Veil Entry - Snow Isn’t Always Silent

[dancingdragon3.livejournal.com]

Title: Snow Isn’t Always Silent

Author: dancingdragon3

Characters/pairing: Vastra/Jenny

Rating: PG

Length: 498 words

Disclaimer: Written for fun not profit.

Summary: Takes place right before The Snowmen. Filled with suspicion and unease, Jenny and Vastra watch the snowfall.

Note: Written for who_contest drabble challenge #51: Veil. And for Winter Fest 2017 at myth_fan and terror_scifi.

Jenny didn’t know what woke her until she realized their bed held only herself. Parting the curtain, the room wasn’t as dark as it should be. A white glow came from where her wife stood at a window, holding open the heavy, winter drapes. The wife wearing only her nightgown. She frowned and slid quickly from the bed and into her slippers. Shivering at the temperature drop beyond the bed curtains, she drew on her own thick dressing gown, before grabbing the larger one.

“What are you doing up in the middle of the night, Ma’am?”

As she draped the velvet robe over Vastra’s flannel covered shoulders, the other woman’s attention didn’t move from the view. The scaly, angular countenance looked as frozen as the corners of the window panes. Beyond, a white veil had been pulled over their house, obscuring the world.

“The snow woke me,” Vastra whispered.

Jenny shivered. “The wind, you mean,” she asked, though there didn’t seem to be any.

The snow fell straight down, only wavering slightly, like a sheet on the line. It was fearsome. Lovely. And wrong, because if the snow was blocking the street lamps, where was the glow coming from that illuminated their bedroom? The soft light playing over her wife’s green skin.

“No, the snow. I can hear it...them...in my mind.”

“Hear...them?” Despite the tension knotting her stomach, Jenny edged closer to the window, straining to see, she didn’t know what. Her fingertips met the cold glass.

The relentlessness of the storm reminded her of being stranded near Eyemouth. They’d been investigating reports of a werewolf terrorizing a local lord’s golf course. The blizzard descended so suddenly, there’d been no time to get back to their rooms in town. They’d taken refuge in an abandoned castle. No food, but they’d found enough old, dry furniture to keep a decent fire going. And a reasonably clean lounge big enough for two. Then there had been nothing to do but enjoy each other’s company.

“That will always be one my fondest memories, my dear.” Vastra put her arm around Jenny’s shoulders, drawing her close.

“Reading my mind again...”

“Not I - the snow. I knew what you were remembering from Them.”

Jenny startled, not having realized she was still pressing her hand against the window. She yanked it back. A white hand print remained on the glass for a long moment, before slowly melting back into the... Jenny rubbed her hand against her leg. Only warming it. Not to wipe anything away. That would be silly.

“Jenny...dear?

Stilling her hand, Jenny took a deep breath and purposefully relaxed. “Shall I assume it’s time for the Veiled Detective to leap into action then?”

Vastra smiled down at her. “You assume correctly.” Her gaze slid back to the window. “But perhaps we should wait ‘til morning.”

“Agreed,” Jenny nodded. She wanted to quip about warming back up between their sheets, but a glance at the snow held her tongue.