A/N: Thank you to everyone still reading and reviewing! I'm afraid I can't shout out to anyone if they favourited/followed/reviewed since the last chapter, because I usually get the names from my email account and it's decided not to work. All the same, a massive thanks to everyone, especially my beta way2cool4uXX (as usual) for putting up with my incessant asking for help.
This one was inspired by a little boy, literally named Huckleberry Bond, who I met while I was on work experience. I hope you enjoy!
The National Science Museum was understandably busy; bank holidays always were. In the commotion of pushy mothers, crazy children and otherwise bustling tourists, very few people noticed the cold looking men and women dotted around the room and even fewer thought anything of them.
Gemini was one of the few that did. She sat on a bench scanning the crowd, not even attempting to look relaxed (her internal reasoning being absolutely no one could get comfortable on the bloody things). Her eyes followed a tall, dark haired man in a suit (untailored, she noticed) as he wove with a practiced air through the crowd. His lips moved as he did so.
"Target in sight," his disembodied voice reached Gemini through the ear-buds of her headphones, connected to her trusted iPhone.
"We're in position, sir," this time the voice had an American accent and Gemini's eyes flicked to the woman and man standing around the gift shop book display.
The English agent wove between the paraphernalia of gifts, slowing to a stop once he reached the Americans. Gemini squinted to see the English agent, who was pretending to study the books, pick one up and flick through it. She barely saw him slip a thin envelope between the pages, before he placed it down in its former place. He meandered next to the bookshelf for a few moments more and then walked abruptly out of the gift shop.
"The intel is in place," Gemini heard in her ear.
The American man moved to the place the English agent had previously occupied and picked up the same book. he flicked through it and showed a page to the woman at his side, pointing as if to comment on something in the book. The woman, meanwhile, slipped the envelope into her handbag.
"I've got it, sir."
"Acknowledged. Get out of there."
The man put the book down without preamble and both CIA agents strode swiftly out of the gift shop, heading against the large bulk of the crowds as they headed towards to information desk near the entrance. Gemini stood up fluidly and, keeping her eyes glued to the CIA agents' backs, began following in the same direction.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end the second before someone grabbed her arm.
"Hey, hey, hey! It's me!"
Gemini looked up into the eyes of her father, the blue of her own mirroring eerily in his.
She shook her arm out of his grip, "I'm busy."
Double-0 Seven held up an envelope similar to the one now in the possession of the American agents, the difference being it was bulging, "Would this make you less busy?"
Gemini glanced at the direction the CIA agents had headed in, before she snatched the envelope and peeked in the top. She looked up at him incredulously.
"This is the intel MI6 just gave the CIA," she stuffed the envelope in her bag despite her surprise, "How the Hell did you get it? And why did you give it to me?"
"Not here," Double-0 Seven took her by the elbow and steered her further into the museum.
"Yes here," Gemini stopped stubbornly, "What's this all about?"
Double-0 Seven sighed, "I'm guessing you know what the intel says?"
"Nope, that's why we want it. We saw one of your agents pick it up, but it never went on the system; we wanted to know why."
Double-0 Seven nodded and began pulling her by the elbow again, "An informant from inside Quantum leaked it to us."
"A leak?" Gemini's eyebrows shot up her forehead, "Quantum don't have leaks."
"That's exactly why we wanted to keep the info off the system," Double-0 Seven barely glanced up as they passed under a huge silver aeroplane towards the space exhibit, "Q isn't stupid - he knows Quantum are probably able to dip in and out of the system. He and M agreed not to put it up otherwise Quantum might hack it and be able to tell who the leak was from the intel."
"Brilliant plan," Gemini said, slightly sarcastic despite her genuine admiration, "But you do know the first thing the CIA'll do is upload it and run it through analytics."
"Which is why they only have the insensitive information," Double-0 Seven came to a slow stop in front of a large replica of the moon landing shuttle.
"And you got all this...how exactly?"
"I'm a senior agent, I can request intel you know."
"And no one questioned you asking for it?"
Double-0 Seven smirked, amused by a memory, "Of course they did, but they couldn't withhold it."
