Part 1

The snow came up to my calves and gave new meaning to the word "cold." A gust of chilled wind brought another aerial wave of snow swirling around my wool cloak and winding sneakily between my legs.

"Come on! Just a little farther. You can make it, can't you?" she called from in front of me.

"If you keep plowing through the snow, I'll keep following!" I shouted back at her. For the last several candle marks, she had taken the lead position and was using her powerfully strong legs to create an easier path for me to follow.

It wasn't as if I couldn't have done it on my own. I could have. It was just her simple way of showing she cared. I let her. This wasn't the place to argue about my capabilities. Besides, if we wanted to get out of this weather, stopping to bicker about who should be in front was a stupid waste of time.

I cocked my head to the side and heard various mumblings from ahead. I took a few hurried steps and a skip, ending up next to her.

"Sorry? Didn't quite catch that!" I said with a smile.

She turned to look at me. "What are you grinning about? Its cold enough to freeze live dear and you're smile stretches right across your face. Maybe the cold's just gotten to your head and your brain is starting to freeze," she said teasingly while tapping my temple with a finger.

"Well, I heard you muttering and it sounded unhappy. I thought I'd try to?," I said, trailing off. I was at a loss for words. How come she could always leave me speechless? It just wasn't fair.

"It doesn't matter. Your smile made me forget what I was muttering about," she said with a smirk as she paused in her stride to turn and face me.

While I had known that she was joking before, her most recent words struck a nerve I didn't know I possessed. Now her soft grin made me melt internally despite the frigid temperature. I smiled at her and, somehow, found myself throwing my body towards her in hopes of a hug.

She caught me in her strong arms, as if there were any doubt that she wouldn't. She gave me a quick hug and a dazzling, yet shy and reserved smirk while placing her hand at my back. We turned and continued out trek toward Athens to pick up Argo and get out of this snow storm.

"So, what was it you were muttering about?" I asked again, breaking the amiable silence.

"I was just remembering the last time I was in snow this deep," she said.

"And?" I prompted, loving it when she told me a story for a change.

"And.I got sick from the cold and from being tired and from being wet. I was muttering curses to any god who dared let me get that sick again," she said with a frown.

"Well then, Xena, I suppose that stopping in a cave for lunch is out of the question. If its snow that gets you sick, I want you in a nice warm inn as soon as possible. You're a horrible patient and I don't feel like listening to you complain for a week just because you have a sniffle." I said brashly. With one hand holding my cloak shut, I took my other hand and tugged at her sleeve, pulling her along faster. "I am NOT a horrible patient," she said firmly, "And I DON'T complain!"

"You most certainly are and you certainly do," I said.

"Do not!" she said.

"Do too!" "Do not!" "Do too!

And as we walked on, bickering over trivial things, the snow fell around us. Softly blanketing our words and hurrying bodies in a layer of white.

"That's it! I'm too tired to go any further," she said suddenly. It was a comment that made me stop dead in my tracks and turn and look at her. Her face wasn't pale and there were no dark circles that foretold illness.

"Xena? Did you just say that or am I hearing things?" I asked her, placing my hand to her forehead, looking for a sign of fever.

"No, Gabrielle, I just can't. My legs are killing me. I just don't know if I'll make it to Athens," she said, obviously disgusted with herself. Finding a rock, she dusted the liberal covering of snow off its surface and sat down.

"This is my fault. I shouldn't have let you act as a plow horse for so long. I should know better than to let you suffer in silence," I said, sitting down next to her. "No. Its my fault. You're capable of walking in snow, just as I am. You're legs are just as strong as mine, if not stronger because you walk instead of ride all the time," she said, frowning with self disgust.

"Come on, Xena, I've heard you tell me that riding strengthens your muscles. You're not fooling anyone. What's really bothering you?" I asked her as I reached down and picked up her snow covered boot. I lifted her leg until it rested across mine and massaged her calf firmly trying to work the unexpected knot out of the back of it. "I don't know. I guess I just feel old," Xena said softly.

"I've never heard you talk like this. Where did all this come from? Do you think you can make it to Athens? The gate's not far from this next hill," I said, seriously concerned about her.

She smiled, sensing my unease. "Yeah. I'll be fine. Don't let me slow you down," she half-teased as she pulled her leg from my grasp and stood up stretching in the cold air. "Seems we've got a break in the snow. Let's make the most of it, hmm?" she asked, offering me a hand up.

She had set me off balance with this new bout of sulking. It was completely out of character. But none the less, I smiled in response and took her hand, not letting go of her warm grasp until we reached the gate to Athens.

"What's wrong?" I said, breaking the silence that has surrounded us since we had entered the warm inn's room a few candle marks ago. The sun had set and a dark chill covered the townspeople as they hurried around town. Small flurries of snow drifted down from the heavens and stuck to anything in its path.

"What do you mean?" she said, speaking for the first time since we had seen the gate to Athens.

"Outside. On the way here. What was that all about, Xena? I've never seen you do that before," I said quietly, arranging my cloak on a hook near the fire to dry.

"I'm not allowed to get muscle cramps?" she asked in a tone filled with bitterness.

"Of course you are. You're probably more entitled than anyone else. You push your body to limits I've never seen. I'd just never heard you mention it before. Don't get me wrong," I added, seeing the look of question on her face, "I was glad you told me. I'm glad we stopped to rest. My legs were killing me, too! And I got to work that knot out of your calve, which made me feel somewhat useful."

"You're very useful, Gabrielle!" she said.

"Oh yeah. Those stories I tell sure do help you in battle, Xena," I said sarcastically.

"You really underestimate yourself. They do help. After all, Gabrielle, if I run from a fight, its not going to make you a very good story, will it?" she said with a ribbing chuckle.

"Sure it will. I can turn anything you do into a heroic adventure, Xena. And while fiction isn't as fun as telling the real fearless stories of your everyday adventures, I think I could do it every now and again. Next time you feel like running, Xena, let me know and I'll start preparing the fable in my head," I said to her with a chuckle.

She laughed at me and shook her head. "Good stuff," she muttered as she sat down in the chair next to the window. She was sipping a mug of mulled wine and taking in the scenery. The snow covered streets were a mix of white drifts and muddy brown holes made by passing merchants.

"Its always pretty when it snows," I said off hand, coming up behind her chair and resting my hands on its back.

"Even when we wind up trapped in a cave, surrounded by snow?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at me with something that seemed like regret on her face.

"Even then," I said with a little force to my words. "Especially then. There aren't any other people and its so quiet. You can hear all the beautiful things outside," I said, stepping away from the chair and towards the fireplace. I took off my boots and set them on the hearth to dry out. I scooted over to the foot of her chair and began to unlace her boots receiving an odd look in return. "You remember the first time we got snowed in a cave? You taught me the difference in all the animal sounds. By the end of those two days, I could tell a snow hair from any other thing that might "thump" in the forest," I said casting her a smile. "Its one of my best memories, Xena. And so are all the other times that its just the two of us out there." I added honestly.

"You really mean that?" She said quietly, looking out the window.

"Of course I mean that. Why would I regret spending my life with you?" I asked, puzzled. "I don't know. I know you don't want to settle down, Gabrielle, but I do know that you'd be safer at the academy or in a village somewhere," she admitted, casting her eyes to the ground.

I chuckled, getting a startled look in response. "Do you honestly think I'd be safer anywhere other than with you? Come on, Xena, I think that a village girl is quite more likely to be killed by a warlord than I am. After all, you're the best body guard in all of the known world!" I said, smiling at her. "So you just follow me for protection? Is that it?" She said in a teasing voice. Hidden under her joking tone was a hint of honest curiosity that other people wouldn't have picked up on. "I follow you because you're my best friend. I follow you because spending my life with you is the only thing I could ever want, Xena. Where you go, I go. You do know that, don't you? I can tell you very day if you'd like me to," I said sincerely.

"I guess I know it, Gabrielle. I guess I just needed to hear it," she said, looking away in a somewhat insecure manner that was far from her typical way.

"Its my fault. I should be more diligent about telling you. I *should* say it every day!" I said. I reached up and carefully took her face in between my two hands. "You're my best friend, Xena, and I'll follow you to the end of the world, if you'll let me." I said, looking her square in the eye and wondering what was causing this sudden sullen disposition.

"I'll lead you wherever you want to go, Gabrielle. You're my better half," she said, leaning down and resting her forehead against mine, something she hadn't done in a while.

"Better half?" I queried softly, pulling my head back in quiet surprise.

"Don't you know?" She asked, taking a sip of her wine. I shook my head no. She took a deep breath and rested a hand on my chin. "You're the reason I try to be good. To do good. If I fall even a little in your eyes, then I'm no better than the evil that I try to battle."

My eyes began to water and I could feel the crying start in my stomach. I wrapped my arms tightly around her neck and hung on for dear life as the emotion wracked my body.

"Shhh," she said rubbing my back with her strong hands. "I didn't mean to make you cry," she said, trying to soothe me.

I pulled back and wiped my eyes dry with the back of my hand. I could sense that my crying sometimes made her uncomfortable and while I was still floored by her honest words and the desire to cry still weighed on me, I wasn't going to push her away with tears. Some home I managed to mutter a feeble "sorry" without starting to cry all over again. "I didn't.I mean." she stuttered, obviously at a loss for words.

"I should know better than to cry on your leathers," I said, trying to lighten the moment with a sad excuse for a joke. I dried my eyes and slid off her lap. "Water marks are a pain to get out. I'll clean them for you in the morning."

"You don't have to do that," she said, glancing at me out of the corner of her dazzling blue eyes as she took another sip of wine, seeming addicted to the sweet brew.

I sighed. How could I explain that it wasn't a problem? With unspoken words we had established an invisible line that neither of us crossed. I never talked about certain things and neither did she. It was the fear of rejection that kept me from crossing that line and deep down I sensed that to be her reason as well. I took a breathe and steadied my nerves. Since we're being so honest tonight.I thought to myself before speaking.

"I don't mind, Xena. Really. I like doing things like that for you," I said, being as cautious as I could. I knelt down on the hard wood floor, careful of the sore knee I had hit last week in a road-side skirmish. I unlaced her boot and pulled it off her foot.

"I know you don't mind, Gab, but I mind. It makes me feel like you're.I don't know, some kind of servant. Don't do that," she said pulling her other booted foot under the chair, trying to keep it out of my reach. I glared at her. "Gimme" I said firmly as I tugged her foot forward. Surely enough, she didn't debate the issue and allowed me to remove that boot as well. "Thank you," I said quietly, walking to place the sopping wet boots next to my own on the hearth. While there, I tossed another log on the flames, causing them to crackle and spit in agitation. "We both know I'm not your servant, Xena," I said to her, rolling the nickname of "Gab" around in my mind and deciding as long the name emerged from her lips, I didn't mind. "Other people think you're my slave," Xena said, capturing my wrist as I tried to cross the room to get the bowl of dried fruits and nuts that rested on the table. She tugged me over so I'd be forced to look at her and see the honesty and concern in her eyes.

I studied her for a moment before tugging my wrist free gently. "I know they do," I said simply. I got the bowl that I had been headed for and returned to her side, popping an apricot in my mouth. "Doth Flpth bofr oo?" I asked around the tangy fruit, setting the bowl in her lap and leaning my hip against the side of the chair. She about spewed her most recent mouthful of wine across the room. "Swallow first and then try again," she said, looking at me with a wry grin.

The fruit slid down my throat and I said again, "Does it bother you? What other people think about us, I mean. Does that bother you?"

She paused in thought, staring out at the darkening sky and the snowy streets. "Yes. It does," she admitted in a sad tone.

"Why?" I asked, puzzled by this revelation.

"I don't want them to think that way of you," she said.

