6 Months Later
"You take that back!" Amarice growled at the taller woman, who, at the moment, was regretting ever bringing her along. "Xena, I said take it back." The dark warrior looked down at Amarice with a devilish smirk.
"I can't take back the truth." she said casually before walking away, Argo following behind her.
"Can't take back the... Xena!" Amarice called out before running to catch up with the older woman. "Xena, I am not, nor will I ever be, afraid of men." she insisted as she walked beside Xena.
"Oh really? Then why were you so rude to Iolaus and Hercules?" Xena asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's a defense mechanism if I ever saw one." Amarice had indeed acted differently towards the two male heroes. Instead of the usual respect that she showed Xena, the young woman often gave the two men the cold shoulder. She also went out of her way to make things difficult for Hercules and Iolaus. This in turn had made their mission much more complicated.
"It's nothing personal towards them... I just don't like men. They always look down on us, even if we're great warriors. No wait. Especially if we're great warriors." Amarice told her. "That's one of the reasons why I like being a part of the Amazons so much. They don't look down on a woman simply because she marches to the beat of her own drum." Xena shook her head and looked forward.
"You sound just like another person I know." Amarice waited impatiently for the other warrior to continue.
"Feel free to tell me about her anytime now, Xena." she said when no explanation was supplied. Xena responded with a glare, but she did continue speaking.
"Her name was Glaphyra. She hated men even more than you do. She hated them so much in fact, that she went into the slave trade. She only sold men on the market, though."
"I like her already. I wonder if I can get her to give me some tips." Amarice remarked with a smirk. Xena simply rolled her eyes at the girl's thinking.
"She's rotting in a dungeon right now. Do you really want to end up like that?" The young Amazon went quiet, seeming to ponder what Xena said. This filled the atmosphere with an uncomfortable silence. 'Looks like she does have a few things left to learn.' Xena thought as she quickened her pace, leaving Amarice to think about what she said.
Night was just beginning to fall when Xena brought Argo to a sudden stop. Amarice followed suit and began to scan the trees around them to find what Xena had heard. A few seconds went by before the dark haired warrior drew her sword.
"Alright, show yourself. I'm tired of you sneaking around." she called out to the seemingly empty forest.
"I guess losing your little blonde friend hasn't had an effect on your ability to do that." a dark voice chuckled before a man clad in battle leathers appeared, Xena's sword sticking through his stomach. Amarice's eyes grew wide at the sight.
"Ares." Xena stated in a tone that said she was not amused.
"Good to know you still remember me, Xena. Now, do you think you could move your sword?" Xena smirked and twisted the blade where the God of War's gut would be if he were a mortal.
"Better?" she asked. Ares rolled his eyes and took a step back, away from the sword. "Now what do you want?"
"Now is that the only kind of greeting I get from my favorite warrior? I'm hurt." Ares put his hands to his chest, feigning hurt.
"I guess I've done my job then." Xena remarked as she put her sword back in its sheathe.
"Ouch! Score one for the Warrior Princess." Ares said, a fiery one appearing in midair on an imaginary scoreboard. "Seriously though... I just wanted to see how my beautiful warrior was doing without the irritating blonde." Xena glared at him, but he ignored it. "Ah, but I see you've picked up someone else to fill in for her while she's basking in the wonders of having a family." he pointed out, looking directly at Amarice. "That really was the one thing you couldn't give her, wasn't it?" he asked in mock curiosity. "I guess that's all that mattered to her, too."
"First of all, Ares, I am not your anything anymore; and I never will be again." Xena started off. "Second... Leave me alone!" she barked at him, eyes narrowed.
"Alright, alright... but before I go, I want to congratulate you on your choice. Maybe she won't leave you for some peace-loving farmer." Before Xena could even form a fist to throw at him, Ares disappeared into the air.
"That... That was the God of War, wasn't it?" Amarice asked, looking over at the taller woman. Xena nodded before starting to walk again. "Xena, can't you see that he is the perfect example of what I was telling you about? He thinks that just because you're a woman, he can manipulate you when you're going through a hard time. Just like a man."
