Disclaimer: Star Trek and associated characters belong to

Paramount/Viacom.  Tainted Love was written by Edward Cobb and

performed by Soft Cell.  AFAIK, the lyrics to Young Offender (if you

recognize them) belong to the Pet Shop Boys. I make no profit from

this story.



---

Tainted Love

        by Laura Jacquez Valentine



//Sometimes I feel I've got to run away,

I've got to get away

From the pain you drive into the heart of me.

The love we share seems to go nowhere,

And I've lost my life,

For I toss and turn; I can't sleep at night.//



Jean-Luc stared at the ceiling.  The bedsheets were twisted around his

legs, and he could feel his heart pounding.  Q had been here earlier,

curled behind him, whispering in his ear.



But as always, when Jean-Luc tried to turn around, to reach out for

more than whisperings, Q had withdrawn, shocked and offended.



"Sex, Johnny?  With a *human*?"



As always.  And yet Q kept coming back, kept wrapping his long body

around Jean-Luc's smaller one and tracing the human's body with his

hands.  At first, Jean-Luc had been grateful.  It had been too long

since he had someone to sleep with at night; too long since he had

been caressed so lovingly; too long since he had enjoyed the simple

pleasure of another's warmth and touch and breath.



But now, he wanted more.  Wanted to give and take so much more.  And

Q, for all his snuggling, was unwilling to go further.



//Once I ran to you, now I run from you.

This tainted love you've given,

I gave you all a boy could give you.

Take my tears and that's not really all

Tainted love, ohh, tainted love//



Jean-Luc groaned and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. 

This was too much.  He had to put an end to this.



For a moment, he let himself imagine what Q's bare skin would feel

like under his hands and against his body.



"I love you, Johnny," Q had whispered earlier.  Earlier.  Before

Jean-Luc pressed the issue, as he had to.  As he had every night for

the past six.  And still Q came to him at night, willing and

unwilling, loving and hating.



//Now I know I've got to  run away,

I've got to get away.

You don't really want any more from me.

To make things right you need someone to hold you tight,

And you think love is to pray,

But I'm sorry I don't pray that way.//



Perhaps I never respected him the way he wants me to, thought

Jean-Luc.  Perhaps if he felt I truly respected his power.  He doesn't

want to be a substitute or a toy.



But that wasn't right, either.  Q was many things, but not a liar.  If

Q had been upset at being treated like a toy, he would have said so.



"Q?"



And there was a flash of light, and Q was there, in bed with him.



//Don't touch me please, I cannot stand the way you tease.

I love you though you hurt me so.

Now I'm gonna pack my things and go.//



"This cannot continue, Q."



"What cannot continue, mon capitaine?"



"You cannot stay in my bed at night, unless you are willing to carry

through with--"



"Oh, please, Johnny.  I'm willing, of course.  Just not with *you*. 

You're *human*, after all."  Q stood up and began to pace.  "Really,

Captain, did you think that I, Q, would *lower* myself to your animal

level?"



How graceful your movement, Jean-Luc thought. And how bitter your

scorn. And I wonder how you would feel against me, naked.  "Yes, Q, I

did.  But it's over now.  I don't want to see you again until you're

willing to carry through on your promises--implied or otherwise!"



//Ohh, tainted love//



Q stared at him, his lips set in a grim line.  "Very well, mon

capitaine.  But I warn you: you will find the  galaxy dull without

*me*"  



A flash of light, and he was gone.



//Tainted love//



Jean-Luc slumped back on the bed.  He could almost feel  Q's body

curled around his, as it had been earlier.



My God, he thought, what if he never comes back?



---



The End