They could hear the clicking of shoes before she rounded the corner.

"Mail time!" announced one of the techies working towards the back of the room as he swung 'round in his seat.

"That's right!" came the sing-sing voice of the lovely girl from the mailroom as she walked into view pushing her little, letter-littered grey cart.

"What do you have for us today, Gyps?" asked another voice towards the front of the room.

"Let's take a look shall we?" Gyps said, tucking a strand of stray hair behind her ear and flipping quickly through the mail pile.

"I've got a new package for our testing duo," she said walking over and handing a small, brown box to a pair at the back of the room.

"A few documents that need some reviewing by our gorgeous brains on this side," she continued as she handed another pair a handful of envelopes with bright red stamps on the front.

"And lastly, some instruments needing some TLC for our Quartermaster," she finished as she walked up to Q's desk.

Q looked up quickly from his latest project as she placed said instruments on his desk.

"Dare I ask who these belong to?" he replied, slowly lifting a charred gun and crumpled radio from amongst the small pile.

"I think both you and I have worked here long enough to know who those belong to," she added quickly, all the while studying Q's tired face.

"When was the last time you slept? You look ragged."

"Well unless you know anyone else that can break this code within the next few days, please point them out. I would love to get away from this forsaken office and get some sleep," he harshly bit back.

Everyone looked up at him reproachfully and he quickly realized his mistake.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

"S'okay. I know. We all have our bad days...I'm impressed you're not pulling your hair out more often, what with 007 breaking all his toys so often," she answered back with a smile as she leaned her hip against his desk.

"I have no idea what I'm going to do with him. I'll soon be using more funds to make repairs, rather than build him new equipment," Q said as he ran his hand through his unkempt hair in frustration.

Gypsy giggled and took a closer look at Q's computer. She leaned in, arms crossed, staring intently at the coding. Her eyes flew across the screen, but Q couldn't make out if she understood anything on it.

"What's your verdict?" he asked curiously as he continued studying her.

"I have no clue what any of this means,"she answered unabashedly, "but how's about I bring you some more tea. You might be here quite a while," she said grabbing Q's mug and walking away.

"How's about for the rest of us?" someone added on her way out.

"You're not staying here after the lights have gone out!," she threw over shoulder as she disappeared through a door across the hall.

Q chuckled as the kitchen door swung shut behind her. He found the girl interesting. She moved about the whole of MI6 brightening up everyone's day as she delivered the day's mail. He had not heard a bad thing about her and, from his understanding, she was quite bright, but enjoyed the slow-paced life of menial tasks that kept the office running. Apparently she had been offered a variety of positions, all of which would offer better pay and more benefits, but she always refused. It was a humbling quality that he found endearing.

Gypsy returned a few moments later with Q's fresh mug of grey.

"Here you go, I may have added something or another to help you stay awake," she added after his first sip.

Q eyed her warily, "You best not hope th—"

"It was only enough to wake you up...not get you drunk...or to 'dull your senses' as you like to put it," she teased.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now if you excuse me, I have some things to finish up before I leave for the day."

"You can stay longer if you like. Clearly you brighten up the office when it's been a long day," Q offered as she started rearranging her cart, followed by a cacophony of consenting voices.

She giggled and added, "I'm glad I can be a distraction, but I also don't want M glaring at me later. Besides, I'm just the messenger. I'll get a pounding headache trying to keep up with you lot!," she added with a wink and a wave as she pushed her cart and disappeared down the hall again.

As soon as she was out of sight, everyone settled down and went straight back to work.

However, at the front of the room, Q smirked as he took notice of the circled letters and numbers on his mug. He quickly punched them into his computer and, as if by magic, the codes quickly refortified MI6's new firewall. Q stared in awe as six hours of work sorted itself out. He quickly realized that Gyps had been more that a drop of sunshine in his bleak office that day.

Upon reassuring himself that the firewall was safely in place, Q decided to take the rest of the day off. He needed to sleep before he collapsed right then and there. He quietly packed up his things and slowly made his way out of the office, picking up his anorak before heading out.

"Does this mean we can leave too," someone asked quietly.

"No," he added swiftly as he walked out the door.

Q was about to enter the building's lobby as Gypsy rounded the corner in front of him. With an interchange of shy, all-knowing smiles, they quietly bid each other a good evening and went on their separate ways.