* I apologize, but I completely lost interest in this story. I hope this wraps up the loose ends. I may revisit this universe in the future, but for now, consider these chapters closed.

Chapter 5

For the next week, Q monitored the feeds from Madeleine's trackers himself while plans were laid to infiltrate the security firm in Switzerland that appeared to be a key business in SPECTRE as an organization.

James guided the interrogation of Oberhouser, though he remained behind the two-way glass, firmly believing that seeing James would make his former foster-brother clam up. As James put it, MI6 wanted solid information, not taunts and "maybes."

The couple spent their days working, and their nights making love, re-solidifying their bonds.

M was not happy at James' decision to eliminate all honey pots or the possibility of them. Essentially, he was losing one of his best agents. James told him, in not quite so many words, to deal with it-and offered to retire his double-oh status to assume a training role. M decided to consider it.

And Alec, George and Ron continued to work through the products at WWW to see what might be of use in the field.

Nothing significant happened that week.

But as Q pointed out, surveillance was largely boring.

IMBM

Q stared at his monitor in shock. Madeline had blown up the Swiss headquarters of SPECTRE.

"Wow," he muttered. "I know James is an awesome lover, but seriously? What am I missing?"

He tapped out a series of texts to arrange a conference room. Securing one for an hour out, Q invited all the main players in the discussion to the meeting, then sat back to review the audio from Madeline's tracker.

At the meeting, with James and M, Q played a snippet of audio.

"I bloody KNOW you took him!" Madeline ranged at Bertrand. "And unless you produce him right now, I will blow up this bloody building!"

"Ma petite, we have nothing. WE don't have your James," Bertrand said tiredly. "Your threats are fruitless."

They heard a crash, as if Madeline had thrown something breakable into a wall.

"That's it!" She screamed it. "If I can't have him, none of you can!"

They heard a boom, and then silence.

"Obsessed?" M asked. "What's the fallout here, Q?"

"I confirmed the explosion. She remote-detonated a large amount of C4 directly under the building. We'll have to through the rest of the audio, but it appears she used a different cell, one not bugged, to arrange for help-or she did it herself," Q said. "I recommend letting Swiss authorities handle the investigation. With everything gone there, our search for SPECTRE's main players is at a dead end. Literally."

"Was she really there, though, Q?" James asked. "Could she have staged that confrontation?"

Q shook his head. "Video cameras have her entering the building ten minutes before explosion. Audio has her bullying her way up to Bertrand's office before scene you just heard. That building is gone."

James sat back, a bit stunned and let down. "So it's over."

Q nodded. "For now. One never knows with organizations like this, but without three of their key players-and who knows how much of their logistics-gone, we can breathe a little easier."

M cleared his throat. "Well, then. Back to silent listening for chatter on SPECTRE in the interim." He paused, then looked at them both. "Well done, gentlemen. I apologize for the strain this particular assignment caused you. And Bond, I accept your resignation from 00 status. We'll have to carve out a new role for you."

"Looking forward to it," James said.

IMBM

"So …" Q/Harry said, sidling up to his lover in the break room.

"Yes?" James asked, amused.

"How opposed are you to workplace sexual shenanigans?"

THE END