They headed out of the office slowly and saw the destruction that littered the space outside, bodies and rubble littered the dark corridors and the emergency lighting creating eerie shadows. Mallory took a second to realise that the compound seemed quieter than before; there was a distinct lack of gunfire and the shouting had decreased in volume. Eve noticed his confused look so began to explain the events he had missed whilst he was otherwise engaged.

"Backup arrived a while ago, the compound is secure now. You didn't think I held that lot off by myself did you?"

Mallory smiled sheepishly he had actually. They continued to make their way towards the center of the compound and M started to see friendly personnel in the distance. He felt a lot less wary now he knew the compound had been secured by their people.

Eve handed him a new earwig from one of her many pockets, Mallory realised he must have lost his either during the fight or when he was captured. "Comms are back up, everyone's looped in on the usual channel."

Mallory nodded at her gratefully and took the offered communication piece. He suddenly heard dozens of voices urgently ordering for bodies to help secure prisoners and arrange transport. M tried to follow some of the chatter to find out if he could hear Q or Bond on the channel, but there were too many voices for his battered head to decipher.

M felt sorer the further they walked each step aggravated all his injuries. Just a little further, was the mantra he kept repeating his his head. They finally made it outside into the daylight, and it was a stark contrast to the darkened windowless corridors so they both squinted and blinked against the change.

Apart from the chatter the compound felt eerily quiet; it was strange and oddly mirrored how it had been this morning before it had all kicked off. He couldn't help it but Mallory's eyes were drawn to the damage the agents had wrought, the endless bodies and burning infrastructure. The air reeked of blood, dust and death.

"Have you heard from Q or Bond?" Mallory asked as they made their way towards the central section across the courtyard. M could see that things were well underhand now and teams were busy securing different areas and ferrying equipment and relief around the base; it was amazing that earlier it had been so overwhelmingly full of enemies and now they had all fallen.

"Only that they're both in one piece. Q wanted radio silence so he could concentrate on bringing down the network. I think he's currently orchestrating all field agents to go after targets." Eve replied and tightened her grip on Mallory's arm as he stumbled when his foot got caught in a doorway.

"I'm okay." He muttered through clenched teeth and took a moment to steady his swaying body. His head was pounding loudly and his chest was still burning. He had been keeping pressure on the wound so thankfully the bleeding had almost stopped.

Eve glared at him darkly clearly not believing him in the slightest. "I will be okay." He corrected feeling chastised.

Eve ushered him into a side hallway away from prying eyes. "I should haul you in front of the medics you know." She hissed in a whispering tone.

Mallory winced as the movement pulled at his wounds. As much as he wanted to sit down and give into the darkness he needed to see Q, he needed to make sure everyone was okay. "Please Eve, I will sit down and let all the medics in the world poke and prod me, just after I've seen Q and Bond."

Her incredulous expression softened as she recognised the plea. They had all been through a lot together the past few months. "All right." She finally agreed. "But lean on me more, stop pulling at it more than you need to."

It was a compromise and the best offer he was going to get so Mallory nodded eagerly and immediately complied. They made slow progress towards the center of the compound, but with Mallory leaning on Eve his injuries weren't taking the brunt of their travelling any longer. He had to admit it was easier and more manageable this way. The closer the got to HQ the higher the damage and body count. It looked like bond had gotten a chance to have his fun after all.

Armed guards were posted outside the entrance to HQ, the men both nodded a greeting at M and Eve and didn't pass comment on the state Mallory was in. M's lips parted in surprise as they limped into the main hub and witnessed how busy it was, to the outside eye it looked like absolute chaos. Q would have called it organised chaos but in Mallory's books even that was still chaos.

M's eyes scanned the room and recognised several technicians and field agents who were scurrying between the center and the edges of the rooms. Right in the center of the madness standing in the eye of the storm was the quartermaster; he was in his element.

