This Story is for FAN-REI
Chapter 12: George's first words
It was late in the afternoon and Walter was driving. George was sitting in the back playing with L-card, and Seras was sitting in the front seat beside Walter with a Cheshire grin on her face. Why? Because she was Mrs. Walter Dollneaz and they were taking George to see a linguist. George was two now, but she had still not spoken or uttered a word. She did make guttural sounds like BOOM when it was going to rain; but that wasn't really talking was it.
Walter sat patiently in the waiting room as he held George in his arms. Seras just couldn't hold in how pleased she was to be spending the afternoon with Walter. She fidgeted a little and straightened out her new dress. Instead of wearing her "police girl" uniform, today she was wearing a pretty sun dress of blue. She once again stole another glance at Walter and smiled.
"Something wrong, Miss Victoria?" he finally asked, in a fatherly manner.
"No, Walter." she blushed. "Nothing at all."
"Mr. and Mrs. Dollneaz." called the nurse. "The doctor will see you now."
Walter stood up and placed George in his right arm; then he held his left hand out to Seras.
"Are you coming dear?" he asked.
Seras tried to hide her smile.
"Yes." she said, as she took his hand.
They sat together in the doctor's office as the doctor examined George.
"You look very pretty in that dress." complimented Walter, as he glanced at her.
Seras smiled so hard, her face could have broken from the strain.
"You have excellent taste in women's clothes." said Seras, looking down and not directly meeting his gaze. "This dress is just my size and is very comfortable."
"I'm glad you like it." he smiled, warmly. "Maybe...someday...you'll have a chance to wear it again."
"How about tomorrow?" she asked, suddenly looking up at him.
"Tomorrow?" wondered Walter.
"Its penguin day at the zoo." said Seras. "I think George would love to see the penguins, don't you?
"Yes, that's a good idea." said Walter, thinking about fitting it into his schedule. "We'll take George to the zoo."
Their attention returned to George when the doctor called her name.
"George." called the doctor.
George looked up at him.
"That's good. She has voice recognitions skills." he said, beginning his verbal exam of George.
He picked up a block and held it in front of George.
"Block." he said. "Can you say block?"
George just looked at him and smiled.
"Come on." urged the Doctor. "Say block."
George just tilted her head and reached out to take the block from the doctor. The doctor let George have the block and he made notes in his notebook.
"She is saying block." whispered Seras, defensively. "Can't he hear her?"
Suddenly, Walter knew what the problem was. Integra hardly ever talked to George except to scold her. Seras and Alucard had telepathy; they always knew what George was thinking. As for himself, he hadn't really taught George anything at all. He spent most of his time cleaning up the messes she made. So who was teaching George?
They watched the doctor give George three more mental and physical tests of intelligence. Seras smiled proudly as George passed all three. She just never SPOKE a word. Well, not words that humans could hear.
"We're going to have to make George start speaking verbally." whispered Walter.
"I've been trying, but I understand her whether she talks or not, so..." explained Seras, in a hushed whisper.
"Yes, I understand. But she isn't learning any language skills with which to use with other humans." reminded Walter.
"Mr. Dollneaz." called the Doctor.
"Yes, sir." answered Walter.
"George seems mentally competent." judged the doctor.
"George is very competent." assured Walter. "She understands everything you say. She just doesn't speak."
"Really?" questioned the doctor. "Show me."
"George." called Seras. "Come here and bring me the pencil that the doctor is holding."
George looked at the doctor, took the pencil, and walked over to Seras. She handed the pencil to Seras. Seras smiled at her.
"Good girl, George. Now, give it back to him."
George walked back over to the doctor. He held his hand out to take the pencil back, but George just stood there. She held the pencil like a dagger, but Seras warned her off.
"George, give him the pencil nicely." she warned her.
George gently placed the pencil in the doctor's hand and returned to Walter's side. Walter reached down and picked up George. George sat in Walter's lap, her eyes beaming and full of mischief.
"Well, that's amazing." said the doctor. "Most two year olds don't have such mental coordination. So she just refuses to speak. Hm, usually in cases like this, something has traumatized the child; and along with the suppression of memory so too is the ability to speak. Has George ever experienced anything traumatizing? Has someone very close to her died? Or maybe she was in a car accident?"
"No." said Seras. "Nothing."
"Seras love, your forgetting...George nearly died once." reminded Walter.
Suddenly Seras remember. George had slept with Alucard and spent the night rolling around in his shadow lands.
"What happened?" asked the doctor, now full of curiosity.
"She fell out of a tree." lied Walter.
"Yeah." corroborated Seras. "She just loves climbing the trees in our yard."
"Hm, well if she sustained head injuries." he surmised. "She may never speak."
"But she can still reason." protested Seras, sticking to the "tree" story.
"Not all functions have been affected. She walks fine. She reasons fine. She just doesn't speak." said the doctor, as he made notes. "Maybe you should start teaching her sign language. Once she starts school, it will make it easier for her to commutate with the other kids. I recommend the Wallflower Elementary School. It is a special school for children who must learn sign language for one reason or another."
