three weeks after asters brush with the medical wing Q left him to play with a friend from down the road while he and James were at work. Currently James was sitting on a table in the large room where most agents came to lounge about like well fed lions. The newer agents liked to hear stories. The crazier they are, the better. Today it seemed every new agent was present.

James had the spotlight for the moment and was telling the room about his adventures with Astor. None of them had ever met him nor even heard about him before. Like Q, James didn't like to share the boy.

He finished telling them about the time Astor had tripped coming down the stairs. He had sent paint flying along, rolling head over heels.

When agent David ,while being a newer agent, was apparently not very smart said a not-so-nice thing about his son.

James was off the table and pouncing on the idiot, intending to beat his face in before any one had realized he'd moved. He had done a good job of making the young agent bleed before getting off of him.

Still very angry, James stormed out. The remaining Agents looked at David before helping him to his feet and telling him to get to medical.

So he listened and dragged his profusely bleeding self to medical Once there, the doctors fussed and were generally treating him quite well. His nose was smashed, his teeth were loose, and he had a cut on his lip where his teeth had sliced it open. Eventually they got around to asking why he was so beaten.

Most older agents went easy on the newbies until they were given a reason and they weren't generally given reasons . So David started from the beginning and noticed that as he told them, the nurses faces took on a slightly dark look. The doctor fixing his cut lip- which was torn up so bad it needed stitches-got a bit rough with him.

The minute the doctor was done, David was all but running from medical They were scary. David decided to go up to Q branch. One of his friends was in there and maybe they were having a better day.

When he got there he found the branch was apparently on brake and it was easy to find his friend ,Alice, and start chatting
The minions were accumulating by his side to see his face. It wasn't a common sight to see a new agent all beat to hell before they'd even had a mission. They came over to look and eventually asked who did it and why. So David, not seeing the harm in telling the minions (They were rather under fed looking and they probably wouldn't hit him), started to tell them.

Unfortunately for David, Alec was passing by and heard the story. He had moved closer and closer until he was right up in front of the crowd. When David was finished the story, Alec asked him, " did you really say that?" David got a little nervous. Agent 006 was very tall and he didn't look happy.

He said, "um yes I did." That was all Alec wanted. He jumped on the smaller man, making minions scatter in all directions.
One smart minion raced off to get Q. Normally if two agents were fighting, the minions raced off to get James. But this time,* James would just end with him joining the fight and he would probably splatter David all over the walls.

By the time Q grabbed a hold of Alec by his jacket, he had hauled him off like a dog that wouldn't listen to its no jumping rule. David was already covered in blood, bruises, bite marks, and the agent was probably missing some teeth.

"Alec, get off him." Q said, dragging the agent farther away. "But Q, come on! He deserves it, really he does, please!" .

"I know, Alec. James told me this morning. He went home by the way. Astor called, saying he and a friend needed a ride to the hospital."

"What!? Why? What's happened? Which hospital?"

"I don't know he hasn't called to let me know let me handle him now why don't you go find out , okay?" said Q as Alec finally stopped trying to maul David. "Alright, now get out." Q said to Alec, before turning to David, "come with me".

Once in Q's office, David sat on the couch, looking around as Q scrubbed the blood off his face.

He wasn't being gentle ether. "So David, did anyone tell you why the other agents nearly ended you today?"

"No," David muttered.

" I thought so. Now, do you remember those mean things you said about the other person in James's story?" Q asked. David nodded. "Well, David dear" said Q as he walked over to a shelf and taking something from it before coming back over.

"That person you insulted was James and my son." He said, showing a now very, very pale David the picture he'd taken from the shelf.

David felt like he couldn't breathe. He couldn't believe he wasn't dead yet. He took the picture frame. There were two pictures in it. One was agent 007 with the kid from his story standing on James's shoulders, scraping something off a kitchen ceiling with agent 006 sitting on the counter. The other was Q and the kid sleeping on the couch looking like they'd taken a bath in pink paint.