"WHAT?" I said, just about choking on a prune. The last think I would have thought was her worried about my image. "Why are you worried about MY reputation, Xena?"

She looked at me and took another sip of wine. "You're smart, really smart. You could be. you are so much more than an ex-warlord's servant. You're an Amazon Queen, Gabrielle. But no one knows that about you. No one ever sees just how intelligent you really are. Its not right." I decided to try to lighten the moment a little. "Would you like me to make a sigh that says "Amazon Queen, not servant?" I'll wear it all over Greece if you'd like," I said, popping a piece of apple in her mouth.

She smiled at me. One of her big, beautiful, dazzling smiles. "You would, wouldn't you?" She asked with a chuckle and I nodded in reply. "You know how to cheer me up, don't you?" She said, the apple bit tucked in her cheek like a squirrel.

"By now I'd sure hope so!" I retorted. "not that you get significantly gloomy too often." I said, trying to steal the bowl from her lap. She reached up and, quick as a wink, snaked a powerful arm around my waist. In one solid motion she had tugged me down into her lap crosswise and had set the bowl on the floor with barely a clatter.

I let out a feeble "Eeep" she tugged me down. There was no reason to be afraid of her or her actions and I knew it. With a girlish giggle and a sigh, I tucked my head against her shoulder, feeling her arm encircle my body.

"Comfortable?" She drawled.

"As comfortable as a slave-girl can get," I teased.

"Not funny," she said firmly.

"Who'd have thought it? `Xena: Warrior Pillow!' Kinda comfy. Good thing I like my pillows firm, huh? There's not a bit of fluff on you. I'd lay on you all the time if I could," I said, not realizing just how that sounded until it was already out of my mouth. I clamped my jaw shut, not even trying to retract the comment, knowing I'd only make it worse. Daringly, I snuck a peak up at her just as she glanced down at me, eyebrow arched and all. She grinned.

"Good think you're a light weight, huh? You won't smother me," she said cautiously. I chuckled. "Gab, you're welcome to sleep on me whenever you want to," she said, reaching over and taking another sip of wine from her free hand.

My next move was rather stupid. Did I make an advance on this beautiful creature? No. Worse. I challenged her senses.

I stood up, sliding off her very comfortable lap. "Ok. Enough wine for you, Princess. No more. You'll do something you'll regret." I said, taking her warm mug from her.

I got a very deep set frown as a reply. "You think I'm drunk?" She said in a tone that meant this was more of an accusation than a question. Fearless, I responded.

"Not drunk, no. I just don't want you saying something you won't mean when.I mean, saying something you don't mean because of the wine." I said, choosing my words carefully.

"DRUNK! You think I'm DRUNK!" She said, standing and tossing up her hands. "I don't need this. Especially not from you!" She said, spitting the word "you" as if it were a curse. She sheathed her sword which had been laying next to the chair and grabbed her chakram, slamming the door on her way out. Slamming it so hard, in fact, that the water pitcher fell off its stand, shattering on the floor.

The mug slipped from my hands and clattered to the planking. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I headed to the saddle bags, ready to pack my things.

"I'd like a room for the night, please." I said to Melphus, the innkeeper. "Thought you shared with the warrior," he said with a grunt while looking me up and down.

"Change of plans," I said abruptly . "There are two other inns in town. Do you have a room or not?" "Aye. Top of the stairs, three doors down from where ya were," he said gruffly, handing a burly customer a large mug of ale.

I handed him is coins along with a few extra. "Thanks." I said before heading up to my room, staff, bags, and frying pan in tow.

The room was large but cozy thanks to the huge fireplace. A large bathtub sat in one corner and the back wall that a large window just to the side of a table. The bed was big enough for three people, no doubt.

Completely furnished. But it seemed empty. There was no clutter of armor and weapons. There was no saddle, laden with saddle bags and pouches. Just a bed, a table and a chair and a wooden bathing tub. Filled with things, but still empty.

I tossed my staff against the foot of the bed. It was just within reach but still out of the way of foot traffic.

I sat down on the bed and neatly penned a note for Xena.

Xena-

You're mad. I don't blame you. I just didn't want you to say something and then take it back. I was trying to protect myself from being hurt. But that was kind of dumb since you'd never hurt me. After the snow clears a little, I'll be heading to the Amazons. Hopefully they'll take me. Take care of yourself,

Gabrielle.

I folded the parchment and walked to our room. Her room. I left the note on the pillow where it sat in full view.

I glanced around the room to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything. One of my scrolls sat forgotten on the side table. I walked over and picked it up, opening it as I walked back to the bed. With a smile, I reread the words, rolling the sounds and images around in my mind. She'd like this, I thought to myself. It was a poem about her. The one constant good thing in my life. I didn't know if she'd read it or not. I didn't know if I should even leave it for her. Despite my uncertainty, something made me roll up the poem and put it down on the bed next to my note.

I wanted her to read it, that was for sure. But did I want her reaction if it was to be a negative one? Maybe I just wanted a reaction in general. With a sigh I glanced back at her room as I stood in the doorway. Argo's saddle sat in one corner, fur blankets draped over top. Her cloak hung from a peg above the fireplace. She's going to catch a cold, I thought to myself, realizing that she had left in such a hurry that she would be out in the frosty weather without her woolen layer of protection. She's going to get sick and its going to be my fault. A small shudder ran through me as I realized how she'd keep going until she was so sick that it was impossible for her to continue. That would be my fault, too. She'd put up a brave front just so that I wouldn't worry about her. Little did she know that I worried about her all day, every day no matter how healthy she was or wasn't.

So that was that. I shut the door to her room and walked back down the hall towards mine, flopping down at the table and devouring the soup and bread. I didn't taste either one, my mouth filled with the bitter taste of regret.

The morning found me curled in a tight ball on the edge of the bed, the sun's early morning rays trickling through the window and onto the empty pillow beside me. A small sob escaped from my lips as had many others over the night.

A soft knock at the door pulled me from my bed. I cracked the door and saw a disheveled head of black hair and piercing sleep starved blue eyes looking back at me. "Its beautiful," she said softly, holding out the scroll to me.

"Its about you," I said, placing a foot carefully over the invisible line that always obstructed conversation.

"I know," she said leaning against the door jam, obviously exhausted. "I don't see what you see in me, but it's still a beautiful poem."

"I only write what's there, Xena. I couldn't make that kind of thing up," I said, opening the door even wider in an invitation for her to enter.

"I think your vision's clouded, Gabrielle," she said.

"I know you do. I know that's how you see me! You see a silly little tag-along bard with warrior princess envy," I said, a little anger in my voice. A rather burly and odorous man walked by, leering at Xena lustfully. "Would you get in here before the entire inn hears us?" I said, reaching out and pulling on her armor plate, tugging her inside.

You don't do jealous very well, Gabrielle. Stop being so possessive. Its not like she's YOUR warrior. I thought to myself.

She smirked and it was reassuring. I shut the door behind her and went to put a kettle of water on the fire for tea. "Want some?" I asked her, holding a tea leaf up.

"Please," she said with a nod, sitting on the edge of the bed, noting the slightly rumpled covers. "Didn't sleep well?"

"Didn't sleep at all." I said, putting the pot over the flames and trying to settle into a somewhat sociable banter with her. "You?"

"Not a bit," she said. "Gabrielle," she said after a pause, "I don't see you like you think I do."

"Sure you do. I'm just a quaint village girl to you, Xena," I said. "That's why you think my perspective of you is so off."

"I see you as a very capable woman with a great talent for many things, Gabrielle."

"Oh really?" I asked, not sure if I believed her or not even though she had never lied to me before. "Really. You're the best negotiator that I've ever seen and you rule the Amazons from afar, something that hasn't happen in a long time. And you obviously have a wonderful talent for writing down things that you feel to be beautiful. After reading this one, Gabrielle, I was surprised at myself! And your my best friend; something that takes talent all in itself. I'm not easy to put up with and I certainly haven't been pleasant company lately," she said softly.

"No, you sure haven't. But neither have I. I shouldn't have traded your whip to Minya even if we did need a frying pan. And I shouldn't have pushed you to accepting my death at Tripolis. That wasn't fair to you," I said as I looked out the window with my arms folded across my chest and sighed before turning to look at her, "And I shouldn't have questioned you last night. I was wrong, Xena. You're a grown woman and you can handle yourself better than anyone else I know. Drunk or not. And you weren't drunk last night. I know that. I guess I.I don't know why I questioned you."

"It wasn't the questioning that bothered me. You're allowed to question me, Gabrielle. If you didn't we wouldn't be a team. Your word is just as important as mine!" She uttered with a pause. A team? She really thought of us as a team? Wow.

She continued, looking at the floor, "I wish you hadn't questioned my sincerity, Gabrielle. I meant everything I said last night," she said. And it wasn't as if we had admitted to being secret agents for the Roman army. It wasn't as if we had told each other our names were actually aliases. We hadn't said anything of drastic importance to each other last night but for some reason things had changed with just the simple sentence: "Gab, you're welcome to sleep on me whenever you want to." Nothing profound. Nothing extreme. But one sentence that had made my heart leap into my throat.just as this moment had. I swallowed the bulge in my jugular and walked over to her, crossing a room that seemed this size of Greece itself. I set my mug down on the table and placed my fingers under her chin. I looked her straight in the eye. "After tiptoeing around it for months, we just crossed the line, didn't we?" I asked with a small, barely perceivable and hesitant smile on my face. "Yeah. Guess so," she agreed, leaning into my hand a little. "How do you feel about that?" she asked after I quirked my eyebrows questioningly at her.

"So we're leaving this up to me? Not fair, Xena!" I said a bit hesitant to be the one deciding everything. She just stared at me, her face unreadable even to my expert eye. I took a deep breath, obviously going to have to talk my way through this. "Something's changed. I don't know what it is, but I don't think I can go back. You're my whole life. And there's no doubt that I have these.feelings that I don't know how to handle anymore. But if what you want is to forget this whole issue, then I can do that."

"That's not what I want. You're a part of my life. You are my life, Gabrielle," she said.

Her words made my breath catch in my throat for a moment. Only a moment. "Really?" I finally said with a huge smile as I tried to catch the tear before it ran down my cheek.

She wiped my cheek with the back of her work-hardened hand and smiled at me. "Really. I've told you that, haven't I?" I shook my head no. "Without you, Gabrielle, I would have given up on life a long time ago." I chuckled and hugged her, somehow keeping from spilling her lukewarm tea all over us both. "I'm glad you haven't given up."

"Me too. And if the fates give me a few more years, I want to spend them with you," she said to me, hugging me in return, while speaking about the future for the first time since China. "Gabrielle?" she asked softly into my hair. "Yeah?" I replied.

"Don't go stay with the Amazons."

"Why?" I asked her, curious as to why I was given such a direct order.

"Because I need you. I know I don't say it much, but I really do need you."

"Good. I'm not sure how long I would have lasted alone with them," I replied honestly, placing a hand gently on her knee.

"You lost a lot of weight the last time you were there. I was worried," she said, covering my hand with hers.

"I couldn't eat."

"You? Really?" Xena said with a half-chuckle. "I lost my appetite when I lost you."

"I'm not that important, Gabrielle," she said to me with a modest.

"You are to me, Xena. You really are," I said honestly.

She paused and seemed to mull over a comment in her head. This was nothing new to me as Xena always choose to think before she spoke. Had I remembered that fact last night, this conversation wouldn't have been happening because our argument wouldn't have ever occurred. "You know, Gabrielle, one room is cheaper than two," she finally said.

"That's true," I said coyly, pushing a piece of dark hair back so I could look at her startlingly blue eyes. "You want to share?"

