James angrily paced around his flat with his mood waffling somewhere between really pissed off and hurt that M would seriously think that she was nothing more than just another mission to him. As he gulped down his drink he tried in vain to see the entire situation from her point of view. First she's been told that she is to come out of retirement and become an active agent again, against her wishes, then she is told that her own agent will be in charge of retraining her, then she is told that said agent must appear as though he is her latest fling, all the while maintaining her professional distance then to make matters worse, their target is a man who tortured the crap out of her and left her for dead, killing her partner in the process. As he continued to consider the facts as he knew them he heard a light knock and as he opened the door he found a rather bewildered M staring back at him.

"May I come in?" she asked quietly

James stepped aside and let her pass as he closed the door behind her.

"I wanted to apologize for earlier. I had no right to treat you that way, and I understand if you would rather have someone else..."

"M" he said as he gently placed his hands on her shoulders "I've had a lot of time to think about this, and I can see how it must have looked to you, but I would never hurt you"

"I know that"

"But I also have a feeling that there is more to this story than you're letting on, so how about you tell me the rest" he said as he pulled her closer

James could feel her trembling as he continued to stand there, holding her, waiting for her to speak.

"He'll kill you, just like he killed Maxwell" she finally said "I just don't think I could handle losing anyone else to someone like him"

"Hey...That's not going to happen"

"You can't be sure of that...You don't know him"

"Maybe not, but I do know that better men than him have tried and I'm still here aren't I?" he said with a smile

"True"

"M" he said quietly "May I ask you a something?...and if you don't want to tell me I completely understand"

"What is it you want to know?" she said looking up at him

"I know that you said you were shot what 13 times?, and you were severely beaten, but what else did he do to you?"

"Do you really need to ask?" she replied as a tear slid down her cheek

"Come with me" he said softly as he led her toward the bedroom

"What are you doing?"

"Just come with me" he repeated slowly

As he led her to the bed, confusion was clearly written across M's face.

"James...Have you not...What are you doing?" she asked

"Just lay down" he said motioning to the bed

"You can't be serious" she said sharply

"M...would you for once do as you're told"

M climbed on the bed and leaned back against the pillows as tears began to sting her eyes. James reached down and picked up a blanket covering her, making sure to "Tuck her in" before climbing in beside her

"Alright...now what" she said desperately fighting off the tears that were threatening to fall

James slid over and put his arm around her, pulling her closer to him and just held her.

"Now what?" she asked in a shaky voice

"What do you mean now what? I thought if we are ever going to pull this off we better at least practice sleeping together because it is a pretty safe bet that the hotel room will have cameras and microphones" he said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead

"You mean you still want to do this?"

"Try and stop me"

"Promise me that you won't take any unnecessary chances this time"

"I promise. You are my main priority this time...not blowing up buildings and high speed chases, although I do love the high speed chases" he said with a grin

"So what do we do now?" she asked as she curled up closer to him and began to relax

"Well...as stupid as this sounds...If we are going to make him believe that we really are together then we really should spend at least a little time on..."

"If this is just another way for you to suggest that I have sex with you..."

"No...that's not what I'm suggesting at all, although I wouldn't be opposed to the idea, I just thought that I should at least practice kissing you properly. As for the other...Well I will leave that up to you. I am willing to wait as long as it takes" he replied

"007...I could be wrong, but I don't recall kissing practice as part of the usual "training" regiment" she said sarcastically

"Well you have to admit there is nothing USUAL about this whole mission, but then again Mallory planned it so what do you expect" he said as he leaned down and tenderly captured her lips in a gentle kiss.

TO BE CONTINUED...