A Fandom Alleyway, Late Thursday Night

[doubleohblonde]

In a flash of light, two figures appeared in the the middle of a previously deserted alleyway.

James Bond	Cheek stinging from the force of her slap, Bond instinctively pulled Vesper closer against him as their surroundings changed from bar to alleyway, staggering slightly as he regained his footing on the cobblestones.
Vesper Lynd	Barring the continual manhandling, and the fact she was certain she was developing hand-shaped bruises on that bicep, Vesper for her part wasn't entirely unhappy to be pressed up against him like this. Far from ecstatic, mind, but she'd missed this since Venice.
James Bond	Steady on his feet again, Bond kept holding onto Vesper rather longer than strictly necessary, the death-grip on her arm loosening enough to that you could actually use a word as mild as 'hold' to describe it again.
Vesper Lynd	Now that the most immediate cause for concern was gone, Vesper found herself relaxing back against him despite herself. Not least because doing anything else would have required thinking on both their parts and that couldn't have led to anything good.
James Bond	Bond's free hand stroked down her cheek in an absent caress. At least his fingertips found her pulse and bluntly brought the reality to the situation back to him. Bond forcibly shoved her away from him, even while his hand on her arm tightened again, in a move that was never destined to do much more than spin Vesper around. He was not having a good night. Not at all.
Vesper Lynd	There was rather a lot of that going around tonight, oddly enough. "What the hell is wrong with you, James?" Not that Vesper didn't have a few ideas, but between the emotional and physical whiplash, she wasn't being too generous right now.
James Bond	"What's wrong with me?" Bond replied incredulously, stalking closer again. "I watched you die, Vesper. Or rather I watched you kill yourself, but I guess that didn't take very well, did it?"
Vesper Lynd	Guilt and anger roiled in Vesper's belly as she backed up in a futile attempt to maintain some space between them. "You say that like a had a whole lot of choice in the matter," she snapped as her back pressed against cool stone. "Like I chose this."
James Bond	"You certainly chose to turn that key," Bond replied flatly. "And you certainly could have held your breath just a little while longer if you'd put your mind to it."
Vesper Lynd	"And you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that that was somehow easy for me."
James Bond	"Why?" Bond would deny his voice cracked like a teenager's on the word to his dying day.
Vesper Lynd	Vesper didn't really have a better response to that than a rather feeble "I'm sorry."
James Bond	"That you did it or that you got caught?"
Vesper Lynd	Vesper's response to that however was very swift indeed. Even if it probably hurt her hand more than his cheek. "Don't you dare try to claim it was ever about getting caught," she spat out coldly. "It's a pathetic insult to both our intelligences."
James Bond	"And you playing me for a fool wasn't?" Bond asked, then cut through Vesper's protests to the contrary with "Perhaps you could enlighten me as to what exactly it was about then? So I can avoid further insult."
Vesper Lynd	"It was the only way out," Vesper said finally. "What else was there that I could have done?"
James Bond	"You could have come to me," Bond replied, so quickly you'd almost think he'd been rehearsing this conversation in his head before this. "Talked to me. Asked me for help."
Vesper Lynd	"Could I have? Really?" Vesper asked bluntly. "Could I have just come up to you and asked you to defraud the British Government of a few hundred million pounds, so we can pay off the terrorists we won it from for not killing you. Oh, they believes me when I said I'd pay because they been blackmailing me to prevent you getting in the first place, which I did such a brilliant job of that they've probably killed the guy they were using to blackmail me to begin with. Not that I have that much proof they hadn't already. Oh, didn't I mention him before this? Whoops. But don't worry, you can trust me, James."
James Bond	Bond's uncomfortable silence indicated the blistering sarcasm had made the point.
Vesper Lynd	Vesper paused a moment before continuing. "And on the off chance you didn't just turn around and hand me off to MI-6, if you had decided to help what good would it have done? Even if all you did was turn your back while I made the switch, that's all those people would have needed. One crack, one bit of leverage, and it's time for a trade up to a pet double-oh." She tried to look anywhere but at him, but considering how much personal space wasn't between them that was difficult at best. "Maybe you could have lived with that, I couldn't."
James Bond	A sardonic 'Obviously' went unspoken. "Being shuffled off to teach school children like a horse put to pasture because M thinks I'll do something drastic otherwise isn't exact an ideal alternative," Bond said drily.
Vesper Lynd	"It's ideal enough," Vesper said softly, still doing her best to not look at him. "Even if you hate me."
James Bond	Bond's hand left her arm for the first time since he caught hold of her, smoothing up over her shoulder to cup her chin, tilting her face back up towards, as he tried to think of a good response.
Vesper Lynd	It wasn't clear which of them had the idea first, but it was definitely Vesper who pursued it more agressively, at least to begin with, fisting her hands in his jacket and tugging him closer by his lapels.
James Bond	"This is a bad idea," Bond murmured, kissing along the curve of her neck.
Vesper Lynd	"We shouldn't do this," Vesper agreed. Not that that was stopping her from unbuttoning his shirt right there and then. "It can't end well."
James Bond	James pulled back reluctantly. "My place is near here," he said, since apparently neither of them cared about that.
Vesper Lynd	Vesper nodded. "After you then." At all.

Sometimes, highly intelligent people could be complete and utter morons.

[NFI, Broadcast doesn't really matter since it's up after radio, OOC welcome]