Co-writer: detectivecaz -For 009 who inspired me to write a Alec/Q/Bond story to the best of my abilities.

Skyfall & Spectre AU / Bond is missing after Eve shot him of the train in Skyfall. M calls in help from the past to find Bond dead or alive.

Note: The tags on this site classify Alec Trevelyan as 008, the Bond wikis say 006 so he is 006 for this story.


Chapter 1

The truth of the matter was; he fell in love with him. Alec Trevelyan had fallen for a friend, a man with whom he constantly competed, and despite the myriad of plans he had for Janus he just couldn't do it. He couldn't leave MI6 because James would not leave MI6, whether it was loyalty to the crown or M, James Bond continued to strive for the cause. Missions had long ago lost their shine in Alec's eyes and he wanted nothing more than to flee to the riches and plans he had for Janus. He could not hold on to the hate required of him for his parent's death because of British political failings.

Those were old hurts and his brother in arms; James Bond knew them well. Orphans both of them, only the age at which they lost their parents was different. It was all in the past like so many things. That night Bond refused to talk about, the one he would sooner forget and the one in which Alec could not forget.

The two of them were together in Russia. Alec pulled James out of a whore house, just before they killed him. Bond was draped in women, drugged, compliant and about to be shot by the owner. James never stood a chance against them. He had always been too weak where women were concerned.

It was not the first time either of them had taken a man to bed, but it was the first time it was a friend, there were feelings involved. After their drunken, stoned confessions, a physical wrestling match began, to prove who was best. It turned out that the two of them each made out well that night.

When Alec awoke there was a note beside him apologising for it, and stating that it would never happen again. Alec crumpled the piece of paper and began planning for Janus, yet again. He would disappear for sure this time, in his fury over James' slight. He was about to go dark when M called him into her office.

Unbelievably, M knew or guessed what had happened between Bond and himself. Q had found his hack into the payroll and it collapsed from there. The choice was arrest, or go deep under as the head of Janus, but still protecting Britain's interests. He had little choice, damn the woman!"

The mission went like clockwork and Alec tried to kill James for it to look good. It was a little too good and he spent the next month recovering from the burns. M made sure he was fine and gave him the location of a few safe houses with supplies should he need them. He made use of the one in Rome for a time and got involved quicky in an underground black market. Learning the names of those running everything from drugs to people.

Unfortunately, Alec still dreamed of James and the betrayal he saw in his eyes that night. Alec smiled thinking it was justice for the slight against him that morning with the dear John letter. There was no denying he liked both men and women, but none had taken his heart the way dear James had. Agents 006 and 007 would have their time again.


Many years came and went and Alec started to heal from the slight of being shunned by Bond. M stayed in contact at least once a month, making Alec wonder if the woman would ever retire. M was a combination of every headmistress, librarian and military commander Alec had ever met. She had grit running through her veins like a seasoned veteran of the last world war, yet she was not the age for it. M rather defied age.

Alec had surveillance on much of MI6, and occasionally caught his old boss getting in and out of her car. Perhaps all that concentrated evil in one small body gave her a youthful glow that she still possessed after all these years.

M was a bit of an enigma and she made him do things, despite the freedom he enjoyed. There was something about the commanding tone of her voice. It made you stand up and take notice. "Yes Ma'am," was all he could ever bring himself to respond.

M had contacted him earlier this week, and all she said was, "Come in."

Something about her tone reached deep within him and made him nervous. It took three days, but he made it back to London and met her in a quiet pub. His eyes swept the room for guards but she had none. Alec had been waiting outside for a bit before making his way in and he did not even notice her car. The pub was empty, save him, M and the one bloke at the end of the bar finishing up and grabbing his coat.

Alec walked in and over to the bar first to order a pint. The only thing he missed about this country was the pubs. M's presence here in the corner of the room was disconcerting, considering that she was alone. It was doubtful that the woman had been without guard for an hour or two in the last dozen years. But here she sat there not looking directly at him, as if she was a normal person, alone and lonely having a drink at the end of her day.

After a few minutes and one downed pint he got another and walked over to the corner booth. M was sitting there sipping on her own pint. Dressed entirely in black, her hair shone silver white in the moonlight from the window. She must be slipping or not give a damn anymore to be sitting so close to a window. She should be with her back in the far corner so that she can watch the door, away from the easily shattered glass of a window.

"I'm sure you wondering why I called you in."

"Yes, and hello to you Ma'am. May I say how lovely you look this evening." Alec purred flirtatiously.

"Oh, please. You tried that charm of yours the first day we met. as did all the 00's. If I had fallen for your flirtation then we would not be sitting here having this conversation."

Alec's brows arched. "Do tell M? Would this meeting be in a much more comfortable place?"

M rolled her eyes. The edge never dulled on this woman, and she was still as handsome as she was years ago.

"You're all I've got from the old guard now. Ronson and Bond are dead. Well, Ronson is dead and Bond was shot off a train, over a hundred foot drop into a raging river in Turkey. Bond has not surfaced nor has his body been found."

"How long?" He was shocked to his core, the unsettled feeling that he felt when she called him in returned, causing uneasiness in his stomach.

M looked down into her drink and sighed. It was the closest Alec had ever seen the woman to tears. "It's been five weeks and they have made me stop the search."