"Amarice, he is not a man! Don't embarrass the male population like that." Xena retorted. "He's a God; he talks down to everyone. That was actually him being nice."
"But Xena-"
"No, Amarice! This conversation is over. Just forget that you even saw Ares. You don't want to give the arrogant bastard something else to rejoice about." Xena snapped at her. "Now, there's a small clearing up ahead; you can go set up camp there. I'm going to go catch dinner."
"Why do I always have to set up camp?" Amarice asked, hands on her hips.
"Because I told you to. Besides, it wasn't that long ago when you were practically begging me for the chance set up camp."
'That's because you wouldn't let me do anything.' the teenager thought, shooting daggers at Xena's retreating back. "Fine, but you had better not expect me to cook again!" she called after the warrior.
"It's your funeral pyre." Xena muttered under her breath as she walked quietly through the trees, looking for dinner.
As she silently searched for her elusive prey, Xena's mind backtracked to the God of War. She had secretly expected Ares to show up sooner to gloat. Not that she wanted him to. There had to be something that had stopped him from showing up sooner, though. If anyone knew Ares, it was her; and she knew waiting to rub things in wasn't his style.
'What is he up to?' she wondered as she drew her breast dagger from its hiding place. 'Whatever it is, I doubt it's good.' she thought before letting the weapon fly toward the bushes.
Xena arrived back at the camp with two rabbits in hand. Amarice had done a decent job of setting up, she had to admit. It was a much better job than the last attempts she had made. Xena had to change a few things around when Amarice made the camp the first time. It appeared that the girl learned quickly, though.
"Good job. Now you can cook this." Knowing what was going to happen, Amarice automatically reached up with her hand and caught the rabbit that was thrown at her. She just barely brought her other hand up in time to catch the second one. Unfortunately, she was less coordinated with that hand, so she dropped it on the ground. "That one's yours." Xena said
"What?! It fell in the dirt!" Amarice complained as she bent over to pick the dead animal up. "Besides, I told you I wasn't cooking again." she reminded the other woman.
"If you want to avoid an upset stomach, I suggest you cook." Xena told her as she sat down on a nearby tree that had fallen over in the last storm. "And it wouldn't have fallen in the dirt if you were as good with your left hand as you are with your right." she added on, her way of telling Amarice she needed to practice more.
While Amarice mumbled under her breath, Xena pulled her whetstone out and unsheathed her sword. She went to work sharpening her weapon while Amarice struggled to cook the rabbits as night fell. Hours later, the bickering travelers were taken by Morpheus to the land of dreams.
Xena, as always, was up before the sun and getting everything packed up. Unlike with Gabrielle, though, she had help with the cleaning. Amarice was an early riser like Xena, although she was a little crankier than the other warrior when she first woke up. So, morning cleanups were generally kept quiet, neither woman wanting to speak. Once the camp was picked up, Amarice untied her mare and Xena whistled for Argo. It was a comfortable routine the two of them had fallen into after their first month of traveling together.
"So, where are we heading, Xena?" Amarice asked as she rode alongside the other warrior. They were going at an easy walk, giving the horses some time to wake up; it was the only time they really tried to have any kind of conversation.
"Potidaea." Xena answered as she stared straight ahead at the horizon, not bothering to look over at Amarice while she spoke.
"Any particular reason why we're going there?" the young Amazon asked, her head tilted slightly.
"I thought you didn't like talking?" Xena replied with her own question, avoiding answering.
"I said I don't like to talk as much as other people do. Now answer the question." Amarice responded.
"Does it really matter?" Xena argued, now turning to face the other girl. She leveled the girl with her 'look', as Gabrielle called it, and hoped that'd be the end of the conversation. By the sound of the audible gulp Amarice took, it was.
"Yes, it does matter. You wouldn't follow me somewhere if I didn't tell you why we were going. What makes you think I will?" Amarice retorted hesitantly after a few moment went by.
'Stupid little...!' Xena's cursed mentally as she realized that the girl wasn't going to leave her alone until she answered. "We're going because I want to see if Gabrielle's visited her parents."
"Oh. You could have just said that, you know." Xena grunted in response, making Amarice roll her eyes. How exactly had Gabrielle put up with her mood swings? "Are you hoping she'll be there?" Xena shrugged, giving a non-committal answer. Amarice sighed and decided to return to her own thoughts.
