Chapter 7

Bond and Q stand outside Jack's suite as Felix opens the door.

"You come to talk or fight James?"

"Talk. Apologise even."

"Good come in...we're all packed for Prague...you?"

"Yes our bags are already on the way to the train station."

They move to the sofa and wait for Jack to make and appearance.

"So James...you came to your senses and the alcohol induced ghosts have passed."

"Yes...and I did manage to get pickpocketed by someone...didn't have much on me after the bouncers took their cut for tossing us on the street. Our new M actually admitted that he did not fake her death...even though I wish to hell he had."

"You and Jack both...always a good idea in this line of business to leave most of the cash in the hotel. You two owe me for paying of the bar owner also. $200 for whatever you smashed in your fight."

Bond pulls out a bunch of bills. "Here is my half...Jack and his big mouth can pay the rest."

Q elbows Bond and whispers. "I thought you were going to try to be contrite?"

"I'm still me Q...I don't want them to think I've been replaced by an alien."

Jack lumbers into the room a few minutes later.

"Good morning Agent Ward...how are we feeling this morning?" Asked Q.

"Fine son, thank you for asking. Good to know some of you still have manners," snapped Jack as he reached for a cup of coffee.

"Where the hell is Felix? We need an update of our current situation," he said as he glared at James.

"I'm over here which you would have known if you had bothered to look," said Felix with a smirk. "Although I am surprised you can see anything out of that eye."

"Oh that...it's nothing...I ran into a door," he said attempting to redirect the conversation away from the previous night.

"Gentlemen. If it would not be too much trouble...this DOOR would like to speak to Agent Ward for a moment in private," said James.

"Fine...We will wait for you downstairs and give you an update on the train," said Felix as he headed toward the door.

"Are you sure it is wise to discuss the mission on the train?" Replied Q as he hesitantly headed toward the door.

"Oh come on," said Felix as he pulled Q out of the room and shut the door. "If we want to successfully complete this mission we need those two old dogs to kiss and make up."

"Do you think it is wise to leave them alone?"

"They will be fine Q, stop being such a worry wart."

Jack moved to the window and stared blankly out into space, ignoring James who sat quietly in the chair, trying to decide what to say first.

James' still bloody furious that Jack of all people had violated M...his M, but on the other hand he had to admit he could see the attraction, and clearly M had been a willing participant as she was not the type of woman to be taken in by just ANY form of flirting and seduction.

"So Jimmy...is this how it ends?"

Bond sits forward resting his aching head in his hands.

"I hate this bloody city! It doesn't have to end. I apologize for insinuating that you were not good enough for her….M obviously liked you…"

"She did...I think it was you...and I'm not say'in it because I wanna hurt you anymore Jimmy boy."

"What are you on about old man?"

"Your a right idiot sometimes James Bond...Britain's finest my ass!"

"Great! Are we starting into it again? I'm hungover, aching from head to foot and now the insults begin flying again! Listen Jack, I just had all my illusions and hopes that M is still out there somewhere, smashed by our NEW bloody M. So bring it on! This day can't possibly get any bloody worse!"

Jack looks at the rising anger in James and takes a breath. His head is pounding and the grief and confusion is getting to him too.

"I know...I had a hallucination that I saw her last night...that is why I finally realized that it was always YOU!"

Shit! James can't believe that Jack had the same hallucination? What the hell is going on in this god forsaken city. How could they share an illusion that strongly without it being true? Booze...could it all just be the alcohol. Maybe Q and Moneypenny are right and the alcohol is now getting in the way of doing his job.

"ME...me what? What are you on about old man? I think it is more likely the alcohol that caused the hallucinations...and a few good hits to the head."

"The reason M was so distant...it was because she was thinking about you…all the time...you idiot!"

James has to give that a few minutes to soak through the fog that surrounds his brain. Really...the other man was him.

"What! Christ, that hardly makes me feel any better."

"I didn't think it would boy but it is what it is...you stole her from me without even knowing it...or maybe you had her all along...even before her damn husband died."