She nodded slightly. "That's good because damned if I can sleep without you around to sing me to sleep!" I said, hearing her laugh and watching the corners of her mouth turn up into a smile while she escaped from my girdling hug.

"I'll get the rest of my things..the rest of our things," she said, correcting herself halfway through. I couldn't help but smile, realizing that she had just made the final step toward making us a truly inseparable team.

Tonight, the air was thick with unfallen snow and we passed the time by each resting in a warm and cozy part of the room and attending to our own activities.

My dark-haired companion had pulled out one of her few puzzle-boxes and was sitting at the table, concentrating with furrowed brows.

"Xena?" I said, not taking my eyes off my parchment as I penned out a poem.

"Mmm?" she said, still trying to solve the puzzle. "Did you eat dinner yet?" I asked, my protective tendencies towards her showing through in all their annoying brightness.

"Not yet. When this is done. Promise," she muttered, trying to fit a octagonal piece into a space it obviously wasn't intended for.

"You are so stubborn!" I said in a tone that I normally reserved for unruly and stubborn children. In a huff, I set my parchment aside and stomped over to her side. Leaning over her shoulder, I took the four remaining puzzle pieces and systematically put each one in its proper spot. "There!" I said.

She gawked at me, slack jawed, "I've been working on that all night! How did you Do that?"

I laughed, glad to finally have the opportunity to turn the tables on her. "I have many skills," I said, imitating her almost perfectly.

She looked at me with a bit of perturbedness and a bit of confusion on her face. "You've been holding out on me! You're really an ex-warlord, aren't you?" She said, not at all serious. "Come on, Gabrielle! Those puzzles were designed to occupy some of the most ruthless minds in all of Greece! They were supposed to keep us busy so we wouldn't attack villages! I've had that box for years and every time I try to solve it, I get stumped. And you did it, just like that!" She said, emphasizing with a snap of her fingers.

"And?" I asked, taken aback by what was perhaps the most she had said to me all afternoon if not all season.

"Well, I knew you were smart but I didn't know you were a genius! Last I heard, Caesar hadn't figured this one out yet!"

"It wasn't that hard, Xena. You would have figured it out soon enough. You're just tired is all. After all that anxiety yesterday and today, I took a nap this afternoon, remember? You didn't. And you're hungry because you haven't eaten since that cup of tea and trail bars we had for breakfast this morning. I bet you'd gotten farther on that puzzle than Caesar has," I said, trying to compensate for having solved her hardest puzzle accidentally.

"But I've dealt with no sleep before and food isn't usually a problem for me, you know that," she paused and smiled a genuine smile, "But it doesn't matter. Caesar can spend as much time on his as he wants to. He doesn't have a partner to do all the hard stuff for him, does he?" She taunted, standing up and stretching. Her shoulders settled into their joints with an audible pop as she reached her arms high above her head.

"Is that why you keep me around? To gut fish and solve your puzzle boxes?" I said with a smile as I took her cloak off the hook and settled it over her strong shoulders, getting a surprised smile in return. "I suppose that is a fair trade. I do keep you around as a personal body guard, don't I?" I teased her, fastening her cloak.

"That's true. You know, I should start charging you for that body guard service, shouldn't I?" She teased, reaching around and snatching my cloak from my reach. "Oh yeah? What's your fee? I'll deduct my cooking charges from my bill," I retorted as she set my cloak around my shoulders.

"Hmm.Three years of body guard services as well as being your own personal huntress. I'd say that's worth-" she said, pretending to figure a price out in her head. "That's worth one night of uninhibited shopping in the Athens market, isn't it?" she said with a smile, reaching behind her with one hand and tugging a coin purse off her belt.

"You hate shopping!" I said, hearing the clinking of many, many coins in the heavy leather pouch.

"Yes, but you love it. And seeing you enjoy something is payment enough," she said, catching me speechless yet again.

"I.but.you.you're confusing me," I said, managing to utter the first thing that came to mind.

She said gave me one of her best saucy smiles.

I laughed and let her finish fastening the cloak's clasp with her quite warm fingers that brushed my collarbone. "I'll go shopping..but only if I get to spend that money on whatever I want," I said.

"You're a greedy little thing today, aren't you?"

"Oh definitely," I said, already deciding that some nice blue linen would make a great pair of light weight leggings for the fall. Of course, some red tanned hide for her during the spring months when we were scheduled to stay with the Amazons. Yum. Xena in red leathers. Now that was something that I would definitely have to see.

"Fine. You can spend it all on whatever you'd like. Lets go," she said, steering me towards the door, grabbing my staff for me on the way out.

"Xena," I said, as we exited the inn.

"Yes?" She drawled in that quite appealing way she had. "What do you think of red leathers?" I asked quietly calculating the cost of all the things I'd like to buy her.

"Red's not really a good color on you, Gabrielle," she said with a laugh, placing a hand around my neck and resting lightly on my far shoulder in a display of public affection I thought I'd never see.

"Who said it was for me?" I asked her.

"Eponin?"

"Nope."

"Solari?"

"Nope."

"We don't know anyone else who'd look even close to good in red leathers, Gabrielle," she said.

"I do," I retorted, looking at her as we walked, waiting for the candle to light up in her head.

"No we don't. Ephiny wouldn't look good in red! Red's more my color..Oh No, Gabrielle. No. I don't think so. I'm strictly a black leathers kinda girl. Color ruins the entire intimidation aspect!" She said, laughing as she realized who I had in mind.

After a pause, I decided to divulge my source, "You know the last time you left me with Ioalus? He mentioned something about the first time you two met," I said.

"HE WHAT?" She said, stopping in the middle of the street and spinning me around to face her; panicked as if there was some story that she was afraid of me finding out about.

"What? Don't get all excited, Xena," I said, laughing at her reaction. "He said that when he first watched you fight, you wore some incredible red leathers. I'd like to see you in red leathers. I think it would definitely make you.um.quite appealing. Not as if you aren't now, but." I said, trailing off, shyly letting my finger trace the bottom point of her breast plate. She smiled at me, seeming embarrassed. "Xena, are you blushing?" I asked her, trying to see if her cheeks were turning pink or it was my imagination.

"I don't blush, Gabrielle," she said with a growl.

"Oh Gods! You most certainly do! You're blushing! I can't believe it! I made you blush! See, Xena, red is definitely a good color on you!" I whispered to her, leaning in a little.

She bent down slightly and rested her forehead against my own, "I've never blushed before you started calling me attractive." "Then I think I should say things like that more often!" I said to her, touching the tip of my nose to the tip of her nose.

"Oh yeah? You do and I'll..I'll." she teased, not knowing what to say but leaning in even further.

"What will you do, mighty warrior pillow?" I asked, edging her on and placing my hands on her hips, somehow knowing that invading each other's personal space was no longer an issue.

She leaned in and kissed me. Soft and full on the lips. It was tentative and cautious and quite hesitant. She pulled back slightly and kept her eyes closed. Was that fear of rejection? Silly warrior. Did she actually think I would reject her? Certainly not.

"Xena?" I asked her, placing my hand on her cheek.

"Uh. Yeah?" She asked, still with closed lids.

"I think that making you blush is going to fit into my schedule quite nicely if that's the kind of reaction I get," I said, leaning up and brushing my lips against hers just as softly and cautiously, allowing myself a bit of a curious linger before breaking away.

Blue eyes looked down at me with startled precision. She smiled a radiant smile that made me, quite literally, weak in the knees.

"Xena? Do you realize we just kissed in front of hundreds of people in the middle of the main road in Athens?" I asked her, noting my surroundings for the first time.

"Is that a problem?" She apprehensively questioned me as my forehead became buried in her cloak-front out of embarrassment.

"Not for me," I said with a smile. "It was perfect, despite the onlookers. And this makes a memorable story, doesn't it?"

"Oh most certainly. Then again, all of your stories are memorable." "When did we turn into a pair of gushy school-kids?" I asked her with a chuckle.

"Just now, I think."

"I think the mushiness is only going to get worse, Xena," I said, laughing at us.

"Good. It'll give me an excuse to spoil you. Not that I needed one before, but." my blue eyed companion said just as her stomach let out a conspicuous rumble causing her to roll her eyes at herself.

"Hungry much?" I teased her, poking at her belly gently. "Let's go get you some dinner. On our way in yesterday, I thought I saw some of those pot things that you liked so much when we were in Chin." "Pot-stickers?" She asked laughing at me.

"Yeah, those. You gobbled them down when we were there. I practically told every story I had just to make enough money to keep feeding them to you!" I teased her. "Hungry little warrior."

"Hardly anything little about me, Gabrielle."

I looked her up and down, pretending to need to re-check every feature that I had already memorized. "Not too little. Not too big, either. Just right," I said, hugging her tight to me and fitting my head into her shoulder, right where it nestled perfectly. "See? Perfect fit!" "Almost like we were made for each other?" She asked with a bit of a laugh.

"We were, Xena, or haven't you figured that out yet?" I asked her. "I see that now," she told me with a glint of what seemed to be happiness in her voice as she kissed the top of my head. "Lets go get some food and let you do all your shopping."

I laughed. "Hungry little warrior," I repeated, tucking my hand around her waist and walking with her, hip to hip, through the market of Athens toward the food merchants.

"These are so good! You sure you don't' want one?" She asked me, licking her fingers after polishing off her 7th or 8th pot-sticker. "No thanks. I was full after my second," I said to her. She leaned against a cart while I shopped for fabric, picking out several measures of blue linen and some gorgeously woven blankets that would serve nicely as new saddle blankets for Argo. "Whadda ya think?" I asked her, holding up a deep yellow fabric. "Maybe a head scarf?" "I definitely don't think so," she said. "Yellow looks good on you but I think a head scarf would get in the way with fighting," she said with a chuckle. "What about this?" She asked, picking up a rose and burgundy fabric with embroidery on it and holding it over her stomach.

"Makes you look pregnant," I said seriously, barely having to look at her.

"That's not funny, Gabrielle! I do sit-ups every morning to keep my stomach taut," she said, putting the fabric down with a pout.

"See? I knew it was all vanity and didn't have to do with making you spin faster when you do a flip!" I retorted to her, solving the friendly debate that had been going on for the last few weeks. "Its true! The fabric does make you look pregnant! Besides, I'm sure you were sexy when you were pregnant," I said, not realizing it was the first time I had used her and the word "sexy" in the same sentence.

"Did you just call me sexy?" She asked, whispering in my ear.

"Well, you are," I said with an honest blush. I picked up a piece of deep red leather. "Armor for me?" I asked her, changing the subject.

"Hmmm. I think you'd look fabulous in armor. A little skirted orange leather and some deep brown for the top? Oh yeah," she said. "But I don't want you to ever have to wear armor."

"I could be a warrior if I wanted to!" I said indignantly.

"I know you could. You are a warrior, though you couldn't be in a war wearing that shrinking green top. You'd be too much of a distraction."

"Don't you know that's why I wear it, Xena?" I asked her, completely joking. "It attracts the attention to me so you won't be the focus of the fight." She rolled her eyes at me and moved down to the next shop where the tanner had hung several huge pieces of leather outside to dry and be on display. "How bout this, Gabrielle?" She asked, plucking out a hide that had been died so richly in blue hues, that it practically sparkled in the evening sun.

"That would look really great on you, Xe," I said, finishing my dickering with the weaver and passing him the appropriate coins and asking for some yardage of the red fabric that Xena had admired as well.

"Excuse me, did you just call me "Xe"?" She said, a smirk twitching at her lips.