She had already been with Xena for over six months and she thought she would have gotten used to the dull silence she was usually subjected to. Amarice was by no means a talkative person, but too much silence was stifling, even for her. She wondered if Xena felt it, too.
'I doubt it. Woman of steel over there doesn't feel anything.' she thought with a snort, which earned a questioning look from Xena. She gave the other warrior a sheepish smile before returning her attention to the road ahead of them. 'I have learned a lot from her in the last few months, though.' she admitted to herself. 'Now if only I could get her to have a decent conversation with me.' She smirked to herself before realizing that Xena had quickened the pace. Nudging her horse into a gallop, she pushed the steed to catch up with her mentor.
A week later, the two weary travelers finally rode into Potidaea. The looks they received made Xena wonder if it had been a wise decision to come back to Gabrielle's hometown after all. The last time she had been here was when she had just started out on her path for redemption. That path almost ended near the small town, where Xena had buried her weapons and armor, ready to end her life. If Draco's cronies hadn't shown up and herded all the village women together...
Xena shook her head of the memory and tried to forget that she had ever been weak enough to even consider killing herself. She ignored the stares that followed her through the town as she made her way to where she remembered Gabrielle's family home was.
'Here we are.' she thought to herself as she approached the familiar house. Without taking her eyes off the house, she tied Argo to one of the fence posts.
"This is where she lived?" Amarice asked with a somewhat surprised expression on her face. The house wasn't exactly what she expected of the girl that traveled with Xena: Warrior Princess. It wasn't a rundown shack; but it wasn't anything great either. She noticed that some of the wood was beginning to rot around the windows and would probably need to be replaced soon. The door to the house had visibly rusty hinges, but Amarice figured they would last a bit longer before needing to be repaired.
"Yes, this is where she came from." Xena told her, bringing her attention back to the conversation. At first, Amarice thought Xena was just going to stare at the house. Then she realized that the woman was mentally preparing herself for whatever lay inside the building. "I want you to stay out here with the horses." the older woman ordered her. Amarice, knowing now was not the time to argue, nodded her head. She doubted that Xena saw it though, for the warrior woman had already started for the front door.
She stared at the front door for a moment before hesitantly knocking. She had never let fear get the better of her; and she wasn't about to start now.
"Hold on a moment! I'm coming!" a female voice called from inside. Seconds later, a blonde woman not much taller than Gabrielle opened the door to the dark warrior. "You! I wondered when you'd be back. Come to take my other daughter away from me as well?" the woman asked.
"No, I just came to see-"
"I don't care why you came. You're leaving now." Hecuba's eyes were watery, holding back unshed tears. "I refuse to allow you to steal my remaining daughter away from me!" Before the blonde woman could shut the door entirely, Xena wedged her foot in the doorway to stop it from closing.
"I'm not here to take Lila away." she assured the woman, who was now quietly crying. "I just... I wanted to know if you've seen Gabrielle."
"We haven't seen her since she left with you, thank you very much." Hecuba spat at her. "Why? She's not in danger, is she?"
"No, she's fine."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because I wanted to know if she had told you the good news." Xena quickly lied, covering up the real reason why she had gone back to Potidaea. "She married Perdicas like you all wanted her to. I guess they've been a little too busy on the honeymoon if they haven't come back to tell you themselves." Before she could see Hecuba's reaction to the news, she removed her foot from the door, causing it to slam shut.
Gabrielle let out a relieved breath as she heard the door slam shut. Perdicas was gone. For a week, anyway; which meant a week without being kicked, hit, or yelled at. It would be a week spent without fear. Instead, she would be spending it with Nexa; her little warrior. Moments after thinking about the one bright spot in her life, cries from the nursery reached her ears.
Gabrielle groaned as she pulled her body out of bed. She loved Nexa, she really did; but her daughter always seemed to know when she was thinking about her.
'Which wouldn't be so bad,' Gabrielle thought, 'if she didn't start crying every time.' The blonde woman quietly exited her bedroom, afraid that any small noise would bring Perdicas running in.
