Never Forget Where You've Been

KaieAithne: had you going didn't I? ;) Yeah, that would be WAY too easy, but it's an inevitability. I miss my lemons. It's gonna be a citrus explosion soon, I swear. Thanks for the review and keep reading!

DarkCrusnikMagician: *eeps and hides* I know, I couldn't resist :"< It'll happen. Abel does something really sweet in this chapter, and Alex is bound to pay him back ;) Anyway, glad you liked it!

Min: I do have something in store. I have LOTS in store. And I promise, it'll be worth the wait. It's going to be emotion and smexy and just all around yummy. I miss making Abel the sex god of my dreams }:) Glad you liked it! Read on and enjoy!

Darkephoenix: Yeah. Abel's such a decent chap, really. He shot himself in the foot, but it needed to be done. Excellent chapter, btw ;)

So, I've totally been thinking about writing an original story, but I'm totally petrified to post in another area of the site >.<

Chapter 10: Meet the Watteaus

The day was warm, the sun shining brightly over the Vatican. Tres sat on the ledge of a corridor around a central courtyard, watching the light play on the stones. He had one leg propped on the stone ledge, crooked at the knee, and an arm resting on his knee.

“Your programming is excellent. It’s hard to tell you’re an android by looking at you.”

“Then how did you know?” Tres turned to see Walter coming towards him.

“I can smell the machinery.”

“Ah. Can’t escape a Vampire’s nose.” Walter chuckled.

“No, indeed. You’ve got that suave pose down to a T.” Tres laughed.

“Something I picked up from Leon. Walter, is it?” Tres offered his hand and Walter shook it firmly. The members of Hellsing had curiously kept to themselves and the AX members had very little chance to get to know them.

“Yes, sir. Father Iqus, if I’m not mistaken?”

“Too right. You may call me Tres, if you want. Most around here call me that.”

“Tres it is then. I suppose we’ll be training again tonight?”

“Yes. We only take a night off if Andraste bids it be so.” Tres’s tone was slightly mocking and Walter looked at him as if he’d short-circuited.

“Andraste?”

“Ah, yes. The Warrior Goddess. Sorry, that’s Lady Alexandra’s codename.” Tres smiled as though recalling a fond memory and Walter smiled knowingly.

“So, you have a thing for her?”

“Don’t you?” Walter continued to grin, and Tres shook his head, chuckling. “She’s so captivating, even the dead take notice.”

“Undead. Yes, she is quite beautiful. The mystery about her makes her all the more intriguing.”

“Well, I was here when Lady Alexandra first joined the AX, before I was updated to be more lifelike, so there is little I don’t know the raw facts about.”

“So, what makes her so stoic and reserved?”

“Her husband died ten years ago. We weren’t sure she would ever recover. She had disappeared forty years earlier. Then, in the middle of a dreadful storm, she knocked on Cardinal Sforza’s door, her three children in toe. She made sure we took the children and cleaned them up. Then, she simply laid in bed for almost two weeks, utterly unresponsive. She wouldn’t take food or drink and her tears flowed unrelentingly, like a miraculous statue.” Tres had a far away look as he recalled those heartbreaking days.

“What made her snap out of it?”

“Her children. She was stirred from bed by their tears, their pleas. The youngest helped her dress and did her hair. It was such a precious image, watching the little one braid Lady Alexandra’s hair. I’ve grown to love those kids.”

“It sure sounds like it.”

“Lady Alexandra is something else.”

“I suppose you’re right; it’s hard not to take notice of someone like her.”

“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Walter chuckled at Tres’s enthusiasm for the subject at hand.

“You’re hopelessly sprung.”

“What? Not hopelessly. I’m charming enough, so there’s hope.” The two men laughed outright until a pair of pale arms came drifting over Tres’s shoulder from behind him, startling them both in their inability to detect a presence any earlier. The hands traveled down his chest, coming to rest over his tummy, making him shudder.

“There’s always hope, Tres.” Alex’s breath ghosted over his ear and he closed his eyes, carefully logging the sensation. “Just not for you.”

Walter nearly fell off the ledge, laughing. Tres pouted, turning his head to look at Alex from the corner of his eye.

“You are cruel, Lady Alexandra.” Alex winked at him and kissed his cheek, whispering to him.

“Oh, stop. You know you’re my little hotbot.” Tres grinned and stood, turning towards Alex.

“Training time?”

“Yes I came to retrieve you.” Alex smiled amiably as Walter groaned, standing to join them. Alex led the way down the halls towards the room they’d used previously. She had used their time in training well, blowing of steam from her encounter with Abel the week before. He’d gone missing today, and she couldn’t figure out if she was more relieved or disappointed. As they entered the large room, Alucard grinned maniacally and Seras beamed. The training was going well, and the members of the AX were learning from Hellsing and vice versa.

“I suppose we’ll give Abel a few minutes to join us. If he doesn’t show, we’ll just have to move on without him today.” Alex moved to one of the long windows, looking out over the grounds as they all milled about. Seras and Walter were busy telling Tres a story about one of their more humorous missions. Alex could feel Alucard’s gaze burning into their back of her head, but she steadily ignored it. They had begun training during the day so that the members of Hellsing were free to enjoy the night hours when they were more active. Alex began letting her thoughts drift to Abel. She hadn’t seen him all day and she hadn’t spoken to him since their misunderstanding the week before. She mentally chastised herself for setting herself up in such a terrible situation. She was hurt by Abel’s rejection, but couldn’t very well blame him for it. Alex’s train of thought was quickly derailing, becoming a pile up of self-loathing, when a beautiful sound broke through the haze.

