THE CARROT AND THE STICK (NC-17)

Title: "The Carrot and the Stick" (1/1)
Author: Plausible Deniability
Address: pdeniability@hotmail.com
Category:  SRA - MSR
Rating: *NC-17* (sexual situations, mature language)
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program "The X
Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and
Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission.  No copyright
infringement is intended.

Summary: A sexual encounter with Scully results in additional angst for
Mulder.

THANKS to Nick Pedicini and Hindy Bradley.  Both unknowingly provided
inspiration, though neither is to blame for any deficiencies of this work.

----------

Licence my roving hands, and let them goe
Behind, before, above, between, below.
O my America, my new found lande...
               --  John Donne, "To His Mistris Going to Bed"

********

It is the fourth night we have spent together in this motel.  Well, not
exactly *together* -- she has her room, of course, and I have mine.  But
tonight is the fourth night that we have been working on this case, and the
take-out dinner we have just consumed has been our fourth such meal since
arriving in this backwater town.

Four days, and the case that brought us here is going nowhere.  The multiple
disappearances we're investigating have led to multiple dead ends.  I am
beginning to doubt that there is even an X-file in this case.  The fact that I
almost got the crap kicked out of me today just adds insult to injury.

"Cheer up, Mulder," Scully says, gathering the remnants of our Chinese food
dinner into the brown bag I carried it here in.  "At least you outran him."

She is referring, of course, to the three-hundred-pound suspect who almost
kicked the aforesaid crap out of the aforesaid me.  And that is another
problem with this case:  for some reason, Scully seems to find the current
run of bad luck I've been having a source of some amusement.  At least, I
think she's amused.  For the past few days, I keep catching her looking at me
with this strange expression on her face, as if she's just about to break
into a smile, but thinks better of it at the last second.

I've been sitting cross-legged in front of the little coffee table that has
doubled as our Chinese buffet, but at this I get up and stretch.  "I only
outran him because I had a head start," I say morosely.  "I think I'm getting
old."

"You look robust enough to me."

There it is again -- that look.  What the hell is so funny?

"I'll be right back," she says, lifting the sodden brown bag.  "I'm taking
this out to the dumpster."

I pick up the remote control and start flipping through the channels.  "Why?
Housekeeping will get it in the morning."

She wrinkles her nose.	"Mulder, your room will smell like fried pork and
shrimp if you leave this in here overnight."

I turn around and stare at her.  "I always leave the leftovers overnight."

"And your room always smells like fried pork and shrimp."

She backs out the door, and I shake my head.  She has never bothered about the
Chinese food smell before.  I go back to surfing through the television
channels.

"There's nothing on," I announce when she returns a moment later.  "Just some
Candid Camera re-make, an old Laverne and Shirley, and some crap about a male
genie.	At least Barbara Eden had breasts."  I click off the TV.  "You want
to go see a movie?"

She folds her arms over her chest.  "You mean you actually pay to see movies
that don't come in plain brown wrappers?"

"Scully, those films are very educational."

To my surprise, this lame joke wins a genuine laugh.  She walks over and
stands directly in front of me.  "No, I don't want to go see a movie,
Mulder."

She is looking at me again with that same half-smile.  "Then what do you want
to do?	I've already read all the police reports three times, and I'm up to
date on the expense log.  I have the case file from those other
disappearances over there if you want to go through it, but I really don't
think there's any connection."

"Mulder," she says softly, "you're so tense."

And then, to my astonishment, her hands go to my belt buckle.  I tell myself
that the electric shock which runs through me will be completely unwarranted,
that her hands are just resting lightly there for a moment, but no -- after
only the briefest of hesitations she goes to work, tugging at my belt,
unfastening it.

I should make some token protest, I think in confusion, but somehow I can't
form the words.  My erection is so sudden and so complete I suspect there is
no blood left in my brain anyway.  Surely Scully must notice it.  I stand
mutely while she finishes with my belt and progresses to my zipper.

What is happening here?  It's clear she's working toward some goal, and yet
even at this point I can't help thinking I'm about to get my face slapped. 
She grips the waistband of my boxers, drawing them down just far enough for
my erection to spring loose.  I am too dumbstruck even to feel any sense of
embarrassment.

She drops down on her knees and, before I can utter a sound, takes me in her
mouth.	I have to close my eyes to bear the rush of sensation.	Her 
mouth is
hot, and if I look down I can see the top of her head moving purposefully
before me.  Is this really happening, I wonder, or have I finally gone around
the bend into insanity?

Oh, Scully, I repeat silently to myself like a mantra, afraid to break the
spell with real speech.  Scully, Scully, Scully...

I wonder if it is the medical degree that accounts for the skillfulness of
her ministrations.  She lingers to pay special attention to the ridge where
the head of my cock meets the shaft.  The pleasure is so keen I can hardly
stand it.  I feel my legs trembling -- more than my legs, really; my whole
body -- and hope that Scully doesn't notice.  Somehow my shaky knees manage
to hold me up despite the way her lips and her tongue slide expertly up and
down the length of my erection.

