Hollie Marie Combs was walking to her dressing room when she heard loud voices coming from the lounge area.

"They are not" Hollie thought that was Alyssa.

"They are too!" That voice sounded like Shannen she thought.

"What are they arguing about now?"  Marie thought to herself.  "Those two have been going at it for weeks now!"

Hollie stormed into the room and found the two girls staring at Shannen's foot, which was propped up on a kitchen counter.

"What the heck is going on in here?  Can't you two be alone for a few seconds without fighting?"

Alyssa answered first.  "Relax Marie.  We were just talking about Shannen's feet.  She thinks those long "ET" toes make her feet ugly"

"They do!" Shannen interjected.  "I wish I had perfect toes like yours!"

"Wait a minute.  You guys are arguing over who has cuter feet?" Marie started laughing out loud.

"It's not that funny," Alyssa said.

Marie had tears in her eyes "Yes it is!  You two finally ran out of real thing to argue about so you had to argue about your feet!"  She double over laughing while her two co-stars looked at each other disappointingly.  When she finally regained some control Marie said "I'll leave you two to important discussion…but remember there's only two hours until taping so you'd better 'step' on it!" She laughed at her own bad pun and walked out on the pair.  They could her laugh all the way to her dressing room until the door shut.

"I guess it WAS a sort of silly thing to argue about." Said Shannen.  "Maybe we do argue too much."

"Maybe." Alyssa responded. "But there's one thing there is no argument about."

"What's that?"

"They may or may not be ugly, but your feet are definitely ticklish!"  And with that she grabbed her friend's ankle that was still perched on the counter and scratched up and down her soles until Shannen squealed and pulled away.

"Nooo!  Ha ha!  You WILL pay for that!" Shannen said as Alyssa ran from the room to the safety of her dressing area with Shannen chasing after her.

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Marie was still chuckling to herself thinking about her cast mates when she thought she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in" She said but got no response.  She went over to open the door and found it locked.  Then she heard the hissing.  Marie looked down and could see a clear tube slid under the door.  Panicking she tired to kick the tube back under the door but it was held fast.  Looking around the room she grabbed some clothing to stuff under the door and maybe block whatever was coming from the tube.  She got down on all fours and started shoving shirts and pant in the crack of the door when she found herself smiling.  Marie cleared her throat and wiped the smile off her face only to feel like she had to laugh.  A first it was just giggle or two as she tried to compose herself, then it became a laugh and then she was roaring and too weak to even kneel on the floor.  As the waves of laughter over took her Marie's mind raced to try and figure out what was going on…

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Alyssa made it to her room and got the door locked before Shannen good seek retribution for her earlier tickle attack.

"HA HA" Alyssa yelled through the door.

"Just you wait!" Shannen yelled back.  "I'll get you yet!"  Then Shannen stormed off to her room.

"Whew!" Alyssa thought to herself.  "As mad as she was I don't think I wanted tickled by her right now!"  Alyssa's mind wandered to a few weeks before.  They were taping a scene in which she was suspended from the ceiling to give the illusion of floating.  Shannen made it a point to tell the crewmember fixing the harness that Alyssa had very ticklish ribs and sides.  So the entire time she was getting in her outfit the guy had her giggling like a little girl.  Then while she was suspended Shannen had used the opportunity to tickle the back of her knees while standing underneath her.  As ticklish as she was Alyssa held on pretty good but didn't look forward to Shannen getting at her again.

Alyssa smiled as she remembered the tickling and then found herself giggling.  Then she heard a strange noise from her heating vent.  It sounded like gas escaping.  She went over for a closer look and soon couldn't quit laughing.  Falling back on her couch Alyssa doubled over in laughter all the while having no idea what was going on….

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Shannen stormed back to her dressing room.  She liked tickling someone as much as the next person did, maybe more, but she HATED being tickled.  All that laughing sapped her of her usual strength and strong will and turned her into a babbling little girl.

She slammed the door behind her and collapsed on the sofa closing her eyes for just a minute.  She jolted up, however, when she thought she heard her door open and shut quickly.  She walked over and opened the door.  She didn't see anything unusual and closed the door, locking it from the inside.

Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw someone standing in the shadows of her closet.  She spun around in time to see a cloaked figure but a handkerchief over her mouth and nose.  Shannen tried to scream, but a few whiffs of the cloth and she began to feel weak and then fell peacefully to sleep.

When she woke up Marie and Alyssa were standing over her.

"What's going on?" Shannen said groggily.

"We were going to ask you the same question." Marie replied.

"But I think we got the answer now, don't we Marie?" Alyssa added.
"What are you talking about?"  Shannen tried to sit up but couldn't.  She was in the suspension harness that had been used on Alyssa in the taping and it held her arms to her side and her legs perfectly straight.  "What the heck is this all about!" She demanded.

"That little practical joke of your wasn't funny little miss" Marie said.  "You had both of us scared out of our wits!"

"What joke?  I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Alyssa chimed in "Yeah right!  We both get locked in our rooms, then suddenly start laughing like maniacs and when we come to check on you we find a tank of laughing gas in your closet!  Must be a coincidence, huh?"   Alyssa walked to end of the couch and sat down by Shannen's feet.

"Look" Shannen tried to reason with her friends. "I just got chloroformed or something by some guy and…"

"Save it" Marie interrupted.  "We thought since you like playing jokes maybe you'd like to laugh a little.  So we put you in the harness good and tight. "

"Come on girls, please let me go!  I didn't do anything!  I swear!"  Shannen pleaded.

"Don't worry" Marie said.  "You'll get a real 'gas' out of this!"  She chuckled at another one of her bad puns and slipped the gas mask on Shannen and turned on the tank.

"Yea"-said Alyssa, "we think it will really tickle you!"  She started running a single finger up and down each of Shannens stockinged feet.

Shannen lost it immediately!  She tried to beg for mercy but no words would come al that came out of her lips was laughter.  Once she was good a giddy Marie joined in on the tickling buy digging in on Shannen's ribs and sides.

Shannen was completely out of control and after 10 minutes had her hair matted to her head with sweat and her face had turned bright red with laughter.

"She's had enough" Marie told Alyssa.

"Oh! But she's got such ticklish feet!" Alyssa whined.

"No, come on.  She's learned her lesson.  Besides we have to let her clean up before taping."

So the pair undid the harness and left Shannen still a giggling wreck on the couch.  As she tried to get the strength up to go to the bathroom she saw a dark figure walk into her room.  He picked up the now empty tank of laughing gas a quietly left.  Shannen wanted to follow or scream but she was too worn out.  She managed to get ready for the taping and told her friends about the cloaked figure, which was met with disbelief.

Just as the taping began a door slammed leaving the set.  "Cut!" yelled the director. "Who the hell is making that racket?!"

He didn't see the dark figure leaving the set with wide smile on his face.  The figure stopped outside the door and paused briefly before heading outside.  He pulled a small piece of paper from his pocket and made three small check marks.  Then glancing at the next name on the list he smiled and walked of into the night…
 

…To be continued…