Chapter 16

He burrowed deep into the old cellar beneath the hospital and made his nest. He needed to be patient. Although he could feel the torment of the afflicted ones above him, he knew that his acts of mercy must be done in secret and in silence.

It had been nearing dawn by the time he had settled back into his home and so he would rest during the daylight hours and when the dark came, so would he.

He knew just where to start, the same place it started for him – the padded cell.

He curled into the cold earth and smiled, waiting.

Joshua was just nearing Jane's workshop when he heard the strangest sound coming from inside the room: giggling. He frowned, Jane most assuredly did not giggle. His heart beat a little faster when he guessed the source of the sound. He;d been waiting for this opportunity for a while now. The delightfully bubbly sound made him pause for a moment, then he stepped up to the doorway and took in a most curious scene.

"That tickles." complained Seras good naturedly, as Jane measured her around her shoulders and under her more than ample bust.

"You want the harness to fit don't you?" asked Jane, making notes of the numbers. "I mean, can you imagine the embarrassment of your guns slipping off mid battle?"

"I'm more worried about this skirt." groused the little vampire.

"Then wear trousers."

"I'd love to." was the mournful reply. "But the Hellsing dresscode seems to not have left the dark ages."

"Sod the dresscode, I do."

"Ah, but you always do like to push Major Ferguson as far as you can."

Both women turned to see Joshua sauntering into the workshop, plastic bags of food dangling from his fingers. He plonked them down on a nearby bench and looked expectantly at Jane, who sighed in mock annoyance and waved a hand towards him while saying absently:

"Seras, this is Joshua, my clod of a brother. Josh, this is.."

"Seras Victoria." he interjected, coming closer to shake hands. "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

A blush pinkened Seras' cheeks, proving that you didn't need a working circulatory system to blush.

"G..glad to meet you too." she stammered, taking in his warm smile and handsome features.

The two of them looked at each other for a long moment, each forgetting to let go of the other's hand. A loud snort from Jane's direction had them jumping apart, with Josh rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment and Sera's nearly turning the colour of her eyes.

Jane rolled her eyes at Joshua and then turned to Seras.

"I suspect I won't be doing you a favour by offering you some of our dinner. Would you like to pop off home now?"

"I don't mind waiting while you eat." said Seras, "I know you said there was a lot of things to do tonight. If you don't mind me being here."

"Of course we don't mind." said Josh enthusiastically. "A little lady-like company is always welcome. Jane doesn't really count." he added conspiratorially.

Seras giggled again, despite herself.

Jane watched the byplay while rummaging around in the bags to see what Josh had brought. As usual, when bringing food, he'd brought enough to feed nearly all of Hellsing's forces. It had become his habit since his transfer to bring dinner for them both if his off duty time coincided with her being at the factory. Since he was often assigned to London, she'd been seeing less of him than she was used to.

* Duty before company. * she sighed to herself.

She purposefully drew back a little and watched as Joshua somehow managed to get his dinner, seat himself and Seras on the sofa and not stop talking the whole time. The two of them were quite engrossed in their conversation and Jane employed her stealth training to quietly leave the room with her dinner, not wanting to intrude. She found a comfortable enough perch on one of the amoured personnel carriers for her dinner.

"And so, after getting the goat into the Sargent's tent, we played as innocent as we could."

Seras was having a fine time listening to Josh's stories of basic training camp, they reminded her of some of the horseplay that she had participated in while with the police force. She had laughed continuously for the better part of an hour and was almost disappointed when the story ended.

"And you?" he asked. "I bet you're nowhere near as innocent as you look. You must have played some pranks in your trainee days."

"I did. But they weren't as entertaining as yours, although there was this one time when we smuggled a six pack into the barracks..."

And they were off again.

Jane had been listening, reluctant to disturb them, but aware that she at least needed to get back to work. So she strolled into the room, rubbing her hands together.

"Sorry children, but story -hour is over."

The two of them looked at her, almost as if they had forgotten that she was about, and in a way, they had. Then Seras shot off the sofa and said, while practically standing at attention:

"Yeah, right, okay."

"Relax, I just need to fit the pattern to you now. So you can still carry of with your stories while i work. And besides, I think I need to tell you about the time Josh here forgot to load his magazines."

He groaned and covered his face with a cushion.

"Do you really have to tell her that?"

"Oh, I really do." she smirked. "After all, what are sisters for."

The evening passed in pleasant conversation and a lot of laughter. But none of them could foresee the coming storm.