Thanks for the reviews. Hopefully I will be able to update in a more timely fashion with this one, and Prosper there is always a twist :) Glad to have you back.

When M arrived home it was quarter to three in the morning. When she walked thru the door to her flat and turned on the light she half expected to see Bond sitting on her sofa drinking her best scotch. It wouldn't be that unusual as this had become a custom of theirs for him to be waiting for her at her flat after a mission, but when she entered her sitting room she found it to be completely empty.

"You're just overreacting" she muttered as she poured herself a drink "Maybe he IS just tired from the mission" but experience told her that this was not the case.

M sat on the sofa and began to replay the entire conversation with James over and over in her head. Something just wasn't right. He always has some smart reply especially when she was badgering the hell out of him, but tonight he just remained calm in fact if he had been any calmer he would have been in a coma. M closed her eyes and tried to rest, but after about twenty minutes she finally gave up and rang her driver. She might as well go back to the office as there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell she would get any rest tonight.

"M?" said Tanner looking rather surprised to see her "I thought you were going home?"

"Well I was or rather I did, but now I'm back. What have you been able to find out so far"

"As I said the reports are still being completed, but one thing caught my eye that I think you will be most interested in" he said as he followed her into her office

"Oh and what is that?"

"I've received the report from Q branch regarding the condition of 007's equipment"

"Fabulous." she said sarcastically "And what is the grand total thus far?"

"Actually...Ma'am... he returned his equipment and believe it or not it's all in working order, not a scratch on it." replied Tanner

"What do you mean it's all in working order. 007 has NEVER in the entire time I have known him returned anything in working order" said M in rather shocked tone

"I thought it was pretty strange myself, so I took the liberty of asking Q to personally go over every inch of the equipment"

"And?"

"And my suspicions were correct."

"Tanner, are you going to tell me or are we going to play twenty questions all night?" she said sharply

"M...It's not his gun...Well that's not entirely true, It is his gun, just not the one he was most recently issued, in fact the one we have downstairs hasn't been fired for quite some time" he said quietly

"I see" she replied dryly "When was this gun issued?"

"About six months ago for his mission in Nepal"

M just nodded as she tried to recall the mission

"Do you happen to know if he went to medical before he left?"

"There's indication that he did in the log"

M just sat there staring at Tanner with a pained expression on her face.

"M...What do you want to do?" he asked cautiously

"Nothing...at least not just yet." she said rubbing her forehead

"But surly you..." he started to say before he was abruptly cut off mid-sentence

"Tanner what I want is for you to keep going over the paperwork and see what else you can find, and have someone interrogate Mr. Rene`. See if he can shed any light on the situation. I will deal with 007 myself" she said firmly "Is that clear?"

"Yes Ma'am"

After Tanner had left, M sat at her desk trying to come up with ANY reasonable explanation for Bond's odd behavior or the mystery gun. As no explinations immediately sprang to mind she decided to wait and see what Bond had to say, providing that he was a bit more talkative than he was at their last meeting.

Morning came early and Bond arrived at M's office with report in hand. Eve was sitting at her desk and just couldn't resist winding him up first thing in the morning.

"Morning 007" she said with a grin "Just what have you done to be summoned here at the crack of dawn by her majesty?"

"Just here to turn in my mission report" he said as he took a seat opposite her in the chairs usually reserved for visitors

"Well aren't we efficient today." she said teasingly

Bond just stared at Eve with a rather quizzical expression on his face.

"What are you waiting for a golden invitation? You know she doesn't like to be kept waiting. Go on get in there and don't you dare put her in a foul mood for the rest of the day" she said with a laugh

"Right" he said getting up and hesitating at the door

"Well go on" prodded Eve "She doesn't usually bite this early in the morning"

Bond knocked lightly as he opened the door and went in.

"007. I trust you slept well" Said M looking up from her computer

"Yes Ma'am. Here is my report, I think you will find everything in order" he replied again with no indication that he intended to elaborate on the mission.

"Yes Thank you" she said taking the file.

"Will that be all" he asked

"007...Are you alright?" she asked watching his face for any sign of emotion

"Yes Ma'am. Why do you ask?"

"It just strikes me as odd that you didn't come around for our usual form of debriefing" she said, purposely leaving out the minor detail of where these informal debriefings usually took place.

"It must have slipped my mind" he said sounding almost matter of fact

"Really? and here I thought you rather liked my best scotch not to mention the challenge of disarming the alarm" she said narrowing her eyes, hoping for some sort of reaction.

"Well maybe next time" he said quietly "If that will be all"

"Yes of course" she replied "And by the way don't forget you promised to stop by medical"

"Yes Ma'am" he said as he left

Eve looked up from her computer, looked at Bond and then at her watch.

"That has to be the fastest debriefing in history" she said as he continued walking past her

"Eve, could you come in here" shouted M

"Yes Ma'am" she replied as she got up and entered the office "Is everything alright with 007? he doesn't seem quite his usual jovial self today"

"So you noticed it too"

"All due respec,t but you would have to be Deaf, Blind and just plain stupid not to notice"

"Right" said M with a renewed sense of determination in her voice "Find Tanner and ask him to join me down in Q branch" she said as she headed for the door

"Yes Ma'am"