Content Warning: This is a series that takes place between episodes. The stories build upon the TV series and it is advised that you watch the episodes then read the post-episode (this story) in between. Many references by the characters are very specific to the episodes, so you may not get everything unless you watch at the same time or have the episodes memorized. The series does lead to a romantic relationship between two women, so if you don't like it don't read it.
Goal: To create a more realistic fan fiction story than some I have read. No random sex scenes that would never take place in real life 'like that' (aka L Word scenes). You know what I'm talking about... that never happens.
Gabrielle and Xena are walking at sunset, "Are you mad at me because I didn't tell you about the rite of caste?" Gabrielle asks.
"No not mad." Xena responds dryly.
"I just thought it'd be great to be an Amazon. I didn't realize what it meant. But, I've learned my lesson. Everything I know, you know. From now on, no more secrets." Gabrielle commits passionately.
"We'll see how long that lasts." Xena says sarcastically.
"You know, I just thought of something. You're a Warrior Princess and I'm an Amazon Princess. That's gonna make such a great story!" Xena begins walking down another path, Gabrielle doesn't know that they are not walking side by side anymore. She is talking to herself. "Yeah, and it all starts with you and me finding those signs in those trees. And then...Xena, hey wait! And then the arrows come flying down!"
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2 days later...
Xena is awake well before Gabrielle, as always. She lights a fire, then begins to gather extra wood. After she has collected the wood, she pauses to look at Gabrielle's sleeping figure. Her face is serene and beautiful as she sleeps.
Xena smiles to herself, then walks into the woods with her bow and arrows. Silently creeping into the woods, she finds an animal's path that tracks down to a hidden pond. The tracks are fresh. She begins to follow the animal until it is within sight. It's young buck. She draws her arrow back, then with practiced skill releases it. The morning air is silent and cool. The arrow glides with purpose towards the prey. A soft thud is heard as the animal falls to the ground. Xena quickly races to the buck. It's struggling to keep its life as the arrow did not immediately kill it. She pulls out her dagger, slitting it's throat to send it to rest. After draining it's blood, she throws its body over her shoulders to carry it back to camp.
Upon her arrival she sees the fire is still burning strong. She gently puts her kill down as to not wake her companion. Glancing over she sees that Gabrielle is still extremely tranquil. She begins to skin the animal, laying out each skin as she goes. She cleans the animal and strips if of its innards. After disposing of that, she begins to take out the bulk of the meat laying it aside to cut into strips. She hasn't performed this ritual in quite some time; food this good has been scarce on their journey. She stops her task to rest. She leans back against a rock and her gaze once again falls upon Gabrielle.
Gabrielle, Amazon Princess. Heh, I never would have thought she would fall into such a position. Not that she doesn't fit it; she would make a great queen someday. I'm glad she didn't decide to stay with them. I thought she would because they taught her to fight. I'm just glad they didn't force her to kill. She would have lost the light that shines so bright within her. Xena resumes her task of preparing the meat.
Gabrielle stirs and rises from her bedroll. "Xena what are you doing?" She sees blood everywhere. "What is that?" she asks sleepily.
"Venison." Xena replies. "If you are ready to get up, I could use some help."
Gabrielle shakes her head and rises from her slumber. She stands up and cracks her back. She is still in her Amazon leathers. "I'm going to get out of these leathers. I don't know how you can stand them. They are too stiff. I guess yours aren't really stiff though, are they."
Xena smiles and nods while continuing to cut mean into strips. After a few moments Gabrielle is back within Xena's sights. She is wearing the outfit she bought from the market a few days ago. "I thought maybe you decided you didn't like that outfit. Isn't that why you went back to your old one?"
"No. I like this one. I just wasn't comfortable wearing it until now." Gabrielle admitted. She moved over next to Xena with a knife in hand to help cut. She grabs a piece of the meat and copies how Xena is cutting it.
"You wore it the day after you got it just fine. Why were you all of a sudden uncomfortable?" Xena asks, though she is pretty sure it had to do with the guy that touched her. Gods I wanted to rip his head off for touching her.
Xena stood up to grab the frying pan to put over the fire. She laid strips of meat in it. Her face was pensive. "Gabrielle, I'm very proud of you. You did some very brave things. I'm glad that the Amazon's taught you some good lessons. I'll continue the teaching of the staff if you'd like?"
Gabrielle looked up at Xena and smiled, "That would be great!" She crinkled her nose and laughed. "So what are we going to do with all this meat?"
Xena chuckles, "Well we are going to eat some of it now. Some of it we are going to dry for jerky. And then the skin is going to be dried so that we can use it for other purposes. Maybe I'll make you a coat or something." She winks at Gabrielle. "I think we ought to stay here for the day and tonight again, because taking care of the meat will take most of the day."
An hour later they had hung all the meat to dry, along with the skins. Leaving the fire fully blazing, they walk together down to the hidden pond Xena found. They both begin to take off their clothes so that they can wash the blood off. Gabrielle is slower than Xena at removing everything. Xena jumps in first. She surfaces from under the water to look towards shore. Her breath catches as she sees Gabrielle naked form walking into the water. By the gods she is beautiful.
Gabrielle smiles at Xena, no longer hesitant to show her body, then dives under the water and surfaces next to Xena. They smile at each other then Xena splashes Gabrielle with water. A water fight breaks out. Gabrielle is squealing and giggling uncontrollably. After the fight dies down, Xena walks to shore to grab their soap. Little does she know that Gabrielle is watching her every move. Why, oh why, can't I stop staring? She shakes her head and forces her eyes down to the water. When she hears the water splash, she knows it's safe to look up again.