"Unh," I moan, the sound forced from me by the exquisite work that Scully's
hungry mouth is doing.

But eventually, even in the grip of this unbelievable sensation, I experience
a flutter of panic.  It has been so long since anything even remotely this
pleasurable has happened to me that I am not even clear on the etiquette of
the thing -- am I supposed to come in her mouth or not?  If she -- God! -- if
she goes on like this much longer, I'm not going to have any choice in the
matter.

Reluctant as I am to interrupt what Scully is doing, some corner of my fogged
brain tells me that I owe her a warning.  "Scully--" I pant raggedly, "I'm --
very close --"

With a suddenness that actually makes me gasp, she pulls away.  My penis bobs
free, livid and insistent.  The touch of the cool air on my wet skin makes me
shiver.

Now what?  I am standing there with my pants around my ankles, still wearing
a shirt and tie no less, sporting an almost painfully throbbing erection.  Am
I supposed to finish the job myself?  Dare I hope that she will do the
honors?  I close my eyes and breathe a silent prayer that it will be the
latter.  As undeniably familiar as I am with the technique, I don't think I
can really bring myself to jack off in front of Scully.

But then I feel her press herself against me -- all five-feet-nothing of
warm, vital woman.  I open my eyes and look down at her.  She lifts her lips
to my ear and whispers, "I want you inside me."

I can hear myself gulp.  Oh, Lord.  Oh, dear sweet Lord.  Oh, dear sweet Lord
in heaven....

Luckily, my body seems to know what to do without the aid of my badly
misfiring brain.  I put my arms around her, and ease her gently over to the
double bed. Before joining her on it, I kick off my shoes and my pants.  The
rest of my clothes, damn them, will have to wait.

Scully is lying on the bed, watching me with all the generous forebearance
that a beautiful, desirable woman can show for a pantsless, clumsy man whose
gigantic erection is tenting his shirttails.  I stifle a nervous laugh as I
settle on the mattress beside her.  Oh, God, I can't help thinking, please
don't let me screw this up.  She is so beautiful, so wonderfully, impossibly
beautiful, and this is my one chance.  Just let me get this one thing
right...

My erection pushes rudely at her hip.  I reach out a hand -- it is not, I am
relieved to find, actually shaking -- and undo the buttons of her blouse.  The
silky fabric falls open.   Scully, bless her for the smart woman that she is,
unfastens her bra herself, sparing me that one awkwardness.  I gulp again, and
then simply stare.

Oh, God.  Oh, dear God in heaven...

Scully's breasts are perfect.  I mean, I have no complaint with the vast
majority of breasts in the world, but Scully's are....well, perfect.  Her
breasts are round and firm and her skin is that flawless white you find only
on redheads.  Her nipples are a beautiful coral-pink, and it must be colder
than I realize in this hotel room, because right now they are hardened into
little peaks.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

I drag my gaze from her chest to her frankly curious eyes.  "Huh?" I reply
stupidly.

"Is something wrong?" she asks.  "You groaned."

"I groaned?" I say, even more stupidly.

Wisely, she lets the matter drop.

But though my brain has clearly been jettisoned from this flight, my body is
operating happily on autopilot.  With my right hand, I trace the contour of
Scully's left breast.  She turns slightly into my caress, and I sweep my thumb
over her nipple.  When she does not protest, I dip my head down and take the
coral tip into my mouth.

Jeez, she even tastes good.  I suck experimentally on her nipple, and hope
that the way her fingers suddenly clench in my hair means that she likes it. 
I move to the other breast, my tongue swirling in a circle around her
aureola.

Her waist is tiny, and her hips are seductive curves.  A line from Donne runs
unbidden through my head:  "O my America, my new-found lande."  Every part of
Scully is a wonderful discovery, an expanse begging to be surveyed.  My cock
feels like it is about to burst.

Yet there are still important frontiers to explore.  I push my hand down past
her flat stomach, past the waistband of her panties, past the thick, springy
curls below.  My fingers slide lower, gently parting soft flesh, and
encounter--

Paradise.

Scully is wet -- so hot and slick and inviting that my heart does a sort of
back-flip in my chest.  My God -- she *wants* this.  This is not some pathetic
charity-fuck after all.  She wants *me*.  I can hardly get my mind around the
notion.

I slip a finger inside her, and am gratified to hear a whimper.  Gratified?
Hell, I'm god-damned near beside myself.  A second finger joins the first
one, sliding easily into her warm depths.  Her hips lift slightly, and I
stroke her slickened clitoris with my thumb.  Another whimper.	My erection,
still prodding against her hip, twitches.

