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]

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."

[0_0_7]

He didn't speak because he hadn't been given leave to, but he nodded.His eyes never looked anywhere but at Q. What they had was so incredibly fragile. They were balanced on the edge of a blade and anything, even a whisper, could cut them down.

[quartermaster_q]

Q swallowed hard, looking away.

"Speak. Say something. I need you to say something now, Bond."

[0_0_7]

"I love you, Q. I trust you implicitly and I apologize for doing that to you. I'll never do it again," he said. He'd needed to know, yet he couldn't lie to Q, couldn't say it was on M's orders. It had been his decision.

"And you're right. What we have, you and I, it is terribly fragile. I trust no one the way I trust you." He paused. "I should say...I trust no one but you."

[quartermaster_q]

Q exhaled with a shudder, nodding once and leaving it there. No arguments, no anger. Just a nod, and like that it was pushed aside and forgotten- At least for now.

"Finish your run, I'm going to return to the cottage and make contact with M," he decided.

[0_0_7]

"I'll be in shortly," Bond promised, then he turned and headed for the perimeter of the compound, soon gone from sight.

[quartermaster_q]

Q made his way back to the cottage, surprised to find a sealed letter taped to the door.

Taking it inside with him, he tore it open, mouth going dry at the sight of familiar handwriting.

You can't run. You can't hide.
I'll give you this week though.
Enjoy the false security their little hound gives you.
Sleep soundly.
Sleep well.
When I finally come for you, you wont be running anymore- You'll be begging me to take you.
Not tomorrow, not the day after, but eventually, love.
Eventually you'll be desperate to come back.

Q read it once, then again- Then did something he knew he shouldn't. Walking over to the shredder, he fed the paper in. There was no reason for Bond to worry about this. Not when there wasn't anything he could do.

[0_0_7]

Bond made the circuit five times, until his chest was heaving and he felt as if he had done something good with himself. He'd burned off his guilt, burned off his doubt. He felt clear by the time he got back to the cabin and sauntered in.

He smiled at Q fondly.

"That's done," he announced.

[quartermaster_q]

Q offered a smile in return, mask carefully in place.

"Better?" he asked.

[0_0_7]

"Much," he said, nodding. Then Bond moved in with all the strength and grace of a large predator and he took hold of Q. There was no hesitation as he kissed him, the smell of fresh air and clean sweat strong on him.

[quartermaster_q]

Bond kissed him, and Q could taste the lies and secrets on his own lips- He only hoped the other man couldn't taste them as well. That just this once Bond would accept what was on the surface and not what lurked beneath.