Q had been up for over 48 hours.
The code that had been sent to him in the early afternoon on Tuesday had been sent with explicit instructions to not rest until it had been decoded. Q and his team had taken this quite literally.
Well, Q had done anyway. Although everyone else stopped for meal breaks or quick naps he hadn't seemed to find the time for either.
He was regretting that now. Standing holding a cup of, by now, cold tea he took a deep breath to try and push away the throbbing headache that had materialised the moment the code had been decrypted.
Closing his eyes he tried to focus his fuzzy mind. There was a distant roaring in his ears. He needed to pull himself together...
"Q?"
He jumped out of his reverie and opened his eyes to find James Bond standing in front of him.
"007." Q said simply.
"How long has it been since you've slept, ate or stopped working?" Bond asked.
"That's irrelevant." Q snapped.
"Yes, at this point I'd say it was." Bond said, he was almost smirking, "We're too late to do anything about it now. I'd say you have roughly 15 seconds before you lose consciousness. So maybe you should put that mug down."
Q nodded bleakly and put the mug on a nearby counter with shaking hands. His head was really spinning now. He vaguely heard 007's voice as if from far away.
"And I suppose you're expecting me to catch you?"
"That would be appreciated..." murmured Q as his legs gave out from underneath him and everything went black.
