4. Rock Bottom
**Author's Notes: I'm sorry this update took a little while longer! Hopefully your weekend has been a good one!**
Rock Bottom
Natalya stood by, waiting to be placed in the private jet. Looking around, her two undercover body guards were scanning the area for any suspicious looking people. As the engines revved up, Natalya looked towards a nearby gift store.
"I feel sick. I need to go use the ladies room." Natalya lied to her bodyguards.
They nodded and followed her to the gift store. The bodyguards pretended to be customers scanning the store. Natalya walked up to a clerk near the back corner of the store.
"Excuse me, but those men have been following me around the airport and I think they are trying to kill me."
The clerk grabbed Natalya and put her under the desk with the register, "Stay here ma'am. I'm going to go get help."
"Thank you so much." Natalya whimpered.
The clerk nodded and left. Natalya could hear arguing and yelling with the sound of customers running out in panic. Knowing that was her cue, Natalya ran to the back door and exited into an employee's lounge. Smoke from unfinished cigarettes made the lounge hazy, but Natalya could still see the light from the exit sign. Opening the exit, Natalya immediately dropped to the ground, covering her ears. The engines roars from nearby planes on the tar matt seem to split her ear drums. Looking around, Natalya jumped onto a luggage cart pulling away from a plane.
"She did what?" M could be heard shouting in her office.
Money Penny flinched from the shouts. She looked up as James and Elizabeth showed up.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you two."
James smirked when he heard the sound of pencils hitting the wall. Money Penny got up and left. Elizabeth took a seat and smiled up at James.
"What?" James asked; smiling.
"Nothing. I just want to know your history with this Natalya Simonova."
James sighed, "I figured you would ask that question, given my history with women."
Elizabeth raised an eyebrow playfully as James pulled up a chair in front of Elizabeth.
"Well, me and Natalya met on one of my missions; of course. She was a computer technician that helped build the database for this disk called Goldeneye. The Goldeneye was stolen with the help of my best friend; who was an agent of this agency. I thought he was dead for a long time and to find out he was working with terrorists completely shocked me. That's another story for another time. Natalya was the only lead I had on getting the Goldeneye back. Well, we had a crush on each other, but that is as far as it went for me; just like so many of the other girls I had met."
James took a deep breath, "So, we started going out on dates less and talking to each other less until we never called each other again. Now, she's back, asking for my help."
Elizabeth nodded, "You're a good man. I would be surprised if she didn't look to you for help. Who were these other girls you met?"
James laughed, "You are one curious vixen, you know that? I met the first love of my life during my first mission. Her name was Vesper Lynd. She helped me stop a powerful man, named Le Chiffre; who controlled the money flow to top terrorist organizations. Vesper was engaged, but the two of us had fallen for each other hard. However, she still loved the man she was engaged with too. Vesper secretly made a deal with the people who were holding him hostage and the ransom was the money we were able to nab from Le Chiffre. Well, things went bad and she was killed; Vesper drowned. The second love of my life was Tracy Di Vicenzo. It is kind of funny how me and her fell in love. Her father was trying to use her to get information out of me on whom I was and why I was there. Ironically, she turned on her father to protect me."
Elizabeth sat forward in her chair, "You know James, it is so interesting to hear your life story when it comes to women. Your reputation as a womanizer is what gave me my first impression of you as a snob, but as I got to know, I realized what a great person you really are."
James just chuckled, "Wait, there is more. Well, me and Tracy ended up escaping from her father and I asked her to marry me. We got married, but on our wedding day, Tracy was shot in front of me and died. I still visit her grave once in a while."
Elizabeth covered her mouth in shock, "You were married once? Oh my God, James, I never would have thought "
"I get that reaction all the time. The third woman in my life that still left a hole in my heart was Paris Carver. I didn't consider her the love of my life, but she still made me go crazy when I was around her. We left each other and she got married to a media tycoon, Elliot Carver. My mission to stop him from taking over the media and the worlds governments led to my reunion with Paris. Her news about her being married to Elliot Carver completely shattered me, but it was obvious she still wasn't over me. Paris headed to my hotel room one night and we caught up on things. I'm afraid that was the biggest mistake I made for her safety was even speaking to her because the next morning, her own husband had her killed."
"James," Elizabeth started, "I am so sorry."
"Then you will understand why I am so protective over you." James replied, staring deeply into Elizabeth's eyes. "I love you so much, Elizabeth. When we met, I realized you were the one. I believed that having this job had cursed me with pain, but then I realized that maybe, this time things could be different. That I will be able to keep my lover alive; to keep you alive. You see, you are the true love of my life. I know that for sure because you have the same persona of my late wife and with your help, I can move on from my past. I know my past, nobody's past, can die, but it can be reflected upon without pain and misery."
Elizabeth smiled, "James, I would do anything for you. I realize now that Natalya Simonova cannot break our bond with one another."
James kissed Elizabeth gently, "Good, because I don't want any fighting between you two."
Elizabeth laughed, "Well, I kind of had a talk with her when we first met."
James raised an eyebrow, "What did you say, exactly?"
"When she told me who she was, I had a chat with her about how I have no problems with cutting her pretty head off if she didn't tell me what she was doing here. Natalya just started speaking about you at a rapid pace and I just started asking her questions to make sure she actually knew who you were and that she wasn't just feeding me bull crap."
James just nodded as a very frustrated M slammed open her office door.
"MONEY PENNY!" M screamed.
Money Penny's frantic running back to the office could be heard down the hallway from the rapid clicking of her heels. Panting, Money Penny leaned onto the door frame.
"Money Penny, I need James and Elizabeth at once!" M yelled.
Elizabeth exaggerated a cough that caught M's attention.
"Oh, there you two are. Into my office, now."
Mr. Linderman let the ocean mist gently massage his cheeks as his men got to searching for **Neptune's Fearful Jewel.** Joseph kept pacing back and forth, checking his watch.
"What is taking them so long?"
"Patience, Joseph. It takes a long time to search for a torpedo that was randomly thrown overboard." Mr. Linderman replied.
Joseph's radio buzzed to life, "I think we found it! We are bringing it up now. Over."
"Roger, that." Joseph replied with glee.
After about 20 minutes, a small sub surfaced up and bobbed up and down from the tide. A large metal mass, completely covered in sea weed, moss and water critters was lowered onto the boat deck. Mr. Linderman folded his arms in anticipation. A couple of the men jammed crow-bars and metal pikes to rip open the vault. A large crack split the air and black water came gushing out of the vault. As the water cleared, the door was completely opened a mud covered torpedo was cushioned inside. Mr. Linderman smiled as it was taken and laid out on the deck. Taking an orange cloth, Mr. Linderman rubbed some of the mud off to reveal **Neptune's Fearful Jewel** engraved on the side.
"We have found it my friends." Mr. Linderman exclaimed.
A cheer erupted throughout the boat. Mr. Linderman stood up and pulled out his gun. Joseph smirked, "What do you need that for?"
Mr. Linderman smiled, "Your services are no longer needed. I'll be the smart one and make sure that you are dead."
Mr. Linderman shot Joseph right between the eyes and kicked his body overboard. He watched as the current sucked Joseph's dead body into the deep depths below.