"Yep, I sure did," I said, turning and getting a price from the tanner. Costly. I looked at Xena, catching the dusk's light off her eye at precisely the right angle to convince me that this hide was dyed especially for her. "I'll give you 15," I said to the older man, trying to talk him down even though the work was done exquisitely. He looked at me and stood, walking into his shop's back room. "Odd," I said to myself before turning to my taller companion. "If you can call me "Gab" then I can call you "Xe" can't I?" I said to her, getting a set of rolled blue eyes in return. It always amazed me how we could carryon three of four conversations with each other. "I'll take 20 for them both," The man said to me, showing up out of no where, a set of rust colored leathers in his arms. "I made these years ago and have been unable to find someone they'd fit, lass. You? You'd fit them perfectly, be true," he said to me, handing the leathers to me.

"But I don't wear leathers!" I said, looking at Xena with my confusion surely on my face.

"Well, I won't sell you the hide unless you take the leathers, too," the man said.

"She'll take them both," Xena said, reaching into the pouch that hung from my hip and getting out the 20 dinars, tickling my thigh in the process. "Hey!" I squealed, feeling her fingers brush my leg through the leather pouch. Xena took the leathers from the man, smirking at me. "These will be just your size, Gabrielle. That's odd that he had them on hand and we had been talking about them, don't you think?"

"Do you really think its odd? I think its as if there's something in my future and all these pieces are just falling together," I said, my good mood hardly destructible. "You're awfully happy tonight, aren't you?" she said, her eyes flicking over to the silver smith's stand.

"I'm very happy. Why wouldn't I be?" I said to her, leading her to the silver smith's stand, a place I knew she wouldn't go on her own. It was just to frivolous for her image.

"I don't know. You're just not usually this perky for no reason," she said to me, watching as I picked up little earrings and such, examining the goods. Out of the corner of my eye I watched her reaction to different pieces, trying to see if there was something in particular that she liked.

"I have a very good reason, Xena!" I said, exasperated, "I was just kissed by the sexiest woman in the world in the middle of Athens! Not only does that make me the luckiest woman alive, it makes me the envy of every single Amazon who's ever heard about you. And that's not mentioning that it happened to be the best kiss I have ever experienced in my entire life with the person I care about the most! I would say I definitely have a few reasons to be happy!" I said to her.

She just smiled at me, having been accustomed to my rapid flow of words over the years.

"And I'd say you have reason to be happy too, warrior pillow," I continued.

"Why's that?" She asked me, reaching over and fingering a strand of silver beads, a sparkle in her eye as a child before solstice time.

I sighed. Fine. Apparently she just wasn't as happy about this as I was. Maybe I had misjudged her on the whole issue. Possibly she wasn't at all interested. No. That couldn't be true. I refused to believe that thought. When she gave something, she gave it all. Not in pieces. And a part of me knew that she had given me her entire heart, no strings attached.

"I'd say finding a merchant with those Pot-stickers is something worth being happy over," I said to her, lifting an ear cuff and dangling the blue lapis stones and quite enjoying the clink the sliver catches made as they bumped.

"Hey! You think that's all I have to be happy about?" She asked me. All of a sudden, warm fingers lifted my chin up so my eyes met hers. "I have you, Gabrielle! If I know that you care about me even half as much as I care about you, then I have more to be happy about than I deserve! And that kiss? Wow! I never knew you could kiss like that!" She spoke in a slight undertone, making me blush. She dropped her voice to a conspiring whisper, "Autolocus kinda blocked out some of my sensations." "Xena!" I said, chastising her for some unknown reason before falling victim to a helpless fit of giggles. "You know, his mustache did scratch. And while I do have limited experience with your kissing technique, you're a much better kisser than he is."

"Let's not tell him that," she chuckled, kissing my forehead quickly and giving the gawking silver merchant one of her infamous glares.

I looked down at my hand and saw that a large silver bracelet that I had picked up. It had pieces or deep red stone set in its sides in stripes. It was perfect. "Xena." I said flashing her a smile as an evil plan popped into my head. "I'm starting to get hungry after all. Do you think you can find me some of those sticky pastries with the cinnamon? You know. The round ones that look like Leha's buns?" I asked her, using my best convincing look and referring to how Priestess Leha had worn her hair once, a long time ago and very far away.

"I think I can do that. Those do sound like they'd be good," she said, perking up her ears and heading off as if in hunt of buried treasure.

"I'll take the set," I said, turning to look at the merchant and have him wrap up the other matching bracelet and the two arm bands that matched. "And throw in those strands of silver beads, too," I said. He didn't argue with the price I offered and he didn't question me when I asked him to add in the beads at no charge. Maybe kissing warrior princesses in public wouldn't be so bad for my reputation after all.

"What are we going to do with all this stuff?" She asked me as we walked into our room, arms laden with things. "We can stop by your mom's on the way to the Amazons. Maybe she'll let us keep some of this in a trunk in the barn until we need it?" I suggested, not having mentioned anything like that before. Storing our things until later was something you just didn't do when your future wasn't promised to you. But now, it seemed, we had made unspoken promises to each other and storing small things here and there didn't seem like an unreasonable idea.

"You want to go visit my mom?"

"Don't you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"I guess. You sure you don't mind?" She asked me.

"I don't mind at all, Xena. I prefer your mother to my own," I said with a laugh. "I wish it hadn't been like that for you. My childhood wasn't great either, and I wish you had better as a kid," she said softly, setting some of my purchases down on the bed.

"By letting me come with you, you took a huge problem away from that house," I told her, trying to shut the door with my heel and not fall flat on my face or drop any of my things, some of them breakable.

"You're not a problem, Gabrielle. And if that's what your family thinks about you, then they're missing out on the best thing they could imagine. I know that my life would be totally different if not for you," she said to me, stepping over and taking some of the things I held. She coughed and I frowned. She never coughs, I thought to myself. I knew she'd get sick. I just knew it!

She continued, chewing slowly on a piece of dried pear that I had handed her, "If I had never taken you with me, you'd still have your blood innocence and you'd be married to Perdicus and happy with kids by now."

I laughed. "You're kidding me, right?" I said, trying not to be rude to her by laughing. It was hard not to just start rolling with laughter and fall to the floor, but I somehow managed.

"Don't laugh! I'm serious!" She said, tossing a piece of apple at me and hitting me smack on the nose.

"You're ridiculous. We both know I would never have been happy with Perdicus. And do you honestly think you would have stopped me from following you? You'd have had to kill me before I turned away. I knew you were my destiny. And as far as my blood innocence goes, Xena, I have no regrets." I said, stunning her with an admission of acceptance.

"I don't understand! You've lost so much!"

"But look at what I've gained, Xena. While I will never like having killed Meridian, I can't go back and change it. Regretting it won't help me at all. I have to move on and learn from my mistakes. You taught me that. `Don't be sorry, just improve.' That is what you said, right?" I asked, walking over and sitting on the bed next to her. "Yes. I did say that didn't I?" She said, rubbing her eyes.

"I'm not sorry, Xena. I don't like the memory of the event. I don't like Dahak or any of his minions. But I know that I can't go back and change anything. I've got to keep going forward in life and just take knowledge with me as I go. Besides, I would gladly trade my blood innocence for you. I'm your equal now. Before Meridian and Britania, I was a side kick, not a partner. But since then, things have changed and I'm more of your equal than your errand girl."

"You've always been my equal!" She said to me, looking at me as if I were daft.

Her skin was paling slightly and she coughed again. Someone's getting sick, I thought to myself as she tried to discretely clear her throat.

"No I haven't and we both know it. It wasn't always like it is now. Just the other day, you were saying how good I'm getting with my staff. Your exact words were `Gabrielle, in a few more weeks, you'll be able to take me down with that thing.' Do you know how important that was to hear? Do you know how much I cherish those words, Xena? They've made me happy ever since you said them because it meant that I'm getting to be close to your caliber."

She chuckled, "Gabrielle, you passed me long ago! The only reason I can still pin you in a fight is because of strength. And even then, we're pretty much evenly matched. Technically, you're a far superior fighter and the fact that you have respect for life means you'll avoid a deadly hit until the last minute. People don't expect that and they block it more. You're much better than I am with your staff," she said to me, placing a warm hand over mine.

"Really?"

"Really. Do you think I would let just anyone guard my back during a fight? Do you know how many times you've saved my neck in a fight? I owe you."

"From here on out, no score cards. Not between us. You don't owe me anything and I don't owe you anything. No debts. Ok?" I asked, hoping for her to agree.

"Sounds more than fair. Here. Let me get that," she said with another small cough, taking my last bundle and setting it on the table.

"Thanks."

"Gabrielle?" she asked suddenly, as she set a small linen wrapping on the table and placed her hands on its edge as if to steady herself.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying to find a place to put all our stuff. I had purchased two new saddle bags, knowing that I had over shopped again and that there wouldn't be room for everything in our current carrying cases. No matter how well and strategically Xena packed.

"Would you fix me a cup of tea?" she said as a bout of coughing shook her upper body.

I didn't reply. Instead I headed to the fireplace and set the water to heat before returning to the bed and getting her to sit down.

"Here. Sit down. Drink this until the tea's ready," I said, handing her a cup of water. She sipped at the cool beverage while I knelt on the floor at her feet.

"What's this?" The package from the sliver-smith was at her side and she fingered it, not recognizing the wrapping.

"Its a surprise. I bought you a surprise," I said, struggling to pull the bundle from her grasp.

"You did what?" she asked me laughing and coughing at the same time.

"I bought you a surprise!" I said, reaching for the weaver's bag as well. "Two of them." I corrected. One of my hands held the bundles and the other hand rubbed her back, trying to stop the coughing.

"Two?" She asked, her voice becoming somewhat gravely from the harsh coughing. "Two." I repeated, stuffing her two special bundles into my saddle bag.

"Gabrielle, do you know the last time someone bought me a surprise?" She asked me as she sat softly on the edge of the bed, fingering the covers and sipping her water, keeping her parched throat moist.

"Yes I do. Last Solstice when I gave you the new armor repair kit!" I said, recalling her reaction to the present with clarity.

"That wasn't a surprise. I mean, it was Solstice. We both exchange presents on Solstice. It wasn't just a gift without a holiday or festival to go along," she explained.

"But this is different because there are no dancing virgins?" I asked her sarcastically as the water began to boil for her tea.

"Yeah," she said, not even noticing that I had been joking with her. "Xena.." I started to say and then stopped. I walked over to the bed and knelt in front of her, fixing the cup of tea. Tea leaves, and lots of honey. Just the way she liked it. "If it'll make you more comfortable, I'll keep my gifts with the Amazons. And when we go back before Solstice I'll pick them up and give them to you then. That way it won't be something special. Will that help?" I asked, not really liking the far-off look in her eye. "No, Gabrielle. You do whatever you want to with those things. You don't change your plans just because I haven't had a surprise in a while. And thank you for thinking of me and remembering me while you shopped," she said, showing vulnerability in her voice.

"As I if could ever stop thinking about you," I said softly, picking up one of her warm hands and kissing its palm in an unconscious act. After my lips parted her skin, I placed her cup of tea into her hand. "Let's get this cloak off of you, hm?" I said, reaching up to unfasten her clasp and hang the cloak next to mine near the roaring fire.

"Gab? Will you tell me a story tonight?" She asked me as she started coughing again, her shoulders fiercely shaking by the convulsions of her lungs. "I have a feeling I'm not going to fall asleep easily."

"Put this shift on," I said, handing her the warm linen and then turning to stoke the fire. When I turned back around she was curled in a little linen clad ball, her leathers neatly folded and set on the linen press. "Xena?" I asked her, sitting on the bed so that I was facing the same way she was and I could see her face by looking over her tucked up shoulder. "What's the matter?" I asked, pulling a bit of hair out of her eyes.

"I hate being sick," she said in a somewhat defeated voice.

