Mallory stirred and his brain latched onto a steady beeping that was surprisingly soothing, the next thing he was aware of was the feeling of something warm in his hand. He soon worked out it was someone else's hand; it felt limp in his. The smell of antiseptic assaulted his nostrils and he groaned as he realised where he was, back in medical.
M opened his eyes slowly and was thankful his head didn't pound as much as his last awakening in this blasted place, he had made a rather nasty habit of becoming a frequent visitor to the medical team. His blurry sight cleared quickly and he saw that he had been correct in his assessment of what he was holding, it was a hand. He carefully followed the arm up to it's owner and felt a small jolt of surprise as he recognised Eve. She was fast asleep in a chair by his bedside, M's heart melted as he watched her chest rise and fall and smiled at the position she had fallen asleep in.
The effort of smiling proved too much for his neck muscles, he winced harshly as fiery pain shot from the wound. The last thing he remembered before he woke up here was a gun in his face, the searing pain of a shot and not being able to breathe. He was pretty sure he had begun choking on his own blood…
His brain joined the dots and he realised he must have been shot in the throat, which meant he was lucky to be alive. It was then he remembered Bond appear above him, the agent pressing down against him and shouting something that M couldn't hear. The usual unflappable agent had looked worried.
"I've already got pictures." Bond's amused voice drifted through his thoughts from his left.
Mallory turned his head carefully and saw 007 smirking, indicating to Eve's hand in M's. He then noticed Q in the bed next to his. The quartermaster had his arm in a sling and was sitting upright with a chess piece in his hand, from the look of concentration skewing the young man's features he was clearly working out his next move against Bond.
Q noticed the attention on him and was brought out of his daze. The confused features were replaced immediately as the quartermaster's eyes landed on M. Q was happy that M was awake and mostly okay.
M felt relief flood his system as he saw Q looking far better than when he left him, he had much more colour in his face now and his features weren't racked with pain. His face had a rather nasty bruise though. The two men observed each other in silence, there would be time for talk later. They simply nodded and felt happy that they were both in one piece, physically at least. M finally latched onto Bond's attempt at humour; the agent was trying to keep things light to keep them all from the macabre memories.
M looked between Bond's smirk and Eve's sleeping form. He chuckled then grimaced as it pulled at his throat. This was going to get rather tedious.
"Blackmail… Really 007?" He managed to rasp the words, his voice sounded horrendous.
Bond just replied with a grin and a mischievous glint sparkled in his eye. He indicated to Eve with his eyes. Mallory felt Eve's hand twitch in his and turned to see Moneypenny wake up, she seemed to notice where her hand was and then that M was awake. She looked embarrassed and her face flushed as she quickly snatched her hand away. She glared over at Bond who was doing a very bad job of pretending he hadn't seen anything. Q was doing an even more rotten job though and couldn't help but let a snigger out.
"Sir." She coughed and sat up stretching out after the awkward sleeping position. M felt his heart warm as he realised how long she must have been at his bedside.
"You didn't have to stay Moneypenny." He coughed part way through and was grateful when she handed him some water that soothed his damaged throat.
"I wanted to." She replied with a warm smile, forgetting about her previous embarrassment.
Mallory felt his heart flutter as he lost himself in that smile, it was so genuine and he felt blessed that she had wanted to stay. Perhaps she did enjoy his company as much he enjoyed hers. "Thank you."
Moneypenny smile morphed and she grew somber as her eyes found the wound on his neck. "I'm just sorry I couldn't do more."
"R betrayed us all." Mallory reached a hand up and touched the offending wound. There was nothing she could have done, they had all been played. "What happened?"
She stared at his neck and he observed her hands clench slightly, she was holding back anger. "They shot you to try and get away, the bullet tore through your neck and hit an artery. You had the doctors worried for a while."
Mallory gulped as he remembered the horrifying feeling of drowning in his own blood, it had burned more than anything he'd ever experienced. He suddenly realised that James had saved his life again.
"I owe you my life again 007." Bond glanced up from the chess board, he had been about to place a piece.
The agent's striking eyes sought Mallory's and his face grew serious. Something flashed across Bond's face before it was expertly contained, he couldn't be sure but 007 had looked guilty, sick with worry.
"It's my job M." The delivery should have been cold, professional to accompany the words but they were anything but. Mallory picked up on the compassion and warmth in his friend's voice and knew Bond had taken the role far more seriously than his employment required.
Gareth felt oddly embarrassed. "Well thank you."
A sly smile twitched upon the agent's face as he witnessed M's self-conscious tone. Bond's bright blue eyes danced mischievously as the man placed the chess piece down which caused Q to groan loudly. Mallory didn't know all that much about chess but from Q's reaction he could guess that 007 had just played an unexpected move. M filed away the curious revelation for later, who knew Bond could give the quartermaster a run for his money over a game of chess?
He turned his attention back to Eve. "What happened to the information R stole?"
She jumped slightly at the interruption, she had probably been just as enthralled at the sight of Bond playing chess as he had. "All the stolen data was recovered. Unfortunately the men taking it killed themselves rather than risk capture."
M swore inwardly as he heard the bad news, with R dead the information well had run dry. Back to square 1, well not quite…
"That means this isn't over." Bond interrupted grimly.
M hummed in agreement and watched carefully as James' hand twitched towards his concealed pistol, Bond was going to worry him over the upcoming weeks. He would have to make sure to sit down with him at some point; try to stop the agent from imploding after the latest events. Mallory knew 007 was protective, to the point of losing control. After the latest harm befallen on Q, M was seriously worried about how long Bond could keep a lid on his raging emotions.
He was interrupted from the unpleasant thought train before his mood dipped completely. "Looks like you've got a bodyguard for a while sir." Mallory couldn't help but selfishly love the idea of Eve staying with him longer; but he couldn't rob her of her personal life anymore.
"That's not necessary Eve, you've got your own life." He replied growing sadder as the words tumbled from his lips.
Bond and Q chose that moment to interrupt and snorted again unhelpfully. The pair were both innocently playing chess as he and Moneypenny glared at them in unison.
Eve took his hand in hers and he gazed into her kind eyes. "Of course it is you're still in danger, and anyway the Doctors won't release you if there's no-one at home."
M sighed inwardly as she explained only work related reasons, he couldn't ask he to sacrifice her own time for just that. She must have read something in his eyes as she continued. "Besides I've quite enjoyed our time together."
Mallory searched her face and saw instantly that she truly meant it. "Me too." He whispered giving her hand a warm squeeze in return.
Mallory felt something flutter in his stomach and revelled in the heartfelt words. They stared into each others eyes and the moment was perfect, intimate; until it wasn't.
"Get a room you two." Bond groaned.
M shut his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. The perfect moment was obliterated as quickly as it had appeared, he had forgotten they weren't alone. "007 if you don't shut up I'll have you assigned to timbuktu." He glared over at the smirking agent.
"Sorry." He directed the apology at Eve. The apology was genuine enough for M to let the matter go.
Eve smiled affectionately at Mallory then with noticeable regret withdrew her hand from his. She got out her laptop and started typing.
"So, back to the drawing board." Q finally broke the silence with a voice that was drowned in defeat.
"Not quite." M replied remembering the name R had told him before his death. "R told me his employer's name before he died."
Everyones attention was peaked. Bond, Q and Eve's gaze were all on him; chess match and laptop forgotten.
"They're called Imperium."