The wind was biting cold as he walked down the streets of London. He barely felt the chill, Bond barely felt anything these days. It had been six months since that night on the moor, the night Skyfall fell, the night M died in his arms. The skies of Britain were grey and he was alive, but he was not living anymore. Nothing held meaning for him. James went to work, did his assignments and came home to the new apartment that MI6 had arranged for him. He hadn't even bothered to unpack yet.
At first he was content with it, his half life. He just let the days flow together, one after the other. After a while though he stopped being able to sleep. No amount of scotch could make his eyes close. He was slowly killing himself with alcohol and sleep deprivation, and he didn't like it. He actually came to realize something had to change. He couldn't spend all his evenings drinking alone in the dark, trying to erase the memories with liquor.
He started spending time at work. At least he was around other people, even if most of them didn't know how to be around him. He started actually doing his after action reports. He found he had an office assigned to him. It was small, barely big enough to fit the desk they gave him. Of course the desk was the only thing in there as he had never asked for anything more to be added, and it had been covered with years of untouched paperwork and memos. Hell, just going through it all and shredding most of it had taken Bond three full days. He had actually cracked a smile and felt vaguely proud of himself when he managed to get it all taken care of and the desk was clear. He had even gone out and bought himself an orchid to have some color in there. When he got called up to take care of a small terrorist cell in Bolivia, he realized the plant would be dead by the time he got back. He lost his smile at that thought.
When he did return two weeks later he found a new pile of memos and forms on his desk as well as an automatic watering system set up with his orchid, which was still alive and now sitting in the perfect spot of indirect sunlight from his one small window. There was no note, but the complex mechanics of the system gave him little doubt as to which department it had come from. The fact that the majority of the forms on his desk were copies of equipment replacement request forms that had descriptions of the wanton destruction he had been responsible for, as reasons for the need of replacements, gave more weight to his assumptions. James decided to order Q a box of the expensive Earl Grey he liked as a thank you and apology in one neat package.
Bond eventually wandered away from his office to try to, for lack of a better word, mingle with his coworkers. There were the other agents around every now and then, and a large selection of attractive people who had never had the pleasure of meeting him. Even with this in mind James ended up in Q Branch more often than not. Q always complained about him hanging around, but he never actually asked him to leave.
The more time he spent with Q the better his moods became. He ended up on first name basis with all of Q's minions, as Eve referred to them as. And on occasion got to test out new equipment prototypes for durability. He was even invited to Simone's baby shower, not that he went to it.
"You know, people are starting to talk about you going soft in your old age." Eve mentioned one day as they both leaned against the back wall of Q Branch watching Q lead 009 through her latest mission.
"Just because I have adapted a less antisocial standing at work does not mean I am going soft." He grumbled in return.
"Then perhaps one of the lovely ladies of Q Branch has caught your eye but you don't know any words big enough to impress her out of her knickers." Eve gave him a gently poke in the ribs with her elbow.
"Very funny, but no, thats not it either. I just find the ordered chaos calming, and the company's not bad either." He smiled at her as he took another sip of his coffee.
"Alright 009, I am passing you off to my capable second in command, R, she can take care of you from here. See you when you return." Bond heard Q say as he passed his headphones off to R.
Q grabbed his satchel and coat and headed towards the elevators. Waving to Eve as he passed them. "Don't have too much fun tonight Q." she said to him, causing a smile and a slight blush to cross the younger man's face.
"He's leaving early this evening. Anything we should be concerned about?" Bond asked Eve after Q had entered the lift.
"Even the tech branch have social lives Bond. Q's boyfriend travels a lot for his work, he's an actor or something, and he happens to be in town tonight. It's been a few weeks since they got to see each so Q is doing something special with him tonight." Eve helpfully filled in. James had yet to understand the appeal of office gossip, but Eve knew everything that was going on in the office.
"Well, good for him. Q deserves some happiness in his life." James took a sip of his coffee to hide his lack of smile. He couldn't put it into words, but something about Q having a boyfriend made him almost angry. Whoever this actor was, James was sure he was not good enough for his quartermaster.