Bond can tell by the pain in the old man's face how hard this is for him to admit. Although, not as hard as watching M die in his arms.

Jack continues, "I really doubt M would ever have admitted that while she was married...she was a stubborn woman."

"True enough...I wonder if I had initiated...been brave enough to just kiss her once...not like on the cold floor of the kirk as she died in my arms….things might have been different."

Bond stares at the floor suffering excruciating agony of spirit. It turns quickly, to the other more readily available anger that courses through his veins. Internal fury with himself and the circumstances around M's death make James clench his fists and he head pound further.

The curse of if onlys...if only he had kissed Olivia...if only he was brave enough to tear past the dead husband...beyond the age difference beyond the ghost of Vesper...if only he had been faster or had appropriate...stupid bloody back up!

Tanner could have sent some men...he stupidly took the head of MI6 and the only woman he has ever truly trusted and loved to a remote place with only a few guns and only surly old Kincade to do battle.

They should have fired him! Mallory likely wanted to, but Olivia likely left instructions with Tanner to keep him...her best. A lot of good that did her while he was not quite recovering in Turkey after 'take the bloody shot!' What the bloody hell was he thinking?

James knows what the hell he was thinking. He understands now...he wanted to take her away...just the two of them...hide her at Skyfall. Battle the bad guy from her past. That sadistic bastard that taunted him about mummy being a bad girl and needing to be punished.

Silva was pissed that Bond was her new favourite. After he defeated Olivia's demon, she would fall into his arms and spend a few days in Scotland getting to know each other...physically.

This is how it should have gone. Not the reality...the bloody reality of her falling into his arms and bleeding out on the floor.

If only James had had the chance to tell her how he felt about her...Christ, in retrospect, his imagination floats to where they tumbled into bed upon the confessing of it!

Over and over again James relives it in his mind's eye and they make love on one of the old beds upstairs in his still standing family home. He would give it all to her...everything. His home his adoration...anything she wanted...just as long as she lived.

"Christ Jack. I want to bloody well kill Silva all over again."

"Life is always has those might have been moments Jimmy...they are called regrets. I regret calling it off because of distance and stupid jealousy over a lover that didn't exist at the time."

"So we are both fools...let's start over as the two fools that let Olivia Mansfield slip through their fingers but kept on fighting."

"I can get behind that Jimmy boy."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The four of them sat in relative silence on the train. Bond and Q on one side across a table from Jack and Felix. Q taps away at his laptop as Bond and Jack occasionally glance across at each other.

Eventually Jack begins to snore and Bond nods off still suffering from the alcohol induced fight from the night before.

Felix looks at the two sleeping agents thinking on what has transpired between them. Things are not back to normal between these old friends but how could they be.

As far as James is concerned Jack crossed a line. Unfortunately Jack did not know a line existed….damn Felix has never seen either of these men fight like rabid dogs but by the look of them...they did. M must have been one hell of a woman.

Q looks across and speaks to him all of a sudden as if he had read Felix's thoughts.

"Years ago...in school, an English teacher told the class that there are only two proper reasons to fight; one is if you're a boxer, and the other is if it is over a woman."

"That explains these two tired old punching bags. What was M like?"

"Unfortunately I did not know her well. Tanner knew her best...he was crushed when she died...it was heartbreaking. The entire organization was in stunned silence for days. I would see people staring off into space with looks of such despair. For a woman that people described as an evil queen of ice, there was massive sense of loss, even from those who professed hatred of her."

"She was like a mother to you all."

"Only in the sense that we all wanted to please her...other than that she terrified the lot of us. Well, most of us that is." Q looks at Bond for a moment and Felix just nods.

"Still, M drove him over the edge and he is one cold fish...at least that is what I always thought."

"I know...he is an imposing and abrupt man when you first meet him as are most of the 00's. So was M, but you could see there was something...something undefinable going on behind her eyes. I completely believe that M was 10 steps ahead of everyone else...until Silva."

"What did happen there?"

