Q

[0_0_7]

Chatter had alerted them to the plot to assassinate the Syrian ambassador on his trip to London to speak to Parliament. They had deployed both 006 and 007 to handle the situation. Alec was on the ambassador to protect him and Bond was charged with taking care of the assassin.

Q had worked his technological wizardry and had found that Anika Vostov was the most likely killer and she'd come in to the country legitimately through Heathrow, papers completely in order. That was her M.O., brazen woman that she was. Bond set out to find her and had actually met her in the bar of the hotel she was staying in.

Q was in his ear as he chatted her up. The easiest thing would be to seduce her and take her out in the privacy of her room.

Comments

[quartermaster_q]

"Oh please, I know you James, and I know him," Alec said, eyes flickering to Q. "Does he know you though, Quartermaster? Did you tell him about that night in that freezing hotel room?"

Q refused to be intimidated, and he shrugged one shoulder. "He's aware we've been intimate. I'm sure you've made a point of letting everyone by now."

Alec shook his head then, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Ah, I see. 'Intimate'. I suppose that's a word for it." He looked Bond over, then shook his head. "Yes, well, when you grow bored of 'intimacy' come and find me, Q. I might still be willing to show you a good time."

[0_0_7]

"Did you think I might hold his past against him?" Bond asked, chuckling softly. "Oh Alec...I remember what you know about intimacy. You're like a steam train. All the subtlety of a catastrophe..."

"Oh, shut it, Bond," Six said bitterly.

[quartermaster_q]

Alec had succeeded in unsettling Q though, and the young Quartermaster looked a touch uneasy as he spoke.

"Bond doesn't need details," he said quietly. "He is well aware of my interests. What you don't know, however, is how incredibly unappealing you've become this evening, Alec. I think, perhaps, it's time for you to go."

The look he gave the double-o left no room for argument as he moved to open the door for him.

[0_0_7]

Bond had been right- Alec hadn't heard no at first, but after repetition...it sank in. He downed the last of his whiskey and tugged his jacket round himself.

"So that's how it is," he scowled. He shot a look of pure poison at Bond. Then he strode past the pair. "Good night," he said as he left in a petulant huff.

Bond locked the door behind him.

"That was unpleasant."

[quartermaster_q]

"Quite," Q agreed, moving to pour himself a glass of what Alec had been drinking.

"God, what you must think of me," he said softly.

[0_0_7]

Bond moved in and laid his hand on Q's back lightly.

"As if I'm in any position to judge anything you've done," he said. "If you knew what I've done...Let's just say neither of is an angel."

[quartermaster_q]

Q leaned into the touch, wanting to be comforted by Bond's words, but struggling to find any peace in them.

"I feel as though I'm creeping towards early retirement, Bond. All Alec has to do is say a few choice words in the right ears and M will have me swept under the rug before you even realize I'm gone."

[0_0_7]

Bond tensed ever so slightly and moved to look Q in the eye.

"Are you disloyal?" he asked simply. "Because anything other than that...it won't matter. I'm not wrong in saying you're MI6's greatest asset, Q. You would have to betray the nation to be sacked."

[quartermaster_q]

Q didn't answer the question, perhaps because he found it insulting- Perhaps because he hadn't always been as loyal as he was now. His face and tone were as unreadable as ever.

"An asset who's shagged a few double-o's, and in recent months has been nothing but trouble for MI6. You don't want to see it Bond, but I do. Things have changed. Perceptions have changed. My own team look at me differently now- Since Terrance. Since you. This can only make things worse."

[0_0_7]

"There are ways to keep him quiet," Bond said simply, thinking ahead in the game of how he could protect Q from Alec. Nothing blatant, nothing brutal. But everyone had their pric and Bond was willing to do almost anything Alec asked to protect Q.

[quartermaster_q]

"No, I'll not dirty your hands with this. I'll go see him tomorrow, first thing. I'll see if there's not something I can offer to keep him quiet," Q replied.

[0_0_7]

Bond went quiet at that. He was sure he knew what Alec would demand...and he knew that Q would do what needed to be done.

"Of course," he said, wandering to where he kept a few take away menus. He began to scan the pizza selections without saying anything else on the matter.

[quartermaster_q]

Q was quiet as well, but where he could usually be detached, this nagged at him.

"It's just business," he said quietly.

[0_0_7]

"You don't need to explain, Q," Bond replied. He laid the menu aside and gently put his hands on the younger man.

"We do what we must. That's all, hmm?"

[quartermaster_q]

"Of course," Q said quietly, looking away.

that didn't make him feel any better though- It didn't stop him from wondering if Bond would look at him differently after.

[0_0_7]

Bond lifted Q's chin with a finger and met his eyes.

"I love you," he said. "And I know you love me. We're a pair and nothing is going to change that. I'l always come home to you, Q...and you must promise to always come home to me."

[quartermaster_q]

"Always," Q promised. "There is no one else, Bond, only you. Just you."

[0_0_7]

Bond leaned in and kissed him lightly.

"Then that is all that matters," he purred, his fingers trailing down Q's throat. He stole another kiss, this time more slowly.

"Mmm, you make me utterly forget dinner plans..."

[quartermaster_q]

Q had lost his appetite the moment he'd seen Alec sitting waiting. Sometimes he forgot how entitled and demanding double-o's could be. ...He forgot, mostly because when it was Bond he was happy to indulge the behaviour.

"So let's skip it and go straight to bed," he said quietly.

[0_0_7]

Bond didn't answer. With permission he was perfectly happy to busy his lips with kissing Q's neck, his fingers undoing the buttons of the man's cardigan. Q was rather like a drug, someone Bond craved and, when given the opportunity, could never deny.

Once the cardigan was open he moved to taste Q's tongue again, pushing the man back and back until he had him against a wall. His hands pulled at Q's tie, though working blindly meant he was slow to undo it. The frenzy he'd felt in the car came back to him and he grew increasingly aggressive- doubly so with the ghost of Alec in the back of his mind.

[quartermaster_q]

"I love you," Q whispered between kisses. "I love you, do you hear me? I love you, only you, James bloody Bond."

His hands clutched at Bond's shirt, tugging and pulling, then finally untucking it from the man's trousers so he could slip his hands under and feel skin beneath his fingertips.

[0_0_7]

Q's touch was like magic. It aroused him beyond measure but grounded him at the same time. He sowed down his frenzy and pulled back to look at the man. And he smiled.

"I love you, too," he said. "With every ounce of my being. Whatever I'm worth, it's all yours, Q. I'm utterly, completely yours."

He was, undoubtedly, England's first. First and forever. But while England had his loyalty and devotion, Q had his heart and soul.

[quartermaster_q]

"Then show me," the young Quartermaster pressed, tilting his head and nipping at Bond's earlobe. "Take me to bed, double-o seven."

[0_0_7]

Bond smirked at that and pulled Q away from the wall, then proceeded to pick him up so he could carry him to bed.

"You're heavier than you look," he chuckled, pausing in the middle of the room to toe off his shoes as he kept Q up off the floor.

[quartermaster_q]

Q couldn't help himself, and he laughed loudly as Bond carried him through, reaching around to smack the double-o hard on the backside.

"I'll have you know I'm light as a feather," he grinned, giving Bond's bum a squeeze. "You really do have a marvellous backside, you know that? I beg to differ about which of us is MI6's greatest asset."