“Oh, yes! Eve,” the warrior nodded vigorously. “You see honey, your mother and I were dead, and while in the after
life…” For Ari, Xena’s words were beginning to sound like the babble of geese honking in a cold stream. The girl had
difficulty keeping up with her mother’s words and at times, found herself completely lost. Just when she thought she
understood their explanations, they said something that made her realize that she didn’t really understand them at all.
“…and you see, when Callisto…”
“This was good Callisto, honey, not the evil one of my tales,” Gabrielle interrupted her lover.
“Yes, good Callisto! When she touched me, and when your mother and I woke up from the dead, I soon realized that I
was carrying Eve and boy, was that ever a surprise for me!” Xena chuckled.
“For you? What about for me?” Gabrielle frowned and shook her head. “Can you imagine how I felt? Xena, we were
lovers, why didn’t you tell me you had been with someone?”
“But, honey, I didn’t know,” the warrior threw her arms up in surrender.
“Oh, I know, Xena, I’m just saying that’s how I felt at the time, that’s all. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ is what I was thinking
when you told me!” The storyteller said, like this explained everything. Ari stared at her as her mother leaned back on the
sofa with a soft smile. “But we survived, didn’t we?”
“Yes, and we had a beautiful little girl together… although I’d have to say, I’m not sure I’d want you and your ‘sailors
hands’ around me as a midwife again!” The taller woman slightly chuckled.
“Hey! I thought I did pretty good all things considering,” Gabrielle defended herself with a pout. “After all, how calm
could I be with Zeus waiting around the next tree ready to blow us to Tartarus with his lightning bolts,” She shivered, then
shrugged. “Well, we survived anyway, that’s the thing to remember.”
As the two women grew silent, they gazed with such love at one another that they were lost in a private place of their
own. Ari found herself continually moving her head, her gaze falling first on Xena, then on Gabrielle, before moving
quickly back to her warrior mother. When they didn’t speak, it seemed they were finished and would not go on. In
confusion, the girl lowered her eyes in thought. Like a deer caught in the line of sight, Ari’s brows furrowed, as her
thoughts seemed to freeze, spinning slowly in place.
When she noticed the silence in the room, Xena cleared her throat and seemed to shake herself loose from Gabrielle’s
shining eyes. They both looked back to their daughter. “So, Ari honey, do you understand now why it’s important not to
be so casual?” She asked when she saw her daughter’s frown.
Ari looked up at her mother as she began to nod “yes”, then quickly changed her nod to one that was negative as her
brows creased. Xena looked helplessly at her lover, then closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as a sigh
leaked out of her. The smaller woman leaned back as her brows creased in thought.
There was a moment of silence, then the warrior took her daughter’s hands in hers, gazing into her eyes. “Ari, honey.
Why don’t you just think about what we said tonight, and tomorrow, if you have questions, your mother and I will do our
best to answer them,” she suggested.
“That’s a good idea, Xena. Sweetheart, just think about what we talked about, and remember that your mother and I are
always here for you, all right?” Gabrielle agreed.
With brows creased into a frown, Ari glanced from her warrior mother, to the blonde, then back again. Finally, in silence
she stood and moved slowly from the room. When she was at the door to the room she shared with Eve, she heard the
slight voices of her mothers begin again, then entered the dark room and closed the door behind her.
“Well, that went rather well!” Xena said after releasing a puff of air through her lips. Leaning forward, she rested her
elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands as she gazed down at the wooden floorboards.
“Yes, very well,” her life mate agreed as she leaned back on the sofa, her eyes remained glued to Xena’s figure. When
the warrior looked up, she saw the silent question on Gabrielle’s face.
“We stunk!” both women groaned at the same time.
With a shake of her head, Xena moved from the chair and sat on the sofa with her lover. As her eyes gazed into the
fireplace, she watched the dying embers slowly crackle. Her lover’s arm wrapped around her before the blonde placed
her head on the warrior’s shoulder.
“Do you think that this is going to be the hardest thing we have to do?” Xena asked carefully after a time.
Her soulmate seemed to quietly contemplate the question. When the dark warrior felt her lover’s fingers begin to play
with her hair, she glanced down at Gabrielle. In an absent manner, the blonde sighed as her idle hand rested lightly on
Xena’s arm.
“You know, Xena, I would like to believe that it is but something tells me that it’s only just begun,” Gabrielle whispered
softly.
“Any regrets?” Xena kept her gaze on her lover.
At her question, Gabrielle lifted her head and looked into Xena’s eyes.
“Never a regret, Xena. I never regret anything about our life together,” the smaller woman stated with confidence.
The warrior princess couldn’t help but smile as she lowered herself for a kiss. As their lips met, she felt the petite body
moving against her. Despite all that had happened that night, the anger and need to inflict bodily damage on Virgil, the
dark haired woman found that her desires were firmly in place. As an afterthought, she pulled reluctantly away from her
soulmate.
“Gabrielle, did you think that maybe we had trouble explaining because it’s been awhile?” She tried to don her most
innocent expression. At her lover’s smile, she leaned forward and whispered close to the blonde’s ear, “What do you
say, Gabrielle. Wanna make love on your parent’s bed?” she asked with a mischievous grin, knowing that they were
staying in the room that Gabrielle’s parents had once occupied.
“Oh, you are so evil, Warrior Princess,” Gabrielle huskily replied as the leather-clad warrior stood up, then reached below
her lover and easily lifted her into her arms.
“Damn, Gabrielle, are you putting on weight?” Xena teased, knowing that her lover had filled out with more muscles since
the last time she had carried her like this.
“Are you going to complain, or ravish me?”
Without further ado, Xena quickly moved through the darkened hallway. Gabrielle’s arms wrapped around her shoulders
as the storyteller’s tongue were doing magic against the taller woman’s ear. As the sensations spurred her needs, the
warrior pushed all troubling thoughts away.
“Tomorrow,” she silently thought as she kicked the bedroom door closed behind her, “tomorrow we’ll think of a better
way to help our daughter, but for now…” the warrior shivered as her thoughts turned to matters of a more urgent need.
~~~~~~
Ari didn’t know how long she had stood at the open window. In the dark, with the faint moonlight, her mind was able to
wander. Past experience with Alti lead her to believe that there was something grave in both her mothers words. With
Alti, her double-speak and cryptic words always held meaning, if one looked deeply into what the sorceress had said.
After living so long with the woman, Ari thought she was adept at deciphering messages, but lately, with her new family,
she realized how very little she really knew.