"I know you do. I do, too. But you always take really good care of me. I'll take care of you, ok?" I asked, trying to get her to open up to me. I hated it when she was quiet and melancholy like this. The night was deathly quiet and the only sounds in our room came from her heavy breathing and the snapping of the fire.

"Just stay with me, Gabrielle."

"I'm not going anywhere, Xena. If you can't protect me," I told her as I tucked my body up behind her longer one. I wrapped my arms around her rib cage and pulled her up so that she was cradled in my arms. "Then I'll protect you. I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

Her groan and slight stirring woke me from the light doze that had finally overtaken me around dawn.

"Ugh," she muttered, trying to stretch but I had my arms around her too tightly and my muscles were stiff from a long night.

"Hey. You feeling all right?" I asked her cautiously.

"What's going on?" She asked, sitting bolt upright and yanking herself from my arms so quickly that she nearly knocked my elbow backwards.

"You've got a fever. I think you caught a chill when you went out without your cloak the other night. You had a bit of trouble falling asleep because your fever made you feel cold, so I climbed in with you. And by that time I had drifted off, too," I said to her, more awake than I should have been for only getting about a half candle mark's worth of sleep.

"Sorry."

"Why?" I asked her, rubbing my eyes with my hand and propping myself up on an elbow.

"You must have been uncomfortable," she answered, coughing around her words.

"Not really. You're a good blanket. I'd say it was the best nap I'd ever taken," I told her with a tired groan. "Come on back to bed, Xena. Its snowing again and I'm tired and you're sick. Come on," I said, trying to tug her back down.

"So what exactly happened last night? Did we, um-" She asked, fumbling and playing with the fringe of her night shirt.

I smirked and chuckled a little. "I think I'm insulted! I hoped you'd have remembered!" I teased.

"Oh, gods," she said, dropping her head into her hands.

"I'm kidding! Really! You just curled up and I curled up behind you and tried to keep you from freezing your warrior butt off. That's all!" I explained, knowing that fever could often cause deception.

"Really?" She asked, hope in her voice.

"Yeah. Really. Don't sound to glad. You might offend me," I said in a slightly more bitter tone than I had intended.

"No! That's not it at all, Gabrielle!" She said, her R's rolling around my name in that really adorable way she had. "I WANT to remember that! For the rest of my life I want to have that memory!" "Yeah?" I asked her.

"Yeah," she drawled. "Good. Because I plan on making it a quite memorable occasion."

"Um.you've thought about.that?" she asked with surprise.

"You haven't?" I asked her blushing furiously.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know you had."

"Xena, I've been thinking about that for a while now." I said honestly. Better not lie to her about this subject.

"So have I."

"Typical of us, don't you think?" I commented with a chuckle. "We're both thinking about the same things, feeling the same things, and anticipating the same things and we're both too scared of rejection to mention it."

"If I weren't such a chicken, we'd have had this conversation a long while ago," she said to me with a small smile.

"Equal blame, Xena. I'm just as at fault for avoiding this subject as you." "I suppose. But aren't I supposed to be the aggressive one here?" She asked with a chuckle.

"I'll overlook it," I teased.

"You're too considerate," she said, rolling her eyes at me. She started coughing. I thumped her back, trying to help get some of the fluid out of her lungs.

"You ok?" I asked. I didn't get a response but I hadn't really expected one, either. She groaned as her lungs tried to recover from having spasmed so quickly. "Here. Sit up. I'll get you some tea with that relaxing herb in it."

"Don't bother. It won't help. I built up a tolerance when I was leading my army. They would have used it to kill me," she explained in a whisper.

"Lots of honey, then?" I asked.

"Definitely. You spoil me rotten, Gabrielle. There isn't another soul on earth who would do for me what you do."

"I hope so. Otherwise, I'm out of a job, aren't I?" I said, handing her the hot tea. I sat down next to her on the bed. She had leaned back and propped herself up against all the pillows, half laying down and half sitting up. An intriguing slug-like scar ran up the length of her upper arm. I allowed my eyes to follow it until it disappeared under the night shirt's cuff. "Where does this go?" I asked her, boldly tracing it with my finger as far as I could and edging my finger under the sleeve.

"Down my back," she said in a tight voice.

"How'd you get that?" I asked, slipping the sleeve up slightly as she gazed at me in wonder.

"Caesar found whips amusing," she said with a trace of anger in her words. "HE did this?" I said, stopping my finger's path in mid motion.

"Don't sound so angry, Gabrielle. It was a long time ago," she said to me.

"Doesn't matter. Its not right, Xena. You're not an animal and you don't deserve to be treated like one."

"I was an animal Gabrielle," she said to me softly.

"No you weren't. You might have been a warlord but I don't think you were ever an animal. Its not something you're capable of," I corrected, finding myself exhibiting a bit of bravado and leaning over and lightly kissing the scar.

She moaned. At least I think it was a moan. My ears had become suddenly filled with a buzzing noise as soon as my lips touched her skin.

"Did you say something?" I asked, resting my forehead against her shoulder bone.

Her head leaned down on mine and we shared a moment of quiet.

"Not a thing," she said with a snigger after a while.

I chuckled a little. "Xena?" I asked her after a few more minutes of sitting in reflective silence.

"Yeah?" She asked, a hand reaching up and stroking my back in a relaxing and yet stimulating motion.

"Isn't there anything I can do for you?" I asked her, trying not to just curl up in a little ball and let her stroke my back this way for hours. "You're positively glowing with fever and you can't stop coughing and there's fluid in your lungs."

"No. I don't want to take anything. Fever is your body's way of battling whatever's wrong and I don't want to stop that internal fight. I'll just have to deal with it," she said, turning and placing her two feet on the floor, trying to stand but wavering slightly.

"Xena, I don't think this is any ordinary cold. This is serious. Its happening way too fast to be taken lightly!" I scolded.

"I'm fine! Its just a cough and a fever! I've dealt with worse!"

"Come on! Get back in bed, please!" She pouted. "That pouty lip isn't going to help anything, Warrior Princess. Get yourself back to bed right now!" Pointing my finger at the bed. I walked over and turned the covers down and was in the middle of fluffing up the down pillow when I was attacked from behind. Her strong and lithe body knocked me flat on my stomach as she tackled me, taking me down to the bed in a tangle.

"I don't want to go to bed," she growled in my ear in a playful way.

"I don't care, Xena. You're sick and that means you're staying in bed. Its cold and wet and snowy out. You said yourself, this is the same kind of weather as when you got so ill last time. Get in bed!" I ordered her, rolling over in a well practiced move she had taught me and pinning her to the bed. I knew that with but a sneeze, I could go flying across the room but I also knew that she wouldn't do that. Ever.

"Since when did you get so demanding of me?" She asked me with a sigh.

"Since three years ago when we met and I demanded that you take me with you," I replied to her, easing up on my grip, sensing she would stop fighting.

"Do I really have to go to bed?"

"Yes. You really have to. We don't have to go back to visit the Amazons till after Solstice and you'll be much better by then," I explained. "I know you get fidgety when you're sick, but I'll try to keep you occupied while you rest. How about stories? I've got some new ones for you!" I offered, knowing just how twitchy she got when she wasn't able to move around all the time.

"That'd be nice," she said, her fingers uncurling from my wrist and moving up my arm slowly.

"I've got a few poems, too. And I bet you, if you behave, I'll go back to the market and get those two puzzles that you had your eye on." I said, feeling her soft finger tips trace up my arm till she reached my elbow where she tickled slightly. I was having quite a hard time concentrating with such attentive fingers tormenting my skin. "That's not behaving, Xena," I said, trying to keep from giggling as she tickled me. I shifted my weight, trying to escape her tormenting fingers.

"I think this is more fun that a puzzle."

"Sto-aaahhhH!" I said, screaming as she moved her finger and tickled my rib cage, the highly tickle sensitive area on my body. "Xena!" I managed to get out, before collapsing on top of her in a fit of giggles as she relentlessly continued to brush my skin with twitching fingers.

"Yes?" She drawled, appearing to enjoy herself.

"Stop," I said, breathlessly, still trying to escape her torturous hand. It was instantaneous; as soon as I asked her to stop, she did. "Did I hurt you?" She said while carefully turning my arm over to examine them for bruise marks. "No. You didn't hurt me. You never would, you know that. Of course, I could take you on in a full out tickle war, Xena, but I won't. After all, you're sick. And I refuse to take advantage of you."

"You think you'd win?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Today? Maybe," I said honestly while she simply smiled and indulgent smile in response. "Come on, Xena. Let's get you under the covers and I'll go down and see if Melphus has any chicken soup. That's what Ephiny orders the cooks to feed the Amazons when they get sick." I said, scooting off her belly and reaching under her and pulling the covers to the side. I motioned for her to crawl under.

"You do realize if anyone but you were asking me to go to bed because I was cranky, I'd laugh at them and then kill them," she said, crawling between the linen sheets and the down quilt. "I know. You're being a very good patient," I said, smiling at her as I pulled the cover up to her chin. "Stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes, ok? And I'll see what I can do about a bath, too. I think we could both use one."

"Are you saying that I smell?" She asked me as I grabbed my staff and headed to the door, having slept in my clothes.

"No. I'm saying that I smell!" I said, shutting the door behind me, hearing her chuckle as I walked downstairs.

"You know, I think a bath wasn't such a bad idea, Gabrielle," she said to me, before she dunked her head under the water to rinse the lavender smelling soap from her hair.

"Oh yeah? You know, I do have good ideas once in a while," I replied as I wrote furiously in my scroll. She, being the sick one, would get first bath in the nice warm water and I'd go second.

"Gab?" She asked me as she stepped out of the tub and dried off for a while before wrapping a towel around herself.

"Yeah?"

"You're not avoiding bathing just because we kissed, are you?" She asked with a hidden hint of regret in her voice. "Nope. I just wanted to get this story down while it was fresh," I replied, putting the finishing touches on my tale. It was pointless to be humble in front of her. When you spend 3 years with a completely immodest person, you tend to lose your own sense of modesty as well. I was fine being undressed in front of her, but to be honest, I was just a bit more concerned about how she'd look at my body now. If there was even a hint of lustful abandon in her eyes, I was a lost cause. "You sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure, Xena," I said with a chuckle, letting the scroll air dry.

"Did you want separate rooms after all?" She asked in a hoarse voice as she grabbed her linen shirt and slid it on, crawling immediately under the covers to keep the night's fierce chill off. Her question stopped me in mid roll, "No!" I said, setting my quill down and looking at her in surprise. "Of course not. I just wanted to write that down."

"Oh," she asked, a bit of doubt in her voice. No one else would have been able to detect the tiny intonation change, but I could read and every movement and know that every slight sound meant something to this woman of few words. And that small raise in her voice and pause to swallow meant she was hurt.

"Honest. I'll take one in the morning, Xena. I want warm water for my bath," I teased. "You took so long that its cold now," I got up and walked to the bed where she was already snuggled. "But now you're clean, so you'll sleep better. I'll forgo a bath if it means that you'll get rested and well sooner." "You're too kind." "Will you just rest? My sitting here talking to you all night isn't going to make you feel any better," I said as she coughed. Again.

Here dark eyebrow arched in the way I loved and she looked at me as if my entire face were covered in odd mud. "I think that would make me feel much better than you could imagine," she said to me with a chuckle.

"Xena!" I said with a half- reprimanding, embarrassed laugh.

"What? Its true!" She said. "You never know, Gab, it just may cure me all together," she said, half teasing. "I'll wash your hair for you tomorrow, ok?" She offered, her hands running through my blonde hair.

"Mmm. I've always liked it when you do that." "I never knew that."

