Welcome back for number 4 in the Silver Lady series!

I need to do some housekeeping up here:

First up, the disclaimers: Van belongs to his publishers Code Realize - Idea Factory/Aksys Games as does Code Realize. I do not own him or nor the game!

Secondly: Sierra is my OC and belongs to me - along with the rest of my OC's - and the angel concept/integration - I make no money off this. Others are my own, complete, story ideas, thus the AU status.

That being said:

You can pry my tropes from my cold dead fingers. Stories can take time to set up - give it a few chapters before giving up!

I have alternative works - in story order:

1. Code Realize: Silver Lady

2. Code Realize: Silver Summer

3. Code Realize: Silver Harvest

If that is the first time you have heard of these stories I strongly recommend you nip over and read "Silver Lady" first and then check out "Silver Harvest"!

It's not required, but you will probably enjoy and understand the couple's backstories, history, and reactions much better if you do! (I know its super long but since its an AU your going to want to know the plot lines for this one. I'm going to dive into angel politics much more heavily - I do highly recommend reading chapters 50 - 61 on Silver Lady...)

Chapter 1: Snow Fall

The cold February wind guested down the street bringing with it a light snowfall that only accented the growing amount of snow on the ground. Grey skies full of ominous clouds indicated that the current weather probably would not dissipate any time soon.

It was early evening as the former war hero and vampire hunter, Abraham Van Helsing, bowed his head respectfully to his current employer as he carefully watched the Marques's enter his carriage. Van promptly closed the door and then proceeded to watch the carriage as it slowly make its way through the crowded London streets.

Only after the hero had lost sight of the carriage did the he turn his attention to the heavily decorated and gilded invitation in his hand with a heavy scowl. He already was aware of the contents of the letter, having discussed it with the Marques's before he departed for the day. The offending, obnoxious, piece of parchment was a formal invitation to attend the royal ball in a week's time. The Marque's had pawned the invitation off on him saying that it would be a bore and that he was much too old for those type of events. The hunter wasn't sure if it was just the Marques's aversion to this particular of event or if it was because his daughter was due with their first grandchild any day now, but either way, the war hero had been forced to accept the invitation in the Marques's stead. Perhaps it was a political gesture, but regardless of the reasoning, Van was being required to represent the his employer at the event for work.

The hunter scowled down at the invitation and package in his hands unhappily. Several things went through the hunter's mind as the frigid February air continued to gust down the lane.

"I wonder if she will like it…" The hunter muttered under his breath as he stuffed the letter into his coat pocket and began his long walk back to the mansion.

I was in the kitchen preparing dinner when I heard the front door click open.

"Welcome…" I peeked my head out of the dinning room but didn't catch a glimpse of my hunter. However, large clumps of snow were melting in the front foyer and there was a package sitting on the entryway table that read Van's name along with a hastily scrawled note that said he would be home a little later. I scowled at the note as I wiped the flour off my hands onto the apron I was wearing.

"You could have at least said hello…" I sighed as I set the note down and inspected the package next to it. I looked at the package and poked it inquisitively.

It was soft.

I shrugged but refrained from opening it. Instead, I just respected my hunter's privacy and figured he wouldn't bring anything that dangerous home. In fact, if Van had thought it was so important to drop off at home before heading back out, I figured it was probably very important to him and that I shouldn't mess with it.

I sighed again as Saint came around the corner. "Is something amiss, my dear?"

I shook my head and gave the count a soft smile. "No, I don't think so but I think it might just be you and me for dinner today."

Saint smiled back at me. "I quite enjoy our suppers together. Having you all to myself is such a rare occasion these days."

I heard the timer go off in the kitchen and I hurried back into the warm room as the count followed after me almost lazily.

"One would be a fool to not enjoy the company of a pretty lady such as yourself by himself wist he has the opportunity."

The count handed me another hotpad as I opened the over door to pull out the dinner rolls. "Well Saint I think your in luck then, Cardia is coming to visit for a couple of days too. If I recall correctly they are due in London in the next day or so. Apparently she hasn't been feeling well and Lupin wants Fran to check her out to make sure her philosopher's stone is still working properly." I thought about it a second and continued. "I think Lupin also mentioned that he has business in London and I invited everyone over for Van's birthday party..."

