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It was late, long past the time when most people had gone home for the night, when Eve made her way down to Q-branch. Q had done an awfully good job of setting up so far underground, although why he wanted to be so far out of the way was still a mystery to her. Shaking her head, Eve diligently made her way towards Q-branch. Usually she wouldn’t bother coming out this late, but knowing the sorts of people hired to work here she was confident that someone would be around, even at this odd hour. As she escorted herself into the main room, she found herself proven right.
She walked over to Q and stood behind him, patiently waiting while as he finished yelling at someone through the comms. Finally, he closed the window and took out his headset, shaking his head to himself and turning around. Q visibly jumped when he saw Eve standing there, and need a minute to look away.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said. “How long have you been waiting?”
“Only a few minutes,” Eve said. “It certainly sounds like you’re having a good night.”
“A good night,” Q repeated, as though pondering what those words even meant. He took off his glasses and ran his hand through his hair, shaking his head before returning them to his face to get a better look at her.
“It’s late,” Eve said. “You look like you could use the rest.”
“I’m sure I could,” he said. “For now that’s just not possible.”
“At least a coffee,” she said. “Maybe even an IV of caffeine.”
Q looked around himself, then back to Eve.
“I suppose I could spare a few moments for some tea,” he finally said, quickly typing something into his computer before leading her to the break room.
“You’re lucky you caught me at night,” he said. “During the day I certainly wouldn’t have time for this.”
“I dread to think how that must look.”
“So much worse,” he confirmed. “Speaking of which, why are you here at this time?”
“I have a delivery for you,” she said, holding up two USB drives. “Very important.”
“So important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow,” Q mused, taking them and slipping them into the pockets of his cardigan.
“Not quite,” Eve said. “But I was awake, and I imagined at least one person from your branch would be awake now, too, if I needed to leave them here.”
“I don’t think this branch ever sleeps,” Q said. He pulled down two mugs from the cabinets, placing them on the counter as he fished out the box of teabags and delicately dropped one in each.
“You really do look like you need some,” Eve said.
“Well, a number of agents on the field need my technical assistance,” he said. “I know most of them have at least some basic measure of understanding for how computers work, but it would really be useful if more of them had further understanding. The basic understanding just isn’t enough to cut it these days, even if they are working in the field.”
Eve smiled. “Well, if you want to run a seminar, I can see what can be done.”
“Good heavens, no,” Q said. “When would I have time for something like that?”
“I don’t know, Q,” she said. “You’re an awfully busy man.”
“Yes,” he said. “Which is why I increasingly find myself taking all my conversations in here, during my breaks.”
“I’ve heard you’ve been having a number of private conversations elsewhere, Q.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Yes,” she said. “I don’t think Bond to really be the type of man to take his conversations over coffee.”
Q shifted on his feet, then turned back to the counter and finished making the tea. He spent an awfully long time measuring out the sugar, and then the milk, but by the time he turned back to Eve he still hadn’t managed to wipe his expression from his face.
He handed Eve a cup and looked her in the eye. “I think I’m going to have to end things with him.”
Of all the things Eve expected to hear tonight, that certainly hadn’t been one of them. It took a moment for her to find words for that, and when she finally did all she could say was, “Why?”
“Because,” Q said. He drew a breath as though he were about to confess something horrible to her, which in a way he was. “I know that things are serious with the two of you. I don’t have a problem with this, of course, but there’s a difference to letting James take us both out on dates and knowing that he’s fucking us both and… well, I understand. I’ve seen how you look at him, and how he looks at you. I’ve heard what he says about you.
“Don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t hold this against you. If this is how it is, I accept this and am supportive. I’m happy for you two, even,” he said, then paused, narrowing his eyes at her curiously. “Why are you laughing?”
“Oh, Q,” she said, shaking her head. It took a moment to compose herself. “Do you even hear yourself?”
“Of course,” he said. “That’s why I need to tell you this now.”
“You have it all wrong,” she said. “Have you not seen how James look at you? Or how you look at him?”
Q opened his mouth, then closed it again.
“He loves you, Q.”
“I don’t understand,” Q said. “He loves you.”
Eve nodded. “I don’t think he has a problem with this.”
“No,” Q said. “But one day things will get serious, even if Bond insists that’s not the case. And looking at you, I – I wouldn’t want him to not have what he has with you.”
“Even if that means he doesn’t have it with you?”
“I wouldn’t be comfortable knowing that he had to sacrifice what he and you have in order to have it.”
His words hung in the air, leaving Eve with a distinct tightness in her chest. It wasn’t heavy – quite the opposite, in fact – but it was strong, pushing hard against her chest.
“He doesn’t have to, you know,” she said. “Things can be serious for both of us.”
It was clear now that Q was very confused.
“I mean,” Eve said. “That no matter what I have with him, it’s almost – well, it’s safer to know that there’s someone else who loves him, too.”
“You don’t care that I’m in love with your boyfriend.” The way he looked at her, Eve figured she may as well have grown a second head.
“I’m happy that you do, actually,” she said. “I care about him, a lot. And I know that… whatever we have, it isn’t everything. Certainly not for someone like James. Why wouldn’t I be happy that my best friend also loves him?”
“Because,” Q said, and Eve could hear the next words even though he didn’t say them: because it’s not normal. Because that’s not how relationships are done.
Well, says who?
“I want things to be serious,” Eve said. “But that goes for you, too.”
She waited to see what Q would say, because of course he was right: there was a marked difference between sharing a casual fling and sharing a boyfriend, and if things really did get serious there was always a degree of risk, just like with any other relationship.
“I suppose you have a point,” Q said, sipping at his tea. “I’ll need to think about it, of course. And talk to James, eventually.”
“Eventually,” Eve said. “I don’t imagine this conversation would be easy to get out of him.”
“I don’t imagine any serious conversation about love would,” Q said. “He just isn’t that sort of man.”
“I suppose we’ll have to have it together,” Eve said. “We’ll team up and outnumber him.”
Q smiled. “It would certainly be fitting to do it that way, wouldn’t it?”