A/N:  Thank you for all the reviews.  Yes, Pussicle, glasses.  Nice glasses.  Ner.  De Ner. 

Mr alleymap bought me Sims 2 recently.  Am pleased to report that after an uncomfortable start, Alec and Ashleigh are married (although both required therapy straight afterwards...) and are currently learning to cook.  They have several friends, and both are, worryingly, attempting to embark on several affairs.  This shall be nipped in the bud of course. 

Here we are, chapter six, after a short delay.  With a brief warning for mild swearing.


Bond's distinct chirpiness (cunningly disguised as 'smugness') was noted by M the next morning and met with a frown of disapproval.

'If you could at least try to contain your glee, James,' she murmured as they approached what Bond refused to think of as anything more as the scene of the crime. 'We are dealing with a very sensitive issue.'

'Yes, yes, the abduction.'

'Kidnapping.'

'Is there a difference?'

'Yes, Bond, there is. One involves a young girl. The daughter of your goddaughter to be precise. Do try to remember.'

It was the blow to take the wind out of Bond's sails. If Ashleigh was a substitute daughter, thrown into Bond's precarious care during infancy in a fraternal gesture between friends, then her daughter was indeed proof of Bond's further descent into age.

And M knew it.

As they ducked through the light damp mist that covered the island, Bond wondered if he should be keeping score.

Inside the house, the last of the forensic team were finishing up their investigation. Bond hovered on the edge, watching, determined to avoid any sort of contact with Alec. He was acting like a school boy, he knew it, but it was far easier than facing that penetrating stare.

'Hey,' a quiet voice murmured behind him.

Ashleigh stood there, wrapped against the chill of the day in thick wool, holding out a cup of coffee to him. She held an identical cup, a new habit he noted, and a faint frown lined her face.

'How are you?' he asked stiffly.

'Fine, considering,' she forced a smile. It failed to smooth out the crease between her eyebrows.

'And...' he struggled with the words, the name.

'Alec?' Ashleigh supplied, with a brief flick of her eyebrow. 'The same. As Alec always is.'

Bond nodded. He couldn't care less, but felt it was only polite to ask, and the English were renowned for their politeness. He sipped the coffee, the scalding liquid burning his mouth, but not caring.

The silence fell thickly between them, too many years had passed, too much had changed, and remorsefully, Bond thought back to the small girl who had idolised him. It had been impossible for him to do anything wrong in her eyes, and Bond had a sudden longing for those days. He was used to adoring women, and Ashleigh had adored him once. Now she was with him...

'Why?' he suddenly snapped.

'Why what?'

'Why did you.... You and... Him.' For once Bond couldn't find the words.

'Are you asking why I married Alec?' Ashleigh asked quietly.

'Yes.' It was blunt, but at last it was out in the open.

'Why do people usually get married, James?' Ashleigh said coldly. 'Why did you get married?'

He didn't answer, and after a respectable pause, Ashleigh turned, and walked away. He had the impression she had rolled her eyes at him.

Bond had been in some strange situations before, but somehow, the last twenty four hours had beaten them all. He found himself drinking yet more coffee, glaring at the deceptively calm Alec who stalked round the room like a submissive, but caged tiger.

'What I don't understand,' Bond broke the silence, 'is how they knew about the child.'

Alec and Ashleigh's eyes met. A guilty flush crept over Ashleigh's cheeks. 'We have our own theory on that,' she mumbled.

'Which is?' Bond asked.

M coughed softly. Bond's head jerked up. M forced the cough again as if clearing her throat. She steadfastly stared out of the window refusing to meet Bond's eyes again.

'We - we weren't exactly discreet when Natasha was born,' Ashleigh tentatively explained. 'It would have been easy to register her birth under an alias, Alec and I both have several, but we wanted our daughter to have her real name. It was agreed that if this happened, all evidence of her birth would be seized and secured by MI6.'

'Which it was,' M confirmed.

'Or so we thought,' Alec finally spoke, and his tone was flat.

'Are you saying that MI6 failed in its objective?' M snapped.

'How else do you explain this situation?' Alec argued.

'It could be a number of things,' M pointed out. 'It could have been surveillance – they may have observed Natasha here, and put two and two together. Or it could have been sheer damned luck – Ashleigh was the original target, before they decided your daughter was a far better option.'

'How interesting,' Bond interrupted, a tight little smile fixed on his face. 'If your daughter was taken because you were so desperate to have 'Trevelyan' plastered all over her birth certificate, then once again your arrogance has destroyed everything for you. Is there truly no limit to your monstrous ego... Alec?'

