Q had insisted that Alison leave sooner rather than later. He had practically dragged her to her bedroom and forced her to pack a bag. She had rushed around the room, grabbing anything that she thought she might need for a few weeks away and pushing it into a suitcase. James had gone to do the same, knowing that he had to be the one to keep an eye on Alison. Q and Madeleine had agreed that it was for the best for the two of them to go undercover. But Alison wasn't keen on that plan.

"She has already threatened Madeleine, Q," she told her fiancé as he zipped up her suitcase and grabbed it in her hand. "Who is to say that she wouldn't go after her again to get to me? Or what about you? Q, if she went after you to get to me then I would never be able to forgive myself. I am serious…please…just come with us. Please."

"I am better here," Q said to her earnestly. "I can work on finding her here, Alison."

"But if I don't want you to?" she asked from him. "I worry about you. I always worry about. Please."

Q sighed and looked to her. He placed her suitcase on the ground and reached for her, enveloping her into his arms and holding her tightly. She burrowed her face against his shoulder, her hands moving to rest on his back. She closed her eyes and kept her grip tight on him and he wondered if she had a point. Would they be better staying together? Would that be the best way to do this?

"If she is after me then fine," Alison said. "To a certain extent I have gotten used to people being after me, but I don't want her to use you. And she knows about you, Q. She knows who you are and what you are to me."

"I know," Q whispered and Alison moved to kiss him, the motion slow and tender. He felt himself ease into the kiss, knowing that this was her way of trying to persuade him. Everything that she struggled to say out loud she said in that kiss. He felt her fear. He felt her anger. But most of all he felt her love. Her love for him was something he would never question and right now she needed him. She needed to know that he was safe. And he had to keep her safe.

"Please," she tried again and Q nodded his head once.

"Let me quickly pack a bag," he said.

"I'll tell dad that Madeleine is coming too," she responded.

She dashed out into the hallways and moved down to her father's bedroom. The door was wide open and she saw him grabbing some of the clothes he kept in the apartment, stuffing them into a duffel bag as Madeleine sat in the chair in the corner of his bedroom. Standing in the doorway, Alison knocked on the wooden frame and looked at her father.

"Q is coming," she said. It wasn't a question. He stopped packing and looked across to her, brow arched on his forehead. "And I think that Madeleine should come. She is part of our family now and I think…I think it would be safer if we were all together."

"Alison, I don't want to cause any issues."

"You wouldn't," Alison assured Madeleine. "You're dating my dad and Jennifer knows everything about my life. She knows the people I am closest to and you're now one of those."

"She has a point," James said. "And I was thinking it myself."

Madeleine nodded and looked over to James. "Where would we go anyway? Do you have any idea at all?"

"I will call M and ask him for a safe house location," he assured them. "I know that there is one in Scotland. We need to hide out there for a while until Jennifer is found…or until I find her."

"Dad, you-"

"-If you think I am playing by the book on this then you have another thing coming," he warned his daughter, zipping his bag up and reaching for a new suit jacket. He shrugged into it and moved towards her. "I am going to find this woman and I am going to make her pay. She isn't going to get away with what she has done."

"Just find her and bring her in," Alison said. "That is all I want, dad. I just want her to be caught."

"And I will do what I can to catch her, but firstly I need you away from this apartment."

"Q is packing a bag," Alison said to her father. "We should be ready shortly."

James nodded and Alison went back to check on Q. Had shrugged into a brown jumper over his shirt, pushing his glasses further onto his nose as Alison grabbed her case and he took his bag, grateful that he had left some clothes in her apartment. The four of them left without a word, James going ahead to make sure the coast was clear. Alison looked to the box on the doorstep and felt her stomach churn, remembering the pig's head inside of it. Q placed his hand into her free one, holding it tightly as they left the apartment block. James packed the boot of the small Mercedes, thankful that his Aston Martin was in storage as they would never have all gotten in that.

Madeleine pulled the seat back on the passenger side, allowing Alison to climb into the back with Q following her. Alison dropped her satchel she had grabbed into the footwell. She had her laptop and phone, but Q had insisted she turn them off. Her purse was next to everything and she had her glasses there too. Looking to the silent road, Alison felt a sudden chill as she looked to her car. It was completely vandalised. She gulped and continued scanning the area as James got into the car after packing the boot. Q noted her eyes darting around and he knew that she was looking for her.

"Do you think she is still here?" Alison wondered, her voice low.

James started the ignition, peering at his daughter in the rear view mirror. Madeleine turned round in her seat, moving to squeeze Alison's arm supportively. Q looked out his window for a moment before pulling his seat belt on.

"No," James said confidently. "She's gone."

"How do you know?"

"Believe me, I have a sense about these kind of things," he promised her.

