I’m sorry for bein’ afraid.’
Vastra put a finger on Jenny’s lips to hush her.
‘You do not need to apologize for being afraid. All of us are afraid of something. It is in how we deal with that fear that makes the difference. You can run away, but whatever you are afraid of, it follows right along with you. You can never escape it.’
Jenny nodded.
‘You need to face the thing you are afraid of and show that it has no power over you.’
Jenny nodded again, and a tiny smile crept over her lips.
‘But madam…what if I don’t mind if the thing I thought I was afraid of has power over me…from time to time, that is.’
Vastra’s eyes narrowed and she turned her head in thought for a few moments before the meaning finally sank in. She smiled.
‘Then I would say that is something that might need to be discussed at a later date.’
She felt Jenny move closer, felt her warmth even through the sheet that separated them. It seemed so much hotter than before, and she wondered where that heat was coming from.
‘Madam…’ Jenny said, pausing after that single word.
Vastra’s throat was dry and constricted. She felt her heart quicken.
‘Yes, Jenny?’
‘I…kissed you downstairs, didn’t I?’
Vastra nodded.
‘Yes. Yes you did, Jenny.’
Jenny smiled. Vastra felt herself melting into that smile.
‘Did you like it, madam?’
Vastra opened her mouth, tried to speak. No words came. Instead she nodded mutely.
‘I liked it too, madam. A lot.’
Jenny inched closer still.
‘Would it be alright if I did it again?’
Vastra nodded. She didn’t want to seem too eager, but the fact of the matter was simple. This was what she wanted, what she longed for since her adolescence, and it was coming from the most unexpected source. And she did not care one bit.
She reached out, wrapped her arm around Jenny, felt Jenny’s arm mirroring hers, and despite the sheet between them, felt Jenny’s warmth envelop her. She watched Jenny’s lips move closer, slowly, inexorably slowly, and then…
Her eyes closed.
At first, there was darkness.
And then heat.
So much heat.
A murmur passed between them as lips touched, tentatively at first, and then with increasing confidence and fervor. A tongue darted, nervously, exploring, to be met by its opposite doing the same. Vastra’s fingertips caressed soft, smooth skin, while Jenny’s ran over Vastra’s smooth cool scales. Their bodies moved naturally, of their own volition, and what may have only been seconds felt like an eternity.
In that darkness, as lips touched, Vastra felt a glow, could almost see it. It brightened with each passing moment, threatened to wash over them both, enveloping them in heat and light and connection. Vastra welcomed it, begged it to take over…and in that moment of connection, she thought she could hear Jenny’s voice asking for the same thing.
Lips parted, and both Jenny and Vastra regarded each other closely through heavily lidded eyes.
‘Madam, I…’
Vastra smiled.
‘How many times have I told you it is fine to call me Vastra?’
‘But…’
Jenny paused.
‘Sometimes…I kind of like calling you madam…madam.’
Vastra reached out and brushed an errant lock of hair from Jenny’s face. Jenny smiled, her face glowing, still flushed and heated.
Jenny broke the silence.
‘What happens next?’
Vastra pulled away just long enough to crawl under the sheet with Jenny. She pulled the sheet over them both, feeling Jenny’s heat even more closely. She could feel Jenny’s heart beating in her chest, and carefully placed a hand over it.
‘I can feel your heart, Jenny.’
‘I can hear yours, madam,’ Jenny replied.
‘J'entend ton coeur,’ Vastra replied quietly, a finger twirling in Jenny’s chestnut brown hair.
‘What was that, madam?’
Vastra looked up, her reverie broken.
‘Oh, just something an old friend of mine taught me. He said it might be useful someday. Supposedly it’s in a language your people call French, and it means just what you said to me, basically. ‘I can hear your heart.’’
Jenny’s blush grew deeper, if such a thing was possible.
‘Now, Jenny,’ said Vastra, pulling the girl closer, ‘to answer your question as to what comes next, I believe the best way to find out is to follow where our hearts and bodies lead.’
Jenny nodded enthusiastically, biting her lower lip lightly as she did so.
‘As for anything else, well…we can figure that out later.’
~~~
Vastra’s eyes opened to a gradually darkening room. The sun was setting, and with the exception of a brief interlude with Inspector Danforth first thing in the morning, the vast majority of the day had been spent in her quarters. Normally she would be cursing herself for the waste of the day. There was so much she could have been doing, even if it was simply trying to read more to understand the strange people called humans she’d been sharing this city with for the past year plus.
