October 3, 1983
4:00 PM EST

As the cast of Family Ties were all preparing to go home after another day of work, Meredith Baxter-Birney had a huge smile on her face. She was none-too-pleased with the fact that a certain Michael J Fox had managed to upstage her. Well, today, she would make him pay for daring to upstage her. She would make him pay with his laughter, that is. Meredith had silently crept up behind him.

"Wha-, what?" Mike asked, as he turned around.

Meredith placed a halothane-soaked washcloth in front of Mike's face, causing him to pass out. Meredith gently lifted up Mike's unconscious body, and she was amazed by how light he felt. She carried Mike into the relaxing room, while she gently laid him on the bed. Meredith then began to mummy wrap Mike from his ankles up to his neck, so that Mike was completely immobile, and he could only move his head.

Meredith slowly removed the shoes and socks from Mike's feet. Next, she grabbed some string, as she began to tie Mike's big toes together. Then she waited patiently for Mike to come to.

"What the heck?" mumbled Mike, as he tried to move. "Where am I? Why can't I move?"

Meredith decided to make her move, as she reached into her make-up kit for two small brushes and began to run them up and down the soles of Mike's feet. Mike immediately burst out into helpless laughter, as he tried to squirm away.

"Oh, Mike, listen to you laugh," Meredith taunted. "Oh, my, you have such lovely ticklish feet. I am really enjoying this."

Mike just gave into helpless laughter, as the tickling sensation was so unbearable. He was laughing so hard, he couldn't even plead with Meredith to stop.

"So you thought you could upstage me, huh?" Meredith asked, smirking. "Well, I am now making you pay for it. Your laughter is such music to my ears. Let's focus on those arches for awhile, shall we?"

Meredith spent the next couple on minutes indulging in tickling Mike's arches, as Mike laughed all the harder. Meredith smiled to herself, with pleasure.

"Oh, Mike, are you enjoying yourself?" Meredith asked. "I think you are, with the way you keep laughing your pretty little head off. You know, Mike, the more you laugh - the more I enjoy tickling those soles of yours."

Mike felt like he wanted to faint. He kept trying to will himself to not be ticklish, but it wasn't working. He felt completely helpless.

"Aw, you poor thing," Meredith taunted. "I bet this must be so unbearable for you. I bet you're really suffering beyond belief, huh? You desperately want me to stop, don't you? Well, unfortunately for you, I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. You know, I could tickle those soles of yours all night long."

Mike decided that trying to will himself to not be ticklish was useless. He decided the best thing he could do was surrender himself to the extreme tickling sensation.

"Feel like such a big shot, now?" taunted Meredith. "So you thought you could get away with upstaging me, huh? Everything comes with a price, you know. Well, now you are going to pay up!'

Mike continued to laugh helplessly, as his extremely ticklish soles were completely at Meredith's mercy. All things considered, though, he had to admit that he didn't completely hate having his soles tickled. The resulting laughter did release endorphins into his system, after all - which gave him a little burst of euphoria.

"So what are you going to do about it, huh?" Meredith asked, smirking. "There is nothing you can do about it, except laugh and laugh. That is your punishment, for having the audacity to upstage me."

Mike felt himself going insane from the ticklish torment. It was obvious that Meredith had some kind of grudge against him.

"I really do enjoy tickling those soles of yours," Meredith said, grinning wickedly, "You have such gorgeous feet, you know. The fact that they're so ticklish is definitely an added bonus."

Meredith felt great pleasure in tormenting those soles of Mike's. To her amazement, she also realized that her resentment towards Mike was starting to melt away. Perhaps it was the sound of his laughter that did the trick. Mike was known for having a very captivating laughter - and his tickling induced laughter was certainly no exception.

After about two hours, Meredith finally decided that it was time to give Mike a rest. Mike was panting quite heavily on the bed.

"So, Mike, how was it?" Meredith asked, as her lips curved into a smile.

"Oh, my, it was such unbearable torment," Mike mumbled. "I swear, you really are a sadistic tickler. You know, though, I never meant to hurt you. If you have a problem with my status on the show, you should just talk to Gary Goldberg about it. It's not like I bribed him about my status or anything. It was a decision he made on his own, so you should talk to him."

"Look, Mike, I'm sorry," Meredith said, softly. "I guess I was being a bit petty and self-centred. You really are a great person, and I really can't stay being resentful of you. I really do want us to be friends."

"So you're not going to tickle me some more?" asked Mike.

"Not unless you want me to," Meredith said, smiling.

"Uh, no, thank you," replied Mike. "I'm still worn out from being tickled so much. How long was it, anyway? It seemed to me like an eternity. I thought you would never stop!"

"Naa, it was only two hours," Meredith explained.

"Two hours?" gasped Mike. "That is a very long time, you know."

"Yeah, I'm sorry," replied Meredith. "I guess I just got a little carried away."

Then Meredith began to unwrap Mike, as she let him free. Meredith then helped Mike sit up. Mike then reached out to embrace Meredith. Meredith hugged Mike back. Her resentment towards Mike had completely dissipated, as she felt a newfound fondness towards her co-star.