'He's not here. He's not here. He's not here.' she chanted to herself in her head. The silent mantra was eventually spoken aloud. It wasn't much, but it gave her the confidence and the courage to make it to the nursery without jumping at every noise the house made.
"Shh... Mommy's here, sweetie." Gabrielle said as she entered the room. A small smile came to the former bard's face as she walked over to the crib and peeked inside. "Is my little warrior lonely?" she asked while picking the child up. "Well I am just going to have to solve that, aren't I? How does watching the sunrise with Mommy sound?" Nexa's cries began to die down at the sound of her mother's voice. "I thought you'd like that."
Gabrielle carried her precious bundle out of the nursery and through the kitchen. Once they were out on the porch, Gabrielle gently put her daughter down and took a seat next to her.
"You're getting big, my little Warrior. If you're anything like me, you'll be walking soon." she remarked with a smile as she watched the child crawl across the wooden surface. A dark shadow passed over the blonde's face. "I guess that means I won't be able to keep you in the nursery all day if you start walking around." she said quietly, trying to hide her inner turmoil. If she couldn't keep Nexa in the nursery, that meant Perdicas would have more chances to hurt her. "I won't let that happen. I don't care if I have to constantly follow you around all day. I swear he will never hurt you." she vowed to her daughter, who was studying a small rock she had picked up off the porch. Gabrielle was drawn back into a memory when she watched her daughter awkwardly throw it off the porch.
"See how calm the surface of the water is?" Xena asked Gabrielle, nodding in the direction of the lake they were sitting near. The young girl followed her gaze and stared at the smooth water. "That was me once." The blonde girl watched as her friend picked up a rock. "And then," Xena drew her arm back and threw the lake into the water, "the water ripples and churns. That's what I became."
"But if we sit here long enough, it will go back to being still again." Gabrielle pointed out, thinking she had found a hole in Xena's logic. "You could go back to being calm." she told the older woman.
"But the stone's still under there. It's now part of the lake. It might look as it did before, but it's forever changed." Xena argued gently, hoping she had gotten her point across. There was a rare moment of comfortable silence as the two traveling companions looked at each other with genuine affection. "Come on; let's go." she said as she stood up. Gabrielle did the same and followed her over to Argo.
"For your first stab at wisdom, you did alright." Gabrielle complimented her friend.
"I was just saying that for your benefit. You didn't think I actually meant it, did you?"
"Ha! Not me. I wasn't fooled." the blonde laughed as she walked around Argo to the other side, not missing the last glance Xena gave the water.
"I know what you meant now, Xena." Gabrielle mused as she leaned back on her hands, carefully watching her daughter from the corner of her eye. "I thought I knew what you meant then, but 'knowing' takes on a whole new definition when you've had a rock thrown in your own lake." The blonde sighed, wishing she really were talking to her friend for the umpteenth time since she married Perdicas. "I wonder if my lake will ever have the chance to become calm again." she thought aloud. 'I doubt it.' The sight of her daughter crawling toward her brought Gabrielle out of her thoughts. "Hello there, Beautiful." Gabrielle chuckled as her daughter crawled onto her lap.
The former bard did indeed think her daughter was beautiful, inside and out. The white blonde hair that had started to grow six months ago had turned into a darker blonde color that almost matched her mother's. In fact, Nexa took after her mother more than her father. Gabrielle guiltily felt thankful for that small blessing. She didn't want to be reminded of Perdicas every time she looked at her wonderful daughter.
"Goo goo..." Nexa chirped as she reached for her favorite plaything; Gabrielle's hair. "Ma!" she exclaimed as she latched onto the golden locks. The former bard blinked at the sound, too shocked to care that Nexa was now placing the strands of hair in her mouth and chewing on them.
"Nexa... Nexa, sweetie, what did you just say?" she asked, looking down into the blue eyes of her child.
"Ma! Ma! Ma!" Nexa chirped happily, bouncing up and down in Gabrielle's lap. The woman smiled down at her daughter before looking at the horizon. The sun had risen, painting the sky with shades of pink and purple.
