The doors open at the same speed as they always do, but Q isn't expecting a visit and the merest possibility that it's him has their speed suddenly correlating inversely to the rate of his pulse.

"Bond?"

He came back. Q had considered the possibility, of course - there was very little Q didn't consider. But mostly he had considered how terribly unlikely the possibility was.

The career he had built was everything to him and it could fall away so easily. The pressure was like sitting atop a spire so tall that the slightest wind could knock him off his perch at the tip. He had to be flawless to keep his balance. James Bond had flawed him. That bloody bastard.

But he came back.

Why?

"What are you doing here?"

Was he here for another of his endless favors? What could he need that he couldn't (and wouldn't) simply take? He could take anything.

"Good morning, Q." He is pulled closer to James.

The possibility seems more likely now. If Bond could have taken anything, then the reason he came back could be…to take him.

"I thought you'd gone."

"I had. There's just one thing I need." The shiver that runs down Q's back fills each vertebrae on its way down his spine until his pants feel tight. Immediately his mind is segmenting; the majority is filled with images of repurposing the flat surfaces of his workspace for…other uses. The rest is realistic: Bond probably just wants his precious car so he can ride off into the sunset with French, blond, and beautiful. He'll probably comply, yet again spitting in the face of his own career.

It was almost definitely the car. Q always considers all the possibilities.

But then James smiles and Q isn't sure anymore. Those eyes and hint of a smile bore straight into you, as if all his focus for now and forever is solely on you. It is seductive like warm caramel in front a fire and you couldn't move if you tried. He could seduce anyone on the globe.

"What's that?" Q's voice almost doesn't crack and Bond's smile turns smirk-like for a moment before fading to something else. It's probably the car. Bond is just delighted to manipulate Q into once more breaking the rules for him, the bloody bastard.

"You."

Oh.

Fade to black.

(PS - Q was right both ways - Bond wanted Q…in the Aston Martin.)