Author' note: I'm terribly sorry about the delay, as I was suffering from an intense writer's block…  Oh well. Thank you for the reviews, they mean a lot to me!!! Please do not forget to leave your comments at the end of this chapter though, thanks!!

Chapter 9

"I'm baaccckkk!" Joan bounced into the room, brown hair streaming behind her and looking happy for some reason. The warm water she was carrying in a cup sloshed, and Mina, who was standing near the door jumped out of the way and glared at her.

Joan either did not notice or ignored Mina altogether.

"Sorry I took so long… I went to order pizza for dinner! You all must be starving right?" She said, looking at them all as she set the cup down on the bedside table.

"What exactly is a… a pizza?" asked Tom quizzically, while rubbing a stubborn mark on his gun furiously.

"Oh, it's the best food in the world! It's hard to explain, but you'll understand when it comes. I've loaded it up with pepperonis, my favourite! I also ordered some delicious spicy chicken wings to go with it and a whole bottle of Pepsi to wash the whole lot down! Sounds great, doesn't it?"

There was a stunned silence, in which the League members tried hard to decipher what exactly she had just said.

Joan sighed. "Never mind. Sorry, but I keep forgetting that the whole lot of you came from the past."

Turning to look at Jekyll, who was now staring up at the ceiling with a glassy look in his eyes, she grinned. "Hey, you've finally awaken! That was quite a nasty knock to your head, wasn't it?" She said, sounding slightly too cheerful. She carefully made no mention of the total transformation she had seen in his character just now. "I hope you're feeling better and…"

She tailed off after realising that Jekyll was not paying the slightest bit of attention to her.

"Hey, are you all right? You're not stoning, are you? Hellooooo….?" She waved a hand vigorously in front of his blank eyes.

In a flash, Mina darted forwards and snatched Joan's hand away from Jekyll's face. Her grip was so tight that the knuckles on her hand turned white and Joan could feel the sharp nails digging deep into her flesh.

With a cry of pain, Joan yanked her hand free from the vampire's grip.

"Why the hell did you do that for??" She shouted angrily, nursing her painful wrist.

 "I have already told you that this is not a game, you silly ignorant child," Mina answered icily, eyes glinting yellow. "One of my members is injured and I will not tolerate you mocking him like that."

"I am NOT mocking him!" Joan said hotly. "Why would I want to do that for?"

A little moan came from the bed, but it went unnoticed. Not one person in the room realised that Henry Jekyll had finally snapped out of his conversation with Hyde due to the commotion and was now back to the present. He was staring at Mina and Joan with a look of acute horror and shock on his face.

Sigh…what have I woken up to? From one nightmare to another… Why must Joan be so hot-headed? Why can't she at least give in to Mina once in a while?

Hyde laughed in his head with glee. I really like that girl… she livens things up so much around here!

Tom tried to look as though he was too busy cleaning his gun to care but his unusually stiff pose and the fact that he was rubbing the same spot on his gun for the fifth time already gave away his true attentiveness to the conversation.

Skinner, on the other hand, was leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets and keeping uncharacteristically silent.

Mina glared at Joan. "I would have thought it common sense for a person of your age to know when to play and when not to… there is no reason for you to engage in such a stupid and immature action."

"I was just showing some concern…"

"You certainly have an interesting way of showing it," Mina said, lip curling.

Joan flushed. "Jeez man, can't I do something without you immediately jumping up and threatening to rip out my throat?"

Jekyll finally could not stand it any more. The shouting match was starting to grate on his nerves and cause him a very violent headache. He decided to, well, "step in" and stop what he thought was madness between the two women. He ignored Hyde's violent protests…

… and gave one very loud, fake cough. 

Everyone jumped.

"Henry! You've snapped out of it at last!" Joan said happily, quickly turning to him. Jekyll felt a little unsettled by her enthusiasm.

"I-"

"That was one bad cough you had," Joan interrupted, not letting him finish his sentence. "Here, you had better drink the warm water I brought up."