The name was as much of an insult as the rest of his speech. With murder clear on his face, Alec stood, and a strange glint of warmth appeared in his eyes.

'How easy it is for you to spit your pathetic little insults, James. Of course, at the end of the day, being a father is something you'd hardly understand. Even if one of your many conquests spawned your brat, you'd hardly be aware of it. If our entire purpose on this earth is to produce offspring, well then, surely we can add your lack of procreation to your long, long list of failures.'

'How about your failure to protect your wife and child? Where exactly were you when Ashleigh was being attacked?'

Involuntarily Ashleigh's hand flew to her forehead, and James knew she was thinking the same thing.

And so did Alec.

She couldn't hide it from him. 'Where were you?' she whispered.

'That's not important right now,' he said flatly, after a long pause.

'It is now.' There was a sudden chill in Ashleigh's voice. With a precise action she placed her long empty cup on the table, stood, and stalked towards him. 'Where the hell where you?'

'Don't let him put ideas in your head, Ash,' here Alec shot a vicious look at James, who calmly stared back. 'It's not necessary for you to know, so don't ask.'

'Too late, I have asked.' All her anger was beginning to come to the surface, she felt sick and tired of all the lies, the cover ups of the last few years, and the events of the past day.

'Ashleigh, this isn't the time or the place,' M interjected quietly.

'Yes, it is!' Ashleigh turned on the older woman. 'Where did you send him this time? What was so vitally important that it meant he wasn't here protecting his daughter?'

M blanched, the reaction sudden, and involuntarily. She struggled to find the words.

'M didn't send me anywhere.' Alec said with a note of finality.

'Fine.' Ashleigh glared at each of them in turn. 'I'm obviously out of the loop, but don't mind me, I was just lying bleeding of the floor. I don't need to know anything.'

She threw the door open, ready to storm out, but was stopped by an official looking forensic scientist, who had been just about to knock.

'We've found this,' he held out a plain white envelope. 'We thought you should see it first, sir.'

'Where was it?' M asked, getting to her feet.

'Underneath the mat in the main room.'

'Why did it take so long to find it?' M snapped.

'Unfortunately we had to wait until all the blood samples had been taken. We were only able to lift the mat just now. This was directly underneath.'

The envelope was stained in one corner, blood darkening to a rust colour on the stark whiteness of the paper. Ashleigh shivered, as she realised that that was her blood.

Instinctively she reached out and snatched it from the hand of the technician.

'Ashleigh!' M ordered, but it was too late, Ashleigh slid a finger under the edge, and tore it open.

She frowned, puzzled. 'What on earth?'

She was holding a single white feather in her hand. It was almost perfect, save for the smattering of blood that stained the tip.

Silently, Alec took the feather from her. He stared at it for a moment, and then, suddenly he crumpled it, before throwing it to the floor. He stalked from the room, the door slamming behind him.

'I – I don't understand,' Ashleigh stammered staring after Alec in a manner of confusion.

'No, you don't,' M murmured softly. 'But Alec does.'

'Alec?' Ashleigh turned, grabbing the door, a sudden feeling of dread coming over her.

Bond leapt to his feet, recognising the panic in his goddaughter. Something was very, very wrong.

In the distance, there was a sudden roar of an engine. 'Shit,' Ashleigh swore, 'That's the Mercedes.'

She was running, sprinting through the house, trying to get outside, she threw open the door, and ran onto the driveway.

'Alec, no!' she cried out.

It was too late. The sleek black car revved once, and then with a squeal of tires, headed straight for the gate.

'He'll kill himself,' Ashleigh whispered, horrified. 'The gates are reinforced.'

'Open them!' M howled, and the panicked agents, fought to flick the switch that would release the gates. They sprang open, and with a roar, and a single flash of the rear brake lights, the car slid neatly through the gap, and sped away.

Ashleigh stared blankly after it as it vanished into the distance.

In a fury, Bond turned on M. 'Why open the bloody gates? Why didn't you try to stop him?'

'Because there was no stopping him, James.'

'But he's gone!'

'God help him,' M murmured.

'God's not who he's working for,' Bond snarled angrily. 'You need to think further south.'

'That's enough, Bond.' M snapped. 'Instead of sniping at Alec, why don't you go and help your goddaughter. She needs you right now.'

But Ashleigh had already turned on her heel, and vanished inside.