The she looked over and smiled.
The sheets were a royal mess, and as she raised her head slightly, she saw one of her legs, lean and tautly muscled, draped protectively over two pale, girlish legs. The sheets twisted and knotted, barely covering them both from the waist up. She felt Jenny’s arm, warm, so very warm, tucked under her own, and listened as she smiling brunette next to her softly inhaled and exhaled.
She shifted, just an inch, and Jenny’s eyes opened.
‘Mornin’, madam.’
She looked over her shoulder.
‘Umm…is it mornin’ already, or is the sun just settin’ now?’
‘It is nearly evening, Jenny. You have not slept the day away…though I must admit, with how tired you were when you got back this morning, well…’
Vastra was at a loss for words.
Truly, for the first time in her life, she was incapable of finishing her thought. How could she describe it? There simply were no words…not in her language, not in the English Jenny spoke. All she knew was that it was intoxicating, and she wanted more. Not now, of course…they both needed food, and rest…and so much needed to be talked about, and worked out.
But soon.
Her thoughts were broken by a rhythmic tapping on her arm. She looked down to see Jenny, one finger pointed, as she tapped that finger lightly across her arm.
‘What exactly are you doing, my dear?’
Jenny smiled and blushed.
‘I was just…oh, it’s silly.’
Vastra reached over and brushed Jenny’s cheek.
‘Tell me. Please.’
‘I was just countin’ your scales. They’re not rough like I expected. They’re smooth, like pebbles at the beach.’
Vastra nodded and laid there, content to let Jenny continue her efforts. After a few moments, she moved her arm just slightly. Jenny jerked her head up in exasperation.
‘Hey, that’s not fair! I lost count! Now I have to start all over again!’
Vastra laughed quietly.
‘That’s the idea, love.’
Jenny looked at Vastra carefully. Her eyes narrowed just slightly as thoughts cycled through her head.
‘Did I say something wrong, Jenny?’
Jenny shook her head.
‘No, madam…it’s just…you called me ‘love’.’
Vastra looked into Jenny’s eyes carefully.
‘I suppose I did. Is…was…that a bad thing?’
Vastra expected Jenny to say something in reply. She did not expect the girl to push herself across the bed deeper into Vastra’s arms, clinging to her tightly. Vastra tried to speak, but didn’t want to betray the meaningful, almost spiritual silence that had entered the room. Instead she just held Jenny close, feeling their hearts beat together in time, feeling Jenny’s breath hot against her own bare skin.
That silence was broken by a loud, almost vulgar gurgling sound. Vastra leaned back just in time to see Jenny’s face turn beet red.
‘I’m sorry, madam! It’s just…’
‘How long has it been since you had a proper meal, Jenny?
Jenny lowered her eyes. Vastra wanted to correct her, but thought better of it for the moment.
‘Breakfast, madam. Four days ago.’
Vastra’s eyes widened in shock.
‘Four days! Jennifer Flint, I…’
‘It’s not the only thing I ate, madam! But you said proper meal, and…well…that was the last one.’
Vastra rose from the bed, carefully untangling herself from the sheets.
‘We will soon fix that.’
Jenny sat up, wrapping the sheets around her.
‘What do you mean, madam?’
Vastra strode over to her closet and began pulling out clothes. She turned and regarded Jenny with a smile.
‘What I mean, young lady, is that you are going to go to your room, get dressed, and you and I will go out this evening for a meal to celebrate your return to the household.’
She paused for a moment.
‘Your permanent return to our household, that is.’
Jenny smiled, jumped up from the bed and wrapped the sheet around her like a shawl. She quickly ran to the door before stopping.
‘But, madam…what about…’
Vastra looked over and saw the concern on Jenny’s face.
‘I shall have to make do with the same arrangements I always do when I am out in public. Enough people have seen me to know I walk about with gloves and hood. And if one restaurant will not serve us because of it, we will find one that will. Am I clear on this?’
Jenny nodded, but Vastra could see the doubt in Jenny’s eyes, in the slight tremble of her lips. She walked over and held Jenny’s shoulders lightly.
‘Jenny…this is not going to be easy. For a moment, let us ignore the obvious differences. But let us instead look at how society would look at any two women…together. Add in the fact that I am your employer…and then to that add the fact that you are human and I am…’