Chapter 3

Disclaimer: See second chapter

A/N: Well so much for my pledge to update quickly, I'm really sorry but alas, GCSE revision waits for no-one. It is only because I am currently incarcerated in the middle of the French countryside that I am even able to offer this. Thank-you for being so patient and now, on with the story!

There was a chink in the curtains; there was a chink, just at eye level in these floral patterned, understated, English curtains. Enrico snarled, there was no way he was getting back to sleep now, not with the morning sun burning his tired eyes and those blasted birds twittering outside the window. Groggily he stumbled out of the room to wash and upon his return saw that a steaming espresso sat on his bedside table, Enrico smiled, "Father Renaldo, I think that merits a fast canonisation."

"I'll take you to your study sir, the necessary work has just been faxed in," Enrico; who had just finished his breakfast, smiled at the older priest, his mood greatly improved by his caffeine fix and followed. As they passed through the landing Enrico took a greater notice of his surroundings and came to the conclusion that the house was, in fact, quite pleasant. Father Renaldo indicated the door to his temporary study, Enrico frowned, why was the door slightly open? Was that typing he could hear from inside? Cautious now, he peered in through the slightly open door, and what he saw made his eyes widen in horror. Enrico whipped back round the corner and confronted his sheepish looking companion.

"Father Renaldo, would you care to explain just what Integra Hellsing is doing in there?" Enrico said, outwardly calmly, but with hysteria hovering just beneath.

"Well sir, there was only one room that was suitable, for your purposes, so, seeing as you both needed the use of a study…It was concluded that." Father Renaldo trailed off at the look of utter desperation on his superiors face.

"You might at least have warned me, so that I could have woken earlier and made sure that she didn't get the good desk next to the window," moaned Enrico, realizing how petulant he sounded, but not really caring, he looked reproachfully at Father Renaldo, "I'm afraid you're going to have to forget that canonisation," He then swept into 'their' study with a thunderous frown firmly in place. Father Renaldo raised an eyebrow, sometimes he worried about his boss.

Integra looked up as Enrico entered the room, and saw immediately that he was about as pleased as she was, she'd had some time to calm herself, however, but she wasn't going to pontificate because frankly, it was too early in the morning.

"I suspect I am right in supposing you are not happy about this either," Integra's eyebrow twitched, but otherwise her face was expressionless. Enrico found himself disarmed by Integra's calmness, he had intended to make a fuss but quickly stopped himself as he realised that such a display would make him look ridiculous.

He nodded in assent to Integra's comment and going one step further, added, "I suppose we will have to make the best of it." Integra's eyes widened at Enrico's sudden display of maturity, but realised it was too good to be true as Enrico continued. Grabbing a handy meter ruler and laying it down halfway between the two desks he gestured to the half of the room containing Integra's desk, "your side," he pointed to the other half, "and mine".

In normal circumstances, such an arrangement, though slightly childish, would at least have been effective in keeping the peace. What was not taken into account though, was Enrico's growing boredom. He had finished his normal amount of paperwork, but Integra showed no signs of stopping and he was dammned if he was going to create the impression that he was less hard working than her. Unfortunately the devil does indeed make work for idle hands and Enrico began to plot ways of annoying Integra. His chance came when Integra left the room to fetch a file; Enrico quickly slipped over to the 'border' and slipped a sheet of paper from his increasingly messy side halfway over the boundary into Integra's immaculately clean side. Enrico knew he had judged it perfectly when Integra returned, it was too small a thing for her to legitimately make a fuss about but it was still enough to rile her, particularly as she knew he had done it deliberately but had no way of proving it.

This state of affairs provided Enrico with much amusement for about an hour as he watched Integra continue to covertly glare at the offending sheet of paper, it was not long, however till Integra countered with a move of her own as Enrico discovered when he returned to the room after consulting with Father Renaldo. Enrico forced himself to refrain from staring but a mere glance was enough, Integra had clearly acquired either a knife or a pair of scissors and had simply cut the piece of paper that had been intruding on her space off.

Thus began a very strange war, primarily formed of making random incursions into each others territory. The situation soon escalated and much more substantial objects than paper began to be used. Integra smiled as she dismantled the pen Enrico had pushed over onto her side, she wasn't getting a scrap of work done, but this whole ridiculous situation was actually slightly…fun?