She was so enthusiastic that she practically shoved the cup of warm water under his nose. Jekyll jerked his head backwards nervously. "T-thank you for your concern, Miss Joan, I –er…really appreciate it." He reached out slowly (as his arms were still aching) and took the cup from her. In doing so, his fingers brushed hers. She blushed slightly.

"Y-You had better drink it all up. I've dissolved some medicine in there. It will help fight your cold." Jekyll nodded, feeling that his throat and nose were still sore. Raising the cup to his mouth, he drank the liquid down. It tasted like slightly like lemon.

Hyde sneered.

Awww… wasn't that sweet of her?

Just shut up, Hyde.

Mina stared daggers at both Jekyll and Joan.

Suddenly, a chime was heard from somewhere downstairs, and Joan quickly sprang to her feet. "Hey, the pizza must be here! Wait for me guys, I'll be back in a jiffy!" So saying she dashed off, opening and slamming the room door behind her.

"Skinner?" Mina immediately shifted her attention to the invisible thief.

"I know, I know. You don't have to remind me." He had already slipped the greatcoat off his body and thrown it messily on the floor. The room door opened briefly once more before closing shut again.

Mina waited for a few seconds before striding towards the bed and sitting herself onto a chair next to it.

"Joan seems to have a taken a great liking in you, doctor," she said icily.

Jekyll gulped at the look on her face and trembled slightly. He hastily put the empty cup down on the table beside him with shaking hands.

"W-what do you mean?"

The vampire leaned forward, green eyes boring into his own dark ones. "What I mean is that Joan may be trying to glean information from you by being friendly. I want you from now on to keep as far away from her as possible. Am I clear on that?"

Indignation rose up in the doctor. "I believe that I can keep secrets to myself, thank you very much," he said, harsher than he intended. From out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tom flinch. "Why did you have to ask Skinner to follow me?"

Mina sighed. "I was worried… you were not feeling well, and I just wanted to be sure that you would not, well… accidentally… let slip something important if she tried to pump you for information. And according to what Skinner had told me just now, she did, and placed you in a difficult situation to get out of."

"But I-" Jekyll started to protest, but Mina interjected.

"Don't fret. I also know that you handled the problem very well, and did not give her more news than necessary. I would like to congratulate you on that." She smiled tiredly at him, and Jekyll felt his heart beat rather faster than usual.

"I do not trust the girl at all. If not for the fact that we need her…" she closed her eyes, breathing heavily.

"Are you all right?" The doctor asked, leaning forward slightly in concern. "You don't look very well…"

"Yes, yes I'm fine. It was just a slight bout of dizziness. There's nothing to be worried about," she muttered, shaking her head and rubbing at her temple.

"Are you sure?" Tom asked anxiously, who had quickly abandoned his gun cleaning and rushed over to Mina's side. "Would you like me to get anything for you?" Jekyll felt his lips stretch in a small smile. It was so obvious to everyone in the League that the young secret Agent had a huge attraction to Mina.

"Go back to your gun, Tom. I'm fine," Mina said, softly but firmly. "I am not that weak a person."

Was I imagining it, or did Mina just throw me a strange look? Jekyll wondered. The vampire had glanced at him so quickly that it was impossible to tell.

"All right, Ms Harker, if you're sure," Tom drawled in his southern accent. He then stood up and went back to his gun reluctantly. 

Mina turned to look at Jekyll again. "So I want you to understand, it's not that I don't trust you…"

So I had to privately ask Skinner to follow you around, Hyde said sarcastically, mimicking Mina's voice.

Be quiet!

"… but I just do not want to take any chances," she continued. "Not after last time…" Her green eyes, normally so effective in locking in her feelings, betrayed the hurt she felt for an instant. They took on a slightly dreamy, faraway sheen that was very rarely seen and Jekyll had to fight the sudden intense urge he felt to hold her. She looked so lovely like that, full of feminine charm. And before he could stop himself, he felt his eyes travel from her face to the smooth curve of her neck and down to the…

He felt a blush creeping up his face, and, full of embarrassment, looked away hastily.

