From: eponine119 Date: Fri, 24 Nov 1995 13:34:29 -0800 Subject: NEW: Dares 4: Convolutions (1/1) Disclaimer: These people belong to Chris Carter, 10-13, and 20th Century Fox, not me. I can't help it if they were so wonderful I was compelled to borrow them. Hi everyone, yes it's more Dares. I'm glad you've all enjoyed them so far. This one is short and fast paced. Whether it's funny, well, you'll have to tell me that. It looks like there will be one more after this, but I haven't written it yet so don't look for it today. If you need copies of Dares 1,2 or 3, email me and I'll be happy to send them to you or they are all available in the wonderful, fabulous archive at http://gossamer.eng.ohio-state.edu/x-files. Here goes nothing... Previously: Mulder and Scully played truth or dare and Scully embarrassed Mulder by spreading rumors about him and autoerotic asphyxiation. He paid her back by removing her clothes and handcuffing her in the FBI elevator. Then Skinner joined in the fun by locking them in their office for a few hours, hoping to end the game. Looks like he was wrong... Dares 4: Convolutions by eponine119 eponine@uci.edu "We have to get him back, Scully." Mulder said. "He's our boss." Scully reminded him. She'd hoped he'd forget all this over the weekend and things could get back to normal. "We can't let him get the last laugh. He humiliated us both," Mulder reminded her. He was not going to let this go. She faced him. "Mulder, we'll lose our jobs." "Not necessarily." She stood firm. "No. I won't do it." She crossed her arms and waited, thinking how much she already needed another cup of coffee. "Come on," Mulder pleaded. "You don't even have to be involved. I just need you to distract him." Silence. "Stand guard, that's all. Scully?" She was still ignoring him. "I dare you." That did it. She threw the file down on her desk with some violence. "All right." she agreed, "But this has to be the end of it." "Of course." Mulder promised with an angelic smile she didn't trust for one minute. Scully stood guard over Skinner's office while Mulder did his deeds at lunchtime. She checked her watch again and shifted nervously. Mulder should have been done and out of there three minutes ago. This made their chance ofbeing caught - "Agent Scully, why are you standing outside my office?" Skinner called from up the hallway. Scully jumped guiltily. "I was waiting to speak to you, sir." she said, approaching him. She had to get him away from there so Mulder could get out. Otherwise they were dead. "Yes Agent Scully I'm waiting." "Well, sir, it's about -" she seized the first thing that came into her head. "It's about Allison's blatant disregard of the dress code." Skinner's eyebrows rose in amusement. "May I remind you, Agent Scully, that just last week you were running around here in your underwear?" "That was not my fault, sir." "It still puts you in no position to criticize other agents' mode of dress. Was there anything else?" "No." Oh he made her so angry! "Good. I hope that you and Agent Mulder have learned your lessons." he said smugly and turned away. Scully hoped Mulder had escaped. She also hoped he'd gotten him good. Maybe a little revenge wasn't such a bad thing after all, she thought. Assistant Director Skinner was still pretty pleased with himself regarding Agents Scully and Mulder. Of course he had been hoping for a slightly longer lasting effect, but it was still good to show them who was boss. He smiled to see a new report from Agent Mulder waiting for him on his desk, a small stack of crisp white pages, on time. A first for the agent. Skinner felt very self-satisfied. He noticed the pages were unbound, so he reached for a paperclip. He had a hard time pulling one out of the small cube with its magnetized lip. He wrestled with it and finally withdrew a paperclip. Followed by another, and another and another. Soon he was holding a three foot string with no end in sight. Skinner could feel his blood pressure rise and threw the chain down on his desk. He reached for the stapler and positioned it over the corner of the report. He smacked it down and was instantly splattered with a thick gooey susbstance remarkably like snot. It oozed from the stapler across the page. Who would think to put rubber cement in his stapler? Skinner could think of only one man. He rose to summon his secretary. "Get me a paper towel," he demanded, his fingers sticky with the glue. He heard his secretary giggle as he turned to reenter his office. He didn't know he'd been sitting in gum. "That's all?" Scully cried in outrage. "That's all you did? I thought you were going to make him pay!" "You were the one who pointed out we could lose our jobs." Mulder struggled to defend himself. "But that was barely worth the time, let alone the effort. I expected better from you, Mulder." she said. "Oh yeah?" he challenged. He was pretty irritated by her attitude. She hadn't wanted to do this at all - and now she was saying he wasn't good enough. "I'll bet you can't do better." "What do you bet?" she asked unexpectedly, her eyes blazing. He'd expected her to back down. "I'm sure I'll think of something when you