He drove off quickly, moving through the streets of London. As they slowed in traffic, Q could sense Alison's nervousness. She was twitchy, constantly looking around as though she expected someone to appear from out of nowhere. Q moved to the middle seat as they stalled on the four lane road towards the edge of London. He did his seat belt up there and moved an arm around her shoulders. She burrowed her face into his neck, letting out a shaky breath as he ran his hand up and down her arm. Bond looked to the backseat and nodded once to Q in the rear view mirror. The quartermaster nodded back to Bond, a silent understanding passing between the two of them.

…

Bond had been forced to stop for gas once they were driving up north. Pulling into a service station, they unloaded from the vehicle and stretched, the night air cold around them. Alison and Madeleine walked off together for the bathroom as Bond finished filling up with gas and reached for his phone.

"You know that M will be all over this," Q said to James. "He will do what he can to help. I am certain of it."

"I know," Bond said, "but what if she is as good as her brother? Or Blofeld? You remember what they did to her. I don't want her to go through this again, Q."

"I understand," Q said to him. "I do not particularly enjoy this myself, but this woman, we think we know what she wants. I mean, I think we can categorically say that she knows Alison was the one who killed her brother now."

"Can we confirm it?"

"I have R back at base looking through to see if there is any footage from that night which would place Jennifer in the area," Q said confidently. "I was going to look myself, but the internet is not entirely stable out on the open road and Alison…well…I believe that she is my number one concern on this journey."

"I think she's all of ours," Bond said and clapped Q on the back. "I'll go and call M. Can you see about grabbing a bottle of water?"

"On my way."

Q pulled down his jumper and wandered into the service station. It was particularly quiet with only late night drivers sat in the coffee shop and nursing strong black coffees. Q went to the small shop and brought four bottles of water, one for each of them. He paid with cash, preferring not to leave a trace. Placing the bottles into his own bag that he had brought, he saw Alison and Madeleine leaving the bathroom and heading towards the exit. Madeleine had a hand one Alison's back, guiding her forwards as Q watched his fiancée move a hand to her eyes. She had been crying again.

Madeleine's eye caught Q and she looked to him and nodded once. She said something to Alison, who hadn't seen him, and the young woman moved off to her father who was still by the car. Madeleine waited for Q to come to her before speaking.

"She was crying," she commented.

"I can see that," Q said, his mouth dry.

"She is scared…she is so scared of this woman and what she could do."

"She isn't the only one," Q admitted to Madeleine.

The two moved through the car park, seeing that Alison had already resumed her seat. Their footsteps were steady and their breath was visible in the night air.

"She's been able to find us at every step of the way," Madeleine said to Q. "She knows about your new apartment together. She knows that you're engaged. She knew where to find me when James was with Blofeld. She even avoided the restaurant set up. How has she stayed one step ahead of us?"

Q shrugged. "All of that information, I hate to say, is publicly available. And this woman is clever if she has spent her years learning from criminal masterminds."

"I know," Madeleine agreed with all of that. "My only concern is how we finally get one step ahead of her."

Q sighed. "That, I do not know."

…..

The safe house was nothing particularly special. It was in a residential area by the sea on the eastern coast of Scotland. It was a modern build with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The kitchen was sleek white cabinets with marble surfaces that led onto a dining room with a glass table and low hanging lights over it. The living room was large with two big sofas and a TV in the corner. It was devoid of personality, of course, acting more as a showroom.

Q had set up at the dining table in the kitchen after grabbing a few hours sleep. They had all collapsed into bed from exhaustion. M had told them that he had sent someone to Bond's apartment to clean up and examine the scene to see if they could find anything. They had a warrant out for Jennifer, but M had warned James that resources were thin. He felt for the former agent. Of course he felt sorry for him. He knew what Alison had gone through, but this was one woman on a vendetta. M was constantly inundated with terror threats, the risk of nuclear war, and arms dealers. His agents had to work on them.

He had assigned one agent to the case. That was all he could spare. Bond had rolled his eyes and said that he would do it himself. Q had also asked from time away from the office and his request had been granted rather happily. He found himself working on Alison's case, digging into Jennifer's past.

"Have you found anything?" Bond wondered.

He had changed into a blue shirt and trousers, smelling of musky shower gel as he entered the kitchen and headed for the kettle.

"I have only just started," Q said to him.

"And Alison?"

"She was in the bath. She hardly slept," Q said, recalling how he had woken up both times to find her laid flat on the mattress, staring at the ceiling.

"She's not the only one," Bond admitted.

He put tea bags into four mugs and waited for the kettle to boil.

"Did Carl ever mention having a family?" Q suddenly wondered, looking to Bond. The agent shrugged.

"Alison never really mentioned him when she was with me," he said. "Besides, if he was undercover then he wouldn't have told her the truth, would he? Why do you ask?"

"Here," Q said and pointed to his screen. "Jennifer and her brother might have tried to delete their lives and hide underground, but other people aren't willing to do that."

"What is it?" Bond wondered, looking to the image he had found.

"That, I believe, is their mother," Q said, wondering if there just might be a way to crack the puzzle yet.

….

A/N: Do let me know what you think!