Author's Note – Thank Heavens! I can finally update! Sorry, but my computer had a mega-virus that was a mega pain in the you-know-where! Plus play practice – "Once Upon a Mattress" – chores, and college-prep math…I could go on. Anyway,I'm glad you guys like this story. To start things off; thanks for the awesome reviews. I've been needing those. I find it ironic however that, even though I'm an anti-twilight person (no offense), this sounds similar. (Sigh) Oh well, I guess with the whole hospital thing, that really couldn't be helped. But thanks again. Also a big thanks to everyone else who reviewed. The series will be sounding a little different from here on out, but I promise it will remain original as possible and in no way Mary-Sue. Mary-Sues should burn! (coughs) So… I hope you guys enjoy the chapter. Disclaimer – I don't own Hellsing or anything else.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up – for the umpteenth time mind you – was the blankets. Immediately I knew that I wasn't in the hospital anymore, these blankets were warmer. Maybe because they were a little heavier. The second thing was the butler looming over me. I sort of locked up in surprise at seeing him.

"Good morning, Miss. I'm sorry to startle you. I thought it best to see how you were doing."

I sat up slowly, eyeing him wearily. He seemed like a rather slim sort of person and probably in his late sixties or early seventies. His dark hair was tightly pulled back into a proper ponytail – 'A butler with a ponytail?' – and a gleaming monocle over his left eye. He didn't wear the usual, tailcoat and suspenders, but he was well groomed and nicely dressed. I couldn't sense any weird vibes coming off of him so far, but I thought it best to be cautious first.

"Who are you?," I asked, slowly sitting up in bed.

"Ah, yes. Introductions should be made." He bowed slightly at the waist and smiled. "Walter C. Dornez, butler to the Hellsing family, Miss. Would you care to introduce yourself over some breakfast?" He made a motion with his hand and I finally noticed the portable side-table with a tray loaded with…

"Food!" I exclaimed with relief and eagerness. I tossed the blankets back with a flash and I was upon the tray within in seconds. I grabbed the first thing I touched – a fresh, warm blueberry muffin – and began to wolf it down. A searing pain in my neck forced me to choke, however, and I started to hack and cough.

"Slow down, Miss! Don't rush yourself!" Walter began to pat my back which helped to stop the choking…sort of. "You shouldn't have strained your voice and throat like that. You heal nicely, but I doubt you're completely good as new." I mentally agreed with him. He was right.

"Sorry," I rasped. "I'm just really hungry. My stomach does most of the talking for me."

He chuckled. "Oh don't worry. I know all about teenage girls and their demanding food intake." He held a hand to my forehead for a moment then smiled. "Seems that your fever broke rather early." Walter stood up. "Shall we try the introductions again?"

"Oh. Right. Um…" I held out my hand, the one without a vise grip on the muffin. "Jolene. Jolene Abbey Tompson. But you can call me J.J. or Jo. Nice to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Miss Tompson."

I nodded and smiled then looked at my current room. It wasn't bad. Bigger than the one I had back home, that was for sure. It was all decked out in English tastes; finely carved round table, three-drawer nightstand, a tall armoire in a cherry tint, Persian rug that covered most of the floor, an oval gilded mirror on the wall, and the four poster bed that I currently was inhabiting. If it wasn't for the stone floor and walls, I would have called it cozy.

"Can I uh…ask you something?"

"Well certainly."

"Good. Um…I was wondering…" I shrugged. "Where am I exactly?"

"Normally I would answer but I'm afraid I'll have to leave that to Sir Integra," he smiled.

"Sir…? Wha..?"

"Don't worry. You'll understand in good time." He chuckled at my expression. "You're in better condition I see than last night. But you're still a little pale. I'm sure the food will do you good. Now if you will excuse me, Miss, I believe there are other matters I must attend to. Good day." And he turned away.

"Err…wait, please."

He stopped. "Yes?"

"About last night…How did I get here?" When he smiled a little I continued. "I mean I know how I got here but…Who…?"