It had been three hours into the conflict when Integra came up with a brainwave, she knew exactly what she had to do to make Maxwell admit defeat, and she smirked as she pulled her Bible out from her desk drawer and laid it open across the border so that a page rested on each side. It wasn't until she saw Maxwell's horrified face that she realised she had effectively shot herself in the foot as well, neither party was about to mutilate The Bible, she smiled grimly and walked over to the makeshift border and kicked it aside. "I suggest that we call a truce," she said, holding her hand out to Maxwell, to her great surprise he took it, somewhere in her stomach Integra felt a slight twinge as Enrico's fingers brushed her wrist, a sensation she hurriedly dismissed. Enrico picked up the ruler, and smiling said "I think that the Channel is a far superior barrier,"

"On that point I think we agree," replied Integra.

Walter was slightly worried, for the past hour there had been a noticeable silence around the temporary office, a silence that; given the dispositions of the two occupants, was not to be trusted. He fretted as he hurried down the corridor, he really should have removed all sharp objects from that room. Walter did not usually eavesdrop, he was in many respects a perfect butler but he considered this an exceptional circumstance. He was about to lower his head towards the keyhole when he heard…laughing? Had he begun to hear things? No, there it was again, Integra was laughing! He then heard Maxwell's Italian accent, though his tone appeared to be missing its customary sneer.

"And then," Enrico laughed as he remembered, "Sister Yumiko came running in, desperately asking if I was alright! I thought she'd gone mad!"

Integra laughed, "you really didn't notice?"

"No!" Replied Enrico, "I was so absorbed in the book that I completely failed to notice that we had just been attacked! There was a major battle going on just outside my door and I was completely oblivious!"

Integra smiled, she and Maxwell had been swapping humourous stories about their organisations escapades for the past hour. She had previously thought that Section 13 was a ruthless impersonal organisation but judging by what Maxwell was telling her, his core group of members were at least as eccentric as hers.

Walter sat in the kitchen earnestly willing the kettle to boil; at times like this the only remedy was a cup of tea, while he was eager for the peace talks to progress, the most he had learnt to hope for was that Integra and Maxwell would talk civilly; he shrugged, perhaps he would have to adjust his expectations. Walter's reflections were interrupted by the shrill sound of the telephone, he gasped as he saw the number on the display, Buckingham Palace!

"Good afternoon," Walter said, "this is the temporary residence of Sir Hellsing, how may I help you?"

"Ah good, it's you Walter," the voice on the other end replied.

"You're Majesty!" Walter gasped, "this is a great honour, I will fetch Sir Integra immediately!"

"No, no, in fact it is actually you I wish to speak to."

"Me ma'am?"

"Yes, I have a favour to ask you, as you well know these peace talks have been dragging on, due to the obstinacy of both parties. This has naturally begun to concern me, so I thought the best remedy would be to create some cordial atmosphere between the two, anything you can do to further this would be greatly appreciated."

"Well…of course ma'am, I would be glad to be of service."

"Ah excellent Walter, knew I could count on you, and by the way, feel free to use any means necessary."

Walter stood his mouth agape for some time after she hung up, had he really just had that conversation? His reverie was disturbed by the sound of a throat being cleared behind him; he quickly spun round to find Father Renaldo standing in the doorway. Father Renaldo looked at him steadily and said, "I just received a similar message from His Holiness, do you have any idea of just what exactly is going on here or are you as confused as I am?"

Alucard was scowling at her, Seras could feel the glare even through those yellow glasses, she sighed; great, now she had two people's gazes to avoid, Alucard's and the insane priest's. The aforesaid priest growled, "Concentrate little abomination." Pip stirred uneasily in his seat, he wanted to defend his little mignonette but he really didn't fancy tangling with Andersong, especially in such a tense round of poker. He could; he mused, appeal to Alucard, but after expending so much time and energy trying to prevent the two from fighting he really didn't want to cause a battle. Pip tried to suppress a snigger as he looked over at Alucard, the vampire was pouting, Pip rolled his eyes, honestly, the vampire had been impossible since they had disqualified him from the poker game, he still continued to maintain that mind-reading wasn't cheating. Pip paused, wait a minute! He glanced up at Alucard and gulped as he saw the red eyes focused directly on him, dammn, mind reading.

This ill-mixed group were currently taking shelter in a barn within sight of the safe-house. Andersong had arrived that morning, with news that Yumiko and Heinikel were investigating the assassins in Europe, all that was left for them to do, was wait. Walter had called earlier that day with strict instructions for Pip and Seras to ensure that Alucard and Andersong did not attempt to destroy each other. As Pip was a human and Seras a comparatively weak vampire, this was easier said than done, it would have been impossible had Andersong not received similar instructions. This was yet another reason for Alucard; who had been looking forward to a battle, to sulk. Pip sighed, on one point he sympathised with Alucard, this waiting thing was really boring.

A/N: Well I'm not too pleased with how that chapter ended; I might edit it when I'm not half asleep though I'll probably concentrate on producing Chapter 4. If anyone has any constructive criticism to offer, that would be welcome.