Description: This is a first time story that takes place right after "Eternal Bonds". There are some Dirty Words, and it's maybe a tiny bit kinky, but hey, they're in love.

copyright 2/2000 by Xena's Little Bitch MiladyCo@aol.com

Getting rid of Joxer this time will be more difficult. How, after what we have just shared, can I possibly ditch him? Again I prove him right; I am a bitch, my priorities are selfish. I want to protect Xena and Eve. But I don't just want them safe; I have to be doing it myself. My desire to protect them is so strong I can barely see past it to anything at all, even the road in front of my horse. My horse has a name, I'm just not telling for a while. I have to keep something just for me. I have to have something Xena doesn't also own or know.

I look down from my horse at the two of them as they walk on in front of me with the baby. I am tired of their kindnesses. They are so gentle and full of love, so innocent. I almost laugh at the thought--who could imagine Xena's little sidekick would have thoughts like that? It is as if everything has turned around. Xena is The Girl, she is the innocent to be protected. I am The Warrior, the angry one, she who kicks ass. I like who I am. But I want more. I have desires I want fulfilled. I feel them course through my body and demand my attention in a way I can no longer deny. And I want Joxer gone.

The sky starts to cloud over again and the rumbling of the storm begins just a few miles away. I shiver.

"Damn," says Xena.

"I thought Zeus controlled the weather," says Joxer.

"Doesn't matter anymore. We've got to split up"

She sends Joxer towards Corinth, telling him we'll meet there in a few days. He clasps each of our forearms in turn and runs off.

"Gabrielle, you go--"

"With you and nowhere else. Period."

"Gabrielle, I insist."

"You insist nothing. My place is by your side. Fighting with you. Protecting you. That is what is important to me."

"Do I have no say in it? Doesn't it matter what's important to me?"

"Fine, Xena, what's important to you?"

Xena looks down and says, "You. Eve. Fighting for the greater good."

"Then it sounds like we should stay together."

Xena looks up at the sky as rain begins to fall, "Fine. Hurry."

We ride along the sand and into the forest as the sky darkens and the rain pours down on us. The path is soon muddy and our horses push bravely on along the slippery ground. Long minutes pass and then we find ourselves at the mouth of yet another conveniently located cave.

"I am so tired of hiding," I say as we enter with the horses.

"We have no choice right now, Gabrielle. I need time to plan. Eve is hungry and I wouldn't mind resting myself."

She gives me a look and sits on a flat rock. I begin pulling things off the horses and setting up camp. I've barely lit the fire and Xena's nursing the baby. I can't help but watch out of the corner of my eye as I lay out our blankets and furs. Gods she looks beautiful. Her breasts are so much rounder, her skin just glows. She has never seemed less like a warrior to me. I can't remember ever having felt this strong in my life before. I feel like I tower over this beautiful young girl and her child, my love and desire to take care of them coursing through my veins like my life's blood itself. I would kill anything to protect them.

We sit by the fire and she tells me about her dream of Ares as Eve falls asleep in her arms. Her descriptions are so vivid I can see the scene, but in my vision it is me and not Ares who seduces her, me and not Ares who caresses her, me and not Ares who makes her moan.

Xena moves to our bed and puts the sleeping baby to rest in a warm pocket of fur, then sits down next to her and begins taking off her boots.

"What are you thinking about?" Xena asks me in that new gentle voice of hers. I feel a pang between my legs like she is already touching me.

"You and Ares," I say, somehow I have the courage to look into her eyes, "You did feel something. I know you did. I felt it."

"Yes," she says, looking into the fire and back at me, "I did. It's just been so long since...anybody touched me like that and I...part of me responded."

"I understand," I say, because she is apologizing to me for it, because on some level she knows how much I care. I walk over and settle down next to her on the furs. She is wearing nothing but the short black velvet dress and she looks truly divine. I watch my hand as I run it slowly down her arm. She shivers, and I know how warm she is, so I smile.

"Oh, Gabrielle," Xena whispers.

I lean forward another inch and whisper into her ear, "When I picture your dream, I see me instead of Ares."

Xena's quick intake of breath makes me smile again, and I rub the side of my face against her hair.

"Like when you kissed him, like this", I say, teasing her lips with my tongue and teeth. "And when he kissed you, like this," I say, gently kissing her shoulder and moving my mouth down to the tops of her breasts. Her head falls back and she moans.