"Tiago Rodriguez was an employee of M's in the 90's...she was head of station H, Hong Kong before the Chinese take over. Computer brilliant, for the day, and he obviously continued developing the art. M handed him over for hacking their systems without her consent and she got 6 other prisoners in return. He escaped the Chinese prison that held him for espionage by faking death by cyanide. He was truly mangled by the poison and seriously deformed."

"Horrible, I can imagine. So it was a revenge thing, but why did he wait so long?"

"Bond and I had this very discussion on the way to Paris. Our theory is that he was infatuated with her...maybe even loved her...put her on a pedestal, she betrayed him and torture made him unstable. Silva...as he became, spent years building a less than legal empire and then made plans for revenge. He taunted her with bombs and stolen hard drives with the names of NATO operatives around the world. Many died and M...M she was shattered by the loss of Ronson and James, then came the attack...she was going to be replaced by the current M no matter what happened. It was a very sad end to a long and hard fought career."

"I bet. M proved them all wrong and was tough as nails I assume from the stories I've heard on both sides of the Atlantic."

"I think they all respected her but they never included her...we've noticed the difference now with M. He is included in golf, meetings at the club and invitations to social events M never received because of her gender."

Jack let out a grunt and shifted awake suddenly. Looking around in tired daze.

"I'm never drinking again."

"I don't think drinking was the only problem." Q said.

Bond suddenly opens his eyes and groans. "Why do you have to talk so damn loud?"

Felix laughs. "We were chatting...getting to know each other and we are not hung over."

"Then have pity on those of us who are."

"Not a chance Bond...you and Jack deserve this torture for fighting each other."

"I already apologized for that...now leave me in peace. What time do we arrive?"

Q answers, "five and then we should go straight to the flat and investigate."

"Can't we just go to the hotel?"

"M told you to get to work remember so that is what we should do. I for one would like to get home soon."

Jack smirks, "hot date young man?"

"Yes with a proper cup of tea."

Jack and Felix begin to laugh loudly making James groan again. James flags down the waiter and orders a beer, Felix and Jack join him while Q continues tapping away at his laptop.

Felix pulls out a deck of card and James raises an eyebrow.

"How much do you want to lose Felix?"

"I was thinking that we are a foursome so we should play a nice friendly game of euchre."

"Sure Felix, you're just scared to lose your shirt if we gamble."

Jack smiles, "I haven't played in ages, lets do this...Q you're my partner. I think now is the time to discuss who is pretending to be M and beating us to all these lockers."

The three of Jack's companions frown and shake their heads. Bond adds, "who knows...but if I ever catch them…"

Q states, "M said the Russians and French were also on the trail but they did not have the intel we did on the entire Silva case."

Jack frowns, "nor did we until now and I doubt you want us to put that in an official report."

Q and Bond shake their heads and mouth and both say "NO."

"Well then, it seems that someone in MI6 has the secret line to Silva's past up their sleeves. And I have a feeling the new M is not willing to share that with us." Jack grumbles.

Bond looks confrontational again as the card are dealt. "Can you really blame us? He blew up part of London and our offices forcing us into a bloody bunker that smells like it was old when Churchill was in nappies. No...Silva is our mess and M gave her life trying desperately to clean it up."

"Yes but we are suppose to be partners on this one Jimmy boy. If the CIA is involved we should have the appropriate information to go on not just some snippets and a good ghost story!"

"Oh, and the CIA is aways forthcoming with us? Come on...be bloody reasonable on this one. M was our leader regardless of your feelings for her Jack."

"If I may interject...M would not want us to fight...she would want the job done. I only knew her a short time but I know that she was all about completing the mission at hand and that is what I intend to do. It would make it a lot easier for Felix and I if you two would grow up and stop all the fighting." Q says as he closes his laptop to concentrate on the card game.

Felix smirks, "Q is right. OK let's just play, a hopefully peaceful game of cards. I want to go home saying I was able to beat old Jack at cards."

The drinks arrive and the foursome focus on the game. The serious questions will eventually be answered….they hope.

To be continued….