I


"Stop petting me."

"Make me," Bond replied without looking away from his book, his fingers still tangled in Q's dark, thick curls. He grinned when he felt Q attempt to tug away but gave up after a moment, instead choosing to curl up against Bond. For a moment, the two of them lay there on the bed, Bond propped up with pillows as he read a paperback Q had given him for the flight to a mission—an alternative to destroying my tech, as much as I hate to do that to a poor book—and Q curled up against him on the duvet.

Then, without warning, Q wiggled his head and let the hair slide out from between Bond's fingers, and he let out a cry of triumph when he finally broke free. "No, no, no!" he shrieked as he dove for the opposite corner of the duvet when Bond dropped the book to lunge for him. "Nope, no, nice try," he said, waggling his fingers at Bond, who feinted a lunge. Nearly slipping backwards of the bed, he grinned and said, "Come on, James, I'm tired from ordering Martin around all day. I want to go to bed, and I mean to sleep," he said, shaking his head when Bond put on an excited and hopeful expression.

"Fine, spoilsport," Bond said, grinning as he threw one of the pillows at Q, who caught it with ease. "I'll be right back, I still need to brush my teeth."

"You do that. I'll need to take what duvet I can while I still am able," Q said, sticking his tongue out when Bond put on a hurt expression. Bond moved aside to let Missy dart into the room and jump onto the bed, taking her usual spot between the two men. "Hi sweetie, don't take James's spot or he'll be grumpy in the morning," Q said, grinning as Bond put on a mock hurt expression when Q cuddled the cat.

"Five minutes to establish spots," Bond warned before heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth and prepare for bed.

He was in the middle of toweling his face off when he heard a thump of Missy hitting the floor and the pattering of paws tearing from the bedroom as Q unexpectedly screamed, "James!"

Dropping everything, Bond ran out into the hall and into the bedroom in time to see a masked man—easily my build—restraining Q and covering his mouth despite the blood welling from the torn fabric of the sleeve. The duvet, sheets and pillows were in complete disarray where the man must have dragged Q off the bed and towards the open bedroom window. The man instantly crouched the second Bond lunged, but it took Bond a second to realize that Q was looking in terror…over his shoulder. There's another one.

He ducked right as the second assailant struck from behind, knife blade flashing in the room light as Bond lashed out with a kick to the man's solar plexus. The man easily sidestepped the kick and tossed the knife to the other man in time to block a punch to the face. Bond growled through his teeth and focused his attention on the man's neck, barely visible through the cloth. A nearly successful kick forced Bond to split his attention between the attacker's feet and fists, and began feinting punches—don't hold back—towards the man's flanks, forcing the man to defend his sides.

Then Bond lunged for the neck the moment the guard accidentally left his guard wide open.

There was a loud clunk as the attacker's head connected with the wall behind him, and Bond growled as the two of them fell, his fingers digging into the soft skin of the man's neck. He dimly heard another thwack behind him, and turned in time to see Q crumple to the ground, the first man approaching Bond with the knife.

Bond made the mistake of loosening his grip on the second man's neck to deal with the knife coming for his back. There was a sharp crack when the second attacker's head snapped up at the same time the first one struck, and Bond's world flooded in darkness.

When he woke up, some indeterminable hours later, he was in Medical and Q was gone. He closed his eyes, unwilling to listen to Eve as she tried to speak to him, to tell him that unknown assailants had taken Q last night, and Bond was MI6's only lead to finding him. The assailants, he knew, had expected him to die. They would have not left him lying alive on the floor of his own bedroom if they suspected otherwise.

I should have acted faster.