I think the friendship between these two would have been so pure. I don't own any rights to James Bond (of course). Enjoy!

Q was seriously starting to re-think this entire situation. He thought it had been a good idea at the time. But now he was actually stood on her doorstep, he found himself hesitating. His fist hovered just inches from the door, poised to knock but not quite able to bring himself to do it. Was it too soon? Was it too late? Would she want to talk to him at all? She had no reason to even open the door to him. She probably would want to punch him just for daring to show his face. Q began to panic. This really hadn't been a good idea at all. But just as he started to turn away, the lock turned and the door gently squeaked open.

"Are you okay?" a quiet, innocent voice spoke from behind Q. Slowly, he turned around and, for just a moment, his heart stopped in his chest. In the doorway stood a young child with piercing blue eyes- with Bond's eyes. He stood motionless, unable to bring himself to move or say anything.

"Who's at the door, Mathilde?" another voice called from further inside the house. Although Q had only heard her a handful of times before, he instantly knew the sound of Madeleine's voice. The girl said nothing in reply to her mother and continued to stare up at Q with innocent curiosity. Q felt a lump in his throat, preventing him from saying a word. After an agonisingly long silence, the door opened wider and Madeleine's face appeared from around the corner. Her eyes carefully studied him for a moment and Q could do nothing but stare back at her. If she was surprised to see him at her door, she was certainly doing a good job of hiding it.

"You're him, aren't you? You're 'Q'?" she asked slowly, her eyes never once leaving his face.

"Yes," Q eventually said, barely managing to hold eye contact with her.

"Well then, I suppose you had best come inside," she stepped aside and held the door open from him. He stood in a still silence for a moment, caught between stepping across the threshold and simply turning and running the other way. Then, overwhelmed by whatever God-forsaken bravery Bond had managed to instil in him through the time that they had known each other, Q stepped forwards and into the house. As he looked around, he found the place to be far more moderately decorated than he had expected. He had assumed her house would be decorated with all kinds of lavish and unnecessary things that were used only to display wealth; he wasn't sure why he had assumed that, maybe it was her connection to Bond and his tendencies toward the finer things in life. But his surroundings were surprisingly bare, yet still held a sense of home and welcome to them. Madeleine led him through the house to a modest sitting room, motioning to one of the armchairs. Taking her signal, Q sat and Madeleine positioned herself on the sofa opposite, watching him with careful eyes. She offered him water but he politely declined, leaving a slightly awkward silence hanging between them as Mathilde disappeared out of the room and Q heard the sound of footsteps as she made her way upstairs and out of ear-shot.

"So?" Madeleine asked, once she was certain her daughter was in her bedroom and the door closed behind her.

"So?" Q repeated her question nervously, unsure of what else to say.

"Well, Quartermaster, there must be a reason you appeared on my doorstep out of the blue, no?" Madeleine raised an eyebrow, crossing her hands in her lap.

"I came here to- well, I wanted to say that..." Q started but found that he was suddenly very unsure of himself. Swallowing, he took a deep breath and steadied his hands, "I guess I came here with the intention of apologising to you, for several reasons I suppose,"

"You have nothing to apologise for. What James did..." Madeleine paused, her voice shaking slightly, "James' sacrifice was his own choice, to save us all. There's nothing either of us could have done to change his mind,"

"I know..." Q sighed, feeling his heart tighten in his chest at her words, "If Bond was anything, he was damned stubborn,"

"That certainly is true," Madeleine laughed and, for the briefest of moments, Q felt himself relax.

"But nonetheless, on behalf of MI6, I want to apologise to you for taking him away from you too soon," Q said solemnly, lowering his head in her direction.

"Thank you, truly. We've managed without him before, we will find a way to manage again," Madeleine smiled sadly, glancing up the stairs in the general direction of her daughter's bedroom.

"I have no doubt," Q nodded, not quite meeting her eye.

"There's something else, isn't there?" Madeleine frowned, leaning forwards in her chair slightly. For a moment, Q could do nothing but stare at the ground, his heart pounding and his body frozen in panic; last chance to back out. Finally, Q sighed- he needed to do this- and looked up to see Madeleine watching him with a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

"Yes," Q admitted slowly, "there is something else,"

"You can tell me anything," Madeleine said was a surprising touch of softness in her voice, "James often spoke about you, I know he trusted you deeply. Whatever you need to tell me, just say it,"

"I- James and I, we... he was special and, well... I loved him," Q managed to stutter out. As soon as the words left his mouth, he wished hadn't said them. What was he even thinking? Arriving unexpectedly to the house of someone he had never met only to tell her that he was in love with the recently deceased father of her child? This would be the very last thing she needed to hear right now, or ever. Hurriedly, Q stood up. He had no idea what he was doing, all he knew was that he needed to get out of this house. But before he could get very far, Madeleine caught his arm to stop him. She held him in place, her grip soft but commanding, until Q forced himself to turn and face her. And to his complete surprise, he saw that she was smiling at him.

"I know," she almost whispered and Q had to stop himself from doing a double take, "I know you loved him," she repeated, letting go of Q's arm.

"H-How?" was all Q could say in response.

"Because I know that he loved you too," Madeleine sighed almost wistfully. Her words hung in the air between them, filling the silence with their meaning, neither of them moving from where they stood.

"He told you," Q spoke, unsure if he meant it as a question or a statement.

"Yes," Madeleine answered nontheless, "like I said, James often spoke of you. At first, he only implied a friendly working relationship. But, even then, I could see in his eyes know he felt about you. Eventually, he opened up and told me of your more personal relationship. It took a long time for him to finally tell me, I think he was worried I would be upset,"

"Were you?" Q blurted out before he could stop himself.

"No," Madeleine laughed quietly, shaking her head, "I knew he loved me also, and I loved him just as much. The only thing I was ever sad about was that he had left you behind,"

"It was my choice, in the end," Q told her truthfully.

"I know, but I want you to know that he never stopped loving you, right up until the end," Madeleine smiled again and Q could feel a growing lump in his throat.

"He loved you too, very strongly indeed," Q nodded, blinking back tears.

"Now that he's gone... I was worried I would miss him. I do, and I will. But, maybe if you would allow, I would like to talk about him with someone who truly understood him," Madeleine asked, suddenly far quieter and less certain of herself than Q had ever heard her sound before.

"I would love to," Q smiled, his heart finally releasing the knot in his chest. The two of them sat down once more, Q finally accepting Madeleine's offer of water and, a few hours later, tea. Neither of them had any idea how much time passed, recounting their stories equal in laughter and sadness, their grief lifting ever so slightly as they spoke about the person they both loved with everything they had. Eventually, they noticed that the sun was beginning to draw close to the horizon and Q insisted that he really must get back to work.

"But, if you'd like, I could come back next week?" Q asked, hovering in the doorway.

"I would like that very much," Madeleine nodded.

"Thank you, Madeleine. For all of this," Q smiled, stepping outside into the cold London air.

"Thank you too, Quartermaster," Madeleine smiled back. Both of them stayed there for a moment, neither really wanting their time together to end. But eventually, Q began to turn away. As he walked down the street, Madeleine closed the door and the two of them went their separate ways. Both heartbroken; but, for now at least, they were both smiling too. And maybe with each other's help, their pain would one day finally heal.