Chapter 7!!
Chapter 7
James lay down on his bed staring up at the ceiling frowning. He had been amused by how irritated M had been over her clumsiness when she didn't investigate her employees' thoroughly, but now that he thought about it, the more he wondered what happened to them. All he knew was that they had been shot.
But he knew from personal experience that such things were never the full story. He pulled out the picture of Vesper that he had reclaimed from Aly, staring at it with eyebrows furrowed. That was when the door adjoining their rooms opened and Aly walked in and flopped onto the floor. He put the picture aside.
He stared at the space where her body had been standing and heard her voice, muffled by the carpet that her face was pressed against
"Mr. Bond, I am bored." She stated
"It's not like I can help, our window of opportunity for actually going outside is gone now" he stated, factual as ever
"You went out before" She countered getting off the floor into a sitting position.
"Yes, that was a few hours after we had beaten the lot of them severely. It takes 6 hours or more to fully regroup. As I said our window of opportunity to go out is closed now"
"Can we get something to eat then? It's 1:30" She said glancing at the clock
"We can order room service but you being seen more than necessary is a bad idea" He told her. She sighed and rested her chin on the foot of the bed
"Do you think they have pizza?"
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"Have you found them yet?" the man's voice was dangerously soft. His mismatched eyes glinting dangerously. The man on the other end stood far enough away from a hotel desk so he couldn't be heard while someone else showed the woman behind the desk the picture. The woman shook her head.
"Sir she could be staying at any hotel, we know that it's probably fancy because that's usually how M16 men work…but there are a lot of hotels, it will take some time"
"As long as it gets done right" he stated before closing his phone staring into his fireplace watching the crackling flames. He thought for some time and then he smiled.
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"So are you going to tell me what happened to your parents?" Bond asked bluntly. The pizza had come and gone. A few minutes earlier some room service person removed the tray and picked up the napkins and such before leaving. Now Aly was lying on his floor quietly and she didn't answer him.
"Why do you care?" she asked after a long pause.
"Does it matter?" he countered. She picked herself up off the floor and glared at him.
"Yes it matters! I am well aware that that the only reason I am still alive is because my parents were rich. I'm ok with that. I have accepted the fact that nobody would give a damn if I died, just that terrorists got my parents money. I know you are one of the last people I would expect to care, so if you are just asking to amuse yourself or something then yes it matters" her words were overflowing with bitterness and anger that she was probably suppressing most of the time. It occurred to James just then, that except for a few rare cases, Aly didn't smile much. Most of the time she looked unbelievably sad, and she was probably thinking all that over at the time.
"I want to know, because it could be important, it could provide me with information about the kidnappers tactics, and because…" it voice took an ironic note
"They say it helps to talk about things like this"
"Says who?"
"A woman I know once tried to force me to see a therapist…the therapist said it" He looked amused remembering the argument with M but the smile was gone as quickly as it came and he fixed his gaze on Aly. She stared at him thinking for a moment. He could see the debate written all over her face.
"It was really sudden…one of those average family moments and then…" she look down for a moment swallowing the lump in her throat before she looked away from him staring at a corner of the room as if the scene was being replayed there for only her to see.
"I was saying good night when a bunch of men with guns started pounding on the door…my parents acted like they had planned for this and told me to hide in the closet." She took a deep breath and he nodded for her to continue
"So these guys come storming through the door with guns and everybody was yelling. My mom and dad tried to fight them but these guys beat both of them quickly. They told my dad to put his hands in the air…and then they grabbed my mom…by her hair…dragging her closer to the man that was going to shoot her. My dad was pleading that they shoot him and let her go. They said they would if my parents told them where I was…" she shook her head in amazement
"My mom started crying about how I had run away and it was all her fault. I had stolen money and bought a plane ticket to New York and I was gone forever. Everybody believed her. I bet my dad would've too if he hadn't helped me hide behind his clothes in the closet. Neither of them even glanced over at where I was." Her voice cracked a little bit.
"They shot her anyway. These guys just tossed her aside like she was a piece of trash. My dad got up to fight them or do something and they shot him too…then they dragged the bodies out of the room…they took my parents with them…god knows why…" her voice shook as she held back tears
"I screamed, I cried, I threw things, but it didn't matter…they died because of me" she began to cry covering her face with her hands. Her voice was muffled shaky now
"There. Now I told you. I hope it made you happy" She said, as if her being sad was his fault.
He stared at her crying with an expression that might have passed for concern maybe even sympathy if it was anybody else but Bond. He got off the bed sitting down beside her. He looked over at her and with a quiet sigh he gently and carefully put an arm around her. She didn't push him away; instead she leaned against him crying into his shirt.
One thing he did understand through experience was grief. He knew that as a child it had been hard to handle on his own. He could understand to some degree what she was feeling and was willing to let her cry as long as she needed to.
When the tears began to subside he looked over at her
"By all means, continue…I love having my shirts washed without going to the cleaners" it got a chuckle out of Aly although her eyes were glued to the floor. He nudged her shoulder and she finally looked up and met his eyes. She nodded and stood up going in search of some tissues.
James stayed sitting on the floor. He couldn't help thinking two things.
Mainly it surprised him that he had anything left in him that could be considered emotion. He was sure there was nothing left of that nature inside him and yet…he had always considered love of any form(fathers, sons, brothers, lovers, friends) to be an irrational emotion and avoided if possible. He thought that after she died he could never feel affection for any living thing again…
The other thought that kept going on in the back of his mind as he tried to rationalize. It was a tiny little whisper saying in simple terms: Vesper would have been pleased.
Holy (Insert colorful metaphor here) that was such a hard chapter to write….I'm still not sure I nailed it….if it didn't work for you, please be gentle with the criticism…no flaming please
And to cascade-of-black-ink thank you for your thoughts but as you may have noticed…I don't think her dialogue will change that much…when I try to write like for her as a british character she doesn't sound like a teenager so I hope the slightly American dialogue wont bug you too much.
Hope you like it^_^
