M had always loved the sea. From the time she was very little, on family vacations. However, she found throughout her life that travel by made her ill...horribly sick.
Even if in the back of her mind she knew that this was all a dream...it was a sickening, tossing and turning dream.
M kept up hope that this would end soon and she would wake up. The shock of having heard her own dead father's voice seem to rise out of the recesses of her mind and disturbed her greatly.
The pain of seeing and losing him in such violence and tragedy had made her angry, after the anguish had eased. That had never really happened to her dear father, no that had been her life not his. Having see the photographic evidence of murderous crime scenes from the aftermath of missions her agents had been sent on, had scarred her mind in more ways than one.
Now she was with a representation of Q and Tanner on a boat headed for the South Pacific or the Caribbean. The first mate and the other crew milled about the deck. Tanner was playing her brother and not her husband, thankfully. Tanner was her chaperone along with Q her uncle.
Q was experimenting with trying to bridge the reality of her vivid dream, back to the real world. He told her as much. The moment things would seem to make sense the world seemed to shift and she was right back down the rabbit hole.
Members of the crew treated them well. Mainly due to the fact that Q was helping the Royal Navy with some secret mission. M had yet to see the captain or commodore of the ship but one of at least one of the master's she thought he was, interfaced with her party. He wore a blue frock coat and bore a striking resemblance to Gareth Mallory.
M plopped down in the chair Mallory had brought over to her.
"I see that you are still not settling in well Miss Olivia."
"No...I never was good at sea voyages. I prefer to fly."
"Wouldn't we all if that were possible." Mallory chuckled. She forgot that this was the 19th century, by the blue frock coat he wore was from Nelson or Wellington's Royal Navy. She wondered if Napoleon had been defeated yet?
"If you would allow me to escort you about the deck Miss Olivia, you may feel better with the distraction." Mallory said offering her his arm. Olivia took him up on his offer as they moved around the deck of the ship.
"Mallory!" A voice shouted from the upper deck. They paused and turned to look and Olivia's breath caught in her throat. James Bond in full naval finery was staring down at them with a severe expression.
"The Captain would like to see you and Miss Q."
Bond looked suspicious of her and undeniably handsome in his uniform. Mallory helped Olivia climb the steep steps upwards as he handed her arm off to Bond. Olivia felt a jolt when her hand touched Bond's arm. He guided her toward the map room off the upper deck.
Once they entered the room, Bond's look of confusion took on a stranger look of shock and interest as they stared at each other until Q's voice broke through the odd situation.
"Ah...there you are my dear. Good. Lieutenant Bond, thank you for fetching her for me."
"No problem Mr. Q. Wasn't the captain due to be meeting with you now?"
"Yes...well. Perhaps he is just delayed." Olivia sensed hesitation in Q's voice and believed that something more may have happened. Something seems wrong with Q who didn't like the mention of the captain at all.
"I will go see to the captain then." Bond said releasing Olivia's arm. M felt a loss when he let go. The look on Q's face was cautious as he looked around. "Tanner should be joining us in a moment."
"What is going on. Have you figured out how to get through this weird dream scape?"
"Something is on the horizon my dear. Did you notice the change in Bond?"
"Yes...the moment I touched him he looked like he knew me...but as M."
"Yes...I'm breaking through and he is the real Bond...not an imagination. Let's see if we can do the same with Tanner when he gets here."
"What will this accomplish?"
"A bridging between dreams my dear. I have been working on making a stable dream and this is it. You may dip in and out of it to other dreams but this one is my working bridge so to speak."
"Good. So I assume you are monitoring our actual bodies?"
"Yes, and other than elevated levels of serotonin on occasion and some fluctuations in heart rate, you are all fine. I've been using the orb that sent you all into dream state to create this stable place."
"Good, I hope it works. Not that I mind being 20 again, I'm just not use to this kind of attention at my age."
"Oh tosh...my dear you are as lovely at 60 than you were at 20 and not just I think so."
Olivia blushed as Tanner came in the map room that Q had been given as a lab of sorts.
"Miss." He bowed over her hand as he kissed it. There was a small shock between them. "Olivia...wait...no...M? What is going on?"
There you see...Tanner and Bond are now officially here." Q uncovered something on the table and M recognized it right away.
"The orb...the one in reality. Not the one that Silva came for in the pub? I think he took a version of it before...the fire." M added, concerned.
"Not to worry about that. The orb would be the attempt at your mind to create a logical interpretation of what is going on in all of your dreams. Mainly because it was the last thing each of you saw and touched. This one will be your conduit back to the real world. At least I think and I hope it will be."
"This part of the dream is moving in a linear and logical fashion all of a sudden Q" Tanner said.
"Yes but now we are waiting for Miss Moneypenny to arrive. Once the four of you are together...this could work. But I doubt that she will materialize out of thin air, in the middle of the Atlantic. I don't know how we will get to her." Q adds.
There was a knock at the door and Tanner moved to open it. Bond was standing on the other side. "The captain would like to see you now." The confusion on his face was telling. It was as if Bond was having the most difficult time crossing over from wherever he was.