Q was standing in the middle of dozens of screens and just as many keyboards that encircled him on almost all sides. The quartermaster was issuing orders and providing intelligence quickly into his earpiece and M was reminded of a time he had walked into Q branch to see the quartermaster commanding four simultaneous missions like a crazed conductor. To M it had looked insane and impossible to tie the four missions together in such a way, but to Q's brain everything slotted into place perfectly and the entire thing had gone off without a hitch.

He and Eve struggled over to the centre of the room picking their way round rubble and bodies. The room was covered with blood, bullet marks and had a lot of uncleared smoke hanging in the air which indicated at least one explosion. Yet even with all the damage Q and his area was completely untouched by the carnage, he didn't even have a hair out of place. It was like he had his own personal force field; another name for that force field was James Bond.

Speaking of the 00 agent Mallory soon spotted the blond man hovering by Q's side, his service pistol still out and ready for use even though they had been given the all clear. M knew Bond wouldn't truly stand down until they were outside enemy territory and even then it would take some doing, especially after the multiple kidnapping attempts on Q.

M chuckled as he watched Bond glare at any agent that got too close to the quartermaster's domain. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the image of a guard dog out of his mind, and it definitely didn't help when 007 actually growled at a passing agent. Mallory and Eve made their way over to the inner circle and met Bond's eyes.

James' cold stare warmed as he spotted his two friends shifting aside to let them past. The agent's face morphed into a dark scowl that could have rivalled Eve's as he spotted Mallory's limp and the angry bruises covering his neck and face.

"What happened to you?"

Gareth could read the concern in Bond's eyes a mile off and recognised his usual way of dealing with unwanted emotions, by hiding behind jokes. M did much the same which was why he saw through the attempt with ease. Q spun round and gasped in alarm when he saw the state Mallory was in. Mallory was shocked the quartermaster could focus on so many things at once and still register voices around him.

"I got in a fight." He finally answered his agent. He kept his voice light and unsurprisingly James snorted with amusement.

Mallory almost kicked himself when he realised he had completely missed the blood on Bond's jacket when he had done his initial scan of the room. Now he had seen the darkened patch he could scarcely take his eyes off it, the whole of 007's shoulder was soaked with dark blood and he could see an entry wound. Perhaps the reason he hadn't noticed Bond's injury was because the agent wasn't acting like he had a whole ripped through him.

"What about you?" Concern bled into his voice despite his best efforts. Even though Bond's face wasn't showing any weakness or pain that didn't mean he wasn't feeling it, Bond was just better than most at hiding what he felt. Mallory knew from experience that the body never got used to pain however the mind could be trained to ignore and control the effect of it until it was over.

M noticed Q hadn't taken his eyes off Mallory's wound but he had resumed talking to people on the comms line. 007 brushed aside the concern and smirked with his trademark grin. "I got in a fight."

Mallory laughed as he heard his own words parroted back at him. For a second there he thought he was going to get an honest answer out of 007, he should have known better really. His jovial mood was infectious and soon Bond was grinning back at him. M clasped the agent's good shoulder warmly and relished the happy moment. He was appreciative that they were all in one piece and beyond relieved that Bond had kept Q completely unharmed.

"You two are stubborn idiots." Q interrupted and shook his head at the pair before returning his attention to the monitors. Eve snorted and stifled a laugh, Mallory looked a little stricken at the abrupt change in Q's demeanour. He hadn't heard any real anger or heat in the remark and judging by Bond's jovial mood, Q wasn't that angry.

M untangled his body from Eve's support and walked stiffly over to Q, putting himself between the quartermaster and his monitors. Mallory rested back against the table and tried his best to hide any discomfort he felt about standing without Moneypenny's support. Q frowned at M which told him he wasn't as good as he thought he was at schooling his expression, perhaps he would have to take pointers off Bond…

"How's it going Q?" He waited until the quartermaster appeared to have a gap in the comms traffic.

