Just a Kiss by DKG

ONWARDS:

Eve tried to concentrate. She knew what the Amazon elders were saying was important and probably profound. She knew she owed it to them to pay attention to it, considering the amount of harm she'd caused this tribe. She knew that it was very disrespectful to be allowing her mind to wander, but she just couldn't keep her mind or her eyes off her surprising champion.

Gabrielle shifted a little uncomfortably, Eve noticed. The bruises from the young woman's bout with Queen Varia were stark against her golden skin, and Eve swallowed the guilt she felt at the reason of those bruises. She looked away for a moment, only to find her eyes once more going to Gabrielle.

Eve's blue eyes traced over Gabrielle's body, taking note of the firm muscularity, and the brief leather outfit that clung to curves that were a weapon all on their own.

She mentally shook herself. Her mother would kill her if she could read Eve's thoughts.

But damn, Gabrielle was worth thinking about.

Eve wasn't sure when it had all started. Five months of travelling with this woman, and Eve hadn't been able to keep her eyes to herself. But she hadn't really thought much more about the young woman travelling with Xena. Sure, she wrote interesting stories, and she could take care of herself in a fight, but Eve had only really noticed the aesthetics. Gabrielle was damn nice to look at.

But now, she knew how wrong she was. Here was someone she'd barely said three words to, who'd stood up to the entirety of her tribe, her family really, and firmly supported Eve, the woman who'd killed over a hundred of the Amazons sisters. Who had done it for no reason that Eve had been able to understand, save that Gabrielle thought it was the right thing to do.

Certainly, Eve wouldn't have done the same for Gabrielle, which caused a hot ball of shame to burn inside her.

She swallowed hard, and turned her thoughts to something more pleasant.

Except, now she was back to Gabrielle's curves. Eve bit her tongue, trying to curb the more licentious of her thoughts.

The elders stopped speaking, and the Amazons were heading out. Eve shook herself out of her stupor and noticed that she, her mother and Gabrielle were all that was left.

"Now what?" Eve asked quietly.

"Now I go get some healing herbs for Gabrielle's cuts, and then we can get going," Xena replied.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "I don't suppose I'd get away with saying 'it's just a scratch', right?"

"Not a chance," Xena said with a grin.

Gabrielle smirked, and Xena left the hut without another word.

Exhausted, and hurting despite her attempts to appear otherwise, Gabrielle leant back against the wall of the hut.

"Are you alright?" Eve asked, feeling a little awkward in her attempt to start a conversation with someone she'd ignored for the better part of four months.

"I've had worse," Gabrielle said softly.

Eve nodded, a little at a loss. She cleared her throat and scuffed her boots in the dirt, staring at the floor.

"You okay?" Gabrielle asked.

"Me?" Eve asked incredulously. "I wasn't the one who just got beaten half to death."

"That's true," Gabrielle conceded. "But it can't have been easy coming here. I admire your courage."

Eve's eyes widened. "You do?"

Gabrielle nodded and took a step forward, reaching out to touch Eve's arm. "It takes more guts to face your past than most people realise. Admitting your mistakes is one of the hardest parts of redemption."

"Well, I had some pretty serious back-up if it got too hard," Eve said.

Gabrielle smiled widely. "Yeah, I always felt safer with Xena at my back too."

"I was talking about you," Eve corrected her.

Gabrielle opened her mouth to protest, but found no words. She floundered for a moment before finally settling on a denial. "I didn't do anything special," she replied.

"You fought for me," Eve said. "After the way I've treated you?after what I did to your tribe, I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd stuck to that guilty verdict."

"Eve, you know I only did that so my vote would have count during sentencing," Gabrielle said. "You know that right?"

"Gabrielle?you saved my life. And I have no idea why."

"Eve?"

"No, Gabrielle, you know I'm right. You have no reason to like me," Eve said. "I haven't exactly been welcoming."

Gabrielle couldn't refute that. She had noticed a distinct coldness directed at her from Xena's daughter, but she'd suspected that had more to do with Eve wanting more private time with her mother than anything Gabrielle had done.

"Eve, I love you," Gabrielle said.

Eve felt her entire body react to Gabrielle's soft statement. She stepped forward her hand reaching up to touch Gabrielle's face, gently cupping the Amazon's cheek.

"Do you?" Eve asked softly

"I always have," Gabrielle replied, her hand snaking up Eve's arm to press the taller woman's hand closer to her cheek. "I just wish I hadn't failed you so spectacularly. Again."

"You didn't fail me!" Eve said. "You never have."

Gabrielle smiled, a bittersweet twitch of her lips, and she looked down. "I have. I always failed you when it counted Eve."

Eve's heart ached at the agony she could hear in Gabrielle's words. "No?"

Gabrielle breathed in deeply, still looking at the floor. "I'm sorry."

Eve was desperate to find the words to convey her feelings, her sincere and heart-felt gratitude to this woman who had turned everything she knew about love upside down. But no words came. And then all she could think to do was duck her head down and capture Gabrielle's lips with her own.