Xena glides over to her and says, "Here let me help you wash your hair." Gabrielle is shocked by the offer. She has never volunteered to help with something like that. Gabrielle turns her back toward Xena so that the warrior could begin scrubbing. Xena's fingers work magic on her head. Her fingers massage deep making sure to clean every inch of her head. Gabrielle begins to feel a little too good at the extended contact. As soon as she realizes that she likes it more than she should, her body tenses. Sensing the change, Xena stops massaging and gently tilts Gabrielle back into the water to rinse. Xena is now staring down into Gabrielle's face; her eyes are closed. Xena leans down and gently places a kiss on her soft full lips. To her delight, the kiss is returned. For a few moments they share an intimate moment. Xena cannot help herself; it's stirring her passion in ways she has not felt in a very long time. She takes the kiss deeper, more passionately. Gabrielle's tongue responds in kind exploring the new sensations that she feels.
"Xena? Xena! Hello??" Gabrielle is waving her hand in front of Xena's face.
Xena snaps out of her day dream. "What? Oh, sorry I must have..Sorry." Xena begins to blush and quickly moves away, as far away as the pond will let her get from Gabrielle.
"Xena are you ok? Do you want me to help you with your hair now too?" Gabrielle swims over to Xena. "You don't look like you feel so well."
"No I'm alright. I'll wash my own hair, thanks. If you are done, would you mind making sure the meat and everything is doing alright?" She asks, not making much eye contact.
Gabrielle nods, then swims to shore. Xena's eyes flash over to the retreating figure as it rises out of the water. Xena swallows hard. Then she sinks under the water. My gods what am I doing? I have got to get a grip. That was not good at all. You know how to have self control, Xena. Use it!
"Wait, can I come? I want to do some staff practice. Want to spar?" Gabrielle asked. She sensed Xena's hesitation, so she stuck her lip out in a pout. "Pleassee?"
Xena rolled her eyes, "Alright, come on." They found a small opening in the woods. Xena twirled her sword a few times then stood in a ready position. Gabrielle did the same. "Ok, Princess, show me what you got!" They circled each other for a moment, then Gabrielle took the first swing. She swung low towards Xena's left leg trying to sweep her off her feet. Xena deflected easily, bringing Gabrielle's staff back up with her sword then around to the ground on her right side. It was pinned against the ground. Xena looks at Gabrielle with a smirk, "Is that all you got Princess?"
Gabrielle gets a little angry. She goes on the attack again, this time with more gusto. She swings hard right, directly at Xena's head. Blocked. She brings around the other end of her staff, towards Xena's ribs on the left. Blocked. Getting angrier, she repeatedly hits without any form or direction now. She wants to get past Xena's defenses so bad, she barely aims. Xena blocks everything, then removes the staff from Gabrielle's hand. It flies through the air, Xena catches it. "Gabrielle, you stopped thinking about your next move. If you do that in a fight you'll never win. You have to always think."
"Well I can't beat you by thinking. You are too smart for me." Gabrielle huffs as she walks over and takes the staff back from Xena. "Let's go again. I'll do better this time."
Xena sighs, "No, I'm not going to continue if you are going to be this pissed off." She begins walking away back towards camp. Then she turns around. "Look, I said I would keep teaching you the staff and I meant it. But if you can't handle not beating me, then I can't teach you. If you can learn to deal with it, then I'll spar with you every night until the day you take the sword from my hand. Deal?"
Gabrielle knew Xena was right. She nodded, "Ok. Sorry I just got frustrated. It won't happen again. You've got a deal." For the next hour or so, Xena taught Gabrielle defensive moves. After they were done they began to head back to camp. "Xena, when will you teach me attack moves?"
"When you need them. Right now, defense is what you need to know."
---
A while later, Gabrielle hears Xena approach from her nightly rounds. "Gabrielle, tomorrow I'm going to ride ahead to a town. I heard some Amazon's say that there is trouble brewing there; something about people being taxed by a mad man. You can meet up with me a little later, after I've checked to make sure that it's not too dangerous. If it's too dangerous I'll come back for you, otherwise it's safe enough for you to come, ok?"
Gabrielle responds, "I don't really understand why I cannot just go with you. I'm use to danger now remember? It's what we do. Plus I know how to use my staff. I will be ok."
"Gabrielle, please. Just do what I say. Don't argue."
Gabrielle decides to keep her mouth shut. Then her stomach growls so she decides she better eat. Grabbing a chunk of venison, she picks at it while thinking about what happened at the pond. She remembers Xena rinsing her hair, then she opened her eyes to see Xena's eyes filled with what can only be described as desire. Why would she be looking at me like that? Surely she doesn't think of me that way. I'm more like a kid sister to her, aren't I? I must be mistaken, it wasn't desire. Maybe she was just very lost in thought or something.
Xena sits on the far side of the fire, away from Gabrielle. After being caught staring at her today, she wants to stay far from her so she doesn't lose her mind and find herself doing something she'd regret. Apparently I don't have control over my mind like I thought I did. Maybe I don't have control over my body either. After an hour of silence, Gabrielle decides that she is going to lie in her bedroll and work on her story. The last thing she remembers before falling asleep is listening to the sound of Xena's sword against its sharpening stone.
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Beginning of Episode 11 (one week later):
"Silver. And not even good silver." A soldier says as he puts silver pieces in a bag. He is followed by the family that he just took it from.
"How can I feed my family when your taxes drain me dry?" the father says.
"Moonlight. Take a second job. Or send your wife and daughter into the streets to make your money." The solider replies.
All of a sudden men dressed all in black come from all over the village. They attach the soldiers and take back the money in the name of the Black Wolf.