When protecting or betting will not help......

[VictorHugo]

Lets say you're playing a high limit .50/1.00 game ... 5 people cap the flop... (9.50 in the pot) after rake.

Your hold AQ suited, and hit your Q, you beleive that people are just rasing for fun so you think your Q is good, maybe you think someone else has AK and AJ or lower pocket pair than Q, but not on trips.

the flop comes out .. Q76. With a flush draw...(lets say its not your flush draw you hold the backdoor one) you are early so you check here hoping that the last person bets so you can raise but you are still offering about 10-1 so protecting doesn't help. Or am I wrong?

Lets say everyone checks still 9.5 and a blank hits. Checking and protecting a late bet will still put 6-1 if you don't put anyone on a gut shot .. .wouldn't it be correct to just bet out even on the flop since even by protecting you are not affecting their odds???

I'm confused about stuff like this ...