All David could do was try to breathe. "Oh God, I'm sorry, sir. Please don't kill me!" He finally looked up at Q, only to faint at the nasty look he was getting.

Q smiled. He hadn't meant to scare the agent that badly, but oh well.
Unlike James and alec, he actually thought instead of hitting when he got mad. Q decided to keep him in his office

James really did leave. Astor had called and said Connor had broken an arm and James had rushed off. Connor had never met James before.

With James gone, that meant David only had to hide from Alec for the rest of the day or until James came back with Astor and possibly Connor. If James brought Astor to see him, then Mr. David would have to hide and hide well.

As Q thought and puttered around, David woke up again. David sat there silently, really hoping he had been dreaming only to be sadly reminded he wasn't in a dream when Q turned around, still looking fierce as thunder. "You, agent David, are going to need to apologize. To James, to Alec, to me, and to Astor."

David nodded as Q continued talking
"But you're going to want to wait until James cools off first. James will kill you if he sees you again today. He only walked away from you because Astor texted him for a bit of help. Alec has disappeared, but he'll skin you. Make no mistake, I will let them. But until then, you will hide here in my office. *If James comes back, your best bet would be the lady's bathroom."

David nodded. He was content to camp out on Q's office couch. Looking at the little things on the shelves and the other pictures of the boy along with his family, apparently agent 006 was family, too as he was in a multitude of the pictures. David was cut from his distractions by the buzzing of Q's phone.

That was undoubtedly James, Q thought and he was right as he looked at it the little text. It said, Astor broke his arm. Can I call you?

For a moment, Q forgot David was there as he hit the call button.

"James, what happened?" He said as soon as the other end picked up.

"He and Connor were fishing. Astor got bored and had climbed on top of the little veranda like thing. Both of them fell asleep out there. Connor fell in and when he hit the water he shrieked and startled Astor awake, who then fell of the veranda and broke his arm. Connor smashed his leg on a rock."

James told him. He waited beside the boys' bed in the hospital. Both had been taken for x-rays. Connor had stitches in his leg and they were about to give Astor a cast for his arm.

"Are they okay now?" Q asked and David shrank in his seat.

"Yeah, they're fine. They are about to let Astor pick the colour for his cast.
"Do you want to talk to him?" James asked, watching as the Connor wiggled his fingers and Astor giggled before asking about the polar bears running around the floor .

"Of course I do. Hand him the phone, James."

David sat silently. He could hear the entire phone conversation.
He was so lucky he wasn't dead yet.

"daddy ?" Astor's voice came from the phone.

"Hi, baby." Q said with a smile, "what colour did you get for your arm?"

"Hot pink. Connor said he was gonna paint ducks on it for me."

"That's nice, baby. I'm sure it will look awesome. Would you like to get ice cream and watch some movies when I'm home?"

"Yeah, that sounds yummy."

"daddy theres rainbows in my toes and they sparkle can i keep them ?"

"of course you can baby"

"Could I talk to James for awhile?"

"Sure. Here," Astor handed the phone back to James and went back to playing with Connor's hair. James smiled at them.

"James he called me daddy then said he had sparkly toes" Q told him Astor had never called ether of them dad or any variation of dad before it seemed like he wanted to but just couldn't do it, so it was a bit strange hearing him say it nice but strange .

"I heard him and hes a bit drugged up he was hurting bad when we got here and the doctors made sure he couldn't feel a thing when they put his arm back together".

"Would they be able to leave soon?"

"Yes about an hour or two more then we can go home ." James said.

"Remember that young agent you beat on today, love?"

"Yeah, I remember him. He's lucky Astor called otherwise I'd have ended him."

"I thought so. Well, he went to medical and they got rough with him. Then he came up here and was telling one of my computer girls how his face got like that. Did you punch him out?" Q asked.

"No."

"Alec was walking by heard him and then pounced, beating the teeth out of him . Then I pulled him into my office and told him why he was getting beaten today

He would like to make apologies for his words."

"I'm sure he does, dear.