Mallory saw real anger flash behind Q's eyes for a split-second before it was gone and he was leaning around M to get to a keyboard. Mallory remained where he was as he studied the quartermaster and tried to work out his friend's puzzling behaviour.

Strangely Q refused to meet his discerning gaze and focussed on staring at the keyboard he was bashing; M knew Q could touch type so the quartermaster was avoiding him intentionally. "Everything's under control. Their network is falling apart as planned and agents across the globe are chasing down loose ends."

M groaned inwardly as Q refused to stop talking shop. He was sure Q had known what he was really asking but he was being deliberately difficult and obscure for some unknown reason, oh yes and he was somewhat angry with M and perhaps even Bond.

"I wasn't talking about the work Q. Are you okay?" He clarified seriously. On the surface Q looked completely unharmed but who knew what was going on underneath?

Suddenly the quartermaster slammed down the keyboard with enough force to loosen keys and send them flying, M blinked in surprise he hadn't known Q was capable of such physical outrage. Q spun to face Mallory and Bond with a thunderous expression on his face.

"How am I?!" He all but shouted. M had never actually heard Q raise his voice towards him before, he had talked enthusiastically and passionately yes but had never actually yelled. "You two are unbelievable." He pointed at James and Mallory accusingly.

Mallory was distantly aware that Eve was busy shepherding people out of the room discretely, wanting to get rid of as many witnesses as possible to the ongoing meltdown. It was not often that M was rendered completely speechless but this was one of those rare moments. He hadn't expected Q to react so violently or be affected so badly.

"Q." James spoke softly and made to move towards his partner, realising smartly that Q would not appreciate a jovial response or smirk.

Q uncharacteristically scurried out of reach. "Don't James." His voice cracked with emotion and M saw that the quartermaster's defences were crumbling around him.

Mallory and James remained rooted to the spot as Q's breathing grew harsher. "How can you joke about almost dying?" His voice was quiet and M's heart clenched as he heard the anguish in Q's question.

M knew that Q had been suffering from nightmares ever since their kidnapping and the main theme of those nightmares was someone close to him dying whilst he watched helplessly. M realised that this situation and the sight of his friends injured had most likely hit too close to home, and brought all those harrowing nightmares and turbulent emotions to the surface. Q had put up with more than he should have recently; he had essentially taken the weight of the world on his shoulders and now he was crumbling under the pressure of it. He wanted to help ease Q suffering but would his friend let him if he wouldn't even allow Bond close?

Mallory closed the distance between him and Q with great patience and care. He reached out and gripped his friend's hand gently in his own and moved it to rest against his own chest, so Q could feel the regular heartbeat underneath and fight away the demons in his mind. Bond silently joined M and took Q's other hand and mirrored Mallory's actions.

M was anxious at first that Q would simply pull away from them both and retreat further into his own mind, which would have been disastrous. Thankfully Q simply closed his eyes and his breathing slowed as he felt the steady pulse's beneath his hands.

For the first time in a long time M felt safe and content and he so desperately wanted Q to feel the same. "Feel that? We're all okay Q. We're alive. We're safe."

Q opened his eyes tiredly and blinked away tears; he pulled his hands away from their chests and sagged into Bond's open arms.

"It's over." Bond whispered lovingly into Q's hair wrapping his strong arms safely round his partner, shielding him from the outside world. The heart-warming sight made Mallory smile.

Eve nudged Mallory's arm and indicated to Q and Bond. He looked at her and realised what she wanted to do. He took her hand and they both moved to encompass Q from behind. If anyone entered the room and saw the head of MI6, the quartermaster, a 00 agent and the best assistant in the world hugging then so what? They were a family and this whole nightmare had only served to bring them closer.

They all whispered in unison. "Its over."

Finis

A/N - So that marks the end of the trilogy, I'm working on a fluffy one shot which covers M and Eve's growing relationship so expect to see that in the next few days.

Until next time...