"Walter."

"Yes, ma'am?" Her butler, back and refreshed from his long vacation trip, long overdue, was ready for work. He stood up straight, regal, and with that practiced air of a gentleman, waiting for his master's request.

"There is…something I need to show you. It's about Alucard and his previous…illness."

"Yes, how has the Un-Life King been doing? I was wondering about it."

Integra grunted slightly and stood up. "Here, come with me."

A little confused at the lack of straightforwardness, Walter followed.

"Do you know anything about raising infants?"

"I did a great deal while you were, Sir Integra."

"That's right, my mother didn't do much for me when I was young…" Integra's eyes were closed and she pinched the bridge of her nose as she stood before a door.

"What's the matter, Sir Integra?"

"We have a situation, to do with an infant." She sighed a little. "I am honestly at a loss for what to do. Here, come inside." She opened the door and walked inside.

Walter followed her and stopped, looking curiously at the crib in the center of the room. Integra gestured towards the inside of the tall crib. Walter came and bent, looking inside to see a sleeping baby. It was pale, with perfect infants' skin, its eyes were closed and…it wasn't breathing. Before Walter could think he was looking at a dead child he saw the baby take one breath and then stop again.

"It's a vampire babe." Integra said coolly.

"Where…did you find it?"

"My stomach." A dark voice muttered from the corner, and if Walter had been anyone else, he would have jumped. Alucard stood from the corner and came to stand behind Walter. "That thing came out of me."

Walter made a slight face, which consisted of a slight frown and tightening of the skin between his brows. "I don't understand."

"Alucard came into my office and spewed a vampire child on my desk." Integra said bluntly and sharply.

"And…!" Alucard held up a hand. "I haven't eating a baby since becoming servant to Hellsing."

Walter frowned and looked down at the sleeping child. "And you don't know what to do with it, Integra? What does Hellsing do?"

"We kill vampires. But this is different, Walter."

Alucard tilted his head. "How so? You would let any of the un-dead walk simply because they looked like an innocent child?" He challenged his master.

"No. The child will be kept alive until I figure out how this happened. At least you're back to his old self."

Walter glanced at the half grinning vampire where he stood as Integra's shadow.

"Does it … eat anything, Sir Integra?" Walter asked warily.

Seras skipped into the room through a wall. "Isn't she cute, Walter? Isn't she?" Seras stroked the baby's cheek with a finger.

"Yes, Seras has been feeding her at night."

"You warm up the blood pack in the kitchen." Seras commented, still absorbed with the child.

"And Alucard? What have you been doing about it?" Walter asked curiously.

"Nothing." Alucard's face was expressionless.

-:

Little hands wringing and little feet kicking, she grabbed up at the air, her face about to explode with joy at the sight of her mommy.

Two gloved hands came down and picked the child up quickly before she could squeak in her delight. With two wide red eyes and a smooth bald baby head, she was nothing more than a blob of energy.

Alucard rubbed her head. It was cold.

He sat on the floor, holding the child in his hands and looking down at her. He opened her mouth a little wider with a finger and checked her gums. He saw no teeth, not even a peak in the gums. What was a vampire without teeth? This wasn't a vampire, it was a lumpy helpless bloodsucking leech… she fell against his stomach when he forgot to hold her tightly enough and she flopped awkwardly.

"Ma…ster?"

Alucard covered his torso with his duster cloak and looked sharply over his glasses at where Seras's voice had come from.

"What's that?" She pointed at the lump under the red cloth.

"I…ate it."

"Master, really." Seras put her hands on her hips and looked at him.

"Eh…" There was a small squeak from his lap and shifting under his cloak.

Seras sat in front of her master and held out her hands.

Alucard, rather roughly, plopped the child in her hands.

"Master, not so rough!" She hissed.

Alucard watched as Seras gently put the child in her lap, having it face Alucard. "What do we name it?"

"We? What do you mean 'we?' And name it? Why does it need a name?"

"Master, please?"

"Integra wouldn't appreciate you naming it like a pet." Alucard pointed out.

"I don't care, she still needs a name. How about after you, master?"

"Dracula, Alucard… not really girl names."

"Acula? Sounds sort of girl-like."

Just then someone opened the door. Integra was standing there in her bathrobe and pajamas. "Seras? Are you feeding it?"

"The blood is warming." She said quickly.

"Alucard, what are you doing?"

"I was awake. I was bored. I was bothered. So I came in to make it be quiet."

Integra's look was cold, but not accusing or angry. Without looking away from Alucard's red gaze she said to Seras, "Go make sure the blood doesn't get to hot."

"Y-yes sir." She handed the baby to Alucard and dashed off.

As his master watched Alucard stood and plopped the infant back into the crib as if nothing had happened. Only after that did Integra walk away back towards her bedroom.

With his hand resting on the edge of the crib Alucard watched her leave. Then as she disappeared he felt a sharp pang in his finger. He grunted and drew his hand back and found it bleeding. He stared with a hot incredulous eye at the child as he looked at his hand. The baby was holding herself up by the railing with a wobbly stance, grinning with her plump cheeks at Alucard, a trace of blood on her lip. He saw a tooth.

"I don't think they're supposed to grow that quickly…"