Author's Notes: Takes place about a year after the end of the series. Integra's back in charge of Hellsing and Seras has finally become a full vampire. For those who think Seras and Alucard are acting OOC, sod off; a lot can change in a year as far as Seras is concerned and a vampire as old and powerful as Alucard just has to have hidden depths. This is my interpretation of future events in Hellsing and Alucard's relationship with his fledging, so if you don't like it tough, read something else. For all you fathers out there, happy father's day. I know, I know. It's a couple of days late thanks to my dumb computer fighting me every step of the way, but Happy Father's Day all the same. Cheers.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, duh!

Happy Father's Day Master

Alucard was... intrigued. Police Girl had been acting strangely for two weeks now. Often he heard her muttering to herself, too lowly for even his ears to catch the words. And he was certain that whatever it was, it had to deal with him. After all, his former fledgling was spending great amounts of time staring at him when she thought he wasn't looking, as if she were trying to unravel a riddle within a puzzle wrapped around an enigma that only he had the answer to. Normally he'd just pull the thoughts from her head to see what she was thinking, but whenever he brushed against her mind she'd detect it almost immediately as if she was on guard against such eavesdropping, and she'd instantly slam down surprisingly strong mental barriers before he could get more than a few scattered thoughts. She'd never reacted like that to his mental probes before. It made him truly curious about what she was hiding from him.

And now, now he could sense her presence just outside the door of his dungeon crypt. Nervousness and uncertainty radiated off of her in waves. She was so nervous, she'd forgotten her mental shields and was actually broadcasting her thoughts. But he just couldn't seem to make sense of him. Unusual, considering how orderly his childe's mind had become since fully accepting her life as Nosferatu. Frowning slightly in concentration, Alucard picked out bits and pieces of her scattered thoughts and tried to make sense of them. It seemed as though his little Police Girl was at odds with herself, warring with her own uncertainty.

'Oh, this is stupid. Alucard will just laugh at me!'

'But you haven't celebrated this day in so long. How long has it been since he had somebody to celebrate the day with?'

'Master will just think that such foolish emotional sentiments over a meaningless human holiday is a distasteful reminder of the humanity he tried so hard to teach you to reject.'

'But that's just the thing! He taught me! He sired me! He raised me as a vampire! Why shouldn't I celebrate this day with him!'

'It's... not the same thing.'

'Maybe not, but he still means something to me like that, and by hell I'm going to let him know it!'

He felt whatever decision she'd come to firm in her mind seconds before she knocked on his door. The No Life King allowed himself one of his infamous amused smirks. Even after a year of truly living as a vampire, Seras still clung to some of her human habits. Actually using the door instead of just phasing into another person's room like he did when he entered his Master's office was one of them. Still, her confusing behavior was amusing him, so he'd indulge her. "Enter."

The door creaked open slowly on rusty hinges in desperate need of oil as a strawberry blond mop of hair peeked shyly into the room. Hiding his mouth by propping his chin in one gloved hand in apparent boredom, Alucard grinned at the sight of his childe's face, and it wasn't even one of his maniacal "I will kill you in ways that will send shivers down mens spines for centuries to come" grins. Aw, the Police Girl was just too adorable when she worried her lower lip with her fangs like that, as if she were a petulant child fearful of a scolding. Whatever this was all about she was certainly providing him with some much needed amusement, and his curiosity was beginning to wear on his patience as he waited for the younger vampire to speak. Finally, it was he himself who broke the awkward silence between the two, quickly growing bored of it. "Well, Police Girl? Did you want something?"

The woman flushed crimson and stuttered incoherently for a second before whipping out a large, wrapped box covered in blood red wrapping paper and with a black ribbon adorning it. Still blushing, Seras smiled one of her shy, cute little smiles, and whispered just loudly enough for him to hear. "Happy Father's Day, Master."

"Wha!" Alucard felt an emotion he hadn't really felt for over a century, surprise. "Police Girl, what..."

Not waiting for him to continue, Seras teleported excitedly next to him and began opening the box for him as he sat stunned in his throne-like chair. "Well I've been mulling it over the last couple of weeks, Master Alucard! And finally I decided about two days into it that I might as well get you presents, and now here we are! Ooooh, this one I found at an expensive clothing shop, but it was just so you, Master that I had to buy it!"