"Oh, then I will get to enjoy dinner with 2 beautiful ladies then, it will be just like old times."

I set my hotpads down in order to push the tea tray towards him. "Something like that, I think. Hmm, I also need to bake a cake for Van tomorrow before I leave for the conclave." I thought about it for a second and scowled darkly. "And another one for Finis. Did you know he takes it upon himself to follow me around the house until I do?"

Saint laughed as he poured his tea. "Does he still upset you so?"

I huffed feeling rather flustered by Saint's question. In my haste I grabbed the soup pot without thinking.

"Ahhh!" I hissed as I pulled my hand way from the scalding hot pot.

The count was already making his way to the sink and he promptly started running water. "Come here, run it under this."

I flushed with embarrassed. "I can't believe I just did that…"

The count still wasn't even phased as he held my hand under the water tutting. "You were a bit preoccupied by my question, I suppose that is a yes that the boy still bothers you." The count examined my hand with a small frown. "This will require some attention…"

I risked a hesitant glance down at my painfully, blistering, more than slightly burnt hand and grimaced. "Van is going to be mad at me again…"

The count just chuckled as he left the room to retrieve the first aid kit. "Yes quite so, you have a knack for getting yourself into little incidents like these...pots are quiet hot my dear. Do try to be careful next time."

Van did not get home until well after dark, having spent most of the evening getting tailored for the new suit and ordering his other business attire per protocol. The hunter scowled heavily as he walked alone down the storefronts looking for the flower shop he knew was on the block. Van soon spotted his objective and he started to make his way over to the shop.

A soft pitiful sound caused him to pause as he stomped through the snow covered streets.

"Huh?"

The hunter looked around and noted that the sound came from the alleyway next to him. Van's scowl only grew as another gust of freezing February air roared past him and the pitiful sound cried out again. The hunter sighed and looked at the flower shop and then down the heavily snow drifted ally next to him. He had a choice, he knew, and he also guessed which one his angel would approve of and which one she would be upset over if she ever found out.

If it was the difference between a life and flowers, she would always pick saving the life, regardless of circumstances. Van sighed and set off down the alley in an attempt to locate the source of the mournful crying. It didn't take him long to locate the freezing creature that was wailing with cold and hunger. The hunter crouched down slowly and held out his hand to the scrawny black scrap of fur that was huddled down in the snow.

Softly, Van called out to the tiny creature. "Come here."

The black mass moved a little bit and cried out again as it pressed up against the wall in despair.

Van signed before he tried calling out again. "Here little one."

The kitten crouched even lower and cried as the cold gust blew down the alley. The cold air blew down Van's jacket and the hunter lost his patience. He was cold, irritated, and he just wanted to return back home to spend the remainder of the night with his angel.

At least flowers didn't cry so pitifully.

The hunter thought waywardly as he lunged out and grabbed a hold of the pitiful scrap of fur.

The kitten didn't even protest as Van tucked it into his inner coat for warmth.

"I suppose you'll just have to keep her company while I am away." The hunter's low voice murmured to the scrap of fur inside his jacket and Van could have swore that he heard it mew back at him. The soldier shook his head and tucked his head down into his coat collar before turning to head back towards home.

Van approached the mansion and instantly thought something was off. It wasn't like Sierra to keep the front lights in the parlor on, normally she would be waiting in the dinning room for him so they could have dinner together. The hunter huffed, wondering what had changed as he roughly stomped his boots off before entering the mansion.

The warmth and light that greeted him was quickly eclipsed by a head of brown hair yelling his name.

"Van Helsing!"

"Wha-" The hunter quickly defended his burden, who sorrowfully protested being squished with another mournful mew. "Hold on a second..."

Van took a better look at the woman meeting him at the door. "C-Cardia?"

The brunette quickly pulled away from him as the hunter looked up in amazement at as the people flocked around to meet him at the door.

