James dropped M off at her office and then left to run some personal errands before returning later in the day to begin their "Training". Just the thought of it made him laugh, If anyone had told him 8 hours ago that he would be in charge of "training" his boss in the art of the spy game he would have thought they were completely unhinged, but here he was walking back up to her office to do just that. As he entered the outer office he could see that Eve, M's secretary, clearly unhappy.

"Good afternoon Eve" he said cheerfully "And how are we today?"

"WE cannot wait for her majesty to leave for her business trip" snapped Eve with a bit of an edge to her voice

"What seems to be the problem?"

"You know...I was just going to ask you the same question. Usually she's just demanding but today she is downright unreasonable and all she does when she isn't barking out orders is mutter to herself..."

"Oh...and what does she say?" he asked with a grin

"No idea, all I have been able to make out is 007, so I deduced that somehow you are to blame for this cheery mood!"

"Well not entirely" he said as he went to the door

"I would be careful if I were you" she warned

"Say...how would you feel if I were to take her off your hands for the rest of the day?"

"From your lips to God's ears" she muttered as she returned to her typing

James opened the door just far enough to poke his head in to see M angrily rifling thru the stack of folders on her desk.

"Alright if I come in?" he asked hesitantly

"Does it really matter if I say it isn't" she snapped "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you said you had some errands to run"

"I'm done and now I believe we have a date at the shooting range" he said as he stood in front of her desk, just waiting for any number of excuses as to why she just couldn't possibly leave.

"You're really enjoying this aren't you" she said glaring at him

"You do realize that you could have just said No"

"Unless I am mistaken, No was not an option, unless you were at an entirely different meeting than I was this morning" she said coolly as she finished clearing off her desk

"Can I assume then that you are ready to begin?"

"Fine" she muttered begrudgingly as she came around the desk to join him "lead on McDuff" she said motioning toward the door

The ride down the indoor firing range was less than cheerful with M standing with her arms at her sides with clenched fists and James doing his level best not to laugh. Once they arrived he could tell that she was nervous but he wasn't quite sure why. It was no big secret that she was a terrible shot, she had admitted this tragic flaw quite openly on several occasions so he wasn't exactly sure what was bothering her so much. When they entered the range M was quite pleasantly surprised to find it completely empty except for James and of course her personal bodyguard, Morgan.

"Afternoon Morgan" said James as he made his way to the table full of guns and ammunition

"Afternoon 007...Ma'am" replied Morgan as he nodded to M

" Morgan...If you want to leave, I'll see to it that she gets home safely. We have a lot of business to attend to and there is no sense both of us being here to protect her being that clearly there is no threat" said James with a smile as he came to stand beside her

"Ma'am?" said Morgan looking to M for her approval

"Yes...of course. 007 can see me home safely once we are finished" she replied

Once Morgan had left James walked over to the table and picked up a Walther PPK and handed it to M.

"Ok...Show me what you can do" he said as he went back to lean against the wall.

M took the gun and turned to face the targets. She planted her feet and held the gun with one hand and was beginning to take aim as James loudly cleared his throat

"What is it!" she said turning to face him with a disgusted look on her face

"Nothing really" he said as he wrinkled up his face

"Well it must be something or you wouldn't be standing there with that stupid look on your face so out with it" she demanded as she began waving the gun back and forth

"Hey watch it...That's not a water pistol you know" he said sharply as he grabbed hold of her hand

"What's the matter Bond? Afraid I'll shoot you" she said with a smirk

"Now that you mention it...Yes"

"Alright ,you're the expert... What am I doing wrong?" she asked sarcastically

"Well it's just that that if I were you I would hold it with two hands. The recoil on it can be a bitch sometimes and you could hurt your wrist" he said innocently

"007...I have always fired a gun with one hand" she said defensively

"Alright, Have it your way...just don't say I didn't try to warn you"

M turned and faced the targets again and fired several shots in rapid succession before dropping her arm and rubbing her wrist which was now quite sore

"Told you so" he said sarcastically as he came to stand beside her, taking her wrist in his hand to inspect it for any damage

"Fine! are you happy now? You told me so" she snapped as she pulled her arm out of his hand

"It's remarkable...you fired off 7 shots and never once managed to hit the target" he said as he studied the hanging papers at the end of the room

"And just what is so remarkable about that? I haven't fired a gun in nearly 30 years, It's no big surprise that I am a little out of practice" she retorted

"Let's try this again" he said as he came around to stand behind her. "Lift the gun as though you are taking aim" he said

M unhappily did as she was told and lifted the gun again

"Now I want you to use both hands this time" he said as he leaned down and placed his chin on her shoulder

"Bond! what are you doing" she asked as she turned her head to find herself nose to nose with him

"Trying to see how you are aiming, from your perspective" he replied "You're aiming too high"

"No I'm not!"

"Here let me show you" he said as he put his arms around her with his hands over hers on the gun, and his chin still resting on her shoulder "You need to aim lower so that when you fire and the gun lifts slightly, you will hit your target"

"You can let go now" she said dryly as she attempted to pull away from him "I think I've got the picture"

"Look...If we are to be believable as a couple, than you are going to have to get used to me touching you" he replied as he looked down at her

"You just keep your hands to yourself" she snapped

James did as he was told and took a step back and waited as she turned and fired the gun again. The only problem was that in her frustration with James she hadn't bothered to plant her feet correctly so when she fired, the force of the shot caused her to lose her balance and sent her flying backwards into James sending them both crashing to the ground. James somehow managed to get his arms around her and put himself between her and the floor to cushion their fall.

"M" he said weakly as he carefully took the gun from her hand "I think from now on you should leave the shooting to me"

"Right" she replied with a slight look of embarrassment as she untangled herself from his arms

"I think we've had enough target practice for today don't you?" he asked as he got up and helped her to her feet

"Yes" she said as she reached for the gun

"What are you doing?"

"I just want to prove something to you" she said as she held the gun in one hand and pointed at the target and squeezed the trigger hitting the target directly in the center.

James stood there stunned for a moment looking back and forth between M and the target, which now had a gaping hole in the center

"I told you I prefer to fire a gun with one hand" she said dryly as she handed the gun back and headed toward the door "Oh and Bond...I can hit my target when it really counts"

"She never ceases to amaze me" he muttered as he followed her out the door.

TO BE CONTINUED...