"And now you want me to go find his body." Alec said stunned in sadness. Damn him for dying on them.

M's red rimmed eyes bore into his. "Yes." Her voice was faint and the brutal reality began to sink into Alec's mind.

Alec didn't know what made him do it, but he moved his hands to cover hers on the table. There were few on the planet that James Bond could count on as friends and despite everything, M was the matriarch of their rather dysfunctional family. At times she was a complete bitch, but she obviously cared far deeper than Alec had given her credit for before.

M looked momentarily shocked at the familiarity of his action, but in the end she accepted the comfort. Alec had always been a loose cannon in the past, which made him a perfect mole. But there something about his relationship with Bond that had always tempered him, and endeared him to her.

"I don't know if I can divert resources to assist…"

"No. I will manage fine on my own. I always have. Is there anything more?"

"More than losing a hard drive with the names of all NATO's embedded agents and two of my 00's? No. And before you ask you are not on that list. You are my dirty little secret." M said with a wane smile. She knew that if anyone could find Bond it would be Alec.

"Not the only one I'm sure." Alec said with a wink and M withdrew her hands suddenly from his. Alec missed the warmth of physical contact immediately. He had a sudden longing for something more. The moment M called him, he knew she would pull him to places he didn't want to go, emotionally. Grief made ones mind do strange things, and the two of them were experiencing that now. Being overcome with emotion, drew people together in the oddest of ways. For here the two of them were, in a pub having a drink and a chat in honour of someone important to both of them, James Bond.

"How is the rest of the old gang M?" Alec said, trying to divert the somber subject matter to something neutral and less angst filled.

"Tanner is still here. Yes; I know...he's a glutton for punishment." M said with a smirk. She and Alec took another sip and then M continued. "The agent that shot James is on desk duty until the investigation is over, and they will be replacing me soon."

"Because of all this?"

"Yes, of course for all of this! Did you think they would just ignore it and hope it went away? Bond trashed a bloody national monument on top of everything else!" Her sudden anger erupted and then vanished as M realized that he didn't deserve her ire. There were others who deserved it far more. She hoped Alec hadn't lost his edge and would be able to do what she asked.

"James always did like to go out with a bang. As one of your personal soldiers, it's the only way we seem to go." Alec grimaced at the glare she gave him.

"I suppose that is the truth of it, sadly. I had to find Q's replacement and that was difficult."

"Q's gone?" Alec was shocked but then again the man had to be in his eighties. "You and the old man went way back I can imagine." Alec said with a smile as he lifted his drink.

"Yes, he died eight months ago, just a month before…" M said aimlessly, but then seemed to catch herself.

"A month before whom?" Alec asked as his brows arched in questioning surprise.

M said nothing, but her hand went involuntarily to the rings on her left ring finger. Alec leaned back in surprise and his look softened. Her husband...when it rains it pours.

"I'm sorry, M. We've only ever been as close as you would allow, but I am sorry for your loss." Alec said softly surprised at his own empathy. MI6 in general never gave a shit who died, but sitting across from M, he realized that M did. As one of her agents, he had often wondered if the dominating icy woman could care about anyone or anything more than MI6.

"Yes...well it can't be helped." M straightened and shook herself out of her maudlin lapse, as if to regain her focus. Alec wondered now how many drinks she had already had today. It would be the only thing getting him through all this trouble and she would hardly be the first to find solace in a bottle.

"Do you know who will replace you?"

"I have my suspicions. A ex-military man by the name of Mallory tried to get me to take a graceful retirement." M said as her eyes lifted from her glass on the table, to the blue eyes of former agent across from her.

Alec scoffed. "They don't know you very well do they?"

M smiled. "No. I told them I would leave when this case was finished and not a second before. I don't actually know how long they will give me to recover from all of this." M's eyes darted around the pub as if looking for one of her hidden government enemies now.

Alec knew that there were many layers to that statement. Recover from the grief of losing Q, her agents and her husband. While defending herself to the government for hard drive theft, and the obvious infiltration into their systems.

Alec was about to re-enter the game and bring it to a new level. Janus may collapse but he had personal wealth stashed away and places to disappear should that happen. If he had to walk away, the others would simply take their portion and divide the spoils. Alec left enough for them to make himself less of a target, should he ever have to leave. He had years to plan his retirement, the one thing lacking was someone to share it with. He had always hoped that it would be James.

"Where should I start? The river in Turkey, or do you have any other leads?"

"No...that is all we know."

"I will find him M. When I do, what do you want me to do? Call or just bring him in?"

"Call; he may not appreciate having a ghost finding him, Alec. Stay in the shadows where I need you."

Alec thought It was the first time the woman had ever used his given name, or said she needed him with such passion of purpose. Her voice floated over him like silk.

This was M's power over all the orphans of MI6...she was the mum that they all craved and needed. Giving him a sense of purpose he had been lacking in the years since creating Janus, and going dark on her command.

M was the one link between MI6 and James Bond that Alec doubted he could sever. He felt it when they clasped hands. That need to belong, and be part of her world.

M was the one woman who could control James Bond, even if Bond denied it. She hadn't mellowed with time, she was still the same woman with an iron will, and orders to destroy.

To be continued