As time passed Margot found herself spending quite a bit of her off time in Alec's presence. She was Q's friend and he James' so group activities, when both agents were in London, boiled down to the four of them. At first Q and James were thoughtful enough to make the get togethers some thing where talking among all four was not required, like watching a movie or going to a club.
It was tense in the beginning, neither Alec or Margot doing much more than purposely ignoring the other. As time went on, and they were thrown together more and more, the walls came down slowly. They were far from friends, but they could handle benign conversation without sniping at each other.
Margot was starting to see that Q had been right about Alec, most of the time he was a pretty good guy. He wasn't bad looking either, that certainly didn't hurt. Maybe she had judged him too harshly, too quickly, but her pride kept her from admitting to it. So instead she tried, over time, to be a little more than cordial, even friendly.
It was hard though, she didn't really know how to apologize to him, it's not like she could pop down to the corner shop and pick up a "Sorry I called you a Chauvinist Pig" greeting card. And to be honest she wasn't sure she'd want to anyhow, he hadn't exactly apologized for what he had said that day either. Every once in a while she could almost forget that first meeting and feel like they could be friends, then he would say something that brought it all back into focus for her. It would be all she could do to hold her tongue, for Q's sake.
One such night the four of them were sitting around the coffee table at James and Q's flat, finishing up a game of Cluedo and a third bottle of wine. They were all a little drunk and playfully teasing each other. Q was on the floor at one corner, James next to him in a rather expensive looking lounge chair. While Alec and Margot sat together on the sofa across from him. Margot hadn't actually had that much to drink, knowing she would have to walk home. Sure it was only a couple of streets over for her, but it was still better to keep her wits about her than stumble home blind drunk. Still the atmosphere was contagious, and she found herself quite relaxed and laughing along with everyone else.
"I'm surprised Margot, a lovely girl like you should have better plans for a Saturday night than hanging out with us three. Or isn't there a man in town that doesn't find your intellect intimidating?" Bond said as he refilled her wine glass. She knew what he was doing; still trying to set her up with Alec, but she just smiled and took another sip.
"I'm surprised you didn't go after her James, she's certaininly more than capable of keeping up with your slow ass." Alec laughed, he knew what James was trying to do as well, and easily deflected it back at his friend.
"Oh, I did try once," James said smoothly, "She shot me down without a second's thought. Surprised I came out of it without a broken jaw." There was a sudden choking sound and all eyes turned to Q who was sputtering and coughing on his wine.
"You did what?"was all the genius could get out between coughing fits.
"I thought you told him!" James looked over at Margot, her face red.
"Why would I tell him, he's not my boyfriend! Besides, what's there to tell, you never had a chance with me." She smiled over at the agent across from her, letting her embarrassment slide away. Alec meanwhile had dissolved into uncontrollable laughter beside her.
"That's true, I suppose I have more to worry about from you." James leaned back in his chair with a smug look on his face as he turned to Q, "She told me once that she thought you had a, what was it you said exactly, 'pert little ass" wasn't it."
Now it was Margot's turn to choke on her wine, "You rat bastard," she stood quickly, swinging a throw pillow at him while he tried to duck, "I can't believe you just said that. I'm going to beat you!" Everyone was laughing by this point, but she didn't stop her attack. Alec had wrapped his arms around her waist, not to pull her back, but to steady her so she didn't fall too far forward, and amazingly she found she didn't mind.
After finally regaining control of his laughter Q stood and took the pillow from Margot, stopping the assault, "Alright alright, everyone likes my bum. I'm flattered, but my ass only has eyes for one person."
Margot collapsed on to the couch in a fit of giggles, Alec's arms slowly releasing her, "I never said anything about liking your ass."
Q turned to Alec with a look that was all sass, "You know you love it, just admit it." which just started another round of laughter from everyone.
When the laughter finally started to slow, Alec took a deep drink from his wine glass and said, "Can you imagine the games of Spin the Bottle we could have with the four of us."
Margot's not sure why but that was enough for her suddenly, "And that is my cue to go." She stood up and walked towards the door collecting her things on her way.
Q got up and followed her, "Margot, please, don't leave now."
"Come on, it was just a joke!" Alec called from the sofa.
Margot ignored him and turned to Q, "It's alright, I have to be at the office early tomorrow anyhow. You have that budget meeting with M after lunch and I wanted to go over the numbers one more time before hand."
She let herself out into the hall and pressed the button to call the lift. It was quiet in the hallway, the revelry of James' apartment trapped behind sound proof walls. What was wrong with her, it was a joke, she knew it was. If it had been James that had said it she would have laughed with everyone else. Why was she so against Alec, he was a nice guy. She should be friends with him; her hand unconsciously ran over her waist where his arms had been minutes ago, or more than friends.
No, no she was not going to let him worm his way into her mind, or her pants her brain added. She felt a surge of warmth that should not be there. Treacherous brain, how could it be so cruel to her. She had to admit, remembering the feel of his arms around her waist, it had been nice. His arms felt strong, steady and safe. Safe? Not the word one would usually attributes to a Double-0 agent.
She was still thinking about this when she heard the door open behind her. She turned and saw Q, now in his coat, walking up to her. "Q, what are you doing?"
"I'm walking you home. It's late and I want to make sure you're safe."
"You don't have to do this, it's only a couple minutes walk. I'll be fine."
"It's either me, or I'll get Alec to do it. Then he'd know where you lived." His eyes stared into hers and she knew he wasn't joking.
"Fine." She answered with a sigh, as the doors to the lift opened. The two friends got in and rode down in silence.
They had barely made it to the first corner when the black van jumped the curb and stopped right in their path. Three men in masks jumped out of the side door as Q pulled a 9mm out from under his coat. He managed to fire off one shot, but it went wild as they were both tackled to the ground. Margot managed a short scream before her mouth was covered by a large callused hand.
Q was dragged into the van where they began to restrain him with tape, and Margot heard the one holding her ask, "What about the girl?"
From somewhere in the van she heard a voice answer, "Bring her too, she's seen too much. We can get rid of her later." And then she was hauled into the van as well. They began taping her up much like they had Q, and drove off at a high speed.