"I think it's going to be a good week, my smart, little Warrior." Gabrielle told her daughter as she ran her hand over the short hair before kissing Nexa's head. "A very good week."
***
The day before Perdicas was due back from his trading expedition with the other town councilmen, Gabrielle decided to take Nexa to the beach near their home. Her daughter was just beginning to learn how to walk and the former Amazon bard decided that the soft sand would provide a gentle cushion for her child whenever she fell. Besides, she hadn't taken a pleasure trip to the lake in a long time and she longed to feel the water on her skin again.
"Be careful, sweetie." Gabrielle called out to her daughter, who was awkwardly trying to walk on the soft sand. Nexa looked back at her, which turned out to be a mistake. Losing the concentration she had used for balancing, she lost all sense of equilibrium and fell to the ground. The shocked expression on her face made Gabrielle laugh. "I told you." Her daughter looked at her with an expression that Gabrielle could only classify as indignant. This just made Gabrielle start chuckling.
Now assured that her daughter wouldn't hurt herself by falling on the ground, she walked into the water that was coming up on shore. It was nice feeling the water gently caress her skin, even if it was only her feet. It took her back to the times she spent with Xena. Feeling a tug on the worn blue dress she had on, Gabrielle looked down.
"Why hello there, Beautiful. Do you want to play in the water with Mommy?" she asked, getting down on her knees so she was level with her daughter. She didn't mind that she was getting the tattered garment wet; that's why she had worn it in the first place.
"Mama play?" Nexa asked, her head slightly tilted to the side. Gabrielle nodded and smiled at her daughter.
"Mama play." she responded before gently splashing water on her daughter's tiny legs. The girl yelped in surprise and fell on her backside in the sand before looking at her mother with a confused look on her face. Gabrielle smiled at her reaction and waved for her to come over. Nexa hesitantly complied and crawled over to her mother, not wanting to stand up again. She squealed in delight when a small wave washed up on the shore and covered her hands. "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes it here." Gabrielle said happily as she watched her daughter happily slap the muddy shoreline.
The mother and daughter spent the day at the beach. They spent most of their time playing on the cool shoreline, where the water gently lapped against their bodies. The rest of the time, Gabrielle helped Nexa learn how to walk. Soon, the little girl was taking many steps on her own before falling down. The blonde woman couldn't help but admire how her daughter didn't cry when she fell; she simply got back up and tried again.
The sun was beginning to go down when Nexa fell asleep against her mother's stomach. Gabrielle was stretched out on the sand, her arm wrapped protectively around her small daughter. She stared up at the darkening sky sadly, not wanting her last day of peace to end. Perdicas, her living nightmare, would be back soon. She would have to go back to being the scared wife once more. Gabrielle didn't want to go back to that, but she had to. There was nowhere she could go.
If she went home, her parents would probably just send her back. As long as she had a husband to provide for her and she wasn't traveling with Xena, they wouldn't care about her enough to keep her with them. They had been the ones pushing her to marry the man in the first place! Besides, even if they did allow her to stay, Perdicas knew that that's where she would go. He would just follow her and bring her back home. No doubt she would pay for leaving, as well.
She couldn't go to the Amazons. They were all about strong women not needing to be supported by men. What had she done? She had gotten married to the kind of man they all despised. Worst of all, she didn't stand up for herself. What would they think if they knew that she allowed her husband to beat her? That she didn't do anything to stop him from hurting her? What kind of example would she be for the Amazons if they ever found out?
Xena also wasn't a choice. Not only did she not know where the warrior was, but she also knew that she could never force herself into Xena's life again. Not after abandoning her the way she did. There was no way the woman would take her back after that kind of betrayal.
"She could have stopped it, though. She could have said something, anything, that would have made me believe she wanted me more than he did." Gabrielle said aloud, her hands curling up into fists. 'But she just... stood there! She didn't say a thing!' she thought angrily. "Why didn't you want me, Xena?" she asked in an almost inaudible whisper as her eyes welled up. "I would have given anything to be with you, but you didn't want me." Tears began to escape her eyes and roll down her cheeks as she thought about Xena.
While Gabrielle cried, the sun finished its descent below the horizon; ending the last day of Gabrielle's perfect week.