With my fingers still deep inside her, unthinkingly I bend my head down and
kiss her on the mouth.	It is only when, eyeball to eyeball, I see her gaze
widen in astonishment that I realize it is the first time I have ever
initiated such a kiss.	Oh, well, I think, what the hell.  In for a penny...

When we finally come up for air, she is the first to speak.  "Mulder," she
says a little breathlessly, "I ought to take off my clothes."

A moment later, and her clothes have joined my pants on the floor.  I am
still in the ludicrous position of wearing my shirt and tie, but my hands are
far too busy elsewhere to remedy that.	I have discovered a rhythm that
Scully seems to like.  My fingers work in and out, while my thumb massages
her clitoris in circles.  She opens her thighs a little wider.

Once I find a good thing, I know enough to stick with it.  She moans in
apparent encouragement.  She is panting, and I am panting right along with
her.  She is so wet that it's impossible not to hear what my hand is doing. 
God, but she is beautiful.  A fine sheen of perspiration gives her skin an
otherworldly glow.

My hand works steadily, in a subtly increasing pace.  My lips move to her
breast.  When I tongue her nipple, her fingers twine again in my hair, closing
convulsively.  Another wordless message to add to my growing list of Scully-
signals...

But when I move to tease the other breast, her hands go to my shoulders, and
she pushes me away.  "Mulder," she says, "I want you inside me."

"But I thought you li --"

"Mulder," she hisses, "*now*."

It is a tone that my cock obviously recognizes, because it leaps to even
greater attention.  What Scully wants, Scully gets, I think foolishly, my
pulse racing into overdrive.  I remove my fingers from her and climb between
her thighs, heart hammering.  I don't even need help finding the way,
although Scully's hands reach out to guide my eager cock nonetheless.  I push
inside her, the blood pounding in my head, and begin to move.

Begin -- and then all hell breaks loose.

I can't have thrust more than three times before Scully bites her lip and
arches up against me.  She doesn't scream or cry out, but her body goes rigid
-- all but the tight walls that are gripping my cock, which clench
spasmodically.	I don't even have time to register that she is coming, and
the sensation proves too much.	Another quick thrust, and I am done for.  I
give up the ghost and surge into her, my balls contracting as five long years
of tension gush out of me in a series of thick spurts.

My orgasm is so powerful -- Scully's warm depths are so sweet and the release
is so overwhelming -- that it is a blessed minute or two before the reality
of my situation sinks in.  Slowly, though, the dizziness recedes, leaving
just one inescapable thought:  fifteen seconds.  My first and only chance to
show her what I can do, and I cannot have been inside her for more than
fifteen seconds. I let my sweat-dampened brow drop onto the pillow below, and
I squeeze my eyes shut.  My ignominy is complete:  Fox Mulder, Fifteen Second
Man.

God damn it.  I *knew* I would screw this up.

"Mulder," Scully mumbles wearily against my shoulder, "could you get off of
me?"

I am too humiliated to make any sort of apology, or even an excuse.  I roll
off her and lie on my back, staring blankly up at the ceiling.	Five long
years of unrequited lust, and the best showing I can manage is a measily
fifteen seconds.

Beside me, Scully sighs deeply and moves closer, curling against my side.  I
am not sure what to say, and so I say nothing.	She, too, is quiet.

Then a terrible thought seizes me:  Jesus, what if she didn't even come?  I
mean, I *think* she came -- it *felt* like she came -- but how do I really
know? I was admittedly pretty distracted at the time.  And it's not like she
screamed and raked her nails down my back.  What if I've just left her
seriously unsatisfied?

She sighs again.  I wonder what it means.  Is it a contented sigh, or a
frustrated one?  Is she thinking I'm a complete jerk, or just marvelling at my
lack of stamina?

I try to play back the encounter in my head, but apparently unburdening one's
self of five years of lust is a taxing undertaking, and I am more tired than I
realize.  My thoughts grow sluggish, and then disjointed.  Before I know it, I
am drifting off to sleep.

My last conscious thought is that I still haven't taken off my god-damned
shirt and tie.

*******

I wake up to darkness and a pounding headache.	My hand goes in some
puzzlement to my throat, and the necktie surrounding it.  Damned tie has
probably been cutting off my circulation, I think as I tug the offending
thing loose.  Then I freeze as I recall Scully laying beside me, and quickly
check to see if I have disturbed her.

But she is gone.  I switch on the bedside lamp.  There is nothing but a little
heap of blankets where she used to be.

I am almost tempted to think -- to hope -- that I imagined the whole thing. 
But I am undeniably naked from the waist down, and there is a damp spot on
the sheets beside me, and despite the doubts which nag at me I can still feel
a pleasant lassitude weighing me down.	I may not have sex very often, but
when I do, at least I can recognize it.

