Sacred Lineage

Well, I had originally intended to put a bit of Lime in this chapter, but I\'m holding off....what I\'m really hoping is that it\'ll be worth it when it finally does happen. hehe. Anyway, enjoy.

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The more immediate problem of Sir Integral having been dealth with, Walter went downstairs to wait for the arrival of the team from their latest assignment. Deirdre would have to be told that her mother was ill, and Seras would be instructed to have the Captain and herself give their full reports tomorrow afternoon. To whom those reports would be given, however, he was unsure. For a moment he saw Deirdre behind that desk, but shook his head to clear that image from his brains. For a moment, he consciously tried to keep that image out of his mind, but then he accepted it back.

Dierdre was older and more experienced than Integral had been when she accepted the reins of Hellsing. Walter had seen Deirdre in action, and he was comforted by that. The girl was as good a shot, and as good at making snap decisions as her mother ever had been. Her decisions weren\'t always the right one, but she took responsibility for the poor decisions and learned from them. Walter wondered if when she took her mother\'s place she\'d be a control freak, and immediately pushed that thought away. Like mother, like daughter...there was no way that she wouldn\'t be in complete control. He wondered how she\'d deal with Alucard, but she already showed the signs of having the control necessary to deal with him. She tended toward speaking to him more quietly than Integral did, but on the other hand, she wasn\'t above cutting remarks either.

He concentrated then on his memories of Integral, fire and ice, her moods as predictable as the ocean. He smiled as he remembered her mood as she returned from one of those infamous visits to the Queen.

She had come in the door fuming, and Walter had given her a good ten minutes before he had attended her. It was always best to wait until she had calmed down a touch before trying to speak with Sir Integral. The ten minutes gave her enough time to calm down enough to be civil and rational, or at least partially civil and somewhat rational. He knocked on the door and opened it abruptly with the tea tray.

\"How was your meeting with the Queeen, Sir Integral?\"

\"She has commanded me to have a child, Walter.\"

Walter raised an eyebrow. He had known that this would eventually happen. Integral could not run Hellsing forever, but he refrained from mentioning that fact. Integral did know enough to plan for the future, she just didn\'t always like it when people pointed out the long view.

\"A child?\" Was what he said aloud, hoping to elicit a few more comments.

\"Yes. She has told me that I should get married and have a child.\"

\"Hmm.\" Walter said, thinking about this. He turned it over a few times in his mind. There wasn\'t anyone among the Lords that Integral even liked much less wanted to get married to.

\"I am not getting married, Walter.\"

Well, at least that was no surprise. Integral wouldn\'t want some man in here trying to take over her office and her perogatives. He wondered how the Queen had taken that little revelation. Perhaps she\'d spent a bit too much time with Alucard lately though, as she seemed to divine his thoughts easily.

\"I told her that my child would be pure Hellsing. I didn\'t want my child bearing another man\'s name. The Queen did ask me about what the Church would think of it, and I reminded her of Henry VIII.\"

Walter nodded. Henry VIII had created the Anglican Church so that he could divorce the wives that wouldn\'t give him a son. If they wouldn\'t agree to a divorce, he\'d had them executed. He\'d had a few of them executed anyway, just to prove to the rest of them that he would. Walter strongly doubted that the Queen would have countenenced giving one of her lordlings to Alucard because Integral had concieved the commanded child.

Walter tried hard not to smile.

\"So, shall I make you an appointment with the sperm bank? I hear that they let you go through magazines of the men so that you can choose the physical aspects that you prefer.\" From anyone else it would have sounded insulting, but from Walter it was a genuine question. He obviously had absolutely no idea what was coming next.\"

Integral smiled at him. He was taken aback by it for a moment, it seemed that her entire essence was in that smile, radiating like the sun. He basked in it. She\'d never smiled at him like that before.

\"No, Walter. I do not want to be basted like a Christmas Goose. I have decided on a more direct approach.\"

Walter nodded and waited for instructions to call this Lord or that one, or perhaps not even a Lord, but someone that Integral had met some time...when? Maybe the Captain of the Guard?

She watched him quietly for a moment, and he was inorexably reminded of a cat watching a mousehole.

She said the words that he had fantasised about hearing for so long. \"Walter, I think that you would make an admirable father for my child.\"

He was speechless.

\"Surely, Sir Integral...\"

\"Who else?\" She replied. \"Alucard cannot, or rather he can, but I cannot allow a dhamphyr to run Hellsing. Who else can I trust absolutely? Who else knows the inner workings of this house? Who else knows everything there is to know about Hellsing? Who else could be her father?\"

\"Her?\" Walter realized that she had already sexed the child, that of course she would believe she would have a daughter. He decided that a discussion on genetics would be inappopriate just now. He didn\'t bother to ask what would happen if the child didn\'t live up to it\'s expectations. He had no doubt that the child of Integral Wingates Hellsing would more than measure up to any expectation that was presented to it.

