Q

[0_0_7]

[Continued form here for length]

"I will," he swore. They drove on a bit and Bond checked the GPS again. "How bloody far is this place? We've got to be almost there. Zoom that out and see..."

He hated the countryside in the dark. But thank god for technology. It wasn't all that long ago he would have been relatively blind.

Comments

[quartermaster_q]

"This one certainly can't," Q smiled. "I like my creature comforts. Unlike you. You like the finer things, I know, but you're just as happy in some mud hut- So long as you've got good scotch and someone pretty to keep you entertained."

[0_0_7]

"I miss the finer things, though. I do enjoy coming home," Bond said. He moved closer to Q and rested his hand on the back of the man's neck. "I can't picture you in a mud hut. Not anywhere."

[quartermaster_q]

"Nor can I," Q purred, leaning into the touch and closing his eyes.

It was a strange little show of trust. Neck resting against Bond's palm, eyes shut, body relaxed... Q was usually always a little on guard, but here and now, he was calm and complacent in a way he hadn't been with anyone in a very long time.

[0_0_7]

Bond noticed the shift, the little gesture, and he breathed just a bit easier. He trusted Q so much- with his life, with his heart- and it was wonderful to see that Q trusted him in return.

"I wonder what we could get up to here...without surveillance. Without anyone around at all..."

[quartermaster_q]

Q smiled, enjoying Bond's train of thought.

"You sound like you've already got a few ideas, Bond. Care to share them?" he asked, opening his eyes and tilting his head back to look at the other man.

[0_0_7]

Bond flashed a smile at him, then began to walk around the room. On the wall opposite the cells was a box. He opened it and inside were cuffs and keys- a set clearly for the cuffs and a set marked for the cells.

Part of him thought this could be, quite possibly, the worst idea he'd had. Q had had a hard time of it in France. But this was safe. This was secure. This was Bond.

"I wonder what secrets I might be able to get out of you..." he mused, cuffs dangling from his finger.

[quartermaster_q]

Q raised a brow, then offered a soft chuckle.

"I thought you wanted to be the one in chains," he replied, looking Bond over as he spoke, then getting to his feet.

Crossing the room, he reached for the cuffs. He wasn't sure what he wanted more- For Bond to hand them over, or for Bond to refuse him.

[0_0_7]

Bond was quick and he caught Q's arm and clicked a cuff onto one wrist before the man had time ti react. But just the one. He held Q's wrist, cuff and all, and pulled him close enough to kiss.

"Maybe some day," he said. "My fantasies come and go. More than anything I just want to hear you call me James the way you do," Bond purred.

[quartermaster_q]

Q tested the cuff, then tutted a little.

"Amateur. You never tell your captive what you want," he grinned. "It makes it that much harder to coax it out of them."

Leaning in, he closed the distance between them and stole a kiss.

[0_0_7]

"I've got no illusions, Q. I'll never force you to do anything you don't want to do to begin with," he replied, his arm snaking around Q to pull him tight against him. Bond tilted his head and kissed Q once, deeply, then moved him toward a cell. He pushed him in and closed the door, locking him inside.

[quartermaster_q]

The cell door shut, and Q looked ever so slightly unsettled.

"...Bond," he said, tone cautious but calm. The cuff hung off his wrist, dangling as he held the bars and watched the man.

[0_0_7]

"Get comfortable," Bond said. He took a chair and pulled it out so he could sit before the cell. "I think we should talk a bit. I'd like to know what you gave up in Paris. I can't believe you didn't say anything. You had to let something slip. Everyone does."

[quartermaster_q]

Q leaned against the bars, resting his forehead against them.

"I told them nothing," he said coolly. "You don't believe me?" he asked.

[0_0_7]

"You literally cannot have told them nothing. What did they ask of you, Q? What did they want?" he asked.

[quartermaster_q]

"They asked for codes. They asked for passwords. They asked for my name. They asked who to contact for ransom- Yet you received no call. You know why, double-o seven? Because I gave. Them. Nothing."

His tone grew hard and his eyes went dark, and the look he gave Bond was downright deadly.

"They beat me, drowned me, hanged me- Threatened things I don't dare repeat- And the most they got out of me were lies. Cover stories, false codes. Passwords to trigger more firewalls. I gave them nothing, and was rewarded with sparse moments of calm between vicious abuse and creative verbal threats. ...Now unlock this bloody cage- This game is over."

[0_0_7]

Bond left the keys on the table as he walked up to the bars and stood before Q. He searched the man's dark eyes for a long moment.

"And at what price?" he asked quietly. "You don't know how you are when you're asleep. How you cry..."

[quartermaster_q]

Q tensed, staring Bond down.

"Your pillow talk could use some work, double-o seven. Unlock the door. Now."

[0_0_7]

"I want you to get some help, Q. I know exactly what you're going through but I'm useless to help. I've already killed them for you...that's all I can do," Bond said, his voice growing ever softer. He looked into Q's cold eyes for another long moment, then fetched the keys to let him out.

[quartermaster_q]

Q said nothing, jaw set and spine painfully straight.

The moment the door was open he pushed past, storming off back up the stairs. He didn't care about the cuff still hanging from his wrist, or Bond's soft words.

[0_0_7]

Bond let him go, giving him time to fume. In the mean time, he put everything back as it had been and closed the room up tight before exiting, locking it behind him.

Only then did he set out to find Q. He really should go for a run and give the lad more time, but he thought it best to at least apologize for his misstep.

[quartermaster_q]

Q hadn't gotten far, crumpling to the ground near one of the cabins, and sitting silently as he picked the lock on the cuff with a rusty nail.

[0_0_7]

He came upn Q and knelt down. He still had the keys in hand.

"Let me take it off...before you give yourself lockjaw," he said, offering the key.

[quartermaster_q]

Q was like a fox with his paw caught in a trap, and when Bond came close Q pushed him away with his foot.

"Just give me the key," he instructed calmly. "Do not touch me. Do not speak to me. What you did- that was vile. You lulled me into a false sense of security, using the intimacy I have given you, and you locked me in a bloody cage. Not to play, not for romance or sex- You tricked me, then you trapped me, to interrogate me. That is not the action of a lover, Bond. That is the action of an enemy."

[0_0_7]

Bond handed Q the keys and he knew what he'd done was very wrong. Trust was so fragile and neither of them gave it easily. So he refused to make it worse. He gave Q the keys and then stood, standing guard in silence.

[quartermaster_q]

Q removed the cuffs, and when they fell, he kicked them away.

He was silent as he stood, arms wrapped around himself defensively. He looked more shaken now then he had when Bond had rescued him.

"What we have- It's fragile. We're fragile."