"Bond? Do you recognise M and Tanner?" Q asked.
Bond's brows furrowed deeply. "No...yes...M...she is...I was with her…"
"Yes Bond. I know that I don't look like you remember. I appear younger here, because this is a continuation of my dream and I am as I was...if that makes any more sense."
"Yes...it does." Bond approached her and held his hand out to lightly touch her face. "I was rescuing you in my dream."
M was confused by the intense look on his face as he touched her. Q cleared his throat to bring them all back to attention.
"Yes well...you have to let go in that dream, to come more solidly to this one 007."
"But...it's a good dream…"
"What are you doing Bond? Having M yell at you for destroying things." Tanner said with a laugh.
"No…" Bond said still staring at young M. He dropped his hand back down to his side as he absently said…"she was a...queen and we're in bed celebrating…"
"Bed!" Tanner exclaimed as Q grabbed his arm and shook his head to have him stop questioning Bond. "We need to go meet the captain now." Q ushered Tanner out the door allowing M a moment with Bond alone.
"In bed eh?"
"Yes...I rescued you…"
"And then...as in all your missions with a woman...we ended up in bed?" M said with a smirk. "Well I suppose I will have to remind you that you do not manage to rescue all the damsels Bond. You often you just walk away and leave them."
"I...I...I don't think I would ever have the strength to lose you M...nor the strength to walk away."
"Easy for you to say in a dream Bond but you and I both know that reality is far different and I'm old enough to be your mother out there."
"It still wouldn't matter to me M." Bond said, as he turned towards the door. He opened it and waited for M to pass through.
M was momentarily blinded by the sun, as they made their way out onto the deck. The Captain was facing the open sea, his back to them but he was tall and lean. He wore his hair long and it was pulled back but M could see the chestnut curls and her heart sped up.
M looked to Q to see the distress on the poor man's face. A massive pit became evident in her stomach as the captain turned to greet her. M became light headed, her breathing had become erratic much like when she saw her father. Now she was standing facing the handsome young face of her dead husband.
"Pleasure to meet you...Miss Olivia." He bent over her hand and kissed it. M couldn't even speak and Tanner and Bond looked on in confusion.
"Nigel?" M asked cautiously.
"Captain Nigel Mansfield at your service my dear...wife?" Nigel looked confused but then smiled.
Bond looked from one to the other as did Tanner. The realization that this was the manifestation of M's departed husband coming over them both. Tanner smiled and Bond frowned.
Q was busy trying to get them all to focus again as he pointed out that there was a ship in the distance coming their way.
M wanted desperately to leap into Nigel's arms but the approaching ship had his attention more than her. Nigel began barking orders and looking through a spyglass at the approaching ship.
"Damn it! Mallory...call all hands!" Mallory did as told and the crew began running about.
"Bond would you kindly stay with my...with my...wife and guard her with your life. This pirate crew is about to try to board our ship." Nigel wrapped an arm around her middle pulling her towards him as he leaned down and kissed her lightly. M was frozen and wished for that moment to freeze in time. It felt like a warm whisper from her past and she wanted...no...needed it. She needed more time! Dear god please give them a few minutes more.
Bond's hand was on her arm and pulling her away. He was confused and angry that their embrace resembled the cover of a romance novel that Bond never wanted to read. The dashing captain and his beautiful fair haired...wife?
"M...Wife?" Bond asked the captain in confusion, while still obeying orders.
"Yes Bond, my wife now do as I've asked." The captain said icily. "Don't think that I haven't noticed the way you look at her. That's why I've chosen you to watch over her...because...love is the best motivator.
"Why would pirates dare to attack a Royal Navy ship?" Tanner asked, suddenly diverting the suddenly uncomfortable conversation between the two officers.
"Something or someone they want is onboard." Q said as he held the orb up and placed it in a burlap bag. "Tanner, 007 guard this as well. I think I may end up on the bad end of this. Find Eve and touch the orb at the same time and you should make it back."
"What if we don't?" Tanner asked.
"You may be stuck in your minds for longer."
"But Nigel?" M whispered just loud enough over the din for them to hear.
"You must let him go M. You know that he's not really here. That he's been gone over a year. You know that as well as your father was just an echo of your memory of him."
M began to cry. "Yes...but...but."
Q grasped her hand. "I know it's hard M but you have to come back to reality. We need you out here too. We need all of you back!" As Q finished there was a jarring smash on the ship as the other one rammed it.
Screaming and yelling of Pirates clashing with the Navy. The cries of the dying and injured. Bond tossed a sword to Tanner and pulled M into the map room closing the door. Q was gone...as if he apparated away and out of danger.
"M...what was that...with the captain? Bond asked intently.
"That was my late husband Nigel. As this is my dream that you and Tanner have entered, it stands to reason that it would be filled with faces familiar to me. Even Mallory is here.
"Yes but...I remember my last dream and you and I…"
"We what Bond?" M said testily with her hands on her hips.