fail," he said and allowed his eyes to deliberately slide over her body, feeling a hot wave of desire crash over him. "I'll think of something better when I win," she said. "Do we have a wager?" She stuck out her hand. "We do." he shook it, his fingers lingering over hers. "You'll have to do guard duty tomorrow morning." "What are you going to do?" "I haven't thought of it yet." Maybe this would keep her mnd off Mulder's kisses in the dark last Friday night. "All ready?" Scully asked the next morning outside of Skinner's office. "All ready. What's in the bag?" "You'll see," Scully said mysteriously and went inside. "Agent Mulder, why are you standing outside A.D. Skinner's office?" a feminine voice asked. Mulder froze. Allison. The last person he wanted to run into. "I'm waiting to speak to him." She nodded, waiting. Why didn't she leave? Mulder thought. Now was not the time to renew their friendship. "It's obvious your partner doesn't think much of you," Allison said conversationally. "Oh?" asked Mulder, relaxing now, intrigued. "What makes you say that?" "Well, I'm not one to spread gossip -" Allison lowered her eyes demurely. Mulder wasn't buying this act and waited out her pause. He knew better. She raised her eyes again quickly. "But rumor has it you kiss like an adolescent." Mulder's eyes widened and his fists clenched with rage. "Scully...said that...about me?" he demanded. Allison merely smiled and innocent smile. "I can't imagine how the two of you work together. I'll be very interested in seeing your personality profiles, especially after the recent...activity." "Personality profiles?" "Yes, I've been assigned to evaluate all the agents, didn't you know?" asked Allison. "Here are the forms." She handed him two questionairres. "Be sure Agent Scully gets hers. Bye now." She sauntered off, thinking how pleased Skinner would be when she reported to him. Scully emerged from Skinner's office. "What's that?" "Oh, nothing." Mulder replied, stuffing both pages into his pocket. Adolescent indeed! he thought, steamed, he'd show her. "Let's go," Scully said. "What'd you do?" "You'll see." She grinned. She'd won the wager for sure. Neither of them saw Allison double back and let herself into Skinner's office to wait for him. "What're you working on?" Scully asked. Mulder had been scribbling furiously and chuckling to himself all morning. "Paperwork," he lied, adding the finishing touch to his version of Scully's personality profile. She didn't believe him. He'd never enjoyed paperwork that much before. A moment later he rose and left to use the mens' room. She was on his desk in seconds, quickly locating his recent work shoved haphazardly under a file. Her mouth dropped open as she saw what it was - "A Personality Profile" it proclaimed itself in a perky font that made her think of Allison. And Mulder had filled it out using her name. She grew enraged as she read. "I like country music? I'm addicted to caffeine and chocolate? Affinity for spike heels? Proclivity for mens' fashion? Unusual attraction to male authority figures!" she cried, rage eclipseing the hurt she felt. She rummaged until she found the blank form with Mulder's name on it. She slipped it into her pocket as she heard his footsteps. She didn't have time to destroy "her" questionaire, but she'd get him back for this. "I wish you'd tell me what you did." Mulder murmured to Scully on their way to lunch. "You'll see." she promised. "Lunch should be quite a show." The elevator doors slid open and they entered the cafeteria, taking a table near the door that faced the room. As usual, no other agents joined them. "Skinner looks fine to me," Mulder whispered again as Allison careened past them out the door for the second time. "Where does she keep going?" he asked, staring after her. Scully shrugged, frowning, her eyes on Skinner. "I don't understand," she said, "It should be working by now." "What did you do?" Mulder asked. She smiled a wicked smile. "I had a little fun with chemistry." Allison brushed past their table again, looking a little green but both agents were watching Skinner. "She doesn't look too good," Mulder commented as Allison returned to her chair next to Skinner. "Something she ate," Scully diagnosed off hand. They had both scrupulously avoided the mystery meat special, but perhaps Allison had not. But Scully's eyes widened in horror as Allison began squirming in her chair. "Oh no," she said. "What is it?" Mulder asked, alarmed at her tone. "I don't know how...Allison must have gone to Skinner's office before he got there." Scully's face turned pale. "What did you do?" Mulder asked again, his tone dire. She faced him, slightly embarrassed. "Nothing too bad...a stomach irritant, some itching powder in the chair..." Mulder let a small laugh escape and Scully couldn't help joining him. Soon many of the agents who had been watching the display were stifling infectious laughter as well. Allison's eyes flew to Mulder, tehn shifted to Scully. "We're in trouble now," Mulder said, recognizing the look of a dangerous woman. "Let's go." They quickly fled the cafeteria. They strove to keep a low proifle in their