I stood back by Saint's side as Van entered the mansion.

"Welcome home Van!" I greeted him warmly as the hunter's shocked face surveyed the foyer with genuine surprise. I toyed with the charm the hunter had given me for my birthday as I explained. "Everyone showed up kind of unexpectedly early..."

Lupin flashed a grin at me. "With all the wonderful snowy weather we have been getting recently, we figured we would just crash here for a few days. We have some errands to run here in London and figured you wouldn't mind the company!"

My hunter just looked around the room in shock. "What are you all…?"

I smiled softly as I tried to explain. "Haha, that is my fault dearest. I sent out invitations inviting them to stay with us for a bit, early last month. I suppose there are some perks about you working all the time."

Van scowled back at me as I started to grin mischievously. "You should have told me you were planning on having visitors over."

I laughed as Lupin stepped forward to shake Van's hand. "That's the purpose of a surprise visit, for it to be a surprise!"

Saint stepped forward smiling and shook Van's hand next.

I tugged on my sleeve hoping Van had not yet caught sight of my now bandaged hand. It was healing, but I had burnt it pretty badly and it had only been a few hours since the incident.

The hunter shook everyone's hand and welcomed them while still protecting something in his coat.

"What are you hiding?" I asked him inquisitively as Lupin and Cardia moved out of the way with a snicker.

"What are you hiding?" The hunter shot back at me with a glare.

I grimaced, realizing I had been hoping in vain, but I didn't get a chance to respond to his heated question as Fran and Impey ducked into the foyer next.

"Just how many of people are here?" Van sighed in exasperation and pulled a sopping wet bundle of fur out of his inner jacket. The kitten wailed piteously as it was forcibly removed from its warm and secure hiding place. "Sierra, can you take care of this while I go change?"

I moved forward and accepted the kitten from the hunter with wide eyes. "Aww its so cute, who is this?"

The hunter scowled disapprovingly at me as I accepted the wet bundle of fur into my arms. "I was going to bring home flowers as an apology for being out so late...but this little guy was crying and appeared to have been abandon out in the cold."

There was a short silence from Van as he caught sight of my bandaged hand while I tried to comfort the crying kitten. "...I figured he might be able to keep you company while I was away at work."

The hunter promptly stopped unbuttoning his jacket and grabbed my bandaged hand.

I gasp shortly as he murmured in a low, overly concerned, voice. "Dearest, happened this time?"

The hunter's scowl deepened as he must have caught the scent from the burn ointment. "Did you burn yourself cooking?"

I looked up from soothing the kitten sheepishly as Saint came to my defense. "Ah, that would be my fault. I distracted the lady and she got hurt because of my poor timing in inquiries."

Van's ice cold glare at the grinning count could have been lethal a few months ago, but now it just held a strong sense of disapproval. The hunter just snorted and dropped my hand. "Tch. Let me get changed and I'll attend to that before I eat."

"Ho, ho...such a bold declaration Van Helsing, and how just do you plan to do that?" Lupin teased as Van shrugged off his coat and hung it on coat rack before unloading his shotguns. I shot an inquisitive glance at Van. For some time now, the hunter had been keeping his weapons at the door unless he was maintaining them, stating that he didn't want or need any firearms near his chambers.

The thought of anyone breaking into his chambers mildly amused me for some reason and I laughed quietly.

The rest of the group was still peppering Van with questions but my laugh silenced the room.

"What did I do something strange…?" I looked around in desperation as my hunter just gave me a wayward grin. "What? Did I do something wrong?"

Fran shook his head as Impey picked me up and started crying. "Oh, baby! That is an amazing sound! It just brings me to tears! I don't remember the last time I heard you laugh!"

The tiny ball of fur in my arm hissed and swiped at the engineer and Impey hastily put me down wailing. "What? Not you too fuzzy!"

Fran chuckled at the redhead's misfortune. "It must be that all animal's just don't like you, maybe it's the way you smell?"

Impey sniffed his armpit and then looked up. "No way! I smell manly enough to attract all the babes!"

