From: Starbuck70 <Starbuck70@aol.com> Title: Ticklish? Author: Starbuck Category: MSR Rating: PG Summary: A seemingly inocent tickling battle leads to something more... Distribution: Anywhere, as long as everything's attatched. Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully belong to the Big guy himself Chris Carter and all his 1013 people. Ha! Like I could make any money of this story anyway! Ticklish? "Gin." She said, wiping a stray hair from her eyes, and laying her cards on the table. "Damnit, don't you ever loose?" Fox Mulder hadn't won a single game that night. Scully smiled, and collected the cards to deal again. Mulder watched her slender fingers move along the cards with ease, as she shuffled, and began passing them out. Her hands were small and moved gracefully. He picked up his seven cards to look at them. Three queens, two sixes, and two fours. She flicked over the top card. A queen of hearts. It was looking good. Mulder was determined to beat her this time, and quickly grabbed the queen, replacing it with one of the fours. He looked over at her. She was chewing on her lip, and concentrating. I love it when she does that, Mulder thought. Partner- like thoughts, he reminded himself .<Yeah right, you can try buddy.> They were sitting on the floor of Scully's apartment on either side of her coffee table. Both of them were shoeless, and dressed in casual clothes for once. It was Mulder's idea to play cards after they had finished the case report. He hadn't felt like going home, and Scully had invited him to stay and hang out. He gladly accepted. The floor around them was littered with reports, and case files that Mulder had brought over to work on, most of which were halfway done, then tossed aside. The radio behind them was playing some sort of rock song, that droned on with an insignificant melody. Scully watched as he picked up the card that she had set down. His brow was creased in deep thought, and his lips were pouted. She watched at his eyes as he contemplated his cards, and found her partner very amusing to look at. Her elbows were up on the table, her loose flannel shirt rolled up her arms. Both of them were wearing blue jeans, and Mulder had thrown on an off- white long sleeved T-shirt before coming over. She rested her chin in her palm, and continued to stare at him. Mulder was aware of her staring, and whether she knew or not, he had no clue. All he knew was that he liked the fact that she was staring at him. He continued to maneuver the cards, and things were looking to his advantage. Scully decided that she would let him win this round. He was very cute when he was concentrating, so she thought she would give him a break. She looked back at her cards, and placed one that she knew he wanted. Mulder grabbed the card from the pile, and dropped another in it's place. He laid his cards down on the table, grinning wildly. "Gin." He said. Scully clapped for him. He hopped up from his seat on the floor, and began doing some sort of victory dance to the music that was playing. Scully couldn't help herself, and started laughing hysterically, at her so often serious partner dancing in front of her. She flung her head back, and rested it on the edge of the blue and white striped couch, still laughing. He reached down and pulled her up to dance with him. She raised a questioning eyebrow, surprised at the feeling of his hands against hers. "Mulder, what are you doing?" She asked. "I'm dancing. Come on Scully, lighten up." She watched him with an amused look on her face. "What, can't you dance?" She frowned at him, and decided to use the situation to her advantage. "It depends on who I'm dancing with." She said teasingly, holding back a smile that threatened to creep up on her lips. She crossed her arms over her chest. "What, don't you want to dance with me?" He asked putting on his cutest puppy dog look. She couldn't resist. "Aww. How cute." She said "Okay, I guess I can dance with you." He smiled triumphantly, grabbed her hands, and pulled her into his dance. His hand brushed by her stomach, tickling her, and making her squirm. He noticed, and an idea came into his head. "Hmm...why Agent Scully, are you ticklish?" He said with devilish smirk. Her eyes went wide. What is he up to, she thought. "Um...no?" She lied, her rational brain warning her not to push it. A thought went through her mind, and she scolded herself for thinking it. "Oh. Okay, so it wouldn't bother you if I did this." He said, reaching out his long fingers to tickle her sides. Scully stifled a laugh, and jerked away from him. He came at her again, this time headed for her stomach. She giggled, and stepped away, slipping on a manila folder and falling onto the sofa. Thoughts were buzzing through her head a million miles an hour, questioning, and enjoying at the same time the motives to his unbearable tickling. He tackled her on the sofa, his merciless fingers dancing all over her. She was flushed, and giggling uncontrollably. She wriggled hopelessly beneath him, pinned down by his strong arms. She saw an opportunity, and kicked him in the stomach. "Ouch! That hurt." He said, rubbing where she hit him. "I'm sorry." She said, reaching out to touch the spot she had just kicked. He pulled away as her fingers touched his stomach. <Hmm. I think you could use that against him.