I smiled and blushed at her, unable to explain just how soft her touch on my scalp was and how that softness illustrated her innate gentleness in ways that no one else would understand. "Yeah. `Liked it' may be an understatement," I admitted, lifting her hand into my own and turning it over, examining the powerful palm. "Your hands, Xena, they're just so strong and they have all this power in them. But you don't use it. You're one of the gentlest people I've ever met and whenever you touch me, that shines through. You're just so gentle, your touch relaxes me so much. But it stimulates me at the same time," I said with a chuckle as I sat on the edge of the bed and silently shivered. "Hey, take off your boots," she said to me, her blue eyes piercing me and letting me know she meant business.

I frowned. Where did this come from. First we were talking about hair and then I'm taking my shoes off? Well, trust is trust, and there was no doubt that I trusted her. As I leaned over to unlace my boot, I felt the bed shift and noticed her out of bed and heading towards her saddle bag, close to the hearth. She dug around inside and pulled out another one of her sleep-shirts, bringing it back to the bed with her. One boot fell softly to the floor and soon the other followed with a dull thud. I looked up at her quizzically as she unfolded the sleep shirt and handed it to me. "We both need a nap."

"I'll sleep on the floor. I don't want you having to smell me since I haven't bathed yet."

"First off, you always smell good to me, even if you smell like 5 day old pig slop. Come one. You can have a bath after our nap. I'm tired, Gabrielle. Please," she said, not only admitting to being tired, but saying "please" in the same mouthful of words. To those two things, I couldn't say no. I rolled my eyes at her and smiled.

I reached up and unlaced my shirt's lacing, lifting it over my head and tossing it onto the trunk top at the foot of the bed. I did the same for my skirt, stepping out of it and tossing it with disregard, not really caring where it landed. I dove into Xena's shirt with abandon, enjoying the smell of the scented soap she used to wash. Most people thought she'd be the type of woman who used spice soap but, in actuality, Xena really preferred lavender soap because it kept her leathers from smelling like a kitchen cabinet.

I took a deep breath of the cream colored fabric and let out a soft moan as I smelt her body's scent and the soap as well as the smell of clean pressed linen. All in all, a very intoxicating aroma.

I smiled at her and crawled under the warm covers, allowing her the side closest to the fire place so she'd stay warm. Since we had spent so many days out in the cold, whatever kept Xena so naturally warm had stopped working and she was constantly wrapped in layers of blankets or next to a blazing fire, just to stay warm enough to keep from chattering her teeth.

"Xena?" I said as she smiled and slid under the covers next to me.

"Yeah?" She remarked, trying not to yawn, but failing to hide her drooping eyes from me.

"Do you think I should call the healer?" I asked her.

"No. I'm only cranky when I've got a fever and your body only produces a fever when there's infection to fight somewhere," She explained. "You've done more than any healer, Gabrielle. I don't the healer in Athens would agree to getting in bed with me when I get tired."

"I don't know, Xena," I said, a bit of tease in my voice, "If you washed his hair for him, I betcha he would."

"Gabrielle!" She said, exasperated but laughing.

"Get some sleep, Xena. Melphus said that he'd have the chicken soup ready for dinner, ok?" I commented, my finger's lazily running through her long, dark hair.

"Gabrielle?" She said softly, turning to look at me.

"Yeah?" "You don't have to stay if you don't want to. I can nap by myself. You can go to the market or go downstairs and tell your stories if you want," she said to me before she coughed slightly.

"No, Xena. You know better than that. I'm staying right here. I need some rest, too," I said. "You never left me when I was sick. What makes you think I'd leave you?" "You don't owe me."

"We already said that. No such thing as "owe" between us," I agreed, drowsiness evident in my voice.

"So why stay? Go have fun."

"I'm tired, Xena. More importantly, you need me right now. I won't go far. Ever," I said, my inflection growing tired as we spoke. "Gabrielle?" she said to me, seeming unsure if I was still awake, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," I replied. "Come on. Let's get some sleep, ok?" I asked, shifting my body and snuggling down into my usual spot in the hollow of her shoulder. My leg was slung over hers and tucked neatly between her two legs. "Sleep," I ordered.

She smiled down at me, something I didn't see, but could feel. Her eyes unconsciously checked to make sure her sword and chakram were within reach. "Wake me around dinner time, will ya?" She said before closing her eyes and slipping into peaceful rest.

"Looking good, Princess," I said to her as she woke up from her nap. A steaming bowl of chicken soup sat on the bedside table and a mug of cold milk had been placed next to it.

She rolled her eyes at me as she started to fully wake up. Even when sick, Xena was more than deadly. And when pulling out of such a deep, illness-induced sleep, she did have trouble focusing her eyes. "I feel horrible," she muttered, rubbing her eyes with her hand as she tried to gather her wits before moving anymore.

"You look rested," I offered, walking to her bedside. I reached over and brushed my hand against her forehead, removing some sweat dampened hair. "Your fever's gone, too!" I said in surprise.

"I heal fast."

"Good. I don't like it when you're sick," I said with a shy grin.

"I don't like being sick. I hate making you take care of me like this."

"No, this is the part I like. When you actually let me do things for you without arguing. But I hate seeing you suffer and in pain," I said, watching her struggle to sit up. I moved so I sat beside her and pulled her up, using my shoulder to brace her as she half-sat up.

"You like caring for me?" She asked with a frown.

I nodded.

"Why?"

"You don't let me do it very often, so it gives me a chance to really take care of you. Make sure you eat your vegetables and drink tea and milk and stay away from the aged stuff that you love so much," I replied as she began to grimace.

"My head is pounding. You aren't banging rocks near my ears, are you?" She asked, putting her hands to her temples and rubbing in small circles.

I chuckled slightly as she groaned in pain.

"Here. Let me help," I said, scooting her down a bit so her head was resting on my thigh and she looked up at the ceiling. I rubbed her temples in soothing circles and watched as her entire body relaxed. "Feel good?"

"Oh yeah," she said in a groan.

"Good."

"You're really good at this."

"I know. When I was staying with Ephiny last time, she kept getting these killer headaches that made her sick to her stomach and made her vision blurry. Eponin showed me how to rub on her temples to make the pain stop," I explained.

"Eph and Pony?" Xena asked, opening one eye at me and looking up with an indescribable look.

"So it seems," I chuckled.

"Who knew?" She asked, not really expecting an answer.

"I did."

"Did not!"

"I really did, Xena!" I said with a chuckle as she looked up at me, not believing me. "Honest!" I said to her with a giggle.

"Why didn't you tell me? We should have gotten them a present or something for their joining celebration."

"They aren't having a ceremony. Ephiny thinks she's bad luck," I said with a giggle as I slid my hands over Xena's warm brown. "You're still a little warm even though you're not as feverish anymore."

"She thinks she's bad luck?" Xena asked, ignoring my comment about the fever.

"That's what she said. She thinks that because Phantes died trying to protect her, Pony will be in the same danger."

"That's dumb," Xena said as she rolled her eyes before closing them again and moaning as I massaged her temples.

I chuckled at her responsiveness. "Is it dumb, Xena? You do the same thing. We're just now admitting to having feelings for each other. You didn't say anything because you were afraid of my getting hurt by someone else. I didn't say anything because I was afraid of rejection."

"You're right. Again. Its not dumb for Eph to be wary. It is dumb for you and I to try to hide stuff from each other."

"I know. I'm always right, aren't I?" I said with a chuckle. Xena stuck her tongue out at me and winked. "You're awfully playful today for a sick girl, aren't you?" I asked her with a chuckle, barely able to resist the temptation to lean down and nip her tongue with my teeth.

"I feel lots better now that you've worked on that headache."

"I haven't even done anything!"

"You've kept me company and your fingers are magical," she said, grasping my hand and kissing the palm, making my body shiver. "Next time I get one of these headaches, you're definitely getting asked to do this again."

"You don't even need to ask," I replied, getting a warm smile in return. I changed the subject, not knowing where the current one would have led and not having the energy to find out, "What do you think, Xena? How many more nights before we head to your mother's?"

"I think we could move out today if we went slow and stopped early this evening. That would mean you'd have to ride," she said, frowning.

"We're not leaving tonight!" I said, shocked she had suggested it.

"Why? Riding Argo isn't that bad!"

"Xena, you almost passed out last night because of your fever and you're still coughing!" I said. As if on cue, she coughed, struggling to catch her breath. I helped her sit up and rubbed her back as she tried to even out her breaths. "We'll stay a bit longer," I said with a frown as she struggled to breathe due to the fluid in her lungs.

"I want to get on the road. We'll miss the Amazon winter festival and Solstice at my mother's if we don't leave soon," she said with what looked quite like a pout.

"We're not leaving tonight, Xena, and that's an order from your Amazon Queen!" I said, leaning her back down on as many pillows as I could find.

"Since when did Amazon Queen out rank Warrior Princess?" she asked, bringing up the silly question that we always used on each other.

"Since you agreed to be my champion against Melosa, " I commented. "I did some digging through the library and according to Amazon law, when you become champion, you agree to take orders from the Queen," I said while fluffy her pillow behind her and tucking her in snugly.

"And you're the Queen."

"Yes I am," I said with a giggle.

"This is so unfair, Gabrielle. Don't pick on the ill."

"I'm not picking on you. I'm taking care of you. There is a big difference." Her skin was returning, slowly, to its original color and her eyes looked much more vibrant than before. But the nagging cough that had settled in her lungs, worried me. It rattled and thudded around in her chest until I had to cup my hands and pound until anyone but Xena would have cried out in pain.

"Gab?" She said after a long pause wherein she ate her lukewarm soup and finished her cold milk.

"Yeah?" I asked from the fire where I was heating up a cup of tea. I had a blanket set by the fire to warm in case she got cold and some of her favorite munchies, oatballs, warming up as well.

"Would you tell a story tonight?"

"Did you just ask me to tell you a story?" I asked, almost dropping the cup. This was a rare occasion indeed. "I thought you'd be sick of my stories by now."

"Nope. I love hearing you tell a story. You get so involved, its almost like you become part of the story," she said to me with a smile as she folded her hands behind her head and relaxed back onto the pillows.

"Really?" I asked, wrinkling my nose in disbelief.

"Really."

"But you're always telling me to stop when we're on the road." She chuckled. "Hearing the same story 50 times while you tweak one sentence tends to give me a headache. But hearing you tell stories regularly always makes me feel better."

I smiled and handed her the cup. "If you really want a story." I handed her one of the oat balls that I held in my hand and waited for her to eat it. "Which one do you want to hear?"

"Not just to me, Gabrielle. I'd like to hear you tell one to the entire inn."

"You're too sick to be out of bed, Xena. I don't want you going down there and having some drunk approach you and start something."

"You could take `em," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"I don't WANT to take them on. I want you to get better so we can get back on schedule."

"Please?" she begged, giving me her best puppy-dog look. Her lip stuck out and slightly quivered and her eyes softened and she batted her lashes. "No."

"I'm begging, Gabrielle. I bet it would make me feel better," she said, trying to hide a smirk.

"No. That's it! No...Xena, don't look at me like that. Come on. You're just too sick. Stop. Stop! Xena," I groaned, trying to resist the adorable look that she knew would win in the end.

She looked at me even more pathetically. How could I resist that look? Her fever had broken and her color was slightly better than before. She wasn't near as pale. The sparkle had returned to her eyes and even though she was coughing quite a bit, I didn't really think keeping her in bed for another day would be a good idea.

"Oh, fine!" I said, tossing my hands up.

"Yes!" Xena said, rolling to put her feet on the floor.

"Stop!" I said, coming around and handing her a pair of thick leather leggings. "Wear these. I'll pick out the rest of your things."

"I'll roast in these!" She said, holding the pants out as if declining them.

