-1Not For Love
A Short By Douglas Paterson
Based On The Characters & Novels Created By Ian Fleming
Bond awoke to find his curtains already open. The light hit him straight in the face, burning his freshly opened eyes. The girl. It iwa too early for Bond to be awake, barely 5am. He had intended to rest well this morning, recover from the night before. Bond had just returned from Germany, to rescue a fellow agent who had been kidnapped, and had drank rather heavily the night before, in the company of a young woman from MI6, one Miss. Janice Miller.
Bond was gaining a reputation at the building as a user of women, but even though this reputation was slowly spreading through the various women of MI6, mostly secretaries, he was still able to charm them back to his flat. Bond himself had never been in love, sex was something to keep him sane. A tool to keep him healthy of body and mind. The girls he slept with were just tools in order to do this - still, he tried to make them feel loved for the short time he was with each of them. He did not want them to feel cheap the following day. He would spend another few days with this one, then leave her as he did every girl. It stopped anyone getting hurt, especially himself. To Bond, it didn't matter who he slept with, single or married. It was how he spent his free time.
Bond lifted himself out of bed, quickly looking at himself in the small mirror he kept in his room. He was beginning to notice the stress of his work on his face, the lines were growing harder, his eyes were getting darker, more distant. Less human. He moved over to a drawer and pulls out a pair of pyjama bottoms. Pulling them on and stepping into his moccasins he moved over to a cupboard and pulled out a plain white t-shirt, and pulled that over himself. He made a quick check of his room, noting the location of his gun. Satisfied, he moves through to the kitchen, where he can smell eggs boiling.
He sits with the girl, eating, drinking his orange juice and occasionally looking at her. Truly a beautiful girl, the kind of girl any other man would happily settle down with. But that couldn't be his life. He belonged to the secret service, and that was that. Getting involved with any girl was not an option.
He had heard stories, about other agents who had fallen for girls. It normally ended badly, either the woman couldn't cope with the fear that her man may never return home, or she was taken by the enemy, used against the man. Neither of these was acceptable, and that's why Bond knew he had to be alone. But he did not yearn for love, and Bond was happy to live his life alone. He doubted it would ever change.