New Missions

James gets a basket full of food and beer. He sent Q a message over an hour ago. He doesn't know if he will come, but if he does they may just be able to work through this mess.

He arrives at the spot and spreads the blanket out on the ground under the tree. All James sent to Q was come find me. The genius can manage that with ease. The question is, does he want to? James has put the man through it, over this case.

Bond has put himself through it. "You know this is all your fault." Bond says into the air. There is no one around this somber spot overlooking the graves of so many beloved lost souls.

"If you hadn't been so...infuriatingly...stubborn and unwilling to acknowledge my feelings. If you had only let me break the ice around you after Nigel died. I wouldn't be a mess about the one I never got to have. You are the only one who ever rebuffed my advances and meant it."

James opens a beer and begins drinking it. Staring at the headstone and talking to her like she's right in front of him.

"I started a thing...a real relationship with Q. Would that have shocked you? Likely not. Would you have been jealous? Shown even a raised eyebrow to the situation? I know the new M has."

James takes another sip and continues talking to Olivia's grave. "Mallory's not as bad a M as I thought he would be. He did take a bullet for you...I think you would have eventually retired and allowed him to take the reigns."

Bond looks around. The day is sunny and bright, the birds are chirping. "I've been so mad that you left me, that I've deliberately ignored that message you sent me. I still have it and I will get the nerve soon. Oh and thanks for giving me Jack...I almost threw him across the room in drunken bout of self pity but...I couldn't. Did you love me, the way I loved you? Even a little?"

Q walked up as Bond's speaking to the headstone of Olivia Mansfield. He's hidden by the tree as he listens to his lover, talk to the woman that somehow stands between them as much in death, as she did in life.

Q thinks that Bond's aware of his presence but just incase he remains quietly hidden behind the tree. He freezes when Bond mentions him. Q moves forward after hearing him questions M's ghost. If she ever loved him.

Bond's pretending to be relaxing on a picnic blanket. He takes another sip of beer. "You came."

"Yes."

"How long have you been standing there?"

"You don't know? 007 you are well trained to know when someone is spying on you."

"Usually you would be right. I've been somewhat distracted of late."

"Yes, I see. Does she talk back?"

"No, but I feel better when I talk to her. It orders my thoughts in a logical manner."

"I think she did."

"Did what?"

"I think she loved you."

James eyebrow arches in a questioning manner. "Really? How do you deduce that?"

"She never fired you for gross insubordination, for breaking into her flat. Invading the boss's personal space without permission would be a firing offence but she just let it slide. M, from what I am aware of, never let anything slide."

Bond laughs and holds out a beer for Q. Q sits beside him and they stay quiet for a while just enjoying the summer day in front of a grave.

"I have something for you Bond. Something that might make your decision easier for you."

"What decision would that be Q?"

Q hands him a pill. "To stay or to go. This will make a person susceptible to suggestion and will allow them to forget things. It affects the short term memory."

"And why in the hell do I need that?"

"For Jane. I know where she is. You could give it to her and then..."

"Stop!" James takes the pill from Q and buries it in the ground. "I don't need her...I need..."

"You need her." Q points at the grave before them.

"No. I need you. You helped me get to this point."

"What point?"

"The point that I can speak with her, and about her, without constant searing pain. I work through things by talking to her. It's helped me work through the grief. Imagining M rolling her eyes at me and verbally taking me to task."

Q smirks at him as he takes a sip of beer and digs around in the basket for something to eat. "So, what does M think of us?"

"I think she would breath a sigh of relief that I found you to rely on, and Eve and Tanner too. She would be happy we are all still at work."

"So what of us Bond?" Q asks nervously.

"You deal with my bullshit, Q you are a far better man than I."

Q smiles. "I do manage that."

"M would be happy that someone can control me."

"If you consider this control, that is."

"You control me as well as she managed if not better."

" Where are we then 007?"

"Forgive me?"

"For..."

"Missing your birthday, Jane, and a hundred other things I'm likely guilty of."

"I forgive you."

"Good. We have work to do."

"What?"

Bond pulls out a DVD from the basket. "This is from Olivia. It came in my mail at work after I got back from Skyfall. She mailed it to me knowing she would in all likelihood die. Knowing M...it involves work...no sappy personal messages that would take my mind out of the game. She likely never suspected that it would hurt like bloody hell for me to watch it"

"If she sent it to you before she died...it's very personal Bond. You were her best agent and she loved you. I love you too. I can understand if you cannot say the same, but I will wait."

"I don't deserve you Q."

"No you don't but you deserve help with this mystery, now that you are willing to face it. What are you scared this contains?"

"M's image, bitching me out from beyond the grave." He laughs that kind of joking laugh that rings hollow with truth. James know Q's not fooled by it. "Or a confession...of love that comes too late."

Bond looks to the headstone while he finishes off his beer.

"I couldn't deal with seeing M's face...hearing her voice again...saying my name or even number. If you watch it with me...maybe I can..."

"I will. I want to know what she says. I have always wondered if there was more to this Silva thing than we knew. He could have gotten to her anytime in the years between his arrest in China and now. Why did he wait so long?"

"Why didn't you ever say?"

"I knew you would get angry, or not want to hear my suspicions."

"I will always listen to you Q." Bond takes Q's hand and lifts it to his mouth.

Q pulls his laptop out of his bag and puts the DVD in. He pulls it up and leaves it. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

James: if anything happens to me, I want you to find a man named Marco Sciarra. Kill him, and don't miss the funeral.

It was short and simple but she pauses at the end.

Keep up the good fight James...and thank you.

Q pauses it and they both look at M, Olivia staring into the screen intently. Her face holds a sad resigned smile as she thanks Bond for the help she know he will give her to fight Silva.

"She knew it too. There's something more and it relates to her death and why Silva suddenly arrived after so long."

"Yes she did, Q. M would not let death get in the way of her job."

Q packs up his laptop, stands suddenly and pulls Bond up off the ground.

"M we accept your mission whatever it may be. We miss you and thank you for hiring me at MI6. You changed my life for the better." Q says to the grave of his former boss.

"M, you changed my life for the better. You taught me to love not the external, but the person, regardless of age or sex. I will miss you forever."

Bond turns to Q with a sexy smirk of a smile. "Would you like to finish this birthday picnic at my flat?"

Q smiles back. "I thought you would never ask."

Bond pulls Q to him as their lips meet. Whatever happen they will face it together.

Q gathers their things as James moves to the white marble stone, kisses his own hand and touches the engraved name on the headstone. He traces her name with his kiss.

"I will find him for you M. One final mission for the two of us."

"Three of us and the others if this goes to hell. Knowing you and her, it probably will."

Q finds the bouquet of flowers James bought beside the blanket and moves to stand with Bond as he places them on Olivia Mansfield's grave.

The two of them begin to walk away as a breeze suddenly blows, making the flowers flutter on the ground. It's as if M were here with the two of them, smelling them from beyond the grave.

The end.