office that afternoon, hiding out as Mulder read a novel and Scully slaved over Mulder's personality profile. When she saw Mulder finish the novel and look through his papers, she knew there could only be one thing he was looking for and she had it. She excused herself and raced upstairs to get it into Skinner's in-box. A few minutes later Mulder likewise went upstairs to turn in his version. They passed eachother in the hall without speaking. Skinner liked to go through his in-box at the end of every day, to organize himself for the next day. All part of being an efficient leader, he thought. He was glad nothing out of the ordinary had happened to him today, though he was still avoiding his stapler. He chuckled as he found the two personality profiles among his papers./ That was why, he thought. Obviously Allison had completed her mission before she became so ill. Mulder and Scully's vengeful instincts were once again fully focussed on one another. He set the pages aside, saving the amusing read for the morning, and left for the day. "Who won the bet?" asked Scully. Mulder looked at her. "I'd say I did." "I'll admit, lunch was pretty amusing," Mulder said, "But since your revenge wasn't on Skinner, you didn't top me and I won." "It's not my fault it never reached Skinner." Scully argued. "Yours was just plain lame." "Are you saying I lose?" "Yes." "Well I say you lose." Mulder informed her. "Are you saying we both lose?" Scully asked, enjoying their sparring. Mulder nodded. "What do you suggest? Rematch?" He didn't answer, but she could see that he was thinking. And his smirk didn't ease her mind. "I think I won, Scully." Mulder said, "Because Allison's doing personality testing and I filled out your questionaire for you." She surprised him by smiling. "I know. I saw it. So I filled out yours." He gaped at her. "I just want to know why you said those awful things about me." "Because you said I kiss like an adolescent," Mulder replied. "I -? Mulder, why would I say that? I like how you kiss." Scully admitted. "You do?" Mulder asked, surprised. "Would I have asked you to kiss me so many times if I didn't?" Scully asked and Mulder couldn't fault her logic. A thought clicked into place. "Wait, Mulder, we're missing the point." "Which is?" Mulder asked smoothly, hoping she'd ask him to kiss her again. It had been a long three days... "We've been set up. We've got to get those questionaires back." Mulder reflected on his conversation with Allison. "You're right." They ran to the elevator. "They're not here," Scully declared, giving up. They'd been through Skinner's papers twice. "He's seen them." "We'll have to-" "Mulder, don't." Scully interrupted, knowing what he was going to say. "We can't keep playing these games. Someone will end up getting hurt. I don't know why it's gone on this long." she sighed. "I do." Mulder said and she looked up at him. "We're venting our sexual frustration on petty revenge schemes." He smiled sheepishly. "I am a psychologist." She smiled slowly and he could feel his heart start to beat faster. "What do you suggest, Dr. Mulder?" she asked in a low voice. "Surely you know the dangers of repressing the sexual urge, Dr. Scully?" he asked back in a low voice of his own. They looked at each other, each of them very still, resisting the urge to embrace. "Then maybe we should give up on revenge," Scully said, feeling out of breath. "And do what instead?" How he hoped to hear her say the words. "Maybe it's time for us to explore..." She broke off, unable to find a proper euphemism. They were all so goofy. "Each other?" Mulder filled in for her, still not moving, devouring her with his eyes. Scully could only nod, her throat dry. Their staring continued. "Not here," she whispered. "My place?" "Eight o'clock," Scully replied rapid-fire. Mulder raised an eyebrow - why so long? She licked her lips nervously. "I want this to be special." she said softly and Mulder let out an audible breath. It prompted a warm ache inside Scully and she longed to kiss him, but she knew if she did, they'd never make it out of Skinner's office. "Eight o'clock," Mulder agreed. He could harldy wait. Neither could she. Allison smiled as she walked down the dim hall to the little-used door. Mulder and Scully thought they were so clever, she thought edgily, all their pranks had used her, embarrassed her. She knocked softly on the door and then pushed it open. We'll see who has the last laugh, she thought. The room was dim and filled with smoke. "I have something that will be of interest to you." she said. The man was silent, but lit a fresh cigarette to show that he was interested. She smiled a twisted smile as she put the pages before him. The man waved his hand to dismiss her. This had to be good for a promotion, she thought, letting herself out. She walked quickly down the hall and so didn't hear the helpless gales of laughter as the man began to read the personality profiles. End. Hopefully that hit the spot. Not so much Sexual Tension in this part, but you still have Dares 5 too look forward to. Probably next weekend. Until then, happy reading...email me. eponine119 eponine@uci.edu