I get up and go into the bathroom to take a shower that is just a degree or
two shy of scalding.  When I first step under the spray, I can smell the tang
of sex clinging to my skin.  Soon, however, the steamy water washes even this
last accusation away.  Unfortunately it also compounds my headache.  By the
time I shut off the spray, I am wincing with every movement.

But worse than the headache is the knowledge that I still don't know what I am
supposed to say to Scully when I see her.   Just how badly have I disgraced
myself?  Am I guilty of only a minor shortcoming -- I flinch at the
unintentional pun -- or have I finally sunk myself beneath reproach?

If there is anything more humiliating than not being able to satisfy a woman
in bed, I decide, it is lacking the know-how to tell whether you have
satisfied her or not.

******

I have shaved and dressed, and am putting on my shoes when I hear a knock.  I
answer the door to find Scully standing in the hallway.  From her dark blue
suit to her high heels, she is her usual smoothly professional self.  She is
holding two styrofoam coffee cups and a small white bakery bag.

"Mulder," she says, brushing past me and setting the coffee down on the little
table by the window, "don't you *ever* take off that tie?"

I fervently hope that somewhere along the way in my thirty-six years, I have
lost the ability to look as stupid as I feel.  All of the suave, smart-ass
things I have just finished rehearsing in the bathroom mirror go flying out
of my head.  "I'm sorry about last night, Scully," I finally manage, trailing
after her.  "I must have fallen asleep."

She shrugs.  "You were tired."

Yes, I want to shout, I *was* tired; I was tired and it had been a very long
time; give me another chance to show I can do better.  But instead I meekly
accept the bran muffin that she passes to me.

She sips her coffee.  I try to read her expression, but all I can see is
business as usual.  What is she thinking?  Is she angry at me, disappointed,
contemptuous?

Well...?  Did she come last night, or didn't she?

I clear my throat, and try to give myself an opening.  "It was -- good,
Scully, last night.  Thank you."

"Mulder, it was supposed to be for me just as much as it was for you."

I can't tell if this is a rebuke, or just an assurance that no thank-yous are
required.  Somehow "supposed to be" has an accusatory ring.  And, of course, I
notice the absence of a reciprocatory compliment.  Not a good sign.

I'm like a toothache sufferer who cannot resist prodding a sore tooth; I have
to keep angling.  "Then it was -- um, about the way you expected?"

There, I think with relief.  That was sufficiently non-committal.

But Scully seems less than enthralled with the whole subject.  "Mulder," she
says in her most discouraging tone, "we have work to do."

"Oh...Sure, okay."

Shit.  It is even worse than I'd feared.  I'm already getting the "I like
you, but I think we should be just be partners" kiss-off.  I feel like I've
just been kicked in the gut.

It's possible my disappointment shows, because Scully adds, "No offense,
Mulder, but that's my priority right now -- our job."

Yes indeed, the old kiss-off...

"I would have thought it would be your priority, too," Scully continues.
"You've always been better than anyone else I know at keeping your personal
life from interfering with your professional duties."

I nod obediently.  Apparently it is supposed to soften the blow to my ego
that I am a good agent even if I am a lousy lay.

"Good."  She nods in return.  "I knew you would understand."

Of course.  How could I not understand?  I suck in bed.  There will be no
second chance.	What is so difficult about that to understand?	Jesus Christ,
I'm not a fucking moron...

But I catch myself before my bitterness gets out of hand.  It is not Scully's
fault, after all, that last night was a disappointment for her.  She is only
being honest.  And even in my resentment, I have to admit that she has handled
this little contretemps with surgical care.  We are still partners.  We can
still work together.  It will simply be as if last night never happened.

Except that I know it *did* happen.  And now I know just what she thought of
it.

I pick up my suit jacket from where it is hanging on the back of a chair and
put it on.  "Okay," I say in the most normal voice I can manage.  "Then let's
get going."

I try not to let my shoulders slump as I turn toward the door.

"Hey, wait -- don't you even want the coffee I brought you?" she asks behind
me.

I have a feeling it is only going to taste like ashes, but since she expects
me to be a good loser, I turn back.  "Sure."

She passes it to me, and as I take it from her hand she remarks, "You could
probably do with some after we get back tonight, too, Mulder.  I don't want
you passing out on me quite so abruptly next time."

I freeze.  Next time--?

I must be reading too much into her remark.  Didn't she just finish telling me
I'm supposed to keep my personal life separate?  Unless she just meant...

I decide to test the possibility.  "You serious about the coffee?"

"Mulder, you were like a dead thing."  She smiles.  "Which in this one
instance I am prepared to take as a compliment, since I was too wiped out
myself for pillow talk anyway.	But be warned, Mulder:	in the future I 
would
like at least some sign that you're still with the living, no matter how good
the sex was."

"Oh," I say witlessly.  Suddenly things are looking promising again.  Pretty
damned promising.  Apparently I am not quite the incompetent that I thought I
was.  Apparently I am allowed both a professional life *and* a personal one --
and Scully plans to be a part of each.

