Title: Moving Shadow
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: James Bond (Craig Verse)
Relationships: James Bond/Q
Tags: Alternate Universe, Pre-Slash
Summary: It was like having a flatmate, only James was sure that the owner of the cat wouldn't be happy with it making friends with a Double-Oh.
Word Count: 1,532
Spoilers: Up Through Skyfall
Author Notes: Brit-Picked by Jes
Beta: Grammarly



James rolled his shoulders, and he looked to the side, frowning at the darkness that moved at his feet. He was about to react when two shiny eyes looked at him. It was a cat. A fluffy black cat as it moved into the light. A new person was living next door, and while there was a wall between their balconies, it was low enough for a cat to jump if there was a table on the other side. James hadn't been over to see what the place was like. He knew that the person was MI6, so he didn't care too much. He liked this place; it was full of MI5 and MI6 agents, and while some were dumb, Bond at least partially trusted them.

The cat jumped up into James' lap, not making a single sound as it did. James touched its head and then waited to see what the cat would do. It sniffed at him and then flopped into his lap. Turning so that James could see that it was a female.

"You are beautiful, but it's cold, and I am going inside."

As if understanding, what he was saying, the cat jumped off his lap and rushed to the door. James opened it up as he snagged the drinking glass, and the cat rushed inside. James wasn't sure how long it would stay, but he was sure that he had some tinned tuna for quick meals. He wondered if the cat would eat that. He grabbed the tin and opened it up. The cat was winding around his feet, meowing and making a racket. He dished out a little bit of it onto a small plate and carried it over to the area where he wouldn't step on it while making himself dinner.

The tablet he used to research while cooking was ready for him to boot up, so he looked to see what he could make for himself that cats could eat. There were a few seasonings that he loved that he would have to omit, but mostly, he could make a good meal for them both. He would add in the spices afterwards for himself.

The meal was simple but elegant enough for Bond to enjoy. He laid down a plate on the coffee table and then put his feet up onto it. The cat looked at him, the plate, and then at the couch. Bond reached forward, snagged the plate, and settled it down on the cushion beside him. The cat jumped over and started to eat.

"Well, I guess you don't like eating alone, huh? I've gotten used to it."

Bond finished before the cat, and he was cleaning up when the cat wound around his feet again. He looked down and then followed it to the door. Bond opened the door, and he watched the cat jump to the bannister and then onto the wall. It was a crafty little thing.

---

James grabbed his gun, and when he felt the bed move. He groaned in pain when it pulled at the stitches he had all up his side.

The sound that came along with purring told James it was his friend. He moved a little to open his arm so the cat could cuddle into his arms like it had the last two times he had come home from a mission. The cat was only at his place when his owner was out. James had yet to figure out how the cat got into his place, but the last time he had come home, the cat had been asleep on a pillow in James' bed.

After the first time, James had actually picked up a cookbook for food to feed cats when he had been on assignment in the US. He liked quite a few meals for himself, with a little spice added at the end of cooking.

"Hello, you. Pissed off at your owner?" James asked. He rolled onto his back as slowly as he could, and the cat gingerly got up and laid on his chest. "I would be pissed off too. What did he work for four days straight again?"

The last time the cat had come to him, she had stayed for a day, and James had not heard from the man for days. There was an automatic feeder; James had heard it running. He also could sometimes hear the run of a fountain of some kind. The owner took care of the cat even with long hours.

James had only heard about the boffins in Q-Branch staying for five days that James knew what department the man worked in. James snagged his phone, and he dialled Moneypenny. If there was a reason why Q-Branch stayed, then she would know.

"Bond, what are you doing?"

"Just checking. I will probably need my stitches fixed soon. I pulled them showering or something. I wanted to make sure that if I showed up to get them that I would be able to be taken care of. The boffin next door to me, has been gone."

"Q-Branch's new Quartermaster is keeping a few of them back to take care of their mistakes. They have to fix them before they can leave. Probably one of the ones who was cutting corners on the making of weapons for the Double-Ohs. He's not pleased at all."

"Hmm, tell me about him. He's got Q-Branch set up like Fort Knox, and he's not letting any of us in until he has it all locked down to where we can't mess anything up. I've yet to meet him."

"He's a cutie. All buttoned up, but I'm sure he could take me down in a sex fight."

"Sex fight? Who gets into sex fights?" Bond asked. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"The kind of fights that start out as fights and then turn into ripping clothes off sex."

"Oh, those. You think he could win?"

"He's got something about him."

"Hmm, I'll have to see what it is."

James hung up the phone, and he looked at the cat. "Was your owner naughty?"

The cat just looked at him.

---

James tucked the edge of the towel under the other side and made sure it would stay as he snagged the other to dry off his top half and hair. He stepped out of his bathroom and stopped at the man sitting in the chair on the other side of the room. James was about to drop the towel when he saw every gun and knife in the house, even the kitchen ones scattered on the bed. The guns were in pieces, all laid out kind of perfectly.

His gaze flicked over the cat in the man's lap.

"You look like a villain."

"If I were a villain, I would have Ozma in my lap, not Mombi. She's the white one."

"I've not met that one."

"No, Ozma stays in the flat, unlike this one. He goes on walks about all the time. I wondered where he had been going. He's not eating as much but still weighs the same."

"I found a cookbook for cats. He's been eating that when he's over here. So not only a boffin but the head boffin. Quartermaster."

"007. I wanted to make sure that the person my cat had attached herself to was not an idiot. I am glad to see that is not the case."

"She's been coming to visit me for three months. You could have come before that."

"I could. She's fickle. She liked the guy on the other side for a month, and now she hisses at him. He didn't hurt her. She just doesn't like him anymore."

"And you needed to find all of my weapons?" James asked. He started to towel off his hair and then draped the towel over his shoulders.

"It became a game to me. Did I find all of them?"

"The only one you didn't find was the one that's outside of my front door."

"I didn't come in that way."

"No, I bet you came in through the back. And this one? How does he get in?"

"I was doing repairs on a duct, and I forgot about it. I guess your side of the duct is open as well."

"Ah, there is one that always squeaks. I didn't even think of it."

"Why would you? No human can get through." The Quartermaster stood up, and he set Mombi down on the bed before he came around it. He touched the place on James' towel, where it was tucked in. "Dinner tonight. Make something good enough to seduce me, and I might just see how good of a shag the famous James Bond is. Your file and history intrigue me."

"And if I said no?"

"Then I will still show up for dinner. You've fed my cat; feed me."

James laughed as the Quartermaster left the room then and headed out the front door. Before it shut, the sound of James' knife from out there came skidding through the living room.

The Quartermaster was intriguing, and James was willing to learn all about him.

The End