"Well…"
"What happens in your dreams is exactly that...your dream Bond."
Bond looked downright disappointed and that surprised M. He couldn't possibly be jealous of a ghost could he? Over her? Was this really the real 007?
"I would have at least liked the chance M. I don't like to be dismissed as an annoyance or jokester when I'm clearly deeply interested in someone. You of al people should understand that what I do on the job is not who I am. You've not turned me completely into the monstrous murderer that you order around."
"I never said you were! And never expected this...whatever it is...directed towards me!"
"Damn frustrating woman!"
"Presumptuous arrogant...agent! I'm bloody well old enough to be your mother!"
"I never wanted you to replace her...I want you...everything about you."
"This is all just a strange dream." M stated.
"Don't walk away from this M! You know that Q managed to get out minds together...so you know the truth of it now. You know that I want you like no other woman, just the same as I know that Tanner has a crush on Eve."
"Can we concentrate on the task at hand please." Tanner pleaded.
A pounding sounded at the door as a booming voice was heard, as the sounds of fighting stopped.
"I WANT THE GIRL NOW OR THE CAPTAIN DIES!"
A shiver crawled up M's spine as she heard it and Bond met her eyes. Mallory burst through the door sporting a cut oozing blood on his cheek.
"M! It's Silva….he has Nigel! And even worse...Eve is one of his Pirates!"
"Take this M." Bond handed her a knife as he drew his sword. "Tanner you get Eve and I will try to kill Silva...again."
Tanner handed M the burlap bag Q had given him. "Here M, keep this here and I will bring her in, I promise."
"Not likely. I plan to kill Silva this time Bond!" M said looking ready for a fight regardless of the early 19th century clothing she wore.
"M you can't leave this room. Stay in here and watch the orb. I cannot have you killed even if it's in just a dream."
"We don't even know what will happen to one of us, if we die in our dream M." Tanner argued.
Mallory had disappeared from the room, likely outside guarding the door or trying to save the captain.
The sound of a pistol shot sounded from out on the deck somewhere. M darted past Tanner and Bond and out the door.
"Damn it M!" Bond followed to see most of the crew was gone. He supposed in a dream the bodies would just disappear. Mallory's body hung limply over the rail behind Silva. Mallory must have tried to charge Silva.
Nigel Mansfield was now without his blue frock coat and hat, he knelt by Silva who had a pistol near his head.
"Well...well...well. So your wife is on board the ship. M so glad that you are here. So young and lovely. I will enjoy this far more than I had anticipated. Eve, go find and bring me the orb, so that she can't escape me. You men shackle Bond and her Chief of Staff and put them on our ship."
"Tiago leave them all alone...this is just a dream...one that I can control. Let us go!"
"M come to me and I won't shoot the head off your handsome husband!"
"Olivia...darling...don't. Bond I told you to protect her with your life!"
"I plan to sir."
Eve and Silva's men approached them, climbing the steps to the upper deck but Tanner and Bond stood at the ready to fight them.
Eve was in the lead but she seemed to look confused the closer she came to them. The reality of the four of them in the same place must be working her out of her own dream into M's.
Eve looked down at herself and quickly put a hand to her throat feeling for a vampire bite.
"You are sacrificing your husband for yourself and your new agents? Well...well...well, how your attitude has changed over the years M."
"Pirates? Bond...Tanner...M!? Is that really you?" Eve exclaimed as she turned on the men with her with shackles. She kicked one back down the steep stairs and shot one and then Tanner and Bond surged to help her. The melee continued to escalate as the struggle ensued. The three agents closed around M keeping her in the middle.
M looked out at the face of her greatest enemy as he met her eyes he smiled and shot Nigel in the head.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!" M screamed as she pushed through Tanner and Eve to get to Nigel. Even in the back of her mind she knew he was already gone. He had been gone for over a year and she still couldn't get use to his absence.
M wanted a chance to say goodbye properly, even if this was all just in her head.
Silva smirked as he lunged forward to yank her off the stairs and over his shoulder. "Retreat! I've got what I came for!"
"But what of the ship captain?" Silva's man said.
"M is worth more than this or any ship. They won't be able to catch us."
"Let me down you bastard!" M had barely held on as he tossed her over his shoulder and managed to drop the knife that Bond had given her.
"Not on your life M. This time I will have time to enjoy my revenge."
As Silva moved M saw Nigel lying on the deck near Mallory. She was so close...even dangling over the giant man's shoulder she could almost touch him again.
The anguish tore at her chest. Fear, loss, grief and anger swirled like her vision. M could feel that she was beginning to lose consciousness. Silva actually grabbed a rope and began to swing over towards his ship.
M looking down, about to blackout, just made out the sea beneath them as the last thing she saw. Somehow that was better than seeing her dead husband lying on the deck of the ship.
Bond screamed as he ran through another pirate. "Tanner release whatever men you can we have to go after them!" He hoped to hell that losing M wouldn't send them back into individual dreams yet again.
To be continued...