The Past Always Comes Back

A Stranger At A Funeral

A/N: A big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read my story; it means so much to me that you all like it. I never anticipated my work getting the amount of reads it has had so from the bottom of my heart i thank you. I do not own James Bond in any way,shape or form; I only own Cassie.

A Stranger At A Funeral

Despite the change in season; Portugal still was a beautiful sight to behold. It had been so many years since Cassie had been home but hoped that it had been under better and happier circumstances. She didn't expect this day to come so soon and so suddenly. Once she had arrived in the country, she made her way back to her family home to start the funeral arrangements and to start settling her grandfather's affairs.

It didn't take too long to arrange the funeral; she wanted to keep it a small simple affair, just close friends and Draco was to be buried next to her mother after the service. It had been her grandfather's wish for as long as she could remember so she felt it was only right that she honoured his final wishes.

Going through all of Draco's paperwork and settling his affairs had been the most time consuming of all. A small part of her was thankful that she had the patience of a saint as there was so much to do. Cassie couldn't believe the amount of photographs that she had come across in the process; photos of her grandfather with her grandmother, of her mother when she was young.
Her eyes kept lingering back to the pictures of her mother, she seemed like such a happy child, so carefree.

Cassie soon came across pictures of her mother throughout various stages of her life. Pictures of her as a teenager, of her first wedding; of her with her older sister Sadie. Cassie often wondered about Sadie, about the type of woman she would've grown up to be, whether or not she would've taken after her mother or looked like her like Cassie did; Sadie would've been 26 this year and it made Cassie sad that Sadie never got the chance to grow up.

It wasn't long before Cassie came across photos of her parents together. She studied each photograph of them carefully; she had never seen Bond look so happy as he did in these pictures, her mothers smile seemed to get bigger and bigger with each photo she saw. 'They seemed so happy together' she thought to herself. She then gathered all of the pictures of her parents together and put them in a box separate to the others that she had previously seen, she figured that Bond would like to at least have one of the pair of them together, she would let him decide which one he would like to keep.

When she first got word that her grandfather had died; Cassie went into a state of shock. Bond was nowhere to be found and poor Q didn't know what to do when she discovered the news. Luckily she managed to arrange a quick meeting with M to apply for some compassionate leave, the meeting went more smoothly than she could imagine.

Two weeks earlier

Cassie's emotions were all over the place. She couldn't quite believe that it was happening and had to keep pinching herself that this was real, her grandfather was dead. Even though their relationship had been a rocky one; she did love him. She had arrived at M's office before Moneypenny had even arrived and took a chance by knocking on his office door. "Come in" she heard the muffled reply and opened the doors, "Ah Miss Draco; what can i do for you today?" He said with a tone of confusion in his voice.

Cassie entered the room and stood by the chair that faced his desk "I'm sorry for coming unannounced sir, i do hope I haven't caught you while you are busy." M motioned for Cassie to take a seat to which she complied "not at all, not at all, so tell me what can i do for you today?" He asked her while taking a seat himself. Cassie composed herself before taking a deep breath "I'm afraid i need to take a few weeks leave on compassionate grounds sir; I received a phone call today informing me that my grandfather has passed away."

M sighed "My condolences to you Miss Draco, were you quite close with him?" He asked with concern "We were once sir" she replied feeling a few stray tears leave her eyes. "Permission granted Miss Draco, if you need anything, please let us know" Cassie rose from her chair "Thank you sir, I shouldn't need longer than three weeks, I just need to settle his affairs and arrange the funeral, so it shouldn't take too long."

M nodded as Cassie turned to make her way out of the office "Miss Draco" M called as she reached the door, Cassie turned her head and looked at her boss "I don't suppose you know where 007 has run off to at all do you?" Cassie shook her head no to which M tutted to himself "Very well, that will be all Miss Draco." "Thank you sir" Cassie replied before walking out of his office.

Present Day

"Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust" The vicar said with monotonous tone, the service went quite smooth sailing and straightforward; something that Cassie was happy about. There were a few guests present that Cassie did recognise and a few that she didn't. Each guest in turn approached Cassie to give her their condolences to which she thanked and gave gratitude for.

The last few guests to approach her gave Cassie a sense of unease. Three men or should she say one man with two goons as his personal bodyguards. He was average height, grey-ish hair and dressed in a dark suit. "My dearest Cassandra; my most heartfelt condolences" he said while taking her hand to kiss. Cassie felt uneasy, her gut feeling was telling her that this man was not good news at all "Thank you so much Mr..." "of course where are my manners; how rude of me my dear. My name is Franz Oberhauser, I knew your grandfather and family quite well."

"It's funny Mr Oberhauser, I don't recall my grandfather ever mentioning you, I do apologise and hope I haven't caused offence." Cassie said calmly. Franz smirked "No offence taken at all my dear, of course you wouldn't know of me, the last time i saw your grandfather was when your mother was still alive." Cassie's ears pricked up "You knew my mother?" She asked with a hint of surprise in her voice. "Of course, Teresa was quite a free spirited young woman, such a tragedy and so young too" he said with a smirk.

Franz once again took Cassie's hand, placing something in it, "and now to lose your your grandfather in such sudden, tragic circumstances; I do feel for you my dear and you have my sympathies" Cassie thanked him "Well i must be going, thank you for your time Cassandra; it was such a beautiful service, I know we will see each other again." He Kissed her hand once more, and swiftly left with his goons in tow.

A few brief minutes passed by before Cassie opened her hand to investigate the object that Franz had placed in her grasp. It was a ring, a plain silver band with a small, black octopus engraved into it. Why would he give this to her? What was the significance behind it and more importantly, what did it have to do with her grandfather and his death?

A/N: so here we are, another chapter. I hope you all like it. I did struggle a bit with this chapter but i am happy with the end result. I'm sure we are all very aware of who Franz Oberhauser really is in this story and thought it would be a good time to introduce him to the story. Thank you all for the positive feedback, I am so glad that you are all enjoying the story so far. Until the next time, have a lovely day.