While Lupin and Impey went at it, I watched Van slide up the stairs with a giant wet spot on his front jacket. I assessed that must have been where he had been carrying the kitten to keep it warm. I stifled another giggle, now knowing why he wanted to change so quickly. As my hunter disappeared upstairs, I hurried into the kitchen with my new friend.

Shortly afterward Fran and Cardia wandered in and found me feeding the kitten.

The little thing was so scrawny and starved that I picked out some chicken and tore it up on a tea saucer before bothering to find a drawing cloth. Cardia handed me one while Fran checked the kitten over.

"He's really underweight and cold." The doctor informed us as the kitten's big green eyes stared back at us accusingly and it wailed.

"Aww, its hungry." Cardia exclaimed as Fran sat him back down to eat.

"Least he has a good appetite." I assessed as I carefully dried the kitten while he ate. "Your very lucky Van found you and decided to bring you home."

I tried to think of a name, but I promptly gave up as the kitten tried to leap off the counter-top. I hurriedly stretched out my hands and caught the damp fur ball before it hit the floor. With a sigh of relief from around the kitchen, I just decided to ask Van what he thought of a name when he joined us.

Thinking about my hunter, I looked down at a the kittens bright green eyes and tiny face half covered in chicken bits and thought.

He would he have ever brought a pet home before?

A small mew of protest from my new friend occurred as I set him back up on the counter to finish drying and cleaning his face off.

"Oh I am sorry!" I looked and discovered that the kitten had a small tear on his ear. "Aww, sorry little guy. Fran do you have any disinfectant on you by any chance? It looks like he has a torn ear."

Cardia and Fran leaned in as I examined the kitten's ear further. "Ehhh? Hold on, I have some in my bag in the dining room."

The doctor left on his errand as Cardia picked the kitten up and cuddled him to her chest. "He is so small!"

A cold voice entered the kitchen. "Yes, he is quite tiny."

I turned around to face my irritated hunter with a smile. "He's very lucky you brought him home then…he is home right?"

I eyed Van nervously as he closed the distance between us with a few determined steps. "Yes, he is home."

Piercing blue-violet eyes cut to the brunette petting the kitten and the hunter cleared his throat. "Hmph...Cardia do you mind giving us a minute?"

The brunette sensed something was amiss and turned to give the kitten back to me. "Oh, I am sorry…"

I shook my head and petted the creature softly. "Can you take him out to Fran please? He really should have someone care for his ear."

"Alright...I'll just tell everyone that you need a moment then?" Cardia looked and Van and then at me for a second before leaving the room carrying the protesting kitten in her wake.

The hunter scarcely waited until Cardia shut the door to the kitchen before he had me in his arms. "Your hurt, dearest. Let me see your hand."

I shyly tucked it behind my back as he ordered me to present my injury to him. "Really you don't need to…"

The exasperated hunter promptly gave up on pleasantries and forced a kiss on me. The hunter's raw passion had me melting into him, begging for more, within seconds.

"I never get tired of seeing you react so passionately to me." Van growled and I latently noticed that he already had my bandage half undone.

"That's not nice Van!" I pouted as the hunter looked the burn over and I watched his grin turn to a scowl as he examined my wound further.

"No, what's not nice is that you invited people over without informing me and now you're hiding injuries as well. Do I need to start doing full body inspections on you when I come home everyday?" The hunter expressed his frustration roughly, referring to with my habit of collecting small bumps and bruises almost daily.

"It seems like every time I turn around its something new. Earlier this week it was the thorn bush in the green houses, a few days ago you tripped going upstairs, then there is that cut from the kitchen knife last night." The hunter muttered darkly as he forced me back against the counter-top.

"Van…?" The hunter ignored me as he brought my injured hand up to his mouth. I felt his tongue ghost over on my burn and I breathlessly called his name. "...Helsing."

The hunter grinned maliciously but continued his ministrations. His hot tongue licked up and down my hand in a manner that made me weak in the knees and quickly had me pleading.

"If you would prefer we can take this upstairs? I purred as he finally pulled away.