Jesus, maybe I'd better stop watching those videos.  Maybe they're not as
educational as I thought.

I down my coffee in a single gulp.  "After you, G-Woman," I proclaim, opening
the door and holding it for her.

"I'm driving," she says decisively as she sails past me.  And then in a lower
voice she adds, "Oh -- and I'm not sleeping on the wet spot any more, either."

I smile.  Look out world, the FBI is on the job.

I can hardly wait until tonight.

***********

END

Title: "The Clock Watcher" (1/2)
Author: Plausible Deniability
Address: pdeniability@hotmail.com
Category:  SRA - MSR
Rating: *NC-17* (sexual situations, mature language)
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the television program "The X
Files" are the creations and property of Chris Carter, Fox Broadcasting, and
Ten-Thirteen Productions, and have been used without permission.  No copyright
infringement is intended.

Summary: After a less-than-confidence-building sexual encounter with Scully,
Mulder determines to do better.

Although this story is a sequel to "The Carrot and the Stick," it can stand on
its own for those who have not read the first story.

THANKS to my Beta reading volunteers, especially Hindy and Laurie.  And
special thanks to Nick Pedicini.  I've stolen from him shamelessly.

----------

So, lovers dream a rich and long delight,
But get a winter-seeming summer's night.
          -- John Donne, "Love's Alchemy"

*****

  Scully isn't looking, so I sneak another glance at my watch.	It is 6:08.
Exactly two minutes have passed since the last time I checked, and exactly
five minutes since the time before that.  This is turning out to be the
longest day of my working life.  But then, I suppose any day would seem
endless, sandwiched between last night and the promise of the night which
lies ahead.

  Okay, so maybe I got a little out of control last night; maybe I didn't
exactly come across as Casanova my first time in bed with Scully.  In fact,
maybe I shouldn't even use the words 'come' and 'in bed with Scully' together
in the same sentence, for fear of resurrecting a performance I would just as
soon forget.  It wasn't my finest hour.  Let's face it -- it wasn't even my
finest fifteen seconds.

  But I can do better.	I *know* I can do better.  Tonight I am determined to
redeem myself.

  It's amazing how totally this determination to get it right has consumed my
thoughts.  I went for more than five years without so much as making it to
first base with Scully, and was still able to function more or less normally.
 But now, just one night after the only sex I've had in ages, all I can think
about is getting Scully back in bed and showing her what I can do.  Give my
libido an inch, and it takes a mile.

  Which is unfortunate, given that the sole condition Scully imposed since
beginning all this -- and by the way, God, if you're really up there, I've
been meaning to thank you -- is that we not let our personal relationship
interfere with our working one.  Well, that, and that I don't lapse into
another post- coital coma...I've had seven cups of coffee so far today.

  But at any rate, this entire day has turned into one long, miserable
struggle not to let my preoccupation show.  The case we're investigating
isn't particularly absorbing in the first place; what I had hoped would turn
out to be a pattern of succubus-related disappearances is looking more and
more like a string of ordinary domestic abandonments.  Rubbing shoulders with
Scully through three interviews, a foot pursuit, a search of bank records,
and the accompanying car rides has been the ultimate test of my ability to
maintain a poker face. 'No, I'm not happy to see you, Scully, that's just a
gun in my pocket.'

  I feel her slip up behind me.  "What have you got there?" she asks, craning
her neck to look over my shoulder.

  We have been working our way through the evidence room of the local police
station, examining the flotsam and jetsam associated with each of the
disappearances.

  "Uh...this?"	I lift the plastic bag I am holding higher for her
inspection.  "It looks to me like there's a green haze on the right lens of
these glasses.	See it, Scully?  Ghostly manifestations are often
characterized by the appearance of ectoplasm."

     She peers at the bag for a second, then frowns.  "Mulder, that's
toothpaste."

     I open the bag and sniff.  She's right.  It's minty fresh.

     "Too bad," she says, noting my crestfallen expression.  "After all those
hours of poring over bank records, I was almost pulling for ectoplasm myself."

  I look down, and realize her hand is resting on my arm.  That's all -- just
her hand, and just my arm.  There is no reason at all for me to break into a
sudden sweat.

     Damn it, I think, iced coffee had better have the same effect as a cold
shower...

*****

  The first thing I do when I finally get to the bathroom in my hotel room --
and keep in mind, I am a man who has been chugging coffee all day -- is
unknot my tie.	I am that resolved not to repeat last night's fiasco, in
which I passed my first night in bed with Scully ludicrously clad in an
Oxford shirt and a striped tie.  Yes, while millions of men around the world
enjoy casual sex, I do it in office attire.

  At least tonight I am not going to be caught -- if you will pardon the
phrase -- with my pants down.  This time I can brush my teeth and shave.  And
how long has it been since I shaved in expectation of getting laid, anyway? 
The thought leaves me jittery with anticipation.

