James Bond strode into Q branch midmorning, carrying a takeaway coffee in one hand and a brown paper bag in the other. The smell of cinnamon and warm baked goods was wafting from the bag, leaving a trail of bakery fragrance and curious glances in the agent's wake.
He had only taken two steps into Q branch when his steps faltered, it was a barely perceptible falter but for a trained agent it was the same as stopping dead in their tracks. Regardless, James Bond carried on; bringing his sugary offering to the branch overlord, though most people just called him Q.

"Morning, Bond," Q greeted, seeing the man stop in his peripheral vision.
"Good morning Q." He placed the bag down in a paper free stop next to the other man's laptop. "Have you eaten yet?"
Q shook his head. "I didn't even have breakfast, unless you count biscuit when I got here."
Bond shook his head in disbelief. This made Q actually divert his attention from the screen in front of him to the man beside him.
"The cats were displeased at the late night and early morning," he commented. "They were both menaces and made me do some cleaning up before I was able to leave the house. Rather set my schedule back a bit."
"Well then, the cinnamon scroll and apple Danishes will make a nice meal for you." Bond grinned in satisfaction.
Q just rolled his eyes, and then eyed the cup in Bond's hand suspiciously.
"That coffee had better not be for me," he warned Bond.
Bond clutched the brown paper cup to his chest dramatically. "Banish the thought, dear Quartermaster. This is mine."
"Good. I drank enough of that rubbish in Uni." He made a face at the thought of the bitter liquid.
Just then a member of Q branch placed a fresh cup of tea next to Q's elbow on the other side.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say they're watching us," Bond commented.
"They may not be as subtle as the field agents, but they are still spies, Bond. Of course they're watching us." Q sniffed.
"Speaking of subtle, or not. What happened in here?" Bond asked, his coffee free hand waving at the interior of the branch.
"It's October," Q replied distractedly, pulling a pastry out of the bag.
"It was October yesterday as well," Bond pointed out, "And it didn't look like that in here."
"Yes, we came to an agreement for half the month."
"This was all done since midnight?" Bond asked incredulously.
"The night shift was rather quiet. The only double O's are on undercover assignments, and as you are on home turf, no one had to worry about unexpected pyrotechnics."
Wisely, Bond chose to ignore that jab.

The night shift must have been very bored, or else there was a lot of planning that had gone into these decorations, and they were just the shift that was chosen to execute the idea. The whole, not inconsiderable sized room, was decorated from floor to high ceilings in Halloween decorations. Fake spider webs were draped across the whole ceiling, with spiders hanging down at random intervals. From light fixtures hung bats, some of which were mechanical and intermittently flapped their wings. In one corner Bond spotted a coffin, which he swore was real rather than a decorative piece and in another there was a skeleton wearing a witch's hat. Most desks had small carved pumpkins, and Bond swore he even saw a few carved turnips. Other gruesome and Halloween themed decorations were scattered across desks and the room itself.

"You are allowed to go and have a look, you know," Q mentioned. "Just don't interrupt their work."
He turned back to his work, and Bond took that as a polite dismissal.
The agent was about to start wandering around the desks in the room, but his phone went off. With a roll of his eyes, he went to see what Miss Moneypenny wanted from him now.