"Ah, yes. That would be Master Alucard." I thought I saw him roll his eyes but I wasn't sure. "I do sincerely apologize for that. He actually is a very brilliant if not cunning individual – and eccentric," he muttered this last bit. "But sometimes his actions imply quiet differently. It's certain that he'll get quite an earful this evening from Sir Integra…Not that he'll really care…"

I frowned deep in thought. "He's – different, isn't he?"

"Like I said, he can be very eccentric -."

"That's not what I meant," I said carefully.

Walter cocked his head at me. "Oh?"

"He's…not…" I nibbled on my lip. When I saw the small knowing look in the butler's eye and the knowing smile, I nibbled a little harder. "He's not -."

"You're observant, a good trait to have in your current situation," he smiled. Then his tone lowered. The smile did not fade but changed a little into knowing again. "And no, Miss. He isn't." I pondered over that for a moment.

"Is he - ?"

"I do hate to cut this short but duty calls, Miss. If you would please excuse me." He bowed a little at the waist, the smile turning back to hospitality.

"Oh. Right. Good day, then."

oOo

After pigging out on the loaded tray of food, my stomach more than pleased with my offering, I leaned back on the bed and debated with myself. After assessing my situation, there were a few things I was certain of. First, I was obviously not where I was supposed to be. I would have been immediately informed of my location had this not been the case. Instead, thanks to my short conversation with Walter, I was certain that wherever I was, I wasn't exactly welcome. Secondly, even though I wasn't exactly welcome I wasn't met with hostility either. Or at least, not yet. I had been tended to in my feverish state, fed upon awakening, given a pleasant room, and apparently the people who lived or worked here were allowed to speak to me. A good sign. And thirdly, the people here – or at least one in particular – were not your average, everyday people.

So with all this in mind, I had a choice to make. Either sit here and wait for somebody to come along and tell me what's going on, or take a risk and explore my surroundings.

"I'm an idiot," I said, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.

The floor was cold, not unlike the hospital floor last night, with the exception that the stone was not completely flat. But I stamped my feet for a moment before heading to the door, tested the knob – unlocked, I wasn't completely prisoner – and peeked out. To my left the hall extended back for about a hundred feet or so before the lights were too dim to see much. I was grateful to find that my room was only fifteen feet from a set of stairs sitting to the right, leading up and out of what I assumed was the basement. I was the only one there.

With a quick glance back down the hallway at the darkness – I'd seen far too many horror movies to just go skipping out there – I ran to the stairs, taking two at a time till I could no longer see the hall. The next level had to have been the ground floor, simply because the bright morning light was streaming through tall windows, dashing across the floor and bouncing up to blind my eyes. I cringed at the shock of illumination, adjusted and peered again. The hall was empty, something I found a little odd. By the amount of light and my guesstimating internal clock, it must have been close to eleven or noon. I walked down the hall and took the first right.

"Don't know where I'm going, but there's no use being late," I shrugged.

For about ten minutes I wandered the massive halls. And I do mean massive. They were modestly wide, but the ceiling soared rather high. Or perhaps it was just because I was short. The walls were done in a not-so-tacky wallpaper and decked with numerous works of art. Sergeant, Monet, a few religious paintings I recognized but whose artists I could not name, and some classical pieces I hadn't seen before.

"These people are loaded," I mumbled. "That's a freaking original, right there!"

As I wandered amongst and admired the habitant's impressive collection – thoroughly distracted by it all – I suddenly collided into a wall. I growled at the unexpected shock to my nose and stepped back a little, the walls hands grabbing my shoul-.

My eyes snapped open. Hands? I looked up to find that I had in fact not bumped into a wall. Just a tall, well-built man. I blinked, my mind slowly processing who was before me. He couldn't have been any older than twenty-seven, with a handsome face, though not the pretty boy type. He wore a felt cowboy-like hat with the left side of the brim pinned up to the crown by some round emblem I couldn't quiet make out –'Damn my height!' - , and covered reddish-brown hair. Really long hair, I realized as I noticed the braid looped twice round his neck with a red scarf. My blasted teenage hormones took special note of that – I had a weakness for guys with well-kept long hair. 'Crap…'

"Where do you zink you're going?" he asked with a small grin.