  Though I have to admit that there is a certain amount of apprehension mixed
in with the anticipation.  Or, to be completely honest, a great deal of
apprehension.  I mean, Scully initiated this.  She must expect *something*. 
And I have never been very good at guessing exactly what Scully wants.

  Or maybe I do know what she wants; maybe that's what's worrying me.  I
don't suppose she would have gone right for my zipper last night if she'd
only been craving a little quiet conversation, would she?  If I'm not just
some sexual charity case -- and I may be fooling myself, but I really got the
feeling last night that there was a little more going on than that -- then
she must assuredly have an itch she is counting on me to scratch.

  Jesus, suddenly I'm having an acute attack of nerves.  I feel like Doris
Day in one of those old virgin movies.	Come to think of it though, Doris
probably didn't need to worry too much about excessive expectations from Rock
Hudson, did she?  So I suppose I must be in even worse straits.  Or maybe it
is just the coffee talking.  Maybe eight cups can do that to a person.

  The problem is, I don't exactly have an outstanding track record with
women.	My one high school experience was so brief and so hormone-charged
that I was never really able to look the poor girl in the face again.  The
sociology major I pursued for most of my freshman year at Oxford dumped me
the weekend after we first slept together.  Then there was Phoebe Green, who
was not shy about telling me all the ways in which I failed to measure up. 
And Diana Fowley...

     Okay, I'm scaring myself.

  What I need is a plan.  I need to decide, here in the bright unblinking
light of this hotel bathroom, what I am going to do, and then I need to stick
to it.	No guesswork; no stupid testosterone-laden impulses.  I need to
determine a course of action and then follow through.

  All right, then:  twenty minutes.  I will just make sure that, this time, I
devote at least twenty minutes to good old-fashioned fucking.  That sounds
about right, doesn't it?  Not too ambitious, but not too hasty either.	If I
pace myself -- think of baseball and multiplication tables and maybe even the
Three Stooges -- I ought to be able to last that long.	At least, I think I
should. Twenty minutes is not exactly Guinness Book of World Records
material, right?

     Good.  I feel a little better now that I have a definite number in mind.

     I take a deep breath.  Twenty minutes.  I can do this.

*****
end part 1/2

The Clock Watcher 2/2
Summary and disclaimer in part 1.

*****

     "Oh, yeah," I groan into Scully's mouth.

     So much for iron control.  She has merely unzipped my pants to stroke me
through the cotton of my boxers, and already I am moaning like a dying man.

     My cock strains against her palm.  She returns the pressure -- returns it
so well, in fact, that I interrupt my fumbling attempts at unbuttoning her
blouse to pull her hand away.

     She looks questioningly at me.  "Let me get out of my clothes first, will
you, Scully?" I say with a shakey laugh, to cover up my discomposure.  "You're
not paying me by the hour."

  I step back and shuck off my pants and my boxers, feeling slightly silly as
I do so.  I am even tempted to fold them, just to slow things down a little,
but I quickly reject the idea as too desperately dweeby to escape Scully's
notice. Instead I just toss my balled-up clothing toward the foot of the bed.
 As I turn back to her, stark naked, I am acutely conscious that I am
sporting an erection the size of Philadelphia.

  Maybe she likes what she sees, or maybe the air conditioning is just on too
high; with her bra unclasped, I can see that her nipples are hard.  I move to
her, and slip my hand into her partially-unbuttoned blouse.  I cup her
breast. She rests her head on my shoulder and in an unaccustomed burst of
savoir-faire, I actually manage to finish unfastening her buttons with my
left hand.

     I lean down and take her nipple in my mouth, sucking gently.  Just as she
did last night, she curls her fingers in my hair.  I circle the taut peak with
my tongue.  She moans.

     Dear God, but she is sexy.  Suddenly, sickeningly, twenty minutes seems
like an impossibly long time.

  I sink down onto my knees, trailing kisses as I go:  on her ribs, her
waist, the soft flesh of her abdomen.  I unzip her skirt and let it fall to
the floor.  When I start to peel her hose and panties away she comes to my
aid, wriggling out of them herself.

  I sit back on my heels and watch her.  Oh, Scully, Scully, Scully...!  How
will I ever do you justice?

     I move closer, breathing in the scent of her, cataloguing it for solitary
enjoyment at some future date.  "You smell good," I whisper, and press my
forehead against the soft flesh of her belly.

     She starts, then breaks into a throaty chuckle.  "Mulder, your nose is
cold."

  Great.  The next think you know, she will be complaining that I'm humping
her leg.  But, undaunted, I bury my face in the auburn curls before me,
adding my mouth to the investigation.  I push my tongue deliberately over her
clitoris, sliding it slowly forward and back.  Her desire tastes of salt and
honey.

     Her hands move from my hair to my shoulders.  "If we don't lie down soon,
Mulder," she says, "I think I'm going to fall down."