Walter sat there thinking. He hadn't thought of that, another side effect to George's experience with Alucard. She had gained the ability to tell when it rains, the ability to move objects just by looking at them.
Walter smiled inwardly, as he remember Integra's face when George took her toy trumpet back from her. George had been annoying Integra with it all morning, so she took it from her and put it on her desk. George was still too short to reach it, so George "called" it to her. Walter's grin grew wider as he remembered that for the first time in her life Integra Hellsing looked like she was going to faint.
George had also gained the ability to call familiars to her; after all she had Ink, a shadow puppy. But what if with all that she had gained from Alucard, she had lost the ability to speak. Walter sat and worried. Not being able to speak was a very serious problem in the Hellsing organization. Seconds could save lives...or destroy them.
"Here." said the doctor, as he handed Seras a book. "I'd like you to start teaching her sign language."
"Thank you doctor." said Seras, as she took the book.
"Dear?" called Seras to Walter. "What do you think?"
Walter snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the book. The words Sign Language ABCs stared at him.
"Yes." agreed Walter, none to readily. "I guess we should consider the possibility of George never speaking to us."
"It'll be strange and hard to get use to." said Seras, trying to be loving. "But I know we'll manage."
"Good." said the doctor. "I'd like to see you again in six months; just to see how you're getting along."
"Yes, doctor." said Walter. "Thank you for your time. Come along dear, we have a dinner party to prepare for this evening."
Seras stood, thanked the doctor, and followed Walter out.
When they were back in the car and driving home, Seras asked Walter...
"Do you really think that what's wrong?"
"It is a possibility." said Walter.
"I don't think so." said Seras, none too confident. "We just need to speak to her verbally only. I think she'll be just fine."
"And yet...it is still a very real problem. Just because we don't want it to be, won't make it go away. We'll try speaking to George for three months. If she still doesn't speak, then we'll start teaching her sign language." he reasoned.
"Are we really going to send her to the Wallflowers school?" asked Seras.
"Hardly." said Walter, trying to cheer Seras up with a smile. "Worst comes to worst, I'll be George's teacher like I was for Sir Integra."
"I thought Integra went to the Royal Albert Academy." wondered Seras.
"She did. But that was only to work on her "people" skills. She studied mostly at home. That's why she was always so much smarter than the other kids." explained Walter.
"Her "people" skills huh." mused Seras, playfully. "Did she graduate?"
Walter chuckled as he caught on to Seras little joke.
"One would wonder." he smiled.
----
Once they returned home, Seras took George and explained the situation to Alucard; while Walter went and talked to Integra. So for the next three months, Alucard and Seras ignored George's requests unless they were spoken requests. Angry at them for ignoring her, George went to see Walter and Integra; but they too ignored her.
However, despite their best efforts, George still refused to speak. So now instead of asking for anything, George just took what she wanted. And if it was up to high for her to reach, she pushed a chair over to get at it or "called" it to her. Walter finally gave up and told Alucard to teach her sign language.
So now Alucard was sitting in his basement chair with George on his lap. They were "reading" the sign language book together.
"Maestru?" asked George, mentally. "De ce a face Eu am la spre learn semn limbaj?" Why do I learn sign language?
"Fiindca al tau human si tu mustata learn la spre a comunica cu alt humans." answered Alucard. Because your human and you must learn to communicate with other humans.
"Numai l a face." protested George. But I do
"Ei can't inima tu." reminded Alucard. "Humans esti incapable de telepathy." They can't hear you. Humans are incapable of telepathy
"Numai l a putea a face it." said George. But I can do it.
Alucard looked at her and gave her a toothy grin.
"That's because you're special." said Alucard.
"Isn't Domnule special?" asked George.
"Yes, she is. Just like you, we share a bond. That's why people in this house understand us. But normal humans, outside this house, will never understand us. And it is to these human too that you must learn to communicate with. How will you lead Integra's soldiers if they can't hear your orders?" spoke Alucard.
George thought about it.
"Maestru?" said George, beginning her VERBAL question.
"So you can talk." said Alucard.
"Da." said George.
"Then why don't you?" he asked, tossing the book aside.
"You no like me too." said George, leaning back against Alucard.
Alucard smiled. This child was definitely one after his own heart.
"Well, learn sign language anyway." said Alucard, calling the book back to him. "We'll use it to piss off Integra. O.K?"
George laughed. Her father just loved and lived for teasing her mother.
"O.K."
---
Note:
1. Regular text is English.
2. Italics is Romanian telepathy.
3. And Italics bold is Spoken Romanian.
I got tired of translating text and some words don't translate. So for the sake of time, everything will be in English. I was also considering leaving George a mute, but that would make later chapters more difficult, so I left it out.
Thanks for all the reads and reviews.
mslcat