"You'll wear them or we're not going downstairs!" She gave me "the look." "Oh, save your strength. That doesn't work on me and you should know better than to even try," I said, rolling my eyes and tossing her one of my oversized woolen sweaters. She never needed too much winter clothing because of her natural ability to produce body heat, so most of the warmer clothing was mine. Even though her fever had dropped, Xena hadn't been able to stay warm for long amounts of time and I wasn't going to let her catch a chill down in the inn's main room.

"I'm going to overheat!" She whined.

"Just put them on, you big baby," I said, walking over and handing her her favorite blue tunic to go under the sweater. She glared at me again. "Fine," I said, reaching down and grabbing the leggings. I put them over her feet and pulled them up, struggling to tug them over her bottom. She laughed. "You think this is funny? Pick your rear up, Xena, or get dressed yourself!"

"Oh, no. I think you're doing a great job" She said to me, tickling my rib cage lightly and causing me to collapse on top of her, pushing us back onto the bed. I looked down into her cerulean blue eyes and almost lost myself in all the dreams I saw there. "You know, you really are comfortable," I said seriously. Her hands rested on my hips lightly and shifted me up so we were nose to nose. "You wanted to go hear stories, remember?" I asked with a smirk.

"Tell me a story."

"You wanted to go downstairs, didn't you?"

"I think the atmosphere here is better," She said, her fingers playing with the waistband on my wrap skirt.

"You were getting restless here," I said, trying to resist leaning into her soft touch, knowing that if I did, there would be no return.

"True. I think you can keep me busy," she said.

"You're right. I'll make you re-read all of my scrolls and help me edit them for spelling," I said seriously. I was promptly rolled over onto my back. "Downstairs it is then," She said, leaning down and kissing my nose.

"Hey!" I said as she pulled away.

"Yes?" I reached behind her neck and tangled my fingers in her hair, pulling her lips back down to mine and retrieving a proper kiss.

My lips brushed hers once. Then again. And finally attached themselves to hers, researching their territory, finding all the dips and valleys and memorizing the sweetness of her skin.

I cleared my throat as we separated and tried to stop the room from spinning. "Well," I managed to say.

"Yeah," she said to me in a heady voice. She rolled off of me and onto her back, lacing up the front of her leggings as she lay there. "The more we do that, the more I want to do that," I said to her with a grin. I rubbed my eyes quickly, allowing my hand to trail down and rest on my warm lips for a few moments.

"Mmm," she agreed, here eyes closed.

"Two stories and then back to bed," I said after a few moments pause. She raised an eyebrow at me in a teasing unspoken question. "Don't even go there, Xena," I warned, waggling a finger at her. I had seen the look in her eye that meant she was going to make a suggestive comment.

I chuckled and so did she.

"Let's go. Put your tunic on and wear that sweater," I said, foregoing her cloak at the door. "And what are you going to do if I don't?" she threatened, holding the sweater up.

"I'll come down off the stage and point you out to the audience. Then if you don't put it on, I'll take my top off until you do," I said, dead serious.

"You wouldn't!"

"Wouldn't I?"

"YOU WOULD!" She said with something between a grin and exasperation on her face.

"I would," I agreed.

"Hmm...which would be better? Seeing you without your top or hearing stories?" She said, tapping her chin with her forefinger.

"Xena!" I said.

"Fine. I'll wear the sweater. I just expect a private screening of THAT particular story later," she teased, telling me she wanted to see me without a top sometime.

"That could be arranged," I said, putting my arm around her waist and helping her walk down to the inn's first floor. We laughed a bit as we turned the corner and made it down the stairs. Boundaries had been all but dissolved by this illness and it seemed a good thing to me. I looked up at her and smiled, receiving a very healthy looking smile in return.

And then she coughed. And sneezed.

One story rolled into two as the ale and cider began to flow.

Xena behaved herself nicely and sipped a mug of milk, having placed herself in the corner. The crowed called for a third story and the bowl that was passed around for coins was overflowing so much that Melphus had set aside a large coin purse for the surplus.

I looked at Xena. She sat with her head leaning against a rafter support and the mug in her hands. Her eyes were closed and to the uneducated eye she might have appeared asleep; but she wasn't. She was just resting. Her baby finger on her right hand drummed slightly against the side of the mug; a habit l had long since found annoying.

Her eyes opened a bit and caught my stare. She smiled fully, the same smile she often gave me after I made a joke. She winked and I smiled her way, well aware of what a wink from me could be interpreted as if intercepted by a half-drunk legionnaire. I passed along a raised eyebrow look that questioned her ability to withstand another story. She nodded vigorously in reply and I smiled again, clearing my throat to begin another story.

"Many moons ago, in a far off place lived a handsome prince with a gloomy face, for he did not have a bride," I began. I easily settled into the familiar rhythms of storytelling. And from the stair corner, I saw a pair of marvelous blue eyes, shining with enchantment as they absorbed a new story for the first time.

The crowd enjoyed the tale very much and, honestly, so did I. Telling a story for the first time was always invigorating. There was the risk of failure and rejection and also the possibility of a marvelous crowd who loved your story. Either way, I'd always end up running a gamut of emotions by the end of the story.

To whoops and hollers, and much to my embarrassment, I ended my story-

telling session and agreed to settle up commissions with Melphus later on. I also took the opportunity to arrange a few buckets of water to be left outside our door the next morning so I could bathe.

"Ready?" I asked, tying the bulging and heavy coin purse to my belt and walking over to Xena. "Where did you get that last story, Gabrielle? It was great."

"Thanks. I just thought of it one day. I've been working on it in quiet to surprise you," I said, smiling at her. The circles under her eyes had returned and I'd bet just about every coin in my newly filled pouch that her fever would be back within the night. "You're still sick, Xena. I shouldn't have told 3 stories. It kept you out of bed too long," I said, pulling on her elbow and leading her upstairs.

"I'm fine," she said just before tripping on a floor board. I caught her by the elbow just in time and prevented one very attractive nose from being smooshed into a very grimy floor.

"You're lying," I countered as we tried to tackle the stairs with her keeping most of her body weight shifted to me as she had slung an arm over my shoulder and held onto the hand rail. She merely groaned as we slowly climbed the steps. "If you weren't so heavy, I'd be carrying you right now," I teased as we got to our door.

"If you weren't so strong, I'd have crushed ya by now," she said back with a grin while I kicked our door open, both my hands occupied with keeping her standing.

"Nah, you'd never let that happen. You wouldn't let anything hurt me," I said with a smile as we walked to the bed. I helped her sit down, sliding her arm over my head. "Feet up, please," I asked, picking up a foot and tugging her boot off as I watched her eyes become heavy. Then came the other boot. It fell to the floor with a thud. "Come on, Xe, sit up so I can get you ready for bed. You're about to fall asleep right now."

"I'm too tired. I'll change in the morning. Just leave it," she said, brushing me off with a wave of her hand.

"That's not like you. You like everything organized and orderly. Sleeping in your clothes when your sick is not an option. You'll never forgive me if I let you do that," I said to her, tugging on the lacing to her leggings. I slid them off her hips and down her legs, noting the round curves to all of her leg muscles as the leather slid.

"Leave it, Gabrielle," she said, more of an order this time.

"No."

"You're so annoying," she said to me, tossing an arm over her eyes to block out the light.

"You're sick. You're cranky. But don't call me annoying. You sound like Ares when you do that," I said, referring to how he always called me an `irritating blonde' and other such phrases. She stuck her tongue out at me. I waggled my eyebrows at her as her pants came over her feet. "I wouldn't stick that out at me unless you want me to keep it!" I tossed the leggings onto the trunk to be folded later. "Sweater please," I said reaching up and pulling it over her head, taking the tunic at the same time. I reached behind her and grabbed her sleeping shift. I held it out so she could slip her hands through, which she did.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked in a weak voice.

"That's a silly question," I said. "Why do you take care of me?" I countered.

"Because I lo-" she started to say before beginning to cough so much she doubled over.

I thumped her back again while she struggled for breath. All her physical training, discipline, and strength wouldn't be able to help her this time. Her body was battling itself and she was struggling to stay on top.

"You ok?" I asked when the spasms subsided. She nodded, still trying to catch her breath.

"You need to get some sleep," I said softly as she leaned back, exhausted. She nodded again, emotionally drained from battling her pride against her illness drained body. "Let me," I said, tugging her shift down some more so I could cover her up.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome," I said with a sad grin. "Get some sleep. I know you're getting restless, but you really need to recuperate."

"I don't want to sleep," she sulked, her lower lip sticking out a bit.

"Sure you do, Xena. You're tired and you want to just curl up and relax, don't you?" I said, pushing her hair out of her face.

"No," she said obstinately.

I bent over and unlaced my boots, kicking them to the floor. In my bare feet, I scooted across the bed till I was next to and somewhat behind her. "Sit up a little and I'll fix your hair."

She grumbled. "You know that puts me to sleep."

"Sit up," I said again with a knowing grin, reaching behind me and pulling the bleached bone comb from the night table. She pulled her shoulders forward and I tugged a piece of leather strapping from the underside of my braids, setting it on my lap.

My hands worked at her sweat dampened dark locks, gently unweaving the tangles and smoothing her slightly rumbled hair out with the comb. In a matter of moments, her head drooped forward and her neck relaxed considerably. My fingers separated her hair into sections and I began at the top of her head, braiding her hair tightly to her skull.

With my fingers flying quickly, I got down to the middle of her hair and wove in the strip of leather, leaving some tails so that when I was done, I could tuck the bottom of her braid up and tie it off, keeping it off her neck.

"There," I murmured, as I tied the leather strip off, making all her hair into one little bun of braided hair. "That should help."

"Mmm, that feels good," she said as she reached around and rubbed a hand across her neck.

"Stiff?" I asked, seeing the taut muscle chords in her neck.

"A bit."

"Here."

"Is this my day for massages from the Amazon Bard?" She teased me as my fingers began to get the kinks out of her neck. "You're just a lucky girl. I don't let just anyone experience this," I joked.

"I am lucky, aren't I?" She said seriously, though she chuckled slightly.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I worked my well muscled hands against the obstinate knot in her neck.

"I've got you everyday. You take care of me when I'm sick, put up with me when I'm cranky, calm me when I get out of control and give me perspective when I lose it. I'd say that makes me very lucky," She said. "You keep me safe and balanced, Gabrielle."

"Good. As long as I've done something for you. You've done so much for me."

"Really?"

"Oh, please. You know you have. If it wasn't for you, I would have never gotten to compete in Athens at the Academy. I surely wouldn't be an Amazon, much less their Queen," I paused, my hands moving down to her shoulders, trying to get the strained muscles to loosen. "More important than that, I wouldn't have found my best friend and fallen helplessly in love with her," I said quietly, leaning down closer to her ear.

In an uncertain and panicky tone, "In love? Who are you talking about?"

I smiled and blushed slightly, feeling my cheeks redden. "You."

"ME?" She asked, almost snapping her head off as she whipped it around to look at me. Her forehead came in contact with mine and the force of her head turning caused my temple and hers to collide with great force.

"Ow," I said simply as I fell backwards, thrown off balance. My hand shot to my head and covered the place that had connected with hers.

"Damn, Gabrielle, are you ok?" She asked, moving quicker than I had seen her move in the last two days. "Hey, Hey, let me see that," she crooned, trying to pry my hand away from my temple which was already oozing blood I could feel against my fingers.

"Its just a small cut," I muttered as my fingers came away from the wound covered in red. I winced as I pulled my hand away. She reached for my head to examine the cut, but I flinched away. "Its nothing," I said. "Leave it."

"But.." she said, reaching again for the wound.

"I said leave it!"

I sat there for a moment, looking at her, trying to decide what to say. Luckily, she eased that decision as she was the first to speak.