> "Gee, Mulder you didn't tell me that you were ticklish too." She said, an evil grin working it's way over her face. <Uh oh.> He thought with joyous anticipation. "Well, you never asked." She took this opportunity to leap forward and take her revenge. Her fingers were small but deadly. The cute graceful hands that he had admired before, were now torturing him endlessly, and causing him to writhe under her small weight. But he was bigger than her, and he used that to his advantage, pushing her off of him, and going after her again. "Hey, no fair. You're bigger." They were both laughing and wriggling under each other's fingers, Mulder on top of Scully. She screamed as he found a particularly sensitive spot, and kicked her feet beneath him. He was enjoying this tremendously, even if he was being tickled by Scully's tiny and skillful fingers. Her eyes wandered from her hands to his face. He was still smiling, and she thought, not for the first time, how lovely it would be to kiss those lips. Her fingers slowed, and moved up to his chest. His gaze moved to her face, and met her eyes. He could have sworn he saw something different there now, but forced the thought away. Don't start with those wishful delusions, he warned. Scully thought she saw something else in his eyes as well, but refused to believe it. <Always the skeptic, right Dana?> He's just a friend, nothing more. <Right. Whatever.> Her fingers stopped tickling, and dropped to her sides, as Mulder's did as well. He moved down slowly. He knew it was very wrong. Very, very wrong. <So why are you doing this?> He asked himself. Because I love her, he thought, and because an opportunity has presented itself. <Excuse me?> You heard it the first time. His mental argument ceased, and he leaned forward, running a hand through her bright red locks. The light floral scent of her hair mixed with perfume drifted slowly upward with a soft persistence. Scully's breath quickened, as a thousand electrical impulses rushed through her veins. He was no longer smiling, just looking at her. His hand brushed by her face. That was too much she thought and shivered, unable to control the nervous fluttering in her stomach. The little voice in the back of her head set off a warning bell, telling her to pull away. She ignored it, and studied the curves of his face, aware that he was doing the same to her. He moved down closer to her slowly, and brushed his lips against hers. The shock she felt was nothing like she had ever imagined. His lips were very soft, and moved with ease across hers. It was like nothing she had ever known. It was amazing. His arms slid around her back, one hand moving up into her hair and pushing her deeper into the kiss. What am I doing? she asked herself. <Kissing the man you're in love with.> Oh. she thought. She snaked her delicate fingers behind his neck, and ran them through his soft brown hair, moaning quietly. He finally pulled away, leaving Scully in a daze, looking up at him. He was struck with a sudden guilt, and sat up slowly on the couch. What had he done? He was sure that she would be upset if not downright pissed off at him. He shouldn't have kissed her like that. It was a stupid move that probably ruined their relationship. He had loved her for a long time, but had never done anything as impulsive as this. He mentally chastised himself, and turned his face from her. "Scully, I'm sorry." He said, barely audible and started to get up off the sofa. He was stopped by her hand. "Sorry for what?" She looked at him, afraid that the kiss had meant nothing to him. Afraid that she had just opened herself up to someone who did not care for her the way she did for him. He saw the terrified look on her face. "I thought you didn't like it." He said quietly. "I'll go if you want me to." Scully was sitting up. She smiled with relief, and put her head on his shoulder. "I liked it a lot." She thought for a second than added, "And if you don't mind, I'd like to do it again." She played with the loose folds of her shirt nervously. "Really?" He asked shocked. She nodded. Mulder was confused, but did not argue. He leaned forward, and kissed her passionately, holding nothing back this time. The kiss was intoxicating, and both of them fell into each other lovingly, their arms encircling one another. He massaged her back lightly, and she melted into his arms. They both pulled away at the same time, and looked at each other. The love in their eyes was enough to make them both smile. Mulder knew that he had nothing to worry about when it came to rejection. Scully scooted over to him and sighed in relief. Ten minutes ago, she had been sure that he was no more than her partner. Her friend. But now, she wasn't so sure. She didn't worry. Things would work themselves out. They always did. She wondered for a brief second what would have happened if she had not been ticklish. She pushed the thought away, and settled back next to him, a smile still across her face. x_~x_~x_~END~x_~x_~x