"As much as I would like too…" The hunter gestured towards the door where the our friends were gathered and I sighed.

My own planning sabotaged me.

I thought absently as I examined the now quickly healing wound.

"You are becoming rather skilled at this." I commented darkly and Van chuckled softly.

"That's because you have a bad habit of collecting all these minor wounds on a daily basis….though I would be lying if I said I don't enjoy it." The hunter had me firmly pressed up against the counter-top and his strong arms created a small barrier that encased us in our own little world. "I hate seeing you get hurt, but at least I am not powerless to do something about it now."

Van towered over me and I shrank away from the intensity in his eyes. "Don't...don't look at me like that please. We have guests…"

The hunter snorted seemingly unimpressed by my weak-willed protests. "I don't care what anyone thinks, all I care about is you and your well being. Let them say what they want."

I set my hands on the hunter's chest and realized with a hint of surprise that Van wasn't nearly as calm as he seemed. The soldier's normally steady heartbeat was a quick thrumming, and I realized he was upset.

"Dearest please, I am alright I promise. I am sorry to have hid it from you, I truly thought it would be gone before you got home. I promise I won't hide them anymore." I leaned my head on the Van's chest and he slowly pulled me closer.

"..."

I looked up at him slowly and the hunter slowly growled to me threateningly before lowered his lips to mine. "You better."

I laughed softly, trying to hide my growing unease, and started to kissing him back. "Haha, You seem a bit more protective today than normal."

The hunter let our kiss linger and then slow pulled away with his customary scowl. "You are everything to me, of course I would be protective of you. Any man with half a brain would be."

I traced the hunter's strong jawline with my fingertips as he continued to hold me close. "...Are you still upset with me?"

Van let out a slow breath and closed his eyes. "No, I am more frustrated that we have company now."

I slowly brought my lips up to his and gently kissed him. "I, for one, am happy to have guests visiting. I want to celebrate these small moments with you and the people important to us."

I tapped the cross that Van had presented me with for my own birthday several months ago remembering. "Saint told me months ago it was a disservice to not celebrate these moments, and you yourself said that you wanted to celebrate these moments with me. It's not fair of you to only acknowledge mine, so I thought to return the…"

Van didn't let me finish. The hunter's eyes were wide in surprise and raw emotion, but he was kissing me with such a passion that it didn't really matter. When he finally was finished, I was more than a bit intoxicated by his kiss and I did finally couldn't feel the damage in my hand.

I grinned at him and held up my hand. "Look, see I'm all better now."

Van went to reply to me, but there was the sound of the door opening and Lupin was grinning at us. "Hurry up you two lovebirds! We all hungry and having the guests of honor hiding out in the kitchen isn't going to stop us from eating all the food out here!"

Van scowled darkly at the master thief as I grabbed his hand. "Come on dearest, I bet you haven't ate since lunch. Let's go join everyone for dinner."

Author note:

Welcome! Long time no see! ^_^

Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the my next fanfic in the Silver Lady series! I hope you look forward to seeing what happens this round to Sierra and Van. Right now there is a bunch of foreshadowing and prepping going on - but in the background I have been putting little shorts together for quite some time so now I am trying to put them all into a nice story for you.

...If you remember my promises at the end of Silver Harvest ...shhh...I don't want to ruin the surprises yet... =X

Originally this was suppose to also be another 1 shot for Van's birthday but I had to much stuff that I wanted to share...anyway...on to my summary!

(Wow am I rusty at this...bear with me please!)

Van gets a invitation to attend the queens ball in a few days, while Sierra is busy collecting the group at the mansion without the hunter's consent. Van, upset that he has to work later than normal to get fitted for a suit, thinks to bring home flowers but winds up bringing home a stay kitten. Meanwhile at home, Saint is the first to call on the mansion while Sierra is preparing for dinner. She manages to burn her hand pretty badly, but she is trying to hide the wound from Van.

Remember Fav and/or Comment if you enjoyed reading! Watch if you don't want to miss the next chapter release! (If not check back in...in probably a week or so?)