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Q stared out at the waves as they came lazily in. They stretched themselves up the beach, reaching for Q’s feet. Each time they got closer and closer. It seemed as if the waves would only just try a little harder, they would finally reach his feet. It was stopped when another wave would come racing up behind it and pulled it back out to sea. The sea groaned with its own failure. Q bent over to pick up a rock. He pulled his arm back and took a step forward to throw it as the waves rushed up to meet him.
“Urk!” Q was halted mid-step by his anorak choking him at the neck. He swung around with the rock in his fist as a weapon but halted mid-strike. A warm, bronzed hand wrapped itself around his wrist.
“Don’t go any closer.” Bond warned. He and smiled lazily down at Q as he tugged him a step, two steps backward away from the sluggish waves.
Q shook his arm and Bond finally released his wrist.
“You can throw it from here. Stay away from the water.”
“Is that an order or a suggestion?” Q tossed the rock up and down. They were both dressed warmly against the cold. The wind whipped the sand about and the sun was going down. Bond was a hulking figure beside him, wrapped in his own thick coat.
The hulking mass of Bond spoke. “I don’t know.”
Q snorted. “You don’t know?”
Bond looked uneasy, which made Q’s body instinctively tighten as if preparing to make an evasive maneuver. He glanced furtively around, but Bond’s gaze was locked on the sea, strangely unfocused. Q squinted at the grey waves in silent vigilant companionship until the silence became too disturbing.
“Bond?” Q prodded Bond’s stomach with the rock.
“Something my father used to tell me.” Bond murmured, his gaze broke from the sea and refocused on Q.
Q rolled his eyes. “Do I look that young to you to need a Father’s warning?”
Bond brought a gloved hand up and ruffled Q’s hair. “Sometimes.”
“What else did he tell you?” Q asked. He couldn’t help it. It wasn’t often Bond spoke about the ghosts of his past.
“Get to bed or Wee Willy Winkie will get ye!”
“Are you sure that was your Father or Kincaid?”
“Could have been a bit of both. He also said to drive safe-”
Q threw his head back and laughed. “Drive safe? Ha!”
A wry grin twisted at Bond’s lips. “I drive safeish.”
“Safeish. Ha. What else did he say?”
Bond took hold of Q’s arm again and pulled him back another step. In their talk about the past, Q hadn’t noticed the waves creeping closer.
“Tide’s coming in,” Q said. He glanced back at the path they had taken.
“So it is.”
“Will it cut us off? Is that what you’re worried about?”
“No.”
“Are you worried about what waits for us when we get back?”
The moon caught at Bond’s full smile. “A hot bath, a nice bed, and a warm bed partner? Oh, I’m very worried about that.”
Q punched Bond with his rock-filled fist again. “It’ll be a cold bed partner if we’re out here for long. Why are we out here if you just want to run away from the water?”
Bond shrugged. “Mallory said we needed a break after this last fiasco.”
Q gestured to the cold beach. “And this is what you thought of?”
“Among other things. Come on, time to go, the waves keep coming.”
“That’s generally how waves work.” But Q was cold and ready to go back inside. To the promise of a warm bath, a nice bed, and a warm bed partner. He tossed the rock over his shoulder into the waves as Bond led him away. He was brought up short when something landed at his feet. The rock he had thrown. Slowly, Bond’s head turned and the sound of the waves stopped.