Gemini smiled slightly, then turned her attention to the exhibit at last, "Thanks."
"You're welcome," he glanced at her, "Just don't expect it all the time."
Her smile spread wider across her face, "Wouldn't dream of it."
Double-0 Seven sighed and began scanning the crowd, muttering something under his breath that Gemini could barely hear (though she thought that sounded suspiciously like 'of course you wouldn't'). His gaze, and that of several others, drifted to a small boy making a fuss in the middle of the crowd, parents nowhere in sight. Gemini's eyes widened slightly, her smile fading.
"Huck?" she called to him, weaving in and out of the bustling people.
Double-0 Seven stared quizzically after her as she crouched down in front of the small blonde boy and began talking as softly as she could in the loud environment. He calmed dramatically, throwing his small arms around her neck and wiping his tears on her shoulder as she hoisted him onto her hip.
Gemini wandered back towards him, "This is Huckleberry."
Double-0 Seven raised an eyebrow, "Huckleberry?"
"His mother's a sadist," she muttered, then added a little louder, "We all call you Huck, don't we darlin'?"
Huck nodded, face still buried into the crook of Gemini's neck.
"Have you gone all shy?" Gemini smiled fondly as Huck nodded again.
"How old are you Huck?" Double-0 Seven asked suddenly.
Huck's only response was to bury his head further into Gemini's shoulder. She kissed his blonde hair softly.
"It's okay, Huck. This is James - he's my friend."
Huck peeked out from Gemini and Double-0 Seven couldn't help but notice the startling similarity between his daughter's and the young boy's eyes.
"Four and a half," he declared quietly, but with a small amount of pride.
"How do you know Ge - Monique?"
"You're my little brother aren't you?" Gemini answered for him, when his only answer was to shyly bury his face in her hair.
Double-0 Seven let out a small sigh of resignation and closed his eyes briefly.
"Where's mummy, Huck?" Gemini asked quietly.
Huck replied in an almost inaudible mumble next to her ear. Double-0 Seven watched as she pinched the bridge of her nose, then stared unseeingly to regain some control whatever her brother had said had caused her to lose. Huck lifted his head and looked up at her questioningly.
"Right," Gemini sighed at last, "Well, we'll worry about that later," she smiled at the young boy in her arms, "What haven't you seen yet?"
Huck seemed to shrug off his shyness abruptly, leaning back in her arms and blabbing happily about the vehicles in the exhibit Gemini and Double-0 Seven had passed through. Gemini sighed good-naturedly as Huck wriggled out of her hold, grabbed her hand and began dragging her back the way she had come. Double-0 Seven stood back watching for a moment. It was only when they were almost completely obscured by the crowd that he took silent steps to follow them. Gemini glanced back in mild surprise as Double-0 Seven appeared at her side once again, almost tripping over Huck as he stopped abruptly to look at something. Double-0 Seven caught her arm to steady her and she smiled in thanks before she turned her attention back to her little brother.
It was two hours and most of the museum's exhibits later that Gemini finally called Huck's mother. Double-0 Seven glanced over at Gemini, who looked like she was having an argument over the phone, and sighed tiredly. The agent watched the boy silently as he giggled at one of the interactive displays he'd already seen a few times. The young boy came over to him at random intervals chattering contentedly at him, needing only a smile and a reassurance from his estranged father before he was happy to go and amuse himself once more, confident in his safety.
Gemini ended the call with curt words and a frown, walking back over to Double-0 Seven stormily who looked up at her questioningly.
"She left half an hour ago 'cause she saw he was with me," Gemini's fists clenched as she thought about Huck's mother, "Shows you how much she cares for him! I don't care if I'm his sister, that's-"
"I know," Double-0 Seven put a hand on her shoulder, cutting off the crescendo of her voice.
"No you bloody well don't!" Gemini hissed.
Double-0 Seven drew back slightly, eyes turning flinty. Huck chose that moment to tug on Gemini's fingers, asking to go to the toilet. She turned from her father, deciding to ignore him completely as she guided Huck to the toilets.
Double-0 Seven watched as the siblings were obscured by the now-thinning crowd, before he stalked off in the opposite direction.