  My heart is hammering as I join her on the bed.  But then, a man's pulse is
supposed to race when he gets into bed with a beautiful woman, isn't it? 
It's only natural.  The adrenaline is supposed to be pumping.  And that knot
in my throat, and that funny taste in my mouth, and that high keen buzzing in
my head, that's probably natural too...

     Oh, God.  Oh, help me, Jesus.  I am scared out of my wits.

     But even so I realize vaguely that I should pick up where we left off.  I
kiss my way down her side, over her flank, and settle in with my head between
her thighs.  I discover once again that I don't have a suave bone in my body:
the entire bottom half of my naked body ends up hanging over the foot of the
bed, so that I find myself kneeling on my underwear.

  But perhaps I am doing something right, I hope as my mouth covers her sex.
Certainly Scully's hands clutch with abandonment at my hair.  Certainly my
fingers slip easily inside her, joining my tongue in happy exploration.  And
if the warm sweet wetness seeping out onto my hand is any proof of her
desire, then certainly Scully isn't especially demanding.

     And yet demand she does -- I am just beginning to hit my stride, orally
speaking, when I feel her hands on either side of my head, gently coaxing me
higher.  "Mulder," she says simply, "get up here."

  And so I move atop her.  We kiss deeply.  Propped up on my elbows, I nuzzle
her neck, and kiss the place where her pulse beats in her throat.  She sighs
and, heart thudding, I push slowly inside her, advancing inch by inch into
indescribable heat and wetness.

  Oh, my God -- hard to believe that in a mere twenty-four hours I have lost
the memory of just how unbearably pleasurable this is.	No wonder the human
race has not yet died out, when repopulation has so ingeniously hitched its
wagon to this sensation.

  I start to move, and slip my hand down between us to gently tease her clit.
It is not the easiest position in the world to maintain, propped up on just
one elbow, but I'm damned if I'm going to neglect anything that might
possibly help my cause.  And besides, the heavens could rain hot coals on me
right now, and I doubt that I would even notice.

  I gaze down at Scully's flushed face.  Her head is tilted back, her eyes
half closed, her lips parted.  She is purring like a kitten under me.  I am
suddenly gripped by the terrible certainty that I am again going to humiliate
myself, and this time without the excuse of long abstinence on my side.  I
will never last for twenty minutes.

     "Mmmm....that's nice..." she murmurs.

     Nice?  Nice is what you say when your aunt gives you socks for your
birthday.  This is so good it's torture.  She is so tight and so sweetly hot
that every stroke in and out sends a thrill racing through me, an adrenaline
rush from my cock straight to the nerve center of my brain.  My instinct is to
speed things up, to abandon slow and languorous, to grit my teeth and go at it
hammer and tongs --

     No...!  I can't do that.  Jesus, I've still got eighteen minutes to go.

     Fine, then:  twelve times twelve is one hundred and forty-four; twelve
times eleven is one hundred and thirty two; twelve times ten is one hundred
twenty; twelve times nine is -- is -- Oh, fuck, Scully, don't *do* that...!
It's not fair when I'd forgotten that a woman's body even worked that way.

  Really, I think, it must be a heady thing to be female -- to inhabit a form
that can turn men's brains to mush, to have the power of "yes" and "no"
wholly at your command, to lead an existence in which there is no such thing
as coming too soon...

     She tilts her hips up a little more, and before I know it strong instinct
is beginning to vanquish weak will, and I am starting to move a bit more
vigorously.  Okay, then, I think grimly.  Ten minutes.  Even if I go a little
faster, surely I can last that long.  Ten minutes is still respectable.

     "Mmmm, yeah..." she groans.

     Her nipples graze my chest.  I lean down and kiss her.  Her mouth opens
hungrily.  I can hear the wet sounds her body makes as I slide in and out.

     Oh, God!  This is too good.  I am never going to last for ten whole
minutes.  I clench my free hand into a fist and fight off the urge to thrust
mindlessly toward release.

  Could she be anywhere close?	In a porn movie, the woman is always obliging
enough to scream "I'm coming!  I'M COMING!" at the critical moment.  Then
again, in a porn movie, the woman also always seems to love it when the man
pulls out and comes all over her torso.  Shamefully easy as it would be for
me to oblige, something tells me this would not be Scully's cup of tea.

  My right hand is tiring, and so I move it from her clit to her breast,
cupping the soft flesh in my palm.  I run my thumb lightly in circles around
her nipple.  She moans and arches up slightly, pressing herself into my hand.
 My cock gives a little leap of approval.

  Jesus, where are the damned multiplication tables when I need them?  I
can't think of anything right now except what I am doing to Scully and what
she is doing to me.

  "You feel -- good --" I pant, the words hardly adequate to the firestorm of
pleasure that is searing my body.

     "You too," she breathes.  "Harder, Mulder."