'And French. He's got the accent going. Double crap!' I blinked, trying to fire up my brain for response. "Uh… I was…don't know…"

"Shit, did he pull that damn evil-love beam again?" he mumbled, a small scowl on his face. He stooped to look me directly in the eye. I blinked rapidly. He wore an odd strip over the bridge of his nose as if it were broken, and an eye patch over his left eye.

'Green eyes –err, eye -! Triple crap! I swear if he had black hair and less tan-!' I shook my head. I needed my brain to work. "Wait…Did you say 'evil-love beam'?" That struck a familiar chord. Not the best response on my part though.

"He didn't. Never mind." He flashed a grin. "Anyway, you should be back downstairs."

"Hold on. Who were you talking about? Did you mean the red -?"

"Look, you should be in your room," he interrupted. "This isn't exactly the safest place for little girls -."

"Whoa! 'Little girl'? Now hold on, I'm not very old but I'm not six either -!"

The Frenchman however had other plans, as he spun me around and begin pushing me back down the hall. "You should really get your rest," he said cheerily, then mumbled, "Ze Boss Lady will dock my pay if I don't keep you out of trouble. Why I have to play babysitter, I have no clue…" He shook his head as I tried to stop our backtracking to the lower levels. Then he smirked. "And trust me, even with only one eye, I can see zat you're not zat little."

That threw me off a little. I felt a blush begin to warm my cheeks, forgetting that he was still escorting me to my room. 'Did…he just…hit on me?' I scowled. 'Stupid hormones, stupid blush!'

"N-now wait just a second! Why can't I - ?"

"I swear you're as bad as the mignonette," he grumbled. "Look, we can eizer do zis ze easy way or the hard way. I'm just doing my job – or at least ze part I've suddenly been assigned since last night…"

"Then why don't you just work out a compromise with me. You could give me a tour, that way you can keep an eye on me. Honestly, what's the big deal?"

"'Cause the only place Trouble isn't supposed to go is in your room. Now…"

"Huh? What the crap does that mean?" I snapped trying to push him back. Tile floors and bare feet just don't work though.

"Hard way it is," he sighed and, without so much as a split-second hesitation, he scooped down, hoisted me up, and threw me over his shoulder.

"Hey!!"

"Zis is ze hard way," he said, quickly beginning to walk back the way I had came. It was if I was just a sack of flour.

"Put me down, gently and slowly. Now! What the hell!"

"Just following orders. Actually, I zink I should take ze hard way more often; It's a pleasant view," he chuckled.

I nailed the back of his head promptly with my elbow. My neck was starting to hurt, probably from the rush of blood to my head. He cursed, or at least I figured it was French. "Look, I'm about to pass out and I'm not too fond of strangers staring at my ass! Put me down!"

"You have some of ze boniest elbows! Captain Pip Bernadette of the Wild Geese, at your escorting service. Zere, now I'm not a stranger. More comfortable?" And he continued on his way.

"Oh come on! Captain, put me down! My neck doesn't feel too good like this, neither does my head…"

"I just need to get your back to your room before…"

"Yes, do put her down, Captain."

My escort suddenly stopped in his tracks. I stiffened up too. I knew that voice. "Aww, shitfuck!" Apparently the Captain knew exactly who it was too.

A/N; Yes, another cliffy of sorts. As you can see, I made Jo more of an OC than anything else. I just couldn't keep her as open as possible in order to keep this as a Reader-insert fic. So sorry that it took so freaking long to update. And I apologize if this chapter wasn't as good or as long as the others. I kinda had to force it out. But please do review! I'm dying to read some reviews. (Makes puppy dog face.)