*waves* hi all, I know it's been a year since the last update, life has been bloody insane it seems, thank you for anyone still around, I hope everyone has a good new year, and look forward to any comments or reviews left.

Jim's POV
He takes a brief nap after Jody leaves for her study date. He knows that Bastian will keep an eye on her through his scope from a pre-selected perch. So he's surprised when his phone sings at him, waking him up because he did not expect to hear that particular ringtone without his sending a message first.

Blindly reaching over to the nightstand, he grabs his phone and looks at the message.

—I would like to invite you to dinner tonight at eight pm. My flat, I'm cooking.— JW

He spends an ungodly amount of time staring at the screen, fairly sure he has to still be sleeping. There is no way that John Watson invited him to dinner and plans to make it. Is there? Why would he? It's the first alpha-like thing the doctor's done. Yet, it doesn't feel alpha-like, it feels more like a beta trying to be nice to a date. That seems to be more of the alpha's style. So far, he can't remember any of his interactions with John being typical alpha behavior.

Sitting up, he stares at the wall wondering if John's family is mostly betas, thus he was raised to act like a beta and had those behaviors inforced to override the alpha traits? It wouldn't be the first time he had heard of something like that. It explains a lot too. Getting out of bed, he heads to his office to grab that folder on John Watson that was compiled for him by Irene several weeks ago. He never bothered looking at it because he hadn't initially cared anything about the boring doctor with his nemesis. Right up until he suddenly did because he recognized the familiar scent, one he gets traces of every day because of their daughter.

Opening it up, he starts reading as he heads to the kitchen to make something to drink. He doesn't want tea or coffee right now, what does that leave him with? He wonders absently, some type of hot chocolate or juice. He'll go with Mexican hot chocolate for now.

Nope, John's not from a beta family. However the alpha's father is a very violent man from what he can tell. It appears that the doctor went the opposite in his behavior to everything that his father did. Well, that could explain a lot, but how does the alpha control his more alpha-like instincts if not taught to do so? Force of will?

His fingers drum on the counter as he drops the file and considers it. Something should definitely happen to the alpha. His daughter's grandfather is a bigger monster than him, and that's saying something considering killing people is part of his business. A cruel smile curves his lips as he comes up for a plan for the elder alpha Watson. A series of text messages later, and he knows the situation will be dealt with in a lovely and untraceable way. He'll get a message when it is done to confirm and that will be that.

Now then, the important topic: dinner tonight. Does he want to do dinner tonight? It's the weekend, he normally tries to spend time with Jody on the weekend.

—Baby Girl, I've been invited to dinner by my date from last night.— He texts his daughter, deciding to let her make the choice.

—Go! Go! Go! Have lots of fun!— She replies in a series quick messages, making him chuckle as his phone keeps restarting her song rather than getting a chance to play all the way through.

—What about your dinner?— he asks when his phone stops singing at him.

—I'll ask Aunt Molly if I can go to her flat or Uncle Ian if he can come over.— She quickly responds, almost like she was expecting that question. She's a lot like him, she definitely could have been.

—What's this about you might have a date?— Molly texts him less than a minute later, making him laugh as Nobody's Girl plays, interrupting Arm's Wide Open.

—John's invited me to dinner.— He answers his long time friend.

—I'll get Jody when she's done with her study date. We'll have a girls night in.— The pathologist tells him in one message before his phone sings with a second message, —You go out and have fun.—

Setting his phone on the counter, he spends several minutes just laughing at the women in his life and the fact they seem to think he needs to go on a date. Wait. Would this be considered a date? Probably. It's two people spending time together. That qualifies as a date. So John actually asked for the second one? He was quite certain he was going to have to ask. Wonder what changed.

Picking his phone back up, he texts the waiting ladies.

—Something healthier than banana splits for dinner,— he tells Molly after remembering his daughter's dinner from the night before .

—Behave for your aunt,— he messages Jody.

—Yay! Have lots of fun!— his daughter replies.

—Have a good night. I plan on showing her how to make BBQ chicken breasts for dinner.— The pathologist responds a moment later.

Apparently he needs to go decide what to wear to dinner tonight. What does one wear to dinner at someone's home? This isn't one of his business contacts, those he has a series of suits for. This isn't one of his 'friends', those he dresses for comfort around. So what to do? He hates not knowing.

—I'll be there.— he text John, confirming that he'll show up.

Shoving his phone in his pocket, he heads upstairs to his room. He needs to find something different to wear then his sleeping clothes. Maybe he should go with the same sort of style he went with for their date out. John seemed to appreciate the way his jeans hugged his legs and showed off his arse. Hmmm. Maybe he should have Molly come over to help him pick something out. Either way, he wants to figure it out sooner than later, so he's not distracted all day.

Who's he kidding? He's totally going to be distracted today, John did something he didn't expect. Somehow the alpha keeps doing that. It's interesting, intriguing, different. Here's to hoping it stays that way. He hates boring.

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Authors Note: On the 28th of November I will be posting a complete 130 chapter fic over on AO3 called Different Paths that is a James Bond triad verse soulmate fic. The triad is James Bond/Alec Trevelyan/Q (Jon). If there is any interest, I'll also post it here for folks to read over the next few months.