Chapter 5

"Why not?"

"It covers you up too much?"

"I love this dress."

"I can appreciate that M but I did some shopping and.."

"You did what!?"

"I bought you some clothing."

M's face was flushed at the presumption of the man. "You know my size and style...my colours?"

"No...well yes. I understand what you like M but what you like is not necessarily what your mark would like. You want to project yourself differently from work. This is not rocket science M. You need to dress provocatively and unless the man you want loves a woman in a power suit, you need an update."

M pulled the bag from his hand. "And just how did you manage my size?"

"Well...Judy and then…"

"I don't want an answer to that." M said turning bright red as she pulled lingerie from the bag. The presumptuous little shit! "You bloody well broke in again and went through my knicker drawer didn't you!"

It was Bond's turn to change hues as he shuffled his feet before her in her living room.

The door opened suddenly to distract the two, from their uncomfortable silence.

"Hello Mum...oh there you are. Hello James. Oh I see she's just got the surprize. Don't put him through the ringer Mum, I helped. Although, he is an ace at guessing sizes." Judith said pulling out three dresses from her bag.

"Here are the ones you instructed me to purchase. I have the receipt for you Mum...I'm sure this constitutes a work expense." M took the paperwork as she and Bond looked at the three dresses. One was very similar to the one Bond had produced for her to try on.

"Now do you understand what I am trying to accomplish M?"

"I think so...still..."

"M; it's like sleight of hand with people. Judith will intrigue and you will appear almost as you've not changed in 25 years."

"Closer to thirty to be honest." Judy said with a smile. M shot her a look. "Come on Mum...you look gorgeous and you know it. You are the only woman I've ever known to grow more attractive with age. That will hopefully bode well for me in the future."

"Go try them on and we will see the order in which you should wear them to compliment each other and garner the most attention." Bond said sitting down on the sofa to prepare himself for the fashion show. He would need to assess them for the way they carry themselves and instruct them how to maintain confidence and project their sexuality outward. Towards the unsuspecting man or men at whatever hotel or resort they were headed to.

Bond had begun to monitor the central booking agency that made all his travel arrangements. Hacked into the system in the hope that he would find when M and Judith were leaving and where they were going.

It would be easier if Tanner or Q let is slip but the two of them would just glare whenever he brought it up.

Bond had vacation due him and he planned on using it. He would book his own flight and get there before M to make sure that she was safe.

Bond tried to relax but the thought of having M model the clothes he had picked out for her was affecting him more than he thought. His eyes darted around her living room and suddenly he noticed Judith's bag on the floor beside the sofa.

He kicked it so that the contents spilled out of the open bag and he could take a look. Luck would have it that Judith still kept a small paper agenda in her bag. Bond cast his eyes up the stair and listened for any movement. The coast seemed clear and he quickly scanned the book to see that two weeks were marked...and that started in only three days!

Bond noticed that all it said was cruise. A cruise? Damn it...he had not thought that would be the case. He looked through earlier entries to see if anything else was written. Just a tiny penciled in BA 7548. A flight call sign.

Bond put the agenda back in the purse and returned it to it's formerly upright position beside the chair. He scrolled through British Airways flight numbers in the next few days and found that that flight was to Kingston Jamaica.

Before he could delve into it further he heard them reach the stairs. Judith descending first. She was lovely in the flowered wrap dress Bond had instructed her to buy. The one he got for her mother would compliment it perfectly.

The dresses were not identical but enough alike to make any man do a double take. M came down wearing hers….again with the scarf. Bond stood as they made their entrance. A frown on his handsome face as he made his way towards M, holding out his hand.

M looked testy as she exclaimed "Alright...here." She handed Bond the silk scarf that she was using to cover her cleavage.

M was many things but he had never taken her for shy before. "M you are hardly prudish about yourself now are you?"

"I'm just not used to the idea."

"Come on Mum...you look lovely. You've still got it so you might as well flaunt it. Besides you may meet a nice gentleman you can date for real."

Bond frowned at the thought that M may indeed attract a companion other than the mark she was working towards.

"I think the two of you need to keep your heads in the game and get back as soon as your mission is complete."

"Mr. Bond you are such a worrier. I swear you seem jealous." Judith said with a chuckle as she turned and headed into the kitchen. "I'll put the kettle on and we'll have a cup before the rest of clothes are tried on."

M tried to catch Bond's eyes, as he seemed to be turning red with embarrassment. The comment Judith made about a crush must have...then Bond's eyes did meet hers and M involuntarily took a sharp inward breath.

Bond looked away but not before…

Bond wondered if M had caught more than he should have shown. He found he could not meet her piercing blue eyes for long. It was just a breath. A loaded breath, with an eternity of longing and need held within it.

They were naught but two combatants normally balanced in locked combat over mission protocol or the mundane budget analysis M would accuse Bond of disregarding. This was something new.

M pulled back in shock. There was so much in that look. So many questions. He couldn't...could he? No...this was completely ridiculous. He was so young and she…

A voice called out from the kitchen. "Kettle's boiled are you coming or should I bring it out." The uncomfortable silence in which they had been pondering their circumstances shattered as M answered. "Coming dear."

M moved towards the kitchen as she tried to control her unsteady breathing and obvious confoundment. She heard Bond followed closely behind and it made the hair on the back of her neck rise. Not that she was scared of Bond….but she was scared of what that look held. Her plan to get him out of the way for the duration of her mission was now imperative. If he...actually felt something for her...more than what she had thought, then he would ruin this and that could be fatal.

Later that evening when M had gone to the safe house to go to bed she called Tanner.

"I think you need to send him now. Tonight. He will follow me if we are not careful. And Tanner...has Bond ever...expressed strong feelings towards me. Be honest. I don't care if he's called me a bitch or bean counter."

"Why M...has something happened? Did he follow you to the safe house?"

"No...but he is insistent that he accompany me on this mission."

"I see. M I think he may be developing too much of a personal attachment to you."

"I don't understand this."

"I do...look at the characteristics of the only other woman in his life and you will find similarities."

"What! His mother...or do you mean Vesper? She was hardly a model citizen and easily swayed by a boyfriend who made her into a traitor."

"M...you misunderstand me. Vesper was a beautiful woman with a strong personality...like you."

M paused not wanting to harp on the comparison and just take the compliment as given. "Thank you Tanner but I still don't see...the possibility of anything more than I'm a mother figure for him. Or this is all just casual flirtation to get under my skin."

"Why because you feel that your age is a deterrent? Because I can assure you that it is not."

"Tanner! I think you had better work on that plan we had to get 007 out of the way and busy for the next three weeks."

"Very well Ma'am. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Tanner." M hung up the phone and turned out the bedside lamp. She was tired but she knew it would be difficult to sleep.

"Damn him...as if."

M's minds raced to uncharted territories where every fantasy she had ever had about her most troublesome agent could come true.

To be continued...