 If only I could just reach out and touch her hair, with my fingers caressing that silky softness… or perhaps, just perhaps, put my lips on hers…

Then what are you waiting for? Hyde demanded. Take her! You're already in bed and she is right there next to you!

Jekyll coughed and glanced at Mina timidly. She cleared her throat and looked down on the floor. Almost without thinking, he silently stretched out a hand towards her hair…

The door burst open once again, and the greatcoat Skinner left on the floor was quickly picked up by an invisible hand. "She's coming back now… only a few seconds behind me…" He panted as he quickly put on the coat. "Went to collect that 'pizza' thing from a man at the door…"

Mina hastily stood up, while Jekyll's hand fell limply and disappointingly (?) back onto his lap. 

Just as Skinner finished buttoning up, Joan came trooping in, arms full. She dumped the contents of her hands down onto the round table in the middle of the room. "All right!" she said, face positively glowing. "Let's eat!" She took out a large box that had the words 'Pizza Hut' stamped on it from the mess.

Opening it, she turned to the League members. "Doesn't it look absolutely appetizing?"

They stared at in astonishment. The pizza seemed nothing more to Jekyll than an oddly shaped piece of dough with cooked ingredients scattered haphazardly on its surface.

"It looks like a wheel," said Tom seriously. "Oh well, but I don't think it can be worse than the steamed squid and octopus we had when we were onboard the Nautilus, I suppose…. Could it?"

Skinner snorted. "THAT is what you call appetizing?" he asked. Joan smiled, offering the box him. "You're so going to eat your words when you try it," she challenged. "Go on, take a slice!"

"And how do you propose I go about doing that?" Skinner shot back, looking around. There were no cutlery to be seen anywhere.

Joan laughed. "With your fingers of course, dummy!"

There was a stunned silence.

"It seems that the standard of civilisation has dropped considerably," Tom joked. "In our time it would be highly improper to eat our meals without forks or knives."

"Well, haven't you heard of the saying that fingers were made before forks?" Joan retorted. Turning to Skinner, she instructed, "Just grab the crust and pull, will you? It's gonna get cold."

"Which part of it?" he asked, sounding slightly perplexed.

 Joan sighed, placing the box back onto the table. "This is going to take forever. Let me show you."

*

 "Hey, you're right! It does taste good!" Tom exclaimed, after taking a rather reluctant bite into his slice of pizza.

"Told you so!" Joan laughed. She then offered a plate to Jekyll. "Well, I know you're sick and all that but I don't think you would mind eating this right? After all…"

"No, no, it's all right," Jekyll said, smiling at her. "I'm rather hungry. Thank you very much."

He took the plate from her. The girl grinned back, and then turned to Mina with another plate in hand.

The vampire stared at her frostily. "I'm not hungry."

Joan rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't be ridiculous! You haven't eaten anything for the whole afternoon!" When Mina still made no move to accept the offered food, Joan sighed. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry for yelling at you just now… happy? I don't anyone would be glad if you starved yourself to death, you know."

"What I hunger for is very different than what your notion of food is," Mina muttered, but she accepted the plate from Joan. "Anyway, thank you."

After the meal (in which everyone enjoyed the pizza and chicken wings until there was not a scrap left), Joan stacked up all the dirty dishes and empty cardboard boxes. "Hey, Mina," she called suddenly. "Didn't you mention earlier that you had a letter from a kidnapper? I think that since I am now part of your team, I have every right to know the contents of it."

Mina paused for a moment, dabbing her mouth with a handkerchief. She seemed deep in thought. As one, the League turned to her, waiting expectantly. Sighing heavily, she pulled out the slightly crumpled letter from her pocket and opened it. "Very well, very well. This is what that madman has written…"