The first gift was, apparently, a red tie the same color as the ones he already wore, only it was covered in designs of stylized eyes. He had to admit, Police Girl was right. It was like the tie had been made just for him. The next gift she lifted out of the box, she grinned shyly at him but with a spark of mischief in her eyes as she handed it over. "This one I figured you might enjoy wearing the next time you fight Father Anderson."

This gift was a plain, black t-shirt. Really, he'd never stoop to wearing something like that! Idiotic clothing such as this was what was wrong with this century. But the white lettering on the front of it gave him pause, and slowly he turned a wicked grin on his former fledgling. "'Jesus loves you, but I'm his favorite', Police Girl?"

She grinned sheepishly, but the light in her eyes was a true reflection of his own wicked grin. "Well Master, I imagine the Judas Priest will get mighty hot under his priest's collar when he sees you wearing that."

He couldn't help himself, he chuckled in entertainment as he snatched the box from her fingers to see what was left inside of it. His eyes widened as he peered into it. There was just one present left. Sitting atop a bed of crimson velvet was a single, still warm and obviously fresh packet of blood probably drawn just a few hours ago. Even through the plastic bag, he could smell it. Practically taste it. The nobility in that blood. The power in that blood. The same blood that bound him to the Hellsing line. Integra's blood.

Shocked, he turned again to his childe, who was twiddling her thumbs nervously as she looked away from him. "I talked to Sir Integra about it, and she agreed to allow one pint of blood to be drawn from her for you. All I had to do to get her to agree was polish her office and refurbish her furniture..."

Ah, that explained why it was so shiny when he last visited his Master. He wouldn't have thought one little mundane task such as that would have convinced the Hellsing to part with any of her blood though. But Seras wasn't finished. "Then I cleaned all the guns used by the troops after target practice for a week, bought her two bottles of brandy bottled in the late eighteen hundreds, polished all the swords and armor displays in the hallways, helped Walter prepare her tea, cleaned out the air ducts and chimneys, varnished the dining room, got those bloody pigeons out of their nest by her window, and..."

Alucard halted her in her tracks with an upraised hand. Bloody Hell! She'd been doing all of that! Even for a vampire of his lineage, such work on top of her missions would be exhausting! And she'd done all of it to get something for him? One question burned in his mind, and he allowed his confusion to show as he asked her. "Why?"

At this Seras looked him in the eye, totally calm, and asked him serenely. "Why not?"

"Master, you sired me. You brought me back into the world, born anew. Doesn't that, in a way, make you my father?"

Alucard shook his head in denial, too stunned to really deal with this right now. Who knew that the Police Girl of all people could surprise him so greatly? "But... I mean... It's not exactly like that Police Girl, creating a fledgling is only similar to having a child..."

Again she surprised him, something she was doing a lot of today, when she snapped at him. "So what? It take more to be a father than the ability to impregnate a woman, Alucard! A father is there for you! A father teaches you! A father supports you! Even when they leave you to make your own decisions, they're still there! When you were a boy, who taught you to ride a horse? Wield a sword? Run your kingdom? Lead an army? Who did that, Prince of Wallachia?"

The red garbed vampire winced slightly, inwardly cursing Walter for confirming Seras' suspicions of his true identity. At least she hadn't called him Vlad. Normally he'd strike his former servant down for taking a tone like that with him, but he had to admit that she raised a valid point. "My father."

Seras nodded. "Mine was there to catch me when I took my first steps. He taught me how to ride a bike and swim. Because of the example he gave me, I became a police officer. The person I am now is shaped by what he taught me. What he showed me. Without my father, I wouldn't really be the person I am today."

Her tone softened, and she leaned forward to hug the startled elder vampire firmly. "And you. You encouraged me to drink my blood when I was still a newborn fledgling and taking my first shaky few steps into unlife. You taught me how to hunt ghouls and FREAKs. You showed me how to turn into a flock of bats or phase through walls. By constantly speaking to me through my mind you taught me telepathy, just like how babies first learn to talk. You protected me from Father Anderson that night in the hospital and urged me to save my strength. Even if you did it in ways that could be considered rude or other ways that I just didn't understand, you guided me. And even when I refused to drink your blood for the first time, you allowed me to make my own choice and let me learn from it even though you didn't approve. In your own way, you've always been there for me, Master. If that's not the mark of a father, I don't know what is."

Her mood lightened, Seras released him from her embrace and giggled cutely before giving him a light peck on the cheek. "So like I said, Happy Father's Day, Master."

With that she phased from the room, leaving Alucard with a strange smile on his face. 'And Happy Father's Day to you too... daughter.'

END