     My eyes roll back in my head.  Harder?  Fine, then, I think; forget ten
minutes.  I'll be lucky to last five.  But at least they will be the most
satisfying five minutes of my life.

  And so I square my weight on both elbows and put my back into it, slamming
our bodies together, giving it to her so hard that the mattress squeaks in
protest.  She rocks her hips up to meet each thrust.  The breath is bumping
out of me in grunts.

  Oh, Jesus!  Come on, I tell myself, just a little longer.  A little longer
--!  Though I know a little longer is all I am going to be able to manage.

  And suddenly something tells me that she is almost there -- a tenseness in
her muscles, and a look of such straining concentration on her flushed face
that I am afraid to breathe.  My mental urging changes:  Come on, Scully, I
beg, silently pleading in time to my thrusts.  Come on, come on, come on.  I
feel a trickle of sweat inch down my temple.

     Her eyes fly open.  "Ohhh --!" she cries in a voice of breathless wonder.
"Oh -- Mulder!  Don't stop!"

  Stop?  Is she kidding?  I could not stop if the world suddenly crashed to a
screeching halt, if the sky fell, if the sun exploded.	With a grimace I bow
my head and pound into her.  I am sprinting now, gasping, my marathon reduced
to a wild dash to the finish.

  And then she draws her breath in sharply and throws back her head, and her
fingers dig into my back.  And, God, it actually hurts, she is gripping my
shoulders so tightly, but maybe that is just nature's way of containing the
fever that has overtaken me, because my head is pounding and my cock is
swelling and my body is quaking like a leaf in a hurricane.  For one brief
moment I seem to be suspended in time and space.  Then she moans and I feel
the force of her climax, her sex gripping mine in waves, and with a roaring
in my ears I explode, my orgasm mingling with hers, my desperation and my
ardor pulsing into her in hot jets.

     ...ahhhhhhh....

     Swimming.  My head is swimming.

     Oh, Scully, I think dazedly.  What a rookie I am compared to you, what an
amateur, what a pathetic schoolboy...

  I lift my face slowly from her silken hair.  Beneath me she sighs
luxuriously, and extends her hands over her head in a languid stretch.	A
little half-smile plays about her lips, a fascinating blend of dreaminess and
sybaritic satisfaction.  She opens her eyes and looks up at me, catching me
staring at her.  Her half-smile widens to a grin.

     And then, to my horror, I begin to cry.

     It comes without warning.  One minute I am simply looking at her, and the
next her face blurs as hot tears burn my eyes.  I try to dash them away but
before I know it my shoulders are shaking and I am wracked with noisy, gulping
sobs.  In one inexplicable swing I have gone from tingling satiety to weeping
confusion.

     And Scully does not even seem surprised.  She puts her arms around me and
holds me against her.  "Shhhh," she croons to me.  "Shhh, Mulder, it's okay."

     I nod dumbly, unable to answer.  I don't even know why I am crying.  I am
just so damned wrung out, and Scully feels so good, and I wanted to make it
last, really I did, and damn it but this has been an endless day.

     "It's okay," she tells me again, rubbing my back as if I am some fretful
child.

     "No."  I shake my head miserably back and forth.  What is wrong with me?
This wasn't what was supposed to happen at all.  I had a *plan*.

     "Shhh, of course it is.  Shhhh."

     "Oh, Scully --" I cry brokenly into her neck.  "Scully, I can't help it."

     "I know.  I know, Mulder."

     "It's just too much," I sob, not even knowing myself exactly what it is
that I mean.  "I don't think I can stand it."

     She smoothes the damp hair back from my forehead.  "I know, Mulder, and
it's okay."  She is whispering softly into my ear, her voice infinitely
understanding.

  "It's just --"  I can't finish the sentence; what is it I am trying to say?
"It's just --"

  "Shhh, I know.  It has a funny way of hitting people sometimes, doesn't it,
Mulder?"  She kisses my temple.  "Happiness, I mean..."

     The breath shudders out of me.  Happiness?  Is that what this shattering
feeling is?

     She strokes my hair.  "It's okay, Mulder," she repeats, as I shake
helplessly in her arms.  "It was good for me, too."

******

     "Scully?" I whisper into the darkness.  "Scully?  Are you awake?"

     There is a stirring beside me, and then a tousled head lifts slowly to
check the digital clock beside the bed.  It is three A.M.

     "Scully?" I whisper again.

     "Yes, Mulder," she mumbles.  "I'm awake."

     "That's good," I say, and roll up onto one elbow.  "Because I would hate
for you to sleep through the great sex we're about to have."

  I half expect to be treated to the famous disgruntled partner evil eye, but
instead she gives a heartening snort of laughter.

  "Yep, Scully" -- my right hand moves casually to her breast -- "that coffee
was a goooooood idea...."

     This time, even I recognize heaven when it hits me.

----

END