The next month went by without much excitement. At least no more than usual. Missions came and went, bad guys taken care of, in one way or another. The latter was usual Bond's doing, much to Q's dismay. Although he seemed to take Bond's inability to follow directions much easier now. Eve even caught him humming to himself once or twice. Life seemed to be pretty good for the entire MI6 team for the first time in years. So obviously It couldn't continue for long.

It was just another day at the start. Bond was standing with Eve near the back of Q Branch sipping their coffees and making little jibes at each other. Q was trying very hard to look annoyed by their presence but he couldn't seem to keep the smile from creeping across his face. It was in that moment of seemingly perfect calm that his whole world imploded.

"Sir, there's been a security breach at the Bank of England. Someone opened the vault!" One of the tech called out from a desk on the left. All mirth immediately left the room as both Eve and Bond dropped their cups in the nearest trash bin and headed towards Q's desk. His fingers were already flying over the keys and surveillance feeds were coming up on the big screen at the head of the room.

Then another tech called out from the right side of the room. "Sir, someone opened all the cells at Pentonville Prison." James turned to look at the tech in disbelief, these things don't just happen. And they certainly don't happen at the same time. Q brought up more video feeds without even a pause.

"Sir, the Tower of London. Someone is stealing The Crown Jewels." The room went silent at that, with the exception of Q's typing, but when the security feed from the Tower came up on screen even that stopped. Q stepped back from his keyboard in horror as he stared at the image on the screen, knocking his mug off the edge of his desk. It smashed to pieces on the floor as Q's knees began to buckle beneath him. James was able to catch the younger man before he fell.

He looked at the screen with a sneer on his face as he held Q upright. "Moriarty." James practically growled. It was Q's tiny whispering voice that completely deflated James' anger, "No, no, no Richard what have you done."

James turned to look at Q's face and saw the tears streaming down his cheeks, his skin more pale than James had ever seen it. It took only a moment to piece together what was happening. Richard was the name of Q's actor not-boyfriend, who had obviously seen Q as nothing but a means to an end. How else could someone like James Moriarty disappear from digital record without the help of a genius level computer tech. Q had been used and manipulated by this villain of a man with the promise of love. James understood something about this type of betrayal. The weight of the situation bore down on both of them until James could no longer keep them standing and slowly collapsed to the floor, the other man landing in his lap.

"How could I have not been briefed on that mission! I am his quartermaster, I have clearance for all the pertinent data of every mission the double O agents run." Q had moved past the initial shock and despair and was now just angry.

Q, James and Eve were seated around the conference table in the same room that the staff meetings were held, while M paced along the open space at the back end of the room. Numerous files lay open across the table top showing many glossy surveillance photos of James Moriarty. Eve sat silently at the corner of the table her fingers steepled and her eyes cast downward while Q sat fuming beside her. James appeared calm as he sat back in his chair, one elbow on the table with his hand casually draped under his chin. If you looked at his other hand you would see how it was gripping the armrest so tightly the wood was beginning to crack.

M turned towards the trio and with a sigh attempted to explain. "The orders for his original capture came from a government body that wanted the whole thing kept quiet. While his criminal exploits were well known, they had no actual evidence against him to warrant an arrest. No one was to know about the operation except those who were directly involved. Which included Tanner, myself, 006 and 007."

"Lovely, Mycroft Holmes calls you up for a little, highly illegal, favor and you just put your best agents in harms way on a whim." Q was practically livid.

"I never said it was Holmes who ordered the mission." M looked at Q with what was meant to be a mask of surprise, but didn't really fool anyone.

"You didn't have to. This has his name all over it, of course the whole 'Get Sherlock' message on the glass certainly didn't hurt with that deduction." Q spun in his chair till he was facing the wall, his arms crossed against his chest.

"So now what? Do I go after him again?" James was trying to stay calm as the anger boiled inside him. He wasn't sure why he felt so protective of Q, they barely knew each other.

It was at this moment that Eve raised her head and spoke. "Scotland Yard has already apprehended him. He didn't even try to escape. He wanted to get caught, to make a spectacle of himself."

"The question remains, how did he manage to erase all trace of himself from digital record? It would have taken a considerable amount of skill to pull that off. I can only think of a handful of people in the world who could do it. That should be our priority now, finding his accomplice." M had gone back to pacing as he spoke, fingers to his chin as if deep in thought. James looked over at Q and saw that his shoulders had slumped and the man looked like all the strength had left him again.

Then he spoke, "You don't have to look any further than right in this room." Q turned back to face a shocked M. "That was me. I assure you I had no idea what I was doing, he manipulated my feelings for him. He convinced me that James Moriarty was a stage name he had used in his Uni days, when he had done some morally questionable films to pay the bills. He said he was afraid that if they came to light it would ruin his career. I offered to erase any trace of it from the web. He seemed so surprised that I could do that, he was a good actor after all. He made me promise not to look at any of it because he didn't want it to taint my view of him." Q slumped over in his chair, "I am such an idiot."

"It's just as well you didn't look at it. If Moriarty thought for even a moment that you might have been on to him he would have slit your throat in your sleep and kissed your forehead as you bleed out on your pillow. The man is insane and ruthless." James tried to keep his voice as calm as possible as he spoke.

M sighed again, "Am I to assume that what you did was irreversible, even for you."

Q took a deep breath, "Not even I can bring it back, I was very careful."

"Well I guess we can turn our focus on Moran. He was not at the Tower this morning and his current whereabouts are unknown. I want to know where he is, and everything he does from here on out. If he crosses against the light I want to know and I want him brought in." M left the room at that and Eve began to take up the files.

Q reached out and took one of the photos of Moriarty and gazed down at it, a look of loss in his eyes that James knew well. "I am sorry Q, you deserve better than this. I wish I could have done something to prevent this."

Q stood slowly, handing the photo to Eve as he walked to the door. "Thank you James, but what's done is done. Let's not dwell on things we can not change."