"The part I didn't tell you about," whispers Xena, "Is that in the dream, when he touched me, I wished that it was you."

I grab her shoulders and push her onto her back, my passion suddenly no longer under my control. My mouth on hers is impatient, insistent, and in moments my kisses have opened her entire body to me. Xena is right here under my hands, tight against me, waiting for my love. I press my length against her, my thigh immediately finding its way between hers. She gasps and I feel her hands tighten around my neck. I kiss her deeply, my hunger for her like heat in every part of my body. She is so gentle, so smooth and muscular and soft under my hands. Her mouth is hot and she surrenders everything to me. Her hair streams out along the furs around her head, her hands caress my shoulders. Moving above her I feel so powerful, like she would do anything I asked, she is mine for the taking and the beauty of this thought, of her body as it presses itself up against me to meet every thrust of my hips; I truly understand what it is to take someone, and I take Xena like she was made just for my body's pleasure.

I cover her neck with bites and kisses, and as I do so, I feel her arousal heighten, She moans and grunts in my ear as she grinds her wet pussy against my thigh, and the sounds she makes bring me so close to orgasm I have to pull back from her embrace.

We sit for a moment, looking at each other.

"Why are we stopping?" she asks, still panting, "I want you so bad I could scream, Gabrielle."

"I want Xena," I say, "I am giving you everything I am, and I want nothing less from you in return."

Xena looks at me.

"I want to be your man, Xena. I want to fuck you more than I have ever wanted anything, but I want you to be everything for me, too," I whisper, "I want it to be equal."

I watch her eyes dart around, as if seeking that part of herself that has been so absent since our rebirth. Suddenly she stops, and she meets my eyes, and there she is, my warrior princess. Not the Destroyer of Nations, not any sort of demon, just the Xena I have known for so long. Within seconds I am on my stomach with her body pressed down hard over mine.

"You want me to fuck you? You want me to take charge?" she whispers in my ear as she unlaces my top and pulls it over my head, licking and nipping at the edge of my ear, gyrating her wet, naked pussy against my ass, "This is what you want? Something like this?" she whispers as she puts her hands around my waist and pulls me to my knees, cupping my breasts and running her short nails over my nipples. The closest I can come to telling her yes is a wild choking sound, but she understands. She grabs my hair and pulls my head back into a passionate kiss, her tongue in my mouth like a conquering army--I surrender everything to her. Xena moves one hand from my breast and places it gently against the damp hair of my pussy. I groan and push myself against her hand, and feel her pushing against me from behind. Her hand begins a slow circular motion as it enters within my wetness and I am nothing but my body, my skin and my muscles, and my reactions to her hands as they take me places I have never imagined existed. I float there, held in place by her touch.

"Is this what you want?" she whispers again into my ear, the unsteadiness of her voice giving away her own passion.

"Oh gods I love you," I gasp.

My words set her aflame once more and suddenly the hand that has been so gently caressing my pussy is pushing inside it. Xena thrusts two fingers inside me and pulls them out slowly. She does it again, as she continues to thrust herself against me from behind, more and more wildly. Her mouth is on my neck, and she pulls me up so I am kneeling in front of her, my back pressed against her hard nipples and her fingers still thrusting inside me, the heel of her hand rubbing against my clit. She pulls my head back again and her kisses are sloppy and demanding. I feel my body held tight between her thrusting hand on one side and her thrusting pussy on the other, and my loss of control is so intense I fall forward again onto my hands and knees. Xena comes forward with me and continues her onslaught, both of us now grunting with every thrust.

"Ready?" she whispers.

"Gods! Please!"

She stops moving for two seconds and then begins again, first with her mouth on mine, then the thrusting from behind, and finally her hand again begins to move inside me, slowly, building with every thrust, drawing it out until she can no longer control her desire to fuck me all-out, and she does, our bodies thrusting against each other with no thought but their own release, our moans giving way to uncontrolled grunting as I feel myself completely surrounded by her the strength of her passion and it's hold over me, taken by her completely. My orgasm explodes through my body and into hers. We fall forward together onto the furs and lie there holding each other. I squirm around in her arms until I'm looking into her eyes.

"That was great," I say "Gods, I love you so much."

"It was. No question," Xena answers, smiling, "I love you too."

"Thank you for giving that part of yourself to me."

"Thank you for helping me find it again."

"I want to be everything, Xena. Can we both be everything?"

"We already are."