A lilting, haunting, song, similar to a whale song, made Alex’s sensitive ears prick. There was a two part refrain, the voices quite close to one another and a third that seemed to dip in and out of the song playfully, twisting about the notes sung by the others. Alex’s eyes went wide and she turned to see the other Vampires in the room quite alert and curious. Alex locked eyes on the main entrance to the room, her heart threatening to break free of her chest. The song intensified as if the singers were drawing closer. Alex clutched both hands to her chest, hoping against hope that this wasn’t a sick joke.

In the next moment, two young boys, around thirteen or fourteen years old walked into the room, twin smiles gracing their porcelain features. One was blonde, the other silver-haired, their locks falling just past their shoulders. They both donned the style of the empire, tunics and pants, though they’d forgone the hated hats that generally accompanied the outfits. They were slightly gangly, but beginning to fill out, and they both looked like the spitting image of Abel, except for their eyes. They both had Alex’s blue-green eyes. Alex’s eyes brimmed with blood tears as she looked at the two boys. They stopped mid step, ignoring everyone in the room except for her.

“Mes garçons!” Alex’s shout was choked and awkward as her tears spilled down her face, shocking the members of Hellsing with their bloody tint.

“Mother!” The boys shouted in unison and the three ran towards each other until they crashed into a group hug, Alex kneeling to embrace them. The blonde son gripped her right side and the silver-haired gripped her left, both of them scrunching their faces to stay their own tears. Alex began babbling in rapid-fire french and the boys either nodded or shook their heads every now and again, always in unison. Alex’s words were cut off as her emotions crescendoed, her breath coming in quiet sobs. She gripped them tightly, but both boys cradled her head, tugging her hair loose from it’s constricting bun. Alex laughed awkwardly at their childish desire to see her relax, even her image, around them. They smiled at her and Cendricus cupped her face in his hands, lapping at the tears on her right cheek. He looked at Ilarius expectantly, but Ilarius merely cast him a horrified glance, his eyes flitting to the strangers in the room. Cendricus cast a dirty look at his brother and lapped at the neglected cheek until Alex stood and fussed over the boy.

“C’est bien.” Alex squeezed the boys one more time before looking around. “How did you boys get here and where is--”

Alex never got to finish her sentence as Abel entered the room, wearing a sweet smile. She knew instantly that he’d done this more for her than the children, that at least some part of it was an apology for last week. Alex looked at him, and before she could even ask, he looked down expectantly. A young girl, about eight years old, with long, curly, blonde hair and her mother’s eyes peeked out from around Abel’s legs.

“Ma petite cœur!” Alex kneeled once more, opening her arms wide as the youngest of her children ran, giggling, to embrace her. Alex picked up her child and cradled her against her chest tightly until the blonde bundle squeaked in protest. Apologizing, Alex began questioning her in french again and the smallest of her children gave far more colorful answers than her sons, gesticulating wildly where appropriate. Alex’s genuine laugh punctuated the girl’s stories and when she’d finished her longest story of all, she turned to regard the others in the room, who were staring, rather dumbfounded at the abrupt change in the woman before them.

“Qui est ces gens?”

“Ils sont mes amis.”

“Vraiment?”

“Bien sûr. Je ne suis pas un menteur.” Alex laughed and the little one caught a stray tear with her finger, sucking on the digit meditatively until Alex leaned forward to rub noses with her. “Je vous ai manqué.”

Her daughter leaned forward, whispering to her quietly, and Alex turned to look Abel up and down. He gulped, standing up a little straighter, as though the child had tattled on him. Alex smiled, looking down at her angel.

“Tu pense?” Her daughter nodded dramatically and Alex set her down, approaching Abel. The boys’ ears pricked, having missed what their sister had whispered, and watched intently as their mother approached Abel.

Abel took a step back as she drew close, expecting, for some reason, to be slapped. He was pleasantly surprised when Alex wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on tip toe to kiss him. He eyes went comically wide and he wrapped his arms around her waist tentatively. Ilarius and his sister shared a smile, but Cendricus was wearing the darkest expression anyone had ever seen on a child his age. Alex pulled away to thank Abel and everyone pretended to be looking elsewhere.

“Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me. I owe you quite a lot.”

“Not at all, Alex. I missed them too. Besides, it’s only a small chip off my tab.” Abel smiled at her and she kissed him quickly, returning to her children and everyone else in the room. “Hellsing, I would like you to meet my children. This is Cendricus and Ilarius.” Alex indicated each boy by resting a hand on their shoulder. “And this,” she lifted her daughter to hug her some more, “is my daughter, Aurora.”

“She’s so cute!” Seras clasped her hands together, squealing, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Alex chuckled.

“What do we say, Aurora?” The child looked up shyly at her mother, who nodded, and then smiled bashfully at Seras.

“Merci, mademoiselle.”

“En anglais, ma petite.”

“Thank you, miss.” Integra looked thoroughly disgusted with Seras’s cutesy reaction to the child.

“Children, this is Sir Integra Hellsing, Alucard, Seras, and Walter. They’re from Albion and they are working with the AX.” The boys bowed deeply as did Aurora, to the best of her ability while being held.

“Just charming!” Seras squealed, hurting even her own ears.

Alex beamed at her children as she set her daughter down. The boys each took a hand, tugging Alex toward the entrance.

“Take the day of, ladies and gentlemen!” Alex grinned at them before she allowed her children to pull her out of the room and towards the gardens.