Gabrielle froze in shock as Eve kissed her, the hand touching her cheek moving back to weave in her short hair and keep Gabrielle close.

Eve put everything she felt, every speck of love and gratitude she'd ever felt into the kiss, only to feel Gabrielle pull back the moment Eve's tongue began seeking entrance.

"Eve?"

Eve closed her eyes in defeat. "I'm sorry."

Gabrielle could feel the pounding of her heart, her entire body rigidly aware of Eve. She'd never once thought of Eve in any sort of sexual light, and to suddenly have the possibility thrust at her so forcefully was unsettling.

"It's alright Eve," Gabrielle said shakily.

Eve sighed and looked towards the entrance of the tent, praying to God that her mother would return. Of course, as luck would have it, the flaps to the tent didn't even rustle in the wind.

"I can see why Mother loves you," Eve said. "I wish I'd seen it sooner."

"We're all a little blind sometimes," Gabrielle replied.

"I just hope that next time, I don't have to watch someone nearly die to see that I've been wrong," Eve said. "You're not just a pretty face."

"And you're not a rampaging warlord," Gabrielle reminded her. "You can do so much good in this world, Eve. I truly believe that. I wouldn't have fought for you otherwise."

Eve nodded. "I hope I get that chance. It's not just the Amazons that I've hurt."

Gabrielle debated for a moment, wondering whether or not there was any point in explaining Eve's true connection to the Amazons. It would only serve to hurt the young woman even more, but not knowing was to deny the girl a part of her heritage.

"Eve...I should probably tell you something about the Amazons," Gabrielle said.

"I know they're more forgiving than I was expecting them to be."

Gabrielle nodded. "They didn't used to be. There was a time, not that long ago, when you'd have been killed for what happened here."

"What changed?"

"A Queen and a Regent who believed in peace more than war. A young and idealistic queen who proclaimed that the cycle of violence could only be stopped through love and forgiveness. That is the message that the Amazons have been hearing for the last few decades," Gabrielle said. "This particular tribe heard it when their newest princess was given her Right of Caste, and blessed in pure fresh water, rather than the blood of old traditions."

Eve wondered if she was missing something in what Gabrielle was telling her.

"I've heard you say that before," Eve said. "That the cycle of hatred can only be broken through love and forgiveness."

"It was an ideal that I lived by. That I still try to live by. The first time I said it, I had no idea what it truly meant. I nearly failed my first true test. I would have killed Callisto. And if I had, you and I wouldn't be talking now."

"So, you were the Queen who taught the Amazons more than war," Eve surmised. "So...who's this princess that you were talking about?"

Gabrielle smiled. "That would be you, my daughter."

Eve's eyes widened. Not only with the shock of hearing that she was technically Amazon royalty, but on hearing Gabrielle calling her 'daughter'. It seemed wrong somehow, to hear the younger woman calling her by such a title.

"After you were born, I wanted to, well I suppose I wanted to let everyone know how much you meant to me. I adopted you, according to Amazon law, and by their laws, gave you a royal ranking of Princess."

Eve's eyes closed. God. As if she hadn't felt bad about her dealings with the Amazons before.

"I'm not saying this to upset you," Gabrielle explained. "I just wanted you to know that you have a family here. And the Amazons are a lot more forgiving than they once were."

"I've already got a family," Eve said softly. It was perhaps the first time, in her own heart, that she'd considered Gabrielle to be more than her mother's partner. Seeing Gabrielle as a strong, powerful and capable woman in her own right was something of a revelation to Eve. She'd never met anyone even remotely similar. For months, she'd thought Gabrielle to be the weaker partner in a relationship that her mother tolerated. But seeing Gabrielle fight, just because it was the right thing to do, was eye-opening.

Gabrielle smiled softly. "Yes you do."

Eve returned the smile, wished that she'd had this conversation with Gabrielle long ago. She blanched, remembering her earlier behaviour.

"About the kiss..."

Gabrielle chuckled and shook her head. "Forget about it," she said.

Eve smirked and winked at her adoptive parent. "Not likely."

Gabrielle couldn't help but blush. She was thankfully saved from having to comment when Xena strode back into the tent, a jar of ointment in her hand.

"Alright, Battling Bard sit your butt down, and let's get this over with," Xena directed.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes, but sat gingerly in a padded chair, tolerating her partner's gentle hands as her wounds were cleaned, and the ointment spread carefully over her injuries.

When Xena was finished, she held Gabrielle's chin with her right hand, staring into green eyes, ostensibly looking for any signs of concussion. Satisfied that her partner was alright, she gently pressed her lips to Gabrielle's, the two women releasing a sigh at the comfort and familiarity of the gesture. Xena's other hand lifted to the back Gabrielle's head, gently massaging the small warrior's neck.

Gabrielle's eyes closed, and she lost herself in the feeling of being reunited with her soulmate.

Eve looked on, surprised at the lack of jealousy that she felt in watching them. A smile curved over her lips, and she could only hope that one day she'd find someone who would kiss her as thoroughly as Gabrielle kissed her mother. And as for the incident with her adoptive parent...well, it was just a kiss, after all.

END