\"That\'s as may be,\" was Integral\'s response. \"I hope for a daughter, as I am sure you have surmised.\"

Walter nodded, and was sure in that instant that his seed understood as well. The Hellsing had a preference, and everyone had better understand and make sure they got it right.

\"Besides, Walter, you\'re an admirable man. Even Alucard respects you, and he doesn\'t have much respect for anything human at all.\"

\"I\'d like to point out, Sir Integral, that after some of the experiments in the Eugenics Labs downstairs, in some ways I don\'t necessarily qualify as human.\"

She had forgotten about that. He had been modified. An extended lifespan was not the only thing that had been granted to him in the Eugenics Experiements as her Father had tried to create the perfect weapon for Hellsing, Alucard. Some of those changes had been tried out on Walter first.

She tapped her lip and thought for a moment. \"Perhaps I should do a bit of research before we attempt this.\"

He could see that she was unsure. Not because she was not committed to the course of action, but because she wanted to make sure that none of the genetic alterations that had been made upon him would damage her child.

\"There is another way, possibly.\" He let the words drop like stones into a still pond.

She looked at him with an inquiring expression, waiting for him to expound upon his thoughts.

\"We could, for lack of a better term, clone you.\"

She considered that. It was an attractive option at the outset. Then she thought about who would be doing the work, and who would be in attendance, and the thought of lying in a gynecological bed in the Eugenics Lab with doctors doing cell manipulations and Alucard grinning like an idiot and making his...suggestions...whenever possible decided her.

\"I don\'t think that is the best option.\"

\"How do you think Alucard with think of this?\" It was the one thing that had to be asked. He knew she didn\'t really want to think about that, but on the other hand, Alucard was something that always had to be considered.

\"I doubt he\'ll be thrilled with the idea, but on the other hand, at least he won\'t kill you afterwards.\"

Walter truly smiled at that point. \"Yes, Sir Integral, I hope at least that you are right about that.\"

He had left her there, reading through the Eugenics records that her father had left in such painstaking detail. He hoped that the changes hadn\'t done irrepairable damage to his genetics, else he would be going to get the stud book from the sperm bank. It would be hard to give up the dream.

Reality was a cold wind that blasted him when the door opened. He rose and went to those who were entering. As expected, it was Deirdre, Seras, and the Captain.

\"Unfortunately, Sir Integral cannot hear reports at this time. She is asleep and not to be disturbed.\" The tone of his voice was gentle, and indeed, all of them knew that Integral had not been herself recently. \"Please bring your reports to the office after 1:00 tomorrow afternoon.\"

\"Walter,\" Seras began.

\"I\'ll explain it all later. Deirdre, you are needed in the office.\"

It had somehow become \'the office\' from \'Sir Integral\'s office\' late last year. Perhaps it was because they were so often in it together now, perhaps it was because they were so much alike. Perhaps it was only because they both so obviously were Hellsing.

Deirdre nodded and mounted the steps. She wondered exactly what was going on with her mother. Not for the first time, she wondered why her mother had lived so alone until she had come along. Understanding came to her in an instant. There were not many people who understood complete devotion to duty. Walter did, and Alucard, and Seras, and the Captain...or did the Captain just understand complete devotion to money? But he\'d been offered better paying less dangerous jobs. The Wild Geese might very well be on Hellsing\'s contract until who knew when?

She understood it. She understood it well. She had actually tried going away to school like her childhood friends, but realized after one term that she couldn\'t bear to be away from what was going on at home. Her mother and Walter had taken care of her education after that. She knew at times that she was too singleminded, but also realized where that fault had come from.

Of course, growing up in a home with hellhounds for pets wasn\'t precisely normal, but what exactly what could be considered normal in this day and age?

She opened the door and went in. Sitting in her mother\'s chair, she began the task of going through the paper and reading to see where and when Hellsing would be needed next. She classified things in four ways: in one pile went the things that were not a supernatural threat and did not need Hellsing\'s attention; in the next pile went things that could be considered a supernatural threat, but probably could be taken care of using other methods than Hellsing; in the third pile went supernatural threats that were not serious at the time, at least at first blush, but would probably eventually need the intervention of Hellsing; the fourth pile contained supernatural threats that were definately a threat to Queen and country, and needed immediate intervention. Fortunately enough, she had an ediatic memory, because occasionally due to new information, pages changed piles. She sighed with relief when a few minutes after two there were no papers in the fourth pile. That wouldn\'t last for long, but it was enough for today.