Disclaimer: Hellsing and its characters belong to none other than Kouta Hirano.

Author's Note: Thank you to those who reviewed! I'm overjoyed that some of you still read this. I had this story in my drive for a while and finally decided to tweak it and post it here. This is set after chapter 2.

Integra's Age: 1

Chapter 8: How Many Miles to Babylon?

Integra had accomplished a lot of remarkable things for a child so young, and Arthur couldn't be more proud.

She'd started speaking since she was 6 months old and now she was a little chatterbox with a lot of (gibberish) questions on her lips and wonder in her eyes. She was fearless, this one. She couldn't stop poking at things, even a sleeping vampire. But that's a story for another time.

Now, Integra had done another accomplishment. Arthur couldn't believe his eyes at first and he'd stared for a whole minute before jumping out of his seat with this ridiculously big smile on his face as he stared at his child.

Integra had stood on her own two feet!

But that was two weeks ago and Arthur had made it a habit to try and tease her into doing more since then. Either with food, toys, or just an item he managed to pluck from the desk. So far, Integra had managed to take as much as five steps before…

Arthur sighed as he watched her fall for the tenth time. Fortunately the carpet was lush and she had the good sense to fall on her rear instead of her head.

"Teaching the little beast to walk?"

He looked up to see Alucard manifesting himself from the floor. It was too early for the vampire to be awake, especially after the three weeks mission he had to endure somewhere in Bulgaria. But he'd done it a lot lately and Arthur wondered if it wasn't for a certain child.

"Yes. And don't call her that."

"But she is," he grinned and approached them. "Beastly."

Integra babbled at the sight of the vampire and clapped her hands. It was then that she decided to try again and stood back up. Arthur watched as she took her customary five steps, ready for the fall, only to raise his eyebrows when he found her still standing up. With her brows pinched in concentration and lips pursed, Arthur was delightfully surprised to see her taking the sixth step.

She took two more steps and wobbled precariously on her ninth but a shadowy tendril shot up from the floor to stabilize her. Arthur blinked in surprise and turned his head to look at the nosferatu, but his expression didn't change.

He looked back at Integra and saw her finding her balance. She patted the shadow before trying again.

Her steps were shaky at first but after a few more, she marched forward like a brave soldier. She was heading their way and Arthur moved to open his arms, ready to receive an armful of blonde haired girl, only to blink in surprise when she patted his knees and arms in passing before taking a slight turn and walked towards that damned vampire instead. He'd be miffed if it wasn't for the utter panic and bafflement on said vampire's face.

Alucard fumbled as Integra came closer and he turned pleading eyes at Arthur as if asking for help. Arthur deemed it a suitable punishment for stealing his daughter and just smiled lazily at the vampire, raising his eyebrows tauntingly in a challenge.

Alucard, truly at loss, looked back down as Integra collided with his legs. The little Hellsing craned her head up and stared expectantly at him.

After a silent one-minute-long staring contest, he finally gave her an awkward pat to the head and mumbled, "You did good."

Arthur had been trying to stifle his laughter at the display but didn't think he'd done a good enough job since he found a pair of red eyes glaring at him. But the effect was ruined because he could feel the embarrassment coming in waves from Alucard, and he couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.

Who would've thought that the vampire could be bested by a one year old?

End Note: So sorry for any grammatical errors or misspellings. If you have any ideas or prompts you want me to write, please do review/pm me. Reviews are appreciated!