Title: Sensitivity Training
Author: Irene, I_dareya@yahoo.com
Rating: (?) R
Classification: S
Summary: Tickle torture.  Mulder gets his.




Skinner gave a single knock on the door and walked into the conference room.

"Mulder!" he yelled sharply.

Mulder and Scully were on the floor in some juvenile brawl.  Not surprisingly, 
she was completely overpowered.  With one hand Mulder held her two wrists pinned 
to the floor over her head.  With the other he was tickling her relentlessly, 
under the arms, down her sides, and on her soft neck.  Her desperate laughter 
and the noise from their scuffling was loud enough to have drawn the AD's 
attention from the other end of the hallway.  Now Mulder was pulling up Scully's 
silk blouse to get to her sensitive stomach.

"Mulder!"  Skinner's voice was even louder.  Mulder released his partner and got 
to his feet.  His face was flushed and he couldn't get rid of his silly grin.  
Scully's face was red with fury.  He'd pounced on her without warning, and she'd 
been unable to free herself from his insistent torture.  Skinner wondered if she 
was going to shoot Mulder again.  Mulder was oblivious to her rage.

"Sir, she got the time wrong for that stupid Sensitivity Training Class we have 
to go to.  We were a whole hour early so we, uh, decided to practice some close 
combat defensive moves," Mulder said, expecting Scully to back up his ridiculous 
story.

"You creep!" Scully screamed at Mulder.  "How do you think that felt?"

"Scully, you were laughing and smiling the whole time.  Obviously you loved it," 
Mulder answered.

"That's enough," Skinner said.  He pushed Mulder back against the conference 
table, then pushed him down until he was on top of it.  In a few quick moves, 
Mulder was as helpless as his partner had been, with his arms outstretched and 
his hands pinned.

"Agent Scully," Skinner said, "Agent Mulder is woefully ignorant about the human 
response to tickling.  I would like you to expand his horizons."

"Yes, sir," she said.

"Hey, no fair," Mulder protested.  It was one thing for him and Scully to fool 
around together privately, but  quite another for the boss to get involved.  He 
did not believe this would go very far.  Skinner was just trying to make a 
point.

Scully started by removing his holster and tie and opening his shirt.  

"Might as well take that off too," Skinner said.  While keeping control of 
Mulder's upper body, Skinner sat him up enough to let Scully get the shirt off 
one arm and then the other.

"I hope you remembered the whipped cream," Mulder said flippantly. Then Scully 
went to work.

She started with the area over the lower ribs, trilling her fingers over him.  
He jerked spastically, trying to get away.  He was managing to stifle any 
laughter.

"Agent Scully, a good plan is to move from side to side.  Inevitably he will 
move to protect the area you are attacking and that will make him more 
vulnerable on the opposite side," Skinner advised.

She nodded and placed her hands on his unprotected underarms.  As she tickled 
under his right arm, he squirmed desperately to the right, succeeding only in 
making his left side more open.  Now the howls of laughter poured from him.  
Scully serenely continued tickling him, alternating sides as it suited her.

"It's nice to see him enjoying himself," said Scully.

"Slow it down just a little," Skinner said.  "We're going to be at this a long 
time."  Mulder was flailing and kicking.  "Mulder, you're going to hurt someone.  
Agent Scully, I'm afraid you're going to have to stop long enough to get his 
shoes off."

"Sir, he's not ready for a break yet," Scully said, at which Mulder managed to 
utter an anguished roar in the midst of his gales of laughter.  Scully's 
tickling was so methodical that Mulder knew it would continue for a long as she 
saw fit.

Finally Scully stopped.  "You can think about what you did while we get you tied 
down better," she told Mulder.  She used her handcuffs and his to fasten his 
wrists to the table legs.

"Please, Scully, no more," Mulder begged.

"But you love it," Scully answered.  "It's obvious."

"We can use his tie to secure one ankle, and his belt might work for the other 
one," Skinner said.  Mulder was less than cooperative and Skinner felt quite 
triumphant when he succeeded at last.  He held Mulder's shoes and socks aloft in 
a victory salute.

"Sir," Mulder began penitently, "I'm sorry for what I did and I understand that 
it was wrong and I will NEVER do it again."

Skinner ignored him.  "I'm just going to check how much range this gives him," 
he told Scully.  His wagging fingers prodded Mulder in the ribs, the belly, and 
under the chin, and Mulder's squirming showed just how little he could move.

"That's so cute!" Scully exclaimed.  "Tickle him under the chin again." 
Obligingly, Skinner demonstrated a few more times and then moved down to 
Mulder's bare feet.

"Please don't," Mulder said, his voice cracking.

Scully was down by his feet, too, studying them.  "I'm going to try the arches," 
she said.  "The skin is softer there."  She experimented a bit, and it turned 
out that her fingertips worked well in this area. Without even looking at what 
she was doing, she could stimulate the soles of Mulder's feet enough to keep him 
in a continuous wail of laughter.

"Let me have a turn," Skinner said after a while.  "I want to try something 
different."  Scully stopped and took out a tissue to wipe Mulder's sweaty, 
tear-stained face. Enraged and humiliated, he turned his head away but got his 
face wiped nonetheless.

Mercifully, Skinner's attempts on his toes were only annoying.

Scully addressed Mulder.

"Fox, look at me," she said.  He turned away.  "Well, I know how to get your 
attention," she told him, and again he felt her hands flutter against him.  The 
tickling remained leisurely and methodical, but this time she was tickling him 
on both sides at once.  Her hands traveled up and down until she found his most 
vulnerable spots.  At last her right hand settled on his left flank, where the 
ribcage ends, and her left hand took over the area of his flat belly to the 
right of his navel. She had located the two places where his body was the most 
ticklish, and her little hands had taken up residence.

His laughter was continuous and hysterical. Finally he turned his head to her 
and let her make eye contact.  In return she reduced her efforts, letting him 
catch his breath.

Unfortunately for Mulder, Skinner had just stumbled onto a secret Mulder didn't 
even know he had.  His knees.  Even through his wool trousers it took only a 
touch, a squeeze, a stroke, to drive him to fresh paroxysms of frenzy.  Skinner 
was amazed he could produce such mayhem with so little effort, and he went on 
and on.

At last Scully stopped completely.  "Sir, he's had enough.  We have to give him 
time to get ready for the class."

Skinner took his hands off Mulder's knees.  "I'll get him some water," he said.

"How could you?" Mulder asked his partner when the were alone.

"Mulder, how was that different than what you did to me?"

"I didn't get the boss in to help."

"You didn't need to.  And you sure didn't stop when he came in the room,"  she 
replied.  She was unlocking the handcuffs.

Mulder's shoulder's ached as he sat up. In fact every muscle was sore.

"I want to hear you say how that made you feel," Scully said as she untied his 
feet.

Mulder's face told her how he felt, but she wanted to hear the words.

"I felt angry, frightened, humiliated, and helpless," he said.  "Is that how I 
made you feel?"  She nodded.  "Then I'm sorry," he continued.  "But Scully, you 
went too far.  I would have stopped in a few minutes."

"Mulder, that was a few minutes," she said.  "Check your watch."

Mulder had his shoes and belt back on when Skinner brought the water. The tie 
was trashed.  Mulder watched Skinner warily as he drank.

"Why don't you skip the class, Agent Mulder," Skinner said.  "I think you've had 
enough Sensitivity Training for one day."

end