"Did you say you love me?" She asked after a moment or two wherein it was obvious she was considering either forced care on my wound or a conversation. "I did say that, yes," I said shyly.

"Did you mean it?" She asked me.

I barely managed to keep myself from flinching at the sting of her words. "Of course. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't," I said in a voice more calm than I actually felt.

She smiled at me. Her lips turned up on the ends and she reached to brush my hair away from my cut. "Good," she said softly.

"Good?" I asked, not expecting that for a reaction.

"I think that me loving you and you loving me is definitely a good thing, don't you?" She asked with a grin as her other hand found my own and intertwined our fingers.

"You.me? Oh, yeah. That sure is good," I said with a helpless grin on my face. I could feel the trail of blood from the cut trickle down my face but at this moment it had no meaning. It wasn't important. She was the only important thing right now. She loved me.

"We should really clean that cut," she said, swallowing a cough.

"Yeah?" I asked, smiling.

"Yeah," she said.

"Who cares?" I muttered before leaning up slightly and kissing her full out. "I love you," I said into her mouth.

"Love you, too," She said back against my lips. We spent a few moments exploring the texture of each others' mouths. This was definitely something I could get used to.

I pulled back a little after a few minutes. "We should probably fix my face now. Otherwise I'm going to get blood all over you as well as having a nasty scar."

"Won't be the first time you've been wounded and bleeding on me," she said with a grin.

"First time we both caused it, though," I chuckled.

"Lemme look at that, will ya?" She asked, her worry for my semi-self-inflicted wound her top priority.

"Ow," I said again as she touched my wound. Where her head and mine had met, the force of impact had broken the skin on my forehead and it was gushing blood.

"I think it could use stitches," she muttered to herself while examining the wound so gently that I could hardly feel her fingers on my skin.

I chuckled. "You know, for this, I don't think I'd mind having a scar. Its not exactly how I planned on telling you, but it serves the same purpose. And I get a nice memento of the occasion, too," I said with a laugh as she examined my wound.

She frowned at me, not finding it funny. "Hold still," she growled, trying to get out of bed to get her healer's kit even though she was still quite unsteady on her feet.

"It'll be fine, Xena. Relax," I said waving her off. "Lie down," I said, putting my clean hand out and pushing her back towards the pillows, "I'll get it."

"But." she stuttered as I got out of bed and grabbed a clean rag from my travel kit. "Let me do that," she said, reaching out for the kit. I smiled at her and passed off the kit and the bandage as I sat back down next to her on the bed. Her fingers lightly brushed the area, cleaning the hair out of the way. I sucked in a breath as the cold air hit my wound. "Sorry," she said as she cleansed the opening, causing me to flinch slightly.

"S'ok," I said as she worked delicately. I barely felt her hands fiddle with the wound. "There," she said as she put two stitches in the skin for good measure and cleaned it again, wiping away the blood with a piece of cloth.

"Thanks," I said when she finished and her hands fluttered about nervously. I picked up the kit and put it back, having noticed that her head was fine. "You feel ok? That was a pretty hard hit," I asked, sitting back down on the bed. "I'm fine. You going to be ok? Are you Dizzy? Do your eyes hurt?" she asked in a rush of worried words, waving a hand in front of my eyes.

"I'll be perfectly fine, Xena," I said with a giggle, shrugging off my injury, as I reached over and grabbed the comb, reaching back to tug out my two braids.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Can I do that for you?" She asked me, putting her hand out for the comb.

"Please," I said, handing her our comb. She scratched the back of my scalp with her fingers. It was an act I'd always found relaxing, but now it was somewhat sensual as well. I must have groaned because she chuckled at me. "Like that much?" she teased, gently tugging out my braids and brushing out my hair in smooth even strokes.

"Oh yeah," I said, ignoring the throbbing from my temple, "Probably about as much as you like having your shoulders rubbed."

"That much, eh?" I grinned, "Oh yeah."

"Leave it down or braided?" I heard her ask me as she twirled a lock around her finger in a fidgety act.

"Leave it down, I guess," I said, turning to look at her. She was smiling and her eyes were out of focus but trained on my hair. "You ok?" I asked her, touching her cheek.

"Huh?" she said, startled. "Oh. Yeah. I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About what?" I asked, wondering what could get that kind of far-off look to her eye.

"Nothing specific. Just you and me."

"Was it a good thought?" I asked with a smile, my hand resting on her neck.

She grinned. "It certainly was," she said before leaning in and kissing me quickly.

"What's today?" She asked when she pulled back.

"Um.second quarter moon, I think," I said, glancing to the window and checking the moon's position and shape.

"Its a four day trip, top speed, to mom's house. We'll never make that in time for the winter party. I can't go full out yet, Gabrielle. I know I'll make a mistake and get us into trouble," she said. "Might fall or trip or sleep so deeply that I won't hear attackers."

"Its ok, Xena. Your mom will understand. And besides that, we don't need to go back there if you don't want to," I said.

"But I thought you were looking forward to going to the inn for Solstice?" She asked.

"Oh, I am. But not at the risk of your health. If you're not better, you're just not better. That's all there is to it," I said. "We'll be fine if we wait a while. I'll send a messenger with a note to your moms. I thought I saw an Amazon scout in town last night, so I can have her run ahead. Queen's privilege," I said with a grin.

"You sure you don't mind being late?"

"Not at all," I said as she nudged over in the bed. "I don't need anything on Solstice but you, Xena."

"You're such a sap," She said.

"That may be true, but at least I'm your sap," I countered, gently poking her in the chest with my finger.

"Mine?" She said tugging on the bedding and sliding under the covers. "I think I like the sound of that. My bard. My Queen. My warrior. My Gabrielle," she recited, rolling the sounds around on her tongue.

"Does that mean I still need to wear that sign saying I'm not your slave?" I teased, getting up and changing to my sleeping shift with lightening speed as both the floor and air were cold.

"No. You're more to me than merely someone who isn't my slave. You're my life, Gabrielle. My heart," she said as I walked back to the bed and dove under the covers.

"You have such a way with words for someone who refuses to speak more than three sentences while in public," I said honestly.

She snorted.

"I love you," I said. "I know you do," she teased, glancing at me with a bit of tired

mischief in her eyes.

I chuckled and shifted so I could look her in the eye without my neck snapping. I made sure she was situated on the pillows so she wouldn't have a coughing fit in the middle of the night and not be able to sit up.

"You done fidgeting with me now?" she asked when I stopped fluffing her pillows.

"No," I said as I curled up next to her, my leg tucked tightly over hers and my arm snugly crossing her chest and hanging on her shoulder. "Now I'm done," I said as I snuggled into the hollow her shoulder made.

"What do you think I am? A pillow?" she asked before a small cough escaped her lips.

"Yep. My warrior Pillow," I said with a sigh as I just enjoyed our closeness and tried to drift off to sleep.

She sniffed in indignation but looked down at me and smiled, kissing the non-

injured part of my forehead.

"Good night, Gabrielle" she said softly before sniffling. It was our customary night-time ritual and illness or no, we always carried it out. "Good night, Xena," I said, before adding, "I love you."

"I.I love you, too," she said after a pause.

It was warm. Warm and good. Warm and good and highly stimulating. I didn't even have to open my eyes to know what it was that was waking me up on this wonderful morning.

"You going to do that every morning?" I asked when she was done sampling my lips.

"If it gets you out of bed without me throwing water on you," She teased, kissing me again.

"I think this might actually cause me to stay in bed longer," I said with a grin, rolling over and sprawling on top of her in a very familiar way. "How do you feel?" I asked, placing a kiss or two on her collar bone and nibbling on the skin slightly.

"When you do that, I feel fabulous," she said around a groan. I snickered but didn't stop my loving exploration of her neck.

"The coughing is there, but it isn't as bad. How's your head feel?" She asked, running her hands down my ribs till they rested nicely on my waist.

"What about my head?" I asked her, quite enjoying the sensations I was receiving from her hands simply resting on my hips.

"The gash from last night," she chuckled.

"Oh that," I said, one of my wrists flicking passively, "Can hardly feel it."

"Good," she said, her hands roaming across my lower back.

I sighed. Damned if that didn't feel good. But rushing things never got either of us anywhere. She knew that as well and that was probably why we were both taking this so slowly. "I should really take a bath," I muttered, realizing that it had been three or four days since I had taken a full bath and I must be quite fragrant by now.

"Can I come, too?" she asked teasingly.

"Only if you wash my hair," I said with a smile before kissing her on the chin and rolling out of bed.

She stretched, her arms reaching high above her head and her feet pointing straight.

"Do you want breakfast?" I asked, noting her eyes weren't underlighted with dark circles and her skin had lost some of the paleness the last few days had brought. I reached back and rested a hand on her forehead. "No fever. That's a good sign," I said with a smile. "I'm not really hungry, but I should eat anyway," she said thoughtfully. "If you'll let me leave the inn, we can go to the market and see if anyone has those roasted nuts you like," she said, knowing I couldn't resist her getting out of bed if she was feeling so much better.

I looked her over. She was looking much better. "Stand up," I ordered. She quirked an eyebrow at me but did as she was told, standing without so much as a hint of dizziness. "Anything else Her Majesty wishes?" Xena said with a snicker.

"Your color's good and your eyes look..remarkable as always," I said with a blush, "You're not dizzy. But you're still coughing," I added just as she started to cough again. The rattling in her lungs was lighter and the spasms didn't make her double over. I frowned as she recovered her breath and looked at me sheepishly.

"If you wear your leggings and a long-sleeved tunic and your cloak. Then you can go outside," I said recalling just how much I sounded like my mother.

"But Gabrielle!" Xena whined, about to protest.

"No buts, Xena!" I said, raising a finger at her. "All or nothing. Its your choice," I said as the water for my bath heated up on the hearth.

"But." she tried again.

"No! You either wear your leggings, one of your thick long sleeved tunics, and your cloak or you can't go out side!" I said. "And I bet Argo misses you! She hasn't seen you in almost a moon."

"Gab-"

"One more word out of you, Warrior Princess, and you'll have to wear that ear cover that your mother knitted you!" I threatened, dead serious on enforcing these conditions. Her open jaw snapped shut and she gave me a scowl. "Sit down, Xena. Don't waste your energy glaring at me. You know I'm immune to that look," I said as I hefted one of the water buckets and dumped the steaming water into the wooden tub.

It was smaller than what I was used to at the Amazons and it was definitely smaller than the hot-springs or waterfalls that Xena often found while on the road. It would do, however, for all I really needed was a place big enough to rise myself and my hair. I set the bucket down and reached for a second, only to have it snatched out from my grasp. "Hey!" She glared at me. "I feel much better and I don't intend on having to work twice as hard to get back into shape because I sat on my ass for three days in bed!"

I laughed a bit and smiled, lifting another bucket as she dumped one in. We both lifted the last, large bucket and dumped it in together. "Could you get the soap for me?" I asked her, turning to pull my shift off and step into the tub, ducking under and getting wet.

She made a noise that must have been somewhere along the line of compliance because the next thing I knew, she was kneeling behind me and gently washing my wet hair. Her hands roamed over my shoulders, soaping them up and then trickling water down to rinse them off. My back came next and was scrubbed with gentle care as my breath grew shorter.

Her hands stilled on the rise of my neck and I could feel her callused, soft fingers and palms against my skin.

She leaned down a bit and kissed the top of my head. "Would you mind if I went to get a cup of milk from downstairs?" She asked in an all too quiet voice.

"Go ahead," I said, trying to hide the quiver to my words, "Just stay out of a draft."

She got up and padded outside, shutting the door quickly behind her.

"Oh gods," I groaned, dunking my head under water in a vain attempt to calm the fire that was coursing through me, completely forgetting that I had let Xena go downstairs in nothing but a rather short sleeping shift.